Bangkok News

Bangkok news, politics, business, crime, and nightlife—stay updated with breaking stories, events, and expat updates from Thailand’s capital. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Bangkok news source.

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    Top 10 reasons for expats to get a comprehensive health insurance in Thailand

    Moving to Thailand offers a prospect full of excitement and adventure, but in the same vein, if any injuries were to occur (and god forbid it does), the local healthcare system can be confusing at first glance for many expats...

  • Allegedly drunk motorcyclist hits 14 year old on a bicycle – VIDEO | Thaiger

    Allegedly drunk motorcyclist hits 14 year old on a bicycle – VIDEO

    Police are looking for a motorcyclist who was caught on surveillance camera in Bang Pakong, a district in southern Chachoengsao, east of Bangkok, driving the wrong way – ghost riding – down a street and hitting a 14 year old boy on his bike. The teenager was just waiting on the side of the road with the bicycle’s wheels sitting…

  • Tweet forces Suvarnabhumi immigration to explain long lines | Thaiger

    Tweet forces Suvarnabhumi immigration to explain long lines

    PHOTO: Travel Daily Media “Suvarnabhumi hell for tourists. Look at queues today. Never seen this long.” In response to English-language teacher Andrew Biggs complaining about the long queues at Suvarnabhumi Airport, the Immigration Bureau says it had already mobilised more personnel to facilitate immigration clearance. Biggs, the owner of Andrew Biggs Academy and co-director of andrewbiggs.com, an English language-learning website…

  • Bangkok’s Blue Line from Hua Lampong to Bang Kae launched for 3 month trial | Thaiger

    Bangkok’s Blue Line from Hua Lampong to Bang Kae launched for 3 month trial

    Bangkok Expressway has started a 3 month trial run of the extension of the Blue Line train service from Hua Lampong station to Bang Kae station. Thai PBS report the the Blue Line, between Taopoon terminal and Bang Kae, is expected to be officially launched at the end of this month. Another extension of the same line from Taopoon to…

  • 15 year old Thai student dies following attack in SOTUS hazing tradition | Thaiger

    15 year old Thai student dies following attack in SOTUS hazing tradition

    PHOTO: Anti-hazing activist Panuwat Songsawatchai/Facebook Khaosod English is reporting that a high-school student, who was in a coma following ritual hazing at a Nakhon Pathom school, has died today. Pisit Kumniw, a 15 year old student at the Phra Pahtom Wittayalai School, in Nakhon Pathom north-east of Bangkok, allegedly died from injuries sustained from hazing by senior students in a class three…

  • BMW speeds away as policeman tries to hang on at Bangkok toll booth | Thaiger

    BMW speeds away as policeman tries to hang on at Bangkok toll booth

    SCREENSHOTS: Sanook A policeman has ended up in hospital after being dragged along by a white BMW after trying to stop the car. CCTV footage from the Thanyaburi Toll booth on a Bangkok ring road shows the BMW driving away from the booth, with the policeman clinging on to the roof. The car veered to the left suddenly to ‘shake off’…

  • One body recovered, search continues for another after collapse of pavilion in Samut Songkhram | Thaiger

    One body recovered, search continues for another after collapse of pavilion in Samut Songkhram

    PHOTOS: Thai PBS After more than 17 hours of searching, rescue workers have now recovered a female body from the collapsed pavilion that slid into the Mae Klong River in Thailand’s central province of Samut Songkram, west of Bangkok. The search continues for one other missing person believed to still be trapped under the submerged wreckage of the building. The…

  • Old food pavilion collapses dumping over 20 people into Samut Songkram river | Thaiger

    Old food pavilion collapses dumping over 20 people into Samut Songkram river

      PHOTO: Public Relations Department – Samut Songkhram Rescue workers are scouring the Mae Klong River in Samut Songkram, west of Bangkok, for four missing people after an old ferryboat shelter on a river bank collapsed yesterday, plunging more than two dozen people into the water. One person has died and at least 19 others injured when the riverside food pavilion…

  • Thai couple walk away from dramatic road crash | Thaiger

    Thai couple walk away from dramatic road crash

    PHOTOS: Sanook A blue sedan has split in two in a dramatic incident on a road leading to the Ngam Wong Wan Road in Bangkok’s northern suburbs. Sanook reports that a Thai couple have escaped totally unscathed after the man admitted to police that he lost control after hitting a rock and slammed into roadside barriers. The 29 year old…

  • New Thai cabinet to be sworn in Tuesday in Bangkok | Thaiger

    New Thai cabinet to be sworn in Tuesday in Bangkok

    PHOTO: Amphorn Satharn Throne Hall The new Thai cabinet will be sworn in tomorrow (Tuesday) at the Amphorn Satharn Throne Hall in Bangkok near the Dusit Palace, 3 kilometres north of the Grand Palace. The announcement was made by the the Secretariat of the Cabinet over the weekend. All 36 Cabinet appointees will travel by shuttle leaving the Phakdee Bordin…

