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    See the best of Northern Thailand this winter on a budget

    The Thaiger key takeaways Peak season brings higher prices, but smart planning and local know-how can help you experience Northern Thailand affordably. Chiang Mai, Pai, and Chiang Rai offer plenty of free or low-cost attractions, from temples and canyons to...

  • Thai-Chinese gang arrested for dating app scam at Chiang Mai’s luxury resort | Thaiger

    Thai-Chinese gang arrested for dating app scam at Chiang Mai’s luxury resort

    Police yesterday revealed that a Thai-Chinese gang had been arrested in Chaing Mai for operating illegal dating scam activities after a tip off. Police apprehended 24 people after a member of the public alerted authorities to a group of Chinese men behaving suspiciously at the luxury Chaing Mai holiday resort. The gang included 20 Chinese and 4 Thai, 2 of…

  • Leaders of smaller Thai parties want to legalise online casinos | Thaiger

    Leaders of smaller Thai parties want to legalise online casinos

    Twenty representatives of smaller Thai political parties have submitted a draft amendment for the Gambling Act to Thailand’s parliamentary house speaker yesterday. The draft amendment would aim to legalise online casinos. An MP from the Thai Local Power Party said that legalising online casinos will let authorities collect taxes from license holders, and decide how to punish illegal casino operators.…

  • Thai officials vow to solve household debt problem at Phuket event | Thaiger

    Thai officials vow to solve household debt problem at Phuket event

    Thai officials held a ‘Household Debt Reconciliation Fair’ in Phuket yesterday. At the event, Thailand’s Minister of Justice Somsak Thepsutin said the government has designated 2022 as the “Year of Solving Household Debt”. He said that 2,810 people had registered for the event. Somsak said that several government departments have organised events to “facilitate the mediation process of household debts…

  • Nok Air gamble fails to take off costing airline millions | Thaiger

    Nok Air gamble fails to take off costing airline millions

    Low-cost budget airline Nok Air’s gamble of investing in a special route to boost tourism has backfired to the tune of 40 million baht. The Thai airline, which mostly operates domestic services out of Don Mueang International Airport, introduced the Bangkok to Betong route in February but plan to scrap it in July after suffering heavy losses. The Betong International…

  • UWC Thailand to host Moonlit Melodies Refugee Fundraising Concert | Thaiger

    UWC Thailand to host Moonlit Melodies Refugee Fundraising Concert

    Press Release UWC Thailand will be hosting a fundraising concert, Moonlit Melodies, on 10 June 2022 at the Pavilions Hotels & Resorts Firefly Restaurant. The highlight of the evening will be performances from the Harvard Radcliffe Pitches, an acapella group comprised of 13 Harvard undergraduates, including a UWC alumni. This exceptional group of treble-voiced musicians is dedicated to preserving and performing the…

  • Danish man left suicidal after being raped for a week in Phuket | Thaiger

    Danish man left suicidal after being raped for a week in Phuket

    A Danish man confessed he was left suicidal after being kidnapped, drugged and raped at the popular Thai holiday resort of Phuket five years ago. Mathias Søby Kristensen revealed in a no holds barred interview on a Danish TV documentary how he still has nightmares after being drugged and sexually abused by a Thai man while on holiday at the…

  • Political activist has bail denied over missing pay slip | Thaiger

    Political activist has bail denied over missing pay slip

    A bail application from monarchy reform activist Tantawan Tuatulanon has been rejected over a missing pay slip. Thai PBS World reports that the Criminal Court denied a bail application submitted by Move Forward leader, Pita Limjaroenrat. The reason given was that Pita had not submitted his MP’s pay slip with the application. According to the court, Pita needed to provide…

  • Thai officials say schools can set their own hair rules, but no harsh punishment | Thaiger

    Thai officials say schools can set their own hair rules, but no harsh punishment

    Thailand school haircut drama continues as the Education Ministry has announced yesterday that schools are free to set their own hairstyle rules. While Education Minister Trinuch Thienthong added that schools have been ordered not to impose harsh punishments on students who violate hairstyle rules, the secretary-general of Thailand’s Basic Education Commission reiterated that responsibility over the rules lies with schools.…

  • Thailand’s biggest light festival is headed to Phuket | Thaiger

    Thailand’s biggest light festival is headed to Phuket

    After it began last week in Krabi, Thailand’s biggest light festival, known as the Aqua Lumina Illumination Festival, is headed towards Phuket. The festival will dazzle the shores of Nai Harn Beach from this coming Friday until May 31. The festival in Phuket will display lit up sculptures and multimedia shows, as well as projection mapping with 3D images with…

  • Karma in Kalasin: Man steals drain cover then drives his car into the hole | Thaiger

