Thai Life
Thailand guides, travel tips, cultural insights, and essential local information—discover everything you need to know about living, visiting, and experiencing the Land of Smiles. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted source for Thailand guides.
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Sponsored 5 ways retirees in Thailand lose money (and how to stop it)
Retiring in Thailand can be affordable and enjoyable, but many retirees lose money due to common mistakes. High living costs, scams, and unexpected expenses can quickly drain savings. There are five ways that retirees in Thailand can lose money and...
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BTS match long-standing Beatles’ record and reach the Top 6 in 26 countries with new album
South Korean band BTS is making waves across music charts around the world. Their new album ‘Map of the Soul – Persona’ has matched a long-standing Beatles record of having three number one albums on the US Billboard chart in one year. The all-male band comprises RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook, all aged between 22 and 27…
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Buyback Option at VIP KATA Condominium by Phuket9
Phuket9 Company announces a buy-back option for VIP KATA Condominium Project with a rental return of 56% over 8 years. The first two buildings of VIP KATA Condominium were launched in July 2018. After one month in August 2018, Phuket9 commenced construction of the second phase – 2 more buildings including 209 apartments, 2 common swimming pools, rooftop gardens, restaurants and a kids club.…
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Bangkok home prices among the cheapest in the Key Global Cities report
Hong Kong maintains its position as the world’s most expensive residential city, while Bangkok ranks at #33 out of 35 global cities surveyed. In the fifth annual Global Living Report, CBRE profiles the property markets across 35 key global cities. The results highlight that investments in urban areas such as transport infrastructure, connectivity, retail, cultural centres and housing are key…
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In love with the lottery – The Thai obsession with the national lottery
Thais love their national lottery. On the first and sixteenth of each month the lottery numbers are announced and people’s favourite numbers either come up, or they don’t – usually not. You will see the lottery ticket vendors either on the pavement or wandering through restaurants selling a once in a lifetime dream of winning the lottery. The National Statistical Office…
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‘Endgame’ proves a marvel on opening day
The Avengers are annihilating the competition. And that’s even before the 22-film franchise’s last hurrah reaches US movie theatres. “Avengers: Endgame” features the entire Marvel Universe of superheroes and has proven an effective weapon for Disney at destroying old opening-day records across Asia, specifically in China. The movie raked in US$169 million on its first day of screening when it…
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Raid on 18 foreign-owned Koh Samui hotels, owners arrested
FILE PHOTO Army, police and municipal officials have raided 18 hotels on Koh Samui claiming that they are illegally owned by foreigners. The hotels in questions are on a mountainside on the Gulf island, the second largest island in Thailand. Officials carried out the search and raids on Chaweng Noi Mountain in Moo 6 village in Tambon Bophut and found…
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Finance Ministry wants to give 1,500 baht to each domestic traveller
The Finance Ministry says they are launching a new stimulus package to boost the country’s domestic tourism by giving Thais 1,500 baht each to spend when they travel to 55 provinces under the promotion campaign. Under the campaign, Thais aged 18 and over can register for the program. The government will then deposit 1,500 baht into their accounts though the…
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Patong’s trash hero rewarded for collecting garbage in filthy canal
PHOTOS: Patong Police / Theeraphong Penmit / Newshawk Phuket A Phuket boy has been rewarded after setting an excellent example for the rest of the Patong community. 8 year old Kosin Ta-ngam, who is studying at Sai Nam Yen School in Patong in Pratom Suksa Three, has been collecting garbage in the filthy Pak Bang Canal and along Patong Beach…
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K-Pop dominating YouTube records – BTS and Blackpink
BTS, Blackpink, YouTube, Boy With Luv Last week’s Blackpink single-day YouTube viewing record has been beaten by fellow K-Pop supremos BTS notching up 78 million views for their “Boy With Luv” music video within its first 24 hours of hitting the video site. (Three days later it’s on 129 million with 7.8 million ‘likes’ and still going…) K-pop rival Blackpink…
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Phuket hotel watch – trends in 2019
by Bill Barnett of C9Hotelworks.com At the beginning of the year Phuket’s tourism and hotel sector was cautiously optimistic after a strong first half of 2018 and humbling second half. Key terms that kept popping up were Mainland Chinese, Thai Baht Appreciation, Elections and Supply Concerns. So today, with five months of performance under the belt in 2019 what are…
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BTS smashes YouTube records with ‘Boy With Luv’ music video