  • BTS Skytrain stations get maintenance checks after falling concrete | Thaiger

    BTS Skytrain stations get maintenance checks after falling concrete

    It wasn’t the sky falling. It was the Skytrain Station falling on a road in Bangkok. The Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) has announced maintenance work underway at 22 BTS Skytrain stations after a concrete slab fell from the Ari station onto the road below, just missing drivers. Executive director of the BTSC Surapong Laoha-Unya said they prioritised the safety…

  • Bangkok’s Anantara adds second luxury charter boat | Thaiger

    Bangkok’s Anantara adds second luxury charter boat

    Anantara Riverside Bangkok Resort is launching its second luxury riverboat by the end of 2019. Manohra River Song is currently under construction in a shipyard, just north of Bangkok. The 50 million baht boat will join Manohra Dream offering luxury river cruises on Chao Phraya River. In addition to sailing to Ayutthaya, 70 kilometres north of Bangkok, the second vessel will…

  • Crackdown on Bangkok amusement parks without operating permits | Thaiger

    Crackdown on Bangkok amusement parks without operating permits

    The roller coaster ride is over. 15 amusement parks in Bangkok, out of a total of 48, don’t have construction or operating licenses. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and other agencies started field inspections of all permanent amusement parks in 26 of the city’s districts two months ago. In addition, eight amusement parks don’t meet the published standards for safety signs,…

  • VIDEO: Bangkok police under investigation for beating up restrained drunk in back of truck | Thaiger

    VIDEO: Bangkok police under investigation for beating up restrained drunk in back of truck

    Seven officers from the Laksong Police Station are currently under investigation following an incident of police brutality in Lat Laksong district of Bangkok. The incident happened at 2pm on July 7. The man was beaten in public view out the front of the Laksong police station. The incident was captured by a mobile camera and posted on Facebook. An initial…

  • Nitrous oxide balloons in Khao San Road, no laughing matter | Thaiger

    Nitrous oxide balloons in Khao San Road, no laughing matter

    Nine Thais have been arrested for selling balloons filled with nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to foreign tourists on Khao San Road in Bangkok. Police and officials from the Office of the Food and Drug Administration arrested them late last night (Thursday). A media conference announcing the arrests was held this morning just after midnight. Police say the children and women’s…

  • Farmers resort to household waste water to save their crops in Suphan Buri | Thaiger

    Farmers resort to household waste water to save their crops in Suphan Buri

    PHOTO: Thai PBS Some farmers in Don Jedi district of Suphan Buri, one of Thailand’s “rice bowl” provinces, are turning to using household waste water to irrigate their parched farmland. Suphan Buri is a province immediately north-west of Bangkok. Desperate to save his 3.2 hectares of rice paddy fields in Village 5, Tambon Don Jedi, rice farmer Narong Wongsuwan told…

  • Concrete pieces from Ari BTS station in Bangkok fall on road below | Thaiger

    Concrete pieces from Ari BTS station in Bangkok fall on road below

    PHOTOS: Isara Ariyachaipanich Concrete panelling has fallen from the Ari skytrain station. Luckily there was no one injured. Isara Ariyachaipanich posted photos on his Facebook page showing a huge slab of concrete laying on the road beneath the structure of the Ari BTS station. The concrete fell onto Phayon Yothin Road, near a local bus station. “It was so good…

  • BTS asked to pay 100 billion construction costs in exchange for 30 year concession extension | Thaiger

    BTS asked to pay 100 billion construction costs in exchange for 30 year concession extension

    Manit Techa-apichoke, president of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration-owned Krungthep Thanakhom, says the state firm was empowered by Article 44 of the interim charter to conduct negotiations with the Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) over the 100 billion baht debt transfer and concession extension. Manit says the negotiation should be completed in about two months. The Nation reports that the BMA will negotiate with…

  • Bangkok’s MRT to start passenger free ‘test drive’ on Blue Line extension this month | Thaiger

    Bangkok’s MRT to start passenger free ‘test drive’ on Blue Line extension this month

    The Mass Rapid Transit Authority is poised to open the MRT Blue Line Thaphra extension for passenger test runs later this month. The Mass Rapid Transit Authority (MRTA) commenced internal test runs on the MRT Blue Line’s Hua Lamphong – Bangkae extension on July 1. The early phase of the test is intended to ensure the preparedness of officials to…

  • ‘Net idol’ arrested over monetising online porn and gambling | Thaiger

    ‘Net idol’ arrested over monetising online porn and gambling

    PHOTOS: The Nation | AsiaOne Bangkok police have arrested a “net idol” (a popular Thai social media poster) for allegedly running a closed online group where pornography was sold and gambling promoted. A police source says that 32 year old Jindarat “Amp” Seripaiboonsap was arrested two days earlier at a home on Phetchkasen Soi 48 in Phasi Charoen district. She…

  • ‘Thailand’ through the eyes of non-Thai filmmakers | Thaiger

    ‘Thailand’ through the eyes of non-Thai filmmakers

    In addition its current “Drug In Film” project, the Thai Film Archive is also holding a program of historical and contemporary films about Thailand as seen through the eyes of non-Thai filmmakers. The series, dubbed “Exotic Thailand”, will run through July and August, and features 15 films made in Thailand by international directors, including historical works like “Chang: A Drama of the…

