Thailand travel advice adjusted: Southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat from red to orange
On March 29, 2023, the travel advice for Thailand was adjusted by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The color code of the travel advice for the southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat goes from red to orange.
A Muslim governor in Pattani
The Thai government has appointed a Muslim governor in Pattani, in the deep south. A woman with 29 years of experience in administrative bodies has been appointed to that post.
Lesbian and Muslim and football star: get used to it…
In 2016, a bookstore was opened in the south of Thailand on the Pattani campus of Prince of Songkhla University. With progressive literature especially on gender equality and with information for the LGBT community. It had to become a 'safe haven' for students and other citizens who have a different sexual preference than the vast majority and who want to study and relax in peace.
The Queens of Pattani
You read that right, we are talking about several queens, four to be precise, who ruled the Sultanate of Pattani for more than 100 years from 1584 to 1699. Pattani, which then covered an area of more than the current Thai provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narithawat in southern Thailand, was a prosperous sultanate ruled by Sultan Mansur Shah in the mid-16th century. It had a small trading port with a good natural and sheltered harbour.
The number of people injured in the bomb attacks on Tuesday afternoon at the Big C in southern Thailand has now risen to 61, many of them children. Police are examining CCTV footage to identify the four perpetrators.
I met a nice Thai woman (June) through a dating site. Now I want to visit her in August during my vacation of about two weeks to see if things can really get serious between us. However, she lives in Pattani, a city with negative travel advice.
For the first time since violence flared up in the South in January 2004, a hospital has been bombed. A bomb exploded in the parking lot of the Khok Pho hospital in Pattani on Wednesday. Ten people were injured and fifty motorcycles caught fire.
News from Thailand – December 18, 2012
Thais prefer to give each other a smartphone as a gift at Christmas and New Year. In second place comes a package trip abroad. The Kasikorn Research Center established this in a poll of 400 respondents.
The Forgotten Conflict: Insurrection in the South
In the three southern provinces of Thailand, there are almost daily deaths and injuries in attacks, bomb explosions, executions and beheadings. How did it come to this? What are the solutions?
News from Thailand – August 8, 2012
Forty Thai women are imprisoned in Brazil for trying to smuggle drugs. That is half of the total number of 80 Thais in the country, including embassy staff and their families.
News from Thailand – July 30, 2012
Police, soldiers and officials have launched a manhunt for the thirteen militants who shot dead and wounded two soldiers in Mayo district (Pattani) on Saturday morning. It is suspected that they are hiding in the district.
News from Thailand – July 29, 2012
Legalize gambling to increase tourism revenues and end illegal casinos in the country. Dhanin Chearavanont, chairman of the CP group and Thailand's richest man, makes this proposal in Forbes magazine.
News from Thailand – February 22
Multiple-choice question in Onet exam: What should you do when you feel like having sex? Answers: (a) playing football with your friends, (b) talking to your family, (c) trying to sleep, (d) going out with a friend of the opposite sex, (e) asking a friend to go to the cinema.
News from Thailand – February 10
Cell phones are not only banned in prisons because they are used for drug transactions, but also because inmates have video calls with their girlfriends and masturbate while doing so.
News from Thailand – February 3
Thammasat University's ban on Nitirat activities on its own campus has driven a wedge between students, former students and teachers. The Thammasat University Student Union has called on the university to withdraw the ban. And yesterday, some 200 students and former students of the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication demonstrated on the Tha Prachan campus in favor of the ban. A counter-demonstration will be held on the same campus on Sunday.
News from Thailand – February 2
A volunteer military ranger was shot dead in Pattani on Wednesday and a Buddhist temple was hit by two shells. The attacks are widely seen as revenge for Sunday night's shooting, in which rangers killed four Muslims and wounded four.
Southern Provinces of Thailand: Violence and Bombings
Train traffic was disrupted in Narathiwat province today after two bombs destroyed the tracks. There were no injuries. It is not yet known who planted the bombs, but it is believed to be Islamic insurgents. The three southernmost provinces of Thailand are experiencing a lot of violence. It was also announced on Wednesday that two police officers were killed by Muslim extremists in the southern province of Pattani. Insurgents in Thailand rarely release statements, but are believed to be battling…