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Picture: Ban Muang Early yesterday morning the Hua Hin police received notification of the murder of a man outside some old rented rooms in Thap Tai sub-district. Found dead from head wounds inflicted by a knife was Uan Lepanakul, 59. The assailant was 58 year old Buasi who was soon arrested along with a bloodstained Sparta knife and taken on a reenactment, reported Ban Muang. Buasi said that he had been drinking with the victim and both were very drunk. Picture: Ban Muang He had mentioned Uan's new wife whom he knew previously and Uan took umbrage at this. He lost face at being chased out of the drinking party so he decided to drive his motorcycle home and get a Sparta knife. He then attacked his drinking buddy and killed him. -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-10-02 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Picture: Daily News Thailand's transport minister Saksayam Chidchob said he had signed off on ministry rules that will allow the use of apps to hail taxis. Companies who apply to run apps will be subject to a 30 day scrutiny process. He said that 10,000 taxis of up to seven person capacity would likely be available in Bangkok. Flagfall for the cheapest vehicle will be 40 baht. After the first two kilometers the rate will increase per kilometer by 6 baht up to 16 baht depending on the size, reported Daily News. A limit of 20 baht hailing charge has been set. Idling in traffic will mean 2 baht more per minute. -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-10-02 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Employees wait for customers outside a massage parlour in Pattaya. Photo: AFP ● The week-long Chinese holiday is usually one of tourism-reliant Thailand’s peak travel periods, but for the second year in a row it’s been all but cancelled by Covid-19 ● With fully vaccinated travellers able to enter from November 1 without serving quarantine, thoughts are now turning to attracting Indians celebrating Diwali Vijitra Duangdee First the beer and coconut shop closed, then the traditional medicine store next door. With Chinese tourists staying away from Thailand during the golden week holiday due to pandemic curbs, businesses that rely heavily on mainland customers have abandoned the neat, new shophouses of Pattaya’s Sohotown development. The lack of visitors from China has also upended the dream of creating a modern, buzzing Chinatown community of shops, restaurants and spas around a temple and flea market on a busy main road in the kingdom’s popular eastern resort city. The seven-day holiday from October 1 to mark the founding of modern China is one of the country’s peak travel periods. Discover Cigna’s range of health insurance solutions created for expats and local nationals living in Thailand - click to view Full story: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3150799/thailand-feels-pinch-golden-week-no-gold-chinese-stay-home -- © Copyright South China Morning Post 2021-10-02 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Picture: Naew Na A smiling chief of Immigration in Thailand Lt-Gen Sompong Chingduang presided over a press conference at Suan phlu HQ to announce the arrest of a Russian man in Koh Samui for dealing drugs. An informant in Bo Phut reported a man for selling drugs to foreigners on Samui island and Koh Phangan and to foreign youngsters living there, too. He was also holding drugs parties at his villa. A vinyl board suggested this was Eagle Nest. Biometrics capabilities of the IB soon confirmed that the man was a Mr Konstantin wanted on an Interpol Red Notice dor drug offences in Russia. On seeing the officers Mr Konstantin dashed for the inside of the luxury villa where he rented. Officers presented their credentials aware that he was likely trying to get rid of drugs on the premises. Picture: Naew Na A search revealed plenty of illicit substances in a safe and desk of a bedroom. Bankbooks were taken into evidence. The Russian admitted the drugs were his and he had got them through the post from a Russian called Mr Ramis. It had cost him 55,000 baht. He admitted to supplying two groups of foreigners on the islands and holding illegal parties. He was charged with possession with intent to sell Class 1 and 2 narcotics. -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-10-01 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Picture: Brand Inside Asia A report on Brand Inside Asia on the state of foreign tourism in Thailand presented a stark contrast to TAT chief Yutthasak Suphasorn's latest prediction about a million visitors to Phuket in the high season. By the end of the year TTB Analytics said they expected only 100,000 foreign tourists to have visited Thailand in 2021. Krung Sri went for around 150,000. Yutthasak was predicting 5,000 a day in the high season. TTB said that tourism was 79% down on 2019 figures and 3.55 trillion baht had gone missing. Two out of every three baht is down to the lack of foreigners. This amounted to 2.38 trillion for foreigners and 1.17 trillion in the domestic market. The slow vaccine rollout, confusion among potential tourists and fears about the Covid numbers in Thailand all contributed to the bad forecasts. One area the media highlighted was the need for quality vaccine in Thailand. They took a snipe against Chinese vaccines noting how easy it had