PHOTO: Sarah Lazarus – CNN

Thailand is best known for its beaches, astonishing street food, markets and diverse south-east Asian culture. But how many people get out of the cities and tourist traps and get to experience the real Thailand? How many expats, living in Thailand, even get to experience the real Thailand?

Thailand is the fourth most popular holiday destination in the world and the country received a record 38.3 million tourists in 2018 and collected $62 billion in tourism revenue.

Chan Kaithong lives in Bangkok’s largest slum. Near the city’s port, but just a stone’s throw from luxury shopping malls and hotels, the Khlong Toei district is home to 100,000 people.

But the attraction of the well-trodden tourist hot spots often hides the real Thailand experience for tourists to the Land of Smiles. In 2012 Somsak Boonsam established Local Alike, a company which promotes “community-based tourism.” Via its online platform, Local Alike offers tourists the chance to leave the resorts and visit over 100 communities, from hill tribes to fishing villages.

Tourists, who visit for the day to relax, enjoy a seafood lunch and try their hand at shellfish farming, have no problem catching the cockles, which swim free in the water, but the prawns are another matter!

His aim was to address the situation by funneling tourism dollars “to the people who need it most,” while giving tourists the chance to “have new experiences and make personal connections with local people.”

CNN set out to visit three Local Alike community guides to hear their stories…

Read about their experiences HERE.

… and 27 of them are from the pro-Junta Palang Pracharat Party.

Latest rumblings out of Bangkok as rival parties ramp up the rhetoric in the lead up to an announcement of the new Cabinet. Meanwhile the current PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is trying to keep the situation calm during this weekend’s ASEAN Summit being held in the capital.

A Future Forward politician pointed out yesterday that the PM’s Cabinet meeting on Tuesday could have been unconstitutional. Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, MP and party secretary-general called on Prayut to clarify his position to avoid future complications. Is Prayut the head of the outgoing NCPO? Or is he the PM of a new parliamentary government? Or can he be both?

Having been royally endorsed last week, Prayut is now the new PM, the MP pointed out, adding that the new PM working with the old Cabinet is a cause of constitutional conflict. With a new Cabinet yet to be formed, the politician said Prayut has two choices: he either appoint an acting-PM to work with the outgoing ministers or quickly form a new Cabinet.

However, House Speaker Chuan Leekpai cited a clause in the Constitution, which allowed the outgoing Cabinet to continue working until the newly announced cabinet is announced and royally endorsed.

Meanwhile dozens of newly elected MPs are being scrutinised for allegedly holding shares in media companies – an act prohibited by the Constitution – and an issues that has seen Future Forward leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit suspended from Parliament whilst his case is being heard.

Of the 41 MPs facing renewed scrutiny, 27 are affiliated with Phalang Pracharat.

Phalang Pracharat lawyer Tossapol Pengsom went to Constitutional Court yesterday to get a copy of the charges. He said the party will first launch a battle against the possibility of the 27 MPs getting suspended from Parliament, as that will affect the government’s work.

SOURCE: The Nation

The mother of a young amputee in Phichit, who lost her left leg two years ago because of cancer, is asking for help to get her daughter a prosthetic leg for better mobility.

The mother, Plubpueng Butrnoi, says doctors had to amputate the left leg of her 9 year old daughter Nattaporn two years ago to save her life. Phichit is in central Thailand.

After Nattaporn fell and broke her left leg, doctors diagnosed bone cancer and recommended the amputation as a precaution to help prevent a future reoccurrence of the cancer.

The mother says her daughter made her own decision to amputate, did not give up, and has ever since tried to live her life normally. The family lives in Tambon Ban Noi in Phichit’s Pho Thale district, and the girl is now studying in the fourth grade of Ban Noi School.

Pranee Puengchai, one of the girl’s teachers, says the girl is a good student and has remained active despite the amputation. The mother says the girl must see doctors regularly and needs a new crutch.

Since the family is poor, the mother says she would welcome assistance for the medical expenses, a new crutch and perhaps a prosthetic leg for the girl.

The mother’s phone number is 06 5010 1825.