reader

The well-known shopping district Siam Square went through a major facelift, now a lively walking street free of overhead cables. The area now serves as the city's latest shopping and recreational space, featuring live performances from various performers. Let’s take a look at this report.

Sometimes nothing lifts our spirits more than a feel good story. This one is about a youngster whose dad was in jail and his mother was suffering from terminal cancer. Then he watched a break dancing video and nothing has been the same since. From the BBC A dancer from Vietnam says breaking kept him away from drugs and helped him deal with family problems. B4 is now hoping to represent his country in the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. Breaking, also known as breakdancing, will be debuting in Paris, but currently the sports federation in Vietnam has no plans to compete in the new category. View the video: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-60797082

From Bangkok Post Mountain B pub owner detained, confesses charges CHON BURI: The owner of Mountain B pub is under detention at a police station after he reported to police on Saturday night. His lawyer said his client had confessed to all charges. Pongsiri Panprasong, 27, reported to Phlu Ta Luang police. He was promptly escorted into the police station building without talking to meda gathered outside. The detention took place soon after the Pattaya Provincial Court signed an arrest warrant for him on the following two charges. Negligent acts that cause the death of other persons Operating a nightspot without permission Mr Pongsiri was taken to the cells at the police station after hours of interrogations with no bail allowed by the police. Lawyer Anucha Wongsrisat said his client had confessed to the charges and he will request bail approval from the court on Monday by depositing 1 million baht in cash as surety.

Bangkok shutters 83 pubs after fire safety inspections From The Nation Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said he had ordered inspections of entertainment venues in every district of the capital. Eighty-three of the 400 Bangkok venues inspected have been shuttered after inspectors found problems with fire exits and escape routes. Chadchart, an engineer by profession, said escape routes should be obvious and clearly signposted to aid victims’ chance of survival in dangerous situations. He ordered further inspections in a bid to weed out Bangkok entertainment venues that are operating illegally. Chadchart said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration will ensure thorough inspections across the city.

From New York Times 'Captain Condom' Turned the Tide in Thailand's War on AIDS BANGKOK — Mechai Viravaidya twice saw Thailand in desperate trouble — first from a ruinous population explosion and then from the AIDS epidemic — and he responded to both crises the same way: with condoms and his own considerable charisma. Birth control was something Thais neither talked about nor very much practiced in the early 1970s, when the country’s population was growing at an unsustainable pace and the average family had seven children. So Mechai decided to tackle the subject that no one else would touch, spearheading a nationwide campaign to publicize and demystify contraceptives. “It wasn’t a job for intelligent people, smart people, respectable people, aristocratic people,” he said in a June interview. Mechai, now 81, is in fact all of these, the foreign-educated son of two doctors, the husband of a former private secretary to the king and, over the years, a government minister, organizational leader and senator. But he is also uninhibited, unpretentious and always willing to put on a show to persuade people. His goal with the family-planning campaign, he said, was to make condoms just one more item shoppers picked up in the market, along with soap, toothpaste and dried fish. To pull that off, he knew it would help to lend condoms positive associations, something that made people smile. “If I can accomplish that by blowing up condoms or filling them with water,” he said, “then fine, I’ll do it.” Mechai was speaking not far from the Bangkok offices of the Population and Community Development Association, the organization he founded nearly 50 years ago to fight poverty in Thailand, with family planning a linchpin. He toured the country, village to village, with an endless array of gimmicks and publicity stunts that linked condoms with fun. Filling them up with water past the point of breaking was a staple performance. “Who can blow up the biggest condom?” he would call out to the crowds. “Who can make it burst!” He opened what he called family-planning “supermarkets” at bus stations to distribute contraceptives and persuaded Buddhist monks to bless condoms, distributing videos of the ceremonies. To educate younger Thais, he produced a safe-sex English alphabet that included letters like B for birth control, C for condom and V for vasectomy. In addition to the spectacle, the campaign had serious infrastructure behind it. He mobilized and trained a network of 350,000 teachers and 12,000 village community leaders. When the AIDS pandemic began to overwhelm Thailand in the late 1980s, Mechai employed the same knack for publicity, persuasiveness and showmanship in combating the disease. As with his first condom campaign, he initially struck out on his own, as the government refused to back a safe-sex campaign, fearing it would hurt the lucrative sex-tourism industry. So Mechai turned instead to the military, a powerful institution beyond the reach of civilian government, which agreed to air regular safe-sex announcements on its 300 radio stations and five television stations. Then in 1991, a new prime minister, Anand Panyarachun, embraced AIDS prevention, making Mechai his minister of information and tourism. Every government ministry was now called on to play a role in AIDS education. “We had condoms out everywhere on the streets — everywhere, everywhere,” Mechai said in a TED Talk recounting his approach. “In taxis, you get condoms, and also, in traffic, the policemen give you condoms.” And Mechai — despite or perhaps because of his MBA from Harvard — took it upon himself to become the recognizable symbol that he said every successful marketing program needs, dubbing himself “Captain Condom” and going to schools and nightclubs to promote safe sex. The World Health Organization called Thailand’s approach to the AIDS crisis “the quickest response to the problem that we have ever seen.” The United Nations said Mechai’s program had achieved a 90% decline in new infections, and the World Bank estimated that it had saved 7.7 million lives between 1991 and 2012. Continues at https://www.yahoo.com/now/captain-condom-turned-tide-thailands-182429121.html

