Bangkok News

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    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...

  • Bangkok Ombudsman pushes for Samkong underpass completion

    Bangkok Ombudsman pushes for Samkong underpass completion

    PHUKET: After months of delays, the Samkong underpass is expected to be open later this month and be fully operational by May, it has been confirmed. Inspectors from the Ombudsman Office in Bangkok visited the construction site yesterday and confirmed the underpass should be open to traffic within the next few weeks. Boon Tapanadul from the Bangkok Ombudsman Office was…

  • Eight killed, seven injured at SCB head office in Bangkok | Thaiger

    Eight killed, seven injured at SCB head office in Bangkok

    BANGKOK: At least eight people were killed and seven injured in a freak accident at the Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) head office in Bangkok last night. The incident, which was initially thought to be a fire or gas cylinder explosion, was announced to be a fault in the fire extinguishing system in an emergency press statement released by the bank…

  • Bangkok gunman’s SIM card prompts Phuket arrest

    Bangkok gunman’s SIM card prompts Phuket arrest

    PHUKET: Police are questioning a Chinese man who was apprehended in Phuket in connection with the attempted robbery of a gun shop in Bangkok on Friday (story here). Police tracked down Su Su, 29, at a residence in Paklok on Saturday evening after it was revealed that he had registered a SIM card found on one of the robbery suspects…

  • Bangkok boat explosion prompts safety overhaul

    Bangkok boat explosion prompts safety overhaul

    BANGKOK: The Marine Department plans to require the owners of commuter boats to check the engine and fuel system of vessels twice a year, in the wake of an explosion on a commuter boat on Bangkok’s Saen Saeb Canal on Saturday that injured 71 people. Boat owners were previously required to perform the check annually. Marine Department Deputy Director-general Nat…

  • MERS patient being treated in Bangkok

    MERS patient being treated in Bangkok

    BANGKOK: Thailand believes it can contain the dreaded Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus after the country’s second case involving an elderly Omani was confirmed. “After receiving treatment for one week in his homeland without his condition improving, he refused to wait for lab results and immediately left for Thailand,” Public Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn said yesterday. The 71-year-old man…

  • History: Bangkok for the holidays raises query about Victory Monument

    History: Bangkok for the holidays raises query about Victory Monument

    PHUKET: People who live in Bangkok are probably familiar with the Victory Monument. For those visiting, however, there is a good chance you will spend some time stuck in traffic in this famous circle, and this might cause you to contemplate what it commemorates. One of Bangkok’s iconic landmarks, the Victory Monument is located at the intersection of Phahonyothin Road,…

  • Interpol arrests couple wanted for Bangkok bombing

    Interpol arrests couple wanted for Bangkok bombing

    BANGKOK: Interpol has arrested Thai and foreign suspects for their alleged role in the Bangkok bombings in August, which claimed 20 lives and injured many others, Deputy Police Chief Gen Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said yesterday. While Gen Srivara declined to reveal the names of the suspects, reliable police sources identified the suspects as Phang Nga native Wanna Suansan and her Turkish…

  • Bangkok bomb suspects set to be indicted

    Bangkok bomb suspects set to be indicted

    BANGKOK: The Military Court’s prosecutors are expected to indict the two suspects accused of involvement in the two bomb explosions in Bangkok in August, the lawyer for one of the suspects said yesterday. Kanchai Choochart, representing Bilal Muhammed, 24, said he would outline the defense plan once his client had been indicted. He was speaking at the Military Court after…

  • Bangkok Hospital Group aims to broaden medical tourism with new facility

    Bangkok Hospital Group aims to broaden medical tourism with new facility

    PHUKET: One of the primary reasons the Bangkok Hospital Group purchased Phuket International Hospital for 3.61 billion baht last year was to bring the hospital’s exceptionally strong aesthetic surgery branch into the fold, explains Sanguan Kunaporn, the Director of the Phuket Plastic Surgery Institute at Phuket International Hospital. This month, the group will stage the soft opening of a new…

  • Up in the Air: Bangkok Airways spreads its wings

    Up in the Air: Bangkok Airways spreads its wings

    PHUKET: Bangkok Airways finally launched a daily flight service connecting Phuket and Hat Yai with an inaugural launch ceremony after touchdown at Hat Yai Airport on October 11. As previously reported by Up in the Air, the link between south Thailand’s two busiest airports is long overdue. There are thousands of people from Songkhla and surrounding provinces who have been…

