Train tickets to most parts of Thailand now available at Bang Sue Grand Station
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 01, 2022
Bangkok’s Bang Sue Grand Station’s ticketing section has gone into full operation as of November 1, 2022, with trains heading to every part of the country except to the East.
Bang Sue station will serve as a terminus for most long-distance, rapid and express trains, except East-bound ones, which will terminate at Hua Lamphong station.
“Krungthep Aphiwat Central Station [the official name for Bang Sue Grand Station] has ticket counters on the ground floor on the northern and southern sides,” the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) said.
“Initially, tickets for long-distance trains will only be available in the southern side, which is conveniently located between the platforms of the Red Line city train and the MRT Blue Line.”
SRT said it hopes that making Bang Sue Grand Station into a terminus for most trains will make travel easier, especially since it connects to the Red and Blue lines and is close to the Green, Purple and Pink lines. It is also near the inter-provincial Bangkok Bus Terminal (Mo Chit 2) and accessible by several public buses.
The 15-billion-baht grand station opened in November last year and began serving passengers of SRT’s two Red Lines. It is the largest railway station in Southeast Asia, with 26 platforms and 274,000 square metres of usable floor space.
The station also features an underground parking lot for up to 1,700 cars as well as state-of-the-art facilities, clean toilets and fully airconditioned waiting rooms, the announcement said.
Move allowing foreigners to own land sparks protest in Thailand
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 01, 2022
The anti-government Kana Lomruam Prachachon (Melting Pot Group) has filed a complaint against the move allowing foreigners to buy up to 1 rai (0.16 hectares) of land in Thailand.
Land ownership rights are meant to attract wealthy foreigners including retirees and skilled workers.
The group, led by former red-shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan and lawyer Nitithorn Lamlua, marched to Government House’s Complaint Centre on Monday to file their letter opposing the Cabinet’s move last Tuesday.
The directive, which will come into effect for five years after being published in the Royal Gazette, allows foreigners who qualify for a Long-Term Resident (LTR) visa to purchase houses and up to one rai of land if they invest at least 40 million baht for a minimum of three years.
Nitithorn said similar measures implemented in the past by different governments had proved unsuccessful due to lack of interest from foreigners. The move had been opposed by the public in Thailand every time it had been introduced, he added.
“To attract foreigners to invest in Thailand, the government should focus on building infrastructure such as logistics and the digital ecosystem, provide tax and visa benefits, make it easier for foreigners to register businesses, and ensure high quality health and safety standards for foreign residents,” he said. “Most importantly, the government must create an atmosphere that promotes true democracy to make Thailand a preferred investment destination.”
Jatuporn said the group will deliver the same complaint to Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters on Wednesday, before marching to the National Anti-Corruption Commission on Friday to petition for an investigation of whether the move is legal.
Nipit Intharasombat, deputy leader of the Sang Anakot Thai party, said a similar measure implemented after the 1997 financial crisis had failed.
“By 2002, only eight foreigners had bought land in Thailand under this measure, so it clearly failed to attract investment,” he wrote on Facebook. “This time, the required investment period has been lowered from five to three years to make it easier to apply, but I fear this will only attract shady businessmen wishing to launder money by buying property in Thailand.”
“These people often have trouble with authorities in their countries, so they flee to Thailand and hand money to local politicians in exchange for protection,” he said.
Nipit also criticised the inclusion of government bonds under the 40-million-baht investment requirement, saying it was “unnecessary” since these bonds usually have no trouble finding domestic buyers.
China Daily to co-host ‘Changing Asia’ photo exhibition in Thailand
MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2022
China Daily and Asia News Network – an alliance of 21 national media organisations in 20 Asian countries – will hold a five-day pan-Asian photography exhibition in Thailand next month to celebrate the opening up of countries in post-pandemic Asia.
The “Changing Asia – New Normal” exhibition, to be held at CentralWorld will display up to 80 high-quality photographs. The five-day event will take place from November 16 to 20, coinciding with Thailand’s hosting of the Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) 2022 Summit.
The organisers have invited professional photographers from Asia to submit photos taken in the past three years under the theme “Changing Asia – New Normal”.
Hundreds of photographs have been received so far, documenting the changes in daily lives in Asia, including work and living conditions, recreation, creative endeavours, health and beauty, animals, festivities, art, eateries, sport and education.
