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Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.
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John Legend & Chrissy Teigen check out the tastes at a Korat Market
American music legend, John Legend, and his Thai-American wife Chrissy Teigen headed to a Nakhon Ratchasima food market only to be surrounded by locals trying to get a quick selfie. The army of fans surround the musician, his wife and daughter to follow them around the market in the 25 minute Facebook post. It was smiles all around but as…
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Bars and clubs in Thailand open until 4.00am? Not everyone is in favour
PHOTO: Hotels.com Some academics oppose the Tourism and Sports Minister’s idea to allow entertainment venues to remain open until 4.00am. Udomsak Saengow of the Centre for Alcohol Studies is one of those suggesting that more research is needed before such a move. “Civic groups have worked hard to limit access to alcohol and they succeeded in lobbying for shortening the…
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What did this Bangkok homeowner find on their couch?
PHOTOS: Kapook The owner of a Bangkok house has returned home to find this on their couch… a) a piece of left-over pizza? b) a thousand baht note behind one of the pillows” c) a 2 metre monitor lizard sleeping peacefully? The correct answer is ‘c’. The home-owner of a house in Suksawat 26 walked inside, turned on the light,…
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Hong Kong’s protests have been good for Bangkok’s luxury condo market
High end Hong Kong investment is turning away from the Chinese business hub and looking outside for new investment opportunities. Thailand’s high-end luxury condo market has been one of the beneficiaries. Keerin Chutumstid, from the Bangkok-based Magnolia Quality Development, says about 40% of the condos in a 52 storey Bangkok luxury tower development that opened last week have already been sold…
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13 rescued dogs under the care of His Majesty the King
PHOTO: Chiang Rai Times Thai PBS World reports that 13 Great Danes were rescued from a house in Pathum Thani province, north of Bangkok, by the Department of Livestock Development (DLD). The rescue followed a phone call to their hotline by a concerned member of the public. The dogs were all suffering from severe malnutrition and given emergency treatment at…
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Motorbike riders on Bangkok sidewalk told where to go
Internet users in Thailand are cheering a Japanese student, currently studying at Kasetsart University in Sakon Nakhon province, north-east Thailand, who stood up to two motorbikes trying to make her move out of the way so they could continue driving on a sidewalk whilst she was in Bangkok. On Wednesday, a Facebook video went viral showing the student waiting on…
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Thai coalition government may not last more than two years, experts caution
PHOTO: The Nation Economic concerns and doubts over the government’s legitimacy may mean it only maintains a grip on power for two years, according to academics. The situation is not helped by Deputy PM General Prawit Wongsuwan being made chief strategist of the Phalang Pracharat party. According to Titipol Phakdeewanich, Dean of Ubon Ratchathani University’s Political Science faculty, this only…
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Some Mac Book Pros banned on Thai Airways flights to the EU
Thai Airways is telling passengers travelling on their fleet that some Apple MacBook Pro notebooks, distributed between 2015 to 2017, won’t be allowed on flights to and from EU countries. According to the Bangkok Post, the vice president of Thai Airways’ aviation safety department, Flt Lt Prathana Pattanasiri, claims the flag carrier is banning MacBook Pro 15-inch notebooks purchased between September…
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Central opens first luxury outlet at Suvarnabhumi on August 31
Central Village, “Thailand’s first international luxury outlet”, located near Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, will officially open on August 31. The Nation reports that the design of the 5 billion baht facility, owned by the Central Pattana group, will “highlight Thai architecture and cultural identities” and shoppers will find at least 130 well known international luxury and lifestyle brands. “More than half…
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Phuket Governor and Vice Governor deny million baht bribe accusation
Recently, an audio clip went viral, claiming to have recorded a conversation between an anonymous man and an employee from a project accused of having encroached on Sirinat National Park (in Phuket’s north west). Phuket Governor, Pakkapong Tawipat, says that he had nothing to do with the voice recording, which detailed a 7 digit negotiation deal to end an encroachment…
