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 Long-term life in Thailand? 5 reasons private health insurance pays off in the long run
Thailand is a great place for expats and retirees, offering a warm climate, affordable living, and rich culture. However, healthcare can be tricky for foreigners since they aren’t eligible for public health coverage, and private care can be expensive. Private...
-
Rogue monk defrocks self
NONG KHAI: As every good clergyman knows, improper sexual conduct is a quick way to get defrocked – cast out of the Buddhist clergy.Perhaps sensing that his own defrockment was inevitable, one naughty abbot in Tha Bor District decided to beat his detractors to the punch.At a meeting of villagers and local religious authorities to discuss allegations of sexual impropriety…
-
Runaway bride
SAPHAN BURI: Being forced into a loveless marriage is an unhappy fate for any girl to endure, but not everyone takes the situation lying down. After being forced to marry the son of a wealthy local cattle owner, one young woman from Suphan Buri managed to escape with not only her freedom, but also the 400,000-baht sin sot (bride price)…
-
Local shooters take aim at park pokers
BANGKOK: The world of Thai clay-pigeon shooting has been rocked by the daily desecration of one of the sport’s club headquarters in Hua Mak. Coinciding with a group of homosexual patrons using the range for open-air trysts, shooters have had to gingerly tread around a sea of discarded condoms. While you may think that this reporter is exaggerating what could…
-
Pestle pistol swindle
SONGKHLA: It’s always worth keeping in mind the phrase caveat emptor, or “let the buyer beware”, when making any purchase.The warning should be especially well heeded when the item under consideration is somewhat less than 100% legit.This sage advice must have been far from the mind of one wannabe tough guy in Haad Yai, however, when he paid 15,000 baht…
-
Snake wife makes grand eggs-it
UDON THANI: The peculiar story of a man who married a python said to be a 600-year-old spirit from his past has taken yet another bizarre twist. Satien Kenkudlung’s python wife (pictured, right, with her husband) slithered away last week, after a short marriage. The volume of curious visitors has dried up, but K. Satien has kept the interest of…
-
Monk cops out royally
TAK: While impersonating a policeman for personal gain is nothing new in Thailand, one monk in Mae Sot who thought he may have picked the wrong career took it one step further over the Songkran holidays. The monk not only claimed to be a high-ranking policeman, but also a member of the royal family and a representative of the Bureau…
-
Man stands by limbless bride
UDON THANI: Villagers from across the Northeast and as far away as Laos have been flocking to get a glimpse of a high-profile newlywed couple in Phen District. This couple are not celebrities, but a local Udon man and a female reticulated python he has fallen love with. The happy groom, 35-year-old Sathian Khenkutrang, said he believes that he and…
-
Fowl play suspected in local election
ANG THONG: Police Region 1 are leaving no stone unturned in their attempt to bring to justice a vicious gang of youths who abducted 1,500 waterfowl from a local politician, in what police believe could be a politically motivated ducknapping. At about 3 am on March 28, six young men, some on motorcycles, some in a six-wheeled truck, pulled up…
-
The CCTV firm and the house of Porn
SAMUT PRAKAN: A man was arrested March 15 after police found a wire leading from his house to a tiny camera hidden in the ceiling of the bathroom of the house next door where six women lived. The camera, which had apparently been in place for five months, was discovered only when the voyeur was overcome with desire and rang…
-
Hot-headed soldiers shoot up police station
NAKHON RATCHASIMA: Dealing with the police can be a frustrating experience in any country. Minor traffic offenses are often ignored and when a crime is reported, often nothing seems to be done. Weeks or months can go by with no apparent effort to arrest perpetrators and put them behind bars. Most people can do little but sit and fume at…
-
Trash or treasure?
