Makan in Thailand

[steveluv]

https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Thailand-fights-to-revive-reputation-as-top-tourist-destination?utm_campaign=RN%20Subscriber%20newsletter&utm_medium=daily%20newsletter&utm_source=NAR%20Newsletter&utm_content=article%20link&del_type=1&pub_date=20200615190000&seq_num=22&si=%%user_id%%

 

Thailand fights to revive reputation as top tourist destination

COVID-19 tracing measures and troubled Thai Airways' cloud tourism revival

 

Travelers wearing face masks are seen at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Thailand wants to create "travel corridors" or "travel bubbles" with certain countries, including China, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. (Photo by Akira Kodaka)

MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR, Asia regional correspondentJune 15, 2020 17:39 JST

BANGKOK -- A leading business hotel in Bangkok is sprucing up rooms, restaurants and hallways to meet new hygiene and safety standards as it prepares to welcome the first trickle of regular customers -- foreign airline crews -- in August.

"This is now a priority, including deep cleaning of our ventilator and air conditioning systems," said Marisa Sukosol, executive vice president of Sukosol hotels, which owns five properties in the Thai capital and in Pattaya, a seaside resort southeast of the city. "We have a loyal market, like airline crews from South Korea, and we need to be ready for them."

The government has encouraged the preparations after warming to "tourism bubbles" between Bangkok and select Asian cities to revive a travel industry battered by the coronavirus pandemic. Countries on an emerging shortlist for these new air bridges are China, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam, all of which have largely contained the spread of COVID-19, just as Thailand has.

Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, the tourism minister, has hinted that the welcome mat will first be rolled out to business travelers and patients arriving as medical travelers when airports open in July for international travel. This plan includes limiting the number of foreign arrivals to 1,000 per day. But even then, the thorny -- and lifesaving -- issue of imposing a 14-day quarantine on new arrivals remains unresolved.

Seasoned travel industry observers say that "travel corridors" or "travel bubbles," which other Asian countries such as China, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam, among others, are also pursuing, has raised the stakes of mutual trust in ongoing talks. "Some of those discussions are bilateral, while others are looking at multilateral agreements," said Mario Hardy, chief executive officer of the Pacific Asia Travel Association, a Bangkok-based industry network.

"Setting up a 'corridor' or 'bubble' is complex and requires a high level of trust and coordination between respective health authorities," he added. "This would also require a range of various health controls to be implemented at border control."

Not surprisingly, this shift toward "tourism bubbles" has brought into focus privacy concerns and data protection in a region peppered with governments that are authoritarian or military-backed, such as the Thai regime. Western governments are keeping an eye on the "enforceable privacy protection safeguards" for people in the new environment.

"Whether it is within a 'tourist bubble' or after fully reopening travel, collecting additional traveler information relating to their movements, contacts and their health status clearly raises sensitive issues," said a senior diplomat from a Western country based in a Southeast Asian capital. "Once a covid infection is detected, the affected persons as well as their contacts will have to forego their anonymity, including highly sensitive information on their respective health status."

The Tourism Authority of Thailand, a government body, has come up with its own way to win the trust of inbound travelers: rebrand Southeast Asia's second-largest economy as a "trusted" tourist destination. To this end, it is backing a health certification system the government has rolled out for hotels and restaurants as a "tool to build trust."

The Thai government is encouraging the public to continue wearing masks and observe social distancing as the country tries to jump start its tourism sector. (Photo by Akira Kodaka)

Thailand has eased restrictions in the country on the back of its success to contain the spread of COVID-19. By this week, the government will permit hotels to fully open, restaurants to serve alcohol and organizers to host government and private seminars and meetings. This adds to a list of public places that have already opened, ranging from shopping malls and public parks to tourist attractions and beaches.

Public health authorities are playing up the absence of no new locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 for nearly three weeks. Thailand has reported 3,135 infections and 58 deaths since the pandemic struck. Still, the government wants the public to wear face masks and maintain social distancing.