been for them to come in and get approval as opposed to other vaccines seen as better. -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-10-01 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Photo by ILO/Alin Sirisaksopit via flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) A survey by Rocket Media lab of 1,136 food delivery riders gave some interesting stats on the fast developing business in Thailand. It has been a business that has been fuelled by customer habits in the pandemic and work from home rules. Kasikorn's research arm has said that it is worth 5.31 to 5.58 billion baht this year, up between 18.4% and 24.4% on 2020 figures. There have been many protests by delivery men and women complaining their companies change the rates at the drop of a hat and that their legal status is not properly defined so their benefits are not necessarily enshrined in law. Lineman and Panda riders have protested in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. The survey suggested that 80% of riders were male, 14% female and the rest didn't say. 44% were aged 23-30 and 31.69% were aged 31 to 40. 7% were aged 41 and over. Just over half the riders had been to high school. Half had only themselves to take care of, but 38% needed money for 1-2 others and 23% were looking after 3-4 people in the family. About 46% said they earned enough, others said they couldn't save or the money left them short each month. Half earn about 10-15 baht, 27% 15-20,000 and 10% over 20,000 a month. For 60% it was their main job, 40% treated it as a second income. They had come from a wide variety of previous positions they had either lost or resigned from. Many stated that concerns over liability in road accidents represented a key concern. -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-10-01 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Picture: TNA The chairman of Thailand's Tourism Business association said that the delay in reopening much of the country from October 1st to November 1st was further bad news for the sector. It had damaged the confidence of potential tourists to the country, said Chamnan Srisawat in comments reported by TNA and hit travel agents hard. He wants to see the time of the delay for a rethink on names, rules and costs to restore some uniformity. Chamnan said that foreigners had been confused by all the names that meant nothing to them - Sandbox, Move On, Recharge even Charming have been bandied about. He wanted to see every area opening under the same banner, with the same rules and the same operating procedures whether it is Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin or Cha-Am. He said that the testing regime was the number one thing putting off foreigners coming to Thailand. He suggested one 2,000 baht RT-PCR test on arrival then 2x200 baht ATK tests later. This price should be fixed and the same everywhere, he said. Many foreigners have found themselves with testing bills around 15,000 baht on top of hotel charges, notes ASEAN NOW. Difficulty in getting the timing right over bookings for getting a Certificate of Entry (CoE) should also be addressed. Discover Cigna’s range of health insurance solutions created for expats and local nationals living in Thailand - click to view -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-10-01 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

File photo: REUTERS Pakakrong Thepparak an academic at the Mongkhol Sri Wichai technical institute announced the latest figures for confidence of operators in the tourism industry after work with the TAT and Tourism Council. Pakakrong said that the stats were so bad that confidence was at 7 out of 200, the worst since records began. This put Thailand into a "coma" category. The media that carried her comments said this meant the Thai tourism industry in Quarter 3 was like someone sick in ICU. So far this year just 280,447 foreign visitors had come to Thailand and had spent an estimated 16.8 billion. Only 51% of businesses are open right now in the tourism sector. 44% have closed temporarily and 5% for good. The great majority of businesses have less that 50% staff remaining after 77% of the tourism workforce or 3.05 million people just left the business and sought work elsewhere or became idle. 54% of tourism businesses have no income at all. Of these some are in the direst straits - Pubs and bars, mostly 100% loss of income, theme parks and water parks 94%, travel agents, 93%, Sopas and massage 86% and transport sector of tourism with losses of 68%. Pakakrong said there was some improvement in confidence forecast for the fourth quarter (Oct to Dec). Confidence for operators rose then to 29 out of 200, but still way below the under 50 "coma" threshold. -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-10-01 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

By Goong Nang(GN) Pattaya – An intoxicated driver crashed his car into several food cart vendors on Second road in front of View Talay 6 and Central festival yesterday morning. The Pattaya City Police were notified of the accident at 11 A.M. yesterday (September 30th) on Pattaya Second Road in front of View Talay 6 and Central Festival shopping mall. They and The Pattaya News reporters arrived at the scene to find the damaged white car, food carts, and several shaken but mostly uninjured food cart vendors. The intoxicated car driver, whose name was not given by police, had already been taken to the Pattaya City Police Station located only a short distance from the accident on Soi 9. According to Pattaya police, the driver was so intoxicated, despite it being 11:00 in the morning, Full story: https://thepattayanews.com/2021/10/01/intoxicated-driver-crashes-his-car-into-food-cart-vendors-in-front-of-central-festival-in-pattaya/ -- © Copyright The Pattaya News 2021-10-01 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

