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#211
17-07-2007, 01:33 PM
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Van, taxi drivers blockade Suvarnabhumi Airport
Report from Bangkok Post dated Tuesday 17 July 2007 :-
Van, taxi drivers blockade Suvarnabhumi Airport Police arrested more than 30 passenger van and taxi drivers who staged a protest by blocking the entrance to the arrivals terminal at Suvarnabhumi airport yesterday. The protest was in response to a police crackdown on their services, which they operate without necessary permission. About 100 protesters gathered on the first floor of the terminal, but some used their vehicles to block gates on the fourth floor. Airport authorities arranged special lanes for other vehicles, reducing the impact on airline passengers. The blockade continued until late in the evening, when police decided to disperse the protesters, arresting 33 drivers and impounding 30 vehicles. The protesters, many of whom work for tourism companies, demanded the airport relax regulations and allow them to provide services while their registrations are being processed. However, the airport has refused as it says it is difficult to differentiate them from illegal van operators. Police round up some of the protesting drivers at Suvarnabhumi airport yesterday. "Van operators affiliated to tourism firms ask that they have a chance to register with the airport, while illegal operators only need to have direct talks with police on their demands," said deputy airport director Chaturongkapol Sodmanee after a meeting between the officials and representatives of the protesters and the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA). ATTA president Apichart Sankary said the problem with passenger vans has existed since the airport opened last year and remains unsolved. In order to enter the airport, the drivers are required to go through a complicated registration process which may take six months to complete. Since many vans are operated by or sub-contracted to tourism firms which want to provide a service to their customers, not general airport passengers, they asked that the airport show leniency. Mr Apichart said the association had received a lot of complaints from these drivers and earlier asked Transport Minister Theera Haocharoen to consider their demand. Tourists' needs have changed and vans are more in demand than large coaches, he said. The association asked the minister to allow the passenger vans to operate for six to 12 months, until the problem is solved. The minister agreed to look into the matter, Mr Apichart said. "The problem is not new. Police should only crack down on ghost [illegal] vehicles," he said, referring to those not working with tourism companies. Land Transport Department deputy chief Chairat Sanguansue insisted his department could not relax the regulations. "All van and taxi drivers must change their vehicle type registration from private use to public use before they can provide a service at the airport," he said. This was to protect passengers and the public in general from being cheated. ---- KatoeyNewsNetwork 
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#212
19-07-2007, 01:39 PM
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Insurgents could strike Bangkok, warns Sonthi
Report from Bangkok Post dated Thursday 19 July 2007 :-
Insurgents could strike Bangkok, warns Sonthi - Students to help build bomb disposal robots Council for National Security chairman Sonthi Boonyaratkalin has admitted he fears the southern separatist insurgency could spread to Bangkok. ''I'm very afraid that the danger will find its way northward,'' he said. The threat from ethnic and religious strife had evolved into terrorism which could grip the world. Conflicts arising from personal beliefs were more fearsome than other kinds of wars. While the separatist strife in the deep South was under control, Gen Sonthi said, he had instructed the Supreme Command to ensure the insurgents do not reach Bangkok. ''We'll do everything in our power to keep terrorism at bay,'' he said. Questioned about the fatal bombing on Tuesday in central Yala, he said the bomb disposal unit had jammers to cut off radio signals sent to detonate bombs. The team may have forgotten to take them along with them. A source, however, said there were not enough frequency jammers available. Yala police yesterday began viewing security camera footage in their hunt for Tuesday's bombers, who are thought to be members of the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) guerrilla group, led by Ma-aea Apibanbae. Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said the government will consult local talent to build robots to assist with bomb disposal in the South. Students at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology North Bangkok who developed award-winning rescue robots would be asked to help. Meanwhile, a source revealed the military is watching 14 quarries in Kanchanaburi province which may have secretly sold blasting explosives to southern insurgents. In Narathiwat, assistant village head Nea-ke Salaemae, 35, was shot dead in Muang district on Tuesday. In Rueso district, Dorrormae Sama-aae, 48, was wounded by a gunman yesterday. And there was no power again in tambon Tanyongmat, Rangae district, tambon Dusongyor, Chanae district, for the second night after gunmen damaged the power transformers. ---- KatoeyNewsNetwork
