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5 best wine bars in Bangkok offering rich and quality wine
It’s wine o’clock! Whether you’re all about fruity reds, sweet whites, or funky naturals, Bangkok has many great spots to sip your favourite varieties. But with an array of options to choose from, and the constant rise and fall of...
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“No stimulus for property sector” – Thai finance minister
The Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana told a seminar in Bangkok yesterday that the government’s stimulus packages were for the ‘grass roots economy’ and the property sector can cope on its own, without any government assistance. He was speaking at a property seminar hosted by the Krungthep Turakit newspaper yesterday. He said that that the real estate sector could readily adjust…
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Official complaint filed with the DSI over The Peaks Residences Condominium in Phuket
PHOTO: Inspections at the property in March this year – Kritsada Mueanhawong Bangkok MP Sira Jenjaka has gone ahead and filed a long list of formal complaints over The Peaks Residences Condominium project being built in the hills above Kata Noi in Phuket. The Palang Pracharat MP has also claimed to have had death threats made against him over his…
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German tourist dies after falling from Pattaya condo
A German tourist died after falling from the 15th floor of a Pattaya condo this morning. The Pattaya police station report that they were alerted at 6.30am of a foreigner falling from his room on the 15th floor of View Talay Pattaya Beach Condominium. Police haven’t provided the man’s name, but say he was between 40 and 50 years old and…
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Phuket marine vets report on the progress of dugong calf ‘Yamil’
PHOTO: The Nation A veterinary team at the Phuket Marine Biological Centre has removed the remaining partially-digested sea grass from the 3 month old dugong calf Yamil’s stomach to prevent complications from possible infection. The calf still suffers from excess stomach and intestinal gas, abnormal heart rhythms and occasional seizures. X-ray results showed liquid food is still passing through Yamil’s…
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Koh Phangan get a fully licensed International School opening next month
Si Ri Panya International School announced this week they have received their license from the Thai Ministry of Education and will open as the first official international school on Koh Phangan on September 4. In an important first for the Gulf island, a ferry ride from Koh Samui or the mainland, the school is now licensed to teach a full…
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Arrival projections for Thai tourism downgraded for 2019
Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn has downgraded the forecast for foreign arrivals this year to a range of 39-39.8 million. This is down from the upbeat projections at the start of the year that 40.2 million tourists would arrive in the Land of Smiles. Thai tourism for the first half of 2019 grew only 1.4%, less than expected, prompting…
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John Legend & Chrissy Teigen check out the tastes at a Korat Market
American music legend, John Legend, and his Thai-American wife Chrissy Teigen headed to a Nakhon Ratchasima food market only to be surrounded by locals trying to get a quick selfie. The army of fans surround the musician, his wife and daughter to follow them around the market in the 25 minute Facebook post. It was smiles all around but as…
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Bars and clubs in Thailand open until 4.00am? Not everyone is in favour
PHOTO: Hotels.com Some academics oppose the Tourism and Sports Minister’s idea to allow entertainment venues to remain open until 4.00am. Udomsak Saengow of the Centre for Alcohol Studies is one of those suggesting that more research is needed before such a move. “Civic groups have worked hard to limit access to alcohol and they succeeded in lobbying for shortening the…
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Hong Kong’s protests have been good for Bangkok’s luxury condo market
High end Hong Kong investment is turning away from the Chinese business hub and looking outside for new investment opportunities. Thailand’s high-end luxury condo market has been one of the beneficiaries. Keerin Chutumstid, from the Bangkok-based Magnolia Quality Development, says about 40% of the condos in a 52 storey Bangkok luxury tower development that opened last week have already been sold…
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Over 1,800 illegal foreign workers arrested in Thailand
On Wednesday, a government official confirmed that over 1,800 foreigners have been arrested for working illegally in the kingdom, in jobs that are legally reserved for Thais. Over 1,500 have now been deported. Over 9 million baht has been collected in fines from illegal workers, with fines ranging from a minimum of 5,000 baht to a maximum of 50,000 baht,…