COVID-19 delivered a harsh blow to a sector that has become a key economic driver in Thailand, accounting for nearly 20% of gross domestic product. In April and May, Thailand recorded no new tourist arrivals, an unprecedented slump. Consequently, Phiphat, the tourism minister, estimates that the tourism sector could lose 1.78 trillion baht ($57.3 billion) in 2020 because of disruptions to foreign travel.

By contrast, during the record-breaking year in 2019, Thailand attracted nearly 40 million foreign holidaymakers, confirming its position as the market leader in mass tourism in Southeast Asia. The largest flow was from China, with nearly 11 million. Others among the top 10 inbound markets were Malaysia, Japan, Russia, South Korea and India.

But Thailand will not be able to establish "tourism bubbles" for all of them, travel industry analysts say. "The major inbound markets like India and Russia are still struggling to contain COVID-19, so it is unlikely you will see travelers from these countries soon," said Imtiaz Muqbil, executive editor of Travel Impact Newswire, which specializes in the tourism sector across Southeast Asia. "The so-called 'quality' tourists -- the high-spenders from the Middle East, who were an important market for Thai tourism -- also face a slowdown because of the slump in oil prices and the downturn in those economies."

Likewise, the tourism revival plans face headwinds from the fate of debt-burdened Thai Airways, which travel industry sources say flies in close to 40% of the country's traffic. The national carrier is due to undergo a bankruptcy-court supervised restructuring.

[Jamesc]

I was very disappointed first time I went to Thailand. 

I like tigers and wanted to see one. 

My frens promise me to go. 

But all I  saw was Thai girls and ping pong balls and coke bottles. 

[steveluv]

Dinner at Korean restaurant in CDC Bangkok

 

Dinner appetizers

Nice salad

Bibimbap

Mixed bibimbap

[steveluv]

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has launched its LINE chat application, "TAT Contact Center," aiming to provide another way for tourists to inquire about travel information in both the Thai and English language. Tourists can select from the menu to find recommended tourist attractions in Thailand, e brochures, and a list of operators who have received the Amazing Thailand Safety and Health Administration, "SHA, "certification.

For more information, please contact the TAT Call Center 1672 (24 hours.)

Source: https://www.facebook.com/AmazingThailand/photos/a.171767535698/10158420146530699
 

[Neutrino]

When I see these photos of Thai food or when I look at HK food on youtube I'm always disappointed at the food we eat here.

Yeah I know the grass is always greener etc but we are really letting ourselves down now that the older generation of cooks have passed the baton on to younger family members or people who are interested only in profit and not quality.

[steveluv]

 

[Jamesc]

Yipee can go Thailand from July 1.

They allow 30,000 medical wellness tourists.

Just need to make an appointment at a Health Centre I guess.

Edited June 25, 2020 by Jamesc

[teamegan]

On 6/23/2020 at 10:53 PM, claraelite said:

craving for thai foods!! especially their street foods yum

Me too

[steveluv]

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-trends/Thai-hotels-that-survived-the-pandemic-now-face-a-price-war?utm_campaign=RN%20Subscriber%20newsletter&utm_medium=daily%20newsletter&utm_source=NAR%20Newsletter&utm_content=article%20link&del_type=1&pub_date=20200625190000&seq_num=2&si=%%user_id%%

Thai hotels that survived the pandemic now face a price war

Battle for domestic tourists heats up as Central Group and Dusit halve rates

Tourists relax in a swimming pool at a hotel in central Bangkok.    © Reuters
APORNRATH PHOONPHONGPHIPHAT, Nikkei staff writerJune 25, 2020 12:00 JST

BANGKOK -- Thai hotels have resumed operations after the government gradually eased lockdowns imposed over the novel coronavirus pandemic. But with international flights still banned, foreign tourists are unavailable to help the industry return to profitability.