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#213
19-07-2007, 01:41 PM
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Fake bomb found at +++yu shopping mall
Report from Bangkok Post dated Thursday 19 July 2007 :-
Fake bomb found at +++yu shopping mall Police are looking for a man suspected to be behind a bomb hoax at the +++yu shopping mall in Pathumwan district yesterday. Police rushed to inspect a suspicious-looking package left in the men's toilet on the mall's third floor around noon. The package with a dangling electric cord and a ticking sound coming from it was placed in a metal box and taken to the parking lot of the Pathumwan Princess hotel located in the same complex to be disposed of. Officers found only an energy drink bottle, a wire and an alarm clock inside. There were no explosives or detonator. ---- KatoeyNewsNetwork
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#215
09-08-2007, 03:44 AM
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Suvarnabhumi Airport reopens 10 bays
Report from Bangkok Post dated Wednesday 8 August 2007 :-
Suvarnabhumi Airport reopens 10 bays Passengers at Suvarnabhumi Airport will be spared some hassles as Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) has reactivated 10 aircraft parking bays that had been closed to facilitate the repair of a taxiway. This week's reopening of the parking bays, which had been closed since June, followed the recent completion of the taxiways on southwestern side of concourses D and E. Back in service are parking bays D5, D6, D7, D8, E1, E3, E5, E7 and E9, as well as the remote parking bay 305, said Serirat Prasutanond, general manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport. That solved one of the problems requiring embarking and disembarking passengers to be transferred by coaches from remote bays to the terminal - a major complaint lodged by passengers. Suvarnabhumi Airport has 120 parking bays, 51 with contact gates and 69 remote gates. The repairs involved construction flaws that continue to plague the 155- billion-baht airport since its opening in September last year. AoT is now moving to fix the damaged surface of the northern tip of the western runway, coded 19L-01R, and another section of a taxiway, in the area known as B1-B2. The repairs would result in the closure of a 500-metre section of the runway and the B1-B2 taxiway for 50 days, starting on Aug 15. However, the suspended section would not necessitate the full closure of the runway as the remaining length of 2,890 metres could still accommodate most aircraft, Mr Serirat explained. Large and heavy aircraft such as the Boeing 747-400 will be assigned to the other runway on the eastern side, which is 4,000 metres long. The airport is already using its capacity of 45 million passengers per year, and the need to fix construction flaws has added to the crowding and inconvenience at the airport. Meanwhile, Mr Serirat confirmed that most of the 60 roof leaks at the passenger terminal and concourses had been fixed. ''Airport staff are on the lookout for any dripping and should any leakage be spotted, cleaners will immediately clean the place and the repairs will be carried out immediately after the rain stops,'' he said. ---- KatoeyNewsNetwork
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#216
09-08-2007, 04:09 AM
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Jaspal begins big push into the region
Report from The Nation dated Wednesday 8 August 2007 :-
Jaspal begins big push into the region The Jaspal Group is setting up its first foreign subsidiary in Malaysia as part of a plan to open retail outlets and sell its own brand-named fashion apparel and footwear products in neighbouring countries. It is a crucial move for the group, which is now in the hands of the fourth generation of the Singhsachathet family, which founded the business 60 years ago. Since starting out as Jaspal and Sons in 1947, the Jaspal Group has grown from an importer and distributor of bed and bathroom linen products into a highly diversified conglomerate with interests in manufacturing, trading, retailing and real estate. Named Jaspal (Malaysia), the group's first foreign operation will look after the expansion of retail outlets in Malaysia for all of its flagship brands, including Jaspal, CPS Chaps, CCOO, Lyn and Footwork. The first outlet for Jaspal fashion apparel will open in November in Kuala Lumpur, following initial investment of Bt15 million, assistant deputy managing director Viseth Singhsachathet said yesterday. "It is an important vision for the fourth generation of the Singhsachathet family to take our fashion retail business abroad and make our flagship fashion brands become international," Viseth said, adding that the Jaspal brand focused on casual wear for all-day