• OPINION

  Risky Roads

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 09/12/2016

  » Recently, the Child Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Center announced a campaign to ban children from riding motorcycles in order to save the lives of the youth of today. Mind you, it's illegal for anyone younger than 15 years old to ride a motorcycle in the first place, but we're talking Thailand -- The Land of Mai Pen Rai and Spotty Law Enforcement -- after all.

• OPINION

  Doable New Year resolutions

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 30/12/2016

  » Wanna achieve something in 2017 without setting yourself up for disappointment by not following through with your resolutions? Here are my humble suggestions of what laymen can do -- with little to no effort -- to make the next 12 months more positive for themselves and others.

• OPINION

  16 facts about being Thai Chinese

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 27/01/2017

  » To mark Chinese New Year (Jan 28), let's take a look at the different sides of being Thai nationals of Chinese descent.

• OPINION

  10 Good Deeds You Can Do without (Almost) Killing a Turtle

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 10/03/2017

  » A sea turtle, nicknamed Omsin (piggy bank), recently underwent a seven-hour surgery to remove 915 coins weighing about 5kg from her stomach. How did these coins find their way into Nong Omsin's stomach in the first place, I hear you ask? Well, apparently people dropped coins into the well this turtle lived in, believing they were "making merit" and would get lucky. This just shows how reckless people can be when it comes to what they perceive to be a "good deed". How on earth is practically feeding a turtle with indigestible pieces of metal considered to be a good or even sound action?

• OPINION

  True or April Fool?

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 31/03/2017

  » To celebrate April Fools' Day (Apr 1) and prepare you for the barrage of hoaxes and false news, I've come up with a quiz to help you practise your discerning between true or false. Here are seven either unbelievable-but-true or outright fake stories that have happened in Thailand.

• OPINION

  How Thai Chinese are you?

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 16/02/2018

  » As the editor (and the Thai-Chinese token of this magazine), I would like to celebrate Chinese New Year with a fun test to gauge how Thai-Chinese you are. I mean, according to Theraphan Luangthomkun's Language, Nation And Development In Southeast Asia, it was estimated that there are about 26 million Thais of full or partial Chinese descent. So, Happy Chinese New Year to about 40% of the Thai population, I guess.

• OPINION

  True costs only Bangkokians know

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 28/09/2018

  » Have you noticed that somethings in life come with hidden costs -- monetary or otherwise -- that we may not be aware of until we experience it? And some of them are pretty unique to the Bangkok way of life. If you're not sure what I'm getting at, take a look at the examples below that may make you nod along (or hopefully laugh along). g

• OPINION

  Horror stories for those with short attention spans

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 25/10/2019

  » Halloween is rearing its scary head. To celebrate the unholy night and help you get into a spooky mood, I've compiled 13 two-sentence Thai horror stories for your entertainment and horror. Why 13? Because it's Halloween. Read them during the witching hour, if you dare. Some require knowledge of Thai culture. g

• OPINION

  Travel Struggles Thais Can Relate To

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 01/11/2019

  » If you're fortunate enough to travel on a regular basis, you may start to pick up on little quirks that come with it. While I don't consider myself consumed by wanderlust, I would like to think that I've travelled enough to be able to share a few amusing quirks and struggles I discovered along the way. For your entertainment (and in some cases, our common commiseration), here are travel titbits Thai can relate to.

• OPINION

  Predictions for 2020

  Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 03/01/2020

  » We're less than 72 hours into 2020 and I would like to help you, dear readers, ease back into your routines. Here are a few of my somewhat educated guesstimates of what this year has in store for us.

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