Wirasak Ariadkaew, assistant secretary of the Ao Luek district and volunteer Niwat Wattanayommanaporn inspected the cave with villagers on Friday (December 27).

The survey found a lot of pottery fragments with rope pattern, grafted red or with a black polished surface. Three-legged pot scraps, including bone fragments and human molars were also found. The findings were reported to the Fine Arts Bureau to carry out a detailed investigation.

Niwat said their preliminary findings revealed many three-legged pots, comparable to those found in Ao Luek dating back to around 3,000 to 5,000 years. The traces found here seemed to connect the area with ancient sites found previously. “Ancient people were living here. The cave connected to another site in Surat Thani.”

According to archaeological evidence, the pottery pieces, paintings, stone tools, human bones and ashes showed the habitat, use of fire and the journey of prehistoric humans on both sites of lands between the ocean in Krabi.

Located near the banks of the Chao Phraya River, the large and popular temple is supported by prosperous patrons. The Buddha figure will be assembled on Sunday (December 29).

The traffic situation on this vital road for travellers from Bangkok to the Northeast has been aggravated by motorway construction.

Vehicles are moving at a snail’s pace on the crowded four-lane road, periodically disrupted by Nakhon Ratchasima Highway 2 staff and highway police officers who have opened a special inbound traffic lane to Bangkok, from Nong Sarai subdistrict in Pak Chong district to Lat Buakhao subdistrict in Sikhio district, a total distance of 24 kilometres, to accelerate the flow of vehicles.

Traffic on Mittraphap Road is very high along the route from Saraburi to Nakhon Ratchasima, and the situation is expected to continue throughout the day. The long traffic jams are expected until Sunday morning. However, the traffic is light on the 304 route in the Pak Thong Chai-Kabin Buri section.

At 4am on Sunday (December 29), the category 2 Tropical Depression “Phanfone” located over the middle South China Sea, weakened to a low pressure cell, according to Group Capitan Somsak Khaosuwan (Somsak Khaosuwan), director-general of Thai Meteorological Department.

The rather strong high-pressure system covers the Northeast of Thailand and the South China Sea causing the temperature in the Northeast to fall by 2-3 degrees Celsius while the westerly trough covers Myanmar and the upper North of Thailand bringing isolated thundershowers and hail.

The plains in the North and the Northeast will have minimum temperatures in the range of 14-20 degrees Celsius. Mountaintops are cold to very cold with minimum temperatures in the range of 5-14 degrees Celsius. The East and the Central regions will have cool mornings and temperatures will fall by 1-2 degrees Celsius, mostly in the upper part.

The department urged all transport in the upper country to proceed with caution in foggy areas. Rains have been forecast for the South.

Bangkok and its vicinity will see cloudy skies with light rain and temperature will fall by 1-2 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature is 22-24 degrees Celsius and maximum temperature 32-34 degrees Celsius.

In his Facebook post on Saturday (December 28), he said his party had begun 2019 with hope and faced challenges in its first election, and ended the year as a witness of people’s bravery against the government’s injustice.

“In this year, there were numerous stories to remember, several mistakes to learn from, many successes to be proud of, and abundant encouragements to thank for,” he said.

Thanathorn thanked people for every bottle of water his party members had received while running the party campaign, as well as those flowers, smiles, drawings, letters, presents, and internet comments they had gained during the year.

“We thank you and appreciate everything you gave us,” he said. “These things indicate that we did not struggle alone. There are many people who will fight and walk with us until we remove the tears of those who are suffering, and bring back democracy.”

Thanathorn wished everyone and their families a happy New Year and urged all to stay together. “I wish all of you safety in travelling back home and be encouraged there,” he said. “You have to be prepared, for yourself and your loved ones, to live [lives] as valuable and meaningful as possible in 2020.”

The company’s commander, Pol Lt-Colonel Yuthaya Sangsawaeng, has ordered the police to prepare tents, beds, beverages, snacks, and medicine for tourists who want to take a break after a long journey.

The company’s deputy commander, Pol Captain Suthichai Chueachetton, told media that the establishment of this service point is part of the policy of the Royal Thai Police to serve tourists during the New Year festival.

“We have prepared 10 tents for tourists to take rest before they continue their journey,” he said. “Also, toilets, bathrooms, and parking lots are available for free, while the police will provide the service for 24 hours.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Saturday (Dec. 28) that the Road Safety Directing Centre and Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation had reported 464 road accidents.

Friday was the first day of the infamous “7 dangerous days”, the period during New Year holidays when road accidents in Thailand spike due to overwhelming numbers of travellers heading home to spend New Year with their families.

“Most of the deaths and injuries were to people in the age range of 50 years and over, or 29.27 per cent,” said the minister. “The number one cause of accidents was drunk driving (30.39 per cent), followed by speeding at 24.78 per cent. Vehicles involved in most accidents were motorcycles (80.08 per cent).”

A great number of accidents (30.39 per cent) occurred between 4pm and 8pm, while the most common place where the accidents happened was highways (39.22 per cent) followed by district and local roads (30.6 per cent).

Anutin added that on the first day more than 63,000 highway officials and police were working at 2,026 checkpoints countrywide. There were 731,933 vehicles being called for inspection, with 158,453 persons being given tickets, mostly for not wearing a helmet and not having a valid driver’s licence.

“Surat Thani saw the most number of accidents — 20 — and the most casualtues — 22 — while Chiang Rai and Prachuap Khiri Khan saw the most number of fatalities — 4 people,” he said.

If you require roadside assistance or witness a road accident, contact hotline 1784 or 1669.

The minister also visited farmers who were the bank’s customers under the loan programme “Community Business for Thailand”.

BAAC president Apirom Sukprasert explained that this programme can support local community business from production to distribution. Its concept is to drive business through demand from local communities, integrating collaboration between the government and the private sector in knowledge and technological innovation.

Under this programme, the BAAC has instructed its staff nationwide to take care of business customers directly. Also, the bank is promoting working groups to operate at the district and sub-district levels, and also established a community business promotion centre to serve as a hub of collaboration between the government, private sector and local people.

Moreover, the bank can offer loans to programme participants with a limit of Bt50,000 at 0.01 per cent per year of interest, as well as other kinds of loan appropriate for each participant’s business.

The target groups of this programme are village funds, farmer groups, community financial institutions, community enterprises, smart farmers, agricultural small and medium enterprises, and cooperatives.

As of December 27, the bank has backed more than 77 community businesses nationwide and organised 93 community activities. It expects to improve 928 community businesses by March 31, 2020, and 4,500 businesses by 2021.