• THAILAND

  A kick in the teeth

  Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 30/10/2016

  » Every time Dr Somjit peers inside a new mouth, she's worried what she might find. In the past six years of providing orthodontic treatment, she has seen about 100 cases of teeth gone wrong.

• THAILAND

  Failing the lecturers

  Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 20/11/2016

  » At Thepsatri Rajabhat University, a lecturer was locked out of his office after exposing alleged corruption involving the budget allocated for a field trip. His three staff were moved to other roles, and this semester his classes were reduced until he had no students to teach. Nowadays he goes to the university in the morning and signs his name, fearful he will fail his performance assessment.

• THAILAND

  Forest clampdown hurts poor

  Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 11/09/2016

  » For the past 39 years, Anutas Pleeta's family have made a living out of growing para rubber on their four-rai plantation in the southern province of Phangnga. By this time of the year, the trees would have been ready for tapping and Mr Anutas would have had more money to support his family of five, who currently live off an average income of 45,000 baht per year -- less than half the daily minimum wage -- from rubber grown on another six rai of land.

• THAILAND

  We can prescribe it for you wholesale

  Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 09/10/2016

  » At first glance, it would be easy to mistake the dozens of large pharmacies sitting across the road from Siriraj Hospital in Thon Buri for registered wholesale distributors. Crowds of customers bringing along samples of their prescribed medication are a familiar sight in any one of the stores, which employ dozens of staff.

• THAILAND

  An open road ahead

  Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 16/10/2016

  » The Department of Land Transport is getting used to visits from people looking to invest in a driving school. A decade ago, there was only one private driving school registered under the department. But that quickly changed last year when at least one person visited every week to ask about the qualifications needed to open a school. The department now answers similar queries on a daily basis.

• THAILAND

  Enforcing the law in the wild

  Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 24/07/2016

  » Four Thai staff sit in the small Bangkok office of the world's oldest and biggest intergovernmental wildlife enforcement network.

• THAILAND

  Reaching an uncritical mass

  Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 22/05/2016

  » 'She's just a farmer. She knows nothing." That was the example Terachet Rojrachsombat used on Facebook to illustrate his lesson on ad hominem, or abusive, arguments. The post drew an immediate reaction.

• THAILAND

  Exodus chapter two: Fresh wave prepares to call it quits

  Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 17/04/2016

  » Four years ago, Somrak Sila thought of leaving the country to work in Cambodia. But only now, two years after the coup, is the gallery owner seriously considering her options: continue her business by showcasing less provocative artists and material, or set up a new business in Portugal where she can operate more freely.

• THAILAND

  Right qualifications, wrong colour skin

  Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 04/10/2015

  » When Lyndsay Cabildo booked her ticket to Thailand in 2012, she had been promised 2,000 baht per day to work as a part-time English teacher supplying cover to schools around the country.

• THAILAND

  The big business of saving lives

  Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 10/05/2015

  » Patcharin Arabiya scurried to find 5,000 baht to secure a room at Thonburi Hospital’s coronary care unit while doctors performed CPR on her mother, Samruay Sopajaree. The 78 year old suffered a heart attack on March 24, 2013, an hour after arriving home from a visit to Khao Yai National Park.

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