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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    Planning to extend your Thai visa? Why health insurance is more important than ever

    If you plan to stay longer in Thailand, having health insurance is now more important than ever. Thai immigration often asks for proof of medical coverage when you apply to extend your visa. This applies to many types of visas,...

  • Tourism officials warn that 7 billion baht could be lost due to suspension of Test & Go | Thaiger

    Tourism officials warn that 7 billion baht could be lost due to suspension of Test & Go

    Tourism officials warn that at least 7 billion baht of revenue will be lost in Thailand’s tourism sector this month if the suspension of the “Test & Go” scheme continues. The president of the Tourism Council of Thailand says that putting a hold on the scheme will not only have an effect on tourism in the short term, but it…

  • Bodies of Thai model and unidentified woman found in Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River | Thaiger

    Bodies of Thai model and unidentified woman found in Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River

    The bodies of a Thai model and an unidentified woman were found in Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River by two of the capital’s most popular shopping centres. The model’s body was found by the Asiatique: The Riverfront Pier while the woman’s body was found by the ICONSIAM Pier. Thai model Kendo Kullapat was reported missing on Tuesday. Some Thai designers and…

  • Mother tries to give away baby, then abandons by Bangkok canal | Thaiger

    Mother tries to give away baby, then abandons by Bangkok canal

    A baby that was abandoned by the side of a canal in Greater Bangkok after the mother could not give her away has now been safely handed over to a state orphanage. The baby is an 11-month old girl and was left next to Bang Bua Thong district canal in the Bangkok suburb of Nonthaburi. The mother of the baby…

  • Thailand to impose three-month ban on live pig exports in order to boost domestic supplies | Thaiger

    Thailand to impose three-month ban on live pig exports in order to boost domestic supplies

    Thailand said that it would impose a three-month ban on live pig exports in order to boost domestic supplies yesterday. The decision was made after authorities foresaw a lack of pigs for domestic consumption in 2022, as well as more price increases, especially with the upcoming Lunar New Year festival, according to Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit. He added that the…

  • Soi Nana announces Covid-19 free zone, vaccine or test required | Thaiger

    Soi Nana announces Covid-19 free zone, vaccine or test required

    Without explaining how they managed to open when bars and entertainment nightlife venues are still supposed to be closed throughout Thailand, the bars of the Chinatown hotspot Soi Nana have announced their creation of a Covid-19 free bar area where patrons must be vaccinated or tested. Soi Nana is an alley linking Maitrichit Road and Rama IV Road in Bangkok’s…

  • Massive LED billboard cluster causes sleepless nights in Thong Lor | Thaiger

    Massive LED billboard cluster causes sleepless nights in Thong Lor

    Sleepless in Sukhumvit. A massive clump of LED billboards in Bangkok’s Thong Lor district has been such a nuisance to residents across the street, with many complaining they’re losing sleep, that an official complaint filed with local police and the district office could succeed in its removal. Thong Lor is known for its nightlife, with numerous clubs, pubs, restaurants –…

  • Khao San Road closed for 3 days after Covid-19 outbreak | Thaiger

    Khao San Road closed for 3 days after Covid-19 outbreak

    As could be predicted after massive New Year’s Eve parties in tourist hotspots around the country, many Covid-19 outbreaks and clusters have been identified throughout Thailand. One such cluster of 10 tourists with Covid-19 was identified on the backpacker hub of Khao San Road in Bangkok, leading to a 3-day closure for sterilisation. The world-famous street in Phra Nakhon district,…

  • Bangkok prepares field hospitals, isolation centres for anticipated Covid-19 uptick | Thaiger

    Bangkok prepares field hospitals, isolation centres for anticipated Covid-19 uptick

    Field hospitals and community isolation centres are being set up in Bangkok to handle the anticipated uptick of Covid-19 cases after the New Year’s holiday. Thousands of cardboard beds are being set up in facilities, like gymnasiums, to house those who are infected with the virus. There are now 40 community isolation centres that can support 5,066 patients who have…

  • Trip to Thailand turned sour for Love Island star after testing positive for Covid | Thaiger

    Trip to Thailand turned sour for Love Island star after testing positive for Covid

    A trip to Thailand went sour for an Australian star of the reality show Love Island after she and her boyfriend tested positive for Covid-19. The couple has been sent to a “hospital hotel” in Phuket to isolate themselves. 29 year old Australian model and Love Island winner, Anna McEvoy, has been documenting her trip and her isolation experience on…

