Thailand News Today | Golf STVs, Russian head-butted, protest latest | Nov 9

Thailand News Today, stripped-back-version today. All the news you need to know about Thailand from The Thaiger.

(Original story and link for Pattaya Russian assault story HERE)

Protesters face water cannons as they deliver thousands of letters to HM the King

Police turned the water cannons on thousands of protesters again as they tried to march to the Grand Palace to symbolically deliver hand-written letters to the Thai King. Thai media reports the crowd numbers were up to 10,000 – 12,000. Police say the crowd was around 7,000.

Police used high power water cannons for only the second time after months of mostly peaceful protests to demand greater democracy. This time the cannons appeared to use just water after lacing the water with blue dye when last used at the Pathumwan Intersection in central Bangkok on October 16.

After police had earlier blockaded access to the Royal Plaza and Government House, protesters decided to march to Sanam Luang, adjacent to the Grand Palace. Apart from the deterrent of the water cannons, only used for about 2 minutes, police left the protesters to dismantle another barricade in front of the Supreme Court building where they pushed away old red buses, passenger vans and razor wire to deliver their letters.

The protesters brought large faux red letterboxes, actually large red plastic rubbish bins, filled with hand-written letters for the King and left them near the palace after negotiations with police.

52 year old Russian head-butted by Thai protest leader in Pattaya

A small protest gathering in Pattaya’s Jomtien Beach last night turned ugly when one of the protest leaders targeted and assaulted a 52 year old Russian expat who was watching on with his 10 year old daughter and Thai wife.

The tall Thai man in the floral shirt, named as Narathiwat “Kane” Khamma, became agitated and started yelling obscenities at the man, challenging him directly with a tirade of expletives.

The verbal assault culminated with a head butt to the smaller Russian man. Although the Russian man’s nose started bleeding, it appears he held his ground, signing to the other people in the crowd that he was OK. He waited with his daughter until police arrived.

Play 18 holes during your quarantine in Thailand – new STV proposal

Quarantine, whilst wandering around a golf course, maintaining social distancing of course. That’s the latest STV proposal tabled for consideration by the CCSA to expand the current Special Tourist Visa and quarantine restrictions for golf tourists who may visit Thailand and do their quarantine in a secure golf course, whilst enjoying a few rounds at the same time.

The proposal goes to the CCSA at this Wednesday’s weekly meeting. A proposal to reduce the current mandated 14 day quarantine to 10 days will also be under discussion. There have no applications for Thailand’s much-discussed STV since the start of November.

There are around 30 golf courses around Thailand offering around 5,000 rooms that could be suitable as ‘Golf’ ASQ facilities.

The Tourism Minister said there was high demand from foreign golfers, particularly from South Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan, expressing their desire to visit Thailand and to practice their swings.

5 injured after engine explodes on Phang Nga speedboat

5 people have been injured, 3 seriously, after a moored speedboat caught fire in Phang Nga province yesterday.

The incident happened around 8.30am. The boat was tied up to the Thap Lamu boat pier, where most Similan Island-bound private tour boats depart from and return to. The injured were all crew from the boat.

A Navy boat dragged the burning vessel away from the pier into the middle of the channel to prevent the fire from spreading to other boats moored at the pier. Witnesses say the engine stuttered, then exploded, just after the skipper tried to start it.

Investors see opportunity in Pattaya hotel market

Although travel restrictions are still tight, investors see potential opportunities in Pattaya’s hotel market.

JLL say that the amount of investors interested in Pattaya hotels is at an “unprecedented” level. The executive vice president of Investment sales, says…

“In recent months, we have been getting an unprecedented level of enquiries from investors who are looking for opportunities to acquire investment-grade hotels in Pattaya. We have yet to see a wide trend of deeply discounted hotels in the market, particularly institutional-grade assets. However, the situation is delicate, and the landscape could potentially shift swiftly.”

2 dead, including 15 month old boy, in traffic accident in north-east Thailand

A man and a 15 month old boy have died, while an 11 year old child has been injured, in a collision between a 10 wheeler truck and a motorbike in Nakhon Ratchasima.

The 55 year old truck driver says he was travelling on the Nakhon Ratchasima to Chok Chai road, when he was forced to swerve to avoid a car that had pulled out in front of him. In attempting to avoid the car, he hit the motorbike which was carrying 3 people whilst waiting to perform a U-turn.