Eastern Thailand News
Eastern Thailand news, Pattaya news, Isaan news, Rayong updates, and Chonburi developments—stay informed on local events, business, tourism, and culture, including attractions like the Sanctuary of Truth and Koh Samet. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Eastern Thailand news source.
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Sponsored How to reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses in Thailand?
Managing medical expenses in Thailand is important as healthcare costs continue to rise. The country’s healthcare system includes both public and private options, but even with the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) for citizens, many still face high out-of-pocket medical expenses....
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Vendors in eastern Thailand deny monitor lizard meat sold at market
Vendors at a market in Thailand’s eastern Trat province deny that monitor lizard meat is being sold there. This news comes after two suspects arrested in the central Suphan Buri province claimed that the reptile meat was sold to markets in Trat along the Thai-Cambodian border. Reporters from ThaiRath visited the Bo Phloi municipal fresh market in Trat’s Bo Rai district…
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UTN deputy leader accused of taking King’s name in vain
A Saturday speech at an election rally by deputy UTN leader Trairong Suwankiri that referred to the Thai royal family has set a former election commissioner’s ears buzzing. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s brand new Ruam Thai Sang Chart Party (United Thai Nation/UTN) could be in trouble. The new political force is already looking somewhat slightly tarnished, as a senior PM…
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Police in Rayong destroy thousands of guns
Thousands of guns seized by police were destroyed in a ceremony at a Millcon Steel Company facility in Rayong this week. The destruction marks the latest effort by the Royal Thai Police to enforce gun control in the country and combat illegal firearm possession. The national police chief Pol. Gen. Damrongsak Kittiprapas and his deputy presided over the gun destruction…
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Univited hotel guest shoots at resort owner, police
A dramatic pursuit ended in injury for both a police officer and an uninvited guest at a Rayong resort after the guest sharted shooting at the resort owner for denying him a free stay. The incident occurred in the early hours this morning, when police responded to a call from the Klaeng district resort about a reported shooting. Police were…
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Chachoengsao temple opens glass sea walk
A glass skywalk jutting out over the ocean is the newest tourist attraction in Chachoengsao province. The skywalk is adjacent to Wat Hong Thong temple, which has long been a draw for tourists in the area of the eastern province, not far from Bangkok. The glass bridge is a 40-metre-long stretch perched high above the sea. It is 3 metres wide and…
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Man sleeps in tent with deadly cobra all night in eastern Thailand
A Thai man is lucky to be alive after sleeping in a tent all night with a venomous cobra in Rayong province, eastern Thailand. Dacha, from the northern province of Phitsanulok province, posted photos on Facebook yesterday of a snake slithering out of the tent he dissembled moments earlier at the Dok Krai reservoir in Rayong province. He wrote the…
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Fire destroys 7 speedboats on Koh Mak
Disaster struck the island of Koh Mak in Trat province over the weekend when seven speedboats docked at Thong Lang Bay were destroyed in a fire. A group of tourists from the mainland who had taken a day trip to the holiday island were briefly stranded as the speedboats to transport them back burned and sank. Local villagers came to…
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Knifed in the neck for disrespecting mum
A cantankerous Rayong grandmother has worn out her welcome in her village and now her fed-up family and friends are conspiring to ship her off to a home. Ban Khai police were called to an address last week where they found Laemthong, aged 52, bleeding from a wound in his neck. According to the Bangkok Post, Kai Sawanmongkol, better known…
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Hunger calling at villagers doors amid drought in central Thailand
A hungry herd of elephants went knocking on doors in a Prachin Buri village early yesterday morning, searching for food or water as drought drives them out of their reserve. Frightened villagers awoke to the sounds of wild elephants shuffling around in their yards, rooting for veggies, early on Saturday. Residents of Nong Pradu reported that some elephants from the…
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Unable to find a temple home, monk living in bus terminal
The Thaiger recently covered “The Terminal, Bangkok Edition” – a story of a woman stranded in the terminal at Suvarnabhumi Airport for two months waiting for her pickup. Now, in the Trat province, a uniquely Thai version of the Hollywood movie starring Tom Hanks has transpired. A monk in the eastern province of Thailand found himself stranded in a bus…
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Baby elephant found hungry and lost in eastern Thailand
A baby elephant has been found hungry and lost at a wildlife sanctuary in eastern Thailand on Sunday. Officials found the poor little elephant lost from its mother in the early hours of the morning at the Khao Soi Dao wildlife sanctuary in Chanthaburi province. From an examination, the elephant was found to be about one week old, Matichon reported.…
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Island in eastern Thailand listed in ‘Top 100 Green Destination Stories’
A small island in eastern Thailand has been listed in the Green Destination Foundation’s Top 100 Green Destination 2022 Stories. The island of Koh Mak is located off Trat province. The Green Destinations Foundation is based in the Netherlands, and is dedicated to sustainable tourism. Koh Mak’s story is titled, “Koh Mak, the journey to becoming the first low carbon…
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More details emerge on pregnant Thai woman found dead in pond
UPDATE More details are emerging on the Thai pregnant woman who was found dead in a pond in the eastern Rayong province on Tuesday. Police revealed that the woman, 19 year old Kritsana’s panties were missing. They also found that the grey trousers she was wearing were on backwards, and she was wearing a yellow shirt. Investigators also found a…
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Young pregnant Thai woman found dead in pond, signs of foul play
A young pregnant Thai woman was found dead in a pond in Thailand’s eastern Rayong province on Tuesday. Early reports reveal that she might have been strangled. In an initial examination, Klaeng district police found that the woman, 19 year old Kritsana, had wounds on her lips and neck as well as traces of being strangled. Kritsana had been living…
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VIDEO: 15 students on truck in eastern Thailand get caught in flood
