• OPINION

  A time for giving

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 07/01/2019

  » 'Please don't post them," I told my wife as I saw her taking pictures of me and my sister on New Year's Eve. It was a family activity and I have no time for social media drama. People's attitudes differ. Some might be supportive, others can be nasty.

• OPINION

  Here's to a more beautiful Chiang Mai

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 29/10/2018

  » The other evening I had a meetup with friends. As some of us had never been to the izakaya where we planned to meet and thus had no idea where it is situated, the location of the Japanese pub/restaurant was then shared and everybody easily made their way to the meeting place. Yes, this is nothing new. Everybody does this nowadays. Exactly!

• OPINION

  Know thy visitors

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 27/08/2018

  » Almost three decades ago when I was a university student, I occasionally had to travel to Don Mueang airport for a part-time job. Back then, it was Bangkok's only airport, and, with the tollway not yet in existence, was considered very far from the city centre. There, my task was to ask departing tourists to fill in questionnaires for the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), which wanted to know what they liked or disliked, as well as their spending behaviour, during their visits.

• OPINION

  Paradise in jeopardy

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 11/06/2018

  » I get to know people when I travel for work, but I rarely see them again in person because each time I travel, I go to someplace different. Earlier this year, however, as I was about to leave a tourism fair, I bumped into the owner of a resort on Koh Mak, the island of Trat province famous for its efforts to become a "low-carbon destination".

• OPINION

  Urban hiking in Bangkok ain't a bad idea after all

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 19/03/2018

  » Have you ever been in a situation like this? You're at a BTS station, and as you approach the turnstile to catch your train, you realise there is not enough credit for the ride on your Rabbit card. The queues at the ticket booths are too long and you hate waiting.

• OPINION

  Lottery is life

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 18/12/2017

  » Politics, religion and money are globally considered the things one should never bring up in polite conversation. But are you aware that in Thailand there's one topic you can talk about with anybody, no matter the circumstances? It's a special subject that even complete strangers can chat about like buddies.

• OPINION

  Boxing is not cool unless you do it right

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 18/09/2017

  » Boxing may not be popular as a sport these days, but as fitness training, it has become trendy among working men and women. On social media, videos of people doing mitt drills are a common sight. To the untrained, they may look cool. But often when I watch these clips, I see myself pretending to do ballet moves. I wince.

• OPINION

  Admiring the night lights of Japan

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 21/07/2017

  » International tourists, Thais included, visit and revisit Japan for many reasons, from cherry blossoms and autumn leaves to food and fruits to the culture and courteousness of the people. As if that's not enough, the country has added one more: yakei.

• OPINION

  Where's my durian?

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 19/06/2017

  » The durian season is now in full swing, but some discernible lovers of the spiky fruit, myself included, are utterly upset. In Bangkok, from roadside stalls and fresh markets to shopping malls and even social media, the King of Fruits is virtually everywhere you look. But still I don't see the once-common variety that I have been waiting for, the one I'm dying to savour.

• OPINION

  Easy on the eyes

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 20/03/2017

  » Despite its negative effects, especially on the eyes, smartphone addiction is not easy to quit. The digital devices and their light-emitting screens have become essential to our lives, so much so that saying goodbye to them is plainly impractical. But is it possible to continue using them every day without sacrificing our eye health?

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