• TRAVEL

  Southeast Asia's birding bubble

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 08/10/2020

  » Normally at this time of year, Puwish Lenvaree would station himself in the forests of West Papua, an Indonesian province on New Guinea Island. Over the past three years, he routinely spent much of the latter half of each year on New Guinea and nearby islands such as Waigeo and Halmahera mainly because it's the mating season for birds-of-paradise, which occurs only in that part of the world.

• TRAVEL

  Where monsoon is awesome

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 21/05/2020

  » Bucket-list ideas for the first half of September from Pongpet Mekloy's archive.

• LIFE

  When you're free to move about the country

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 07/05/2020

  » It's going to be a while before we find out whether or not the easing of coronavirus lockdown measures, the mass scrambles for alcoholic beverages, and the exodus over the recent long weekend will reverse the trend of the pandemic control in Thailand that seems to be going well. Let's hope they won't. At the same time, let's not forget that in many parts of this small world, the Covid-19 situation is still not getting any better.

• LIFE

  Thailand's abundance

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 09/04/2020

  » April is usually the height of the hot season. The sea, both in the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman, is at its best. The forest, meanwhile, may seem lifeless, yet actually there are a lot of interesting things going on in the ecosystem. Most waterfalls, for example, may not be boasting powerful cascades, but the calm, clear water reveals a fascinating array of fish and other aquatic lifeforms that thrive. And guess what: even during this dry period of the year, there are falls in some protected forests where the water continues to flow down rigorously, regardless of what month is shown on the calendar. Too bad I don't have their photographs in digital form and no time to dig through the piles of slides.

• LIFE

  One thing the virus can't touch

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 19/03/2020

  » Because of the coronavirus, a lot of long-planned social functions and activities have to be postponed or cancelled. Even the Songkran Festival is no exception. Still, there is an event that would never, ever be affected by any pandemic: the sunset.

• TRAVEL

  Eye-opening adventure

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 19/12/2019

  » To many Thais, me included, the mention of Sri Lanka will suddenly bring to mind Colombo, the capital, Ceylon tea, the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy, and some other religious sites. But what about Sri Lanka's southern coast? Hmm. Of course, there must be beaches and the sea. But what else?

• LIFE

  Verdant pleasures

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 10/10/2019

  » Not so long ago, Kanchanaburi's Muang district, which is just a two-and-a-half hours' drive from Bangkok, was seen by many as a mundane destination. And the adjacent district of Tha Muang was nothing more than just another place to drive by. But thanks to the popping up of new photogenic attractions in an area that straddles these two neighbours, Kanchanaburi has regained its prominence on the tourist map.

• LIFE

  Not what it seems

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 01/08/2019

  » As you can see on the map, Klong Yai district is a narrow strip of land that extends from the main part of Trat province. Flanked by the Gulf of Thailand on one side and the mountains of western Cambodia on the other, it doesn't look like a place where much has happened.

• THAILAND

  Vietnam's up and coming destinations

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 14/03/2019

  » Unlike Hanoi, Sapa, Danang, Hue, Hoi An, Dalat, Mui Ne and Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang (pronounced ya jang) is not a familiar name for Thai travellers. But with a direct air link between Bangkok and this Vietnamese city, recently introduced by Bangkok Airways and soon to be followed suit by another airline, that is about to change.

• THAILAND

  Hakodate's lingering legacy

  Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 20/12/2018

  » After seven hours on the plane and another three-and-a-half hours on the train, I finally found myself on a street of Hakodate, the southernmost city of Japan's northernmost prefecture.

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