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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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Parliament to host a ‘safe zone’ forum for students’ demands on September 22
A ‘dialogue’ is to be held in a Thai parliamentary setting on September 22. A parliamentary committee is responding to the demands from student and opposition protesters, who are calling for reform of the government, a new constitution, and even reform of the Thai Monarchy – the latter previously considered a ‘no go’ zone. The committee describes the upcoming forum as an…
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Tuk tuk driver shot multiple times by rival driver in Songkhla
A Songkhla tuk tuk driver is in critical condition after a rival driver allegedly shot the man multiple times for taking his customers. 40 year old Chaowalit Phuthaksin allegedly shot the driver 9 times from behind just as the driver was calling out to potential customers. When police arrived to the scene, they found 40 year old Sao Phuangthong on…
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Global economics report expects Bangkok to have the highest tourist drop
International travel restrictions have crippled Thailand’s tourism industry so much that Bangkok might end up with the highest loss of tourists out of all the major cities in the world. A report from the global forecasting company Oxford Economics predicts Bangkok will lose about 14.5 million incoming foreign tourists by the end of the year. Cities across the world are…
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Thai Alex Albon scores podium finish in Tuscan Formula One GP
Red Bull will be grateful for the good PR today as British-born, Thai Formula One racer, Alex Albon, thanked the energy drink sponsors for their “faith” after he came third in last night’s incident-prone Tuscan Grand Prix, his first Formula One GP podium finish. The 24 year old finished in third place behind the Mercedes drivers to become the first Thai on…
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Silom Road tops as the most expensive area to buy land in Bangkok
Silom Road, Bangkok’s nightlife district, is the most expensive area to buy land in Bangkok, followed by Phloen Chit Road, according to data the Treasury Department gathered from 2016-2019. The pandemic may have fluctuated the prices, but no data on land value for 2020 has been reported by the department. They also say only asking prices were recorded, so it’s…
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Thailand’s prisons to release thousands monitored with ankle bracelet
Thailand’s prisons are overcrowded. To fix the problem, they’re sending some of the inmates home and monitoring them with ankle bracelets. Just 39 prisoners have been given the electric monitoring, or EM, ankle bracelets, but the Justice Minister says he expects the bracelets to be used on thousands of convicted criminals to free up space in the prisons. 2 former…
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How BTS became the biggest band in the world
Even if you’d been living under a rock you’ve probably heard someone mention the band BTS. The South Korean group has risen up through the ranks of K-Pop – a Korean musical blood sport – since 2013. From very humble beginnings indeed, they’ve risen from pimply youngsters with a dream into a 7-member powerhouse in the world’s pop industry. How…
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Bangkok expo planned to fill 1 million job vacancies
Thailand has a lot of job opportunities. About a million. The Labour Ministry is hosting an expo to connect job seekers, especially recent university graduates, with companies. For recent graduates, a new government initiative co-payment system will take care of half the salary. Job Expo Thailand 2020 will run from September 26 to 28 at Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre,…
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“Uzbek footballer is the only player infected” – Public Health Ministry
Sports officials insist all Thai League football matches would still be held despite the Uzbek Buriram United player testing positive for Covid-19 last Thursday. The President of Buriram United Football Club, Newin Chidchob, confirmed that there was only one Buriram United player infected with Covid-19. “He was asymptomatic and now under the care of physicians at a local hospital in…
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150 million baht makeover for Bangkok klongs
Bangkok’s BMA is poised to spend 150 million baht revamping 15 kilometres of canal network in Thon Buri as part of an initiative to revive Bangkok’s reputation as the Venice of the East, a popular tourist phrase of the past referring to Bangkok’s extensive canal (klong) network, now mostly filled in and replaced with roads. The Bangkok Metropolitan Authority is…
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Malaysia closes main southern checkpoint into Thailand
Malaysia has closed the Bukit Kayu Hitam border checkpoint, the main southern land border into Thailand, across the border from Sadao in Songkhla. Officials say the border is now closed in efforts to control the spread of Covid-19 in the Kedah state. Although passage of people is not allowed, transport and trade, with requisite paperwork, will be allowed to continue.…
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Pattaya hotel chases up Chinese businessmen for 7 million in rent
The Chinese directors of a company, who had rented a 54 room hotel in Pattaya, and not paid rent for 7 months, will now have to pay an estimated 40 million baht compensation to the owners. It appears that the Thai ‘shelf’ company that signed the contract, is still responsible for completing the contract, leaving 2 Thai nominees potentially liable…
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Student’s demand Thammasat officials review ban on next Saturday’s demonstration
Students want to hold their rally at the Thammasat University’s Tha Prachan campus. The university’s officials have said no. So now the students are ‘protesting’ the decision of the university not to allow them to host the demonstration of the campus grounds. The demonstration’s planned date is only 1 week away. The school rejected a proposal by the group to…
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Thai schools look to recruit 20,000 English and Chinese language teachers
Thailand’s Education Minister has announced plans to recruit up to 10,000 native English-speaking teachers. Education Minister Nataphol Teepsuwan says the ministry wants improve Thai students’ English-language proficiency “as soon as the situation is safe to do so”. He also noted that the Ministry also wanted to source up to 10,000 Chinese teachers as well. He noted that there are already 7,000 foreign…
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Lights are out on Ibiza – the world’s party islands go dark
“The party scene, by its nature, is all about getting together, dancing, celebrating ‘closeness’ and being social – the antithesis of social distancing and staying away from other people in the Covid-era.” Some of the world’s tourist islands are suffering badly from the lack of travel, it’s not just Bali and Phuket. The Spanish party island of Ibiza is also…
