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Thailand best-of guides on travel, lifestyle, entertainment, and property—discover hidden gems, top attractions, and expert tips. Explore with The Thaiger, your trusted source for the best experiences in Thailand.
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Sponsored 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,...
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Passive smokers at home are suffering ‘domestic abuse’ – new law
Smoking in your own home in Thailand may now be considered a crime, if the smoke is considered harmful to other people in the house. The move to ban smoking in homes with other people, and the subsequent inhalation of second-hand smoke, is part of the new Family Protection and Development Promotion Act which will come into force on August…
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Health warning: Chikungunya cases up in Thailand’s southern province
Thai health authorities are reporting 86 new cases of the Chikungunya virus in the last week alone. There have been 3,592 cases – nearly all in southern Thailand – this year. Here’s a few things to know about the Chikungunya virus… Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. It causes fever and severe joint pain. Other symptoms…
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Top 10 Thai foods you must try
Thailand is known around the world not only for it’s breath taking scenery, beautiful hosts but also for their food. Fresh and vibrant, the local food in Thailand is cheap and it is amazing. On the street or in a fancy restaurant, it’s all good. Be brave. Buy from the side of the road like the locals do, it will…
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Sephora brings new beauty experience at Central Phuket
PHUKET: Sephora is opening its eleventh store in Thailand at Central Phuket, using over 400 square meters on the first floor at the Festival area. This is the very first Sephora store outside of Bangkok. The new concept will ensure that customers and tourists in the South of Thailand can gain new experiences in discovering new beauty items from more than…
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Extra doses of MMR vaccine approved to help eliminate measles in Thailand
The National Health Security Office has approved 100,000 additional doses of MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine to help reduce, and hopefully eradicate, the current rise of measles cases in Thailand. The additional doses of the vaccine will be handed over to the Department of Disease Control in August and will target Thai children aged under seven and adults living in…
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Cannabis Walk Thailand 2019 says progress made but challenges ahead
by Piyaporn Wongruang from Nation Weekend The latest progress on medical cannabis has been shared with participants in a recent seminar organised as part of the 21 day “Cannabis Walk Thailand”, which finished this weekend. The Walk, led by Decha Siriphat, a long-time advocate of sustainable agriculture and traditional medicine – is aimed at raising awareness about cannabis-based treatment and…
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Thai Government announces crackdown on price-gouging private hospitals
Private hospitals, who have become increasingly greedy and expensive because of an unregulated system, will now have to limit their excessive bills for patients. Authorities have now introduced clear legal measures to curb hefty prices and gouging of patients. The new regulations, controlling the price of medicines, medical supplies and medical services, went into effect yesterday. Patients have trying to avoid…
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The rise of the Incels and plastic surgery for men
by Cita Catellya It is undeniable that looks and appearance are often seen as a determinant of self-confidence. It’s one of the reasons why skincare products or even plastic surgery is popular among so many people. Women tend to pay more attention to their appearance and a growing number of them are going under the knife to alter their looks.…
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Thailand’s sex crime laws toughened
GRAPHICS: Nation Graphics Thailand is toughening its sex crime laws related to rape in a bid to better curb sexual assault crimes. For example, sexual attacks against children below the age of 13 will result in life imprisonment under the tougher law, while penalties will double for rapists who share recordings of the assault. The new law also recognises sexual…
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Thailand’s ‘smoking toll’ is three times the annual road toll
Smoking kills more than 72,000 people a year in Thailand, three times the number of people that die on the local roads. Dr Roengrudee Patanavanich, from Mahidol University’s Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, speaking at a media conference yesterday, says… “Diseases associated with smoking such as lung cancer, emphysema, lung inflammation and tuberculosis are the main killers.” “Thailand had 10.7 million…
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Alzheimer’s patient forced out of Thailand. Immigration rule changes mean mother can’t stay.
PHOTO: 77 year old American Alzheimer’s patient Anna Padgett with care home staff on a field trip “Thailand talks about being a hub for medical care but the immigration rules are just not conducive to that, especially in our case.” The daughter of an Alzheimer’s patient has told ThaiVisa how her stricken mother is being forced out of Thailand. The…
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Incomes on the rise for Thai expats
“The Thai economy has continued to see an upward trend in recent years, with a steady and sustained increase in overseas business…” The pay and benefits packages of expats in Thailand has seen a major increase, with the overall package of an average overseas worker increasing by US$27,917, according to a new survey. Lee Quane of ECA International said the…
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New date for Coronation Day holiday announced
Thailand, the land of a thousand temples. And, it seems, the land of a thousand public holidays. Now, the Cabinet has announced May 4 as the official new Coronation Day official holiday. So it’s not actually a new holiday, but it replaces the date of the previous Coronation Day in Thailand. The new holiday date marks the day that His…
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Top 10 restaurants in Phuket
There are many excellent dining experiences in Phuket. Here, in no particular order, are some tried and proven examples of great dining on the island you just have to visit when on the island. From Thai to European to Italian… The 9th Floor Patong. The 9th Floor Restaurant & Bar, located in The Sky Inn Condo in Patong is a…
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Update on Chikungunya cases in Thailand
“Chikungunya Virus is an arbovirus of the alphavirus genus, transmitted by the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes, same way Dengue is spread.” The Bureau of Epidemiology, along with the Thailand Health Ministry, are reporting 3,379 chikungunya cases in 23 provinces up to May 13 this year. Phuket, Songkla and Ranong have been the most affected by the mosquito borne viral…