    Karma in Kalasin: Man steals drain cover then drives his car into the hole

    A thief from Kalasin province in northeast Thailand got a taste of his own medicine today after he stole a drain cover and proceeded to drive his pickup truck into the open hole. He was forced to request help from municipality officers, who instantly recognised him as the thief from CCTV footage, detained him and handed him over to the…

  • Black water still flowing into ocean at Phuket’s Kamala Beach | Thaiger

    Black water still flowing into ocean at Phuket’s Kamala Beach

    A popular Facebook page has posted a video and photos this week of black, dirty water flowing into Phuket’s Kamala Beach on the island’s west coast. The page, titled Monsoon Garbage Thailand, claims that the dirty black water was released from nearby businesses without any treatment. The Phuket Express reports that local business owners and government representatives have not yet responded…

  • Prosecutor in Red Bull heir case kicked out of civil service | Thaiger

    Prosecutor in Red Bull heir case kicked out of civil service

    Today, Thailand’s public prosecution committee unanimously agreed to kick ex-general attorney Nate Naksuk out of the civil service for choosing not to indict the “Red Bull heir,” who killed a police officer in a hit-and-run incident back in 2012. Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidya – the grandson of billionaire Red Bull co-founder Chaleo Yoovidhya – became a fugitive after speeding through the…

  • New Krabi Airport terminal scheduled to open in November | Thaiger

    New Krabi Airport terminal scheduled to open in November

    Krabi International Airport is hoping to double its passenger capacity when a new passenger terminal opens, car parking areas increased and renovations are completed on the old terminal. The terminals were expected to officially open in October, but the schedule is now postponed until November due to delays caused by the Covid pandemic in Thailand (although The Thaiger notes the…

  • Mixed fortunes for Thai Airways but nation’s flag carrier confident of financial take off | Thaiger

    Mixed fortunes for Thai Airways but nation’s flag carrier confident of financial take off

    Financial figures released yesterday by Thai Airways International revealed mixed fortunes for the Bangkok-based airline. Thailand’s flag carrier airline declared a net loss of nearly 3.4 billion baht on revenue of 11.2 billion baht in Q1, an improvement on the 11.2 billion baht net loss from the same period last year, but on the positive side the company also noted…

  • Thai officials visit Saudi Arabia for roadshow, push for more tourists | Thaiger

    Thai officials visit Saudi Arabia for roadshow, push for more tourists

    As part of a push to draw more Middle Eastern tourists to Thailand, tourism officials visited Saudi Arabia on May 15-16 in a roadshow. There, the Tourism Authority of Thailand signed a memorandum of cooperation with Almosafer, the biggest OTA in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The TAT also signed an MoC with Saudia, Saudi Arabia’s flag carrier, to promote a…

  • Flooding in Bangkok after 10 hours of torrential rain | Thaiger

    Flooding in Bangkok after 10 hours of torrential rain

    Bangkok has flooded in many areas after 10 hours of torrential rain beginning at 3pm yesterday and continuing into the early hours of this morning, according to the Department of Drainage and Sewage. The most affected areas are Chatuchak, Lak Si, Don Mueang and Lat Phrao. In some places, the water level has reached higher than 1 metre. The floods…

  • Police hunt foreigner wanted in relation to violent assault at Pattaya gym | Thaiger

    Police hunt foreigner wanted in relation to violent assault at Pattaya gym

    Police in Pattaya are searching for a foreign man wanted in relation to a violent assault on another foreigner at a local gym. According to a Pattaya News report, 46-year-old British national, Gary Reed, was assaulted with a dumbbell in a row over gym equipment. The victim says that he was exercising at the gym when a foreign man started…

  • Russell Crowe to question Bangkok governor candidates live on TV | Thaiger

    Russell Crowe to question Bangkok governor candidates live on TV

    On Thursday May 19, Russell Crowe and six other celebrities will ask questions to seven Bangkok governor candidates live on TV prior to the election which will be held on Sunday, May 22. From 4:15pm – 6pm on Thursday, Channel 7HD will air the live programme “22 May: Deciding Bangkok’s Fate” hosted by Tin Chokkamolkij. Seven Bangkok governor candidates will…

  • Water park pool slashed causing a flood at gated community | Thaiger

    Water park pool slashed causing a flood at gated community

    A knife-wielding hoodlum caused chaos at the SansaNook water park in Samut Prakan, just south of Bangkok, by sinking a blade into a huge artificial pool resulting in a flood to a nearby gated community. Water park staff alerted owner Nathapong Pathaveesathian to the vandalism on Sunday just before 7pm after residents complained their homes were being flooded. Nathapong arrived…

  • Thailand to welcome one millionth tourist this year by end of May | Thaiger

    Thailand to welcome one millionth tourist this year by end of May

    Thailand expects its one millionth foreign tourist this year to arrive by the end of May, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand. The kingdom has seen a sharp increase in tourists since the Test & Go programme and other entry requirements were scrapped at the start this month. However, the current influx of tourists still has nothing on pre-pandemic…