That leaves domestic travelers as the only game in town and hotels are engaging in an all-out bid to entice them through unprecedented discounts, a price war that may offer little respite to their bottom lines.

Thailand's cabinet on June 16 approved a 22.4 billion baht ($720 million) package to help boost the tourism industry, which is estimated to contribute around 20% of the Southeast Asian country's gross domestic product. The package includes subsidies for travel expenses.

That has also encouraged Thai hoteliers to kick off campaigns and promotions to offer the lowest rates as they aim to gain back at least some revenue after being closed for nearly two months due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has so far killed nearly 60 people in the country.

Centara Hotels and Resorts, a hospitality unit of local conglomerate Central Group, has cut its room rates by 50% on average.

At a hotel on the southern resort island of Samui, the company cut the charge by more than two-thirds to 1,360 baht ($44) per night from the 5,000 baht it charged before the pandemic. Customers can even get the price as low as 960 baht per night with free half-board if they hold hotel membership and stay more than four nights. That marks its lowest ever rate, according to the company.

An Intercontinental Hotel staff wearing a protective face mask and gloves in Bangkok. Hotels in Thailand have introduced strict hygiene rules amid the coronavirus pandemic.   © Reuters

Given such competition, analysts expect revenue per available room to drop as much as 65% this year from 2019. Many hotels have already gone out of business due to the sharp drop in prices.

There is no official data on how many hotels went bankrupt, but Supawan Tanomkiatipume, president of the Thai Hotels Association, said there were up to 80 in famous tourist cities on offer to be sold, with most of them lower end 1 or 2 star-establishments.

At the higher end, Dusit International, another local chain, also halved its rate to 2,888 baht per night, down from a normal range of 5,000 to 7,000 baht.

Apart from price-cutting, Dusit International launched a charity project to attract Thai tourists. The company offered a 500-baht donation as cash-back money for guests to be donated equally between the Thai Red Cross Society and the Elephant Alliance Association, an organization working to improve quality of life and welfare for the animals.

"We have also leveraged our resources to give back to our communities," said Suphajee Suthumpun, CEO of Dusit International.

A mostly empty beach in the Thai seaside resort of Pattaya. With travel restrictions still in place in many countries, the Thai hotel industry is now trying to attract domestic tourists by offering sharp discounts.    © Reuters

Thailand's tourism industry has heavily relied on foreign tourists. In 2019 they numbered 39 million and generated up to 1.9 trillion baht ($61.4 billion) in spending, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Domestic tourists, meanwhile, contributed 1.1 trillion baht, the data show.

But the Thai tourism industry's dependence on foreigners became a vulnerability after the pandemic. Think tank SCB Economic Intelligence Center said a falling average room rate could also force Thai hotel operators to seek additional revenue to help offset falling earnings.

Asia Hotel Bangkok is already one such example. It offers hotel-grade food delivery services to bring in extra money to help fill the holes left by cheap room rates, which have been cut as much as 80%. Crowne Plaza Bangkok Lumpini Park also offers food delivery. "It's not as good as the normal day, but it can help us earn some money to help offset losses," said Take Takeuchi, manager of in-house Suikin Japanese restaurant.

One hotel operator has proved a rare exception by not competing on price but instead focusing on high-end tourists: Minor International. "We don't see any benefit to fight in the price war," said Chaiyapat Paitoon, the company's chief strategy officer. In contrast, we try to offer the best services with higher standard to attract premium-grade tourists as we expected the situation to be better in the second half of the year."

Minor said it offers premium hygienic service matching the World Health Organization's standard with all check-in and checkout being done via a touchless method. All paper work during the process are done via an app and online channel.

Further, it says all door nobs and frequently touched objects are covered by antimicrobial copper film. "We can ensure that we are the first one in Thailand which has WHO's hygienic standard and that should help us to gain trust from high-end tourists," said Chaiyapat.

