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(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)Crown Prince billboard - August 12, 2009
The billboard reads: Father plays… Mother tells… persuade the child to read… bonding strings of love - [To promote the project] Telling stories... reading and playing with children of the Social Development and Human Security Ministry under Royal patronage of HRH Crown Prince Maha VajiralongkornNews and Views - August 2009
(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)The billboard reads: More than 100 measures - millions happiness - During these 6 months the life of Thai people is better - having more happiness - "Thais’ happiness is the government’s goal" - [signed] PM Abhisit Vejjajiva
[This message is on the same billboard that hosted a Bhumjaithai Party NGV bus billboard last month.]
For and against Prime Minister Abhisit - August 29, 2009
(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)The red banner reads: Suthisarn UDD [United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship]
Increases taxes - Avoided military enlistment - Destroyed national economy - Wise about taking loans - That man is Abhisit [intentionally misspelled as A-PI-SIT, but we are not sure of the joke - nearly every Thai magazine cover or banner or headline will have a pun or play on words]
(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)
Fake products - August 5, 2009
It reads: Buying duplicated [fake] products is same as buying products from robbers
Nation Weekend, August 1, 2009
The red’s petition day - The day of the war outbreak
Matichon Weekly, July 31, 2009
Twitter war - Mark vs Maew [Abhisit vs Thaksin]Thailand investigating suspected North Korea-Myanmar nuclear link - New Kerala, August 3, 2009
The Thai government is investigating suspected nuclear collaboration between Myanmar's military regime and North Korea following media reports here that Myanmar is building a secret nuclear reactor with Pyongyang's help...Big odd Myanmar box - ArmsControlWonk, August 3, 2009
Over the past couple of days, I’ve been emailing with a couple of colleagues about this very odd building in Myanmar (nee Burma)...Defence laptop lost in Bangkok - The Age, August, 2009
...A Thai police report said Lieutenant Commander de Maskens had left his five-star Banyan Tree Hotel at 2am, travelling to the red-light district of Nana Plaza in Sukhumvit Road. He returned to the hotel accompanied by a Thai person just before 3am.
The report said the officer appeared drunk and disoriented when he arrived, awakening at 7am to find his notebook computer, a mobile telephone, an iPod, his passport and credit cards missing...US authorities set duties on some Thailand bags - Plastics News, August, 2009
How to promote "chivalry" - August 6, 2009
Amusing wrap-around advertising supplement in the August 5 Post and ASTVManager. It features fake news items showing examples of people's selfishness and corruption. Inside the solution to this behavior is revealed to be drinking Chivas to create "chivalry." Interesting how not being corrupt is defined as being chivalrous. There is also a website.Thailand, Cambodia to speed up single visa scheme - Bernama, August 5, 2009
Sugar shortage due to hoarding by traders and smuggling to Thailand - Bernama, August 5, 2009
Hoarding of sugar by traders and smuggling to Thailand have contributed to the shortage problem.
Perlis Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Ministry director Mohd A. Aruwan Abdul Aziz said the high price of sugar in Thailand led to rampant smuggling across the border...
Tamil Tiger 'leader' arrested in Thailand - CNN, August 6, 2009
New Tamil Tiger leader KP arrested in Thailand, brought to Colombo - Thailandnews, August 7, 2009
...He was believed to have earned millions of dollars procuring weapons for the Tigers and running smuggling operations from bases across the region including Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar.
Security experts say he had multiple passports...Sri Lanka questions new LTTE chief 'KP': report - Press Trust of India, August 6, 2009
Tamil Tigers' new chief Selvarasa Pathmanathan, who was Tamil Tigers' new chief Selvarasa Pathmanathan, who was arrested in Thailand, has been brought back to Sri Lanka and the authorities are grilling him at an undisclosed location, a media report said today...Tamil Tiger leader "not arrested in Thailand" - Asia News Network, August 7, 2009
...The source said that he was whisked from Kuala Lumpur back to Sri Lanka for further questioning.