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Twitter and Facebook work to block anti-vax misinformation
If you search for the word ‘vaccines’ in Twitter, the first thing you see from today is a post from the US Department of Health and Human Services pointing you to reliable health information instead of misinformation from the anti-vax adherents. Twitter says it now has a new tool in ‘search’ prompting users to head to vaccines.org, which is run…
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Ban on alcohol sales and consumption for Visakha Bucha Day
The Royal Thai police remind us that today is a sacred Buddhist holiday and there will be no alcohol sales throughout the country. The ban for Visakha Bucha Day is in place for 24 hours from midnight last night (Friday) to midnight tonight (Saturday). People caught selling alcohol are liable to a 10,000 baht fine and six months in jail. The holiday…
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Buddhists commemorate Visakha Bucha Day – Monday will be a holiday
Today is a public holiday in Thailand to mark Visakha Bucha Day, the most significant day in the Buddhist calendar, commemorating three defining events in the life of the Lord Buddha; his birth, attaining enlightenment at 35 years old, and then his death 45 years later, which all occurred on the full-moon day of the sixth lunar month. Visakha Bucha…
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The Nation goes online-only from July 1
PHOTO: Somchai Meesen, CEO of Nation Multimedia Media Group, speaks to Nation TV yesterday about The Nation’s future. “Over the past five years, The Nation has lost 30 million baht a year on average.” The Nation newspaper will stop its print editions and go fully online from July 1, when the independent English-language daily turns 48, to focus more on…
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Expat life in Thailand – a balancing act
We all come to live in Thailand for vastly different reasons. Sometimes love, sometimes an adventure, sometimes escaping something at home and sometimes for business. Our journey to the Land of Smiles, and then our settling in, can be fraught with shocks, cultural and financial. Here is one man’s story as told in ExpatLifeInThailand… by Shane Irvine I didn’t come…
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Patient reveals he contracted HIV from donated blood
“We are continuously improving the screening process for donated blood.” A young Thai-Japanese man has contracted HIV via a blood transfusion given as part of his leukaemia treatment at a Bangkok private hospital 15 years ago. But Bumrungrad International Hospital, where the man received treatment for years, says the infected blood came from Thai Red Cross Society and it was…
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Top 5 places for foreigners to search for a job in Thailand
It’s about time you’ll stopped looking in all the wrong places. You have asked around, tried social media, asked all of your friends, left your details but no one really got back to you. What now? Let us make it easier for you. Here are the 5 best platforms in Thailand to look for a job and find one fast. JobCute…
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We test drove the winner from the Phuket’s best burger competition
by Carl Gulliver Last month Boat Lagoon hosted the annual Phuket’s Best Burger Competition (this year named ‘Dare to Dream’), and although we weren’t able to make it to judgement day, we made sure we test drove the winner. Phuket’s Best Burger Started in 2013, Phuket’s best burger competition has awarded the coveted first prize to Xana Beach Club, Kata…
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Cannabis is not a cure-all, doctors warn
“Even paracetamol can be lethal if it is wrongly used, so we should not idolise cannabis as a panacea and entirely replace conventional medicines with cannabinoid medicines.” Consumers are being warned that cannabis is not a panacea and cure-all for many illnesses and must be used cautiously under the management of health professionals. The warning comes from medical experts at…
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Where in the world is the best cuisine?
A review of the world’s top ten cuisines, not surprisingly, has included Thai food. Some of the other choices might shock (like their number one choice) you but to kick off here is the reviewers thoughts on Thai food… Street eats are a Thai attraction. Flip through a Thai cook book and you’ll be hard pressed to find an ingredient…
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Businesses rush in to capitalise on medical marijuana mania
The recent legalisation of medical marijuana in Thailand is spurring active efforts to investigate and develop the plant’s medicinal properties. Earlier this year, the government legalised medical marijuana citing research suggesting that cannabis may be beneficial in treating some chronic conditions. Despite the fairly ambiguous and unspecific wording in the legislation, many companies are now actively pursuing a profitable future…
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Could cannabis cigarettes be available in your local convenience store?
Thailand’s Tobacco Authority is continuing to lobby for a license for the production of cannabis-based cigarettes but has a few legal, and moral, hoops to climb through before anything happens. Using the ‘health benefits’ argument, the Thai tobacco industry is hoping it can get the go ahead to manufacture cannabis-based cigarettes which could, if given permission, be as available in…
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Phuket ranked sixth Best Destination in the World – Trip Advisor
PHOTO: Patong Beach. Phuket was the only Thai destination in the 2019 list of the World’s Best Destinations Last year’s royal wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has put the Brexit-obsessed London on top of a list of the World’s Best Destinations in the TripAdvisor’s annual Traveler’s Choice Awards. London beat its close European counterparts, Paris and Rome in…
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Thais encouraged to talk about death
by Wannapha Kunakornvong – including excerpts from “Greying nation must talk about death” Refusing life-sustaining medical intervention during a terminal illness is now the right of every Thai. It is not guaranteed under the law. Yet most Thais don’t know about the options or about palliative care services which help terminal patients die “naturally” and comfortably, instead of being kept alive…
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‘Fuell’ opens pre-orders on e-moto ‘Flow’
In its first foray into the electric motorbike scene, Fuell has gone for a reasonably economical build – a side-step from designer Eric Buell’s race heritage (below). But despite its electric roots, ‘Flow’ is definitely not an around-town ‘cheapie’ which you have to charge three times a day. The Flow is a 180 kilogram serious bike with a chunky rear…
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