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13 rescued dogs under the care of His Majesty the King
PHOTO: Chiang Rai Times Thai PBS World reports that 13 Great Danes were rescued from a house in Pathum Thani province, north of Bangkok, by the Department of Livestock Development (DLD). The rescue followed a phone call to their hotline by a concerned member of the public. The dogs were all suffering from severe malnutrition and given emergency treatment at…
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Motorbike riders on Bangkok sidewalk told where to go
Internet users in Thailand are cheering a Japanese student, currently studying at Kasetsart University in Sakon Nakhon province, north-east Thailand, who stood up to two motorbikes trying to make her move out of the way so they could continue driving on a sidewalk whilst she was in Bangkok. On Wednesday, a Facebook video went viral showing the student waiting on…
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Some Mac Book Pros banned on Thai Airways flights to the EU
Thai Airways is telling passengers travelling on their fleet that some Apple MacBook Pro notebooks, distributed between 2015 to 2017, won’t be allowed on flights to and from EU countries. According to the Bangkok Post, the vice president of Thai Airways’ aviation safety department, Flt Lt Prathana Pattanasiri, claims the flag carrier is banning MacBook Pro 15-inch notebooks purchased between September…
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Thailand and South Korea partner on development of electric buses
Original story by Shin Ji-hye An all-electric bus sits on the campus at King Mongkut’s University of Technology in Thonburi, Bangkok. The electric bus is a joint project between Korea and Thailand, led mainly by Korean automaker Edison Motors, which currently provides public transport services with eco-friendly buses at Namsan in Seoul and on Jeju Island. The project involves 11 organisations from both…
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Central opens first luxury outlet at Suvarnabhumi on August 31
Central Village, “Thailand’s first international luxury outlet”, located near Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, will officially open on August 31. The Nation reports that the design of the 5 billion baht facility, owned by the Central Pattana group, will “highlight Thai architecture and cultural identities” and shoppers will find at least 130 well known international luxury and lifestyle brands. “More than half…
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Phuket Governor and Vice Governor deny million baht bribe accusation
Recently, an audio clip went viral, claiming to have recorded a conversation between an anonymous man and an employee from a project accused of having encroached on Sirinat National Park (in Phuket’s north west). Phuket Governor, Pakkapong Tawipat, says that he had nothing to do with the voice recording, which detailed a 7 digit negotiation deal to end an encroachment…
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Proposal to offer 15 day visa-free travel to Chinese and Indian visitors steam-rolled
The new Thai Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn’s proposal to provide 15 day visa-free travel to Chinese and Indian tourists, was steam-rolled yesterday by Cabinet. The cabinet resolved instead to extend the fee waiver on visas for visitors from China, India and other countries in the program. The program will now be extended beyond October 31 this year to…
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New Thai law means traffic police cannot confiscate driving licences
PHOTO: Pattaya Today From September 20, a driver stopped for a traffic violation under Thailand’s new Land Traffic Act can no longer be asked to surrender his or her licence to the police. However, the new law stipulates that drivers must carry a driving licence, a photocopy of the licence, or electronic information about the licence at all times and…
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65 year old tourist from Finland found dead in northern Thai resort
PHOTO: Tourist Police Division 2 กองบังคับการตำรวจท่องเที่ยว 2 A tourist from Finland has been found dead at a resort in Pai, Mae Hong Son, yesterday morning, north-west of Chiang Mai. The 65 year old, Kari Rajasolo, was found dead in his room by a caretaker at the small resort in tambon Mae Na Toeng about 8am. The resort is situated in…
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Daytime closure looms for Patong beach road
The mayor of Patong, Chalermluck Kebsup, has announced that from August 25, Thaweewong Road, better known as the Patong beach road, will be closed during the day while power and communication cables are installed. Apologising for the inconvenience, Mayor Chalermluck explains that the closures will be between 6.00am and 4.00pm and expected to last until September 30. She says the…
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Singapore aims for paper-less border arrival by 2021