...Meanwhile, Thailand's Special Branch police chief Theeradej Rodphothong said the LTTE head was captured in Singapore, not in Thailand.
Lt Gen Theeradej noted that Thailand was mentioned in the news report because the LTTE head formerly had a Thai wife and he usually moved among three Southeast Asian countries - Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore...
[Let's just say that this is a highly sensitive issue.]
(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)Billboard - August 14, 2009
It reads: 30th anniversary of the Ministry of Science and Technology - The government is moving ahead on the head network village of Science and Technology project celebrating HM King’s talent - Creating jobs, creating money, creating life-quality by Science, Technology and Innovation
[On the other side of this billboard is one of the Bhumjaithai Party messages opposing the Red Shirt petition for Thaksin.]
Old postcard of "Chiengmai Airport" - August 22, 2009
Above: "Own it" advertisement - May 8, 2009
Foreigners 'own 90% of Phuket beach land' - Report says land grab rife in tourist spots - Bangkok Post, August 24, 2009
Incredible Thai Etan trucks - BoingBoing, August 2, 2009
Stiglitz receives hero’s welcome in Bangkok - WSJ, August 23, 2009
...On Friday, Stiglitz, a Nobel-prize winning economist who teaches at Columbia University, addressed an enthusiastic crowd of businesspeople at a conference in Bangkok about the failures of American-style capitalism...
(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)
Thai Lays potato chips - August 25, 2009
Garlic Soft Shell Crab (left) Hot Chili Squid (right) flavors.
Remembering Bobby's Arms - August 26, 2009
Jared notes: ...found this ad for the now-closed Bobby's Arms on Silom Soi 4 in the
"Key to Bangkok" guidebook by Harry Rolnick, 1977.Thailand is deadliest holiday destination for Britons - Times, August 25, 2009
Eurasian secret services daily report - Axis, August 25, 2009
...Journalist Sorin Rosca Stanescu from daily Gandul writes on his own blog that the brother of the President of Romania participated in a highly classified operation of international trafficking of important quantities of explosives. According to his source, five ships with explosives and ammunitions which arrived from Thailand were anchored in the port of Constanta, the operation being managed by Mircea Basescu, who assured also the secret re-exporting of the explosives to a military unit from Valcea County...Whatever happened to Paradon?: Thai tennis star launches new herbal Viagra - AP, August 26, 2009
Japanese plan for Don Mueang airport - Bangkok Post, August 7, 2009
Taiwan warns Bangkok-based company on fertility tourism - asianewsnet.net, August 27, 2009
...Babe 1001 has been targeting potential Taiwan clients for quite some time through its Chinese-language ad on the Internet. The ad lists the telephone number of Babe 1001's headquarters as one in Bangkok, with a telephone number for its branch located in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh...Publican offers 30,000 baht - Bangkok Post, August 27, 2009
The owner of the Santika pub - which erupted into a deadly inferno in the first few seconds of this year - has told a court he could offer just 30,000 baht in compensation to relatives of the dead and to surviving victims...Showcase: Forgotten elephants - Lens, August 26, 2009
Thailand's begging street-elephants - Flickr, August, 2009
[Thanks to Mud for pointing these out.]Deputy PM orders investigation into Phuket jet-ski scams - Phuket Gazette, August 19, 2009
[Thanks to Mud for pointing this out.]
...The typical Phuket scam runs like this: a tourist rents a jet-ski at the beach. When they return the jet-ski, the operator claims it has been damaged and charges the tourist an exorbitant amount for repairs...Pakistan reality TV contestant, Saad Khan, drowns performing challenge - The Times, August 31, 2009
Pakistani reality TV contestant drowns - Boston Herald, August, 2009
Horrified co-contestants and crew rushed to save him but couldn't find him in the murky waters of the lake in Bangkok...Royal roots: City celebrates era of Thai prince’s stay in Gloucester - Wicked Local, Aug 28, 2009
[Thanks to Mud for pointing this out.]
