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A Chinese-language teacher at a university in Payao province was arrested for luring teens into sexual encounters through popular chat app “Beetalk.†Police said Sinchai Kimsia, 37, confessed to blackmailing more than 10 women in Payao into having sex with him at a press conference today. So far, the five unidentified victims have come forward to file a police report, but police believe there may be more. According to investigators, Sinchai would ask the victims to send nude photos in exchange for money ‒ as much as THB150,000. After he receives the photos, the teacher would threaten to post the naughty selfies onto social networks and even the victims’ university websites unless they had sex with him. The police arrested Sinchai at the university and encouraged the other victims to file complaints, Thairath and Daily News reported. http://bangkok.cocon...-sex-police-say 25/08/14

"Nick DeWolf (1928-2006) was an engineer and entrepreneur who founded a company called Teradyne in the USA. In his spare time he was also cataloging his life with a camera. These amazing photos came long before Flickr but thanks to his son-in-law and archivist, Steve Lundeen, we can finally see his deep catalog of photos. So far there are 43,450! " I've taken a look through some of them and he really was an acomplished photographer, photographing and recording events of everyday life all over the world. Here are some of his Thailand scans from 1972: More here: https://www.flickr.c...57632407378132/ https://www.flickr.c...57632708317555/ https://www.flickr.c...57643068372183/ http://blog.flickr.n...os-nick-dewolf/

http://youtu.be/EDxZunZ4pdM

http://youtu.be/Cfez1LBfxWc Saw this video doing the rounds in the Thai press today. Apparently it's a venomous King Cobra. Rather than park up and let it crawl away, they continued driving and filming until it eventually fell off. Wonder if this week's lottery numbers matched the car registration plate? http://www.dailynews...ขื่องโผล่หน้ารถ

Irate farmers pelt caretaker finance minister Kittiratt with bottles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN3lcak_ktQ Talks between the caretaker government and rice farmers failed again yesterday. Rice farmers use an e-tan farm truck to break through a line of barbed wire to get into the compound of the Office of the Permanent Secretary for Defence where caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and key cabinet members are based, to demand money owed to them under the rice-pledging scheme. Angry farmers heckled and threw plastic water bottles and food at caretaker Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong when he could not tell them when the caretaker government would be able to pay the long-overdue money owed to them under the trouble-plagued rice-pledging scheme. Farmers also plan to hold another major rally tomorrow to pressure the government. A large number of farmers went to the office of the permanent secretary for defence, the caretaker cabinet’s temporary workplace, on Chaeng Watthana Road, and initially demanded caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra meet them for talks. Police and military personnel were deployed around the office to keep the peace and prevent farmers from entering the compound. However, the farmers were able to break through barbed wire barriers using farm trucks they were travelling on. Ms Yingluck did not appear and about 6pm, Mr Kittiratt came down from the office, along with security guards and talked to the farmers who were waiting for him. Mr Kittiratt told the farmers that the government is trying to pay the farmers in full as specified on their bai pratuan or rice-pledging certificates. But he said the payments are slow because the government is in a caretaker role. As Mr Kittiratt was trying to explain the procedures to help them, the farmers became angry and demanded to know exactly when the government would pay them. They said they did not want to know the procedures. Some of the farmers interrupted Mr Kittiratt by shouting at him, telling him the government should step down. Mr Kittiratt looked worried when some farmers tried to approach him. Security guards had to whisk him back to his office as the farmers began throwing plastic bottles and food at him. The farmers then returned to their rally site at the Commerce Ministry. Early in the day, Mr Kittiratt told a press conference the Finance Ministry is ready to work with the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) to secure sources of funds to pay rice growers. Mr Kittiratt said the BAAC has now secured short-term loans to pay what is owed to the farmers. He added that the Finance Ministry’s Public Debt Management Office will also arrange for loans to add to the BAAC’s funds. Mr Kittiratt said the procedures to pay the farmers have continued uninterrupted. The BAAC has enough liquidity and has continued to pay farmers since last week. If there are no political factors, the ministry should help find sources of short- and medium-term loans to pay farmers 4 billion baht a day and pay off all debts within six to eight weeks, Mr Kittiratt said. Natthawat Chan-inngam, a farmer representative, said growers will hold another major rally on Feb 19 with rice farmers from the Northeast joining the protest in Bangkok. Chaicharn Mata, a farmer representative from the Northeast, said farmers in the northeastern provinces usually supported the government. However, if the government fails to pay their debts, the government should review its role, he said. More than 3,000 farmers in the Northeast are now filing both civil and criminal suits against the government through the Lawyers Council of Thailand, Mr Chaicharn said. http://www.bangkokpo...tt-with-bottles 18/02/14

