Showing 111 - 120 of 121
Retail development in thailand goes smaller, Wider and more diverse
Spectrum, Published on 27/05/2012
» Retail centres in Thailand are not just for shopping these days. We often find a playground or game corner by the food court for children. Many parents take their children to shopping centres on weekends for extra activities such as learning music, taekwondo, art or tutorial schools. While waiting for their children to finish classes, parents often catch up on chores such as banking or grocery shopping. This is why we have education, banking, beauty and skin clinic zones in shopping malls. Cinemas, restaurants and fashion shops also add to the appeal.
It's getting hot down by the river
Spectrum, Published on 22/04/2012
» Those of us in the property business are often asked what the hot locations for condominiums in Bangkok are. The answer has always been areas that are within walking distance of a mass transit station or prime locations popular commercial areas such as Phloenchit, Langsuan, Sukhumvit or Sathon roads.
Development drive sees ethnic groups displaced by land grabs
Spectrum, Phil Thornton, Published on 22/04/2012
» At the ramshackle Ei Tu Hta camp more than 4,000 displaced people fear not just the the Myanmar military downstream on the Salween River, but also a constitution that will ''legally'' dispossess them of the land they were forced to flee.
Govt 'holds vulnerable underwater to keep big business afloat'
Spectrum, Supara Janchitfah, Published on 18/03/2012
» Those whose homes and farms were ravaged by last year's floods are fuming over government compensation plans that they say unfairly favour big business at their expense. About 2.23 billion baht will go to build a 77km floodwall around Rojana Industrial Park and 728 million baht and 700 million baht, respectively, has been earmarked to build floodwalls around Bang Pa-in and Nava Nakorn industrial estates. Many of society's most vulnerable who lost nearly everything in the floods _ including labourers, small farmers, slum dwellers and home-based workers _ are entitled to a mere 5,000 baht in compensation.
Are zoos cashing in on tiger trade?
Spectrum, Tunya Sukpanich, Published on 26/02/2012
» Trade and trafficking in tigers and tiger parts in Thailand drew international attention following the seizure of 400kg of tiger meat and carcasses in Bangkok's Khlong Sam Wa district earlier this month. It's remained a thorny issue in Thailand despite global efforts to save the animals from extinction.
The downside of hotel oversupply
Spectrum, Published on 26/02/2012
» Those living in Bangkok will surely notice that there is a new hotel opening almost every month on average. Many may wonder why the city's hotel supply keeps growing given the frequent talk of oversupply, without any signs of slowing down. As of the third quarter of last year, there were a total of 30,815 hotel rooms in downtown Bangkok and a further 8,664 rooms in the pipeline to be completed by 2014, representing a 28% increase in existing supply.
Is it 'Alien' or 'Avatar' in Kaeng Krachan?
Spectrum, Supara Janchitfah, Published on 19/02/2012
» Last July the mysterious crashes of three military helicopters in the space of a couple of weeks riveted the country's focus on Kaeng Krachan National Park, the nation's largest in Phetchaburi province. Much less attention was given to another dramatic series of events around the same time affecting ethnic Karen-Thai inside the park. These culminated in raids by park officials in which a total of 90 of their homes and rice barns were burned down. The ethnic Karen and their advocates say the National Parks, Wildlife and Plants Conservation Department is conducting a campaign to drive them out of the park.
Salvaging a Buddhist sanctuary
Spectrum, Tunya Sukpanich, Published on 05/02/2012
» A mong the major casualties of the recent floods was the 2,500-rai Buddhamonthon ("Buddhist park") religious park in Nakhon Pathom province. Today the park scarcely resembles the former green spiritual and recreational sanctuary in the shadow of Bangkok. The meticulously landscaped lawns are now covered with a thick layer of dried brown leaves and dead branches from trees and shrubs killed or severely shocked by the floodwaters that covered the park grounds for weeks. Many big trees were uprooted and still lie where they fell.
Sowing the seeds of change
Spectrum, Jim Algie, Published on 05/02/2012
» The premise of the film Food, Inc reads like an Orwellian take on farming and agriculture, where a multinational has patented seeds, employing dozens of private investigators and a freephone hotline to track down farmers accused of stealing them, where just 13 abattoirs have monopolised the US meat market and incubated a slew of killer viruses and are run like assembly lines, and the illegal immigrants who staff them are treated only slightly better than the animals.
As doors open, businesses face a formidable frontier
Spectrum, Luke Hunt, Published on 29/01/2012
» As Myanmar trades political reforms in return for an end to economic sanctions, businesses big and small are queuing for access to the region's last closed economy. Entry will be dictated by political connections, financial clout, further reforms and necessity.