Events

Thailand events, festivals, cultural celebrations, and business conferences—stay updated on the latest happenings for travellers and residents alike. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted source for events in Thailand.

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  • The 2020 Supersports Laguna Phuket Marathon has been run and won, despite all the challenges | Thaiger

    The 2020 Supersports Laguna Phuket Marathon has been run and won, despite all the challenges

    Signs of life, combined with a determined event organiser and keen participants. And so the Laguna Phuket Marathon was staged in Phuket this weekend, despite all the challenges. An 8,000 strong field turned out to Run Paradise in Phuket this weekend at the 15th Supersports Laguna Phuket Marathon. Held on December 5 and 6, the ‘new normal’ edition combined stringent…

  • China carries out first-ever lunar orbit docking, now heading back to Earth | Thaiger

    China carries out first-ever lunar orbit docking, now heading back to Earth

    China has carried out its first-ever lunar orbit docking today with a probe carrying lunar samples collected over the past week during a 48 hour stay on the Moon. The mission is named Chang’e-5, after a mythical Chinese Moon goddess, and is bringing back the first lunar soil samples in over 40 years. The capsule carrying moon rocks and soil…

  • Children injured on Hua Hin carnival ride, no safety certification submitted | Thaiger

    Children injured on Hua Hin carnival ride, no safety certification submitted

    3 children were injured when a carnival ride malfunctioned at the Hua Hin Red Cross Festival in Prachuap Khiri Khan. The required safety certification was not submitted and local officials are investigating, according to Mayor Nopphon Wutthikul. Carnival rides now are closed for the duration of the festival. “Preliminary inspection revealed that they had yet to submit safety certification signed…

  • Pattaya firework party lights up the weekend | VIDEO | Thaiger

    Pattaya firework party lights up the weekend | VIDEO

    After much anticipation, the Pattaya Fireworks Festival lit up the sky this past weekend, delighting spectators with beautiful night beachside spectacle. More importantly, it was the first time Pattaya was packed with tourists since March this year, albeit mostly Thai tourists. The event program was packed with long fireworks shows with hotels offering promotions for advanced bookings in an attempt…

  • PTT pays millions in compensation after Samut Prakan gas pipeline explosion | Thaiger

    PTT pays millions in compensation after Samut Prakan gas pipeline explosion

    The Thai petrol company PTT paid millions of baht in compensation to those affected by the Samut Prakan natural gas pipeline explosion last month which killed 3 people and injured more 60 people. The explosion at an industrial estate in the Bang Bo district killed 3 people, including 2 elderly women, and severely injured 10 people. Another 21 people were…

  • Bangkok locations for Loy Krathong – float away the woes of 2020 | Thaiger

    Bangkok locations for Loy Krathong – float away the woes of 2020

    The Loy Krathong festival is tonight, this year coinciding with Halloween. If you’re living in Bangkok you’re spoiled for choice with launching locations. There is no equivalent word in English for ‘krathong’. You might hear it described as a small boat or vessel. Many shops, market and roadside stalls will display ready-made krathongs, or in parts so you can assemble…

  • Happy Loy Krathong Phuket. Where to launch your krathong tonight | Thaiger

    Happy Loy Krathong Phuket. Where to launch your krathong tonight

    Happy Loy Krathong Phuket. But this year authorities are saying ‘only floating Krathongs thanks’. No polystyrene, no steel pins – keep it natural and plant-based please. This year Loy Krathong in Thailand co-incides with the annual Halloween celebrations on October 31. Authorities are also urging people to choose, or make, their krathongs using natural materials only. The latest craze for…

  • ‘Bread’ krathongs are killing the fish | Thaiger

    ‘Bread’ krathongs are killing the fish

    First it was no polystyrene or steel pins. The push was for natural, sustainable ratings as Thais floated away their woes in the annual celebration. Now there is a new warning that the “natural” kratongs, made from bread and edible ingredients, are causing river pollution. Fish found in the river don’t eat bread and the ingredients have broken down before…

  • Phuket’s annual Vegetarian Festival lowers flags, spirits return to the heavens | Thaiger

    Phuket’s annual Vegetarian Festival lowers flags, spirits return to the heavens

    WARNING! Content below contains photos of self-mutilation that some may find disturbing. The flags on Go Teng poles were lowered on Monday, ending Phuket’s annual Vegetarian Festival and symbolising that the spirits have returned the heavens. The flags are raised at the start of the festivities each year at participating shrines, calling on the spirits to descend from the heavens.…

  • Thai PM orders investigation into Samut Prakan gas pipeline explosion, 3 dead | Thaiger

