Thailand Voice

Bangkok used to be known as the Venice of the East due to its large network of canals. However, most of these have now been built over to make way for roads. One of the main canals still remaining in Bangkok is Khlong Saen Saeb which dates…

I consider myself very lucky to be living in Thailand. Not only is the weather great but we also have plenty of delicious fruit. This is the real thing that you can buy at markets throughout Thailand. Rambutan, lychees, longan, papaya, pineapple, sapodilla, durian and watermelon are some of my favourites. They are all…

One of the most beautiful and also important temples in Lamphun Province in Northern Thailand is Wat Phrathat Hariphunchai. According to legend, the Lord Buddha himself once came to this area to collect alms. A local Lua tribesman offered him some “samor”, a kind of…

Another year and another warning of a drought leading to a possible water war as peasant farmers search for the means to stay alive. Dams and reservoirs are apparently at only 66% capacity and too much land is under cultivation for available water resources, according to the Royal Irrigation Department . Milton Osborne, writing about … Read full story >>>

For many the key to getting value from Twitter is to amass a large number of followers which they assume makes them influential. Big big numbers don’t guarantee influence ( as Tim Ho points out here ), if you are seeking genuine… Read full story >>>

Thai police use a water gun during an exercise at the City Hall Plaza in Samut Prakan on 20th February 2010. Thai security forces and police organized a joint exercise to prepare for possible anti-government protests in Thailand next week. (Richard Barrow/ Paknam.com ) More Thailand…

Even for those who have never stepped a foot in the Land of Noodle Soup & Nose Jobs, chances are they’ve heard some classic Thailand myth worthy of an editorial column in the most sensational European tabloid. So worthy actually, …

สมุทรปราการ เอฟซี กับ นราธิวาส เอฟซี วันอาทิตย์ที่ 29 พย. 2552 SAMUT PRAKAN FOOTBALL CLUB: The final match of the season took place on Sunday (29th November 2009) at Bang MOD Stadium in Thonburi. The match was between Samut Prakan FC and Narathiwat FC. The final score was 0-0. …

โครงการระบายน้ำบริเวณสนามบินสุวรรณภูมิ DRAINAGE PROJECT FOR SUVARNABHUMI ROAD: The multi-billion baht drainage project to drain flood water away from Suvarnabhumi Airport and Samrong Canal has nearly been completed. Seen in the picture here is the viaduct over Sukhumwit Road on the coastline in Bang Pu. กรม ชลประทานจึงได้ดำเนินการก่อสร้างโครงการระบายน้ำบริเวณสนามบินสุวรรณภูมิ…

วันวชิราวุธ ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF KING RAMA VI: Today marks the anniversary of the death of King Rama VI on November 25, 1925. As this King is regarded as the “Father of Thai Scouting”, schools all over the province took part in a special ceremony to celebrate his life and to remember the day he …

“ไทยสามัคคี ไทยเข้มแข็ง” SINGING OF NATIONAL ANTHEM : An estimated 50,000 people from all around Samut Prakan came together on 20th November 2009 to sing the national anthem at the City Hall Plaza. The event was broadcast live across the nation. จังหวัดสมุทรปราการร่วมร้องเพลงชาติไทย นายสุรชัย ขันอาสา ผู้ว่าราชการจังหวัดสมุทรปราการ เป็นประธานในกิจกรรมไทยสามัคคี ไทยเข้มแข็ง ร่วมร้องเพลงชาติกับประชาชนชาวสมุทรปราการทั้งสองฝั่งแม่น้ำเจ้าพระยา Pictures

After nine days and nights of eating a vegan diet and keeping the 10 precepts, the Vegetarian Festival in Thailand is finally over. The festival ended with a large parade through the town of Paknam early on the morning of 27th October. At about 7 a.m., at the city hall, a …

(The following is a brief Thai> English translation from various local news sources) Customers at Melody Karaoke, in the close vicinity of Prachacheurn Police Station, were originally charged an astonishing 30,000 Baht for 3 hours of karaoke. Charges included 100 Baht for a…