From Thai PBS World 15 now dead in Chon Buri pub blaze, fire exits all locked from the outside While the death toll from the fire in the Chon Buri pub early Friday morning has increased to 15 today (Saturday), Suvadee Suetrong, a representative of the Mountain B pub’s owner, claims that there were three fire exits, but she didn’t know that they had all been locked from the outside, as she insisted that the proprietor is ready to compensate relatives of the dead and injured. The pub, which is located on the Bang Na-Trat highway in Sattahip district of Chon Buri, caught fire during the early hours of Friday, initially killing 13 customers and injuring dozens in one of Thailand’s deadliest night venue fires. The pub was found to have been illegally modified, operating beyond permitted hours and with only one way in and out. Two more of the seriously injured were pronounced dead yesterday and today. Suvadee claimed that the owner, whom she did not name, was in the pub at the time of the fire and he, as well as other employees, had tried to help customers to get out of the burning pub. The five officers transferred to the special operations centre of Chon Buri provincial police are the superintendent, Pol Col Wuttipong Somjai, his two deputies, Pol Lt-Col Somsak Ruying and Pol Lt-Col Torwong Sakkulawong, Pol Maj Somaya Chusukphonyiam, the inspector for crime suppression, and Pol Lt-Col Yutthana Songkrasant, the inspector of investigations. The abrupt transfers are believed to be a punishment for their alleged failures, by allowing the Mountain B pub to operate beyond midnight. On the same day, the district chief officer of Sattahip district, Chatchai Sripoon, was moved to the Institute of Administration Development under the Provincial Administration Department. She added that all of them had reported to Phlu Ta Luang police station. Regarding the three exits, Suvadee said that new customers were unaware of them, as she insisted that all three exits were normally unlocked and that she does not understand why they were locked from the outside that night. Suvadee admitted that she had no idea that the pub did not have the required permissions, because she was not responsible for that matter, adding that there is only one owner. The premises were divided into a restaurant, a bar-b-q restaurant and the pub. The bodies of 14 of the victims are being kept at the Central Police Forensic Science Division at the Police General Hospital for autopsy, which will take up to 2 days to complete, after which their relatives can claim them for their funerals. Relatives of some of the victims gathered in front of the damaged pub this morning to perform a religious ritual to bless the souls of the dead. Meanwhile, yesterday, Pol Maj-Gen Attasit Kitjaharn, commander of Chon Buri provincial police, ordered the immediate transfer of five senior police officers attached to the Phlu Ta Luang police station over the deadly fire.

From Bangkok Post The Tourism and Sports Minister is planning to propose new opening hours for entertainment venues, allowing them to open until 4am to revitalise tourism sentiment during the upcoming high season. Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said the extended hours will be designated to tourism-driven economic zones to avoid creating discontent among local communities. "We already asked each provincial governor to study the economic and social impacts as well as the necessity of extending operational hours," said Mr Phiphat. He said not every area in a province would be allowed to follow this as the government would only concentrate on areas which mainly focus on international tourists. Mr Phiphat said Thailand still has to work hard to bring in 1.5 million tourists per month from October to December, which would be a 50% increase from the current rate of 1 million tourists per month. He said it will propose this agenda to the meeting of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) in September once the Apec Tourism Ministers Meeting 2022, which runs from Aug 14-20, has concluded.

The party that reportedly holds the lease on the Lucky Boys location (that includes Bangkok Massage on the lower level) isn't prepared to reopen until the numbers of potential customers (mainly from China) rival the pre-covid era. Being the largest boy bar in the area, it requires a large (40+) number of young men to fill ts stage in addition to a hefty supporting staff. The same lease holder reportedly also operates lady bars in the Patpong rectangle.

