Welcome to Sunday, Bangkok!
Another busy, busy week in old Thailand. Perhaps the highlight being the reveal that Thailand is in talks with Disneyland to possibly open DisneySea — a nautical themed park — in the country. We’re on the edge of our seats!
In other news, a couple of Thailand-based French bulldogs were filmed rocking out to some tunes. You’ll notice that Pierre is particularly excited by the impromptu dance party.
Of course, there’s been plenty more entertaining and enraging Bangkok this week…
News
Mother saw boyfriend murder 11-month old baby daughter on Facebook
This is the incredibly tragic news from earlier this week which saw Wuttisan Wongtalay hang his 11 month daughter before killing himself, streaming it all on Facebook live. The baby’s mother and Wuttisan’s partner, 22-year old Jiranuch Trirat unfortunately saw the horrific act play out across the social network. Remarkably gracefully, she has publicly told of her forgiveness towards Wuttisan and said that she harbours no blame toward Facebook.
Danish tourist died after taxi driver fell asleep at the wheel
Another needlessly tragic death this week, as it emerged that Dane Thomas Busch was killed in Kamphaeng Phet when his taxi driver fell asleep according to his girlfriend also in the car, leading to the crashing and overturning of the vehicle. Busch’s Thai girlfriend managed to escape with a broken arm, while she and the driver suffered dizziness and blurred vision in the aftermath.
Uncle Fatty the 15kg macaque taken for health check
A particularly voluptuous macaque, playfully nicknamed Uncle Fatty, has been taken away from the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation department for a health check. Weighing in at a sturdy 15 kg (as opposed to the standard 8-10 kg), Uncle Fatty is decidedly obese. He was found near a floating market in Bangkok and taken to Nakhon Nayok wildlife rescue centre.
Blogs
Why Charoen Krung is the new Brooklyn
With its chic riverside location and beautiful old colonial architecture, Charoen Krung has long been a much loved haunt among Bangkokians. This Independent profile on it has summarised all that’s making it hot right now: from the Thailand Creative and Design Centre, the cool street art, refurbished shop houses and various people’s desires to birth a true creative community there.
Is this the Brooklyn of Bangkok?
Navigating Thailand with your dog
A handy blog for mutt owners about how to best travel around Thailand with your dog, including the pitfalls to watch out for, how to get around and how to find pet-friendly apartments.
Forum Threads
Why not leave if you feel unwelcome in Thailand?
This is an interesting Thaivisa thread on the motivations of expats in Thailand — in particular, those expats who are quick to moan about their adopted country, about how unwelcome they feel here. Why don’t they leave? Are they too entrenched in their lives here that they can’t? As the original poster says, why not just bow out gracefully?
Personally, the only time we see expats moaning about feeling unwelcome in Thailand, are in these bashing forum threads. We find locals and service people in general to be very welcoming, and have only really faced apathy at the worst from immigration officials. If you’re expecting the red carpet treatment every time you traipse down to Chaeng Watthana, you might want to tone down that pie in the sky thinking.
Pro tips for living in Thailand
A Reddit thread here full of people sharing advice on how to best live your life in Thailand, without getting too stressed, wound up or hit by culture shock. Some gems here of stoic philosophy, as well as some more practical advice — the standard traffic ‘fine’, for instance, is 200 baht.
YouTube
Er, really?
6.30am on the beach #KohChang pic.twitter.com/igfpO7nhEG
— Ian (@iamKohChang) April 27, 2017
Dear @BeerChang. I think I get “bitter lemon” and “apple mint”…however what the hell is “blue magic”?? pic.twitter.com/3E7ljYVZHB
— Gen (@GiantRobot7) April 27, 2017
If there is an easy way to do something, let’s do it the hard way instead pic.twitter.com/czlpDV8GCM
— Sweet3Mango Bangkok (@sweet3mango) April 27, 2017
School boys at Wat Phra Chetuphon School 1972 #Bangkok #Thailand #RetroSiam pic.twitter.com/XbaJcgZxcW
— Retro Siam (@RetroSiam) April 28, 2017
And that’s been The Week On Sukhumvit — see you next time!
