Tag Archives: Thailand tourism

Get me out of here pleads Leicestershire English teacher Gareth Davies

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47-year-old Leicester English teacher Gareth Davies suddenly found out his Thailand employer had not been making Social Welfare Fund contributions

A seriously ill Leicestershire English teacher in Thailand, Gareth Davies, has phoned friends and relatives begging to be transferred from the provincial hospital he is warded in, complaining of neglect and abuse by hospital staff. Mr Davies, from the Leicestershire village of Glennfield, accepted a teaching position at Kasem Bundit University last year, but when he fell ill earlier this month with CREST Syndrome, a connective tissue disease that affects the skin, blood vessels, muscles, and internal organs, he found that his employer had not made the necessary contributions to the country’s Social Welfare Fund, despite deducting his share of contributions from his salary. (See: Leicestershire English teacher abandoned by Kasem Bundit University). A fellow Leicestershire businessman in Bangkok and … Continue reading →

Leicestershire English teacher abandoned by Kasem Bundit University, Bangkok

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47-year-old Leicester English teacher Gareth Davies languishes in a Thailand hospital

A Leicestershire English teacher’s commitment to his Thai students may cost him his life after falling ill in Bangkok, Thailand and then finding his employer, a private Bangkok university, hadn’t made the obligatory contributions it had been deducting from his salary to the country’s Social Welfare Fund, which guarantees medical cover for all legally employed staff. After five years teaching at Apex Works in Leicestershire, Gareth Davies from the village of Glennfield, set off to pursue his desire of teaching English as a second language in Thailand. About nine months ago the Leicestershire English teacher accepted an appointment to the department of English language for communications at Kasem Bundit University, one of Thailand’s numerous private universities, to teach English major … Continue reading →

Bangkok terrorism alert a face-losing embarrassment by Thai government (updated Jan 20, 2012)

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Screen shot 2012-01-19 at 2.19.26 AM

This story was updated at 15:15 Jan 20, 2012 Edited text in blue type This story was updated at 09:30 Jan 19, 2012. Edited text in green type A Bangkok terrorism alert issued by the American embassy in Bangkok and at least 14 other nations which has been continually downplayed and criticized by Thailand officials is gaining credibility day-by-day, while proving to be an increasingly face-losing embarrassment for the country and its political leaders. A report today by the highly respected award-winning intelligence and security news service Debkafile adds additional credibility to the Bangkok terrorism alert, claiming Hezbollah planned to explode a bomb at Bet Habad Bangkok, mimicking al Qaeda’s 2008 attack in Mumbai which killed 8 Israelis, while up … Continue reading →

Thailand authorities dismiss chlorpyrifos as cause of Chiang Mai hotel tourist deaths

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The Downtown Inn, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Photo: Supplied

Thailand public health authorities have dismissed claims made by New Zealand 60 Minutes that the widely-used chemical agent chlorpyrifos is behind the deaths of a number of tourists at the Downtown Inn in Chiang Mai earlier this year. The New Zealand current affairs program, supported by United Nations scientist Dr. Ron McDowall, made the claim in an episode titled To Die For, in which Dr. McDowall said he believed the dead Chiang Mai tourists had been “killed by an overzealous sprayer who’s been acting on the instructions of the hotel owner to deal with bed bugs,” Dr. McDowall said he had consulted with other experts in New Zealand and Italy and all agreed the likely cause of death of the … Continue reading →

Chiang Mai tourist death hotel mystery remains – governor slams foreign media report

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Chiang Mai Provincial Governor; Mom Luang Panadda Diskul slammed foreign media reports

This story was updated at 10:25am May 15, 2011. Additional/ edited text in green type. Mystery still surrounds the deaths of six foreign tourists and a Thai national tourist guide who stayed at The Downtown Inn in Chiang Mai earlier this year, with Provincial Governor ML Panadda Disakul criticising foreign media for exaggerating news that the Dow Chemical Co. chlorpyrifos was found in the room of dead New Zealand woman Sarah Carter. Mr. Panadda also dismissed claims made by a New Zealand-based United Nations scientist, who told New Zealand’s 60 Minutes program last Sunday that in his opinion Ms. Carter had been “killed by an overzealous [insecticide] sprayer”, saying there is no medical proof. On the 60 Minutes report Dr. … Continue reading →

Thailand tourist coaches the world’s most artsy buses

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Khun Toan at work ona Thailand tourist coach in Vang Len

Aircraft, ships or the sides of buildings might be the pinnacle of surfaces for airbrush and graffiti artists to personalize, but the plethora of charter tourist coaches in Thailand provides an equally good surface, while being much more abundant. Though charter tourist coaches in most countries are fairly conservatively decorated, in Thailand the sides are mobile works of art with Thailand tourist coaches just as likely to be finished with paintings of Japanese Manga characters, through to Hanna-Barbera or Disney classics, or even space fantasy themes. The most funky and blinged out tourist coaches in Thailand – generally only used by groups of Thai’s – have every surface covered by lavish airbrushed artwork, and then are finished off with rows … Continue reading →

Thai researcher debunks dengue fever myth – warnings for 2011 wet season

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A female Anopheles albimanus mosquito feeding on a human host.

A researcher at Thailand’s Department of Medical Sciences’ National Institute of Health (NIH) has found that a single mosquito can carry two different strains of the dengue fever virus, with larvae inheriting the disease from their mothers. The finding coincides with a warning by the NIH that it expects there to be a serious dengue fever outbreak across the country this year, due to the the recent extreme changes in the weather, and figures from Thailand’s Public Health Ministry (PHM) that in 2010 24,816 cases of malaria were reported nation-wide. NIH researcher Usavadee Thavara studied 25 Thailand provinces with reported dengue fever outbreaks between 2006 and 2010 and found that the females of two species of mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti and … Continue reading →