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From South China Morning Post Bangkok’s Chinatown braces for gentrification now subway station is about to open Most Sino-Thai clans quit Sampheng, a warren of narrow lanes, years ago, but few sold their properties, and its patchwork of ownership may save the historic neighbourhood from mass development – though change will inevitably come Suwilai Boonthawatchai, 63, was born and raised in Sampheng, the narrow street that for two centuries defined the commercial heart of Bangkok, known today as Chinatown. “At night we could walk to the street food stalls wearing our pyjamas,” Suwilai recalls of her childhood in the area. “It was comfortable and safe. There were no thieves at all at that time.” Things started to change in the old neighbourhood in the early 1990s, when Thailand’s economy was booming and every household could suddenly afford a car. But there was no place to park in Sampheng, a warren of narrow lanes, wholesale and retail outlets, and crowded pavements. The ethnic Chinese residents started to move out to condominiums or the suburbs. The Boothawatchai family finally relocated 10 years ago, buying a house in a Bangkok suburb but keeping their Sampheng property as an office for their business – selling imported sewing machines and spare parts. “Because everyone else had moved, at night it was dangerous here … so many robberies. It forced us to leave,” says Suwilai, who like most Thais of Chinese descent is Chiu Chow, the dominant dialect group on the eastern coast of Guangdong province, in southern China. The Boonthawatchai clan’s Sampheng experience is typical of Bangkok-based Sino-Thai families. Many of the city’s most powerful business clans, such as the Chearavanonts of the Charoen Pokphand Group and Sirivadhanabhakdis of the TCC Group, started out as traders in Sampheng and moved out as their commercial empires expanded, but most still hold on to their original family compounds out of a sense of pride and in keeping with the Chinese belief that it would be unlucky to sell the place where your good fortunes began. That instinct to hold on to the family land may turn out to be Chinatown’s salvation amid the threat of commercial development and gentrification that will arise with the opening of a subway station near Wat Mangkon Kamalawat (Dragon Lotus Temple) in September next year. Its advent will bring to Chinatown something it has lacked for decades – easy accessibility. “I don’t know if it will kill Chinatown but it will definitely change Chinatown, a place that was extremely difficult for even Bangkok people to get around in,” says Chutyaves Sinthuphan, founder of Site-Specific Company, an architectural firm. Continues with photos http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/2141436/bangkoks-chinatown-braces-gentrification-now-subway-station

From Nation Multimdia Personal info at risk as TrueMove H customer data found in online folder THE National Broadcasting and Telecom Commission (NBTC) has sought an urgent meeting with executives of TrueMove H, one of the country’s three major mobile phone operators, to question a probable massive leak of customers’ personal data. The likely leak, including individuals’ ID cards and passport numbers, was first reported by Blognone, an online technology news service, when Niall Merrigan, a cyber-security researcher, said he had found the data under the folder name of Truemoveh/idcard with unrestricted access on the cloud storage facility of Amazon Web Service. The 32-gigabyte folder contained multiple years of personal data of TrueMove H’s customers in Thailand, including those from 2016 (14.5 gigabytes), 2017 (8.3 gigabytes) and 2018 (2.2 gigabytes). The folder shows a large quantity of personal ID card data, including photos and 13-digit numbers that were apparently used when customers first signed up with TrueMove H. The passport details of foreign customers in Thailand was in the folder, too. Due to its unrestricted access on the cloud-based data storage facility, such a massive data could be abused by unscrupulous people, affecting a large number of people in Thailand. TrueMove responded to Merrigan’s alert on the possible data leak on Tuesday and managed to restrict access to the folder which stored its customers’ private data. Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of NBTC, said TrueMove H must explain during the April 17 meeting with the regulatory agency what happened to its customers’ personal data. There was a risk that a large number of individuals’ private ID card data could have been compromised due to it being stored in an unsecured way, he said. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30343191

