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Sponsored Digital nomading in Chiang Mai? What US$1,000 a month really gets you
Chiang Mai has become a popular destination for digital nomads due to its low living costs, rich culture, and active remote work community. The city offers affordable housing, tasty food, reliable internet, and many co-working spaces, making it a great...
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Another baby dugong dies in Thailand
PHOTO: Thai PBS World The Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) revealed on Thursday that Yamil, the dugong being cared for in Phuket after being found stranded on a Krabi beach, has died. It was brought to Vachira Hospital at 5.00pm for a planned endoscopy to remove a large amount of seagrass stuck in its stomach. The medical team used water…
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Biologist calls on Thailand to list all sharks as endangered
PHOTO: Wikipedia Marine biologist Thon Thamrongnawasawat, insists Thailand must place all shark species on its list of endangered animals. His warning is accompanied by Facebook photos showing chopped up blacktip reef sharks being sold on Koh Lanta, in Krabi province. As black tip reef sharks are not listed as endangered, no law is currently being broken. And while the waters…
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Dead deer found in Thai national park with 3 kilos of plastic bags in its stomach
PHOTO: Coconuts Bangkok Plastic bags continue to take their toll, and not just on marine life. A dead deer has been found in Khao Yai National Park, central Thailand, with 3 kilos of plastic bags inside it. The deer died after eating plastic bags and plastic cutlery left behind by visitors to the national park. The heart-breaking photos were posted…
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British tourist killed at Phuket resort, Norwegian charged
PHOTO: Tourist Assistance Centre A late night fight that broke out at a Karon resort has ended in a Norwegian man killing a British tourist. The fight started at 4.00am, when British national Amitpal Singh Bajaj, who was on holiday with his Singaporean wife and two young children, confronted Roger Bullman over the amount of noise coming from his room.…
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Phuket marine vets report on the progress of dugong calf ‘Yamil’
PHOTO: The Nation A veterinary team at the Phuket Marine Biological Centre has removed the remaining partially-digested sea grass from the 3 month old dugong calf Yamil’s stomach to prevent complications from possible infection. The calf still suffers from excess stomach and intestinal gas, abnormal heart rhythms and occasional seizures. X-ray results showed liquid food is still passing through Yamil’s…
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Thai government to consider bringing forward plastics ban
That’s a ban on of single-use plastic bags, styrofoam (polystyrene) boxes, plastic straws and single-use plastic cups In a surprise announcement, the Thai Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment says they’re considering bringing forward, by 1-2 years, a complete ban on the use of the key plastic polluters. Varawut Silpa-archa, the Natural Resources and Environment Minister, says the department’s proposal,…
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More than four million guests stayed in an Airbnb on August 10, 2019
“Airbnb has created an opportunity to meet people from all around the world.” – Pim, an Airbnb Host in Thailand Exactly 11 years since Airbnb was founded, the home-sharing hospitality company and ‘accommodation disrupters’ celebrated its biggest night ever, with more than 4 million people spending the night in an Airbnb listing on August 10, 2019. To date, there has…
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Koh Phangan get a fully licensed International School opening next month
Si Ri Panya International School announced this week they have received their license from the Thai Ministry of Education and will open as the first official international school on Koh Phangan on September 4. In an important first for the Gulf island, a ferry ride from Koh Samui or the mainland, the school is now licensed to teach a full…
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Bars and clubs in Thailand open until 4.00am? Not everyone is in favour
PHOTO: Hotels.com Some academics oppose the Tourism and Sports Minister’s idea to allow entertainment venues to remain open until 4.00am. Udomsak Saengow of the Centre for Alcohol Studies is one of those suggesting that more research is needed before such a move. “Civic groups have worked hard to limit access to alcohol and they succeeded in lobbying for shortening the…
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What did this Bangkok homeowner find on their couch?