The organisers will collect the best photographs for the exhibition and book publications. The exhibition will be one of the most ambitious and comprehensive undertakings on the subject to date.
Here are some of the submissions so far for the exhibition from across Asia:
Esteemed Thai wine to be served to Apec leaders attending summit
MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2022
Two brands of Thai wine will be served to economic leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit in Bangkok in November in a bid to promote Thai products.
GranMonte is considered 100 per cent Thai wine, produced by GranMonte Vineyard and Winery in Pak Chong district of Nakhon Ratchasima province.
Renowned winemaker Nikki (Visootha) Lohitnavy
Renowned winemaker Nikki (Visootha) Lohitnavy is GranMonte Vineyard and Winery’s general manager.
Another Thai brand is Monsoon Valley, which had won honour on many international stages. Monsoon Valley Cuvée De Siam Rouge received five gold medals at three world-class wine competitions.
Many kinds of Monsoon Valley wine are produced at a vineyard in Hua Hin district of Prachuap Khiri Khan province.
Both GranMonte and Monsoon Valley will be served to economic leaders during the gala dinner at the Royal Thai Navy Convention Hall.
The Apec Summit, scheduled to be held at the Queen Sirikit Convention Centre from November 18 to 19, will be organised under the theme “Open. Connect. Balance.”
Bangkok’s ‘Hulk’ Chadchart pulls a victory in weekend tug-of-war
MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2022
Bangkok’s law enforcement department led by Governor Chadchart Sittipunt, who is often referred to as “The Hulk”, proved to be better at tug-of-war than Chana Songkhram Police Station.
The tug-of-war on Saturday was part of a festival held last weekend at the Lan Khon Muang grounds opposite City Hall.
The event, organised to attract tourists and generate revenue, featured outdoor films as well as several fun activities including races, competitions and concerts.
The event also showcased products unique to each of Bangkok’s 50 districts.
Xi Jinping to attend Apec Summit in Bangkok, no news yet on Putin
MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2022
Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai confirmed on Monday that China’s President Xi Jinping will attend the Apec Summit in Bangkok on November 18-19.
Don said Xi will be among leaders of six countries that will also pay an official visit to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha during the summit.
Don said the decision on who represents a member country depends often on the local situation.
For example, Don said, the Malaysian prime minister will not attend the summit because the country is preparing for a general election.
The Thai foreign minister added that Mexico’s leader also would not attend the Bangkok summit because of an internal reason.
“So far, we can unveil only this information,” Don said.
The Foreign Ministry said it was still uncertain whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would attend the Apec Summit, while US President Joe Biden has reportedly decided to send his vice president.
Don also affirmed that the summit would be attended by three special guests who are not members of Apec – French President Emmanuel Macron, Saudi Arabia’s Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
The foreign minister revealed that several nations have proposed bilateral meetings with Prayut and the Foreign Ministry has yet to schedule the requested meetings.
Don said the Thai government would ensure maximum security for leaders of the Apec members while also making sure the attendants do not contract Covid.
The government would also make sure that traffic around the meeting venue would be clear, while at the same time not inconveniencing local people.
The Cabinet has declared extra holidays from November 16 to 18 to free Bangkok streets from traffic during the summit, hoping Bangkokians would visit the provinces during the long weekend.
The foreign minister added that although the summit is being held late in the tenure of the Prayut government, foreign countries still have confidence in the Thai government as many have asked for special meetings with the Thai prime minister.
ThaiHealth ‘mourns ghosts’ to highlight perils faced by Thailand’s youth
MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2022
The Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) used Halloween as an opportunity to “gather ghosts” and “mourn” the children and youth lost to addictions.
In a special event at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre on Sunday, the foundation’s director Rungarun Limlahaphan said more and more youngsters in Thailand are getting addicted to drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and gambling. She also said that Thailand also loses hundreds of children yearly to road accidents.
Rungarun, who oversees social and health risk issues for the foundation, said some 100,000 youngsters have dropped out of school in the country and at least 60 per cent of them have landed in detention centres.
“Hence it is time for all parties to tackle the risks faced by the young,” she added.
Bangkok deputy governor Sanon Wangsrangboon said adults were to blame for children having such easy access to booze, cigarettes and other vices. In a bid to combat this, he said, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration was looking into setting up areas where children can play safely.
Anulak Iamsri, who leads a network on mitigating risks among the young, said there are far too many temptations for the young in Thailand.