From NYTimes Temples, floating markets, candlelight cruises, massages: you can create your own water-themed tour. The boat ride on the Mae Klong River in central Thailand was billed as a firefly cruise, but there was no sign of the blinking bugs a half-hour into our nighttime ride. We were on a narrow, wooden craft in Samut Songkhram, a small province about an hour southwest of Bangkok with a dozen other tourists in pairs on wooden benches. The engine roared as we plowed through the glossy, black water. The only lights came from the balconied hotels and elevated pagodas on the shore, and from a temple with a startlingly large and hunched black Buddha, in a golden robe with glinting white eyes. Then, as we rounded a bend and the skipper cut the engine, we drifted toward a twinkling stand of trees, the spindly limbs seemingly strung with strands of white Christmas lights. The fireflies weren’t floating around, but were parked on the branches, flickering in unison. For the next 20 minutes, the boatman steered us from bank to bank, drifting past the silent light shows, the stars so bright it was hard to distinguish their twinkle from the luminescence of the insects. Thailand may be famous for its tropical isles and aquamarine seas, but select rivers and canals in the country’s core offer opportunities for some astonishing adventures as well. Several major rivers like the Chao Phraya and the Mae Klong course south into the Gulf of Thailand, with dozens of tributaries and canals connecting along the way. Continues with photos https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/10/travel/thailand-river-tour.html

A quick review of some known--and a few not so much--bars in our favorite area. From The Edge Financial Daily A dynamic metropolitan, Bangkok is constantly evolving, surprising visitors with new highlights. In the evenings, it is heaving with greater action, especially at the bars and clubs found all over the capital. As each of these hotspots offers a unique experience, you will be spoilt for choice. Here are our recommendations on where to pull up at a table, kick back and chin-chin (bottoms up) with inimitable drinks in hand. Continues with photos http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/travel-chinchin-bangkok

For me, without sweet memories I wouldn't have the impetus to plan another trip. Or to borrow from the Bard, past is prologue. But I vigorously applaud whatever works for others and provides the stimulation for repeat visit.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. The details kindle memories and memories are what sustain us until we begin packing for our next trip. Is there a better way to get old?

Just received message that police will allow water on soi 4. However, I'm unable to confirm.

If you go back to the OP, you'll understand why I'm posting this update. Be forewarned, however: if you're not a baseball fan (or fan of hunky Japanese guys), stop here. From Los Angeles Times The anticipation increased with every zero that was posted on the Angel Stadium scoreboard. This was going to happen. Shohei Ohtani was going to pitch a perfect game. Marcus Semien ruined the fantasy, but only for the day. The seventh-inning single by the Oakland Athletics shortstop felt more like a delay of the inevitable than a death of a dream. So the expectation remained when the Angels' 6-1 victory was complete, only in a slightly altered form. http://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/la-sp-angels-ohtani-hernandez-20180408-story.html It was not even 10 o'clock on Sunday morning. The Angels would play the Oakland Athletics, but not for another three hours. At that hour, the players usually speed right on into the parking lot. Not on this day. "There's a carnival going on out there," one of the players said as he walked into the clubhouse. So is Shohei Ohtani. The Angels sold out. They sold 44,742 tickets, more than for opening day, more than for any regular-season day game since they downsized their stadium 20 years ago. Ohtani's fastball ran as fast as 99.6 mph. His last fastball – on his next-to-last pitch, his 90th – hit 98 mph. He got strikeouts with his wicked splitter. He dropped in a curve at 68.5 mph, just for the heck of it, to a stunned Matt Joyce. "That's as good as game as you could ever see pitched," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia, a man who does not traffic in hyperbole. http://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/la-sp-angels-athletics-20180408-story.html