From Channel News Asia Bangkok’s recent proposal to allow foreigners to buy land in Thailand is poorly thought out and will not be the panacea for the Thai economy that the government envisages, say two experts. BANGKOK: Thailand has long been a popular destination for foreign investment and expatriate retirement but has severely restricted foreigners from owning Thai land. With Bangkok now keen to attract wealthy investors - especially the Chinese - to aid Thailand’s post-pandemic recovery, the government is contemplating a major change in the laws governing foreign ownership of real estate. On Jul 15, the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha unveiled a proposed policy to allow foreigners to own land for residential use. The stated goal of the policy is to boost the Thai economy by luring wealthy foreigners to spend and invest in the country. Foreign nationals who invest 40 million baht (US$1.1 million) in property, securities or funds in Thailand over a period of three years would, starting in September, be permitted to own up to 1 rai (about 1,600 sq m) of land. On one level, this proposal addresses a clear problem for Thailand: The current supply of residences far exceeds demand. Data from 2020 indicates that there were more than 90,000 unsold condominium units in just the Bangkok metropolitan region. According to The Bangkok Post, of the roughly 1.5 million condominium units in Thailand, foreigners now own only about 90,000 units. Targeting wealthy investors with high purchasing power might help address this looming real estate crisis. The proposed change in rules on land ownership aims to augment investment in Thailand by 800 billion baht. The change will likely appeal mainly to prospective Chinese buyers. Already, half of the foreign-owned condominium units in locales such as the resort town of Pattaya are in Chinese hands. There is a close link between tourism and investment; many major Chinese cities are short flights away from Bangkok and key Thai cities, which makes the Thai properties potential second homes for wealthy Chinese families. However, potential Chinese buyers and investors are likely to be more interested in landed property than in condominiums, especially in the main tourist destinations. Ironically, the new policy is likely to see the pool of prospective condominium buyers shrink, as wealthy foreigners - especially in the target Chinese market - will have a more desirable investment option: Land. The proposed plan may well increase land tax revenue and benefit the Thais fiscally but its political and social ramifications merit careful consideration. Foreigners may begin to invest freely in property, but whether they will reside in the country is another matter. In addition, increased foreign purchases of luxury dwellings will intensify perceptions of inequality and rising land prices will worsen the actual inequality. These concerns have led the opposition Phuea Thai Party to oppose the scheme. The party reasons that nearly 80 per cent of Thais do not own any land and that allowing foreigners to buy land will benefit the more affluent segments of Thai society with land to sell. It will exacerbate the inequality in land ownership. Continues at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/thailand-bangkok-foreigners-property-residential-land-ownership-2857981

From Bangkok Post Fourth monkeypox case found in Bangkok Thailand's fourth case of monkeypox has been confirmed in Bangkok on Friday. The patient is a woman with a record of visiting entertainment venues popular with foreign tourists. Department of Disease Control director-general Opas Karnkawinpong said on Friday that the latest case is a 22-year-old woman who regularly visited areas at risk of monkeypox transmission. He said the woman developed a fever on July 29 but still visited entertainment places in Bangkok with her Thai and foreign friends. On July 30, she started to have blisters on her arms and legs before they spread to her sexual organ and other body parts. On Wednesday, the woman sought treatment at a hospital in Samut Prakan. Results of laboratory tests conducted by the Medical Sciences Department and Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine indicated that she had been infected with monkeypox on Thursday. Dr Opas said he had instructed the 6th Disease Control Office in Chon Buri to work closely with the Institute for Urban Disease Control and Prevention and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s Health Department to trace down those who were in close contact with the woman, including two of her roommates. The health official stressed that the monkeypox disease does not spread easily between people.

NOTE -- The number of dead 1s reported between 13 and 17 by various news agencies. From Pattaya Mail A late-night fight at a Sattahip nightclub killed 17 people and injured about 40, several of them underage teenagers. The inferno at the Mountain B Pub on Sukhumvit Road in Sattahip District began near the ceiling, which was covered in highly flammable soundproofing foam. A rear-exit was locked, leaving only one way out the firetrap. Videos showed people fleeing the building, their bodies on fire. Nine men and four women died in the fire, including three minors not legally allowed to be in the bar. The victims were identified only by their first names as Kornwit, 17; Promporn, 18; Watinee, 19; Warakul, 32; Somrat, 31;, Surakan, 35; Natthida, 28; Jetsadaporn, 20; Wiriya, 31, Rangsiman, 30; Chatchai, 30, Nuttakorn, 49, and Sawitta, 39. Witnesses said they heard two explosions near the DJ booth as the three-rai entertainment complex with only one entrance and saw sparks that ignited the soundproofing foam. The flames spread quickly from there. Twenty fire engines from around the area responded to the blaze in the Plutaluang Subdistrict. Firefighters spent two hours battling the flames. Once the fire was out, they found 13 charred bodies inside, some dead from the fire, some from smoke inhalation or being trampled. Mountain B opened only a month ago and was popular with youths in the East with management obviously paying little heed to checking ID cards to ensure everyone was over age 20. The fire there shows how little has changed in Thailand’s nightclubs since the Santika nightclub fire in Bangkok on New Year’s Eve 2008. Sixty-six people died and more than 200 others were injured in that blaze that was supposed to prompt improved fire safety and inspection in the country’s bars, pubs and nightclubs. Many of those injured suffered severe burns.