file photo: Siam Rath Fallout from Tuesday's court dual pricing decision in Phetchaburi continued to reverberate around Thailand. Mr Erwin Buse from the Netherlands had taken the Ministry of Public Health to court over dual pricing for foreigners and other groups at Hua Hin hospital. It was shown that there were four different pricing bands. In the third were expats who would pay a lot more. Mr Buse described this as unconstitutional in his suit. According to press reports the court said that it did not see the dual pricing as discriminatory suggesting the higher rates charged to foreigners who could pay more were good for the nation. The bad image of state sponsored rip-offs was not mentioned by the court. Mr Buse plans to appeal and told ASEAN NOW that the judge in the case acted in the interest of the MoPH. "The bottom line is that foreigners must pay 96% additional for labour cost. "Foreigners must also pay 25% additional (cost) for highly trained English speaking personnel". He said that the court had not considered the pertinent facts in its judgment and had ignored how calculations were made. He continued: "The MoPH revered other Asian nations that use dual pricing (in the court). "That was totally irrelevant for this court case but the court used it to justify their decision. "Unacceptable". -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-09-30 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Picture: Sanook Admin for a fine dining restaurant in Thailand hit back at people who left poor but seemingly factual reviews. Grab shots of complaints on Twitter were commented upon on Instagram. Since a furor blew up both accounts have been deleted. One customer complained about the quantity of lobster served, poorly cooked pasta and sauce that didn't match the dish. They were told to go to a buffet or make it themselves if they were so concerned about quantity. The insults were shot back in reasonably correct English. Another who complained about the lack of truffle scrapings and portion size was told to eat the pictures in the menu. A complaint about dry meat was because the customer took 10 minutes to photo it. Another complained about the hard rice in the risotto - they were told to keep their money for the dentist in future. The tirade - widely criticised on social media, said Sanook - was rounded off by this statement from the restaurant: "Currently under attack from uneducated wannabe foodie". -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-09-30 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

file photo The CCSA's spokeswoman said yesterday that she expects more easing of restrictions to be announced when the CCSA meet to discuss this next. This Dr Apisamai Srirangsan said would be October 11th - a week next Monday. She said that reopening of certain facilities was happening in October for sure with movie theaters, beauty clinics and salons, tattooists, labs, fitness and gyms all set to benefit. Water parks, toy machines and meetings business would have to waut till later. She announced that 11 provinces have achieved 50% vaccinations - Bangkok, Pathum Thani, Samut Sakhon, Samut Prakan, Ayutthaya, Chachoengsao, Chonburi, Nakhon Nayok, Phangnga, Phuket and Ranong. A further nine are in the 40% range. On Tuesday 726,805 people got jabs bringing the countrywide total to 50,867,498. In all the stats the Thai media did not report what dose was involved. Discover Cigna’s range of health insurance solutions created for expats and local nationals living in Thailand - click to view -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-09-30 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

File photo / anti-government “Talufah” group Bangkok police will summon woman to acknowledge a charge of indecent exposure for undressing in public, during a protest by the anti-government “Talufah” group at Nang Lerng intersection, near Government House on Tuesday. Pol Maj-Gen Piya Tavichai, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said today (Wednesday) that the woman, identified as Worawan Sae Aung, aka “Pa Pao”, could face a fine of up to 5,000 baht if convicted, in accordance with Section 388 of the Criminal Code, for undressing in public to protest against the alleged harsh handling of the protesters. He said that nine protesters were arrested in the Nang Lerng area of the capital, following a clash with anti-riot police, as they tried to break through a razor wire barricade to get to Government House, to demand the ouster of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/police-to-charge-naked-protester-for-indecent-exposure-in-public/ -- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-09-30 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Picture: Sanook Deputy government spokesman Ratchada Thanadirek said that cabinet approval had been gained for the expropriation of land in five districts. This will pave the way for a new bridge so far called "Kiakkai bridge" that will join Phra Nakhon and Thonburi, reported Sanook. It is in the area of the new parliament and tests are being done to assess whether its building will weaken the structure of the swanky new parliament building. The bridge will be 320 meters long and have three lanes on each side. Experts have deemed a new bridge was the only way to solve traffic problems in the area. -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-09-29 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

