Showing 1 - 7 of 7
Bangkok's clean streets, empty souls
Oped, Sirinya Wattanasukchai, Published on 10/11/2025
» Banthat Thong used to be a neighbourhood, not a concept. You could live here and find everything: restaurants, bookstores, hardware shops, clinics, banks -- even a place to have your shirts made. It was one of those streets where life unfolded upstairs and business happened downstairs. Today, it is something else entirely.
Put culture first in old town revamps
Oped, Sirinya Wattanasukchai, Published on 28/03/2024
» Will Thailand's old towns include their old communities as they are renovated? In many of these important districts, institutional owners of land are apt to evict legacy tenants to make way for redevelopment, threatening vintage architecture and eroding vibrant local cultures and ways of life.
More of city soul falls victim to 'gentrification'
Oped, Sirinya Wattanasukchai, Published on 10/09/2020
» At the same time when thousands of shoppers and netizens lamented the closure of 28-year-old Isetan Department Store, Bangkok lost one of its oldest food shops in Bang Rak district, known for its authentic khao mok gai (Thai chicken biryani) and oxtail soup.
Let's hope it's not the final curtain at the Scala
News, Sirinya Wattanasukchai, Published on 10/06/2020
» When the government reopened the country in the third phase of easing this month, the Scala movie theatre remained shuttered. Rumours are widespread that the stand-alone theatre may be facing the final curtain.
Vulnerable and struggling
Life, Sirinya Wattanasukchai, Published on 20/05/2020
» Suthat Namgasa is relieved to discover he still has one packet of instant noodles in his relief bag. He will eat tonight, but he has no idea how he will find the money to pay the next instalment on his taxi.
Public utilities are not a game of Monopoly
News, Sirinya Wattanasukchai, Published on 19/07/2019
» For years, the sight of tangled utility cables hanging and dangling from electric poles in Bangkok has been a topic of derision for tourists and city residents alike. Now that the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has kicked off a plan to move those eyesores underground, another problem has emerged.
Faring poorly in BMTA's war on public bus prices
News, Sirinya Wattanasukchai, Published on 27/04/2019
» Five days after the bus fare increase took effect, the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) insisted the majority finds the hike agreeable. I really wonder who "the majority" is.