- Health
Laguna Phuket Triathlon’s date announced – Registration opens today
PHOTO: Triathlon Magazine Canada Laguna Phuket has announced the 26th annual edition of the Laguna Phuket Triathlon. It will take place on Sunday, November 24, 2019. Comprising LPT signature race distance of 1.8Km Swim, 50Km Bike, and 12Km Run, registration for 2019 edition of Asia’s longest-standing triathlon race is now open. Interested athletes are advised to book their slot as…
- Phuket News
GoAir expands flights to Phuket with daily operations
Budget passenger carrier GoAir has announced that it is enhancing its operations to Phuket with the launch of daily directly flights from Mumbai, New Delhi and Bengaluru. According to the airline, it expanded the services effective December 22. “At the beginning GoAir started two direct flights per week to Phuket from Delhi, three direct flights per week to Phuket from…
- Things To Do
Melbourne loses its crown as the World’s Most Livable City
PHOTO: Not the world’s most livable city anymore 1. Vienna, Austria 2. Melbourne, Australia 3. Osaka, Japan 4. Calgary, Canada 5. Sydney, Australia 6. Vancouver, Canada 7. Toronto, Canada (equal 7th) 7. Tokyo, Japan (equal 7th) 9. Copenhagen, Denmark 10. Adelaide, Australia Australia’s southern capital of Melbourne has finally lost the title of world’s most liveable city after a seven-year reign at…
- Thailand News
Hotel room rates remain stagnant whilst Airbnb continues to grow in Thailand
PHOTO: Airbnb As the head-scratching continues as to why traveller aren’t drinking expensive beers in girlie bars and avoiding ‘traditional’ tourist haunts, Airbnb has a record year in Thailand, signaling more problems for the hotel business as tourists seek alternative holiday experiences. As the number of guests continues to trend upwards with more than 1.65 million inbound Airbnb guests to…
- Bangkok News
2 Year old Burmese boy found too late
Photo: Bangkok Post After 9 days of searching, a missing 2 year old Burmese boy has been found dead in a sugar can field in the U Thong district, Suphan Buri, north-west of Bangkok. Yesterday the Suphan Buri Governor ordered some 700 rescuers to meticulously search the plantation for any signs of the boy. The body was found around 4.30…
- Thailand News
Free internet for low income earners with registered welfare cards
Photo: Backyard Travel The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has announced a project where some 1.8 million registered low-income earners, especially in remote areas, will receive internet in their home for three years. As part of a Universal Service Obligation (USO) project, the aim is to close the ‘digital gap’ providing internet access to 2.1 million households or 6.3…
- Health
Medical marijuana approved in Thailand
Photo: South China Morning Post “This is a New Year’s gift from the National Legislative Assembly to the government and the Thai people,” Somchai Sawangkarn, said chairman of the drafting committee. Thailand will be the first country, in a region with some of the strictest drug laws, to approve cannabis for medical use. In an extra-parliamentary session addressing bills before…
- Cannabis News
Medical marijuana is now legal in Thailand
• Possession of marijuana and krathom within legal limits will be allowed for treatment of certain diseases, for first aid or in cases of emergency •The committee has the authority to give permission to requests for production, import and export of marijuana A new law that legitimises the use of marijuana for medical purposes has sailed through the National Legislative Assembly…
- World News
Toll rises, officials warn of potential for more tsunamis
Dateline: Tuesday, December 25, 9am (Local Time) A threat looms of more potentially deadly tsunamis in between the island’s of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia, this according to the country’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency. 5,600 people are now reported as officially displaced. That’s on top of 373 killed, 1,459 injured and 128 missing. The toll continues to rise as searches…
- Thailand News
Political parties urged to push for lifting of media gag
PHOTO: Thai Journalists Association The Thai Journalists Association (TJA) has issued a statement urging all political parties to join its campaign for the revocation of four executive orders issued by the NCPO that have imposed restrictions on press freedom and freedom of expression. Even though NCPO have already rescinded some of the executive orders to pave the way for political…