UNITED STATES, Sept 29 (TNA) – Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai expressed his gratitude towards US senator Tammy Duckworth for pushing for the US donation of COVID-19 vaccine to Thailand. The Foreign Ministry released pictures of the meeting between Mr. Don and Ms. Duckworth, the Thai-American US senator, on Sept 27 during his visit to Washington DC. Mr. Don expressed his gratitude towards Ms. Duckworth for her support for the donation of 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from the US. Both expressed their satisfaction that the US government convened a meeting of a Thai-US working group this week to start the process of the vaccine donation. Discover Cigna’s range of health insurance solutions created for expats and local nationals living in Thailand - click to view Full story: https://tna.mcot.net/english-news-790582 -- © Copyright TNA 2021-09-29 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Picture: Bangkok Business News Thailand's Bangkok Business News reminded their readership as floods wracked the country that one of the places most at risk and susceptible to flooding was the Thai capital city. The city was sinking as fast as ever as sea levels continued to rise. They asked if a prediction was going to come true. A survey in 2009 said that bangkok had 25 years to put plans in place or face disaster. There are 13 years left and BBN was asking if the capital's days are numbered, except as a place to get around by boat. One study suggested that from 1978 to 2008 the city had sunk 1 meter. Much of it is at an average of 1.5 M about sea level. Much of the lower reaches of the Chao Praya river are very low lying. The story said that rainfall was not really the problem in Bangkok it was the mitigation measures about where to send it. Bangkok's geographical position presents challenges. Inevitably they asked the question in the current rainy season if Bangkok would flood this year like what it referred to as The Great Bangkok Flood in 2011. Much of the country flooded in that year but Bangkok waited its turn in blue skies and relative quiet. But the city residents had been told that water was on its way despite the fact it wasn't raining. Suburb by northern suburb the water came - not from the sky, at least not here - but gurgling up through the drains. Drains that couldn't cope with the water that was flowing from the north and central regions to Bangkok and the sea. Great areas were swallowed up in places like Don Muang as the water rose. It began with a trickle from a drain that soon became a torrent you could kyack in! With Bangkok sinking and the sea rising according to climate change forecasts the future could be grim if Bangkok city planners drop the ball. Polders, levees, floodwalls, by-pass floodways were all mentioned as helpful in the article. But there needs to be political will as well as ideas to stop and redirect the water. -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-09-29 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

PHOTO: ข่าวสำนักงานรัฐมนตรี ศธ. official Facebook By Nop Meechukhun Bangkok – The official Facebook page of the Education Ministry had released an apology statement yesterday, September 28th, after publishing what appeared to be an altered photograph showing the Deputy Education Minister visiting a flooded area. The photo, which was posted online yesterday on the Education Ministry’s social media, seemed to show Deputy Education Minister Kanokwan Wilawan wading through floodwaters. The caption stated that the Deputy Minister had visited a flooded area as she was concerned over students and school officials in areas affected by tropical storm ‘Dianmu’ last weekend. However, many Thai social media users noticed that the photo was likely to be edited as her image was seemingly cropped and photoshopped into an image of an unknown flooded area. Some also posted another photo and stated that the original photo was actually during her visit to a flooded area in 2020. Thai social media users also pointed out the lack of a shadow and other signs of the image being photoshopped. Full story: https://thepattayanews.com/2021/09/29/thai-education-ministry-apologizes-for-posting-altered-photograph-of-deputy-minister-wading-through-flood-general-flood-situation-updated/ -- © Copyright The Pattaya News 2021-09-29 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Visitors at Bangsaen Beach in Chonburi, Thailand | Bloomberg File Photo PRIM CHUWIRUCH With outbound Chinese travel not expected to resume anytime soon, Thailand is betting on travellers from other countries to take advantage of its relaxed rules for tourists Bangkok: Thailand is looking to attract Indian travelers during the traditional holiday season to boost its tourism-reliant economy that’s been hit hard by the absence of mass