As evident of our constant inclusion in the finals of the Miss Universe contestant and the presence of numerous local pageants in the country, the Philippines is considered a powerhouse in the beauty pageant industry.

As the 67th Miss Universe is held in the beautiful land of smiles – Thailand, there’s no stopping us from traveling like the true beauty queens that we are. Feel like a Miss Universe contestant as we present to you the places the Miss Universe contestants visited in Thailand that you should definitely add to your itinerary.

1. Wuttisak Snail Farm, Bangkok

Let’s kick things off in the capital, Bangkok, and with something out of the ordinary. The Wuttisak Snail Farm in Thailand breeds snails and extracts their slime for use in different cosmetic products we know today.

2. Sanctuary of Truth, Pattaya

Situated upon the edge of a waterfront, the Sanctuary of Truth is an architectural feat as it is a 344-feet intricately designed temple made entirely of wood. Built only in 1982, one can easily mistake it as a heritage structure. The awe-factor it induces upon its visitors definitely makes it worth the visit.

3. Nongnooch Botanical Garden, Pattaya

From breathtaking gardens to the beautiful wildlife – Nongnooch Botanical Garden is the place to be in Pattaya. You are treated to a beautiful view of the botanical garden, there is also a skywalk in the property that can connect you to different sections. You can choose to visit the small Buddha temple with a beautiful view or you can go ahead and check out the beautiful elephant shows.

4. Royal Thai Navy Sea Turtles Conservation Center, Sattahip

A little south from Pattaya is Sattahip, a district in Thailand that is home to the Royal Thai Navy Sea Turtles Conservation Center where not only can you treat yourself to a beautiful beach view but also educate yourself on the conservation of sea turtles and how important it is to have initiative in prioritizing the environment over convenience.

5. Krabi Islands

If it’s the smell of the beach and the sun’s kiss you’re looking for but absolutely hate crowded beaches, then the islands of Krabi is your kind of destination! As it is less developed and less crowded than the beaches of Phuket and Koh Samui, the island of Krabi allows you to indeed be closer to nature.

6. Wat Arun, Bangkok

(The story was published on December 17.)

What’s a trip to Thailand without visiting its temples? Capping off your trip, we go back to the capital and visit one of the country’s most stunning temples. With a name that translates to “Temple of the Dawn,” Wat Arun’s name is derived from the Hindu god Aruna, often personified as the heat of the sun. The temple will make you feel at peace as it is situated riverside and will give you a beautiful view especially at night. The temple also boasts its beautiful contrasts between white and the bold colors of its sprites.

    The 55-year-old Portuguese’s last match in charge was the 3-1 defeat by league leaders Liverpool on Sunday which left them 19 points behind their opponents.

“Manchester United announces that manager Jose Mourinho has left the club with immediate effect,” a club statement said.

“The employer deducted my wage for reasons I do not know. He also raised the dormitory fee arbitrarily, and it became hard for me to live and pay my debt with the salary,” Lungeli, 34, told The Korea Herald last week.

“So I told him I wanted to work at a different place. But he threatened me to pay him back 5 million won ($4,400), saying he had paid a lot of money to get me to work here.”

Lungeli came to Korea in June 2017, obtaining an E-9 visa — nonprofessional worker visa — provided under Korea’s Employment Permit System. In September that year, he had to go back to Nepal for 15 days to see his sick daughter. When he came back, he expected his salary to be reduced by 200,000 won for the absent days, but the boss had deducted double the amount.

When he complained about it, Lungeli became a target of verbal abuse and bullying. The employer reduced his work shifts and raised the monthly dormitory fee from the 50,000 won stipulated in the contract to 150,000 won, without any explanation.

“The employer told me rich people in Korea can easily get out of jail, even if they kill somebody, by hiring lawyers. He said it would not be any trouble for him to kill me,” Lungeli said.

Due to the continued mistreatment, he suffered from depression and stopped working in August. Now, he stays at his dormitory, not knowing what to do, he said.

One might ask, why doesn’t he move to another workplace? However, the country’s Employment Permit System hinders foreign workers from choosing their workplaces without permission from their employers.

Introduced in 2004, the system invites low-skilled workers from 16 countries, mainly from Central and Southeast Asia, to work in limited industries that include manufacturing, construction, fishing and farming, which the Labor Ministry views as suffering from shortages of manpower as Koreans avoid them.

Setting an annual quota, the Labor Ministry said it has accepted about 45,000 workers under the system this year. The workers can work for up to three years, after which the stay can be extended for another one year and 10 months, if the employer agrees.

Some say the employment system has opened the gate for foreign laborers to find work in Korea, and for industries to compensate for the shortage of manpower.

But because the program prohibits the workers from moving workplaces without permission from employers, and then only up to three times, the regulation misleads employers into thinking they have “ownership” of the foreign workers, explained Udaya Rai, president of the Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrant Workers’ Trade Union.

Subedi, another Nepali worker here, starts work at 4:30 a.m. For him, there is no break nor designated mealtime. At a random hour, he quickly grabs lunch and continues working until 7 p.m.

For working 14 hours a day, he has been paid 1.9 million won a month after a deduction of 1 million won every month since he began working seven months ago. However, his employer has not told him the reason for the deduction.