use, while CPS Chaps focused on casual jean wear for coolly sophisticated, individualistic and sociable young people. Viseth, 29, said the company had entered the retail fashion business in 1972 by creating Jaspal, its first apparel brand. It operates 25 Jaspal shops in Thailand. The company founded CPS Chaps in 1980 and now has 16 local CSP Chaps outlets. "With an established history of about 30 years, our retail fashion brands have enjoyed strong exposure to foreign shoppers," Viseth said. Following Malaysia, the company plans to set up separate retail operations in all the key markets of Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam, and to expand retail networks for all its flagship brands in those markets. Initial investment for each retail shop is expected to be between Bt10 million and Bt15 million. About five retail shops will be opened in prime shopping malls in those target countries next year, Viseth said. On Tuesday, Jaspal also opened its first fashion cafe restaurant - called Cafe CPS - on the ground level of Siam Centre, following investment of Bt20 million. The cafe restaurant is located next to a CPS Chaps fashion apparel outlet. "We are looking for a location for our second Cafe CPS," Viseth said, adding that the fashion cafe restaurants would open in prime shopping complexes in downtown Bangkok. The cafe restaurants will be treated as a new and separate business unit, but will share the same lifestyle benefits as the CPS Chaps brand. They will be operated by JS Foods & Cafe, a company set up at the beginning of this year with a registered capital of Bt6 million. Viseth said CPS Chaps and Cafe CPS would share support staff, particularly creative people. They would enjoy the same store image and attitude, as well as staff uniforms and in-store music. He said the company had also seen opportunities to expand its Cafe CPS fashion cafe restaurants in foreign markets. ---- KatoeyNewsNetwork
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#217
09-08-2007, 10:05 AM
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Re: Anything Everything about Thailand (Part 2)
Quote:
 KNN's tagline [unpublished yet] is 'NOW EVERYBODY CAN KNOW' Cheers.....
__________________
RETIRED 
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#218
13-08-2007, 01:42 PM
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What is 'KatoeyNewsNetwork' ???
Quote:
www.knn.com
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#219
13-08-2007, 01:44 PM
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Surfing the Web for Mr Right
Report from The Nation dated Monday 13 August 2007 :-
Surfing the Web for Mr Right - Educated women of rural origin, widows seek foreign spouse Long popular in the Northeast with poor and uneducated women, the so-called mia-farang fashion is now catching on among northern widows and single, well-educated women in Bangkok of rural origins. A women's studies academic warned it might just be the response of the sex trade to the cyber era. "The trend is changing. In the past they were always northeastern women from poor families without much schooling. That continues, but the emerging group is widows from the North," Nuch, operator of http://www.sweetsingle.com, the hottest online dating website, told The Nation. Nuch's Bangkok-based company Sweet Singles Thailand offers an online dating service for Thai women looking for a foreign groom. "Interestingly, another growing group is single women from rural provinces now living in Bangkok. They're highly educated; some even have a master's degree from a decent university," she said. "Seven years ago most of our clients had had failed marriages. Now 60 per cent of our membership is single," Nuch said. In the northern capital of Chiang Mai, online dating has been booming for years, said Nee Saenphrom, operator of a Chiang Mai-based online dating business that is expanding into six provinces. "More and more businesses have opened in the past two years, specifically for online dating. You can easily find advertisements in local papers. Some have websites, but most of them have only mobile-phone numbers," Nee said. One such website boasts it has arranged over 4,000 weddings. Every day new faces apply for membership at Nuch and Nee's offices. At Nuch's some 40 women sign up daily while Nee's receives some 50 applications per month. Nee's office has 300 members registered, not counting those who succeed in marriage and log off, while Nuch's membership runs to over 1,000. That is the quantitative aspect, but quality is even more interesting, said Romyen Kosaiyakanon of Chiang Mai University's Women's Studies Centre, who has just finished a research project on "Cross-Border Marriages: A Case Study of Thai Women-Foreign Men Matches Through Online Dating Services in Thailand". "One-fourth of applicants have bachelor's degrees, 30 per cent have vocational degrees, and 20 per cent have high-school diplomas," she said. "Half of them are divorced, and 40 per cent say they are single," she added. The average age of the Thai women was 37, with the youngest 18. The men were 53 on average. Nee and