Despite such pandemic response efforts, however, analysts said weak consumption continues to be the biggest negative factor weighing on the Thai tourism industry. K Research Center forecast that Thai domestic tourism spending would drop by more than 50% to around 485 billion baht due largely to weakening consumption.

Another factor is that the government's social distancing measures to keep the pandemic under control could automatically put a ceiling on the number of hotel guests. That is because there are limits on how many of them can gather in facilities such as bars, seminar rooms, restaurants, swimming pools and fitness centers to prevent infections among visitors.

Such restrictions mean that hotel operators can't immediately recover at a time when operational costs are increasing due to more stringent hygiene standards.

"About 60 to 70% of hotels in Thailand are now ready to resume business," said Supawan of the Thai Hotels Association. "However, the rest [of the] 30 to 40% would need more time to adjust their business and get back onto the market again when they see a certain rise in demand later this year."

[steveluv]

Paddling my screws from village to village today, life is tough but luckily the countryside is relaxing

 

 

 

[steveluv]

https://www.barrons.com/news/scuffles-and-song-as-thai-youth-protest-in-bangkok-01595072404?refsec=afp-news

Scuffles And Song As Thai Youth Protest In Bangkok

AFP - Agence France Presse By AFP - Agence France Presse July 18, 2020

Scuffles broke out as thousands of mainly young and black-clad Thai protesters converged on Saturday at Bangkok's Democracy Monument, in the city's rowdiest anti-government protest in years.

Thailand, a kingdom whose rambunctious politics is defined by coups and often deadly street protests, is facing an unprecedented economic shock due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the economy in freefall, anger against a government stacked with elderly former generals and supporters of the royalist establishment is bubbling.

The crowd sang vitriolic anti-government rap songs and waved placards denouncing the administration of former army chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha -- and calling for the abolition of the Thailand's strict royal defamation law.

"The government doesn't care about us, so either we come out or we lose anyway," said 18-year-old student called Sang, giving one name only.

"The laws protect the rich and leave the people with nothing

Placards against the royal defamation law -- dubbed '112' after the criminal code it falls under -- protects Thailand's monarchy and its unassailable and super-rich King Maha Vajiralongkorn from criticism.

"We have to come out, we have nothing else left," added Sang's friend 'Mee', also wearing the black uniform of the protesters, which several said was borrowed from the pro-democracy protests that rocked Hong Kong last year.

Hundreds of police tried to block off access to the Democracy Monument, whose concrete concourse was suddenly filled in on Saturday afternoon with pot plants.

Scuffles broke out as protesters tipped over metal barriers and forced their way through police lines to hold a noisy rally at the memorial, which was built to mark the 1932 revolution that established a constitutional monarchy.

Analysts say the kingdom is slipping back towards absolutism under the reign of Rama X and the hardline royalist generals around him.

Saturday's protest could be the largest since the country's 2014 coup, led by former army chief Prayut

The years since have seen the economy cramp up, freedoms shrink under new laws and Prayut reinvent himself as an elected premier under a constitution the army drafted.

Thailand's previous tit-for-tat rounds of political street politics were led by pro- and anti-establishment billionaires with large political machines.

But leaders of the nascent student and youth movement say their activism is organised organically across social media, where anger fuels top trending daily Twitter hashtags against the government.

Thailand's economy is forecast to lose up to 10 percent this year due to the pandemic which has floored tourism and exports, battering the middle and working classes

Hundreds of thousands of students are expected to be jobless when they graduate in September.

