Thailand News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, and lifestyle—get breaking updates from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. Stay informed on Thai society, economy, tourism, and expat life with The Thaiger.
-
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...
-
VIDEO: Rama II U-turn bridge collapses near Bangkok, killing 2
A U-turn bridge over the Rama II Road heading toward Bangkok collapsed yesterday at 8pm, falling onto four vehicles and killing two people. One passenger died at the scene and a construction worker who fell from the bridge later died in hospital from their injuries. Two more people were injured. The incident happened in front of Vibharam Hospital in Samut…
-
Son shoots mother after drunken row in luxury Bangkok condo
In a scene that had all the hallmarks of a Greek tragedy, a 41-year-old businessman shot and killed his 65 year old mother and threatened to murder his wife and two children after a drunken row broke out in a luxury condominium in Bangkok. Kelvin Shuo Gao, an Australian citizen, shot his Chinese mother Xing Liu twice to the body…
-
Army man rents 12 luxury cars, then sells them to used car dealers
A former army sergeant came up with a creative – and illegal – way to pay off some debt. He allegedly rented 12 luxury cars and then forged paperwork to sell the borrowed vehicle to car dealers. The sergeant has now been arrested by the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) yesterday and faces charges of fraud, counterfeiting, and using counterfeit official…
-
Foreign arrival screening increased to prevent monkeypox spread
The Thai government is taking precautions to screen incoming travellers from countries with monkeypox outbreaks in hopes of preventing its spread in the kingdom. Minister of Public Health Anutin Charnvirakul reported that his ministry is coordinating airport screening and focusing on people travelling from countries that are struggling with a monkeypox outbreak. The deputy director-general of the Department of Disease…
-
SLOW DOWN! Speed limits on highways in Thailand now in effect
Thailand’s notoriously dangerous roads may be getting a little bit safer. A new regulation just reported by the Expressway Authority of Thailand is slapping speed limits on the highways and expressways throughout the country. On the ground, the maximum speed will be set at 110 kilometres per hour, while elevated roadways will be capped at 100 kilometres an hour. The…
-
Eating Crocodile Penis in Thailand | Thaiger Throwback
Welcome to the a Thaiger throwback video. Due to African swine fever making pork prices soar to an all time record high and inflation increasing the prices of chicken and other products. People in Thailand have started to substitute pork and chicken for crocodile meat. It is said crocodile meat is tastier and high in protein, would you be able…
-
What do Thai people think about ‘The Big C’ in Thailand | Ask The Thais (Pt. 1)
Ask the Thai’s is back! This is a show where we ask our thai friends their opinions and thoughts regarding the culture difference between the thais and the west and also discuss their thoughts on the current affairs of Thailand. Let us know your thoughts and feedback and suggest some questions you have always wanted to ask the Thai’s.
-
Naked couple found dead in deep grave in Northern Thailand
The bodies of an unnamed couple have been discovered in a freshly dug grave in Chok Chai district Nakhon Ratchasima province, northeastern Thailand. The man and woman were found on Thursday evening by a local villager who had been foraging in the woods. He stumbled over some freshly-dug soil covered with branches near Ban Don Lai village in tambon Tha…
-
Thai pop star flees to UK after fearing for her safety in Thailand
A controversial pop star from Thailand has relocated to the relative safe haven of the UK after fearing for her life. Constant fears of being incarcerated because of the clash between the kingdom’s conservatism and her contentious musical lyrics have driven Peeralada Sukawat from her homeland. It’s been something of a meteoric rise for the 29 year old musician, known…
-
Let’s Travel Back to the 1960s | Thaiger Throwback
Welcome to the a Thaiger throwback video. For many centuries, Bangkokians have used canals as their main way for transportation. But ever since technology and roads were introduced to Thailand, Bangkokians have turned their front doors away from the waterways and started facing the main streets instead. However, Natty managed to find a quaint little community in the inner part…
-
Travel packages mired by pricey airfare, slowing tourism recovery
Many that have been eagerly awaiting the full reopening of Thailand and the return of tourism, did not anticipate the severe cost of airfare and travel packages that has come with it. Now, tourism recovery in Thailand is threatened by the staggeringly high cost to fly, pricing many would-be travellers out of the trip. The president of the Thai Travel…
-
10 million baht kidnapping of businessman by Chinese crooks is comedy of errors
The botched 10 million baht kidnapping of a Vanuatu businessman by three Chinese gangsters had the hallmarks of a blockbuster comedy movie stamped all over it. The hostage and ransom demand situation may not have been funny to the businessman and his girlfriend but the situation was pure slapstick and would not look out of place on the silver screen.…
-
130 tonnes of imported waste going back to Australia
Many expats living in Thailand are shocked when they see locals dumping their trash on the side of the road, but it turns out there is a much bigger perpetrator of illegal dumping in the kingdom. The Inter-Pacific Paper Company was caught by Thai authorities shipping 130 tonnes of illegal waste to Thailand from Australia. The Department of Customs contacted…
-
Heavy rain kills 2 elephants at a Thailand national park
Tragedy hit Khao Yai National Park this week when park rangers discovered the carcasses of two dead elephants among the rocks near Heo Narok Waterfall. Access now has been closed to the waterfall in Nakhon Ratchasima Province as rangers try to remove the bodies. Khao Yai National Park chief Chaiya Huaihongthong yesterday revealed that the elephants died as a result…
-
Cheapest All You Can Eat Buffet in Thailand | Lumpini Park
You must try this buffet located at Lumpini park in Bangkok, Thailand. Possibly the cheapest all you can eat buffet in Thailand, it has a wide variety of choices to choose from before or after you visit Thailand’s first ever public park. Join Natty and Jay as they try this buffet and visit Lumpini park and show you all it…