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Saving Thai Airways
PHOTO: The pleasant smile and wai won’t fill aircraft seats anymore Whilst it’s always a generally pleasant experience flying Thai Airways, the airline, in a business sense, is a basket case racking up nearly a decade of losses, first under the Yingluck Shinawatra Government and then the military government of the NCPO. Most people in aviation circles agree on the…
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Proposal to offer 15 day visa-free travel to Chinese and Indian visitors steam-rolled
The new Thai Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn’s proposal to provide 15 day visa-free travel to Chinese and Indian tourists, was steam-rolled yesterday by Cabinet. The cabinet resolved instead to extend the fee waiver on visas for visitors from China, India and other countries in the program. The program will now be extended beyond October 31 this year to…
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65 year old tourist from Finland found dead in northern Thai resort
PHOTO: Tourist Police Division 2 กองบังคับการตำรวจท่องเที่ยว 2 A tourist from Finland has been found dead at a resort in Pai, Mae Hong Son, yesterday morning, north-west of Chiang Mai. The 65 year old, Kari Rajasolo, was found dead in his room by a caretaker at the small resort in tambon Mae Na Toeng about 8am. The resort is situated in…
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Daytime closure looms for Patong beach road
The mayor of Patong, Chalermluck Kebsup, has announced that from August 25, Thaweewong Road, better known as the Patong beach road, will be closed during the day while power and communication cables are installed. Apologising for the inconvenience, Mayor Chalermluck explains that the closures will be between 6.00am and 4.00pm and expected to last until September 30. She says the…
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How to raise rats and other livestock: lessons from a north-eastern school
PHOTOS: The Nation A school in Surin province, north-east Thailand, is teaching students how to make a living raising small livestock such as wild rats and voles. Local farmers will often pay up to 1,000 baht for breeding rodents, with fully-grown ones sold for meat at 120 baht a kilo. Rodent meat remains a traditional food source in some parts…
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Singapore aims for paper-less border arrival by 2021
Singapore is extending its SG Arrival Card trial that will allow visitors to submit an electronic arrival card in advance to speed up processing at border checkpoints The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority has announced the beta trial of the SG Arrival Card project last week. The trial has been ongoing since last year and will phase out the paper arrivals card…
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TAT proposes 4am closing time at nightspots to promote tourism…ummmmm
The Thai government are coming up with new ideas to actually lure people to visit Thailand. Go figure!?! Now the Tourism Authority of Thailand is suggesting to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports to extend the closing hours of night entertainment establishments in Thailand’s party zones by another 2 hours, from 2am until 4am. Of course, in most of the…
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Thief steals from a Pattaya bar’s merit money tree
CCTV surveillance footage from the Bart Navy Bar on Pattaya Beach Road reveals a thief crawling in and stealing from the merit making money tree in the bar. The We Love Pattaya Facebook page describes the thief as a “sinner”. https://web.facebook.com/welovepattaya58/videos/903025310064062/ The time stamp indicates that the”sinner” was operational around 4.30am yesterday (Monday) morning. The bar in Soi 7 Pattaya…
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Scrap metal merchant arrested over stolen rail track pins causing train derailment
PHOTOS: Twitter@pr.railway A scrap metal shop owner has been arrested for stealing rail track ‘pins’ that were responsible for the derailment of a railway carriages heading south from Bangkok to Chumpon province yesterday. The derailment happened in the Phetchaburi province. The incident happened yesterday (Monday) just after midday and took the rest of the day and evening to lift the…
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Thai Government seeks public opinion on civil same-sex union bill
PHOTO: Chiang Rai Times The Thai justice minister is insisting that draft legislation for civil partnerships of same-sex couples won’t be rushed and that the department is waiting for public feedback on the proposal. Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin says the process will take time as it requires “careful deliberation to prevent any misunderstanding”. Somsak made the comments yesterday whilst chairing…