- World News
With a ‘whoosh’ his village was gone – Tsunami Update
Asep Sunaria says he heard a loud “whoosh” just moments before a wall of water pushed him off his motorbike. The surging waters swallowed up his house and the village he called home until the Saturday night calamity. new.yahoo.com reports that rescuers hunted for survivors of the volcano-triggered tsunami that killed at least 281 people along Indonesia’s coast. At the…
- Thailand News
PR Model claims ex boyfriend kidnaps father for third time
PHOTOS: Pailin Yokklin (FB) Pailin Yokklin, a 23 year old model from Kanchanaburi, is filing a police report against her ex boyfriend Sukhum Manaim as he has allegedly kidnapped her father three times now. Sukhum will be charged with ‘confinement’. He has previously tried to stop Pailin from working at her PR job due to jealousy. Pailin claims the man…
- World News
Warnings of more seismic activity around Sunda Strait
A young boy has been pulled from rubble as experts warn that another tsunami could strike Indonesia at any time. The warning comes two days after 280 people were killed and more than 1,000 people injured by a wave triggered after a volcanic eruption. The death toll is expected to rise today as searchers reach more remote areas. Richard Teeuw…
- South Thailand News
Last Full Moon Party for 2018 attracts 30,000
Authorities claim over 30,000 tourists flocked to Hat Rin on Koh Phangan for the Saturday night (well, Sunday morning really), monthly full moon party, the final party for 2018. The party kicked off at 1am on Sunday morning and wound up at 7am. Most of the local hotels were full with highly inflated prices for the monthly gathering whilst many…
- World News
UPDATE: Indonesian tsunami toll reaches 222
• The tsunami was only 1 metre high but hit coastal areas where hotels and shops reached the shoreline • Vulcanologists believe the tsunami was probably caused by the underwater collapse of a side of a volcano • The worst affected areas included popular beach holiday destinations At least 222 people have now been confirmed dead and another 843 injured…
- Thai Life
Thailand now in world’s top 100 most expensive places to live for expats
Singapore and Thailand are among the fastest risers in a survey of most expensive locations in the world for expats. Asian Correspondent is reporting that multinational human resource consultants ECA International, in its recent Cost of Living survey, revealed that Thailand rose 32 places this year to enter the top 100 most expensive locations in the world. Lee Quane, the…
- World News
UPDATE: Indonesian Sunda Strait tsunami
“168 dead and ‘many missing’ after Anak Krakatoa erupts” Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesperson for the Indonesian disaster agency has confirmed the Saturday evening tsunami has left at least 168 dead, 745 injured with 30 missing. But he says he expects the death toll to rise since not all the areas which were hit have been reached yet. The worst…
- Entertainment
Thai business tycoon buys Fortune for $150 million
Photo: Fortune Chatchaval Jiaravanon, son of the executive chairman of Thailand’s biggest conglomerate (the Charoen Pokphand Group) and part of the richest family in Thailand has bought Fortune for $150 million (4.8 billion baht). Publisher giant Meredith confirmed the sale on Friday, saying it will use the money to pay off down debt. The Thai business tycoon – executive chairman of…
- Thai Life
Road toll drops but still 60 deaths a day
The good news is that Thailand is no longer in the top couple of countries for road death tolls in the world. The bad news is the toll is still horrendous with an average of 60 deaths every day. Thailand has seen fewer road casualties this year and is now listed as the world’s ninth-most dangerous nation when road accidents…
- World News
UPDATE: Indonesian tsunami – toll rises to 62
PHOTO: EPA-EFE • Hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the wave • At least 584 people injured and twenty reported missing across three regions The latest in the rising roll from Indonesia’s tsunami that hit the Sunda Strait last night. The toll in deaths, injuries and missing is expected to rise throughout the next few days. A tsunami following a…
- World News