  • Gulf waters flood into Samut Prakan coastline | Thaiger

    Gulf waters flood into Samut Prakan coastline

    High tides last night led to upper Gulf waters flowing over an embankment and flooding the homes of irrigation officials and a nearby community at Samut Prakan, south of Bangkok. Samut Prakan governor Chatchai Uthaiphan says he dispatched officials to help evacuate local residents adding the water was about one-metre high and that officials had helped relocate elderly people and…

  • Bangkok locals cry foul after their Chinese opera performance closed down | Thaiger

    Bangkok locals cry foul after their Chinese opera performance closed down

    Residents in a Bangkok community are complaining about a condo project’s ‘official complaints and the police’s intervention which closed down their traditional staging of Chinese operas at the local Chinese shrine. They say the condominium was opened just a few years ago on Soi Narathiwas Ratchanakharin 14, while their traditions have lasted decades. Earlier this week, a Chinese opera performance…

  • Bangkok’s BTS becoming too expensive for Thai passengers | Thaiger

    Bangkok’s BTS becoming too expensive for Thai passengers

    The ultra-useful BTS network around Bangkok is becoming too expensive for many Thais, and is more expensive than international equivalents. The BTS Skytrain system is already too costly when compared to basic wages in Thailand, according to a recent research paper by the The Thailand Development Research Institute. It says that low-income earners can only afford to pay 11.7 baht…

  • The Kings Cup Scrabble competition is on in Bangkok | Thaiger

    The Kings Cup Scrabble competition is on in Bangkok

    The 34th Brand’s International Scrabble Championships will be held at Central Westgate in Bang Yai, Bangkok, for four days starting today running through to Sunday, July 7. It’s one of the largest Scrabble tournaments in the world, in terms of the number of players, drawing as many as 8,000 players. Thailand has produced two world champions as well as many top…

  • British expat catches world’s biggest carp in Thailand | Thaiger

    British expat catches world’s biggest carp in Thailand

    PHOTO: Bournemouth News 42 year old John Harvey from the UK has caught a fish that was THAT big! The world’s largest carp was a Siamese carp weighing 232lbs (105 kilograms). It beats the old record by 10lbs (4.5 kilograms). John was fishing at the Palm Tree Lagoon at Chedi Hak, just west of Bangkok. The property investor from the UK…

  • A drop in demand leaves Bangkok with a glut of completed new condos | Thaiger

    A drop in demand leaves Bangkok with a glut of completed new condos

    A parliament of owls? A murder of crows? A flock of geese? But what’s the collective noun for a lot of available new condo developments in Bangkok? A glut of Condos? As Thailand’s economy is hit by the double whammy of fallout from US-China trade wars and lingering political instability, stricter mortgage-lending rules are also kicking in creating a buyer’s market in…

  • Sukhumvit Gallery showcases images from a bygone era in Bangkok | Thaiger

    Sukhumvit Gallery showcases images from a bygone era in Bangkok

    The Hyatt Regency Bangkok Sukhumvit has launched a photo gallery and Artistic Afternoon Tea themed around Sukhumvit’s rich history. The new photo gallery, in one of Bangkok’s most culturally diverse areas, is giving guests a glimpse into another era with a permanent exhibition on the history of Bangkok’s most important boulevards – Sukhumvit Road. Sukhumvit Gallery, located on the fourth…

  • 24 year old woman dies after mysterious electrocution from Bangkok noodle van | Thaiger

    24 year old woman dies after mysterious electrocution from Bangkok noodle van

    PHOTO: Nonthaburi News Association A woman has died after being allegedly electrocuted by a noodle food truck in Nonthaburi’s Bang Yai district last night (Tuesday). The Bang Yai police station learnt that a woman had apparently been electrocuted in front of Soi Bang Lane 23/4 in Tambon Bang Lane around 9pm. The victim has been identified as 24 year old Nipada…

  • Luxury condos change the face of Sathorn Road in Bangkok | Thaiger

    Luxury condos change the face of Sathorn Road in Bangkok

    by Somluck Srimalee, The Nation From Sathorn junction to Taksin Bridge, the riverside section of Sathorn Road has been transformed from a strip of shophouses to luxury residential condos in a gentrification that added 8,000 new apartments to the area. As well, the businesses have shifted to a more modern trade to replace the traditional trades. With the market trend, listed…

  • Motorcycle robbers escape with 70,000 baht from Bangkok 7-Eleven | Thaiger

    Motorcycle robbers escape with 70,000 baht from Bangkok 7-Eleven

    PHOTOS: khaosod.co.th Two motorcyclists have robbed a 7-Eleven store in Bangkok’s Bang Sue district and made off with 70,000 baht in cash. It follows another robbery of a 7-Eleven just one day before in Nakhon Ratchasima. Read that story HERE. The Prachachuen police station was alerted at 4.25am this morning of the robbery at the convenience store along the Pibul…