Showing 1 - 10 of 11
Temple dogs a victim of religious commercialisation
Spectrum, Nattha Thepbamrung, Published on 25/03/2018
» Temples in tourist hotspot Phuket are experiencing a crisis of identity: are they places of compassion, contemplation and meditation, the spritual and social centres of the community? Or are they tourist attractions, beholden mainly to visitors?
Making money over merit
Spectrum, Nattha Thepbamrung, Published on 17/08/2014
» Since it came out with its esoteric teachings on Buddhism in 1970, the secretive Dhammakaya temple and its adherents have been rumoured to be involved in illegal actions which are at odds with the traditional monkhood.
Getting through a dangerous haze
Spectrum, Nattha Thepbamrung, Published on 31/08/2014
» As a freshman, Panuwad Hongsawatchai felt the wrath of his fellow students at Maejo University in Phrae when he refused to be part of its traditional hazing ceremonies intended to absorb him into campus life.
Krabi locked in power struggle
Spectrum, Nattha Thepbamrung, Published on 15/06/2014
» ‘We have suffered a great deal of misery because of the old coal-fired plant,” says Somneug Krodsua. “It is not acceptable that they plan to build another even bigger one in the same area this time.”
The great Phuket cleanup
Spectrum, Nattha Thepbamrung, Published on 13/07/2014
» Maj Gen Paween Pongsir’s four years of experience with Phuket police saw him dragooned from his new post in Surat Thani to return and clean up corruption in the popular tourist resort.
Behind the wheel on hell ride
Spectrum, Nattha Thepbamrung, Published on 27/04/2014
» It’s Bangkok’s most notorious bus route, earning a dubious reputation for its erratic drivers — some unlicensed — who hurtle through traffic at breakneck speeds in congested areas in defiance of the road rules.
Memoirs of a mama-san
Spectrum, Nattha Thepbamrung, Published on 18/05/2014
» The routine world of a young housewife and mother is shattered by heartbreak, and she reacts by plunging into a dark world of prostitution, human trafficking and association with the largest organised crime syndicate in the world.
Discord develops in Phuket
Spectrum, Nattha Thepbamrung, Published on 30/03/2014
» In the 1930s, parts of Phuket resembled a lunar landscape dotted with hundreds of pits, a legacy of its long history as a tin mining centre that brought hoards of Dutch, French, British and Chinese fortune-seekers to the island.
Band on the run
Spectrum, Nattha Thepbamrung, Published on 06/04/2014
» Members of a Bangkok high school band have learned some very hard lessons in a very public way — and the scandal in which they became embroiled is growing by the day.
Soaring cost of dying
Spectrum, Nattha Thepbamrung, Published on 15/12/2013
» Mourners are forking out up to a million baht for high-end funerals that include refrigerated glass coffins to keep corpses fresh while they are on display for a week. And not only are the bereaved becoming more prepared to send their loved ones off in style, undertakers, coffin-makers and others in the funeral industry are increasingly willing to fulfil their desires.