From Bangkok Post A seasonal downturn in the baht driven by dividend outflows and a lack of tourists could be worse than usual this year amid rising global bond yields and less liquidity, according to Kasikornbank. A dropoff in tourists after the Songkran festival in mid-April and payouts to foreign stock investors usually spell declines for the currency in May. Last year was the first time the baht managed to rally in that month since 2009. Rising developed-market bond yields and the gradual winding down of stimulus by the European Central Bank could prompt overseas investors to rebalance their portfolios away from emerging markets like Thailand, said Kobsidthi Silpachai, head of capital market research at Kasikornbank. “The baht may see bigger downward pressure this year than usual,” he said. “Many clients are asking about this dividend season, while exporters are hoping for some light at the end of the tunnel.” A decline in the baht may provide some relief to exporters who have complained about an 11% rally against the dollar over the last 12 months. Some 87 billion baht ($2.8 billion) of stock dividends will be paid out to non-resident investors in April and May this year, Kasikornbank estimates. If the dollar rises beyond its 50-day moving average against the baht, that could open the way for the Thai currency to test its support area between the March 2 low at 31.587 and the 31.638 trough on Feb 22. Beyond that, the next support lies at the low of 31.957 reached on Feb 9. The currency traded at 31.4172 to the US dollar at 6pm on Monday. https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/1443458/cruellest-month-for-baht-could-be-worse-than-usual-this-year

Check Agoda.com website and select "Silom" under pull-down Neighborhood menu. Nantra Hotel would be in your price range.

From NYTimes Where to Find Bangkok’s Best Street Food While You CanWill the city ban its famed street food offerings? It’s unclear. In the meantime, a quest to find the best fishball noodle stands and much more. It was a few minutes after 6 p.m., and Lim Lao Sa, a fishball noodle stand tucked into an alleyway near the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, had just opened. Rain was falling, hard. A series of deftly arranged tarps sheltered patrons sitting on red plastic stools at a handful of tables. Water drizzled off the tarp edges, down the concrete walls and past exposed wiring. Fluorescent bulbs cast harsh shadows. Lim Lao Sa’s owners — a brother and sister who’d inherited the 60-year-old business from their father — bickered vigorously. My friend Win Luanchaison, a real-estate developer and fervent culinary explorer, and I tucked into our bowls. The quenelle-like fishballs were at once springy and creamy, the rice noodles supple, the broth clear and sure of purpose. It was easy to understand why Lim Lao Sa cooked annually for the Thai princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. “She eats egg noodles served dry,” said Pawita Boriboonchaisiri, the elder sister. In fact, given all of this — the setting, the food, the feeling that Lim Lao Sa could be washed away in an instant, by a bad mood or even worse weather — I decided that Lim Lao Sa was the platonic ideal of street food. And it was precisely why I’d come to Bangkok. Last April, the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority made international headlines when it announced the city of more than 8 million would ban street food vendors — often considered the world’s best — in order to make sidewalks more accessible. The B.M.A. soon walked back its statement, saying street food would be preserved in Chinatown and the Khao San Road backpacker district, but elsewhere it would be eliminated, the vendors relocated from “vital walkways,” as the Tourism Authority of Thailand put it, to “designated zones and nearby markets.” This would happen by year’s end. Eventually. Maybe. Sometime. Continues with pics and video https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/travel/bangkok-street-food-guide-ban.html

Vinapu's practice of paying by round and not allowing slips to accumulate in the bin seems to be good practice in these venues. It's one thing if you're in a place you frequent and have never had a problem. But when in doubt, settling the tab as the drinks are delivered avoids unpleasant surprises. I had this rule reinforced when buying rounds at an oft-mentioned Soi 6 bar. The bartender wanted to justify his total with the assistance of a hand-held calculator. Since I wasn't buying a watch on Patpong I pointed to each boy and how many drinks I had ordered and we reached an amicable agreement. Tips, of course, were handed directly to the guys in order of occurrence. .