“On paydays, the employer would come by and scold us or curse at us for no reason. They also discriminate (against) workers and bully us,” Subedi said. “The worst part, still, is that they are not paying us right, and I want to move my workplace. So please let me.”

With language and cultural differences standing as barriers, the migrant workers are often ill-treated but have difficulties in taking actions to claim their rights.

Marking International Migrants Day on Tuesday, labor unions and human rights groups took to the streets Sunday to demand the Korean government revise the labor policy to a “Work Permit System” to protect the labor rights of foreign workers.

“The Korean government made this slave system called EPS that has only created unstable temporary work for foreigners,” Al Mamun, a senior vice president of the labor union, said at the rally.

“Koreans do not work in factories inhaling dust day and night. The migrant laborers do the work that Koreans do not want to do. But the foreign workers cannot say anything when their wage is unpaid, or when they are unfairly treated, because they can easily lose their visa.”

Myeong Sook, a member of a special committee celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, urged Korean society to understand the reality.

“The migrant workers are hated by Koreans and are attacked as job thieves. Migrant workers are also subject to hatred against their races and religions,” Myeong said. “It is time society correctly understands the reality and for the government to come up with proper legal measures.”

Regarding the complaints that have been raised for decades, the Labor Ministry maintains that the purpose of the program is to resolve the lack of manpower for domestic industries.

“The foreign workers sign contracts before coming to Korea, and it is inevitable that some limits exist for them,” Hwang Jeong-woo, an official at the Labor Ministry, told The Korea Herald, adding that the Constitutional Court in 2011 ruled it is not a violation of rights to regulate foreign laborers in changing their workplace.

“The Korea labor law does not discriminate the employees by their nationality. A foreigner can also file a complaint when their workplace violates the labor law.”

Admitting there are cases of mistreatment, Hwang explained that the ministry is working to improve the system. From next year, migrant workers will be able to request changes of workplace for a longer list of reasons.

The ministry is reviewing accepting requests to change workplaces when the foreigners are sexually abused, not only by their employer, but by co-workers or others, starting next year.

As there have been many complaints about shoddy accommodations and living conditions, the ministry said it is also looking to set a standard employers would have to meet. If not, the workers would be able to file a request to move, the official explained.

For the first time since the program was implemented, the ministry published a labor manual for foreign workers in early December, which explains how to deal with mistreatment at work, in 16 languages. The manual is to be distributed to employment centers where foreign workers are trained before being dispatched to their contracted workplaces.

    David Berry Jr will be forced to watch the animated movie at least once a month during his year-long jail term, the result of what law enforcement officials described as one of their largest-ever poaching investigations.

Berry and two family members were arrested on charges of killing hundreds of deer over three years, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation, which announced the sentence in a December 13 statement.

“If Bambi gets the point across to him, I don’t have a problem with it,” Lawrence County prosecutor Don Trotter told BuzzFeed News.

    “The deer were trophy bucks taken illegally, mostly at night, for their heads, leaving the bodies of the deer to waste,” said Trotter.

In the last three months of 2015 alone, the Berry family killed around 100 deer, according to photos taken from their phones, said Trotter.

Berry had already seen his hunting privileges revoked for past wildlife infractions and was on probation. He and other two men have paid a combined $51,000 in fines and court costs.

“In situations like this, with serial poachers who have no regard for the animals, rules of fair chase, or aren’t bothered by the fact that they’re stealing from others, it’s all about greed and ego,” Randy Doman, an official with the Missouri Department Of Conservation, told the Springfield News-Leader newspaper.

The Walt Disney Company bewitched generations of children with its pioneering animated film, released in August 1942, about a wide-eyed young deer and his doting mom.

But the shocking image of young Bambi curled up next to the doe after she is slain by hunters, has become as iconic as any scene in cinema history, credited with opening up taboo conversations about death and helping youngsters cope with bereavement.

“Bambi” often leads lists of the saddest moments in cinema, and even moved Time magazine to include the movie among its top 25 horror movies of all time, alongside “Frankenstein,” “The Exorcist” and “Night of the Living Dead.”

Judge Robert George sent Berry to jail for one year and ordered the film viewings to be conducted by the sheriff of the Lawrence County Jail.

Berry’s attorneys asked for leniency in sentencing because their client’s wife had recently had a baby. But the judge was apparently not moved.

“You can watch Bambi and think about your own child when you do that,” Trotter said.

Fourteen people have been ensnared in a multi-year investigation of illegal hunting spanning Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Canada.

“Finally an angel came to me!” Aoi posted on her Instagram today, Dec. 12. She said she was five months pregnant with her baby with DJ Non.

“I am anxious about my first pregnancy,” the 35-year-old former actress admitted in her blog post, as per Tokyo Reporter.

She added that she has experienced morning sickness due to her pregnancy, and is expected to give birth in May next year.

“I do not regret having worked in AV (adult video) but it is not as if there is no backlash in the eyes of the public,” she wrote in her blog post in January when she revealed that she was now a married woman.

“To become a family, I think that it is necessary to be accepting of all of one’s past and from now until the future,” Aoi added. “So, I think he is truly the one who will accept me.”