Worldcrunch
Rickshaw, bajaj, tukxi, maruwa, lapa … From India to Peru, from Pakistan to Nigeria, the three-wheeled mototaxi has many names. But in Thailand, this colorful and chaotic mode of urban transport is just called a tuk-tuk.
We visited several hill tribes in northern Thailand, but the customs and costumes of the Hmong villagers in Doi Pui were definitely among the most memorable.
Orphaned and forced to live on the streets at just 5, Amporn Wathanavong had a miserable childhood, and was lured to fight in the jungles along the Cambodian border. But he ultimately got an education and founded an organization to help poor orphans.
Most of the many thousands of sex workers in Thailand walk the streets looking for clients. But one group of women wanted a safe home base, so they opened a bar where they can entertain clients.
Bangkok and other urban areas in Thailand are home to some 8,000 refugees who have fled religious persecution in their home countries. But since the deadly shrine bombing in August, the government has been harassing and arresting illegal immigrants.
“Thai woman sought for bomb attack,” reads the front page of Bangkok Post‘s Monday edition, following the weekend arrest of a suspect of unknown nationality. In the widening investigation into Bangkok’s deadly bombing two weeks ago, authorities are hunting for a Thai woman who left bomb-making materials in a rented apartment in Min Buri District […]
A visit to the hill tribes near Chiang Rai, in northern Thailand, usually ends up with tourists buying crafts or taking picture of locals posing in traditional costumes. I did both, bringing back one of these colorful hats — though I tried to snap a more candid shot.
MANHUNT FOR BANGKOK BOMBER Photo: Jack Kurtz/ZUMA Thailand’s junta government has launched a manhunt for the suspect believed responsible for bombing a tourist-packed shrine in Bangkok yesterday, which Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha characterized as the “worst-ever attack” on the country. At least 20 people were killed and 125 injured in the explosion, The Bangkok Post […]
BANGKOK — Phayao Akahad and Sukanya Prueksakasemsuk have both paid a high price for the political turmoil that has befallen Thailand, which culminated, in a May 2014 military coup led by General Prayuth Chan-ocha. One lost a daughter during the 2010 crackdown on the “Red Shirts” protests that took place against former Prime Minister Thaksin […]
The month of March in Thailand is usually rather hot and dry. Still, you can sometimes run into monsoon-like weather, and be as powerless as these monks trying to cross a flooded street in the center of the country.
In the Akha villages of northern Thailand, women show their age, marital status and wealth on their headdresses. A sort of traditional, old-fashioned social media, if you will!
The synth-pop band Polycat is currently topping the charts in Thailand, its home country. Produced by the Bangkok-based record label Smallroom, the quintet was voted new artist of the year 2012 by the Thai radio station Fat Radio.
Thailand takes national pride very seriously. Every morning in schools throughout the country, students gather to salute the flag, stand at attention — hands out of pockets — and sing patriotic songs.
Martial law has brought calm but not peace to Thailand. A report released this week by the International Crisis Group warns that the military regime’s stifling of dissent could ultimately lead to greater turmoil. The military claims that the coup d’etat last May was staged to maintain order after six months of street unrest by anti-government protests. They took TV channels and radio stations off the air, and only heavily censored versions have been allowed to return. Several hundred academics and activists have been detained. Many others have fled to the west where they are applying for asylum. From his […]
Here is a view from a boat trip we took on the khlongs, the canals that crisscross Bangkok. Traffic is so bad in the Thai capital that locals still rely heavily on these water routes to go from one place to another. The many khlongs earned Bangkok its nickname of the “Venice of the East” […]
No, these monks are not giving food to destitute people, quite the opposite. In Thailand, the giving of alms is not considered charity — it is part of a two-way relationship: The community feeds and clothes the monks, who in return have a responsability to support the community spiritually.
Bangkok is no Hong Kong right now. Once considered an Asian model of democracy, Thailand is under strict military rule since the spring, with free speech squashed and fears deepening.
A Thai psychedelic band called Khun Narin Electric Phin Band is set to release its first album Aug. 26, on Innovative Leisure records. But who are the people behind this obscure name? Not much is actually known about the musicians apart from what’s told on the band’s record cover. And this story is a special […]
The swarms of motorcycles and rickshaws, known as samlo in Thailand, can be pretty scary for the uninitiated. But there are so many rental places that business is sometimes slow for the drivers.
To be honest, with such strange feet, I’m not surprised Buddha preferred to lie down … To give you a rough idea of the size of this reclining Buddha in the Wat Pho temple, there’s a man at the bottom left corner of the slide.
NAKHON PATHOM — Why did the thousands ducks cross the road? Drivers and pedestrians in Nakhon Pathom, in the central Bang Len district, were trying to find an explanation to the stampeding, quacking duck-nami that took them by surprise Saturday. It is captured below on the video below that will strike true fear in anyone […]
The overwhelming majority of Thailand’s people are Buddhists. Yet almost everyone there believes in fortune-telling — palm-reading, tarot cards, you name it. Not being the superstitious kind, I didn’t personally consult this “maw du,” but he looks like he means serious business.