From The Economist Once the wildest of emerging markets, Thailand is ageing fast. Its economic policymakers need to change course TWENTY years ago Thailand was the most torrid of emerging markets. After a spell of overheated growth and wide current-account deficits, it had exhausted its foreign-exchange reserves and lost its currency’s peg to the dollar. In the aftermath, inflation approached 10% and the Bank of Thailand (BoT) struggled to restore confidence in the baht. In a widely cited paper by Romain Rancière of the University of Southern California and two co-authors, Thailand was used as a stark illustration that dynamism and danger, fast growth and occasional crises, went hand in hand. A few of today’s emerging markets can still set the pulse racing—Turkey, for example, has combined breakneck growth with double-digit inflation and a worrying slide in the lira. But Thailand is not one of them. Private investment expanded by only 1.7% last year. Thailand’s sovereign bonds yield less than America’s. Inflation is once again a worry, not because it is too high, but because it is so stubbornly low. Consumer prices rose by only 0.8% in March, according to figures released this week. Inflation has remained below the BoT’s target range of 1-4% for 13 months in a row. Core inflation, excluding raw food and energy, has been below 1% for almost three years. “It’s Japan,” says one veteran observer of Thailand’s economy. “It’s got Japan’s demographics from 25 years ago, [and] it’s on the Japanese path of zero inflation, very low interest rates and a big current-account surplus.” By 2022 Thailand will be the first developing country to become an “aged” society, according to the BoT, with more than 14% of its population over 65. The proportion of elderly is rising faster in Thailand than in China. But a grey future is no excuse for a sedentary present. Thailand’s demography should instead impart a sense of economic urgency. The country should be investing in infrastructure and machinery to ensure that tomorrow’s smaller workforce is well equipped to provide for a large population of pensioners. Unfortunately, Thailand’s economic policymakers also exhibit some of the macroeconomic passivity that once paralysed Japan. The BoT has not cut interest rates since April 2015. At the BoT’s most recent meeting one member even voted for an increase, lest people grow too accustomed to easy finance. Continues at https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21739976-once-wildest-emerging-markets-thailand-ageing-fast-its-economic

From CBC news Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the closure of the tourist destination of Boracay for up to six months after saying the waters off its famed white-sand beaches had become a "cesspool" due to overcrowding and development. Duterte approved the total shutdown of Boracay as a tourist destination starting April 26 in a cabinet meeting Wednesday night after extensive discussions of its impact, including ways to help about 17,000 workers who may be displaced, tourism undersecretary Frederick Alegre said Thursday. "This is not about profit, it's about the political will to deal with years of neglect of the environment," Alegre said. "We need to act swiftly to save the island and avert its further deterioration." Last February, Duterte said Boracay's water has turned into a "cesspool" with human waste being discharged into the sea. Continues with video http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/philippine-boracay-island-temporary-close-1.4605870

Thai coffee growers in the north are producing new and refined blends. I believe members will enjoy viewing this video for more than just the beans. From NHK Newsline https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/videos/20180405212747762/

If they worked 365 days a year it would be about 1.8 m baht. More likely they take a few nights off a week and that would bring it down to 1.3 million. So that's the equivalent of about $42,000. Hardly consider that being over paid when you consider that they have to have sex with the likes of us. Bet you make more than that, Peter, and you don't have to do it on your back.

