• LIFE

  A trip to Diamond Island

  Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 07/04/2017

  » It's a story of Cambodia but also of Southeast Asia: the new rich built on the back of rural labour, young men who leave their homes in the countryside to carry bricks and build real-estate edifices in the capital. The promise of the future is built on the uncertainty of the present.

• LIFE

  Where to pay final respects to King Bhumibol

  Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 26/10/2017

  » The royal cremation day has arrived. Hundreds of thousands are expected to turn up at the ceremonial grounds to witness the historic event. Millions more are going to watch the proceedings on television. Those who would like to pay their last respect to King Bhumibol also have the choice of placing the sandalwood flowers at the 85 replicas of the royal crematorium around the country. There is one in each province and nine in Bangkok.

• LIFE

  Friends through the years

  Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 02/10/2017

  » From the exchanging of envoys to the bond between the two monarchies, from a Thai football star in J-League to a Japanese actor in a major Thai movie, from Thai liquor to Japanese dessert, Japan and Thailand have treasured a relationship that has strengthened, politically and culturally, in recent years.

• OPINION

  Superficiality takes aim at Scala

  News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/06/2016

  » There is a mix of rage, gloom and longing as, once again, the fate of the Scala theatre in Siam Square is questioned. To wreck is easy, to save is hard. The jackhammer screeches louder than nostalgia. Will the Scala, that quaint majesty stuck in a prime retail area, that solemn granddaddy in the flashy, messy, heavily commercialised quarter, be next to fall?

• LIFE

  To Myanmar with love

  Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/11/2016

  » The big problem about shooting a film in Myanmar, says Thai filmmaker Chartchai Ketnust, was not obtaining permission. It was the mob of onlookers trying to get a peek of the stars.

• TRAVEL

  Andalusian dreams

  Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 15/02/2024

  » Two Middle Eastern tourists looked excited as they held up a phone to an exquisitely carved arabesque in Nasrid Palace at the Alhambra. No, they're not taking photos. They're comparing the Arabic text on their screen with the 8th century stone calligraphy. I hear them mumble in Arabic -- here's the translation:

• LIFE

  The many interpretations of bliss

  Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 08/10/2018

  » With the monsoon comes the art. With the wind and bluster come the artists. Here it is, finally, after a year of fanfare and preparation. The first Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 (BAB 2018) will open on Oct 18 and run until next February in a city-wide surfeit of artistic affairs, from exhibitions to talks, workshops to pool parties (which is, of course, art!). The programme will keep Bangkokians and visitors busy for months starting from next week.

• LIFE

  Deep trouble

  Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 25/06/2018

  » He got up close with a 13m whale shark near the Galapagos and swam with a curious hunchback whale in Tonga. "She was larger than a bus," he said, "the largest animal I've ever seen." At Burma Banks in the Indian Ocean, he drifted with sharks and at Similan Islands he realised that the coral reefs in the Thai seas were among the most beautiful in the world.

• LIFE

  Beyond the cinematic glitz

  B Magazine, Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/05/2018

  » In the past 10 days the seaside city of Cannes has been in the news with noisy fanfare and dazzling colour, led by pictures of bare-shouldered stars sauntering down the red carpet on a daily basis. It happens every year in May, as the world's largest cine-event, the Cannes Film Festival, attracts thousands of journalists, photographers and industry professionals to the Mediterranean resort town made out to become a self-contained universe of glamour. Throughout its 71st edition, which ended yesterday, Cannes once again commanded the attention of the world.

• OPINION

  Lights out at Lido, but can art hub shine?

  News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 02/06/2018

  » It was a tearful farewell at the Lido Theatre on Thursday night, with a thousand fans congregating to say goodbye to the old-school, unglamorous, 50-year-old cinema in Siam Square. After the last picture show on May 31, all Lido’s staff and managers lined up like a guard of honour to wai and thank the audiences filing out of the rooms, a surprise parting shot that tugged deeply at the heart strings of even the most unsentimental viewers. To paraphrase Chris Hemsworth, aka Thor of Asgard, Lido is not a place but a people. It’s also a memory. That’s why we wept. That’s what we’ll miss Lido for.

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