Continuing our discovery of Thailand’s inland wonders, we spent some time in Chiang Rai, where we watched local artisans make and decorate plates, bowls and vases in a traditional way.
Reports of the Thai army taking control in a military coup come as a growing number of activists are openly challenging the country’s long-reigning King Bhumibol.
The city of Sukhothai in central Thailand, which used to be the capital of the ancient Siam Empire, is now in ruins. I went digging for this slide a couple weeks ago after I saw an image of this same buddha’s head being “swallowed” by a banyan tree on a French television reportage about Thai […]
When we went to Thailand, we chose not to go for the usual touristy spots along the coast, exploring instead the beauty of the country’s inland regions and their adorned buddhas. Upon rediscovering that slide, I couldn’t help but think: What did this devoted sweeper do with the gold leaves he picked up from the […]
As it turns out, elephants don’t just have good memories, but are also able to sense when others are in distress and console them — by cuddling them. According to a new study, their version of a snuggle and a “shh, don’t worry, I’m here,” are chirping and a trunk hug, Le Temps reports. Just […]
Stories making news, photographs turning heads…
BANGKOK — The situation that has taken over Thailand’s capital this past week has been, among other things, surreal. The government has been paralyzed after demonstrators occupied several ministerial buildings, and even entered, on Dec. 3, the complex where Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s offices are located. But below the surface, the upheaval is a political […]
While U Slept THAI PM DISSOLVES PARLIAMENT, CALLS FOR NEW ELECTIONS Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra announced this morning the dissolution of the country’s parliament, a move that paves the way for new elections on Feb. 2, The Bangkok Post reports. Shinawatra will remain PM until a new cabinet is formed. Anti-government protests have resumed […]
Friday, October 31, 2014 RUSSIA/UKRAINE GAS DEAL Months-long talks between Moscow, Kiev and Brussels ended with a deal yesterday for Russia to resume supplying gas to Ukraine at least until March 2015, Reuters reports. The agreement is also good news for EU countries that rely on Russian gas because it ensures that gas supplies via […]
Thailand saw a record of capital infusion from abroad in 2012, but the country needs critical upgrades, as it remains totally dependent on technology from outside its borders.
Friday, August 29, 2014 UKRAINE PLANS NATO MEMBERSHIP NATO officials are holding an emergency meeting in Brussels this morning after it released satellite imagery showing “well over 1,000” Russian troops in Ukraine, warning that 20,000 more were “amassed at the border,” the Financial Times reports. Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk, meanwhile, announced that Kiev would […]
Friday, July 25, 2014 NO ALGERIAN FLIGHT SURVIVORS French President François Hollande confirmed in televised comments today that French soldiers reached the wreckage of Algerian Airlines flight AH5017 in Mali, and retrieved one of the plane’s two black boxes. None of the 110 passengers and six crew members survived. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told […]
Wednesday, June 11, 2014 500,000 FLEE IRAQI CITY OF MOSUL As many as 500,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Mosul, in northern Iraq, after Islamist fighters from the organization Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant took control of the city, the International Organization for Migration said in a statement. The […]
Friday, May 30, 2014 REBELS CLEARED FROM PARTS OF UKRAINE Ukraine’s Interim Defense Minister Mykhailo Koval said that Ukrainian armed forces would push ahead with military operations in eastern Ukraine until peace and order were restored. They said they had “completely cleared” separatists from the southern and western parts of the Donetsk region and the […]
Friday, May 23, 2014 MORE CLASHES IN DONETSK At least five people died in fresh fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian groups near Ukraine’s eastern city of Donetsk, with an AFP photographer saying that four of the dead appeared to be rebels and the fifth a member of a “volunteer force attached to the military.” […]
Wednesday, May 21, 2014 U.S. UPS RHETORIC AHEAD OF UKRAINE ELECTIONU.S. Vice President Joe Biden threatened Moscow with tougher sanctions if it undermines Sunday’s planned presidential election in Ukraine. “If Russia undermines these elections on Sunday we must remain resolute in imposing greater costs on Russia and we must be equally resolute to invest in […]
While U Slept DEADLY FIGHTS IN EASTERN UKRAINE Ukrainian troops have briefly retaken the city hall building in the eastern city of Mariupol after heavy fights at barricades around the city held by pro-Russian activists overnight, CNN reports. A spokeswoman for the pro-Russian side said that five militants had been killed in the fights. Meanwhile, […]
THAILAND PM TO BE CHARGEDThailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will be charged with neglect of duty, which could see her lose her post if found guilty, AFP quotes an anti-graft panel as saying. The country’s Anti-Corruption Commission accuses the PM of having ignored its warnings concerning a rice farm subsidy scheme that guaranteed farmers above-market […]