Excerpted from South China Morning Post Harlan Goldstein, the self-proclaimed “celebrity chef of Hong Kong”, is back – but this time he is about to open a restaurant in Pattaya, just outside the city by Mabphrachan Lake. Called Harlan Goldstein’s Comfort, the restaurant – which has the tagline “Food for Friends” – opened on March 28 and serve an eclectic menu of various cuisines. “The dining scene in Pattaya is like Hong Kong 30 years ago,” he says, perhaps hinting that he has been down that road before. Goldstein also says that he is happy to be back in the kitchen, unlike in Hong Kong where he was managing several restaurants at once. Goldstein says he has calmed down since moving to Thailand, but admits that he is still not used to things being done less efficiently than they are in Hong Kong. “What takes 10 minutes in Hong Kong takes 10 days here. I have to bite my tongue,” he says. “Also I have seen that staff will quit if you are difficult. The people here are very friendly and warm, but productivity is like a nightmare. It’s something I have to get used to.” Goldstein abruptly resigned from Hong Kong-based ZS Hospitality Group in September 2016 due to what he says were differences between him and chairwoman Elizabeth Chu Yuet-han. The restaurant group gave him what he calls a “golden handshake” – almost US$3 million – and he decided, after 26 years in Hong Kong, on a change of scenery and moved to Thailand. “I’ve been here for seven months and originally I wanted to go to Bangkok. I was there for two weeks, then Chiang Mai for two weeks. And then I told my wife [Helen Pong] we should check out Pattaya,” he says. He explains that the place isn’t just about its seedy undertones. “Only certain areas are like that. I’m in an area that’s surrounded by luxury condos and there are a lot of Russians, Belgians, French and Americans. In Pattaya there’s the low-end market, then the mid-section where people have money and good jobs, and then the mega rich.” The chef and restaurateur is now putting the finishing touches on his new restaurant, which he claims the owner has handed to him rent-free for nine years. It features a giant mural of King Kong looking like rapper 50 Cent, an open kitchen and colourful bathrooms, including one called the “banana room” which has a poster listing countries and the lengths of their bananas under the banner “Know Your Banana”. There is also what he calls a Russian toilet, which is pink and has a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The menu features 34 dishes – the best of the recipes Goldstein has picked up in 38 years of world travel, he says. From Italy there’s pappardelle with mushrooms, truffles and slow-cooked egg; from Mexico, pulled pork tacos; from America, slow-cooked Sriracha glazed pork ribs; and from Thailand, crispy soft shell crab with yellow curry and roti. He adds there will also be daily specials. http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2136094/iconoclast-chef-hong-kong-back-pattaya-new-restaurant-thai

From VN Express International Thai sex workers are offered unofficial protection, but for the men and women who walk Saigon's dark streets, the security is not there. “Call me Ryn, I like that name!” a transgender woman told me with a hoarse voice and a shy smile, preferring the female name than her given one. Ryn works at a bar in Soi Nana, one of many glittering alleys along Sukhumvit which often sit on top of the must-visit places in Bangkok. At these red light districts, sex workers, male or female, provide all kinds of services, from a fun date to arousing massages. The alleys stand right next to a shopping center crowded with Muslims. A man having fun all night at Soi Cowboy can take a short walk to the mall and buy beautiful hijabs for his wife or lover back home. It’s hard to work out if prostitution is legal in Thailand. The country has at least three laws defining the acts of selling one’s body and enticing sexual desires for money as illegal. In 2003, the Ministry of Justice planned to legalize prostitution to collect taxes and try to control STDs, but eventually it could not rule over traditional ethical values. Lacking a legal status, red light districts remain an important part of Thailand's tourism industry, generating $6.4 billion in 2015. Authorities in Bangkok and Pattaya have loosened their grip by allowing red light districts to appear on tourist maps. Officials tend to turn a blind eye and dismiss sex deals as a one-night stands with mutual benefits. So whether the Thai government wants its country to be associated with a famous sex industry or not, the business has been booming for the past decades. Thailand’s health ministry said the country has around 120,000 sex workers. Each of them earned 5,000 baht ($160) per night in 2017, 17 times more than the country’s minimum wage. Ryn sends most of her money back to her rural home in northern Thailand, which she left to escape discriminatory eyes. She said her job helps her to take care of her entire family, and it has paid for a house for her parents and her transgender operation. She said she has received support from civil rights groups for regular health checks and protection against sexual violence and human trafficking. Red light districts in Thailand are constantly guarded by police guard to make sure sex workers are not beaten or abused. They are unofficially recognized as part of the economy. In Vietnam, sex workers are commonly looked down upon as social evils. Nguyen Xuan Lap, director of the Social Evil Prevention Department at the labor ministry, told reporters last week that: “Prostitution cannot be a job. Not until 2020 at least.” Lap said that Vietnamese authorities have been “too humane” by not criminalizing prostitution or publicly shaming sex workers. These workers are fined in Vietnam if caught. His statement makes me worried for the sex workers who stand on dark streets or run their motorbikes around Saigon looking for clients, an uneasy feeling that I don't have about Ryn and her wellbeing. Figures in 2016 indicated there were nearly 101,300 sex workers in Vietnam, not much less than in Thailand. I do not think that threats to criminalize them will eliminate their existence in the near future. No matter how the authorities put it, prostitution is practically a job, but those that who follow that line of occupation in Vietnam do not receive protection. They struggle by themselves with the risks of diseases, abuse, violence, rip-offs and trafficking. It’s not clear when prostitution will be deemed legal in Vietnam, possibly never, and that uncertainty will lead to many consequences, such as child sex and sex slavery, which used to plague the Thai industry before its red light districts were recognized. *Khai Don is a writer based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The opinions expressed are her own. https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/perspectives/lessons-to-be-learned-in-vietnam-from-thailand-s-sex-industry-3731503.html

