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Chulalongkorn students drop royal parade on grounds it promotes “authoritarianism”
The Student Union of Chulalongkorn University has controversially ditched its tradition of holding a royal parade ahead of its annual football match with Thammasat University. The decision to scrap the Phra Kiew parade, which students say promotes authoritarianism and inequality, has sparked fierce debate between Thailand’s progressive thinkers and its traditional conservatives. The Chulalongkorn student body has issued a statement…
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Thai PM defends plan to spend 100 million baht on New Year’s Eve celebrities
The Thai PM is standing firm amid fierce criticism of a plan to spend 100 million baht on 2 global singing stars for New Year’s Eve festivities in Phuket. Prayut Chan-o-cha has defended the government’s plan to spend around US$3 million dollars to secure Italian tenor, Andrea Bocelli, and Lalisa “Lisa” Manobal, from the K-pop band, Blackpink. The Bangkok Post…
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Government’s domestic tour package subsidy receives lukewarm response
A tour package subsidy scheme aimed at domestic travellers is so far failing to prove popular with either tourists or tour operators. Tour Teaw Thai provides a 40% subsidy on tour packages up to 5,000 baht to 1 million people, but Chotechuang Soorangura from NS Travel and Tours says the conditions are proving a deterrent. “Locals find the hotel subsidy…
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Tuesday Covid Update: 7,706 new cases and 66 deaths
Today, the CCSA reported another low of 7,706 new Covid-19 cases and 66 coronavirus-related deaths. In the latest wave of the virus in Thailand, first recorded on April 1, the CCSA has recorded a total of 1,838,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases. In the 24-hour period since the last count, the CCSA recorded 9,532 recoveries. There are now 98,150 people in Thailand…
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Japan: Princess Mako set to marry commoner amid controversy
Hours before Japan’s Princess Mako is due to marry her commoner fiance, Kei Komuro, there is little indication of the public or the domestic press relenting their criticism of the first imperial family wedding in nearly 30 years. An unforgettable day of traditional pomp and finery will instead be reduced to the signing of paperwork and a press conference. The…
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“Free parking” signs placed at Pattaya pier after complaints of scammers
After numerous complaints that people were soliciting money for parking spaces at Pattaya’s Bali Hai Pier, some reportedly asking for up to 500 baht, city officials have installed signs announcing that parking is free and to report if they are being charged for a space. The Pattaya News has reported that the free spaces are located at the blue field…
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Bangkok land prices rising, but still below pre-pandemic average
While Bangkok land prices are hardly on a tear, they continue to rise even amid the economic uncertainty brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. Figures from the Real Estate Information Centre, known as REIC, show a quarterly rise of 0.5%, and a yearly rise of 7.6%, in the land price index in Greater Bangkok in the third quarter. As reported by…
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Pacific City Club – Where business and leisure meet
Press Release Bangkok’s Most Prestigious Private Members Club Announces a Special Invitation The Pacific City Club is renowned for being the most prestigious and luxurious private members club in Bangkok since the early 1990s. Situated on the top three floors of the Two Pacific Place building on Sukhumvit Road, the Club is an oasis of calm in the bustling city.…
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Qantas to resume flights from Sydney to Bangkok and Phuket early 2022
Qantas Airways is gearing up to resume flights from Sydney to Bangkok and Phuket from early next year, with the Aussie airline keen to get the ball rolling as international travel restrictions are gradually being lifted. Sydney is set to see the resumption of regular routes in January, more than two months ahead of schedule, as both the federal and…
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Huge quantities of used medical gloves shipped from Thailand to US
Huge quantities of used medical gloves have been shipped from Thailand as shady operators seek to cash in on Covid-fuelled demand for personal protective equipment, or PPE, according to a report from CNN following a months-long investigation. With demand having skyrocketed around the world, an underground industry based around reusing PPE has emerged in Southeast Asia, with the shoddy medical…
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Foreign airlines give up 80% of their slots at Thailand’s airports amid uncertainty of next 5 months
The managing director of Airports of Thailand says international carriers have returned around 80% of their slots at Thailand’s airports. Nitinai Sirisamatthakarn says around 80% of slots between October 31 and March 26 next year have been returned, indicating that airlines are uncertain about any imminent recovery in the aviation sector. Airport slots are the landing and take-off permissions that…
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Thai government presents actor Russell Crowe with “thank you” gift basket
Hollywood actor Russell Crowe has met with Thai government officials during his much-publicised travels around Bangkok. The Bangkok Post reports that Culture Minister Itthiphol Kunplome presented the actor with a gift and flowers to thank him for his positive promotion of Thailand. Crowe, who is filming a movie in Thailand, has tweeted his 2.7 million followers about the friendliness of…
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Government under pressure to lift alcohol ban, allow nightlife to resume
As Thailand prepares to waive quarantine for vaccinated tourists from low-risk countries, the government is coming under pressure to ease some Covid-19 restrictions. In particular, the Bangkok Post reports on calls to allow restaurants to sell alcohol and for nightlife to resume. Countless bars and clubs remain shuttered, with many operators questioning how Thailand’s re-opening can succeed under such conditions.…
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Monday Covid Update: 8,675 new cases and 44 deaths
Today, the CCSA reported 8,675 new Covid-19 cases and 44 coronavirus-related deaths. In the 24-hour period since the last count, the CCSA has reported 9,589 recoveries. There are now 100,042 people in Thailand receiving treatment for Covid-19. Since April 1, in the country’s most severe wave of the virus, the CCSA has reported a total of 1,830,294 confirmed Covid-19 cases.…
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Central African rebel commander faces war crimes charges
Mahamat Said is facing more than a dozen charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC), including torture, persecution, enforced disappearance, and cruel treatment, over his alleged role in war crimes during the Central African Republic’s civil war. Judges will make a decision within the coming weeks on whether or not to confirm the charges against the ex-rebel commander, potentially bringing…