  • Hua Lamphong and Mor Chit offer free Covid-19 testing today | Thaiger

    Hua Lamphong and Mor Chit offer free Covid-19 testing today

    Free Covid-19 testing is being offered today in Bangkok at Hua Lamphong railway station and Mor Chit bus terminal. The free testing programme was launched to try to identify Covid-19 infections and curb spread as people return to Bangkok after travelling on holiday or to family over the New Year’s weekend. Department of Disease Control Director-General Control Dr Opas Karnkawinpong…

  • POLL: Chadchart still the lead candidate for Bangkok Governor | Thaiger

    POLL: Chadchart still the lead candidate for Bangkok Governor

    In the most recent NIDA Poll, Chadchart Sittipunt still holds a commanding lead in the candidate field for the Bangkok Governor election coming up later this year. Chadchart has been favoured in the election for months and is running as an independent having served previously in the government of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in the role of Minister of…

  • 1 killed in shootout between students driving by a petrol station | Thaiger

    1 killed in shootout between students driving by a petrol station

    A brawl involving gunfire between vocational students in Bangkok ended in one Thai person being killed and two more people being injured. The melee took place in the Bang Khun Thian district of the capital city, as 2 groups of students clashed in what appeared to be a shootout on the back of motorbikes that passed in front of a…

  • 51 electric motorbike taxis go for a test run, project by Electricity Generating Authority | Thaiger

    51 electric motorbike taxis go for a test run, project by Electricity Generating Authority

    Thailand’s future in transportation looks electric. Motorbikes that run off a three-kilowatt battery are being tested with hopes that the electric bikes will be used as taxis in the future. Off a single charge, each bike can go around 100 kilometres. The bikes can reach a speed of 80 kilometres per hour and hold 150 kilograms. Each electronic motorbike costs…

  • Body of a foreign man found in Bangkok canal | Thaiger

    Body of a foreign man found in Bangkok canal

    A body of a foreign man, said to be around 50 years old, was found in canal in Bangkok’s Phra Khanong area yesterday. Earlier that day, at around 7am, a maid working nearby saw a man by the canal and said it looked like he was trying to catch fish using a black plastic bag. Her nephew later called her…

  • Bangkok is removing about 400 public drinking water fountains | Thaiger

    Bangkok is removing about 400 public drinking water fountains

    The days when Bangkok had water flowing through the city like, well, water, are coming to an end as the city plans to demolish about 400 public drinking fountains. The initiative to remove the public pedestal drinking fountains has deemed the move necessary because of a variety of factors that make them more of a nuisance than a public service.…

  • Private sector countdown events to go ahead in Bangkok on New Year’s Eve | Thaiger

    Private sector countdown events to go ahead in Bangkok on New Year’s Eve

    New Year countdown events organised by the private sector in Bangkok can still go ahead, provided they adhere to strict disease control guidelines, according to a Bangkok Post report. The CCSA is giving the go-ahead despite the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration cancelling government-organised events in the capital over concerns about the Omicron variant. Supoj Malaniyom from the CCSA says private sector…

  • Government-hosted New Year’s events in Bangkok cancelled | Thaiger

    Government-hosted New Year’s events in Bangkok cancelled

    Government-hosted New Year’s countdown events and holiday celebrations in Bangkok will be cancelled, the vice governor, Kriangyos Sudlabha, announced today, adding that the decision is due to the emergence of the Omicron variant and follows the World Health Organisation’s recommendations. The countdown event in front of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration Office will be canceled as well as other events organised by…

  • Dangling wires cause injury in Samut Prakan motorbike crash | Thaiger

    Dangling wires cause injury in Samut Prakan motorbike crash

    Thailand has long been known for its obnoxiously tangled wiring that stretches and sags along and across streets, notable in Bangkok but seen even in small towns around the country. The cables are often in disarray and sometimes even dangling dangerously low to the street causing injuries and death. A recent report in Thai media highlighted one such accident, where…

  • DDC approves fourth vaccine dose for medical workers and patients with underlying diseases | Thaiger

    DDC approves fourth vaccine dose for medical workers and patients with underlying diseases

    Following the uptick in Omicron cases, mostly involving travellers entering Thailand, a subcommittee on immunisation of the Department of Disease Control had given the green light for the fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine for medical and public health personnel, frontline health workers, patients with chronic diseases, and those taking immunosuppressants, according to director-general Dr Opas Karnkawinpong. The director said…

  • 50 emergency operations centres in Bangkok being set up for New Year’s | Thaiger

    50 emergency operations centres in Bangkok being set up for New Year’s

    Emergency operations centres are being set up in 50 districts of Bangkok to prevent Covid-19 from spreading during countdown events and celebrations. The centres will screen people for Covid-19 and immediately isolate those who are infected, Permanent Secretary Kajit Chatchavanich told the media yesterday. District offices will keep a tight eye on New Year’s celebrations and events. Restaurants and other approved…