One of my favourite festivals in Thailand is undoubtedly Luang Phor Pan Worshipping Festival in Bang Bo District of Samut Prakan. I went last year for the first time and had no idea what to expect. There were so many surprises that…

(no, that is not me!) Some people say they admire my adventures – but there is nothing adventurous about me, I am just a lazy traveller. I first went rafting on the Pai river in May or early June in 2002, when I had got so badly …

The annual Temple Fair in Samut Prakan kicked off early this morning with the parade through town. The fair at Phra Samut Chedi has been going on now for 182 years which I believe makes it the longest running temple fair in Thailand. Certainly one of the oldest. In the olden days, people would come…

A Gallery by Kittisak Butdeewong Fortunately, I have had the opportunity recently, for the second time, to assist a good friend of mine, artist, Kittisak Butdeewong with most of the Thai> English language preparations for his latest gallery. Kittisak, hailing from the north-eastern rural province …

Twenty five contestants competing in the Miss Poland 2009 contest are presently touring Thailand. They will be here from 5th-14th October 2009. Some of the major locations that they will visit include Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket and Krabi. As well as touring tourist attractions, they will also take part in activities such as Thai cooking, …

Thai buffalo racers compete in an annual water buffalo race in Chonburi Province, 110 kilometers (68 miles) south of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Oct. 13, 2008. The annual race was held as a celebration among rice farmers before the rice harvest. ( Richard Barrow /ThaiPhotoBlogs.com) More Thailand pictures can be found at

Thousands of people at Wat Bang Phli Yai Nai, Bang Phli, attended the “Lotus Throwing” festival to mark the end of the Buddhist Retreat on Saturday. A Buddha image on a boat, made its way down the canal, while worshippers on both banks threw lotus flowers at it…

Towards the end of the Rainy Season, people from all around Thailand come together to race boats on their local canals and rivers. At Bang Phli, where we went this morning, this happens a few days before the end of the Buddhist Rains Retreat. At this time, …

One of the most unusual Thai sweets are the “khanom luk chub”. These desserts are made from mung-bean flour and come in various colours and shapes. They are made to look like a variety of different fruit and vegetables. These are mangosteens, oranges, cherries, mangoes, watermelons, carrots and even chillies. …

The Greenpeace Chang(e) Caravan has reached the outskirts of Bangkok on the eve of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the capital and is stepping up its call for world leaders to heed the voices of the …

Thai Muslims pray for King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the Foundation of Islamic centre of Thailand in Bangkok September 25, 2009. Thailand’s 81-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej is recovering and eating more after being admitted to hospital at the weekend suffering from fever and …

Hardly a week goes without someone sending me an email out of the blue via www.thai-blogs.com . Very often it’s just an old friend/acquaintance of mine whose found me blogs by chance, then occasionally an email concerning an old blog of mine. Rarely, however, do I get an email as touching as…

This is continuing my interview with Peter Robinson, who is probably better known in Thailand as “Phra Farang”, the foreign monk. (Click here for part one.) Peter spent ten years as a monk before finally disrobing in order to spend more time with…

A good way to explore an area is by using Google Earth. I have personally discovered some interesting places by analysing satellite images. So, I was really pleased to hear that Google had updated the satellite images for a large part of Samut Prakan Province. This gives …

Stir Fried Asparagus and Mushrooms is a good accompanying dish that you can have with a curry. In Thai it is called “phat aetsaparakat gup het hom”. It is not spicy and is simple to cook. In the ingredients pictured below, you can see shiitake mushrooms, two garlic cloves…

A couple of weeks ago I went to Mae Sa waterfalls on the edge of Doi Suthep-Pui National Park . On the way back, I noticed a sign saying Tad Mok waterfall, 9 km . It was already too late to make the little side trip so I postponed the …

Today, people from all over Thailand are celebrating Her Majesty Queen Sirikit’s 77th birthday. Like people in other regions of the country, many locals from Samut Prakan dressed in blue today which is the colour for Friday, the day that Her Majesty was born. Several thousand local people came…