holidaymakers from countries including China. The Thai tourism industry expects Indians to resume travel in large numbers next month during Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, said Somsong Sachaphimukh, vice president of the Thai Tourism Council. That should help spark a tourism revival as it coincides with the planned waiver of quarantine for vaccinated visitors from Nov. 1, she said. With the outbound Chinese travel not expected to resume anytime soon, Thailand is betting on travelers from other origins to take advantage of its relaxed rules for tourists. Indians, who made up the third-largest group of visitors to Thailand before the pandemic, may head again to Thai beaches for holidays, conferences and destination weddings, Somsong said. “If Thailand plans to reopen the country and many of our tourism hubs in November, this year’s Diwali may be a great opportunity,” Somsong told an online briefing on Tuesday. “Indian travelers have a lot of spending power and a lot of potential.” Full story: https://theprint.in/economy/thailand-bets-on-diwali-season-indians-to-boost-its-tourism/742018/ -- © Copyright The Print 2021-09-29 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Picture: Daily News The head of the Thai Guide Association Thaiphakorn Janthaem presented a letter to RTP chief Gen Suwat Chaengyodsuk at RTP HQ in Bangkok yesterday. The letter contained a request for an investigation into the working practices of the Krabi Tourist Police. Daily News reported trouble in the southern Thai province after confusion about what guides could operate in the Laem Lak area. Locals had demanded 900 baht a head for 41 tourists led into the area by a man called Phoom-ek. But after this was not paid they removed their guides leaving Phoom-ek to fend for himself. He was subsequently arrested for illegal activity and the police fined him 1,000 baht for each tourist. Thiphakorn believes that there are elements in the Krabi tourism police who are not following the regulations and the law to the last letter. -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-09-28 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Picture: Thai Rath Thai Rath published a long feature about Pattaya past and present and it contained a warning tale about not listening to foreigners. Waxing lyrical they took the reader back to 1974 when "Pattaya was an infant just learning to walk". When the tourism promotion board - forerunner to today's TAT - was eying up the golden sands of the "cresent shaped beach" - and seeing dollar signs. Around this time, so their report continued, investment from the Japanese government including access to experts in city development and infrastructure materialized. The Japanese experts were immediately dispatched to Pattaya to come up with a coherent development plan to ensure the future of what could be a big city given all its geographical advantages. They made a number of clear decisions: No hotels within 100 meters of the tideline. No hotels to be bigger than the top of the pine trees (like Bali). Development of flood mitigation measures and sewage plants. Creation of a full drainage plan. Then the jewel in the crown of the Japanese vision - a 2.7 kilometer pedestrian only area on the beach "Walking Street". Nearly half a century later it is clear that the proposals were knocked back or only half-heartedly accepted. A shining or perhaps dim example depending on your viewpoint, is what Walking Street eventually became. A seedy street with bars, entertainment, nightclubs and restaurants. The rest of the beach became a free-for-all as successive city planners did anything but plan. And prostitutes moved in and became known as "phee maphrao" - ghosts of the coconuts. Then came the pandemic and 70,000 cases in Chonburi, 500 deaths. 18 million tourist visitors a year went to almost zero overnight and despite some resurgences has remained a shadow of its former self for the best part of two years. Pattaya should be the "hub" of the EEC (eastern economic corridor) plans and its mayor is putting a brave face on its future. But exactly what shape that future will take is up to many factors. These are interesting times for Pattaya and its residents with the pandemic increasingly looking like a watershed for the future. -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-09-28 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Picture: Thai PBS It's been a perennial question since some Pattaya expats now retired were knee high to grasshoppers! Why does their preferred retirement home flood all the time? Yesterday Pattaya's strongarm mayor - from a family used to getting its own way - gave his excuses and outlined the way forward. Thai PBS were in town and they too had noticed that whenever the rainy season comes around great swathes of Pattaya continually go under half a meter of floodwater. Firstly the excuses. Picture: Thai PBS Sontaya Kunplome said that it was caused by rain. Not just any old rain, oh no. Pattaya had suffered the heaviest rain in decades recently, he claimed. Also causing trouble to his plans was the building of the high speed three airport rail link (Don Muang - Suvarnabhumi - U-Tapao). Aspects of this projects construction had interferred with drainage. In addition many areas that are low lying had flooded despite measures to prevent this. That went back years, he suggested without