  • 6 million baht worth of gold stolen in Northern Thailand | Thaiger

    6 million baht worth of gold stolen in Northern Thailand

    Police are on the lookout for an armed robber who fled the crime scene with nearly 6 million baht worth of gold from a Big C Supermarket in Tak, Northern Thailand, on Sunday. The robber burst into the popular superstore, withdrew a handgun, demanded cash and several trays of gold jewelry, before making his escape on a white Yamaha motorbike…

  • Government says relaxed travel restrictions have led to tourism surge on Phuket, Samui | Thaiger

    Government says relaxed travel restrictions have led to tourism surge on Phuket, Samui

    The Thai government is patting itself on the back for the decision to ease entry restrictions, which officials say has boosted tourism in places like Phuket and Koh Samui. “All this is due to the government’s move to ease travel restrictions during the country’s high season between March and May.” So says government spokesman, Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana, pointing out that up…

  • Tourism officials aiming for 80 million domestic trips in first half of 2022 | Thaiger

    Tourism officials aiming for 80 million domestic trips in first half of 2022

    With Covid infections going down, the hopes of tourism officials are going up, according to a Bangkok Post report. Thapanee Kiatphaibool from the Tourism Authority of Thailand is feeling optimistic about domestic travel this year. She says the TAT expects around 80 million domestic trips to be undertaken in the first half of 2022. “The TAT aims to tally 40…

  • In Thailand, Covid numbers plummet, but restrictions remain | Thaiger

    In Thailand, Covid numbers plummet, but restrictions remain

    Thailand registered 5,238 new Covid infections and 40 new Covid-related deaths over the last 24 hours, another day of drops in numbers since the Omicron variant hit its peak on April 1 with 28,379 infections in a 24 hour period. Yesterday there were 6,094 new infections and 51 deaths. But the number of deaths from Covid-19 has been stubbornly consistently…

  • TripAdvisor’s 2022 Best of the Best Awards includes 2 Thai hotels | Thaiger

    TripAdvisor’s 2022 Best of the Best Awards includes 2 Thai hotels

    Online travel company, TripAdvisor, has released its list of the 25 best hotels in the world for 2022 and it includes 2 Thai properties. The “Traveller’s Choice 2022 – Best of the Best Awards” ranks the Pimalai Resort and Spa, on Koh Lanta, in Krabi province, at number 12 and Sukhumvit Park – Marriott Executive Apartments in Bangkok at number…

  • Dengue hasn’t gone away – Dengue fever in Thailand 2022, and how to avoid it | Thaiger

    Dengue hasn’t gone away – Dengue fever in Thailand 2022, and how to avoid it

    Covid-19, and the controls taken to limit its spread, have clearly disrupted essential health services and other disease control programs worldwide – school closures, lockdowns, curfews and social restrictions, hoping to limit the spread of Covid-19. But those enforced changes have also resulted in the transmission of other infectious diseases, including dengue fever. Despite dropping off the radar in the…

  • Thai Golf website has 36% jump in views since borders reopen | Thaiger

    Thai Golf website has 36% jump in views since borders reopen

    As the Tourism Authority of Thailand starts to ramp up its overseas campaigns to encourage international travellers to fly to Thailand, one sector, Golf, is already seeing a jump in activity. Since the recent announcement of the relaxing of Thailand Pass entry regulations, many international golf vacationers have shown a keen interest in playing a few rounds in the Land…

  • Visakha Bucha Day 2022. Today is the substitute public holiday. | Thaiger

    Visakha Bucha Day 2022. Today is the substitute public holiday.

    Today is the substitute public holiday to mark Visakha Bucha Day, the most significant and sacred day in the Buddhist calendar. Sunday was the actual day, according to the Buddhist calendar, but as it fell on a weekend, today is the actual public holiday. On either days, Buddhist Thais will visit their local temples and participate in rituals and ceremonies.…

  • Have your rain poncho ready until Tuesday in Thailand! | Thaiger

    Have your rain poncho ready until Tuesday in Thailand!

    Get your 20 baht 7-11 rain poncho ready for the next 2 days! Thailand is expecting heavy rain showers to cover most of the country through until Tuesday. This news comes after monsoonal troughs have already spread through Phuket and the Andaman coast. Now, winds and precipitation are expected to pick up in the northern, north-eastern, central and eastern regions…

  • Thailand’s PM Prayut invites US to invest in supply chains | Thaiger

    Thailand’s PM Prayut invites US to invest in supply chains

    As part of his visit to the US, Thailand’s PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has attended the 2nd ASEAN-US Special Summit in Washington last week. Now, he is inviting the US to invest or set up supply chains in Thailand to fill gaps created by the Russia-Ukraine crisis. And not the least the ongoing disruption of China’s part in the supply chain…