Nuch said there were several main reasons causing the women to turn to online dating. One is their experience of marriage to Thai men, another is a personal tendency to favour foreign men, and third come economic and social circumstances. "Many of them said they were tired of Thai men's behaviour, especially their irresponsibility to their families, flirting and dishonesty to their wives. Not all Thai men are like that, but we have to admit that it's true for a certain number of them," Nee said. "Many women have been raising children alone in order to save their marriages. Now they receive more information and learn that there is no reason for them to put up with it. They have started questioning how it is men manage to do that to them," Nee said. Pranpreeya Prasongdee, 37, a former marketing manager in Chiang Mai, said she had lost almost all faith in connubial life when she divorced her husband, a policemen, eight years ago. "After arguments about his new women for years, he started beating me, until one day he broke two of my ribs and badly hurt my head after a fight. I took my son and ran away from the hospital, out of his life," she said. Nuch said more women visiting her office told her they had a good impression of foreign men, especially their sense of looking after their families. "There are two groups, one which really want a foreign husband and another group, mostly single women, who are looking for men who can better their social status [in education and finance]," Nuch said. "I'm not saying they don't do it for the money, but for many of them it's much more than that. More and more women join online dating services to seek long-term relationships, to find someone who will mind their kids, give them more security financially and take good care of them for the rest of their lives," Nee said. Pranpreeya agreed. "I decided to apply for membership after taking time to study the service and witnessing success cases myself. But the prime reason is I want a brighter future for my 17-year-old son. Unless I marry my Australian boyfriend, my son will only get a mediocre education. He can continue his studies abroad if I do. He wants to be an architect," she said. Pranpreeya's getting married in Chiang Mai in October. Researcher Romyen admitted that it was not easy to explain the social phenomenon. "Traditional feminists say it's a new type of cross-border sex trade; liberals say it's about fair supply and demand, while many believe it's a new bargaining era on the part of women," she said. "What I concluded in my research is that it's not a trade in women. What they trade in is contact and access for women. Supply and demand are certainly biased, though: there are six times more women than men in the system, so men have more choice, without considering the greater power of men in terms of nationality bias [farangs being seen as better than Thais], finances, better access to information and other things," she said. "As for the idea of this being an equal bargaining-power era for women, I found that was definitely not true. It may be a new bargaining era for women, but not an equal one. As I say, all the rules of online dating services favour men rather than women, whether intentionally or not," Romyen said. "If it's trafficking in women, it's the smoothest and softest kind, though of course there's no equality there either, despite the so-called new bargaining era," she said. That's an academic's point of view, said Nee and Nuch. Business continues to boom no matter how you explain the ongoing fashion. "The online-dating business has done very well by me. It's good business, even though I have more competitors these days, but I know I do it better than they do and have more experience. I run it with the good intentions of helping two people find their real long-term soul mate and a better life," Nee said. Nuch said: "Even though the money from membership is not big, we can supplement it from related services like translation, hotel reservations, cars, visa applications, souvenirs and even wedding services. "The money to be made attracts more and more people to the business. The question mark is their quality and the risk for the women involved with a non-professional service." Nuch said. ---- KatoeyNewsNetwork
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#220
19-08-2007, 05:51 PM
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Re: Anything Everything about Thailand (Part 2)
Quote:
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#221
21-08-2007, 03:05 PM
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English tutors failing the test
Report from Bangkok Post dated Tuesday 21 August 2007 :-
