Bangkok Shutdown

January 13, 2014, Monday

Today is the scheduled Bangkok Shutdown. Bangkok Shutdown is aimed by the anti-government group PDRC led by Suthep. Today, they aimed to shutdown Bangkok and gain Victory by demanding that the government caretakers will totally step down from positions.

@Pakjiiz

For this mass protest happening now, 7 different areas in Bangkok Capital are having rally stages. Roads and intersections are blocked from traffic. These 7 areas are (a) in front of MBK shopping mall, (b) Asoke Intersection, (c) Silom (d) Victory Monument, (e) Ladprao Intersection (f) In front of DSI Chaeng Wattana and (g) Lumpini Park. These 7 different areas are now super crowded with different stages set up for the leaders to speak.

Anti-government protesters aimed to have victory by giving an ultimatum to PM Yingluck to step down by Wednesday or else they will shutdown Bangkok for a longer period.

Foreigners are advised to avoid rally sites because danger is unpredictable as what has happened in previous demonstrations. Foreigners are also advised not to wear either yellow or red shirts and not to demonstrate any sign of favor to either party. Remain neutral at all times and to always be cautious.

Today, around 400 schools around Bangkok Capital has closed. Chula University is closed today up to Wednesday.

Some international Schools remain open like Anglo Singapore International School located at Sukhumvit 64 which will open until 1pm today. While Singapore International School and The Regents School are also open.  Most International School are closed like Wells International School and Ramkhamhaeng Advent International School.

OFW in Thailand Supports Pork Barrel Protest

The hottest issue this week is about the law to abolish Pork Barrel. Many Filipinos are against it but millions are for it. The Supreme Court decided to abolish Pork Barrel System as it has paved corruption by the government officials who are holding the fund. As seen in the Philippines, it has not developed for a long period of time. Although the government has allocated millions of budget for the local projects, still there are no development. Why? Many local citizens were asking why our road is still not fixed, why the bridge is still broken and many more complaints.

The truth is that, the congressmen and representatives who are the ones holding the budget for the local government projects had corrupted the budget and had been receiving billions of money from the government and used it for their own personal use. What happened to the people? The poor becomes poorer and the rich becomes richer.

After the Pork Barrel Scam issue, Janet Lim Napoles became very famous in the country. She is the alleged P10 Million Pork Barrel Scam mastermind. Witnesses has came out, so many sub-issues were declared until the SC decided to abolish the Pork Barrel System.

A new light of hope has evolved to the Filipino Community and millions of Filipinos marched to support the abolition of the Pork Barrel. In Davao City, thousands of Dabaweneos join the rally to support it. One retired teacher said that she will support what the SC had decided because the money belonged to the people, it must also be used for the service of the community where everyone can benefit not only the rich and corrupt government officials.

In Bangkok on Monday, OFW also gathered together to show their support for the Abolition of Pork Barrel.

Original Post at Pinay Abroad

BANGKOK HOTEL LISTINGS

Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit
Soi 14, Sukhumvit Rd.
Bangkok Thailand

Filipinos in Thailand Visa-Run: Take Extra Care

In Thailand, if there are thousands of Filipinos already acquired working permits, there are also hundreds of them who are under transit visa. Transit visa is the type of visa we get from the airport or from any gateway upon entering a country.

 Not only Filipinos do this everyday, there are also people from other nationalities. There are several agencies in Bangkok for everyday visa-run. Most agencies use van (mini bus) as their primary vehicle and other agencies use double-decker bus.

Everyday, hundreds of Filipinos go out of Thailand to Cambodia for a visa run. When they enter back Thailand, they are given 15 days to stay in the Kingdom and after that they have to do visa run again in order to extend their length of stay here in Thailand. So every 15 days they exit the Kingdom and go to Cambodia or go to Laos for 2 months.

And, just 2 days ago a van containing foreign nationals had collided with a huge truck resulting to 3 dead including the driver and 2 passengers. This incident became viral in the Filipino social media in Bangkok which affected some agencies who are catering Filipinos for visa run. But later on, it was confirmed that the vehicle does not belong to any Visa-run Agencies but was a tourist van who brings tourists to different tourist spots in Thailand.

Many Filipinos were concerned because of this visa-run activity that they have to travel a total of 8 hours more or less for a visa run and hundreds of Filipinos do this everyday. Advises and concerns were raised like speed must be controlled and must always pray to God for safety.

original post here at Pinay Abroad

 

Bangkok Weather Drops Unexpectedly

It was the first day in Bangkok on Sunday, 3rd march, to experience a sudden drop in temperature. After having been pronounced to be under drought, Bangkok at last experienced rain on Sunday afternoon after almost two months of hot climate.

The temperature has reportedly dropped up to 15 degrees Celsius on that day. From Sunday to Tuesday, the sun was not out, at least the sky was humid and rain poured again on Monday morning. On Wednesday, the shy was clearer than previously. The sun was out but was still blocked with the humidity of the atmosphere. The temperature rises again but it was not yet back to normal.

Today is the fourth day of Bangkok experiencing a nice weather. People are enjoying a little coldness in the morning and in the evening. As Bangkok is one of the hottest cities in Asia.

Thailand is Celebrating SONGKRAN Festival - Thai New Year

Songkran is the longest holiday in Thailand. It is a 3-day new year celebration. This year, it is celebrated on April 13-15.

During Songkran celebration, people goes to the streets bringing water with them and splashing it to the passersby. They may have water guns, pails of water, or water hose. Any passerby - whether walking or riding on any form of transpo will be splashed with water.

Songkran is done this way because Thai people believed that by throwing water, a person will be cleansed from all sins he has done previously. New year, new life. Elders usually go to the temple and pray. But youngsters celebrate this festival for fun by throwing water to each other.

Foreigners in Thailand also join Thai people in celebrating Songkran Festival.

Bangpu Nature Education Centre

This place is located at Samutprakhan Province, 37 kilometers away from Bangkok.

Bang Pu Rehabilitation and Nature Education Centre is a mangrove area with mudflats in it. It is an ecosystem which serves as a habitat of almost 400 different species of flora and fauna. And with 8,000 visitors per annum.

Contact:

Terrayuth La-orphanphol - Manager

Email: thaiyuth@hotmail.com

Bangpu Nature and Education Centre

162 Moo 2 Sukhumvit Road,

Bangpu Mai, Muang,

Samutprakhan 10280

Tel: 02 709 5005

Fax: 02 323 3073