Thai Life
Thailand guides, travel tips, cultural insights, and essential local information—discover everything you need to know about living, visiting, and experiencing the Land of Smiles. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted source for Thailand guides.
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Starting a new life abroad is exciting—new culture, new lifestyle, and new chances to grow. But living far from home also means taking steps to protect your health in unfamiliar surroundings. Without the right coverage, even small health issues can...
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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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Phuket’s lifeguards say goodbye to a champion of local beach safety
PHOTOS: Phuket Lifeguard Service A commemoration ceremony has been held for Prathaiyuth Chuayuan, a local Phuketian who helped drive Phuket’s first beach lifeguard services. He passed away on Friday morning after a heart attack. He first experienced chest pains whilst delivering his daughter to school in Phuket Town on Friday morning, drove himself immediately to the Vachira Hospital nearby but…
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Bank of Thailand relaxes Loan to Value to boost sluggish property market
PHOTO: booking.com The Bank of Thailand says it will relax the Loan to Value (LTV) for homebuyers purchasing residences together and that borrowers or co-borrowers applying for a loan under the first home buyers rule and who do not own any other residence would be given a 90% mortgage on a condominium and 95% for a single detached house and…
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Habitat Group honoured with ten awards at 2019 PropertyGuru Thailand Property Awards
PHOTO: Winners, the Habitat Group lead by CEO, Mr. Chanin Vanijwongse Thailand’s premium property-for-investment developer, Habitat Group, has received high acclaim at the 2019 PropertyGuru Thailand Property Awards being honoured with ten awards, including the highly coveted Best Boutique Developer. In addition, Habitat Group’s flagship Walden brand and its expertise in developing properties for investment were recognised with multiple awards…
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Thai developers revising strategies after a drop in Q2
Some of Thailand’s largest property developers have reported drops in revenue and profit in Q2 2019. The slump follows commercial banks in Thailand reining in loan approvals in response to a new loan-to-value regulation that took effect on April 1. • AP (Thailand) reported total Q2 revenue of 4.8 billion baht, down 25.9% compared to last year’s 6.48 billion baht,…
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BTS are breaking up…
…temporarily. The announcement about BTS was made on Twitter by their South Korean management company and label Big Hit Entertainment. Don’t stress AMRY, they’ll be back together in a couple of months! Big Hit says the kings of pop need time to regroup and recharge their batteries. The announcement followed another dazzling display of their finely-tuned pop skills at the Lotte…
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AMLO warns about fake investment certificate
The Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) Acting Secretary General is warning that there has been a group creating fake English certificates, claiming that it comes from the AMLO and being sold to foreign companies. The scammers would approach the foreign companies that expect to invest in Thailand and tell them that they need the certificate from AMLO. So far, there’s already…
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Happy Birthday to Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, the Queen Mother
Today is the birthday of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit who was married to King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Following the Coronation of His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn, her son, and his marriage to the new Queen Suthida, Queen Sirikit has now been bestowed the title of Queen Mother. Her Majesty Queen Sirikit is the daughter of His Highness Prince Chandaburi Suranath (Mom…
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Amnesty program for unlicensed Thai hotels finishes September 9
PHOTO: We needed a photo of a small hotel. So this is The Small Hotel in Krabi (already licensed!!) The Thai government has issued guidelines for unlicensed hotels under their amnesty program. Hotels must submit applications and complete improvements before September 9, so time is of the essence. Baker McKenzie Thailand has outlined the process and guidelines which we are republishing…
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Chewathai launches seven new property projects in Bangkok despite slowdown
Listed property firm Chewathai says they are revising down their revenue target for this year from 2.8 billion to 1.6 billion baht after demand for residential projects has shown a slowing down in the first half of 2019. The company’s managing director Boon Choon Kiet made the announcement yesterday. Boon says Chewathai’s total revenue of 618.65 million baht in the…
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The Royal Thai Army is fighting a hybrid war – Gen Apirat
ORIGINAL PHOTO: Reuters “The threat now is fake news.” The Thai army chief General Apirat Kongsompong says that the army is now fighting a new hybrid war against enemies who are trying to turn young Thais against the military and the monarchy. He was speaking to Reuters in a follow up to the bomb attacks around Bangkok seven days before…
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Lower demand but Thailand is still China’s favourite international property market
The Yuan has dropped in value against the Thai baht and China remains in the midst of a long-running trade spat with the US. But, still, the Chinese investors are still buying up Thailand property although not at the same rate as they did last year. But juwai.com, specialising in Chinese real estate, predicts further growth of Chinese buyers Thai…
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Most Thai motorcycle riders don’t wear crash helmets
Only 45% of Thai motorcycle users wear crash helmets, that includes riders and pillion passengers. With young people under 18 the results are a pitiful 22% of users wearing any head protection, even less for children. Dr. Werapan Supanchaimart, vice chairman of the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, said at a seminar yesterday that the Thai Roads Foundation and Road Safety Watch…
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Laguna Phuket launch entry-level condos
Laguna Phuket has launched a new entry-level condominium project named SkyPark. Pre-launch pricing ranges from 2.9 to 4.3 million baht for fully furnished units. The SkyPark development has three condominium blocks of approximately 140 units each, so 420 units in all. Unit types start at studios (28 square metres), one-bedroom (30-39 square metres) and two-bedroom (40-60 square metres). Features include rooftop…
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More tickets go on sale today for the Bangkok theatre performances of The Lion King
Due to high demand, the Bangkok theatre season of The Lion King live at Muangthai Rachadalai Theatre has been extended. Bookings are open for the extended season today. The Lion King is on its way to Thailand for the first time for an exclusive season of performances starting September 14 and will now run until October 27. For more details about…