English tutors failing the test - Just one in 10 can score more than 60% Training is needed urgently to improve the standard of English teaching in Thailand, senior government and private educationalists said after seeing the "highly unimpressive scores" in a recent test of English-language teachers. Of the 14,189 teachers in 30 tourism-oriented provinces who took the test, 74.59% scored less than 41 marks out of a possible 100, according to an Office of Basic Education Commission (OBEC) report. Only 9.94% of the teachers scored between 60 and 100 marks, while 15.47% managed to score between 42 and 60 marks. The lowest score earned in the test - which allotted 30 marks for listening ability, 30 marks for reading, 20 marks for writing and 20 marks for speaking - was two. Among the 30 provinces from where the teachers who took the test came were Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Sukhothai and Chon Buri. The test was conducted jointly by OBEC and Ramkhamhaeng University as a follow-up to a previous one conducted four years ago in which 90 per cent of English-language teachers also did poorly. The OBEC report described English teaching in Thailand currently as a "failure", and cited the lack of direct education in teaching English for local teachers as the main reason. Asst Prof Chaleosri Phiboolchol, chairperson of the English-language Teachers' Association of Thailand, said most of the approximately 500,000 English teachers in government and private schools at primary and secondary level "were made to do their jobs" without basic qualifications or proper training. She suggested giving scholarships and providing training and rewarding outstanding teachers as solutions to encourage self-development among English teachers. Assoc Prof Suchada Nimmannit, a lecturer with Chulalongkorn University's Language Institute, said the Education Ministry had failed to substantially improve English teachers. "Training every few years for teachers is not enough to develop them academically," she added. She said that if sending Thai English-language teachers to countries with native English speakers and highly professional training was too expensive, exchange programmes among Southeast Asian countries would be good enough to expose them to new experiences and prompt them to adjust to all-English environments. Akkhara Akkharanithi, a lecturer at the Language Institute, said the teaching of English should also be improved at kindergarten level, where all the teachers are too burdened with full-time tasks to improve their English teaching. She suggested that all government English teachers who worked for more than five years should be allowed to study English overseas on their own funds, while more scholarships should be made available to those who proved to be outstanding English teachers. ---- KatoeyNewsNetwork Last edited by KatoeyLover69; 21-08-2007 at 03:19 PM.
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#222
21-08-2007, 03:15 PM
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Suvarnabhumi vows to target luggage thieves
Report from Bangkok Post dated Tuesday 21 August 2007 :-
Suvarnabhumi Airport vows to target luggage thieves - Airport, airlines blame outsourced companies Suvarnabhumi Airport is stepping up surveillance of luggage on conveyor belts - not to look for explosive material, but to prevent bags from being opened and valuables stolen by staff, airport director Serirat Prasutanond said yesterday. Mr Serirat said security cameras are an effective tool for monitoring irregularities at the airport, but the airport needs more people to patrol areas where cameras are not installed. He made the comments after reporting on thefts from luggage of inbound passengers at the airport. The airport is only required to oversee baggage on its conveyor belts, while airlines are responsible for carrying bags to and from the terminal, he said. Airlines outsource the duty to other firms. Besides staff of the various firms, other thieves could be people who pretend to be luggage transporters, Mr Serirat said. They board vehicles transporting luggage and rummage through the bags, he said. One suspected thief has been arrested after an illegal act was recorded by security camera, he said. Another incident occurred on Aug 12, when a passenger of a Thai Airways International (THAI) flight from Chiang Mai to Suvarnabhumi complained of valuables being stolen, Mr Serirat added. Chayata Tharnpisalsamut, a university student, said brand-name handbags and belts were stolen from her luggage early this year on the flight from London to Bangkok. The bag was delayed for a day and it had been opened, she said. ''My friend lost 10 Diesel watches among other things,'' she said of a friend who returned on a flight from the US. Some thefts have been blamed on employees of companies hired by THAI and Bangkok Airways to carry passengers' bags between airplanes and the terminal. Chaturongkapol Sodmanee, deputy director of Suvarnabhumi, said bags from the US were vulnerable because, according to a US law, passengers are not allowed to lock their luggage, facilitating random checks at airports, unless they use devices approved by the US Transportation Security Administration. These locks are specially designed to be opened only by certain airport officials who need to inspect bags, he said. THAI president president Apinan Sumanaseni vowed to make sure companies hired by THAI did not employ people who would be involved in such criminal acts. ---- KatoeyNewsNetwork
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#223