Singapore is extending its SG Arrival Card trial that will allow visitors to submit an electronic arrival card in advance to speed up processing at border checkpoints The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority has announced the beta trial of the SG Arrival Card project last week. The trial has been ongoing since last year and will phase out the paper arrivals card…
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Former finance minister says government shouldn’t bail out Thai Airways
Former Thai Finance Minister and current Democrat list MP Korn Chatikavanich is voicing his concerns over the financial crisis gripping Thai Airways and objects to any plan to use taxpayer money to rescue the ailing legacy airline. Korn says Thai Airways’ financial current troubles are similar to the situation in 2008, when the company struggled to find money to repay…
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TAT proposes 4am closing time at nightspots to promote tourism…ummmmm
The Thai government are coming up with new ideas to actually lure people to visit Thailand. Go figure!?! Now the Tourism Authority of Thailand is suggesting to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports to extend the closing hours of night entertainment establishments in Thailand’s party zones by another 2 hours, from 2am until 4am. Of course, in most of the…
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Thief steals from a Pattaya bar’s merit money tree
CCTV surveillance footage from the Bart Navy Bar on Pattaya Beach Road reveals a thief crawling in and stealing from the merit making money tree in the bar. The We Love Pattaya Facebook page describes the thief as a “sinner”. https://web.facebook.com/welovepattaya58/videos/903025310064062/ The time stamp indicates that the”sinner” was operational around 4.30am yesterday (Monday) morning. The bar in Soi 7 Pattaya…
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Thai Government seeks public opinion on civil same-sex union bill
PHOTO: Chiang Rai Times The Thai justice minister is insisting that draft legislation for civil partnerships of same-sex couples won’t be rushed and that the department is waiting for public feedback on the proposal. Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin says the process will take time as it requires “careful deliberation to prevent any misunderstanding”. Somsak made the comments yesterday whilst chairing…
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Greater Pattaya hosts hotel and tourism forum
On Thursday, September 5 a hotel and tourism market update event covering Greater Pattaya will be held at the Holiday Inn Pattaya. Jointly organised by industry leaders STR, Horwath HTL, C9 Hotelworks and the AMCHAM Thailand, the event will feature key hospitality operating and performance metrics. A special panel on the emerging trend of hotel residences will include senior executives from…
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Deputy PM scoffs at demands from southern insurgency group
FILE PHOTO Southern peace talks continue to go nowhere as demands from either side prevent meaningful discourse in the two decade-long border scuffle. In the latest salvo, the Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwon has scoffed at a demand by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, the most prominent of the southern insurgency groups, to release suspects in security cases before peace negotiations can…
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British man repays street vendor’s kindness by scamming him
PHOTO: Thai Residents and Sanook Surichat, a 50 year old BBQ food vendor in Khon Kaen province, north-eastern Thailand, became the victim of a shameless petty con-artist when he tried to help the man out of financial difficulty. The man introduced himself as ‘Stuart’ and claimed to be from England. He told Surichat he had a wife and child in Bangkok…
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Growth of Thai economy lowest in nearly five years
PHOTO: Supply Chain Asia The Thai economy registered growth of just 2.3% in the second quarter of 2019, compared with 2.8% in the first quarter. This is the lowest rate of growth in 19 quarters, according to Tossaporn Sirisamphan, secretary-general of Thailand’s economic think-tank, the National Economic and Social Development Board. Tossaporn warns that although the situation is not yet…
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Thai Tourism Minister pushes ahead with visa-free entry for Indian, Chinese visitors
PHOTO: ThaiVisa Despite criticism from both the Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai and Deputy Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, the Tourism and Sports Minister says he will push on with plans for visa-free entry for Chinese and Indian tourists. Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn plans to put the proposal to Cabinet on August 20, despite the national security concerns of both ministers. “I…
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