From MSN “My biggest fear in retirement is waking up and not having any idea what I am going to do that day,” says David Lucero. But David’s fears have never been realized…because he went in search of an overseas adventure. His travels began with an epiphany in his office. “Back in 2013 I was working in Houston, Texas, and at that time I was around 62. I was working in a private equity firm and was tired spending 10 to 11 hours a day looking at a computer screen. I’ve always enjoyed traveling so I started looking for things to do outside of the U.S.” David discovered a slew of teaching jobs overseas. “I found a teaching job in Yantai, China (Yentai University) and in early 2014, I went for a year and stayed for four years.” During that time, David used China as a base to explore Asia. “I traveled in Central and Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Lao, and the Philippines. My brother had been to Chiang Mai 30 years ago and he suggested I go there.” Chiang Mai is a northern city in Thailand known as the “Rose of the North.” With golden temples to explore, international restaurants, and festivals to celebrate on a regular basis, Chiang Mai is popular with tourists and expats. Although it has a warm to hot climate, Chiang Mai does have a cool season, and temperatures can dip into the 60s during the winter. It is a short hour’s flight from Bangkok and has an international airport that serves destinations all around Asia. Nestled among the mountains, Chiang Mai offers a variety of lifestyles including city living in a high-rise condo, suburban living, and country living with views of rice fields and banana plantations. “This city is great because it has a good expat population. The city’s size was right for me. Here you can get anywhere you want in 20 minutes on a motorbike. Whatever your interest is, go to Facebook and you will find a group in Chiang Mai. Hiking, walking, eating, golf, whatever,” says David. “Back in China, I realized that I really enjoyed teaching so when I first got to Chiang Mai, I circled around a few schools I had driven by and I just walked in and asked if they needed teachers. Teaching began to fill a gap. I could teach as much or as little as I wanted to, so I chose to teach 15 hours a week. I was only paid about $9 an hour but it was something that I enjoyed.” One day someone suggested to David that he attend a Rotary meeting. At the meeting, he was asked if he was any good at math. “They told me about a charity school helping Burmese migrant workers and they were looking for a math teacher to volunteer,” he recalls. This meant that David could stay in Thailand on a volunteer visa. It is illegal to work or volunteer on a retirement visa in Thailand, so reputable places do offer volunteer visas and pay the costs. David’s volunteer teaching timetable is around 10 hours per week and is flexible so he has plenty of time for further travel, which he loves to do. “My favorite spot for travel is Koh Chang, Thailand’s third-largest island after Phuket. It’s an eight-hour mini-van trip from Bangkok. There are nice beaches and it is relatively unpopulated compared to other beach towns.” When David isn’t teaching and traveling, he is busy with the many social events that are an intricate part of expat life in Chiang Mai. “I joined a pool league and we play in bars and travel to a new venue each week. I got involved through friends. I never really played pool much in the U.S. but you get better at it. We play in teams. It’s just people getting together drinking a beer, playing pool.” David says when he first arrived in Chiang Mai and was searching online for activities, he found a competitive bridge competition. “I used to play bridge when I was younger, but I hadn’t played for 30 years. They have a wonderful club here and they are mostly retirees but some are Thai and some are younger digital nomads. They host tournaments too, so you get to meet players from outside this city and make friends. Some of the players are competitive but most of us are just there to drink a beer, make friends and have fun.” A large part of social life as an expat in Chiang Mai is the food scene. There are hundreds of restaurants in and around the city and as the food is so flavorful and cheap, there is never a reason to cook. David says that a good quality lifestyle here costs around $2,000 per month. His medical care is affordable too. “I am very fortunate that I don’t have underlying medical conditions so that isn’t at the top of my list, but I do go and see a very competent, English-speaking doctor at Ram Hospital and they test my bloods and do a general check-up. The doctor costs about 400 baht ($12) and the blood work and tests come to about 2,000 baht ($60). “I have enough money in the bank in case I had something like a heart attack, but my medical insurance is really just a ticket home. I do have accident insurance which is very cheap. It costs 6,000 baht ($180) a year and pays up to 300,000 baht ($9,000),” says David. “What has surprised me about my move here is how much I enjoy Chiang Mai,” says David, “how different it is from the U.S. How different…and how much better it is.”