PHOTOS: Kapook The owner of a Bangkok house has returned home to find this on their couch… a) a piece of left-over pizza? b) a thousand baht note behind one of the pillows” c) a 2 metre monitor lizard sleeping peacefully? The correct answer is ‘c’. The home-owner of a house in Suksawat 26 walked inside, turned on the light,…
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Motorbike riders on Bangkok sidewalk told where to go
Internet users in Thailand are cheering a Japanese student, currently studying at Kasetsart University in Sakon Nakhon province, north-east Thailand, who stood up to two motorbikes trying to make her move out of the way so they could continue driving on a sidewalk whilst she was in Bangkok. On Wednesday, a Facebook video went viral showing the student waiting on…
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Thai coalition government may not last more than two years, experts caution
PHOTO: The Nation Economic concerns and doubts over the government’s legitimacy may mean it only maintains a grip on power for two years, according to academics. The situation is not helped by Deputy PM General Prawit Wongsuwan being made chief strategist of the Phalang Pracharat party. According to Titipol Phakdeewanich, Dean of Ubon Ratchathani University’s Political Science faculty, this only…
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Lamphun monks ahead of the trend to eliminate single-use plastic bags
Phra Samutnatthee Suvathato, the deputy Abbot of the Wat Pa Book, in the Pa Sang district of Thailand’s northern province of Lamphun, says their temple has been ahead of the trend to reduce the use of plastics for two decades. Lamphun is just south of Chiang Mai. They’ve already been using a portable kitchen cabinet to receive alms from Buddhist…
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Central opens first luxury outlet at Suvarnabhumi on August 31
Central Village, “Thailand’s first international luxury outlet”, located near Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, will officially open on August 31. The Nation reports that the design of the 5 billion baht facility, owned by the Central Pattana group, will “highlight Thai architecture and cultural identities” and shoppers will find at least 130 well known international luxury and lifestyle brands. “More than half…
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Thailand Prime Minister rejects calls to ban plastic bags
PHOTO: Chiang Rai Times In what some may see as a baffling contradiction, Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha promised to protect marine life, while simultaneously rejecting an increasing number of calls for a ban on single-use plastic bags. Following the death of Marium, a young dugong who had ingested plastic waste, the PM says he has ordered the agencies concerned to…
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Proposal to offer 15 day visa-free travel to Chinese and Indian visitors steam-rolled
The new Thai Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn’s proposal to provide 15 day visa-free travel to Chinese and Indian tourists, was steam-rolled yesterday by Cabinet. The cabinet resolved instead to extend the fee waiver on visas for visitors from China, India and other countries in the program. The program will now be extended beyond October 31 this year to…
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Former finance minister says government shouldn’t bail out Thai Airways
Former Thai Finance Minister and current Democrat list MP Korn Chatikavanich is voicing his concerns over the financial crisis gripping Thai Airways and objects to any plan to use taxpayer money to rescue the ailing legacy airline. Korn says Thai Airways’ financial current troubles are similar to the situation in 2008, when the company struggled to find money to repay…
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TAT proposes 4am closing time at nightspots to promote tourism…ummmmm
The Thai government are coming up with new ideas to actually lure people to visit Thailand. Go figure!?! Now the Tourism Authority of Thailand is suggesting to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports to extend the closing hours of night entertainment establishments in Thailand’s party zones by another 2 hours, from 2am until 4am. Of course, in most of the…
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Thief steals from a Pattaya bar’s merit money tree
CCTV surveillance footage from the Bart Navy Bar on Pattaya Beach Road reveals a thief crawling in and stealing from the merit making money tree in the bar. The We Love Pattaya Facebook page describes the thief as a “sinner”. https://web.facebook.com/welovepattaya58/videos/903025310064062/ The time stamp indicates that the”sinner” was operational around 4.30am yesterday (Monday) morning. The bar in Soi 7 Pattaya…
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Scrap metal merchant arrested over stolen rail track pins causing train derailment