20 Indonesian volcanoes showing activity
• 20 volcanoes with above normal levels of activity • The PVMBG is coordinating with tourist area managers The Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Centre (PVMBG) notes that there are 20 volcanoes with above normal levels of activity across the country. “One of them has the status of ‘awas’ [danger], two are on ‘siaga’ [watch] and the remaining 17 mountains are on ‘waspada’…
- World News
TSUNAMI: “There were two waves” – Norwegian volcano photographer
PHOTO: The Jakarta Post The toll remains at 20 dead and 165 injured as the morning provides light for searches after last night’s tsunami that hit the coastline around the Sunda Strait in Indonesia. The Strait separates the islands of Java and Sumatra. Authorities say the tsunami was caused by an undersea landslide after the remnants of the Krakatoa volcano…
- Thailand News
More than 300 involved in search for missing two year old
• 300 officers and volunteers involved in search for missing two year old • Police haven’t ruled our kidnapping as a motive in the disappearance PHOTO: vaaju.com More than 300 people have been involved in a search for a missing two year old as they scoured a 200 rai plantation in Suphan Buri, north west of Bangkok. The boy has…
- World News
Tsunami in Indonesia kills 20, many more injured
• 20 people died in Indonesia • another 165 people had been injured in the incident At least 20 people have been reported to have died in Indonesia on Java and Sumatra islands after a tsunami struck areas around the Sunda Strait late late yesterday (Saturday). The tsunami was triggered by a sub-sea landslide caused by a volcano, according to the…
- Bangkok News
Orient Express luxury brand announces first hotel in Mahankhon
The King Power Mahanakhon Building in Bangkok, Thailand’s tallest, will have the world’s first Orient Express Hotel. At 78 storeys high, the Mahanakhon Building is currently the tallest building in Bangkok, pushing the slightly shorter Baiyoke Tower into second place. Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, CEO of King Power Group, said they spent over 100 million baht on the new hotel. The new…
- Travel
Hospitalised British backpacker to fly home on Christmas Day
by Miranda Aldersley – Mail Online The British backpacker who broke her neck jumping into a pool in Thailand is to fly home on Christmas Day after well-wishers raised £65,000 (2.678 million baht) towards her treatment and travel. 24 year old Sophie Wilson from Leicestershire, damaged two vertebrae diving into the shallow end of her hotel pool on December 1. Her…
- Bangkok News
Authorities struggle to find solutions for the BKK smog
PHOTO: The Nation “Normal cheap face masks are useless to protect people from air pollution.” Bangkok is suffering some severe air pollution as authorities struggle to find a way to reduce the dangerous levels of particulate matter floating around the city. A lack of wind is allowing the pollution, mostly from vehicle emissions and local industry, to hang around the…
- Bangkok News
Thai artist uses sex workers’ hair to make social critique in BKK installation
PHOTOS: Vivianne Chow Thai artist, Imahathai Suwatthanasilp new work at the Bangkok Biennale has brought attention to the prostitution industry in Thailand. Through her work the artist critiques preconceptions on sex workers while highlight their prevalence. Imahathai’s new work involved hair, specifically hair collected from a number of sex workers in Thailand. Her passion for hair started when her father was…
- Pattaya News
100 illegal road racers invade Pattaya roads
More than 100 motorcyclists have taken part in road racing on two roads in Pattaya early this morning. Witnesses say there was no police presence to stop the illegal activities. Tipped off by local residents, reporters from The Nation went to the area at 2am and found motorcyclists gathered on Sukhumvit Road and Jomtien 2 Road in Tambon Nong Plue…
- Bangkok News
Thailand’s next football star may come from West Africa – VIDEO
Photo: Facebook/Look e san Al Jazeera has just released their new episode of ‘101 East’, their award winning TV program which gives an in-depth look at weekly current affairs and telling bold untold stories from Asia and the Pacific’. This week’s episode takes a look at Thailand’s football industry and how many West African players are travelling to our capital,…