From The Diplomat By Pattharapong Rattanasevee On May 22, independent candidate Chadchart Sittipunt was elected as the governor of Bangkok in a landslide victory. He gained over 1.38 million votes and led other candidates by a vast margin. In fact, Bangkok is the only province in Thailand where the governor is elected to a four-year term rather than being appointed by the Ministry of Interior. Given the demographic centrality and political dominance of the Thai capital, the results of this election have inevitably sent a strong message to the central government and carry implications for politics at the national level. Meanwhile, Chadchart’s sweeping triumph means that he is burdened with the massive expectations of the people who voted for him and expect his team to deliver tangible results soon. He is also challenged by difficulties having to work with the current government headed by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, the leader of the military coup of 2014, during which Chadchart was arrested, handcuffed, and detained. Just over a month after assuming office, Chadchart’s administration has quickly gained widespread praise from the public. There is no one single explanation for this but several factors are likely involved. First is his down-to-earth, open-minded, and compromising personality, which makes him approachable and friendly to all, from executives, colleagues, and merchants to low-ranking workers and ordinary people on the street. As a result, he has been able to accomplish several tasks more quickly, easily, and effectively than his predecessors because his personality traits have encouraged cooperation and participation from all parties. Chadchart is approachable compared to the usual Thai politicians, which obviously contrasts with Prime Minister Prayut’s commanding style of speaking and fiery temperament. econd, Chadchart started working as the governor of Bangkok right after the official results were announced and has continued to work hard from before dawn – he usually begins his day with a morning jog – to well after dusk. In the event of public hazards such as fires, he has visited and inspected the affected sites shortly after they were reported. As Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Chulalongkorn University wrote recently in the Bangkok Post, Chadchart has “become a ‘superman-like’ figure, appearing everywhere to address crises big and small all over the Bangkok metropolis.” Of course, it remains to be seen whether he can maintain this level of competence, enthusiasm, and dedication for the full extent of his four-year term. Third, Chadchart’s administration has shown the Thai capital, and the country at large, unprecedented levels of transparency and accountability. He has urged that Bangkok’s budget be made available for public scrutiny and has exploited digital technology to solve conventional bureaucratic problems, for example, promoting the Traffy Fondue complaints-receiving application, and launching apps for a project to plant one million trees in Bangkok and the Open Bangkok Data scheme, an initiative which aims “to foster citizen participation in city development, conflict reduction, and transparency.” Although he began his term with a very limited budget, as the previous governor has spent most of the allocated funds for the fiscal year which will not end until September 30, many analysts agree that he has spent wisely and put resources to good use. Among his most urgent policy decisions has been to disclose the contract for the BTS Skytrain system, one of Bangkok’s major intercity transport networks, and undertake a major transformation of City Hall’s investment arm, Krungthep Thanakom Co. Ltd., which he views as a breeding ground of corruption. Fourth, Chadchart has proven himself to be a modern, social-media savvy politician with over 2.5 million followers on his Facebook account, where one can view daily livestreams of his activities. With a dedicated PR team to cover his doings, Chadchart uses online communication wisely to turn the stuffy business of governing Thailand’s largest city into a live reality political show reaching millions of social-media users and making it easier for millennials to digest and assimilate the information. To illustrate his online popularity, just hours after a pre-dawn daily jogging Facebook Live episode, his account received more than 50,000 Likes and Loves, 1,600 shares, 7,400 comments, and 404,000 views. Although many are now starting to think of Chadchart as a potential future prime minister, he is unlikely to run in next year’s general election. But given that the country has been suffering from long-standing political malaise and frustration over the incompetence of the ruling regime, the Chadchart phenomenon could lead the way in setting new standards for politicians and new heights of public expectations. Thailand could derive fruitful benefits and learn many valuable lessons from it, at least for the next four years.

From The Thaiger Chadchart Sittipunt yesterday met up with the National Food Institute to discuss the launch of a new Bangkok Safety Street Food project. The Bangkok governor headed a meeting with the project’s committee at City Hall to discuss plans to improve the quality and safety of street food in the capital. Now that almost all home working has stopped and most people are back to the office Chadchart believes it is important safety standards are met for those buying food from the city’s street stalls and markets. The 56 year old city chief revealed that Bangkok street food is divided into three categories: local or community markets, city markets where office workers buy food, and tourist markets. Chadchart reported that the project would focus on the city and tourist markets first and that markets in Sukhumvit and Si Lom areas would be first on the project’s list. The city supremo emphasised that each area would have its committee and that they are responsible for the safety and cleanliness of each market and stall. If any markets or shops fail to meet those measures they will be ordered to stop operating.

"Imitation is the greatest form of flattery." Marcus Aurelius.