(Aj for 2Bangkok.com)
Soldiers - August 31, 2009
Soldiers in riot gear at Government House on Monday afternoon.Thaksin to go live on his Net radio site at 8:30 pm Tuesday - The Nation, August 31, 2009
Also: ThaksinLive.com including this current and peculiar post: "Government Falls As Court Bans Ruling Party"From The Onion: "My Friend Went to Thailand and All I Got Was This Lousy Prostitute" - August, 2009
Thai boxer outed from Sea Games over gay mag pics - BoxingScene.com, August, 2009
...In a press conference, General Taweep said the association had decided to ban Worapoj from the national boxing squad for three months, which will bar him from representing Thailand in the upcoming SEA Games in Laos at the end of this year. Taweep said Worapoj’s images in the gay magazine are not considered obscene, but still they have tarnished the reputation of the national athletes.Resilient Thailand forges ahead - Business Times, August 3, 2009
...Still, even amid Thailand's worst political crisis, casual visitors, tourists and business people go about their business undisturbed...Then and now in Samut Prakan - paknam.com, August, 2009
Google Earth has just announced their latest satellite image updates and Samut Prakan is one of the major places in Thailand with an update. Places that have now changed a lot include the Kanchanapisek Outer Ring Road, the Paknam Tower and the Suvarnabhumi Airport Drainage Canal...Prohibition of Thai wish balloons - De Telegraaf, August 14, 2009
[Published on 14 August in Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. Thanks to Pieter for pointing this out.]
Amsterdam - The fire department would like to prohibit the popular wish balloons. These burning lanterns, frequently launched at weddings and birthdays, create according to the fire fighting organization NVBR a large risk for buildings and forests. The low flying objects are also a risk to traffic.
The NVBR (Dutch association for fire fighting and disaster management) requests a prohibition on the sales and launching of these Thai, Chinese or Vietnamese wish balloons. As a rule they provide a negative advice when private persons or companies apply for a launch permit at the local authorities.
Confusion
According to spokesman Frank Huizinga there are plenty of examples of fires and near-fires caused by the lanterns. In May of this year a thatch roofed villa in Loosdrecht caught fire and burned down. In addition, the flying objects cause commotion and confusion. Last week fire engines in the Soest area tried in vain to locate a hot air balloon which according to a caller went down burning.
Huizenga: "The balloons are made of vulnerable materials and the wind has a free play with them. The chance of a confrontation with a fixed object is therefore large. The circumstances for a safe launch are limited. 'Use your brain', they say. But these balloons are launched at parties. It is the question if - after consuming alcohol - the brain is fully utilized". In recent days also the farmers organization LTO made critical remarks: cows could be poisoned by the materials of the balloon. Last year also the Aviation Police declared itself to be against balloons. Also the Coast Guard wants an end.Greencastle teen impressed by Thailand's culture - The Herald-Mail, August, 2009
...Andrew counted prayer beads as instructed in an effort to stay focused. He found the practice relaxing and compared it to yoga.
Andrew said Thailand’s culture had less consumerism, which taught him to be smarter about what he buys and why.
“I’m going to try to live a little bit more simply. I’m going to try to be a smarter consumer and less wasteful,” he said...Thailand weakens sanctions against Burma - The Irrawaddy, August, 2009
China officials shown at Thai transvestite show - AFP, August, 2009
..."Going to see transvestites in Thailand is normal, the problem is whose money they used to go!" one angry Internet user said in a posting...2000 Thai farm workers set to arrive - Globes, August 12, 2009
2,000 new Thai farm workers are due to arrive in Israel in a few days, belying last month's so-called "historic agreement" between the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Israel Farmers Federation for the reduction of 2,000 foreign farm workers a year over the next five years...Airport taxis under close scrutiny - Bangkok Post, August 12, 2009
...Chairat Sa-nguansue, director-general of the Land Transport Department, said he would look into the matter.