-
Opposition to foreign land ownership in Thailand
The government scheme to allow foreigners to buy one rai of land may have been met by enthusiasm in the expat community but not everyone has welcomed the idea. The Interior Ministry’s proposal to allow foreigners to own a bit of land if they invest 40 million baht is seen by many as a short-term fix to the kingdom’s economy…
-
Happy Birthday to His Royal Majesty King Vajiralongkorn
The Thaiger joins the nation of Thailand in wishing a very happy birthday to His Royal Majesty King Vajiralongkorn as he marks his 70th birthday today. Celebrations have taken place around the kingdom to celebrate the royal milestone as the king becomes a septuagenarian. Born in Bangkok at Ambara Villa, Dusit Palace on this day in 1952, HM the king…
-
Thailand’s second case of monkeypox recorded in Bangkok
A Thai man in Bangkok has tested positive for monkeypox, becoming Thailand’s second recorded case of the virus since the global outbreak began in May this year. At 2.30pm today, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul revealed that the positive result from Wachira Hospital in Bangkok had been confirmed by the Ministry of Health. The 47 year old Thai man started…
-
Thieves rob French millionaire’s house at gunpoint in northeast Thailand
Four thieves armed with guns and knives broke into a French millionaire’s house in the northeastern province of Chaiyaphum in the early hours of Monday morning and robbed millions of baht’s worth of cash and assets. The single-story home in the Noen Sa-nga district is jointly owned by 39 year old Waritsara Poobkhonthot and her French husband Stephane Greco, the…
-
Tenfold tourist increase due after Thailand-Saudi route opens
Thailand is expecting a tenfold increase in visitors from Saudi Arabia after the launch of the Bangkok to Jeddah route on August 19. Deputy government spokesperson Rachada Dhnadirek estimates that the upcoming launch of the direct air route between the holy city of Mecca and the Kingdom of Thailand’s capital city will push up the number of visitors from 30,000…
-
Elderly man hit with 10,000 baht electricity bill in central Thailand
An 88 year old man from Kamphaeng Phet province in central Thailand couldn’t believe his eyes when his most recent electricity bill amounted to almost 10,000 baht. Family members and neighbours are contesting the bill on behalf of the old man, who had to take out a loan to pay for his electricity this month. Grandpa’s bill from the Metropolitan…
-
Mayor of Pattaya expects 80,000 tourists to visit Koh Larn this holiday
Pattaya is expected to be bustling with tourists from today until Sunday, in celebration of His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun’s 70th birthday today. Mayor of Pattaya Poramet Ngampichet estimates that a whopping 80,000 tourists will travel to Koh Larn island off the coast of Pattaya in the eastern province of Chon Buri during the four-day royal birthday weekend from…
-
Public Health Ministry requests, then retracts cannabis crackdown
First, it’s very illegal with harsh punishment, then suddenly it’s legal with no restrictions, then it’s banned for government, military, children, and pregnant women, then it was never intended for recreational use, and then cigarettes containing it will be banned. Now the rollercoaster that is the decriminalisation of cannabis in Thailand took another sharp u-turn as the Ministry of Public…
-
Thailand deny Uyghurs deportation to China
Fears Thailand is in the process of deporting asylum-seeking Uyghurs back to China have been denied by the government. News broke yesterday that dozens of Uyghurs from all around Thailand had been rounded up and impounded in a detention facility in Bangkok, raising fears among non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that the government plans to deport them back to China. It sparked…
-
UPDATE: Body of foreigner found dead in Phuket is US man
UPDATE: The foreigner’s body that was found in waters off Yanui Beach in Phuket’s main city district yesterday morning has been named as US citizen John Joseph Sheridan. The 74 year old’s body was discovered floating in the water after he apparently fell on sharp rocks and bled to death. Fisherman found Sheridan, from Pennsylvania, floating on the rocky part of the shore…
-
Police in eastern Thailand give helmets to riders caught without them
Police in one province in eastern Thailand is giving free helmets to motorcycle riders caught not wearing them. The deputy chief of Trat Provincial Police, along with a team of traffic police, started this new approach today. Instead of fining riders caught without helmets, the police passed out free helmets to riders passing by a school in the main city…
-
Irony of mini coup not lost on Thailand’s Interior Minister
The irony doesn’t appear to be lost on Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda that there was something of a mini coup against him from within his party at last week’s censure debate. Gen Anupong, of course, is one of the three generals at the centre of the military coup which took place in Thailand in May 2014 along with Prime Minister…
-
Thailand’s cannabis cottage industry set to fly high
Yesterday, Thailand’s Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul once again defended his decision to decriminalize cannabis. Calls to reverse or suspend the legislation, by physicians, doctors, universities, and religious groups, fell on deaf ears and hundreds of new cannabis-related businesses in the kingdom breathed a sigh of relief. The decriminalization of the drug on June 6 has led to something of…
-
Was the Nigerian man the real first monkeypox case in Thailand?
The head of the Centre for Medical Genomics at Ramathibodi Hospital has addressed what many have questioned in the wild case of the Nigerian man who was diagnosed in Phuket with monkeypox and then fled to Cambodia. This first confirmed case of monkeypox in Thailand was likely contracted inside of the country, suggesting earlier, unidentified cases. The Nigerian man arrived…
-
How can young drivers reduce their car insurance premiums?
SPONSORED Being a young driver is an incredibly exciting time. It’s a coming of age where you score one of your biggest achievements to date and gain a whole new level of freedom and flexibility. Of course, as exciting and life-altering as it is, one thing that can put a new driver off of the experience, is the fact that…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.