[steveluv]

Protesters still there claimed they wanna stay through the night

[joshnicc]

On 6/19/2020 at 6:45 PM, steveluv said:

Dinner at Korean restaurant in CDC Bangkok

 

Dinner appetizers

Nice salad

Bibimbap

Mixed bibimbap

SO GOOD😍

[steveluv]

My first massage after 6 months due to the Chinese virus shutdown

 

Spa price

Massage menu and prices

Now a days got to fill up questionnaire

Feet washing area

Alcohol to sanitise slippers
 

[steveluv]

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Environment/Thailand-s-coconut-picking-monkeys-trigger-ethics-debate?utm_campaign=RN%20Subscriber%20newsletter&utm_medium=daily%20newsletter&utm_source=NAR%20Newsletter&utm_content=article%20link&del_type=1&pub_date=20200727190000&seq_num=25&si=%%user_id%%

Thailand's coconut-picking monkeys trigger ethics debate
Local food processors promise traceability to head off threat of boycotts

Thai companies have been accused by animal welfare activists of abusing monkeys, which are sometimes used to harvest coconuts.   © Reuters
MASAYUKI YUDA, Nikkei staff writerJuly 25, 2020 13:08 JST

BANGKOK -- Thailand's coconut industry finds itself in an unwelcome spotlight over complaints that food processors are using fruit harvested by tethered monkeys.

In a YouTube video that has gone viral, monkeys are shown chained to poles in dirty surroundings and left in small cages in the rain. The video, which was made by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and published July 2, claims that most coconut products from Thailand contain fruit picked by "enslaved" monkeys.

One clip uploaded by a PETA branch had more than 187,000 views as of noon Thursday.

The animal rights group said the monkeys are "treated like coconut-picking machines," as they are forced to climb up and down trees to collect up to 1,000 coconuts a day. In a statement published on its website, PETA said the monkeys are abducted from their families and social groups as babies.

Thai coconuts go into products such as coconut milk, flour, and oil. They are popular with vegans, who avoid consuming animal products in their diets.

PETA named two major Thai coconut milk brands, Aroy-D and Chaokoh, as companies that use fruit picked by monkeys. It said more than 17,000 stores worldwide, including Walgreens and Duane Reade in the U.S., have agreed to stop stocking products from the two Thai companies following the expose.

PETA also said British supermarket chains Tesco, Sainsbury's, Co-op, and Asda will pull Chaokoh products from its shelves, while Waitrose said it would not knowingly use any products linked to the abuse of animals.

"As part of our animal welfare policy, we have committed to never knowingly sell any products sourced from monkey labor," Waitrose said in a statement. "As an ethical retailer, we do not permit the use of monkey labor to source ingredients for our products," Co-op said.

Carrie Symonds, fiancee of U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, called for stronger action against such abuse on July 3 on Twitter, saying it was "time for [all] supermarkets to do the same."

Retailers in the U.S., Australia, and other parts of Europe are contemplating similar action.

The Thai coconut industry is worth $400 million annually, according to a local report. Thailand grew 885,751 tons of the fruit in 2018, making it the ninth-biggest producer in the world, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization. Indonesia and the Philippines were the world's top two producers that year, growing 18.5 million tons and 14.7 million tons, respectively.

But Thailand is the world's top exporter, with shipments valued at $70 million in 2018, followed by Indonesia with $65 million, based on data from market research company IndexBox.

Jurin Laksanawisit, Thailand's deputy prime minister and commerce minister, said on July 6: "Coconut-picking by monkeys on an industrial scale no longer exists in Thailand." A video clip uploaded in 2016 by Theppadungporn Coconut, a supplier to Chaokoh, showed coconut growers using long pruning shears to cut the fruit from the trees.

Kriangsak Theppadungporn, managing director of Theppadungporn Coconut subsidiary Ampol Food Processing, said that only 5% of coconuts grown in Thailand are harvested by monkeys, and that even then it was done as a tourist attraction. He said using long shears was a much more efficient way to harvest the fruit, and that the company was never approached by PETA.

Kriangsak said 50% of his company's coconut products are sold in China. Government data show that roughly 8% of Thailand's coconut milk exports go to the U.K.

Atthawich Suwanpakdee, secretary-general of the Kla Party, questioned PETA's impartiality. "In the Western world, hogs are trained to find truffles, which are then used as ingredients in their food as well," he tweeted on July 7.

