Before 1669: How Thailand Built an Emergency System from Volunteers, Private Ambulances, and Good Luck A few years ago, I slipped on a wet step and fell hard enough to open a nasty wound. There was blood, plenty of it, and although I did not pass out, the shock left me sitting there trying to … Read more
Thailand’s Hidden Dangers: Animals You May Not Want to Meet When you think of dangerous wildlife in Thailand, you’ll probably think about cobras, crocodiles, or maybe jellyfish. But some of the most interesting, and genuinely risky, creatures here fly under the radar. They’re the animals you might see in a canal, spot while snorkeling, or … Read more
The Four-Ton Diplomat: A History of Thailand’s Working Elephants To understand the history of Thailand, formerly Siam, you have look beyond its ancient temples, trade routes, and royal dynasties, to an animal that shaped them all. For centuries, the Asian elephant was far more than a native species wandering the tropical canopy. It was a … Read more
How a King Turned a Swamp Into Thailand’s Greatest Rice Bowl Back in the 1890s, if you’d walked through what’s now Rangsit in Pathum Thani province, you wouldn’t have seen any of the tidy canals or tangerine orchards that made the place famous. You’d have found yourself in a vast, marshy wilderness called Thung Luang, … Read more
The Mystery Of The James Bond Car Stunt – Solved? James Bond in Thailand Thailand has always held a special place in James Bond history. Its tropical islands, crowded Bangkok streets, canals and busy markets provided the exotic background for several 007 adventures, from “The Man with the Golden Gun” in 1974 to “Tomorrow Never … Read more
Beetle Gladiators of Northern Thailand If you’re wandering through the villages of northern Thailand between September and November, you might spot something delightfully odd. Groups of kids and grown‑ups huddled in a circle, leaning in intently, cheering softly but not watching a ball game, not a boxing match, but two beetles. Locked horns. Pushing. Shoving. … Read more
When Elephants Rest: The Three Graveyard Stories of Thailand The idea of an elephant graveyard has fascinated people for centuries. It’s one of those myths that refuses to die, a mystical place where aging elephants wander off to die alone, mysteriously gathering their bones in a secret clearing. It sounds like something out of a … Read more
The Soviet Submarine That Never Reached Thailand Jesada Technik Museum’s Lost U-194 Jesada Technik Museum in Nakhon Pathom was famous for its unusual collection of vehicles. Visitors could see vintage cars, motorcycles, aircraft, helicopters and other machines that seemed to have escaped from a railway museum, a film set or the imagination of a particularly … Read more
Four Strange But True Stories That Could Only Happen in Thailand Thailand Never Fails to Surprise One of the joys of travelling around Thailand is that you never quite know what’s waiting around the next corner. Sometimes it’s an ancient temple hidden in the forest. Sometimes it’s a forgotten railway station or a mysterious cave. … Read more
Why I Avoid One Thai Road When we planned our road trip to the coast of Prachuapkirikhan last year, it should have been simple. Travelling from anywhere near Bangkok there’s an obvious route that online maps will tell you to follow, and it looks perfectly reasonable and logical on the screen of a smartphone. Instead, … Read more