Australian journalist Alan Morison says he's prepared for prison over Thai navy row December 30, 2013 - Lindsay Murdoch - South-East Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media Australian journalist Alan Morison and his colleague Chutima Sidasathian both charged with defamation in Thailand. Bangkok: Australian journalist Alan Morison has declared he is prepared to go to jail to defend media freedom in Thailand where defamation laws are being increasingly used to silence criticism. ‘‘This is a clear issue of freedom of media and the military exceeding its role in using an onerous law unjustly,’’ says Morison, 66, who edits and publishes Phuketwan, a small but popular news website on the resort island of Phuket. A defamation lawsuit launched by Thailand’s navy against Mr Morison and his colleague Chutima Sidasathian on Christmas Eve is one of about 1600 defamation cases that were initiated in the south-east Asian country in 2013, many of them by powerful interests. Court records show that of the defamation cases that proceed to trial in Thailand an average of 96 per cent lead to convictions, one of the world’s highest rates for the crime. Advertisement Mr Morison and Ms Chutima could face a maximum five years’ jail and fines if convicted under the Computer Crimes Act. If convicted on criminal defamation charges they could be jailed for up to two years. The navy’s unprecedented action has prompted criticism from the United Nations, human rights groups, non-government organisations and media outlets and unions both in Thailand and other countries. The charges relate to a story published in Phuketwan in July 2013 that quoted a Reuters news agency investigation alleging that some members of the Thai military were involved in networks smuggling Muslim Rohingya boat people from Myanmar. No action has yet been filed against Reuters, a multinational company, although the navy has said charges against two of its reporters are expected to be laid shortly. Phuketwan has closely followed the plight of the Rohingya who have been described by the UN as among the world’s most persecuted people. Mr Morison says he and Ms Chutima have discussed the possibility of going to jail on the principle of media freedom in what would be a David-and-Goliath fight against the navy which has 70,000 active personnel. ‘‘These are trumped up charges. There is an important principle at stake,’’ he says. ‘‘The Rohingya have no spokesperson, no leader, but through Phuketwan’s ongoing coverage the torment of these people continues to be revealed.’’ Mr Morison, a former senior Age editor, sold his apartment in Melbourne and set-up Phuketwan, which provides local and foreign news coverage for Phuket where an average 20,000 Australians holiday each month. If Mr Morison is jailed he would be one of the first editors to be incarcerated in the country since the Bangkok Post’s Michael Gorman was jailed for three months over defamation proceedings in the early 1980s. ‘‘The Thai navy’s lawsuit is a reckless attempt to curtail journalists’ reporting on alleged human trafficking by its officers,’’ says Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. ‘‘Unless the government withdraws the case, its impact will be felt far beyond those reporting on abuses against the Rohingya – and could have a choking effect on all investigative reporting in Thailand,’’ Mr Adams says. David Streckfuss, an American academic who is an expert on Thai laws, told a recent forum at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Thailand that use of defamation laws ‘‘have become a kind of way of controlling political discourse in Thailand’’. Andrew Drummond, a British investigative reporter in Thailand, said up to 30 foreigners have fled the country following threats of defamation that would involve years of litigation in the courts and thousands of dollars in bail payments. Many of them had been swindled by criminals making the threats, he said. Mr Morison and Ms Chutima, a respected Thai journalist, have formally denied the charges that could take years to be heard in Thai courts. http://www.smh.com.a...1230-hv75m.html (30/12/13)

For those renting cars, this company is what I have been using over last 8 years. Roughly half price of what established chains have. Cars I rented never had more than 15K km, new, clean, maintained. Other discounters use them too, adding 1,000-2,000 THB their markup atop (that is how I learned to use them directly, got their car through another discount car rental). Using them again this year. Online booking, no deposit until pickup. They have no shiny offices to fund but still have well trained, efficient and courteous staff: Ten minutes to take pictures of your passport and driving license and to inspect the car (be detailed!) and you go: Look at the rear mirror...their logo ...and ....a girl (student in uniform). She is not part of the deal I have no interest or affiliation with this company, just recommending their inexpensive and reliable service. link to their site.

Came across this site archiving a few collections of old documents and photos taken by US Peace Corps volunteers stationed in Thailand in the early 1960s onwards. http://www.friendsof...hives/main.html School children, BKK, 1962 Songkran, Chiang Mai, 1962 Wedding, Khamphaengphet 1967-1969 Neil Armstrong's visit to Thailand in 1969