Showing 1 - 10 of 580
Something's brewing
Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 15/01/2017
» A fortune teller suggested Puripong Suthisopapan and his business partner focus on selling beer when they opened their Be Right Back restaurant in Khon Kaen over a year ago. Starting only with one refrigerator, most of the beer they sold was illegally home-brewed as Thai law prohibits small-scale brewing.
The price of PromptPay
Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 08/01/2017
» Manaschuen Kovapirat considers herself the average user when it comes to online banking transactions: on a monthly basis, she uses her bank's mobile application to transfer money to her mother and to donate money. She does online shopping and prefers to transfer money online for transactions less than 100,000 baht. On some occasions, when she's out with her friends and doesn't have enough cash, she pays them back via online banking.
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.
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.
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.
Kickboxer, chemist, CIA man - the many tales of Herbert La Fon
News, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 02/10/2016
» For decades, Herbert Craig La Fon appears to have deceived many of the people around him. But when the police peeled back the black plastic sheets to reveal the dismembered male body stashed in a freezer at his Sukhumvit Soi 56 home, he broke down.
Struggling industry leaves reporters squirming for survival
Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 25/09/2016
» The journalists had spent the whole morning learning how to breed earthworms, lobsters and growing sunflower sprouts. By noon, Somruedee Polkhaw left the farm with two bags of sunflower seeds, two packs of soil, three bottles of worm castings tea and a black plastic tray. The starter kit cost her around 300 baht -- enough to test the waters before she considers whether if it's worth a sideline job.
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.
Supinya walks tightrope of balancing opinion with state rules
News, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 04/09/2016
» The country's telecommunications regulator has been called a paper tiger by consumers, a censorship board by rights activists and is being sued by digital TV channels for causing lower-than-expected viewership.
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.