02-09-2007, 12:36 AM
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Samui opens airport to international flights
Report from Bangkok Post dated Saturday 1 September 2007 :-
Samui opens airport to international flights Samui Airport's new 500-million-baht passenger terminal was opened for international flights yesterday after starting domestic air services on May 27. Yesterday's opening means the airport is now running at full capacity, which is basically four times larger than the old terminal and capable of handling up to 16,000 passengers a day. The full opening comes in light of continued debates and lobbying by politicians to have a second airport on the resort island funded with taxpayer money to support the country's burgeoning tourism industry. Bangkok Airways, which operates the Samui airport, has been the focus of continued criticism for its monopoly on domestic air services to the resort island in the Gulf of Thailand. Critics have blasted the high passenger fares and aircraft service charges, as well as its reluctance to allow other domestic carriers to use its airport. The airline categorically denies all these charges, saying it has played a key role in putting the once-little-known island on the world's tourism map since it first opened the airport in 1989. The new Samui terminal comprises a cluster of low-rise buildings with steel-reinforced thatched roofs, palm-tree pillars and wooden and rattan walls in an open-air layout that blends in with the coconut plantations that surround it. The airport has four new domestic sections and two international sections with a total passenger area of 73,000 sq metres. The development also includes a ''walking street'' retail area adjacent to the passenger terminal with boutique-style shops lining the path. The company also plans to build a 60-room boutique hotel early next year. The new terminal development, scheduled for an official opening in January next year, will cope with surging foreign-tourist traffic to the island over the next 10 years and immediately ease congestion at the old terminal. Passenger arrivals at the Samui airport have increased from 660,000 in 2000 to 1.3 million last year. It serves direct Bangkok Airways' flights from Bangkok, Phuket, U-Tapao, Chiang Mai, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Next year, the airport will see more arrivals as Bangkok Airways expands regional connections, airline executives said yesterday. Other airlines heading to Samui include Berjaya Air from Kuala Lumpur and budget airline FireFly from Penang. ---- KatoeyNewsNetwork
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#224
04-09-2007, 01:17 AM
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One-Two-Go shifts flights to Suvarnabhumi Airport
Report from Bangkok Post dated Monday 3 September 2007 :-
One-Two-Go shifts flights to Suvarnabhumi Airport The budget carrier One-Two-Go Airlines is shifting some of its operations back to Suvarnabhumi Airport from the old Don Muang airport where it had concentrated its flights since last September. The airline quietly launched its first scheduled daily flight from the new airport to Phuket on Aug 17 and will gradually increase flight frequency on the route to four per day. The goal is to help passengers connecting with international flights and to meet demand from local travellers who find it more convenient to board flights at Suvarnabhumi, said the airline's chief executive, Udom Tantiprasongchai. By offering its services to a popular southern holiday destination, One-Two-Go aims to tap demand from budget-minded connecting passengers, especially foreigners, who now mostly rely on Thai AirAsia. Thai AirAsia was the only Bangkok-based budget carrier that operated all services through Suvarnabhumi. Aside from One-Two-Go and Nok, Thai Airways International has been operating non-connecting domestic flights out of Don Muang as part of the government's effort to ease crowding at Suvarnabhumi. With a claimed load factor of more than 80% on the Bangkok-Phuket route, One-Two-Go recently added an additional daily flight out of Don Muang, giving it six flights a day. At the same time, it has stepped up its Don Muang-Chiang Rai flights to three a day from twice a day. The increased frequency was made possible as the airline has become more comfortable with flight capacity, available on eight McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jets, and improvement in the punctuality record that has hit more than 92%, Mr Udom said. ---- KatoeyNewsNetwork
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#225
07-09-2007, 01:33 AM
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Re: Anything Everything about Thailand (Part 2)
hehehehe KL69 dont mind i put some info here also
 Nok Air opens new routes Beginning 1 November 2007, Nok Air operate direct flight between Bangkok – Chang Rai and Bangkok – Ubon Ratchathani http://www.nokair.com/s1000_obj/fron...content_id=886 SGA (Siam General Aviation) to fly new route between Chiang Mai – Chiang Rai.
__________________
Hee Man 
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