PHOTOS: Twitter@pr.railway A scrap metal shop owner has been arrested for stealing rail track ‘pins’ that were responsible for the derailment of a railway carriages heading south from Bangkok to Chumpon province yesterday. The derailment happened in the Phetchaburi province. The incident happened yesterday (Monday) just after midday and took the rest of the day and evening to lift the…
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Executives at Thai Airways asked to take pay cut
PHOTO: Thai Airways and Thai PBS World “An unnamed source in the Transport Ministry says the airline’s financial predicament is very serious and puts it at risk of bankruptcy.” The country’s national flag carrier, Thai Airways, could be in deep financial trouble and may need to delay repaying its debt or seek new loans. Thai PBS World reports tat the…
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Thai Tourism Minister pushes ahead with visa-free entry for Indian, Chinese visitors
PHOTO: ThaiVisa Despite criticism from both the Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai and Deputy Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, the Tourism and Sports Minister says he will push on with plans for visa-free entry for Chinese and Indian tourists. Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn plans to put the proposal to Cabinet on August 20, despite the national security concerns of both ministers. “I…
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Environment Ministry wants to increase dugong populations by 50% over a decade
“Dr. Thon Thamrongnawasawat says that trash in the seas was the main cause of the death of many endangered marine species.” Pinsak Suraswadi, deputy director-general of the Marine and Coastal Resources Department, says the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment wants to increase the population of dugong in Thailand’s waters by 50% in the next ten years. The effort will…
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Thailand’s Koh Chang by numbers, another island on the rise
by Bill Barnett of c9hotelworks.com Despite being one of the country’s biggest islands in the Gulf of Thailand, Koh Chang has remained somewhat off the mass tourism development footprint. C9 Hotelworks has taken a look into what makes the island tick in their newly released Koh Chang Tourism Market Review. Koh Chang is off the coast of Trat in far…
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Thai Immigration bristles about TM30 revolt as it copes with PR disaster
The TM30 form, as well as the associated TM28 form, have now become a huge public relations liability for the Thai Immigration Department. The more questions asked, and the more explanations by well-intentioned Immigration officials, the more confusing the whole matter becomes. If the policy is intended to make Thailand safer and make foreigners feel more secure, the opposite is…
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Thai foreign minister criticises visa waiver proposal
The Foreign Ministry opposes the Tourism and Sports Ministry’s proposal to waive visas for Indian and Chinese tourists, calling it a “risk to national security”. The proposal was put forward at a meeting last Friday, as part of a series of measures to boost the economy through an injection of over 300 billion baht in tourism. It would permit Chinese and…
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Koh Samui looks to promotions to bolster dwindling foreign tourist numbers
The president of the Tourism Association of Koh Samui says that foreigner numbers visiting the Gulf island have crashed in the first half of 2019. He says they’re trying to swing their focus to Thai travellers and other promotions to make up the difference. Foreign visitors to Koh Samui in the past have been mostly from Germany, China, Eastern Europe,…
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“Government stimulus package for Thai economy is unsustainable”
PHOTO: Wikipedia Anusorn Tamajai, an economist from Rangsit University, says he expects the proposed package to make little difference and has declared it unsustainable. The package, which should be approved this week, is worth 370 billion baht and includes cash handouts for farmers and low-income earners, grants for children, incentives for domestic travelers, and tax incentives for small businesses. It’s…
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UPDATE: 9 Chinese arrested over 5 billion baht fraud case
On Saturday The Thaiger reported that nine Chinese nationals had been taken into custody after travelling to Thailand in order to avoid prosecution for crimes in China. They were wanted by Chinese authorities for alleged crimes in China. Read that report HERE. We now have some further details… Out of the 9, 5 were male and 4 were female. They…
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25 year old dugong washes ashore in Krabi
PHOTO: Sitthichai Sikhawat A 240 kilogram, 2.6 metre long adult male dugong has been found dead after being washed up on Rai Lay Bay in Krabi yesterday afternoon. The announcement was made by Hat Noppharat Thara–Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park head Worapot Limlom. The dugong, thought to be around 25 years old, was swept ashore at Ton Sai Beach…
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