  • Truck driver following GPS wedged in U-turn underpass | Thaiger

    Truck driver following GPS wedged in U-turn underpass

    Don’t believe everything you hear… even if the voice telling it to you is the computerized one of your GPS system. A truck driver learned that lesson the hard way today after blindly following his GPS resulted in his truck being firmly wedged under the overpass of a highway U-turn in Nonthaburi. A 56 year old Thai man was the…

  • Bangkok Covid-19 vaccination centre to close for 7 days during New Year holiday | Thaiger

    Bangkok Covid-19 vaccination centre to close for 7 days during New Year holiday

    One of Bangkok’s vaccination centres will be closed for a week during the New Year holiday from December 29 to January 4. Thais and foreign residents can still get vaccinated during those days at one of the six health clinics or 11 recognised hospitals, according to Bangkok Metropolitan Administration Health Department’s director. The Thai-Japanese Youth Centre will reopen on January…

  • Sex workers mail high heels to government, continue to call for financial support | Thaiger

    Sex workers mail high heels to government, continue to call for financial support

    Earlier this year, sex workers and others in Thailand’s nightlife industry lined high heels up in front of the parliament building in Bangkok. Each pair of heels had a note calling for the government to compensate redlight district workers who are out of work due to the pandemic. Six months later, with bars and nightclubs still ordered to remain closed,…

  • Bangkok street food vendors welcome return of tourists to Khao San Road | Thaiger

    Bangkok street food vendors welcome return of tourists to Khao San Road

    Street sellers on Bangkok’s Khao San Road are celebrating the welcome return of foreign tourists and say life is finally beginning to return to normal. The Bangkok Post has spoken to a number of tourists and the street food vendors serving them. 51 year old Wan Suripar is one of them and she hopes this is the beginning of the…

  • 300 million baht illegal online gambling site busted in Nonthaburi | Thaiger

    300 million baht illegal online gambling site busted in Nonthaburi

    A raid in Nonthaburi in the Bangkok suburbs resulted in a 300 million baht illegal online gambling enterprise being shut down. Police from the Region 1 station obtained arrest warrants for 2 luxury homes in Nonthaburi province estates after tracking down where the online gambling operation was based. The website, which had amassed a following of 40,000 members, was at…

  • Police banned from time off over Christmas, New Year holiday | Thaiger

    Police banned from time off over Christmas, New Year holiday

    With an expected swell of holiday weekend travellers, cars on the road, and people celebrating the New Year holiday, the Royal Thai Police broke some bad news to the 80,000-member police force: officers are not allowed to take any holiday leave for the end of the year. The announcement ordered 80,000 police officers that no extra days off or holiday…

  • Four prison officers in Nonthaburi fired for alleged abuse, extortion | Thaiger

    Four prison officers in Nonthaburi fired for alleged abuse, extortion

    Four prison officers have been sacked by the Department of Corrections for allegedly committing serious disciplinary offences against detainees at the Justice Ministry’s headquarters in Nonthaburi today. Department director-general Ayut Sinthopphan said one of the officers was fired for allegedly extorting money from families of convicts in exchange for special care for detainees, while three other department personnel have been…

  • First victim of illegal sidewalk parking crackdown: Chiang Mai police | Thaiger

    First victim of illegal sidewalk parking crackdown: Chiang Mai police

    After slacking on enforcement while attention has been focused on Covid-19, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has told officers to take action on illegal driving and parking on sidewalks. They are partnering with the Royal Thai Police who are encouraging a nationwide crackdown on illegal sidewalk parking. But one of the first victims busted for it ended up being the police…

  • CentralWorld in Bangkok to host a five day New Year’s countdown party | Thaiger

    CentralWorld in Bangkok to host a five day New Year’s countdown party

    For those who missed one of the biggest countdown events in Bangkok due to the Covid-19 pandemic, CentralWorld is back with a five-day countdown to 2022. The event, dubbed “centralwOrld BangkOk cOuntdOwn 2022,” will take place at Bangkok’s CentralWorld department store from December 25 to 31 from 8pm to 12:15am daily, according to Central Pattana Public Co. Executive vice-president of…

  • Cabinet approves 82.5 billion baht project plan to clean up Bangkok’s polluted canal | Thaiger

    Cabinet approves 82.5 billion baht project plan to clean up Bangkok’s polluted canal

    Bangkok’s Khlong Saen Saep is in for a major cleanup. Garbage litters the waterway and wastewater flows into the canal, which is a major water transit with an express boat service running through the capital. To tackle the problem, the Thai Cabinet approved an 82.5 billion baht, 11-year rehabilitation project. The waste from the canal, which connects with the Chao…