In some cases, complaints had turned out to be a hoax intended to ruin the reputation of taxi drivers, Mr Chairat said...Drug addicts journey to vomit and vow at Thai temple - Thailandnews, August 13, 2009
Thailand won’t extradite suspected arms dealer - NYT, August 11, 2009
...According to the U.S. indictment, Mr. Bout told the agents he could deliver 700 to 800 surface-to-air missiles, 5,000 AK-47 assault weapons, millions of rounds of ammunition, land mines, C-4 explosives and unmanned aerial vehicles. The weapons, he allegedly told the agents, would be airdropped into the jungles of Colombia “with great accuracy.”
...In fighting the extradition request, Mr. Bout claimed that agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration violated Thai law by apprehending him on their own before calling in the Thai police. Chamroen Panompakakorn, Mr. Bout’s lawyer, also says the undercover D.E.A. agents were also carrying firearms in contravention of Thai law...RP-Thailand ties marred by irritants - BW, August 10, 2009
[The full version is still in the Google cache.]
...Protests that shut down Bangkok’s main airport late last year unexpectedly became the source of some friction with Manila, when a Malacañang spokesman and an administration senator said such an incident wouldn’t happen in the Philippines because Filipinos have matured politically. Bangkok protested and reminded Philippine officials of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ policy of non-interference...Thai arrested for insulting Angkor Wat - KI, August 11, 2009
...Banteay Meanchey provincial police arrested the man after he carved the shape of Angkor Wat in the concrete in front of a public toilet in the border town.
His act constituted “looking down” on Angkor Wat and was “against the will of Cambodian people,” a police official said, a penal crime under Cambodian law...Celebrated and flamboyant Thai pathologist may make appearance - The Star, August 7, 2009
Talk is rife that Thailand's celebrated leading forensic pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojana-sunand may make an appearance at the inquest into the death of Teoh Beng Hock on Monday...Bangkok dangerous? - Bangkok Post, August 9, 2009
Reports on the internet and in the foreign media suggest Thailand is a very scary place, with murders and maimings happening daily, but that is far from the truth...KP migrated to Thailand: Colombo - Hindu, August 8, 2009
The Sri Lankan Army on Friday said LTTE chief KP migrated to Thailand in 1991 after undergoing plastic surgery and got married there...
Act of state terrorism: SL's aim is to hunt down and kill Pathmanathan, not capture him - TamilEelam News Service, August 8, 2009
...Sri Lankan authorities, after initially reporting the arrest of their most-wanted in Thailand on Thuesday, have since declined to say in which country he was captured. Thai and Malaysian authorities have both denied he was arrested in their countries...
(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)
Sukhumvit-Nana intersection sign - August 11, 2009
The sign at the Sukhumvit-Nana intersection reads: Not stopping for passerbys in the crosswalk area (zebra crossing) will face up to a 1,000 baht fine penalty - From Lumpinee Police station
This is a very dangerous intersection with tipsy foreigners crossing at a very hard to see spot for drivers. It was even more dangerous when Sukhumvit was configured with a westbound lane on the north side of the street (which has since been discontinued) that resulted in a number of people being hit by cars. The crossing is made all the more dangerous by this sign that blocks drivers' views of those crossing.Agents seize elephant parts from Fond du Lac home - Chicago Tribune, August 15, 2009
Book boat in town: Doulos in Bangkok - August 14, 2009
Here, here, and here and official websiteH1N1: Bangkok hospital charges patient $127k - AsiaOne, August 15, 2009
..."When you go to a private hospital you already known that you will pay a lot of money and this is your choice," he said...Oklahoma woman works to free slaves in Bangkok's sex trade - The Oklahoman, August 14, 2009
...She said some of the girls are forced to wear school uniforms so they will appear younger, while others are made to wear immodest clothing.