  • Bangkok Airways’ Phuket-Hat Yai route launched

    Bangkok Airways’ Phuket-Hat Yai route launched

    PHUKET: Bangkok Airways officially launched its daily direct flights between Phuket and Hat Yai on Sunday. Bangkok Airways will serve daily flights between Phuket and Hat Yai, on a 70-seat ATR72-500/600, with flights from Phuket to Hat Yai departing at 7:25am and arriving in Hat Yai at 8:30am and Hat Yai to Phuket departing at 9:10am and arriving in Phuket…

  • Phuket real estate shrugs off Bangkok slowdown

    Phuket real estate shrugs off Bangkok slowdown

    PHUKET: In terms of property, Phuket seems to be worlds away from Bangkok, where the market has experienced a slowdown, mostly because the island is more affected by events outside of Thailand than inside the Kingdom, Robert Collins, managing director of Savills (Thailand), said earlier this week. Because the Bangkok market has dipped, three real-estate associations recently urged the government…

  • Bangkok Bank warns of viral fraud

    Bangkok Bank warns of viral fraud

    PHUKET: Bangkok Bank has issued a warning about malicious software designed to make bank transactions from the accounts of customers who have registered for their online banking service, ‘Bualuang iBanking’. Bangkok Bank’s warning explained that false messages have been sent to iBanking customers via SMS, MMS and emails purporting to be from the bank. The messages ask the receiver to…

  • Phuket arrivals rise despite Bangkok bomb

    Phuket arrivals rise despite Bangkok bomb

    PHUKET: The total number of passengers arriving at Phuket International Airport this week has increased compared with the same period last year, President of Phuket Tourism Association Sathirapong Na Takuatung said at a meeting held yesterday to discuss the aftermath of Monday’s bombing in Bangkok. “We are concerned about the number of tourists dropping, but the number of tour groups…

  • Opinion: Love for Bangkok unshaken

    Opinion: Love for Bangkok unshaken

    PHUKET: Last night I was three blocks away from the tragic bomb blast at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok. Like so many nights when I am in the capital city, I stay at a nearby hotel and walk around that same corner to capture the unique flavor of a truly special place. Call it routine or else a beckoning call…

  • Phuket increases security following Bangkok bombing

    Phuket increases security following Bangkok bombing

    PHUKET: Governor Nisit Jansomwong this morning urged Phuket residents and tourists not to panic about the devastating bombing of a tourist destination in Bangkok that killed at least 20 people and injured more than 100 last night. “We have boosted security throughout the island. There is no need to be afraid,” Governor Nisit told the Phuket Gazette. “We are increasing…

  • Up in the air: Bangkok Airways flies to Hat Yai

    Up in the air: Bangkok Airways flies to Hat Yai

    PHUKET: Bangkok Airways will launch a new service between Phuket International Airport (HKT) and Hat Yai International Airport (HDY) starting in late October. Tasara Taksinapan, the carrier’s media relations manager, recently confirmed the new route with the Gazette’s ‘Up in the Air’, but said that the carrier had yet to issue an official press statement about the service, which will…

  • Blazing Saddles: Bicycling in Bangkok

    Blazing Saddles: Bicycling in Bangkok

    PHUKET: I have long believed the bicycle represents something of a magical chariot with the ability to unleash serendipitous experiences at many turns. So it proved on my last visit to Bangkok, where I had flown to spend some time with my 22-year-old daughter, Olivia, who stopped there en route from Sydney to London. Now it’s probably no coincidence the…

  • Senior Bangkok official dies from Krabi hot spring splash | Thaiger

    Senior Bangkok official dies from Krabi hot spring splash

    PHUKET: A senior official at the Attorney-General’s Office in Bangkok was pronounced dead on April 30 after a leap into a Krabi hot spring left him in a coma a few weeks earlier. Somkiat Phatkhun, the deputy director of the Training and Development Institute at the Office of the Attorney General in Bangkok, was on vacation with his wife when…