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: The heady days of “Jatukham Fever” last year, when sale of the over-sized Jatukham Ramathep medallions hit a record high, are clearly over.The large amulets – particularly beloved by tuk-tuk drivers, gunmen and others in dangerous professions – were reputed to bring good fortune. Some individual medallions sold for millions of baht and one woman was literally…
-
Lucky four-eared feline catnapped
PATHUM THANI: The owners of a four-eared cat fear that their pet has been kidnapped, after the feline mysteriously disappeared following a story in a national newspaper highlighting the luck the homeless kitty had brought its owners after they rescued it from the side of the road. The missing cat, named Jao Chom Jan (“the one who admires the moon”),…
-
Tanked-up tiger taming leads to trauma
AYUDHAYA: Taming big cats, whether they are lions or tigers, generally requires a long period of dedicated training – and no small amount of skill and courage. After a drinking session recently, one man in Ayudaya Province persuaded his zoo-keeper friend to let him have a go at taming a large tiger – with sadly predictable results. Prasert Yomprakong, originally…
-
Abbot killed in “chicken shoot’
KAMPHAENG PHET: A temple abbot was shot dead February 5 after one of his students mistook him for a chicken. Phra Khru Silwachirakan, known to his followers as Luang Por Pheuan, the abbot of Wat Traiphum in Phrankratai district, was tending cattle belonging to the wat with three followers, Phra Pui, 27, Sanong Phobanlang, 37, and Buntham Phairoj, 54, when…
-
Lustful teens get lewd in local library
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: Most parents would be happy to know that their teenagers were spending their free time hanging out in the library. What better place could there be to engage in some extracurricular learning and curl up with a good book? In Nakhon Sri Thammarat public library, however, teenagers have been curling up for some X-rated extracurricular activities –…
-
Rasta roadie nearly roasted at roadside
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: A sound technician for the popular Thai reggae band “Marijuana” almost went up in smoke January 17, after the fuel system he had just installed in his sedan malfunctioned and exploded. The technician, identified only as Charin, was driving from Surat Thani to Nakhon Sri Thammarat when he was almost lit up. He was on his way…
-
Rogue monks defrocked after temple-‘tech raid
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: Places of worship are not generally considered the best places to swig booze and get down to some bangin’ dance tracks. However, three young monks in Nakhon’s Wat Suan Pan turned their dormitory cell into a makeshift disco. News of the temple ‘tech came when neighbors told police that they had seen some monks leading a number…
-
Abbot aberration under investigation
NONTHABURI: When Commander Kritsapha Suksaengdao from the Department of Civil Aviation walked up to Luang Por Prasit Sithikaroh, abbot of Wat Sainoi, on December 26 and offered a polite wai, the abbot probably thought nothing of it. After all, the abbot was the most revered monk in the province and counted many high-ranking military and government officials among his throng…
-
Attack of the 50-foot pret
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: In the increasingly litigious nations of the West, any accident in the work place, including those caused by the victim’s own stupidity, are an immediate opportunity for cash payouts. Apparently the concept hasn’t filtered down to rural Thailand, as shown recently by a man who, after losing both hands in a horrific crane accident, proceeded to blame…
-
Villagers make murky discovery
BURIRAM: The discovery of ancient artifacts is always a cause for excitement. A common way to unearth such relics is at an archaeological dig, though just as often they are discovered by pure chance at construction sites. While some finds are more dramatic than others, few can beat a recent tale from Isarn of two 1,500-year-old Buddha images rising from…
-
Ghostly goings on
NAKHON RATCHASIMA: In the West nowadays, fears over the safety of children have reached the point where many parents are reduced to nervous wrecks at the thought of letting their little ones out of sight. Predatory priests, pedophiles and high-profile disappearances – notably that of Madeleine McCann just six months ago – have all taken their toll on parents’ sanity…
-
Incombustible cleric
RANONG: Funerals of esteemed monks are always auspicious occasions for believers, a chance to bid farewell to a spiritual leader and wonder what rewards he will get for his life-long accumulation of merit. At the funeral of an abbot in Ranong, the deceased clergyman’s spiritual power was reportedly so strong that his mortal remains refused to burn. Phrakhru Praphasawiriyakhun, abbot…
-
Deadly debate
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: Political discussions can get a little heated the aworld over, but in Thailand few provinces are more renowned for fiery political debate than Nakhon Sri Thammarat, where formerly close friendships have been known to fall to pieces over political disagreement. In the latest case, however, the debate turned fatal. In the early hours of November 8, Wichan…
-
Boomtown or bust!
PATTANI: With bombings in the Deep South regrettably almost a daily occurrence, it comes as little surprise that some might refer to the region as a “boomtown”. In fact, the Deep South is also in the middle of its own little “gold rush”, though the object of the hopeful prospectors desire isn’t gold, but a mysterious black ore thought to…
-
Like maggots from heaven
PATTAYA: Caught out with a full bladder on his way home after a fishing trip, squid fisherman Singha Sangnuam, 26, met an unexpected sight when he stopped to relieve himself against a tree in Banglamung on September 24. Part way through his business, something dropped from the branches and landed with a thud right in front of him. A cloud…
-
Holy cow?
SRISAKET: Villagers in Srisaket’s Khun Han district have been flocking to pay their respects to the body of a buffalo calf that not only looked human, but also had the superhuman ability to transmit the winning numbers in the upcoming lottery draw. The calf was born at 2 pm on September 22 to a female buffalo belonging to farmers Yim…
-
Monks give the breast medicine
TAK: When modern medicine fails, people often turn to what has, in the West, come to be known as “alternative medicine”. Phuket has a large market for such treatments, such as acupuncture clinics and herbal spas offering cures for a wide variety ailments, both real and perceived. These more familiar forms of “alternative” medicine are not all Thailand has to…
-
Police hunt fish-paste five
CHONBURI: One might think that armed robbery follows a fairly formulaic process: just grab a weapon, threaten someone and, if everything goes to plan, flee with the loot.However, as with other professions, there are also cultural aspects involved in the choice of equipment. An Amazon Indian might use a blowpipe in a hold-up, whereas a Zulu would more naturally opt…
-
Fortunate fellow crashes own cremation ceremony
CHAI NAT: Attending your own cremation – as in actually turning up alive, rather than making a brief appearance stuffed in a box before being burned – would be an interesting experience. Think about it, you could hear the good points of your personality extolled in a eulogy and see who looked genuinely upset – and who looked secretly pleased.…
-
The pesky python
YALA: Being a teacher in the Deep South during these troubled times takes a certain amount of bravery and acceptance of personal danger. It was perhaps these qualities that helped one teacher from Yala Province keep his head while all those about him were losing theirs when faced with a very real threat. The threat, however, was not a rifle-toting…
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.