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Ho Chi Minh launches 3-stage reopening plan, international on January 1
Shortly after announcing plans to restart tourism tentatively beginning with Phu Quoc Island, the Vietnamese government launched a road map to reopen Ho Chi Minh City to international travellers at the beginning of next year. The megacity and financial hub of Vietnam has a 3-stage plan for tourism recovery with strict Covid-19 safety measures in place. The plan is designed…
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Criminal gangs smuggle sodas into Portugal to avoid sugar tax
Customs officer Helder Mendes has lost count how of many trucks he has already stopped on this October day. “Good afternoon, your papers, please. What is your load?” he asks a truck driver. Since seven in the morning, he and five colleagues have been checking trucks en route from Spain at Vilar Formoso, one of Portugal’s busiest border crossings. The…
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Tourism calls for Russia and India to be added to safe list
Now that the 46 countries that can enter Thailand on November 1 without quarantine have been announced, many in the tourism industry are calling for some notable absences to be added to the list. Tourism groups in major travel hubs are calling on the government to add Russia and India to the list of approved countries, believing it will massively…
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Bank of Thailand plans real-world test of digital currency in 2022
The Bank of Thailand recently announced plans to do some real-world testing of digital currency in the near future as the popularity of cryptocurrency continues to grow. They plan to test their Central Bank Digital Currency in a real-world environment sometime in the second quarter of 2022. The BOT has been studying the CBDC since 2018 and is aware that…
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Hua Hin calls for delay in reopening amid Covid-19 infections
Prachuap Khiri Khan, the Western province that is home to tourist magnet Hua Hin, may not be ready for reopening in just over a week. Amid spiking Covid-19 infections, some officials in Hua Hin are calling for a delay, pushing back reopening for the town until December. The province had 240 infections in today’s report, half as many as the…
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Thailand’s bars and beach parties remain strictly closed (cough)
Will some of Thailand’s most popular hotspots ever come back to life? It appears that the bars and beach parties will never restart as these photos reveal darkened streets and deserted beaches. Last week’s Full Moon Party was curtailed after initially getting the go-ahead from Koh Pha Ngan police. It eventually went ahead but in a vastly reduced ‘covid-era’ form…
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Covid-19 Sunday: Deaths fall to low of 56, provincial data
Today, the CCSA reported 9,351 new Covid-19 infections, down 391 since yesterday, and a long-time low of 56 Coronavirus-related deaths, down 18 from yesterday. Since April 1, in the latest wave of the virus in Thailand, a total of 1,821,619 confirmed Covid-19 infections have been reported. In the 24 hour period since the last count, the CCSA has…
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Ministry of Foreign Affairs sings praises of Thailand Pass
The promotion engines are rolling as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has launched a global charm offensive to win over travellers regarding the new Thailand Pass that will replace Certificates of Entry for international travellers to Thailand as the country reopens on November 1. The Thailand Pass, a collaboration between the Department of Consular Affairs and the Digital Government Development…
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Covid-19 in prison: outbreaks from overcrowding now subsiding
The Thai prison system has suffered from an overcrowding problem for years, but the Covid-19 pandemic has starkly illustrated the dangers of it. In prisons, there have been 72,359 Covid-19 infections, making them more infected than any single province except Bangkok (1st) and its neighbours Samut Prakan (2nd) and Samut Sakhon (4th) and Chon Buri (3rd). Thailand has the 6th…
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Joe Biden’s Taiwan gaffes create concern in China and Asia
In August, ABC television asked US President Joe Biden what he thought of Chinese media’s claims that the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan without a fight had shown Taiwan that Washington could not be relied on to come to its defense. Biden replied that the US’s commitments to Taiwan, South Korea and NATO were fundamentally different situations than what had happened…
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Van packed with 39 illegal burmese workers stopped in Phichit
A tip-off led to police uncovering a van packed full of 39 illegal Burmese immigrants in the lower Northern province of Phichit. The van was stuffed tightly with 17 Burmese men and 22 Burmese women with one admitting that they had crossed the border illegally and were heading to Nakon Sawan to work at construction sites. The police in Phichit…
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Vietnam to test reopening starting with Phu Quoc Island
Vietnam was one of the earliest countries to lockdown due to Covid-19, a strategy that had done it well until a massive outbreak in April, just like Thailand. And now, also like Thailand, they are looking to relaunch their tourism industry after close to two years of closures. Vietnam is now looking to reopen in late November, starting with the…
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Chinese law to limit homework and tutoring pressure on kids
It’s been a common trope that Asian students keep their nose to the grindstone with long school hours, after school study, and mountains of homework. But China is taking action to address the stress of both homework and off-site tutoring in core subjects by passing a law requiring local governments to regulate these “twin pressures”. According to official Chinese news…
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Covid-19 forces 70 private schools out of business, 100 to follow
With Covid-19 shutting down classroom learning for months on end, private schools are struggling, with about 70 going out of business in the past 9 months. The Office of the Private Education Promotion Commission has already received notice from nearly 100 more private schools planning on closing. The president of the Association of Private Education Promotion and Coordination Committee explain that…
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Covid-19 clusters prompt lockdown in 3 Korat villages
In Nakhon Ratchasima, aka Korat, 3 villages in the Non Sung and Bua Yai districts are experiencing Covid-19 outbreaks causing a lockdown until early November. Ban Don Faek Moo 8 and Ban Faek Pattana Moo 15 in tambon Phon Songkhram and Khuem Muang village Moo 13 in Bua Yai district were ordered into lockdown. The lockdown was put in place…
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