Thailand Stories

This is a weekly look at popular apps for the iPhone as suggested by people living and working in Thailand. This week we hear from @qandrew is a founding partner of Bangkok advertising agency Creative Inhouse Limited and owner of Q Bar…

Around the time of the “Sart chin” Festival, the Chinese have another one called “ting krachaat” or sometimes “tay krachaat”. It basically means to give away basket full of things. It is a kind of Chinese Philanthropy Festival. Local Thai-Chinese business people and …

This is a review of what happened in Thailand during the last week based on topics that I tweeted. You can follow me live for latest news about Thailand @RichardBarrow . Friday 6th August 2010: The Bangkok Post today, including the front cover picture, is in 3D. http://twitpic.com/2by5kt # King …

This is a review of what happened in Thailand during the last week based on topics that I tweeted. You can follow me live for latest news about Thailand @RichardBarrow . Friday 30th July 2010: At about 3am @ js100radio reported an …

This is a review of what happened in Thailand during the last week based on topics that I tweeted. You can follow me live for latest news about Thailand @RichardBarrow . I have also started a new version of my Bangkok Dangerous Map as…

Over the recent long holiday weekend in Thailand, we celebrated two important Buddhist holidays: Asarnha Bucha and Khao Phansa. The first takes place on the full moon day of the eighth lunar month. It commemorates the Buddha’s first sermon to his first five disciples. On this day people celebrate the Triple Gem. This represents…

This is a review of what happened in Thailand during the last week based on topics that I tweeted. You can follow me live for latest news about Thailand @RichardBarrow . Weekend 16th-18th July 2010 US names new Thailand envoy http://j.mp/bWKMFJ Democrats, who are facing dissolution, held merit-making rituals to “shore up the party’s waning luck” /BkkPost…

I was up early this morning to go and take pictures at Wat Klang in Samut Prakan City.  Today is the full moon and an important Buddhist holiday called Visakha Bucha. When I arrived shortly after 7 a.m., there were already hundreds of …

What do smartphones, Twitter and the Red Shirt rallies in Bangkok have in common? The answer is simple. It has at times meant the difference between life and death for foreign tourists and expats in Bangkok. Maybe a little melodramatic, but it has a grain of truth. Without Twitter, and the …

What do smartphones, Twitter and the Red Shirt rallies in Bangkok have in common? The answer is simple. It has at times meant the difference between life and death for foreign tourists and expats in Bangkok. Maybe a little melodramatic, but it has a grain of truth…

One of the main events organized during Songkran celebrations around Thailand is the Miss Songkran Beauty Contest. The one that I went to on Friday night was held at the municipal offices in Phra Pradaeng, Samut Prakan. It takes place every year and it is always fun to go and watch. Both male and …

As you probably all know now, Thailand is celebrating Songkran this week, which is the traditional Thai new year. It is basically a week of waterfights, but there are also some other traditional aspects to the festival which I will tell you about later. …

Thailand has quite a few ethnic minorities. One of these groups are the Mons which have their own distinct culture, clothing and language. They originally came from Southern Burma where they were once rulers of their own kingdom. Due to persecution …

After all the bad news in Thailand over the past few weeks, it is finally good that we can relax and enjoy one of the Kingdom’s most popular festivals. Songkran is the traditional Thai new year which is held every year between 13-15 April. As it is in…

These are some of the pictures of the Songkran activities that I will be joining in Samut Prakan this week. As you can see there is a lot going on during the traditional Thai new year and not all of them are to do with water throwing! Though, of course…

You can trust the Thais to carry on with their festivals despite the troubles in Bangkok. The evening of Saturday 10th April 2010 was a dark day in the history of Thailand with at least 21 people killed in running street battles between the Thai army and red shirt protesters. I was there earlier in the day (see my …

I am not sure about you but it is getting a bit boring with all the news about the red shirt protests. So, how about some fun pictures of children playing Songkran? While the adults in Bangkok are waging war against each…

The Chinese people of Samrong in Samut Prakan Province believe that their God Jao Por Tap will help them get rich. Behind Imperial World, on the old Paknam Railway Road, they have built a large Chinese shrine dedicated to this God. Every year, on the last Sunday of January, they hold a parade through town which is attended …

The annual National Children’s Day for Thailand took place today. Children are considered as the most valuable resource of the country. There is a Thai saying that goes, “Children are the future of the nation, if the children are intelligent, the country will be prosperous.” …

Judging by these photos that I took early this morning, not everyone was nursing hangovers after welcoming in the New Year at midnight last night. Like thousands of other local people from Paknam, I was up early at 6 a.m. to head down to the City Pillar where the main road through town had been closed for a merit …