Thailand
Shaken but not stirred – Miss Thailand contestants get an unplanned swim | VIDEO

Luckily no one was hurt but these Miss Thailand beauty queens ended up with an unscheduled dunking whilst parading for the cameras in Chiang Mai.
A video captures the face-masked girls, all dressed up in the day’s casual uniform, posing for the cameras and the the moment a bridge snaps, plunging the 30 smiling, but bemused, Miss Thailand contestants into a dirty pond. 3 of the girls were injured, with 1 suffering cuts and bruises on her forehead. 2 others ended up with minor scrapes. They were all pulled out and rushed to the hospital for a quick checkup but were discharged by Monday evening.
The whole moment was caught on camera on Monday morning as part of the second day of the competition in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The contestants visited a cafe to pose for pictures on a suspension bridge constructed from ropes connected to a steel walkway. The engineer for the bridge was unlikely to ever have considered 30 fit young ladies all standing on the bridge at the same time.
But the printed white T-shirts ended up as part of a spontaneous wet T-shirt competition.
But their combined weight sent them them all crashing into the water below.
The 43 year old owner of the restaurant, and proud owner of the previously pretty little suspension bridge, promised to cover all the treatment costs for the injured ladies. He donated 500,000 baht to cover their medical bills.
”I’ll also pay for the other contestants to have their dresses cleaned professionally. I don’t know why the bridge broke. It is strong, but it just could not handle the weight of the women. In the future, we will make improvements to the bridge to be even stronger.”
The remaining 27 pageant hopefuls will continue on their campaigns for the Miss Thailand crown, but 3 will be sitting it out as they recover from their “interruption”. They will be back in action, no doubt smiling and waving, later today.
Dr. Adisorn Suddee, director of the Miss Thailand 2020 event said that the contest is normally held in Bangkok.
“This time we chose Chiang Mai and we were confident that it would be safe and secure. This was the second day of the contest, and it was unexpected that the bridge would break.”
Whilst the format has lost favour in the west, beauty pageants are a booming industry in Thailand, with events held regionally and nationally throughout the year. There’s even a Miss Tiffany pageant for transgender women which is highly popular in the Land of Smiles.
SOURCE: Newsflare
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Chiang Mai night markets reopening tomorrow

Night markets in Chiang Mai will be reopened tomorrow after the province went 6 consecutive days with no new Covid-19 cases.
According to Chiang Mai Governor, Charoenrit Sanguansat, the province and the provincial disease control committee agreed to ease up restrictions on social and business activities after the number of infections continually dropped and no new infections were reported during the past week.
As a result, flea markets, night markets, and walking streets across the province will be reopened tomorrow onwards.
However, the governor still reiterates that marketplaces and visitors must follow the disease control measures strictly.
Since the start of the second wave of Covid-19 in mid-December, Chiang Mai has tightened restrictions to prevent the virus spread in the province, with the order to close all markets and social activities for 14 days on January 6.
SOURCE: Nation Thailand
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Environment
Thailand on fire – NASA satellite website tracks the country’s farm fires

Thailand is burning. The burning off of harvested crop plantations is lighting up the agricultural areas. The truth is starkly revealed in the live NASA satellite feeds which track the fires around the world.
CHART: Fires in the past 10 days around parts of Thailand – Firms.Modaps
Concentrations of the current fires can be seen in Central Thailand, north of Bangkok, parts of Isaan, north east of Bangkok, and around Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. Notably the concentration of fires in northern Cambodia and across the north-western border in Myanmar, is also causing plenty of problems as the foreign smoke drifts across the borders. No matter what Thai officials do to enforce the rice, sugar and corn plantation burn-offs, there is little they can do about the haze drifting across the borders.
Bangkok, so close to clusters of fires, is in for a bad air pollution day anytime the light winds of the start of the year blow from the north or the east. The lack of rain adds to the problem, the annual problem, that engulfs Thailand’s capital during days between December and April, with the worst month, statistically, being March.
The alternative method of preparing for the next harvest, mechanical removal of the refuse and waste after harvesting, is both unpopular in Thailand and economically unviable for the small farmers whose margins remain thin with the multi-national buyers of their produce pushing for lower and lower prices every year.
In Chiang Mai, from January to the end of March, the locals even call it the ‘burning season’. Coupled with the hot season, the farmers in northern Thailand burn their fields to prepare land for the next harvest and also to get rid of biowastes like corn that can’t be sold in the market. It’s officially illegal to do the burn offs but the lack of enforcement leaves the problem unresolved and the smog and haze remain as predictable as the annual wet season.
Chiang Mai also has a local geographic problem which exacerbates the bad smoke pollution. The city is in a valley, surrounded by hills, trapping in the smoke and helping block any breezes that could otherwise blow it away.
For today, Bangkok’s air pollution is better than the past two days but still registering as ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’ with city readings mostly between 140 – 170. Parts of the city, mostly south-east and south west, were registering readings above 300 in the past few days.
SOURCE: IQair.com
Watch this video for some more information about Bangkok’s smog…
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Chiang Mai records 4 new Covid cases linked to same venue