For instance, he said, plans to set up casinos and gambling websites as well as the legalisation of cannabis pose unnecessary risks for the young.
“The government should come up with clear regulations to protect children and youth from alcohol, narcotics, road accidents and gambling,” he said.
He suggested that the government set up a special committee that can focus on these issues and come up with solutions. He said that young people should be given opportunities to develop knowledge and life skills, while strict action should be taken against entertainment venues that violate the law by serving minors.
A former juvenile detainee, who only wanted to be known as Mr C, said his addiction to drugs and cigarettes had made him very aggressive. He also said he regrets introducing these vices to his friends, who are now unstable mentally.
As a youngster who has turned a new leaf, he advised his peers to stay away from drugs, alcohol and cigarettes, and instead opt for creative pastimes.
“I support cannabis for medical use, but am worried about what will happen if cannabis is used for recreation,” he said.
Thai police bust ‘Tinder’ scam gang after trafficked call centre workers escape
MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2022
Thai police said on Monday they had arrested the Chinese leader of a transnational gang that trafficked people to work at scam call centres on the border.
Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej, commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), said the suspect founded the 19-member gang to staff call centres that scammed people with bogus cryptocurrency investments via dating apps.
Jiraphob said the suspect, named only as Huang or Yong, 32, first placed online job advertisements to trick people into working on the Thai-Myanmar border. The workers were met at the Mae Sot border in Tak before being made to cross to Myawaddy in Myanmar on foot.
Victims were then forced to trick Thai customers into fake investments in digital assets or bitcoin. Seven of the call centre workers were rescued after alerting authorities.
The workers said that the crime ring created fake accounts on apps including Tinder and Badoo. They contacted the target, tricked them into investing and then handed them on to Malay or Filipino call centre workers to close the deal.
Victims were forced to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week and pressured to meet targets.
Jirabhop said police were still probing how workers were punished for failing to meet their quotas – whether by solitary confinement, torture, head-shaving, or electric shocks.
Workers had also asked their relatives to mortgage their land or cars to obtain the 50,000 baht needed for release and travel back home, he added.
After the seven victims were rescued, police monitored the gang before securing arrest warrants for all 19 members – three Chinese, one Malay, one Filipino, three Myanmar, and 11 Thai nationals.
Police identified Yong as the gang’s leader and financier after discovering he had travelled to Thailand in May this year and opened a boxing camp and boxing promotion business to launder money.
He was detained in the parking lot of Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok on Saturday and charged with human trafficking and membership of an organised human trafficking gang benefitting from forced labour.
He denied all charges.
Police said they had so far caught eight of the 19 gang members. They added that call centre workers trafficked by the gang victims would be charged with illegal immigration.
Tech review: Acer Nitro 5 2022: Affordable option for gamers with limited funds
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2022
The Acer Nitro 5 2022 edition is a budget gaming notebook that allows you to enjoy most of the latest games without having to spend extra.
The Nitro 5 2022 edition comes with everything necessary to handle the complexities of today’s graphics-intensive gaming, except for one thing – RAM. The entry-level model just has 8 gigabytes of RAM (random access memory), so it is necessary to spend an extra 1,000 baht or so to add another 8GB. According to an Acer PR officer, an additional RAM module can be bought and installed at any Acer service centre so the notebook’s 3-year warranty is not affected.
Apart from this shortcoming, the Nitro 5 2022 is more powerful than its 2021 brother thanks to its 12th Generation Intel Core i7 processor, which performs better than the 11th Generation Core i7 used in the previous edition.
Specifically, the Nitro 5 (Intel Gen 12) is powered by the Intel Core i7-12700H, which comes with 14 cores and 24 threads compared to the 8 cores and 16 threads of the Intel Gen 11 Core i7. A thread is a virtual version of a CPU’s core, which means the more threads a processor has the better it will perform.
Six of the Intel Gen 12’s 14 cores are devoted to performance, which maximises the single-thread performance and responsiveness, while the remaining eight cores focus on efficiency, delivering scalable, multithreaded performance and efficient offloading of background tasks to allow multitasking.
On the graphics side, the Nitro 5 uses an NVIDIA GeForce RTX3050 processing unit that comes with 4GB GDDR6 memory.
Though the RTX3050 is entry level of the RTX30 series, it should be able to handle most games, though you may have to lower the resolution for some.