"That’s their life. They live in darkness,” McGee said...Festival for the preservation of Thai cock fighting - paknam.com, August, 2009
Richard notes: This took place at the big cock fighting stadium on the Eastern outskirts of Bangkok. Presiding over the opening ceremony was the Interior Minister. Also there was Dhanin Chearavanont (CEO of CP Group), Ad Carabao and Newin Chidchop. Dhanin Chearavanont is largely responsible for cleaning up the sport in recent years by the banning of blades fixed to the legs of the fighting cocks and reducing the length of rounds and the number of rounds in a match.LA film producers to stand trial in bribery case - AP, August 17, 2009
...Prosecutors contend the Greens paid Juthamas Siriwan, the former governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, about $1.8 million to help secure the Bangkok International Film Festival and tourism-related deals, beginning in 2002. The payments, often disguised as sales commissions, were transferred into accounts of Juthamas' daughter and a friend or paid in cash to Juthamas directly, according to court documents...Why they still long for Thaksin - Philippine Daily Inquirer, August 15, 2009
...Much like the Philippines, power in Thailand rests with traditional elite in control of institutions and processes that are seen to protect its interests over those of the mass of the population that is poor and has limited or no access to political power...Holidays in hell could cost French - The Press Association, August, 2009
...As one example of the costs involved, a Foreign Ministry official said the government paid £620,000 to fly home 500 tourists stranded in Thailand amid civil unrest in late 2008...Rohingya teenagers die in Thai detention camp - The Irrawaddy, August 17, 2009
Two young Rohingya migrants have died in the past three months in a detention camp in southern Thailand, while 13 other inmates are reported to be in poor health...Wikitude, the best friend to call - Blacktown Sun, August 15, 2009
[Thanks to Pieter for pointing this out.]
Imagine yourself in Bangkok, eager for directions to the Pratunam clothing markets but lost in a language you can neither read nor pronounce...Cambodia warned Thailand for violating Cambodia’s airspace - KI-Media, August 18, 2009
Thailand apologizes for repeated incursions into Cambodian airspace - Thailandnews.net, August 18, 2009
Kingdom is defiant over Thai warships - Phnom Penh Post, August 17, 2009Thailand: 70 years of traditional brew - Christian Science Monitor, August 18, 2009
“Grandpa” Lee scoops ground coffee into a long sock and slowly pours boiling water through it into a pan. He then decants the rich brew through another stockinglike filter into a tumbler...I'll fly to Thailand to confront the man who murdered my brother - Belfast Telegraph, August 17, 2009
The family of a man brutally murdered by playwright Bobby Niblock have vowed that they will not give up their quest to discover why the former loyalist paramilitary killed their sibling, no matter where he is in the world, after being told he is to move to the Far East...Thai town carries out mass hernia operation on monkey population - EARTHtimes, August 19, 2009
The Thai town of Lopburi has coughed up a special budget to perform hernia operations on its resident monkey population who have been harming themselves in their greedy pursuit of handouts...Many cars hit by stone attacks in Petchaburi, Chumphon - thailandoutlook.tv, August 18, 2009
Thai Buddhists' spirit endures at memorial of massacre - YourWestValley, August 17, 2009
...Around midnight on Aug. 8, 1991, two Avondale high school students, Johnathan Doody, 17, and Alessandro "Alex" Garcia, 16, arrived at the temple dressed in military clothing. Armed with a 20-gauge pump shotgun and .22 caliber rifle, they killed nine people...UAE expresses worries over Thaksin's political movement - People's Daily, August 18, 2009
..."The phone-in address has mirrored Thaksin does not follow his promise to the UAE government. Significantly, the UAE has to manage this matter in a bid to avoid any negative impact on the Thai-UAE relations," said Panit.
The Thai government on Monday contacted the UAE government through a diplomatic channel and was told that the phone-in address from the UAE won't re-occur, he said...