    Thai PM orders investigation into Samut Prakan gas pipeline explosion, 3 dead

    Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is ordering an investigation into yesterday’s explosion of a gas pipeline in Samut Prakan, just south east of central Bangkok. At least 3 people were killed. Among the dead, 2 elderly women were killed, plus at least 28 confirmed injuries when the PTT gas pipeline exploded in the coastal Bang Bo district. The prime minister has also…

  • St Mark’s International School ‘breaks ground’ with their new Bangkok campus | Thaiger

    St Mark’s International School ‘breaks ground’ with their new Bangkok campus

    St Mark’s International School celebrated a groundbreaking event last Saturday by literally ‘breaking ground,’ by conducting a ceremonial dig on their new proposed campus in Bangkok. The successful Christian International School has been operating out of their current Rama 9 Campus for the last 20 years and is now planning to expand exponentially when the new campus in Sri Nakarin Road…

  • Remembering the Thammasat University Massacre – October 6, 1976 | Thaiger

    Remembering the Thammasat University Massacre – October 6, 1976

    The actual events that preceded the incident started a few weeks before when the tortured corpses of 2 electricity workers were found hanging on September 24, 1976, just north of Bangkok. You also need to put the incident into the context of the mid-1970s and the events swirling around South East Asia. Next door the Americans had just lost the…

  • Deals and discounts for expats at Bangkok wellness tourism event | Thaiger

    Deals and discounts for expats at Bangkok wellness tourism event

    Expats in Thailand will be offered discounts and promotions at a 2 day fair focusing on health and wellness travel, including deals on flights, accommodation and spa packages. Domestic flights start at 490 baht, and if the booking is made on the spot, customers get a free 15 kilogram baggage allowance. There will also be many deals for health and…

  • Pattaya to host eating contest next weekend, everyone welcome | Thaiger

    Pattaya to host eating contest next weekend, everyone welcome

    Pattaya will host a big eating contest next weekend with everyone welcome to join in the fun. Registration is now open for 4 person teams as well as individual contestants to participate in “The War Eating Contest 2020 #1.” The event will be held at the Royal Garden Plaza shopping centre with prizes worth more than 100,000 baht. Even organisers…

  • Phuket’s annual vegetarian festival. Put it in your diary – VIDEO | Thaiger

    Phuket’s annual vegetarian festival. Put it in your diary – VIDEO

    WARNING: The content below contains photos and videos of self-mutilation that some people may find disturbing. Phuket’s annual vegetarian festival is on this month. Officials say they are asking participants to strictly observe social distancing. Good luck with that! For those who don’t know, despite its name, the festival isn’t exactly known for the vegetarian food. It’s better known, even infamous,…

  • Phuket Muay Thai fighter is the first Thai national to compete in UFC | Thaiger

    Phuket Muay Thai fighter is the first Thai national to compete in UFC

    The upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship Fight Night event in Abu Dhabi will feature Thailand’s only national marking her third fight with the UFC, the world’s largest mixed martial arts competition. 24 year old Loma Lookboonme, from Burirram in northeastern Thailand, will fight in the event on October 3, 2020. Loma is a Muay Thai fighter who has adapted her MMA…

  • Bangkok expo planned to fill 1 million job vacancies | Thaiger

    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,…

  • Pattaya tipped to stage huge airshow in 2023 | Thaiger

    Pattaya tipped to stage huge airshow in 2023

    Officials in Pattaya confirmed this week that the resort town is slated to hold a major international airshow in 2023 at the U-Tapao airport. The event is expected to attract tens of thousands of visitors and to be the biggest-ever airshow in Asia. A spokesman for the Pattaya City Business and Tourism Association confirmed the announcement and said the show…

  • Up to 10,000 gather in massive Bangkok pro-democracy rally | Thaiger

    Up to 10,000 gather in massive Bangkok pro-democracy rally

    Special guest writer Will Langston Up to 10,000 pro-democracy supporters attended a rally at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument yesterday. The crowds started swelling from around 3pm. Prior to the event, one of the organising groups, Free Youth, promoted the rally via their massive Facebook page following of over 350,000 followers. While the demographic of the crowd mainly consisted of high school and…

  • Major police presence expected at rally | Thaiger

    Major police presence expected at rally

    Authorities yesterday announced that 4 companies of Bangkok police will be deployed to maintain peace and order at the major pro-democracy rally planned for this afternoon at Democracy Monument. The Metropolitan Police Bureau has arranged for 4 companies, 600 officers in total, to be present at the venue. Traffic police will also be dispatched to facilitate movement in the area.…

  • After outcry, foreigners will be allowed to run in Bangkok Midnight Marathon | Thaiger