BTS, Halsey, Boy With Luv, YouTube, record A YouTube record has been surpassed. No… SMASHED. Korean pop kings BTS’ video for their 2018 “Fake Love” received 35.9 million views in its first 24 hours, making it the biggest 24 hour debut of 2018 and the third biggest 24 hour debut of all time. But that’s nothing compared to the impact…
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Thailand swelters under the Songkran sun
Temperatures are soaring around the country, right on time, as the Songkran holiday kicks in. People are heading home for the annual Thai New Year break whilst the tourists are flooding into the main hot spots for the water fights. The annual celebration is meant to provide a ritual washing of Buddha images, ‘gentle’ splashing of family and friends and…
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BTS conclude their record-breaking Love Yourself world tour in Bangkok
Seven young South Koreans came to Bangkok over the weekend to complete a sell-out world tour and the finish of a year that saw them rise from a K-Pop anomaly to a global pop sensation. BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan – Bulletproof Boyscouts) have toured the world with their ‘Love Yourself’ tour in an eventful year that has seen them break through…
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Surachate Hakparn: Sidelined and sent back to the operation centre of the RTP
Thailand’s headline policeman, former Immigration Chief Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn, aka. Big Joke, has been transferred to the Operation Centre of the Royal Thai Police. The order was signed by the Thai Police Chief Chakthip Chaijinda. The order was signed and executed last night. As of today, his social media account – Facebook and Twitter – plus the Immigration…
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Six arrested for drug use after raid on illegal Bangkok pub
Six customers have been arrested in a raid early today after troops and police, led by the Internal Security Operations Command, raided a Bangkok pub. The 2.30am raid on the New Jazz 2 pub in the Bangkok Noi district was made following complaints that it violated closing hour law and disturbed the neighbourhood. The six customers were arrested on drug charges.…
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Bangkok’s bye bye to Boyzone and hello to BTS
by Kitchana Lersakvanitchakul and Tim Newton In a stark reflection in the massive changes in musical tastes, music business models and the spread of world music in the last 20 years, Bangkok has witnessed the passing of one boyband icon and welcomes the next frenzy, all within 10 days. In both cases, Irish crooners Boyzone and South Korea’s BTS (Bangtan…
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Facebook: The engagement is over
Facebook, and why your posts aren’t being seen much anymore… If you’re posting on Facebook these days you’re likely getting a much lower response than in the past. There were the golden days of Facebook, say 4-8 years ago, when the followers just kept stacking up and the engagement was high. Now it’s much more difficult to find new followers,…
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“Easier, faster and more watertight” – Surachate’s vision for Immigration
Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn, Thailand’s Immigration chief, has outlined a few new directions for visitor and expat visas in Thailand. Speaking to TNA MCOT, the chief acknowledged the 1979 Act was “out of date” and “not in line with modern countries” and travel procedures. Surachate said that Thailand was the third most visited country in the world and was a place…
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Bangkok Motor Show opens as Thai car sales move online
PHOTO: New Nissan all-electric LEAF, on display at the Bangkok Motor Show by Kingsley Wijayasinha “Despite the increase in sales online, including new automobiles, we’re not worried that fewer people will show up at the event to purchase vehicles.” More than 1.6 million visitors are expected at this year’s Bangkok International Motor Show, which kicks off today at IMPACT Muangthong…
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Child drowning cases – dramatic drop over two decades
The leading cause of death in Thai children, below the age of 15, is drowning. “Even though the cases have recently fallen to an all time low, it’s still not low enough.” “In nearly two decades there have been 22,700 drowning cases, that’s between the years 2000 and 2018. That averages nearly 1,300 child drownings every year.” These numbers from…
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K-Pop star arrested over sex tape scandal
K-pop star Jung Joon-young has been arrested over allegations he shared sexually explicit videos of women filmed without their consent. He appeared at a court hearing yesterday where he apologised to the victims for his actions. An arrest warrant was issued a few hours later. 30 year old Jung, who was first questioned by police last week, spoke to the…
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Heavier traffic violation penalties being discussed by police
Heavier penalties for drink-drivers and repeat offenders on Thai roads are under scission between traffic police and other agencies. Maj-General Ekkarak Limsangkatt, a member of the committee reviewing of traffic-law enforcement, is calling for harsher punishments in line with the Japanese model that penalises both the drink-driver and any passenger who “abetted the wrongdoing.” Ekkarak was speaking after a meeting…
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Sold over 2.6 million copies and it’s not even released. Map of the Soul, BTS.