"I do not want to see any harm against any animal, and I do hope that every country is vigilant with imposing its own law for animal welfare," he said in a tweet. "I am disappointed if the campaign for animal welfare will go as far as to be a campaign against any Thai coconut products. This is clearly an act of bullying and implying a trade war."

Global views toward coconut harvesting using monkeys have shifted. A clip on YouTube dated February 2010 was focused on an old Thai coconut farmer and his bond with a trained monkey, whereas another clip that dates from March 2016 strongly criticizes the cruel ways that monkeys are trained. It shows a Thai trainer forcing a monkey to climb a coconut tree using a whip.

Dealing with the ethical concerns of consumers has become much more important than preserving tradition, especially for farmers who want to sell abroad. The rise of veganism in developed countries has accelerated the trend. Vegans are generally extremely conscious not only about what is in the food they eat but how it is produced. According to the Vegan Society, the number of vegans in the U.K. quadrupled to 600,000 between 2014 to 2019.

Thai manufacturers of coconut products have agreed with the government to set up a traceability framework that gives importers, distributors and supermarkets access to information on the entire production process, from plantation to shelf.

[steveluv]

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Turbulent-Thailand/Thai-youth-protests-draw-moral-support-from-Hong-Kong-activists?utm_campaign=RN%20Subscriber%20newsletter&utm_medium=daily%20newsletter&utm_source=NAR%20Newsletter&utm_content=article%20link&del_type=1&pub_date=20200728190000&seq_num=25&si=%%user_id%%

Thai youth protests draw moral support from Hong Kong activists
Taiwan peers also join 'Milk Tea Alliance' for more democracy in rebuff to China

Demonstrators march in a protest demanding the resignation of Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha in Bangkok on July 26.   © Reuters
MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR, Asia regional correspondentJuly 28, 2020 18:19 JST

BANGKOK -- Tweet by tweet, young political activists from Hong Kong who challenged the Chinese government are rallying behind their generational peers in Thailand, where students have resumed protests in Bangkok against the country's pro-military government.

Joshua Wong, one of the faces of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement and 2014 Umbrella Revolution, has tweeted messages of solidarity with Thai demonstrators.

Social media support like this gives a fresh, international twist to the return of Thai anti-government protests, which are led by university and high school students.

"#Hongkongers will never forget how our Thai fellows stood with us against #China's nationalist trolls," the bespectacled former secretary-general of Demosisto, the now disbanded pro-democracy party, tweeted in the wake of the latest outburst of youthful discontent in Bangkok. "This is the time for us to support them back since we are both fighting for democracy, liberty and a bright future without fear."

By Sunday, the second weekend of the Thai protests organized by the Free Youth Movement student network, there were more cross-border messages of solidarity, including a few in Chinese from Hong Kong.

"This account from Hong Kong has translated the #FreeYouth protest in Thailand," read a tweet with an attached image of text in Chinese referring to the show of force by Thai youth. "Hongkongers care about our Thai ally and we hope more people can understand your struggles without [a] language barrier."

The resumption of the student protests comes after a lull of four months, when the spreading coronavirus pandemic dampened the defiant spirit of the anti-government youth movements that had been gathering strength across Thailand since the start of the year. Their anger has been directed at Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former army chief who has held office since May 2014, when he led a military coup to overthrow an elected government.

Prominent Thai youth leader Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal said the emerging cross-border political bonds convey shared values by students "who feel oppressed and want more democracy."

On Twitter, "we used to show how much the Thai students were inspired by the democracy activists in Hong Kong," said Netiwit, a 23-year-old final-year student at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. "We have drawn lessons from our friends in Hong Kong for our protests here."

The most notable of the lessons is Thais agitating for change around three clear demands including a new constitution to replace the current charter drafted by allies of the military to entrench the traditionally powerful institution's role in politics. The protests in Hong Kong, by contrast, rallied around five focused demands, including protecting Hong Kong's political freedoms.