During my last trip I began taking frequent, early evening walks through Lumpinee Park. I’d wait until the sun was low and twilight would set in by the halfway mark. On some nights I’d make the trek with a friend who was off work but on other days I was pretty much alone—except for the cats. I discovered the cats—or perhaps it was the other way around—about five minutes after entering the park. What first caught my attention was their lack of skittishness. Wherever I cam across one, it was obvious that they viewed themselves as being entirely at home, which is something you don’t expect from an animal that doesn’t have a traditional home. As I made my way along the wide paths, I began to spot them relaxing on the grass and sometimes right in the middle of the road. It also became apparent that none appear scrawny or unhealthy. They looked like typical house cats but their house just happened to be a park. In the vicinity of the outdoor weight exercise area, I spotted some felines stretched out on concrete benches. Some were being petted by passersby. I cautiously approached one and as I tried a tentative stroke, it rolled over on its back for a soothing massage. As I moved further along, I saw a few cats eating along the side of the road. Some folks are apparently providing cat food on a regular basis. Soon I came to a bridge over a stream where a few folks gathered by one end. When I paused to see the source of interest, they were tossing bread crumbs to turtles near the water’s edge. The cats weren’t the park's only inhabitants to figure out how to get an evening snack. And if the turtles weren't quick, a fish would dart over and grab the morsels first. One evening when I approached the bridge, three crows positioned themselves on the railing to catch breads crumbs mid-air tossed their way. And it wasn’t just these creatures that inhabit the park. Monitor lizards can be found wandering about (no, they’re not looking to be petted). The park in the evening attracts many joggers of all ages. Everyone goes with the flow whether they’re out for a leisurely evening stroll or exercising to work up a good sweat. Towards the end of our circuit, with twilight fully setting in, the park takes on a magical glow as the lights of nearby high rises reflect off the lake. It never fails to mesmerize me. The best place to enter the park for most of us is the main gate on Rama IV near the Silom MRT station. A few refreshment stands are scattered about the park (water is 8 baht).

From Bangkok Post Thailand's 3rd monkeypox case found in Phuket Thailand's third case of monkeypox has been found in Phuket, Department of Disease Control director-general Opas Karnkawinpong said on Wednesday. Dr Opas said the latest monkeypox case is a 25-year-old German man who arrived in Phuket on July 18 as a tourist. The man was believed to have caught the virus in another country because the incubation period is 21 days. Officials were tracking down people who had been in close contact with him, for examination, he said. Dr Opas said the patient was found to have a fever, with blisters and a rash that began in his groin area before spreading to other parts of his body. The symptoms coincided with information from the World Health Organisation, that blisters and rashes are found around the genitalia of 98% of those infected, and most of them are homosexual or bisexual. Dr Kusak confirmed that the German patient arrived in Phuket with his Thai wife on July 18. He was not a homosexual or bisexual, he said. While in Phuket, they had stayed with his wife's family in Muang district. The couple had gone out sightseeing but had not visited any entertainment venues. Dr Kusak confirmed that the German patient arrived in Phuket with his Thai wife on July 18. He was not a homosexual or bisexual, he said. While in Phuket, they had stayed with his wife's family in Muang district. The couple had gone out sightseeing but had not visited any entertainment venues.

From Vietnam News By Lê Mai Pu Sam Cáp Cave in Pu Sam Cáp Commune, Sìn Hồ District, in the northwestern province of Lai Châu, is known for its wild, beautiful and mysterious beauty. Known as the most beautiful cave in the northwest, it is about 6km west of central Lai Châu City at 1,700m above sea level. To get to the cave, visitors have many means. However, passenger cars are still favoured because of their safety and low cost. In Hà Nội, visitors can go to Mỹ Đình coach station or Giáp Bát coach station and take a car to Lai Châu. When reaching the centre of Lai Châu City, they can take a taxi or motorbike taxi to Pu Sam Cáp. In the Thái ethnic language, Pu Sam Cáp means three large mountains overlapping. This is a complex of more than 10 large and small caves that were just recently discovered, of which the three main caves are Thiên Môn (Heaven Gate), Thiên Đường (Paradise) and Thủy Tinh (Glass). The wonder of the cave system is a sleeping beauty set deep in the forest. According to experts, the cave’s pristine beauty can be compared to any previously recognised cave, such as Phong Nha - Kẻ Bàng in Quảng Bình Province, Thiên Cung Grotto in Quảng Ninh Province, and Ngườm Ngao Cave in Cao Bằng Province. Continues with photos at https://vietnamnews.vn/gallery/1272550/pu-sam-cap-cave-the-hidden-charm-of-lai-chau.html

From Bangkok Post The 3.5-kilometre-long Na Jomtien beach in Pattaya City is expected to fully reopen to tourists in 2025 when the iconic beach is fully fortified by sand fences in a coastal erosion prevention project initiated in 2020. Construction of the 50-metre wide sand fences along the first 800-metre section of beach stretching to the south of Soi Na Jomtien 11 ended last week. The second phase of construction has now begun and is expected to end in November 2025, said Sompong Jirasirilert, deputy director-general of the Marine Department. The northern section of the beach where more sand fences are being built extends to Pattaya Water Park, north of Soi Na Jomtien 11. Starting in 2020, the erosion prevention project was implemented as an urgent task after erosion had become serious enough to threaten the popular beach and tourism in the area, Mr Sompong said. Coastal erosion at Na Jomtien beach had resulted in it shrinking by about 60 rai in size between 1976 and 2015, which pointed to the need to take serious action to tackle this problem, he said. "If the problem had been left unresolved, the entire beach would have vanished," said Mr Sompong.

