Thailand Voice

I have received this very interesting paper on primary health care in Thailand from Mary Ditton and Leigh Lehane of the University of New England in Armidale, Australia. This is a crucially important issue for rural people in Thailand and it’s great to … Read full story >>>

Democracy: What is the job of reporter/journalist? Tulsie: To get Thaksin. Democracy: Isn’t the job of a journalist to report the truth in a democratic society so that a free people have information so that they know what they politicians are doing so in order to make educated political decisions, good, bad, or … Read full story >>>

Today at school a line of students had gathered to donate one of the most precious gifts one person can give, blood. After the students had filled out their details on the donation form they then had a blood pressure check. Warning below are some pictures … Read full story >>>

Myanmar government figures for the latest financial year have been released and essentially it’s more of the same. Gas sales to Thailand amounted to about US$2.38 billion, a slight drop on last year’s $2.53 billion, and continued to be by far the largest export earner. However, the volume exported dropped sharply from… Read full story >>>

Twaah— Tweee– I know it’s a mouthful, right? But since I first heard about Twestival, I have loved the concept. For those unfamiliar, here’s a look at the background and structure of what makes this twitter-festival exceptional. The History of… Read full story >>>

[Prachatai] MICT’s claim of blocking 16,944 URLs stuns free speech advocate [Out of the 16,944 URLs, 11,000 concern national security, 5,872 have content which is socially and culturally inappropriate, and 72 have content affecting the economy.] tags : LeseMajeste , FreeSpeech [AFP] 4 killed in new Thai… Read full story >>>

Phnom Penh Post : Though the Thai government regularly invokes its royalty-protecting regulation, Cambodia’s king and govt have taken a laid-back approach. … But sources close to the royal family say that though open insults could get you into hot water, similar laws in … Read full story >>>

A New Mandala reader has urged us to feature this letter from the Bangkok Post . Letter writer Mr Warner (”Isan and self-reliance”, Postbag, July 5), who has resided in a small northeast village for five months, cites health care as an… Read full story >>>

I wrote about the International Wax Sculpting Competition which is part of the Lenten Candle Festival, last Friday. Today is Monday and I thought I would go back and check on how the sculptures were all looking 4 days on. They have till tomorrow to finish the sculptures. I have the names and also what … Read full story >>>

We visited a Pitaya or Dragon Fruit orchard in Issan. Pitaya is Hylocereus Undatus, a member of the Cactus Family. We will also explain how to eat Dragon Fruit. Pitaya, more commonly known as Dragon Fruit, is widely grown in Thailand. Native to Central and South America, Pitaya is now common in many S…. Read full story >>>

Here in Ubon Ratchathani the Lenten Candle Festival is about to begin. Tomorrow being the 7th of July all the candles will be on show for the public to see. The huge candles from local temples are still being worked on. With less than 30 hours before the candles have … Read full story >>>

As already blogged a lese majeste complaint has been filed against all 13 board members of the FCCT. CPJ : The Committee to Protect Journalists rejects the politically motivated lese majeste charges filed on Tuesday by a private citizen against board members of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT)… Read full story >>>

Chalerm interviewed in The Nation : Chalerm Yoobamrung, chairman of MPs under the Pheu Thai Party, says there’s no need to find a new party leader because everyone already believes that the real head honcho is former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. “Thaksin fever is very strong. So, we should let Yongyuth… Read full story >>>

If you are having a baby anytime soon, you’ll be presented with the choice of extracting blood from the ambilican cord at the time of birth.  Most likely though, you’ll only be presented with the option of private cord blood banking as this is where the money is made… Read full story >>>

I haven’t blogged for a few days; I have been very busy and had hardly any spare time. There have been many things I wanted to do but haven’t been able too. I want to get back to the Sunee Grand Hotel and take some more pictures of the health and fitness centre … Read full story >>>

BBC : Thailand has sent heavily-armed troops to reinforce positions along the Burma border after an influx of ethnic Karen refugees fleeing an army offensive. More than 4,000 people have fled Burma for Thailand in the largest influx of refugees in the area for a decade. BP : Can’t see any other … Read full story >>>

In a footnote to the paper The Isan up to its integration into the Siamese state (in: Regions and National Integration in Thailand, 1892-1992 ) by Volker Grabowsky the author gives the etymology and history of the term Isan (อีสาน) for the northeastern part of Thailand. “Isan” derives … Read full story >>>