The northern city of Chiang Mai has confirmed 4 new cases of coronavirus, all of which are linked to the Warm Up café in the Muang district. The province of Chiang Mai now has 11 active cases and has recorded 57 cases in total, according to deputy governor, Weerapan Dee-on.
“The 54th patient in Chiang Mai is a Thai man aged 23 from Sansai district. He displayed no symptoms. The 55th patient is another Thai man aged 28 from Muang district. He also showed no Covid-19 symptoms. The 56th patient is a Thai woman aged 28, who works in Bangkok but recently returned home to Sankamphaeng district. She had symptoms of coughing and a blocked nose. The 57th patient is another Thai woman aged 22 from Muang district. She displayed symptoms of coughing and tiredness.”
According to a Nation Thailand report, all 4 frequented the Warm Up café on New Year’s Eve.
Earlier this week, the province confirmed a 25 year old woman who’d been socialising at multiple entertainment venues had tested positive for the virus. At that stage, her infection brought the total number of cases detected in the province to 50. Following her positive diagnosis, officials embarked on a track and trace process, to determine who may have had contact with the patient. Through this, a 28 year old man who works at the Warm Up café also tested positive. On December 31, he worked from 3pm – 1am.
Officials have now tested 283 contacts who were at the venue that night and results are pending. All bars and other nightlife venues have been closed for 14 days by order of the provincial communicable disease committee. Deputy governor Weerapan says anyone else who was at the Warm Up café between December 31 and January 3 must come forward for testing.
SOURCE: Nation Thailand
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Toby Andrews
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 at 12:22 pm
It looked like a gentle drop.
I hope they did not get their pretty butts bruised. If so Dr Toby here volunteers to administer bruise cream.
.
.
.lol
Preesy Chepuce
Saturday, December 12, 2020 at 9:12 pm
Are you sure you haven’t emptied the little tube already? lol
Jayce
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 at 1:55 pm
Why would the owner be prepared to pay 500k Baht??
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise that bridge was never gonna hold. The responsibility lies squarely with the pageant organizers who probably pushed to get everyone on the bridge at the same time…
Unless the owner gave explicit assurances that the bridge would be strong enough of course.
Issan John
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 at 4:29 pm
He’s lucky no-one was badly hurt and to get away with 500k.
Jayce
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 at 7:15 pm
That bridge was never intended to hold 30 something people, no matter how petite they are. Even a child would be able to predict this outcome.
Unless if the owner expressly warranted that everything would be ok with this many people on the bridge, if they’re stupid enough to think they (contestants and pageant organisation in particular) could walk this bridge all at the same time without collapsing, they deserve what happened to them.
No money should have been paid out for it…
Mr cynic
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 at 6:10 pm
500k for this amount of publicity sounds pretty cheap to me.
Graham Smith
Thursday, December 10, 2020 at 3:47 am
hope no one dropped the loose nails
albert zweistein
Thursday, December 10, 2020 at 5:39 am
A chain is as strong as the weakest shackle.
brian mc
Thursday, December 10, 2020 at 7:45 am
beauty pageant to wet teeshirt competition.
just as well it wasnt hosted at a crocodile farm.
the bridge looks like it was designed by theresa may,… strong and stable… not
Paul
Friday, December 11, 2020 at 8:16 am
Lucky it was NOT at night with those lights on. The usual shoddy workmanship of Thai electricians would have had them all electrocuted!!!!!
James Pate
Friday, December 11, 2020 at 9:16 am
Glad no one was seriously hurt. I hope they all got a tetanus, typhoid, diphtheria shot after falling in that dirty water. A hep vaccine may also be in order. My guess is that none of these girls are studying engineering.
Khunwilko
Friday, December 11, 2020 at 4:00 pm
Basically shows how pout of touch Thailand can be – “Miss Thailand”??? Still??? REallY?
but the most obnoxious thing is they choose to publicise the affair in a ZOO!
Preesy Chepuce
Saturday, December 12, 2020 at 9:13 pm
I’m so glad I’m not you.
John
Sunday, December 13, 2020 at 11:22 pm
…but you’re an ugly, poor sexpat though…
Timothy L Smith
Tuesday, December 15, 2020 at 1:52 am
Anybody notice the power cable in the water? Good thing it obviously wasn’t energized! I think if this had happened at night, it wouldn’t be such a happy ending!
James Pate
Tuesday, December 15, 2020 at 7:18 pm
Wow! You’re right! Didn’t catch that!