From Pattaya One A spacious art venue in west Bangkok will host a weeks-long festival celebrating all things cool about Thailand’s northeast. More than just the country music that has entered the DNA of Bangkok culture, the Isan Spirit Festival will highlight art, food, fashion and lifestyle inspired by unique Isaan culture and custom. The artists include Ubon Ratchathani singer-songwriter Rasmee Wayrana, aka Rasmee Isan Soul, who will perform her mix of mor lam and soul. The Isan Spirit Festival will start April 13 and continue until May 6 at Changchui. The 11-rai art space, closed every Wednesday, is located near the Bang Bamru Railway Station on Sirindhorn Road in Bang Phlat district. Best known for his Isarn Boy Soi 4 project shown internationally, Maitree Siriboon is back and will show his 2016 photography series Save Thai Buffalo. He will also live-paint a buffalo at the event (Don’t tell PETA). With the talent of makeup artist Amata Chittasenee, aka Pearypie, Khon Kaen textiles will be transformed into fashionable costumes. She will also share makeup techniques paired with traditional Thai costumes. First known as a creative schoolboy from Khon Kaen, teen fashionista Madaew, aka Apichet “Madaew” Atirattana, will deliver a performance that goes beyond the wardrobe. Expect a lot more about Isaan as well, from a parade of masked Phi Ta Khon ghosts and displays of hoon kra tip (sticky rice-basket puppets) to giant sand pagodas and traditional live performances. Shop through stalls of Isaan fusion food, arts and crafts as well. https://pattayaone.news/en/northeastern-cool-isaan-spirit-fest-coming-bangkok/Isan Spirit festival

From Phnom Penh Post Cambodia and Thailand plan to officially open a new international border checkpoint in mid-May, an official confirmed on Sunday. Keo Bunthoeun, deputy border police chief at Unit 817, said officials agreed to inaugurate the Phnom Dev International Border Checkpoint, which connects Battambang province and Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province, on May 18. Ngin Linazano, director of the Phnom Dev immigration office, said the border checkpoint building has been completed and is just awaiting the installation of equipment to monitor the flow of tourists. “We expect that the upgrade of the Phnom Dev border checkpoint to an international border checkpoint will bring development for people and the governments of both countries since it will enable larger and wider commercial flow,” he said. The existing checkpoint currently allows Cambodian and Thai nationals to cross for the purposes of work and trade. https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodia-thailand-agree-open-international-border-checkpoint-mid-may

It's been a few years since I stayed at Tarntawan Hotel. It wasn't the service that caused me to go elsewhere; it was the old mattresses I found very unforgiving of my aging back. When in town, I still stop by to say hello to the veteran elevator guard and Mac, the friendly bell hop of days gone by who was working the front desk and back office last time I saw him. With tourism booming and unemployment extremely low, I suspect they have trouble keeping room cleaners. I'm sure the large, upscale hotels are more desirable jobs. I noticed an uptick in the number of males filling these jobs of late.