    After outcry, foreigners will be allowed to run in Bangkok Midnight Marathon

    The Bangkok Midnight Marathon and its organisers were scorched online yesterday after banning foreigners from entering the race, for reasons not made clear. BMM’s Facebook page and social media accounts were inundated with angry comments. The Thaiger, alone, accumulated some 20,000 people seeing the post and around 170 comments, mostly unhappy with the ban. The BBM – which Thai authorities…

  • Bangkok Midnight Marathon 2020 bans foreigners | Thaiger

    Bangkok Midnight Marathon 2020 bans foreigners

    It’s official. The Bangkok Midnight Marathon 2020 is closed to foreigners. Popular blogger and Samut Prakan school employee Richard Barrow posted the news last night saying… “For some reason, the organisers of this year’s Bangkok Midnight Marathon have decided not to allow foreigners to run. I hope this doesn’t become part of the ‘new normal’.” Unsurprisingly, the social media outrage was…

  • PHIST – Asia’s largest online tourism event, returns this September | Thaiger

    PHIST – Asia’s largest online tourism event, returns this September

    PHIST, the Phuket Hotels for Islands Sustaining Tourism, is set to break down boundaries again with a “virtual” version of Asia’s largest sustainable travel and hospitality event on September 7. Over 1,200 of the industry’s leading figures are expected to attend this socially-distant online gathering. The online event will include keynote addresses, interactive sessions, educational workshops and a green exhibition.…

  • Bangkok sees first ever student-led LGBT pride march – VIDEO | Thaiger

    Bangkok sees first ever student-led LGBT pride march – VIDEO

    After more than a week of anti-government protests across the nation, a different kind of demonstration was held in Bangkok today – Thailand’s first ever student-led “pride march”. Young protesters demanded state teachers stop discriminating against LGBT students, more progressive health and sex education, and a revision of restrictive haircut rules. Students marched along Ratchadamnoen Avenue to the Ministry of…

  • Best wishes to HM King of Thailand on this auspicious occasion | Thaiger

    Best wishes to HM King of Thailand on this auspicious occasion

    Today is the 68th birthday of His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn. The Thaiger wishes His Majesty another year of continued good health and service to the Thai people. His Majesty has been the King of Thailand since October 13, 2016. He is the only son of former King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit, the beloved monarchs who served Thailand from 1946…

  • Police meet to discus legal action against pro-democracy protesters and organisers | Thaiger

    Police meet to discus legal action against pro-democracy protesters and organisers

    Following Saturday’s large protest at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument on Saturday afternoon and evening, Bangkok police are now pondering whether to prosecute the organisers for defying the emergency decree – the part of the law that prohibits large public gatherings. The protesters were demanding the dissolution of Parliament, the drawing up of a new Constitution and an end to official limitation…

  • Police say they are gathering evidence to arrest ringleaders of Saturday protest – VIDEO | Thaiger

    Police say they are gathering evidence to arrest ringleaders of Saturday protest – VIDEO

    Whilst the police attending the mostly-peaceful protest, on Saturday afternoon and evening around Bangkok’s Democracy Monument, they didn’t intervene and break up the crowd. But they were taking plenty of photos. Now Bangkok Police have announced that they were gathering evidence to press formal charges against the leaders of the pro-democracy protest. Chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, Lt. Gen. Pakkapong…

  • Huge anti-government protest at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument | Thaiger

    Huge anti-government protest at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument

    Anti-government protesters congregated at the Democracy Monument in the heart of Bangkok late yesterday afternoon to demand the dissolution of the current Thai Parliament, demanding a new Constitution and the removal of PM Prayut Chan-o-cha and his government The protest was organised by the Union of Students of Thailand and “Free YOUTH”, and was held in contravention of the emergency decree,…

  • 900 million budget for MotoGP gets Cabinet nod | Thaiger

    900 million budget for MotoGP gets Cabinet nod

    The Cabinet today gave the green light (pun intended) to the Tourism and Sports Ministry’s proposal to earmark 900 million baht for MotoGP race from 2021-2025. The ministry predicts the races will generate at least 3 billion baht in revenue. The licences for holding the motorbike races cost the government 100 million baht annually. Authorities paid 300 million for licences…

  • Two years ago – remembering Phuket’s Phoenix boat tragedy | Thaiger

    Two years ago – remembering Phuket’s Phoenix boat tragedy

    “There were 13 children that died in this disaster. Many were later found dead, floating face down, not far from their deceased parents.” On an otherwise ordinary afternoon, two tour boats, Phoenix and Serenata, were heading back to Phuket after a half day tour of snorkelling near Koh Racha. The weather forecast was for seasonal monsoonal SW winds and waves,…