News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.
-
Sponsored
Digital nomading in Chiang Mai? What US$1,000 a month really gets you
Chiang Mai has become a popular destination for digital nomads due to its low living costs, rich culture, and active remote work community. The city offers affordable housing, tasty food, reliable internet, and many co-working spaces, making it a great...
-
Police raid Pattaya club, find no license
Police in Pattaya seem to believe that tourists crave the safety and security of club raids each night. That was the reason given for the latest in a long series of nearly nightly raids on clubs and nightlife entertainment venues last night. In the early hours of this morning, police shut down a club that was operating after legal hours…
-
Phuket was Thailand’s top tourist spot this year
The world-renowned island province of Phuket was Thailand’s top tourism spot in the first 10 months of 2022. From January to October, Phuket drew 2.32 million international tourists to its shores, followed by Chon Buri with 975,026 tourists, Surat Thani with 606,812 tourists, Songkhla with 581,808 tourists, and Chiang Mai with 496,111 tourists. Deputy government spokesperson Tipanan Sirichana said today…
-
6 year old girl sexually assaulted by classmate
The mother of a 6 year old girl filed a complaint with a non-profit organization after her daughter was sexually assaulted by a classmate at Wat Sri Kongkaram School in the central province of Samut Prakarn. The 31 year old mother, Nuch, yesterday informed the Pavena Foundation for Children and Women about her daughter’s sexual assault on November 30. Nuch…
-
Curse of Kim Jong-un’s dogs haunts peninsular politics
The curse of Kim Jong-un’s dogs continues to haunt peninsular politics. Kim’s pups were highly-ceremoniously dumped on an unwilling foster father, then South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, after talks in the north in 2018. “Here,” said Kim, more or less. “Take my puppies and raise them as if they were your own. They’re yours now. Take them and get lost.”…
-
Emotional man holds daughter hostage in bid to win back his estranged wife
An emotional man tried to hold his eight year old daughter hostage at school in the Nang Rong district in the Isaan province of Buriram in a bid to win back his estranged wife after she asked for a divorce. A teacher notified the police when the 35 year old father broke down crying in the classroom. Police managed to apprehend…
-
Massive surge of Japanese restaurants in Thailand
There’s been a massive surge of Japanese restaurants in Thailand, according to the Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro). Jetro said yesterday that it recorded 5,325 Japanese restaurants in Thailand this year. This is 955 more restaurants than the 4,370 in 2021. In 2022, the number of Japanese restaurants in Thailand rose 21.9% above the number in the previous year, the…
-
Police seize 2.5 billion baht in Mekong drug raids
Police seized almost 2.5 billion baht worth of assets after raids across eight provinces in northeast Thailand. The Narcotics Control Agency piloted the arrest of the Mekong Spirit Network, a large drug trafficking group. Deputy national police chief Chinnaphat Sarasin said drug squad officers raided 30 locations across eight provinces. During the raids, they seized 2.5 billion baht (US$70 million) in…
-
Phuket hotels see labour shortages as tourism swells
Maybe hoteliers didn’t believe in the government’s rosy tourism predictions. Hotels in Phuket are reporting a labour shortage as Russian tourists pour into the holiday island. Now they are rallying the government to market hospitality jobs in Phuket to attract foreign workers. They say Thai people just don’t want maintenance, kitchen, and food and beverage jobs. The president of the…
-
Thai navy officer arrested for drug smuggling in Isaan
A Thai navy officer was arrested in the Sattahip district of Chon Buri after the police found he was involved in a drug smuggling ring in the Isaan province of Nong Khai. The president of the Help Crime Victim Club, Atchariya Ruangrattanapong, filed a complaint to the commissioner of the Royal Thai Navy (RTN) on October 25 pointing out that…
-
Russians still biggest tourist group in Phuket, peak expected during holidays
Russians remain Phuket’s biggest tourist group, and the island resort’s tourism is expected to peak during the holidays, according to the president of the Southern Thai Hotels Association, Sueksit Suwannadissakun, who believes the peak of tourism High Season will be between December 24 to January 5. About 57% of hotels in the island province reopened in October, jumping to 70%…
-
Ratchaburi locals urge foreign tourists to wear face masks
Residents in the central province of Ratchaburi urge foreign tourists to wear face masks while travelling in Thailand because the Covid-19 situation is expected to be more serious during the High Season. Channel 3 reported that they received a complaint from locals in Ratchaburi about the use of face masks among foreign tourists. Locals said that most Thai people still…
-
Man faked death to break up with his wife
A Thai man hated his wife so much that he faked his death to escape her unhappy clutches. A 35 year old married man named Bird, from Udon Thani in northeast Thailand, left a suicide note for his wife on Tuesday, December 13 saying he was going to end it all because he could not take any more of her…
-
Security guard accidentally shot dead by his pen gun
A Hua Hin Airport security guard accidentally shot and killed himself with a pen gun in the western province of Phetchaburi last night. He accidentally dropped the gun on the floor and it went off, shooting him dead. Officers from Cha-am Police Station and medical workers from Cha-am Hospital rushed to the house in the Cha-am district of Phetchaburi after…
-
Thai-led human trafficking sent 1,000 victims to Finland
About 1,000 Thai people were scammed in a human trafficking plot that sent them to Finland to work. Officials from the Thai police force teamed up with their Finnish counterparts to bust the ring that was enticing Thai people to Finland to pick fruit and trick them into indentured servitude. The scheme invited Thai workers to travel abroad to Finland…
-
Whale with broken spine makes last journey of 3,000 miles by performing breaststroke