Expandable storage
As for storage, the Nitro 5 comes with a fast M.2 NVMe SSD storage with 512GB capacity, which is enough for general users.
Meanwhile, its 15.6-inch IPS display comes with Full HD resolution and a high refresh rate of 165Hz, which makes the visuals crisp and clear.
The Nitro 5 also provides plenty of room for expansion. Apart from an empty RAM slot, it also has a slot for adding another M.2 SSD storage and a 2.5-inch SATA III slot for adding another SSD or hard-drive storage. Both M.2 slots offer up to 1 terabyte of storage and use fast data-transferring PCIe 4.0 x4 technology.
Compared to the earlier edition, the Nitro 5 (Intel Gen 12) is prettier, has a better design and its body feels sturdier. However, the ventilation system necessary to dissipate the heat created from rendering graphics and gaming makes it quite heavy at 2.5 kilograms. Plus, you will need to carry its half-kilo power adapter because the 58Wh battery only lasts about four hours.
Effective, quiet ventilation
During the test, I found that the ventilation system was effective and the notebook did not get overheated at the peak of the gaming. It uses two fans and four heat pipes, which do not generate much noise. The system takes in air from two directions above and below the keyboard and the heat is expelled via four exhaust outlets.
I used the CPUID HWMonitor software to monitor the CPU’s temperature and found that the internal heat was between 75 and 87 degrees Celsius on average. But it did not heat up thanks to the efficient ventilating system.
While gaming, I found the graphics were rendered smoothly with good frame rates. But if you want to play large, graphic-intensive games like Elden Ring, you will need to lower the resolution to achieve a higher frame rate. After all, the computer comes with 8GB RAM.
Gamers usually enjoy colourful keyboards and the Nitro 5 comes with a 4-zone RGB keyboard, with a light setting that can be adjusted with NitroSense software.
Meanwhile, the arcade racing game – Asphalt 9: Legends – ran smoothly and the graphics were rendered beautifully.
The 3Dmark Time Spy gave the Nitro 5 a score of 5,071 points, meaning the notebook can play full HD games smoothly.
The PCMark 10 gives it 6,151 points for handling business applications, graphics and video editing well.
Benchmarking by Cinebench R15 confirms good graphics performance. Its OpenGL score came in at 141.41 frames per second and the CPU score was 2453 points. The Cinebench R20 gave the Intel Core i7-12700H a score of 6,112 points for its ability to render graphics.
The notebook’s good performance was also attributed to its SSD drive. The benchmarking standard found that the drive achieved a sequential reading speed of 6,600 MB/s and a sequential writing speed of 3,600 MB/s.
Another positive factor is that Nitro 5 comes with fast LAN and wireless connectivity thanks to its Intel Killer Land E2600 and Intel Killer Wi-Fi AX1650i adapters. This fast connectivity ensures that your online games run smoothly.
The Nitro 5 (Intel Gen 12) has all the necessary ports –
power adapter, Thunderbolt 4×1 and HDMI port – and they are placed at the back, so your hands don’t get tangled up with cords.
It has a LAN port, one USB-A 3.2 port and a combo audio connector for headphones and microphone on the left side and two USB-A 3.2 ports on the right side.
The Thunderbolt port comes with all the functions which allow you to connect it to an external display or expand the notebook’s performance with an added device. The port can also be used to recharge the battery.
Its sound system is also good, with speakers placed under the keyboard and a DTS: X system that offers surround sound, which is particularly enjoyable when playing games. The speakers also generated a good bass.
With a suggested retail price of 39,900 baht, the Nitro 5 (Intel Gen 12) is perfect for gamers with a limited budget, students or people who do not have much space. But prepared to pay extra to expand the RAM.
Key specs:
CPU: Intel Core i7-12700H with 14 cores( 6P+8E) at 3.5-4.7GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 with 4GB GDDR6
SSD: M.2 NVMe 512GB
RAM: 8GB DDR4 3200MHz
Display: 15.6-inch full HD IPS panel with 165Hz refresh rate
Ports: Thunderbolt 4 x 1, USB-A 3.2 x 3, HDMI x 1, LAN x 1, Audio combo x 1
Renowned winemaker Nikki (Visootha) Lohitnavy
Don also affirmed that the summit would be attended by three special guests who are not members of Apec – French President Emmanuel Macron, Saudi Arabia’s Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