From Bloomberg Supporters attend the annual "Pink Dot" event in a public show of support for the LGBT community at Hong Lim Park in Singapore on June 18, 2022. (AFP file photo) Public discussion on a colonial-era law that criminalises sex between men is gaining momentum in Singapore, where a senior minister said any easing would ensure the current definition of marriage is protected. While the government is reviewing the regulation, “at the same time we are considering how can we safeguard the current legal position on marriage from being challenged in the courts,” Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said in a Facebook video clip posted on the weekend. “We are now considering how best to achieve this balance.” Singapore has grappled with how to make its society more inclusive of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community even as some countries around the world move toward recognising same-sex marriages. Several attempts to overturn the legal ban on sex between men, known as Section 377A of the Penal Code, have failed in courts over the years. Thailand, regarded as conservative and deeply religious, became the first country in Southeast Asia to move toward legalising same-sex unions this year. The colonial-era law reflected Singapore’s conservative stance toward the LGBTQ community, and any discussion of changing it in the past has drawn resistance from religious groups. Recent comments from the Catholic Church and an LGBTQ group signal a potential compromise that would address the biggest concerns of both sides -- decriminalising sex between men while stopping short of recognising same-sex marriages. A 2014 court challenge against 377A failed when Singapore’s Supreme Court ruled it was a constitutional matter. In February, the Court of Appeal upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss three challenges to Section 377A, Channel NewsAsia reported. The law has not been actively enforced for over a decade. Dealing with 377A, while also maintaining the current legal definition that marriage is between a man and a woman, should be discussed and decided in Parliament and not in the courts, said Shanmugam. The local LGBTQ community has no immediate plans to mount legal challenges to redefine marriage’s definition, Leow Yangfa, the executive director of rights group Oogachaga, was cited in Today newspaper as saying. Taiwan is the only Asian jurisdiction that legally recognizes same-sex marriage. Vietnam allows same-sex couples to have symbolic weddings but doesn’t recognize the marriage. Hong Kong doesn’t allow it, but does permit gay expatriate workers to bring their spouses in on dependent visas. Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei have rules that outlaw sexual relations between people of the same gender.

But they were going to give you a free upgrade to the "I Love Thailand" suite.🙂

Or maybe it could get dark down there Or maybe car motors not powerful enough for upgrade. Or maybe cars could run out of gas. Or maybe they'll be a leak. Or maybe drivers will be too frightened to use it. Or maybe they sky will fall and break it. 😗

From The Nation Bangkok drivers should find things easier at a notorious congestion blackspot tomorrow, when a 600-metre-long underpass opens at Fai Chai Intersection after 13 years of construction work. City governor Chadchart Sittupunt said the tunnel under the Fai Chai Intersection in Bangkok Noi district will open on Monday from 5am to 10pm to alleviate traffic jams. The tunnel will be closed from 10pm to 5am until construction is finalised. Chadchart did not say when the tunnel would be opened to traffic on a round-the-clock basis. The Bt788-million project, which is being carried out by Kamphaeng Phet Wiwat Construction, began in October 2009. However, construction progress has been delayed by disputes over its size, design and overlap with the Blue Line’s Bang Sue-Tha Phra section. The disputes prompted several revisions of the contract. Chadchart also inspected progress of construction of the 1.34-billion-baht overpass at the busy Na Ranong Intersection connecting Ratchadapisek with Sunthorn Kosa Road, Na Ranong Road and Rama III Road. The Na Ranong overpass is also due to open on Monday at 5am.

The Grand Centre Point Space Pattaya will be flinging its doors open on Monday and promises to become a new bright landmark in this eastern seaside town. Kitti Worrabanpott, managing director of LH Mall & Hotel, said his company has high hopes of Pattaya City becoming an international tourist destination, which is why it decided to spend more than 3 billion baht on building this hotel. Besides, Pattaya is just an hour from Bangkok and offers beautiful seaside vistas as well as plenty of sightseeing venues. The hotel built by LH Mall & Hotel also includes a massive space-themed water amusement park. The space theme has been applied to not just the exterior, but also the interiors, the landscape and the amusement park. The hotel boasts of two restaurants – the Orbit and Sola Luna Rooftop – and the Oort Cloud tearoom. It also has the Space Convention Centre that can accommodate 1,000 people and a massive LED display. Paveen Korbboon, from Palmer and Turner (Thailand) which created the design and architecture, said the space travel theme was applied to every facility in the hotel. For instance, he said, the hotel’s roof and front look like a space shuttle from afar, while rooms sport digital displays of fields of stars. Boonchai Sakulthammarat, from Green Architects which designed the landscape and waterpark, said his company was given free rein to convert 80,000 square metres of space into a space-themed extravaganza. He said a light-and-sound show is held every night to take people on a flight through space. The hotel has 490 rooms and suites between 45 and 133sqm in size. The Space Water Park, meanwhile, is divided into four areas, namely the Mountain Zone, Flying Rock Zone, Space Pirate Beach Zone and Planet Zone.

