The annual MasterCard ratings of the planet’s most visited cities has placed Bangkok second for the fifth consecutive year. Based on the global credit card supplier’s criteria, the figures show that 18.24 million international visitors spent at least one night in Bangkok.
Thailand’s tourism bureau has set the date and venue for the Amazing Thailand Grand Sale Fair 2015. Wiboon Nimitwanich, a director with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), has announced the massive discount sale will run between 11 and 14 June and the venue is the Queen Sirikit Convention Centre on New Rachadapisek Road.
Pattaya’s town council has ordered ferry boat operators plying routes to Koh Larn to stop overcharging passengers. At a meeting last week, the council’s deputy-mayor said there was clear evidence that passengers were being charged more than the THB30 permitted for the crossing to the island.
Ranong is probably one of Thailand’s least visited provinces, yet offers glimpses of the landscapes and culture of yesteryear. The province is sparsely populated and, as it endures a long rainy season every year, its mountains are covered in lush emerald-green forest.
Chelsea Football Club’s Jose Mourinho was photographed at one of Bangkok’s most famous shopping malls on Saturday. The manager of the English Premier League side was window shopping at the Mahboonkrong mall in the downtown Siam Square District of the Thai capital.
A torrential downpour left parts of Phuket Island’s resort of Patong under 50-centimetres of water on Saturday. The storm struck just after 13:00 and roads flooded as the runoff was just too much for storm-drains to handle.
An international express train travelling from Malaysia to Thailand crashed into a cement mixer at a road crossing late last week. No casualties were reported among the passengers and crew aboard the Langkawi Express after the accident near Hat Yai on Thursday.
Ayutthaya 300 years ago was the capital of what was then Siam and was believed to be the biggest city in Asia. In 1767, a marauding Burmese army ransacked and burnt Ayutthaya, yet the magnificent stone and brick ruins that remain are complete enough for visitors to get insightful glimpses of the city in its golden age.
Bangkok municipal authorities say they are closing the Silom Sunday street market for the forthcoming rainy season. Bang Rak district councillor Supawadee Sithikornphaibul says safety is of paramount importance and the reason the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is suspending the market for two months.
Thailand’s tourism bureau has announced Loei is the venue for a cycle rally next week. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has posted up an open invitation for all cycling enthusiasts to join the rally in the northeast region of Thailand on Sunday 7 June.
The commander of Bangkok’s Traffic Police Division says the demolition of overpasses at two key junctions is liable to cause traffic chaos over the coming months. The Ratchayothin and Kasetsart overpasses currently ease traffic flow on Ratchadapisek and Paholyothin roads in northern Bangkok, but are scheduled for demolition to make way for a new suburban rail route.
Thailand’s southern peninsula is long and narrow and stretches for almost 1,000kms from the top of the Gulf of Thailand down to the Malay border. The southern half of the peninsula divides the gulf from the Andaman Sea. The gulf islands of Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao are on the opposite coast from Krabi and Phuket.
Thailand’s ruling government says it has given the green light for the construction of a track from Bangkok to Chiang Mai to accommodate high-speed trains. The cabinet endorsed a memorandum of cooperation with two Japanese organisations which will see 250kph trains link the nation’s two principal cities.
Kelantan is a Malaysian state which shares a common border with Thailand’s far southern province of Narathiwat. In English, Kelantan is nicknamed the Blissful Abode and when visiting it is easy to see why. The state is noted for its verdant landscapes and pristine beaches lined with shade-giving casuarinas trees.
Thailand and Cambodia are set to discuss measures that will see the number of vehicles licensed to cross their common borders increased. Late last week, a Thai Transport Ministry spokesperson stated the transport-ministers of the two Southeast Asian neighbours had scheduled a meeting for next month to work out the finer details of the agreement.
A local company in the city of Mandalay says it has agreed on a partnership to operate public bus services here. Myanmar Gaon director Aung Ye Htut says his company will be joining a conglomerate of firms headed up by Namsong Ltd from South Korea in the project.
The head-ranger of a national park in the southern Thai region of Krabi has warned that smacks of jellyfish have been spotted close to its beaches. Virasak Sisajjang told local reporters red jellyfish had been spotted in significant numbers close to the offshore islands and mainland beaches of Than Bok Khorani National Park.
The Thai island of Koh Chang lies at the top end of the Gulf of Thailand and is only around 50kms from the coast of Cambodia as the crow flies. Until the dawn of the new millennium, Koh Chang was rarely on the itineraries of international travellers.
A new bus route utilising an electric powered bus has launched on the streets of the Thai capital of Bangkok. A project managed by the development team at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) saw the route linking its campus to the city’s Lat Krabang Airport Link Station carry its first passengers this week.
Hua Hin is a seaside resort about 200kms away from Bangkok by road. It is noted for its sweeping stretches of golden sands, access to championship golf courses, gourmet restaurants and chilled out nightlife venues.