• THAILAND

  Krabi cops uncover memorial sculpture

  News, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 22/03/2021

  » Krabi police have found a 100 million baht sculpture commemorating the 2004 tsunami they had forgotten they were keeping, seven years after it was quietly transferred from Bangkok.

• LIFE

  New books worth reading

  Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 29/12/2016

  » From Dust To Dust: A Journalist's Memoir

• OPINION

  Joni's parking lot puts Phuket in perspective

  News, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 11/07/2016

  » Every time I go to Phuket, a famous 1970 song by Joni Mitchell, "Big Yellow Taxi", always rings in my head. Lyrical and melodic, it pierces right into your heart. The first line -- "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot" -- has become an anthem for conservationists as they express concern over tasteless economic development.

• LIFE

  Iron man

  Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 10/06/2016

  » Banjerd Lekkong, who grew up in his father's garage and whose intricate iron-welded sculptures are being exhibited in a New York gallery, is an outlier among Thai artists. The 47-year-old did not graduate from any art school -- neither Poh Chang or Silpakorn University, the most respected training grounds for local artists. His works have never been displayed in a local museum or gallery. Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre (BACC) turned down his proposal for an exhibition. Private galleries did the same. The only show he had was a brief display at Amarin Plaza, a shopping mall.

• OPINION

  Focus forest plan on the urban jungle

  News, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 09/05/2016

  » While I welcome the National Council for Peace and Order's plan to recover 128 million rai of forest land over the next decade, it is to say the least, somewhat ambitious. The goal, in my humble opinion, is harder than restoring democracy itself.

• LIFE

  The reluctant activist

  Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 25/04/2016

  » The reign of the current government is not the perfect time for protesting. Anyone who raises voices against the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) might be summoned by the army for "attitude adjustment". Still, there are a few activists who dare to defy the military government -- among them is Somnuck Jongmeewasin.

• LIFE

  Drought, fishing scandals and winding roads

  Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 23/12/2015

  » In the past year, environmental disasters once again proved how much of an impact they have on everyone's lives: the air we breathe (the haze in the South, blown over from Indonesia); the water we use (the contentious Chao Phraya roads); the lights we see (the coal-fired power plants); the ground beneath our feet (the gold mining scandals); the food we eat (the fishery disputes). In all of this, local communities and the rural poor feel the heat and the fire more than Bangkok's urbanites and they're the people who keep showing public resistance against environmental problems and the depletion of natural resources, despite the grip of military rule.  

• THAILAND

  Unknown author takes out prestigious SEA Write Award

  News, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 23/10/2015

  » First-time published writer, Veeraporn Nitiprapha, has won the SEA Write Award for her first book, Saiduan Tabod Nai Khaowongkot (A Blind Earthworm in a Labyrinth). 

• THAILAND

  The rocky road to development

  Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 02/09/2015

  » One Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's many ideas is the "New Bangkok Landmark", in the form of a 14km-long bicycle way that would, if launched, be built along the Chao Phraya. This caused some panic attacks among local architects. After the idea was thrown around earlier in the year, prominent Thai architects voiced their disagreement and suggested that at least the design -- an expressway-like structure built into the water along the river bank -- be revised, if not abandoned altogether. The cost of the project is said to be around 14 billion baht.

• LIFE

  The reading feast

  Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 13/07/2015

  » Bangkok never gets enough of book-related happenings. Set aside the National Book Fair and Bangkok International Book Fair in April and Bangkok Book Expo in October, the capital is about to have another book event, the Bangkok Book Festival 2015, which claims to be not just another commercial affair.

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