A whale with a broken spine has apparently defied all odds after journeying 3,000 miles by performing the breaststroke. The humpback whale, nicknamed Moon, was spotted off the coast of British Columbia with a visibly crooked lower body that researchers say was caused by being hit by a boat. But, the whale persevered by doing the breaststroke for a whopping…
-
Major Qatar corruption scandal allegedly involving Greek MEP
There’s been a major corruption scandal allegedly involving a Greek member of the European Parliament (MEP). MEP Eva Kaili has been stripped of her role as one of the EP’s 14 vice presidents. Belgian prosecutors announced on Sunday that they had charged four people with corruption, money laundering and participation in a criminal organisation. The charges are part of an…
-
13 online gambling houses raided, 1 billion baht assets seized
Cyber police raided 13 online gambling houses in Bangkok and Chiang Rai and seized money and assets worth over 1 billion baht including cash, luxury cars, watches, designer bags, and plots of land. Police reported details of the arrests at a press conference yesterday, December 13. The ball started rolling on smashing the illegal operation when the officers spotted a…
-
Coffee shop conned by in-person overpayment scam
A coffee shop in Bangkok learned the hard way about a new twist on the classic overpayment scam. They somehow did not suspect the con when a smartly dressed man entered their shop and placed an order for a whopping 550 coffees, put into bottles. An overpayment scam is when somebody makes a payment for more than the actual cost…
-
Ultimate guide to the best Thailand bitcoin jackpot games
Who said Crypto was dead? It’s merely the ‘Crypto-Winter’ we’re living through now! So for those who didn’t yet sell everything at a huge loss, what can you do with all these bitcoins and other cryptos that will help you to recover or grow your digital wealth? Why gamble it all at some ‘digital casino’ of course and watch it…
-
Survey reveals most popular things to do for tourists in Thailand
Thailand’s Tourism Authority says a recent survey has revealed the most popular things for tourists to do when visiting Thailand. The survey showed that an overwhelming majority of respondents said that eating Thai food was at the top of their lists, with almost 91% choosing it as their favourite thing to do. Although this doesn’t come as a surprise to…
-
For the gazillionth time, transgender thieves steal from Indian man in Pattaya
For what seems like the gazillionth time this year, transgender thieves have stolen cash and belongings from an Indian man in Pattaya. The two thieves snatched a wallet and a mobile phone from the 50 year old expat and restaurant owner on Pattaya Beach Road early yesterday morning. The unnamed man told Pattaya police that two transgender individuals had tried…
-
Vendors propose doubling space for chairs and umbrellas on Patong Beach
Authorities are figuring out a solution to find a balance between unrestricted beach space and the availability of sun loungers and beach umbrellas on Patong Beach. Vendors who rent these lounge chairs for customers to bask on the beach have asked for the space designated to them to be increased. They say there’s too much demand from tourists and not…
-
Woman returns home to Mali after birthing 9 babies
Last year a woman from Mali gave birth to a baby in a hospital in Morocco. And then another. And another. And another and another and another and another and another and another. In total, the woman became the proud mother of a record-setting nine children – the world’s first nonuplets. Yesterday, the woman and her new brood of babies…
-
Global football union ‘shocked and sickened’ that Iranian player could be executed
UPDATE The global football players’ union FIFPRO took to Twitter yesterday to announce that it was “shocked and sickened” that Iranian football player Amir Nasr-Azadani faces execution. The tweet read… “FIFPRO is shocked and sickened by reports that professional footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani faces execution in Iran after campaigning for women’s rights and basic freedom in his country. We stand in solidarity…
-
Thieves ransack a Patong rental house
Thieves ransacked a rental house in Patong, stealing almost everything including doors and window panes. The house owner, 44 year Phatsamon Chompanat, reported the incident to Patong Police on Monday. Phatsamon said she had left her house locked when she left Phuket two years ago. She said she occasionally came back to visit the house to clean it. When she went…
-
The Ultimate Showdown of Youth Football Talent | BISP Soccer 7’s
The BISP Soccer 7’s is back and it is bigger and better than ever! After a two-year hiatus, the international school football tournament is returning to Phuket, Thailand. This international school soccer tournament, which has been running for many years, is one of the oldest and longest-standing events in the region. It brings together teams from all across Asia and…
-
GrabTukTuk to be launched in Phuket next year
GrabTukTuk revealed it will be launching a new app in Phuket at the beginning of next year to provide about 100 tuk tuk cars for the beach resort’s locals and tourists. Phuket tuk tuk driver Suchart Nitiwaranuluck was hailed by tourists and criticised by his peers in April after he offered a very affordable 50 baht for a round trip…
-
A bikini thief spotted on CCTV arrested in Chiang Mai
An audacious bikini thief was arrested after breaking into a house and a builder’s merchant in Chiang Mai before making off with cash, an iPhone and other goods The owner of the builder’s merchants posted CCTV footage of the daring burglar on Facebook yesterday. The video reveals the woman climbing over a 3-metre gate behind the shop in a two-piece…
-
Woman allegedly nabs 100,000 baht from gullible man in Pattaya
Another dating app crime has occurred in Thailand, this time in Pattaya. A woman allegedly nabbed money and valuables worth 100,000 baht from a man she met via a dating app. The victim targeted, Jack, told Pattaya City Police yesterday that he thought he had met a nice woman named ‘Plaeng.’ Jack said that he and Plaeng talked for a…
-
Thai actress to be questioned over illegal hotel
Thai actress Pimchanok “Baifern” Luevisadpaibul has been called for questioning by police in connection with an illegal hotel in northern Thailand. Police ordered the closure of a luxury resort hotel in Sapan village in the Bo Kluea district of Nan on Thursday, December 8 after they discovered it illegally encroached on Phu Kha and Pha Daeng forest reserves in Nan…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.