These spreading online bonds are a nod to the reach of a new, playfully named banner. The "Milk Tea Alliance" serves a serious cause -- standing up for political and civil liberties. The moniker draws from a popular beverage in Asia.

It surfaced in the heat of the protests in Hong Kong against the Chinese government's tightening grip in that financial city in April. The spark was a retweet by a Thai television star, Weeraya Sukram, whose twitter monicker is "Nnevvy," that implied the coronavirus had originated in a Chinese laboratory and that Beijing had silenced any investigations -- which triggered a verbal spat initially between enraged mainland Chinese netizens and Thais.

An Asian youth brigade of Twitter activists, which emerged from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand, was born in its wake. They were united against aggressive nationalism and anti-democratic regimes. Soon, youth from the Philippines joined their Asian peers, angered by what they saw as Chinese heavy-handedness toward the Southeast Asian archipelago.

"The Twitter war of words involving the Thais began as a sideshow, but then it became music to the ears of the Hong Kong and Taiwan young activists, because they have been having these running verbal wars for years," said James Buchanan, an analyst of Thai social movements at the City University of Hong Kong. "It was dramatic, almost like a movie, with the Thais arriving like the cavalry to help the Hong Kong youth."

The Chinese response to the Thai youth was multipronged, with the initial salvos fired by Chinese netizens who had climbed over the country's internet firewall. "Next came the Little Pinks," said Buchanan, a reference to young cadre of the ruling Communist Party known for their targeted trolling. "The third online wave was paid state agents -- known as the 50 Cent Army."

Not surprisingly, the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok waded into this pro-democracy wave to silence the Thais -- as it did in late 2019 to reprimand a young Thai opposition politician for associating with Joshua Wong during a visit to Hong Kong. "The recent online noises only reflect [the] bias and ignorance of its maker, which does not in any way represent the standing stance of the Thai government nor the mainstream public opinion of the Thai people," a Chinese Embassy spokesperson posted on the embassy's official Facebook page in April.

Beyond that, say Hong Kong-based analysts, the Chinese government has not addressed the political implications the Milk Tea Alliance poses to a region Beijing is prickly about. "The Chinese don't appreciate the magnitude of how the MTA could evolve," according to a risk intelligence consultant who works in Beijing and Hong Kong. "This is partly because social media is controlled in China and they are unable to grasp the reach of social media to mobilize across borders."

But an online buzz needs to have a large street presence for a political impact -- now a goal of the Thai youth in the vanguard of the Free Youth Movement. On Sunday, they drew from another foreign culture -- Japan -- to combine a playful tone with strong political undertones at a gathering in Bangkok. They sang protest songs with new lyrics to the tune from "Hamtaro," a popular Japanese cartoon featuring a hamster character.

"Because of social media we are getting more amplification, but are we getting enough action to assert political pressure for change?" asked James Gomez, regional director of the Asia Center, a Bangkok-based think tank, as he took stock of the spreading Milk Tea Alliance. "This is where the search is: How much of an online presence by the youth has to be translated into a ground presence for impact?"

[steveluv]

Passed by a farm in Khon Kaen and watch the farmer planting some parts of his rice field, really peaceful and nice place. Farmer's life really hard.

 

[Adrianli]

9 minutes ago, steveluv said:

Passed by a farm in Khon Kaen and watch the farmer planting some parts of his rice field, really peaceful and nice place. Farmer's life really hard.

 

Rice farmers in Asia is indeed hard life. I was watching the show Modern Marvels about rice production on History Channel just last week which comparing rice farming in Asia and USA. It is all manual labour in Asia and the yield is not as much as in USA. Its much more productive in USA where large machines are involved from seedlings planting to harvesting.

Also in Asia, the farmers get a lousy deal when they sell their unpolished rice. It has to go thru multiple hands before being sold in the market. In the USA, the farmer does everything from dehusking to polishing to finished products. Really an eye opener.