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Deputy PM scoffs at demands from southern insurgency group
FILE PHOTO Southern peace talks continue to go nowhere as demands from either side prevent meaningful discourse in the two decade-long border scuffle. In the latest salvo, the Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwon has scoffed at a demand by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, the most prominent of the southern insurgency groups, to release suspects in security cases before peace negotiations can…
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British man repays street vendor’s kindness by scamming him
PHOTO: Thai Residents and Sanook Surichat, a 50 year old BBQ food vendor in Khon Kaen province, north-eastern Thailand, became the victim of a shameless petty con-artist when he tried to help the man out of financial difficulty. The man introduced himself as ‘Stuart’ and claimed to be from England. He told Surichat he had a wife and child in Bangkok…
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Executives at Thai Airways asked to take pay cut
PHOTO: Thai Airways and Thai PBS World “An unnamed source in the Transport Ministry says the airline’s financial predicament is very serious and puts it at risk of bankruptcy.” The country’s national flag carrier, Thai Airways, could be in deep financial trouble and may need to delay repaying its debt or seek new loans. Thai PBS World reports tat the…
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Growth of Thai economy lowest in nearly five years
PHOTO: Supply Chain Asia The Thai economy registered growth of just 2.3% in the second quarter of 2019, compared with 2.8% in the first quarter. This is the lowest rate of growth in 19 quarters, according to Tossaporn Sirisamphan, secretary-general of Thailand’s economic think-tank, the National Economic and Social Development Board. Tossaporn warns that although the situation is not yet…
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Train derails heading south from Bangkok
PHOTO: Chaiwat Satyaem Rail services between Bangkok and southern provinces were delayed yesterday after a passenger train jumped tracks in the Cha-am district of Phetchaburi province, about four hours south of the capital. There were no injuries reported. The incident happened around midday yesterday. The State Railway of Thailand reports that train 55 from Thonburi to Lang Suan station in Chumphon…
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Environment Ministry wants to increase dugong populations by 50% over a decade
“Dr. Thon Thamrongnawasawat says that trash in the seas was the main cause of the death of many endangered marine species.” Pinsak Suraswadi, deputy director-general of the Marine and Coastal Resources Department, says the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment wants to increase the population of dugong in Thailand’s waters by 50% in the next ten years. The effort will…
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Thailand’s Koh Chang by numbers, another island on the rise
by Bill Barnett of c9hotelworks.com Despite being one of the country’s biggest islands in the Gulf of Thailand, Koh Chang has remained somewhat off the mass tourism development footprint. C9 Hotelworks has taken a look into what makes the island tick in their newly released Koh Chang Tourism Market Review. Koh Chang is off the coast of Trat in far…
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‘One Night In Bangkok’. The song, 35 years later
PHOTO: Doi Kuro, Bangkok 1980 When ‘One Night In Bangkok’ was released in 1984 it was an unlikely hit- the opening song from a (at the time) little-known stage pop-opera called ‘Chess’. The song made Number 1 in South Africa, West Germany, Switzerland and Australia, and Number 3 in Canada and the United States. It has remained a staple of…
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After 60 years, electricity arrives in Ubon Ratchatani villages
PHOTO: Thai Residents Let there be light! After waiting 6 decades. More than 200 families in two villages in Ubon Ratchatani in north-eastern Thailand are celebrating the arrival of electricity in their homes. Residents in Si Muangmai district can now enjoy the delights of television and laptop computers for the first time in 60 years. Located along a 17 kilometre…
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Palang Pracharath MP chastises Karon Police for not offering protection during condo visit
VIDEO & SCREENGRAB: M Today The Palang Pracharath member of parliament from Bangkok, Sira Jenjaka, had an argument with Lt Col Pratuang Polmana, Deputy Superintendent of Karon Police during his inspection to the controversial Peak Condominium in the Karon area of Phuket. MP Sira was surveying the construction site of the project and the sales office, which also serves as…
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