The new album Map of the Soul: Persona has already sold 2,685,030 copies. That was in just four days up to March 17. And it’s not even being released until April 12. It also came to light that the same band had the second and third best selling albums in the world for 2018, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic…
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Siam Songkran Festival lights up this year’s Songkran in Bangkok
Sick of running around Bangkok with your 200 baht Tesco water pistol? Combine the annual water festival with a world class music festival instead. Welcome to Siam Songkran, Thailand’s newest four-day Songkran festival set to be held April 12 – 15 at Bangkok’s largest city centre entertainment zone, SHOW DC Arena. A time of tradition, Songkran is also a time…
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A new visa paperwork problem for some expats?
We get occasional emails from expats relating their various problems with Immigration as they apply for new visas or renewals. The common thread is that applying for, and renewing visas, is becoming unnecessarily complicated. This one seems complex. Names have been withheld for privacy. “I am a British citizen and my baby’s visas were renewed without an issue, but the…
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Deputy PM orders review of intercity and rural road speeds
Deputy PM, Defence Minister and also in charge of police affairs, General Prawit Wongsuwan has instructed police and related agencies to review and set appropriate speed limits for various vehicle types on intercity motorways and rural roads in order to boost road safety and reduce accidents. He has instructed the Royal Thai Police to coordinate with Interior and Transport ministries…
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WARNING: Dengue cases four times worse than last year
A nationwide alert has gone up about a big rise in Dengue cases across the country. Hospitals nationwide are being ordered to set up emergency facilities to deal with the worrying rise in cases of dengue fever since the start of 2019. Workpoint News reports that, in January alone, there were four times as many cases of the disease compared…
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Another Yong bites the dust – K-Pop in crisis
Another K-pop star has been forced to quit their band after admitting he watched sex videos received from another idol. 29 year old Yong Jun-hyung is the third singer to be engulfed in the scandal sweeping South Korea’s squeaky clean music industry. The member of boy band Highlight, formerly known as B2ST, admitted that he watched a video of singer…
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Cabinet supports bid for southern ‘Nora’ dance to be included in UNESCO heritage list
“The Thai government will nominate Nora at UNESCO’s upcoming meeting. “Nora, a southern traditional dance, has been given the nod to seek a place on UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage representatives list.The Culture Ministry has been striving to preserve the unique Thai dance after ‘Khon’, the masked dance drama, was registered on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list at a…
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4 ways Thais use Twitter. Which one are you?
With hundreds of millions of users globally, Twitter is many things to many people. Amongst Thailand’s growing Twitter community, it’s interesting to see how users are evolving the way they use Twitter. Trending topics change rapidly as Thai users jump from one hot topic to another, while favourite celebrities and musicians remain relatively consistent. Below are just four ways Thais…
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