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Thai Kra Canal – numbers don’t stack up
OPINION The possibility of Thailand being sliced into 2, with a canal running east to west through the middle of the Isthmus of Kra (the Thai section of the Malay Peninsula), is back on the table. There’s a lot of heated response from readers, for and against the plans. Is there an economic model to support the new canal? How…
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The footballer is positive, but not Thai – Public Health Department
A 29 year old Uzbekistani footballer has tested positive for Covid-19 in the days prior to the first Toyota Thai football league starting today. The entire participating 1,115 football players and staff of the Thai football league were required to conduct a Covid-19 test on Thursday this week before the first match which is scheduled for today. The positive result…
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3 to 4 years for tourism revenue to recover, research centre says
It’s going to take years for Thailand’s tourism revenue to recover. A lack of international tourists caused income to drastically drop and it’s going to be at least 3 to 4 years until revenue is back to normal, according to the Krungthai COMPASS Research Centre. Many tourism companies are also changing their marketing approach to stay in business, focusing on a…
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Bangkok DJ infected with more contagious, less severe Covid-19 strain
The Bangkok DJ who recently tested positive for Covid-19 was infected by the G strain, a more contagious, but less severe strain, according to the Department of Medical Sciences director general Opas Karnkawinpong. The strain is mostly found in those returning to Thailand from abroad and detected in quarantine. The G strain isn’t as severe as L strain and the…
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Thai drinkers fight back against online booze ban
The recent confirmation from the government that online sales of alcohol are to be banned is causing outrage among some booze lovers. With officials seemingly obsessed with the perceived evils of alcohol, Thailand already has a ban on the sale of booze before 11am, between 2 – 5pm, and after midnight. It is also illegal to brew your own beer…
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15 luxury cars destroyed in Bangkok garage fire
A fire that broke out overnight in a Bangkok garage has destroyed 15 luxury vehicles, with total damage estimated at around 40 million baht. The garage is located in the Saphan Sung district of the capital, around 13 kilometres from Suvarnabhumi Airport. The Bangkok Post reports that the fire started at around midnight at the SY Auto Technic garage. It…
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Hunt for wild tiger sighted at maize plantation in northern Thailand
A drone has been deployed in the hunt for a wild tiger believed to have wandered outside its natural habitat at the Huey Kha Kheng wildlife sanctuary. The sanctuary, in the northern province of Uthai Thani, has brought in forest rangers in an attempt to track down the tiger, whose footprints were spotted in a nearby maize plantation. PHOTO: Thai…
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Police bust factories: Used medical gloves resold and painkillers sold as herbal medicine
Police busted 2 factories. The first allegedly produced medicine illegally, selling medicines containing steroids and painkillers as “herbal medicine.” The other was allegedly repackaging used medical gloves, boxing them up and making them look good as new. In the herbal medicine bust, police seized 400,000 packages of what police say is “fake” herbal medicine under the brand name “Jindamanee.” Instead…
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Kasetsart school bans use of name, logo, at political events on grounds of “neutrality”
A school forming part of Bangkok’s Kasetsart University has banned students from using its name or logo in any political activities. Anti-government protests have been ramping up around the country since mid-July, with a large rally set to take place at Thammasat University in the capital on September 19 (although Thammasat officials have currently denied permission for the demonstration to…
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Border police camps to be turned into quarantine centres
Border patrol police camps might be turned into quarantine bases for migrants workers employed through a labour program, but the government just needs the officers’ permission first. The plan would provide employers a cost efficient option for the mandatory 14 day quarantine and Covid-19 testing whilst allowing for migrants to return to work in Thailand since fleeing back to their…
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160 million baht project to renovate Pattaya beach set to begin by year end
A 160 million baht project to renovate Pattaya beach looks set to begin by the end of this year. Yet ANOTHER renovation project in a long list of makeovers for the city’s naturally slim beachfronts. Talks on the project have been ongoing since September 2019 and, while movement may have stalled for a while due to the Covid-19 ‘interruption’, it…
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Myanmar locksdown parts of Yangon as Covid-19 cases spike
Myanmar is responding to its sudden spike in cases by increasing restrictions and curfews in the largest city Yangon. Burmese health authorities have reported another record daily spike in Covid-19 cases. 261 new infections were reported yesterday taking its overall cases to 2,150. Curbs on entry into Yangon and the Burmese capital Naypyitaw are also now in place. The graph…
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Ships want a shortcut: Studies to start on Thai canal and land bridge
Thailand could actually sliced in half by a canal right across the Malay Peninsula, linking the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Proposals have been in the works for hundreds of years, but now the idea is popping up again, and alternatives, as shipping companies try and find ways to cut their costs. The Thai government plans to hold…
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22% rise in suicide cases indicates links with Thai economy and lockdowns
An apparent rise in Thailand’s suicide rate, related to the country’s current business conditions, restrictions and ongoing world pandemic, is concerning health officials. The data was announced yesterday, to coincide with World Suicide Prevention Day, The Mental Health Department has released a report indicating 2,551 people had killed themselves from January to the end of July, 2020. That is up a…
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Thammasat University officials ban September 19 protest
Thammasat University, once a bastion of democratic voices and student expression, has refused permission for an anti-government protest, set to take place on its Tha Phra Chan campus in Bangkok, on September 19. University officials say they are banning the gathering as organisers have “failed to follow the institution’s guidelines” on hosting political events on campus. Officials are referring to…
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