Topshop and Topman open flagship stores at Central World (first floor) in Bangkok today. In terms of fashion stores, I could see the UK clothing giant doing very well in Thailand. It’s cheaper than Zara and a shade more trendy than somewhere such as H&M. There was a time when I bought almost all of [...]

Those of you who have been in Thailand for a while will remember the intensive war on drugs that went on in 2003 under the Thaksin regime. At that time, so-called blacklists of “influential people” were drawn up and used to help the police target individuals suspected of dealing drugs.
It was never made clear how [...]

It’s been about eight months since the tragedy of One-Two-Go flight OG269. The latest development in that saga is an online petition that has surfaced with, at the time of writing, more than 4,500 digital signatures calling for Thailand’s prime minister to investigate Udom Tantiprasongchai, chairman of One-Two-Go.
There are some pretty strong allegations going around. [...]

What is it about society that drives people to protest? Other than for the sake of being there and actually experiencing a protest, I’ve never felt compelled to take to the streets to stand up for what I believe in. I wonder, though, had I grown up in Thailand rather than the UK, if perhaps [...]

Phuket is one of the most popular destinations for visitors to Thailand. Predicted tourism figures this year point to in excess of five million visitors to the island. With all the websites out there offering information about Phuket, you’re going to want to choose a reputable Phuket guide in order to plan your trip.
Once you [...]

I will be away from all things Internet related for the next few days as I am taking a much-needed (short) vacation from work and this blog. I will be doing the same next weekend, so don’t expect many posts ni between. I’ve been working quite a lot recently and sleeping at the most bizarre [...]

Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung is on a mission. On Tuesday, he announced that he would use a security law to shut down what have become Thailand’s top 29 websites, after several sources listed the offending URLs. Many of the websites have already been taken down by their owners, but some are still rampaging against all [...]

Did anyone else in Thailand see this curious spectacle last Friday? I’m unsure if it was limited to Phuket, but sure enough, there was a rainbow around the sun. I tried in vain to catch a glimpse of the rainbow with my naked eyes and subsequently spent the proceeding 30 minutes completely blind.
It was only [...]

Your parties to raise money for the people affected by Cyclone Nagris were a tremendous success.
When are your parties for the Chinese affected by the recent earthquake?

I’ve been keeping tabs on a certain area of the Internet recently. In this particular area, a prolific Thailand blogger is currently being sued by one, possibly two, real estate agents for defamation. This, the latest turn in a bizarre string of events, poses interesting implications for bloggers in Thailand and around the world.
While most [...]

It’s hard not to notice that there has been a rather sudden influx of Russian tourists to Thailand. It may be that there are more Russians in Phuket than Bangkok, but this increase is not just my imagination – the Russians are coming.
At the risk of offending my Russian readers – I know that I [...]

I often wonder how far ahead or behind the rest of the world Thailand is in terms of the technology that we have access to here. With widespread access to the Internet and online stores such as Amazon, i don’t think there is much difference.
After hearing several reports about the new Asus Eee PC, I [...]

Today marks 28 years since the death of Ian Curtis. He died at the age of 23, more than two years before I was born. He would have been 52 this year. For someone who died so young, so long ago, Ian Curtis has had an unprecedented impact on modern-day music, in a similar way [...]

This title is obviously a joke, but the way things at Man City look at the moment, they may as well employ a bunch of clowns to play for them next season. The whole situation has turned from Man City potentially becoming the next Real Madrid or Chelsea, to the team looking like the jokes [...]