From Pattaya Mail The on-again, mostly-off-again effort to stop erosion from wiping Pattaya Beach off the map is off again after Chulalongkorn University consultants, for the third time, bungled the job of finding the right sand. Restarted earlier this month after a 15-month suspension, the sand-refill project at the far northern end of Pattaya Beach was halted March 20 when the Marine Department decreed that the sand brought in from Koh Rang, a small island south of Koh Chang, doesn’t match Pattaya’s beachfront well enough. Marine Director Eakaraj Kantaro said no more of the Trat Province sand will be brought to Pattaya and the entire project will be sent back, once again, to consultants at Chulalongkorn University who twice before recommended the wrong sand. Previous contractor Kijakarn Ruamka Marine Construction Co. restarted work on the 483-million-baht project – which has ballooned far over that first estimate due to the many stops, starts and new-contractor contracts – in October 2016 following a 13-month hiatus. The work stopped on Dec. that year after beach users complained about the sand laid near the Dusit Thani Hotel. http://www.pattayamail.com/news/pattaya-halts-beach-restoration-205822

From NHK Newsline Every year, roughly 17,000 people in Thailand die from a rare bile duct cancer. The World Health Organization says this is caused primarily by a popular food in the Mekong region. Chop raw fish, add lime juice, mix with herbs and a dash of spice. That’s all it takes to make a favorite dish in northeastern Thailand, “koi pla.” But this beloved meal actually comes with a high risk of parasites that have taken many lives over the years. It's called a liver fluke, and it can be found in freshwater fish in the Mekong region, such as carp. Once ingested, flukes can survive in bile ducts for over 20 years, and cause inflammation. If left untreated, it can develop into a fatal cancer. In Thailand's northeastern region, locals catching fish in nearby rivers and ponds is a common sight. 3 years ago, doctors gave health checks in this village to residents over 40 years old. Out of about 1000 people, 400 had liver flukes. "We've been eating raw fish for as long as I can remember, and over generations," says a local who was affected. Continues with video https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/editors/1/belovedthaidishposes/

From Reuters BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand’s cabinet approved on Tuesday a high-speed railway project expected to cost about 225 billion baht ($7.22 billion), that will link three airports, a government official said. The approval comes at a time when surging tourist arrivals - now equivalent to more than half of the Thai population - have put some strain on Thai infrastructure. The rail link will connect the two airports in the Bangkok area - Don Mueang International and Suvarnabhumi International - with U-Tapao, built during the Vietnam War in the eastern province of Rayong. The government expects to select winners for the public-private partnership project (PPP) in October and expects it to be in service in 2023, Nathporn Chatusripitak, a spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, told reporters. According to a government statement, the cost of the project is about 225 billion baht, slightly higher than 200 billion baht mentioned earlier by officials. “We will wait to see the TOR (terms of reference) of the auction before considering participation because this is a long-term investment,” a spokesperson at CH Karnchang Pcl told Reuters. The firm built a large portion of Bangkok’s metro systems and subsidiary Bangkok Expressway and Metro built and operates expressways and mass transit systems. The high-speed railway is part of the government’s larger transport infrastructure investment action plan worth 2.02 trillion baht, covering rails, roads, airports and seaports. The junta has ramped up infrastructure investment in a bid to boost growth Thailand has lagged regional peers since the army took power in 2014. The finance ministry has forecast economic growth of 4.2 percent this year, after 3.9 percent growth last year, the fastest pace in five years. Infrastructure projects will also help ease pressure from the influx of foreign tourists. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-economy-railway/thailand-approves-7-2-billion-high-speed-rail-project-to-link-airports-idUSKBN1H319F

Anything that preserves the Twilight venues can only be a good thing. Patpong 2 gets a ton of foot traffic. The addition of Fresh Boys would fortify the gay presence and perhaps encourage more.