  • Foreign crewmen rescued in Bangkok

    Foreign crewmen rescued in Bangkok

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Foreign crewmen rescued in Bangkok The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Twelve Chinese and Myanmar crewmen aboard a cargo ship stranded on the Chao Phraya River were rescued yesterday. Rachen Rangmarerng, head of the Port Authority of Thailand’s labor union, said the crewmen, seven of who…

  • Bangkok governor takes the blame for flash floods

    Bangkok governor takes the blame for flash floods

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Bangkok governor takes the blame for flash floods The Nation/ Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Fuming from the public and social media griping over the flash flood that paralysed much of the capital on Tuesday, Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra yesterday confessed to failing to take precautionary measures like…

  • Bangkok’s dummy police to go ‘smart’

    Bangkok’s dummy police to go ‘smart’

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Dummy police to catch traffic offenders next month The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Starting next month, dummy traffic officers on some of Bangkok’s roads will officially become “smart”, as they will be able to catch violators red-handed via a newly introduced tech system. The so-called…

  • Bangkok water users to pay for what they use

    Bangkok water users to pay for what they use

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Bangkok water users to pay for what they use The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Residents of Bangkok, Nonthaburi and Samut Prakan provinces will pay for tap water according to what they use from April 1. Rakkecha Chaechai, secretary-general of the Ombudsman’s Office, said yesterday that…

  • “Missing’ Austrian tourist in Phi Phi surfaces in Bangkok

    “Missing’ Austrian tourist in Phi Phi surfaces in Bangkok

    PHUKET: An Austrian tourist reported missing on Phi Phi island has surfaced safe and sound in Bangkok. Mario Schatz, 23, was reported missing to Krabi Tourist Police yesterday. “He came to Ton Sai with three friends on Wednesday. His friends told us that at about 2pm he went to do some laundry and never came back,” a Krabi Tourist Police…

  • VIDEO REPORT: Muaythai champ heads to Bangkok for MMA showdown

    VIDEO REPORT: Muaythai champ heads to Bangkok for MMA showdown

    FORMER Lumpinee and Rajadamnern muaythai champion Jomhod Kiatadisak will make his transition to pro MMA complete today, when he takes on top Cambodian fighter Vorn Viva at Full Metal Dojo 4 in Bangkok. Keeping the fight even, Vorn Viva will also be competing in his first MMA fight, to be held at Live House, located near Bangkok’s famed Chatuchak Market.…

  • Blast injures five at Bangkok Army depot

    Blast injures five at Bangkok Army depot

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Blast injures five Bangkok Army depot The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Five civilian personnel were injured yesterday in an accident at the Army’s Ordnance Department in Kiakkai in Bangkok during routine maintenance and inspection of anti-tank rocket-propelled grenades and launchers, a deputy Army spokesman said.…

  • Hunt on for Bangkok bomber ‘Dragon’

    Hunt on for Bangkok bomber ‘Dragon’

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Hunt on for Bangkok bomber ‘Dragon’ The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: One of the two men suspected of planting and detonating two pipe bombs near Siam Paragon shopping mall in Bangkok last Sunday has been identified by his alias “Dragon” and he is reportedly based…

  • Bangkok shopping malls step up security after bomb blasts | Thaiger

    Bangkok shopping malls step up security after bomb blasts

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Bangkok shopping malls step up security after bomb blasts The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: MAJOR MALLS in prime shopping areas in Bangkok have stepped up security measures after bomb incidents on Sunday. Nattakit Tangpoonsinthana, executive vice president for marketing at Central Pattana (CPN), said the…

  • Hunt for Bangkok bombers begins

    Hunt for Bangkok bombers begins

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Hunt for Bangkok bombers begins The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Security will be heightened across the country following double explosions in Bangkok’s shopping district on Sunday night as police hunt for at least two culprits believed to have been recorded on surveillance cameras. Prime Minister…

  • No Phuket security boost in wake of Bangkok bomb blasts: Police

    No Phuket security boost in wake of Bangkok bomb blasts: Police

    PHUKET: There will be no boost in security by police following the two bomb blasts outside the Siam Paragon shopping mall in Bangkok last night, one of Phuket’s top cops confirmed to the Phuket Gazette today. Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha earlier today ordered police in the capital to ramp up security following two pipe bombs detonating on a pedestrian…