From The Guardian Thailand’s gay-romance TV dramas help revive flagging tourism industry A scene from I Told Sunset About You – one of the ‘boy-love’ series that has attracted a large following across Asia. Photograph: Nadao Bangkok There is a table in Soontaree Thiprat’s Phuket cafe that is always fully booked. Most of her customers at the Dibuk restaurant want to sit in the corner, at the spot with the red tablecloth and purple flower. It is the table where the male student characters Teh and Oh-aew, played by the actors Putthipong “Billkin” Assaratanakul and Krit “PP” Amnuaydechkorn, would sit together and flirt in I Told Sunset About You and its sequel, I Promised You the Moon, a romantic Thai series that has proved hugely popular in its home country and abroad. Devoted fans of the show, who have flocked not only from across Thailand but also from Japan, Korea and Vietnam, pose for photos as they wait to dine in Billkin and PP’s hangout. “They scream so much that I would like to call an ambulance,” said Soontaree. I Told Sunset About You is part of a recent wave of Thai dramas known as “boys’ love” (BL) – also called the “Y” series in Thailand– whose portrayal of gay romance has attracted a large following across Asia. Already, 17 Thai BL series have been released this year, while 43 were released in 2020 and 2021, according to the fan website Blwatcher.com. The romcom drama series 2gether, one of the BL genre’s biggest hits, surpassed 100m views on the streaming platform Line TV just months after its release. As Thailand tries to rebuild its travel industry, the country’s tourism authority has sought to capitalise on their popularity, hosting “Thai BL” booths at a recent marketing event in Osaka, Japan, where the dramas are especially popular, and running a Japanese-language Twitter account profiling locations featured in famous scenes. Private firms have also responded to the trend. Japanese company HIS recently ran online tours of locations used in the filming of 2gether, while some Thai language teachers have also begun offering lessons that specialise in the slang used in BL dramas. Monruethai Harada, a Thai language teacher at Jaya & 3S Groups in Tokyo, said she has seen a 20-30% increase in students wanting to learn Thai after BL dramas became popular in 2020. Most of them are women aged about 30, though one recent student was 75 years old. “She really loves to watch the boys’ love dramas. She said it’s the most exciting and thrilling ever,” said Monruethai. While BL has its roots in Japanese manga comics, Thai production companies have transformed the genre by adapting it for TV and producing a flurry of popular series, said Rujirat Ishikawa, assistant professor at the School of Cultural and Creative Studies, based in Tokyo’s Aoyama Gakuin University. “In the past, I don’t think people believed there was a big market for the boys’ love dramas,” she said. Thai BL dramas first boomed in 2020 at the height of the pandemic. “Because of Covid, [people] had plenty of time,” said Ishikawa. In Japan, similar TV series are usually only accessible to viewers who have a paid subscription but Thai broadcasters are more relaxed about uploading content online, said Ishikawa. “[Audiences] just say: ‘We watch it on YouTube, it’s free, why not?’” Fans often add subtitles in their languages so that others can also enjoy the dramas.“You can see the internet power here and how it spreads,” said Ishikawa, adding that most fans are drawn to the series by the attractive male actors, the often happy story lines and the music. For Thailand’s struggling tourism industry, the popularity of the dramas is welcome news, though commenters point out that the Thai government, despite talk of building the country’s soft power abroad, has struggled to embrace the genre. “Initially, the Thai state appeared to be in an awkward position about the broadcast of Thai BL drama via traditional mediums like free TV channels,” said Poowin Bunyavejchewin, senior researcher at the Institute of East Asian Studies at Thammasat University in Bangkok. “Yet man has to eat. The Thai state needs money. It is as simple as that.” The majority of BL series are shown in Thailand on alternative platforms that link with smartphones, such as Line TV, added Poowin, which “may ease the concerns of Thai conservatives, as sweet erotic love between young men has not been highly visible to them”. Nor has it interfered with the traditional soap operas broadcasting on free TV channels. But some in the LGBT community have mixed feelings about the dramas. BL offers a happier, more positive portrayal of same-sex relationships than elsewhere in Thai media, where gay love tends to end in tragedy, said Kangwan Fongkaew, a lecturer at Burapha University in Chonburi province, who has studied the representation of LGBT communities in Thai media. But while this is in some ways refreshing, BL dramas do not offer true representations of society. They are generally focused on “puppy love” and omit the realities faced by gay men in Thailand, which still does not have basic rights such as equal marriage, said Kangwan. Viewers, added Kangwan, “might misunderstand that Thailand is a gay paradise, which is totally not true”. The leading characters are also predominantly light-skinned, middle class and educated, he said: “The boys’ love series don’t reflect the real diversity of the LGBT community in Thai society, and that’s why the stigma and discrimination against LGBT are still going on right now.” But he also believes the dramas could bring change, especially if their portrayals of same-sex love become more nuanced or political: “I am still hopeful.”