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Ananda development pulls the plug on Bangkok condo project
Property developers Ananda Development have pulled the plug on the development of a condo project, Ideo Q Phahon-Saphankhwai, valued at 10 billion baht, and will refund down-payments made by customers who booked units since the April launch. Ananda Development’s chief strategy officer Sumeth Ratanasrikul says that the demand to buy the project at that location didn’t match with the concept design. “Since…
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“The Great Hack” makes you think twice about how you use social media
It’s a documentary about Cambridge Analytica. You know, that dodgy company you’d never heard of until The Guardian and New York Times did some real reporting and dug into the deep, deep hole we’ve dug for ourselves by leaping into social media without reading the fine print. It’s a Netflix production as the online streamer continues to become a mainstream…
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Co-working spaces in Bangkok are re-shaping small to medium business office options
PHOTO: The Great Room Co-working spaces are opening up around Bangkok and providing a more flexible framework for businesses to grow. Advances in technology, a more mobile workforce, and unpredictable economic growth are reshaping the business environment. In the Bangkok office market, a traditional three-year lease with options to renew and the tenant fitting out the space remains the typical way…
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Residential projects launched in June up, but sale 15% lower than May
As many as 47 new residential projects were launched in Bangkok and its suburbs last month (June), 16 more than in May. This from the Agency for Real-Estate Affairs. The projects combine 13,943 units worth a total of 57.25 billion baht, with per-unit prices averaging at 4.1 million baht, the survey added. The sale of new projects launched in June…
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Korean TVs “Law of the Jungle” leaves viewers dismayed about Thai episodes
Thailand’s ‘Post Today’, is reporting that South Korean TV viewers were dismayed when they learned that the production crew and cast of the SBS Television show “Law of the Jungle” had caught protected giant clams while filming the series in Thailand. The topic has become a trending social media topic in Korea. Korean news agency, Yonhap, who interviewed the South…
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Property developer confidence takes a dive in second quarter 2019
A measurement of real estate developer confidence for the Q2 2019 (April to June) has dropped to 42.2 points from 50.4 points for Q1 2019 (January to March). Thai PBS reports that the second quarter confidence index has fallen below the 50 point median index, reflecting developers’ declining confidence in the economic situation and investment in Thailand. Real estate developers…
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Thai school lunch program must be investigated – PM
The Thai PM has ordered the Education and Interior minister to fully investigate the free lunch program for kindergarten and primary school children after allegations of corruption have re-surfaced at some schools. Deputy government spokesman Lt-Gen Werachon Sukondhapatipak says that the PM has received a report from the National Anti-Corruption Commission about alleged corruption concerning the program in the northeastern…
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Love gone wrong in Thailand – another cautionary tale
by Nanthapong Siwilai – TMN Cable TV A Swiss man has shared his story of love-gone-wrong-in-Thailand to TMN Cable TV in Pattaya. It’s a story of riches-to-rags, a story all to common and another cautionary tale of expats seeking love and companionship in the Land of Smiles. Now Tony Niko, originally from Switzerland, is sweeping up at a temple in…
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A drop in demand leaves Bangkok with a glut of completed new condos
A parliament of owls? A murder of crows? A flock of geese? But what’s the collective noun for a lot of available new condo developments in Bangkok? A glut of Condos? As Thailand’s economy is hit by the double whammy of fallout from US-China trade wars and lingering political instability, stricter mortgage-lending rules are also kicking in creating a buyer’s market in…
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Thai energy billionaire becomes the second richest person in Thailand
Sarath Ratanavadi has swiftly climbed up the list of Thai billionaires to become the nation’s second-richest man. Sarath owns the Gulf Energy Development which is outpacing most of the world’s power companies. According to Bloomberg, Sarath’s net worth rose to $6.3 billion after a 28% rally in Gulf Energy in the past three months, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The utility,…
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Enterprising young Cambodian impresses with multi-lingual skills
Young vendors become very resourceful at extracting money from tourists. All in the quest of making an honest living and bringing some money to their families. But this enterprising young boy seems to have knowledge of at least seven languages, obviously representing the most popular languages spoken by the tourists he speaks to during his daily rounds. Netizens are impressed…
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Thai car manufacturers upbeat about sales
PHOTO: Chevrolet’s proposed SUV ‘Blazer’ to replace the Captiva Car sales for the first five months of this year stood at 437,722 equating to a year-on-year rise of just over 9%. Sales for May alone were 88,097 units, up 3.7%. But May’s growth slowed from the double-digit rise that the sector experienced between January and April, 2019. • By brand sales…
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SURVEY: Do you tip in Thailand?
Yesterday we asked readers to tell us what they do when it comes to tipping in Thailand. We noted that a lot of people’s feelings about tipping was related to where they come from and the customs they had on tipping in their home country. The question was… To tip or not to tip? Whilst the custom of tipping is…
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Surachate won’t be returning to Royal Thai Police
Thailand’s deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwon has dissed rumours that former Immigration chief Surachate Hakparn is poised for a return to the Royal Thai Police. Read The Thaiger’s weekend story HERE. Over the weekend Thai media reported that the former high-profile policeman and eventual Immigration Chief, was set for a sensational return and was about to be appointed to a senior…
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Surachate Hakparn, your friendly neighbourhood crime-fighter, is back!
PHOTO: posttoday …well, according to enthusiastic reports in the Thai media. Thailand’s favourite police poster boy and friendly neighbourhood crime-fighter, Surachate Hakparn, is poised to make a return to the front line. Thai media are reporting that he may be about to be appointed to the post of Assistant Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police. In April he was side-lined from…
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