Fifteen students on a songthaew truck in Thailand’s eastern province of Rayong got caught in a flood in the main city district. The students had been on their way to school in the morning when run-off flooded the truck. The water level quickly rose to the middle of the truck’s height. One student tried to get out of the truck,…
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Runner rescued after falling down 200-meter chasm
In the middle of a mountain marathon, one runner fell down a chasm that was 200 metres deep, with rescuers working almost three hours to save him. The incident took place in the Muang district of Rayong province yesterday morning during the “Peak Mountain Khao Yaida Trail 2022” marathon. The parents of the 30 year old runner said he loves…
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German man believed to have monkeypox briefly fled police
Results are pending for the test of what could be the fifth person in Thailand to be confirmed with monkeypox, another German man, this time on Koh Chang island. Similar to the first case, when a Nigerian man fled the country before being caught in Cambodia, this tourist attempted to escape when asked to submit to testing for monkeypox. The…
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Men in eastern Thailand sentenced for road rage killing last year
Two men in Thailand’s eastern province of Trat have been jailed for killing a man in a road rage incident last year. The three men involved killed the victim after the victim’s girlfriend threw a glass bottle on the road as the men were driving by them. The killers thought the couple had meant to throw the bottle at them,…
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Police arrest alleged gambling operator with reported 5 million baht turnover
There’s been another gambling bust in the ‘Land of Smiles,’ this time in eastern Thailand. Police arrested an alleged gambling operator in the Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo province on August 1. Police raided the suspect’s house and found hints that he was running a website called ‘syclub.bet.’ They found evidence of betting via electronic channels. The site reportedly had…
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Celebrity among thousands of tourists on holiday in Koh Chang
Eastern Thailand’s picturesque island of Koh Chang has been drawing tourists over Thailand’s long holiday weekend, including one celebrity. One of Thailand’s most famous actors, Nadech Kugimiya, was spotted at a show at the Klong Son Elephant camp yesterday. Nadech reportedly donated 160,000 baht for elephant feed. He posted photos and videos of his visit on Instagram. One video shows…
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Boat capsizes in eastern Thailand, survivors cling to buoy for hours
A fishing boat capsized in eastern Thailand’s Trat province yesterday, forcing 7 crew members to cling to a buoy for about 10 hours. Amidst the stormy waves, a patrol boat finally came and rescued the exhausted survivors, and brought them to a nearby hospital. The boat’s skipper, Aswin, told officials that he had decided to drop anchor at the buoy,…
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Spanish woman drowns in eastern Thailand, French man missing
A Spanish woman drowned this morning near the island of Koh Chang, located in Trat province in the Gulf of Thailand. The 21 year old woman’s body was found floating a few hundred metres from the island’s Lonely Beach. Her companion, a 22 year old French man, remains missing. The pair had reportedly gone swimming off Lonely Beach during rough…
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UPDATE: Resort in eastern Thailand denies media claims
UPDATE A resort in eastern Thailand has released a statement yesterday denying media claims that police accused its foreign directors of wrongdoing. The statement refuted other claims as well, and said police have not issued arrest warrants on any of the resort’s directors. The accusations are in light of a fire that gutted one of the resort’s villas in March.…
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Police tracking down British nationals after March fire in eastern Thailand
After a fire gutted a resort villa in Thailand’s eastern province of Trat in March, 3 executives are being charged. The charges include causing a fire by negligence, causing damages to people’s property, endangering other persons, and allowing others to use the building for hotel business without obtaining a license from the local officials. The massive fire broke out at…
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Officials in eastern Thailand scramble to save tree from tourists
Officials in eastern Thailand are scrambling to save a lone tree on a tiny islet off Trat province from tourist destruction. The islet is only a few metres wide, with nothing on it except the tree and its roots. The director of maintenance at Koh Mak Tambon Administrative Organisation, Lertrob Saithongpu, said the wee little islet can only handle 5…
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Driver cheats death after flying object smashes through windscreen
A 43 year old man driving in Chon Buri has escaped with his life after a steel bar crashed through his car windscreen. Motorist Tatsana Panon was knocked out unconscious after being struck in the head by a flying piece of steel approximately 50 centimetres before crashing his Nissan Navara on the Chon Buri bypass in Nong Maidang subdistrict of…
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11 Malaria patients found in Thailand’s east, blood from monkeys on Koh Chang tested
The eastern Thai province of Trat has reported 11 malaria patients, 9 from Koh Chang and 2 from the Bor Rai district. The type of malaria found in the residents is the parasite plasmodium knowlesi. The disease was first detected in the local monkey population and then transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. Blood from random monkeys on Koh Chang has…
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14 year old and older brother arrested in eastern Thailand over human trafficking
A 14 year old boy and his 29 year old brother have been arrested in the Isaan province of Sa Kaew for human trafficking. They offered transportation services for illegal Thai workers in Cambodian casinos who wanted to visit families in Thailand. The Thai army rangers and authorities from the Special Unit Infantryman Department investigated areas along the Thai-Cambodia border…
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As tourists return, Pattaya’s Walking Street set to close to cars again
Pattaya officials say that starting tomorrow (Thursday), the city’s tourist magnet, Walking Street, will close to cars again, as it did in pre-Covid days. This news comes as more former bars have opened as ‘restaurants’, a loop hole in the Thai government’s Covid restrictions that’s been forced on bar owners so they can get their businesses open again. From 7pm…
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Man in eastern Thailand tries to sell motorcycle to shop it was stolen from
A man in Thailand’s eastern province of Trat was (rather embarrassingly) busted when he tried to sell a used motorcycle to a shop it was stolen from two weeks before. The man told police in questioning that he got the bike from a friend in Laem Ngob district, who told him to sell it, and they would split the money. But the…
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