saying "well before I arrived". Picture: Thai PBS He outlined several roads where this was happening saying Soi Bongkot and Jomtien 2 road and at Mongkhol intersection had gone from knee deep to waist deep. He then described Pattaya as being in a shallow frying pan - outlying areas just feed all that dastardly H2O to the city. For answers the mayor is looking at new pipe plans as well as concentrating efforts to stop encroachment on waterways. Offending properties will be removed and more than 100 cases will be continually followed up to conclusion. Rather resigned to Pattaya's problems the mayor asked for time and concluded with a vague set of generalizations: "Solving Pattaya's flooding problem is not a short term issue. Firstly we must drain the water as fast as possible. Secondly we must follow the plan in the medium term. Thirdly we must make improvements to the system". ASEAN NOW advice to residents: Get out your galoshes, the rainy season still has a way to run! -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-09-28 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

By Panithan Onthaworn Sukhothai citizens were deeply touched by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha’s on-site visit to rescue affected households impacted by flooding, the government said Monday. “The villagers realized that the Prime Minister intended to give the best care possible for all Thai people,” said PM office’s secretariat Tipanan Sirichana, as Prayut visited the flooding area for three hours on Sunday. Tipanan added that now is the moment for all parties to work together to serve the people first, rather than attempting to undermine the ruling party. Full story: https://www.thaienquirer.com/33196/government-says-prayut-flood-visit-raised-the-morale-of-sukhothai-residents/ -- © Copyright Thai Enquirer 2021-09-28 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Daily News reported the latest figures from a Super Poll conducted last week. 1,078 people were asked various questions about the economy and government performance. A total of 66.8% replied that they believed Thai PM Prayuth Chan-ocha could lead the country through the economic crisis to better days. Image: Daily News The vast majority - 96.6% - wanted easing of restrictions so that they could start earning and being more free again. 86.8% expected to have more money once restrictions were eased. 67.6 expressed confidence that the economy would soon bounce back. But 78.1 pointed to forces within the government who were eroding public confidence. -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-09-27 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Picture: Manager When tourism finally gets off the ground again in Pattaya they will have to forget the resort's notorious entertainment industry. In an eight point plan aimed at ensuring that foreign tourism can get off the ground, came an acceptance of the situation from the Pattaya Tourist Business association. Picture: Manager Number eight assumed the entertainment industry is expected to remain shut whenever Pattaya reopens. Number six on TBA chief Bun-anan Pattanasin's list is stopping any reference to "Sandbox" in the "Pattaya Moves On" brand. Marketing materials will refer to Pattaya's new image as "BLUE". This stands for Business, Leisure, Ultimate Experience. Picture: Manager Other measures the TBA raised with the TAT are chivvying the authorities to get everyone vaccinated - 50% have received a double dose in Pattaya and 20,000 remain to be double jabbed, reported Manager. Limiting quarantine to 7 days, promoting more direct flights and getting more hotels onboard with the SHA and SHA+ schemes remain other priorities. Bun-anan was commenting after the CCSA knocked back the October 1st reopening D-Day to November 1st. Pattaya wants to reopen faster than that and is insisting they be heard. -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-09-27 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Picture: Thai PBS A leading tourism figure in Pattaya said he was not expecting a million tourists a month in the high season. Tourism Business Association figure Bunawan Patanasin said that if 200,000 Thai and foreign tourists come each month this high season that will be a major positive. Back in the pre-pandemic 2018-2019 period Bunawan said tourism raked in 276 billion baht. In 2020 this had dwindled to 60 billion. Picture: Thai PBS Previous high seasons saw 800,000 to a million visitors a month. Now the ambitious target was 200,000. He wants Pattaya to be allowed to open to foreigners as soon as possible seeing a mid-October opening a chance to test the waters with their protocols ahead of high season. He like others called for clarity from the government to give guidance to tourism businesses and confidence to foreign tourists. Picture: Thai PBS Though the domestic market was expected to prove the major market this year. Meanwhile in a Thai PBS report Pattaya's major Sontaya Kunplome spoke of the resort being ready to reopen to foreign tourists with 70% of the locals vaccinated. He said 60,000 people had been jabbed in Muang district, 140,000 in Bang Lamung and 90% in Koh Larn. It was now up to the CCSA to give the great light so that his Pattaya Move On plan could be enacted. -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-09-25 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates