Travel changes you. It stretches your imagination, wakes up your senses, and hands you a stack of stories you’ll tell forever. Some places flicker through your memory like a passing comet; others sink into you like pages from a beloved book. Here are nine cities that don’t just make an impression—they carve out a corner of your heart. From the neon pulse of Tokyo to the sun-soaked vineyards near Cape Town, each one deserves a place on your “visit at least once” list. Tokyo, Japan Tokyo is a thrilling contradiction: shrines and silence side-by-side with flashing billboards and the world’s most punctual trains. Imagine slurping ramen that tastes like a culinary poem, then stepping into a centuries-old temple where time seems to slow. The city’s efficient transit system will take you from overflowing fish markets to calming gardens in under an hour—an elegant dance of chaos and calm that lingers…
Posts published by “Editorial Team”
The Prime Minister’s Office got an awkward dose of live journalism yesterday, November 27, when Paradon Prissanananthakul — the minister who also leads the Emergency Flood Crisis Operations Centre — abruptly ended a press briefing after declining to answer a pointed question about whether sluggish government response had worsened losses from the devastating southern floods. Paradon had been giving the expected updates from Hat Yai district, Songkhla, where floodwaters have wreaked havoc on homes, businesses and the daily lives of thousands. In a sympathetic note, he announced that the Ministry of Higher Education has postponed university exams nationwide — a recognition that many students are grappling with anxiety and family crises caused by the disaster. He also outlined the logistics of the nationwide relief effort. A central donation hub has been set up at the Royal Thai Air Force Museum in Don Mueang, and donated goods will be ferried south…
The Hat Yai floods produced scenes of desperation and heartbreak this week, and among the most painful was the loss of four‑year‑old Amidala “Padme” Arayawat. The little girl’s body was recovered on November 27 — two days after she vanished from a rescue boat during a chaotic evacuation in the rising waters near Bangkok Hospital Hat Yai. The family’s ordeal began when floodwaters surged up Banja Road, swallowing streets and rising almost to the second floor of their home. Padme, her brother and their mother found themselves trapped as currents grew stronger by the hour. With rescuers unable to reach them immediately, Padme’s mother posted an urgent plea on social media, explaining she planned to swim to a neighbour’s higher ground if no help arrived. A rescue team eventually did reach them and loaded the family into a boat. But the river‑like currents in the flooded streets proved treacherous. As…
Surat Thani immigration officers uncovered what they say was a carefully staged attempt to hide foreign ownership of a Koh Samui nightlife venue, leading to a formal complaint lodged on November 26 at Bo Phut Police Station. At the centre of the probe is 60-year-old British national Maxine Lisa Schwander and two Thai women named Ladda and Jirichuda, who investigators allege acted as nominee shareholders to mask outside control of a bar near Chaweng Beach. The venue, known as Sin by Night, reportedly offered dance shows and allowed customers to book specific performers — a familiar draw on the island’s bustling entertainment strip. But according to immigration officers, the bright lights and late-night crowds were hiding a breach of the Foreign Business Act: Schwander is accused of using Thai nationals as front shareholders so she could run the business despite restrictions on foreign ownership. Under Thailand’s Foreign Business Act, the…
Thai narcotics agents pulled off a cross-border sting that reads like a modern crime thriller — only this time the plot unfolded amid cardboard boxes, postal counters and luxury condominiums. In a coordinated crackdown, officers from the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) and the Airport Interdiction Task Force (AITF) dismantled a trafficking network that had been using cleverly concealed parcels to ship heroin from Bangkok to Australia. Suspicious parcel at Suvarnabhumi sparks fast-moving probe The operation began where many international schemes do: at the airport. AITF officers inspecting outbound parcels at the Suvarnabhumi Airport Free Zone noticed something odd about one cardboard box bound for Australia. When they opened it, they found a hidden compartment — and inside, 1.52 kilogrammes of heroin. That single seizure triggered an immediate investigation aimed at finding who had packaged and shipped the drugs. What followed was a rapid series of arrests and…
When nature decides to stir up trouble, sometimes it does so with a side of scandal. During the catastrophic floods that swamped Hat Yai in Songkhla province, a Malaysian bank manager’s clandestine romance was swept into the open — not by sleuthing spouses or scandal-hungry tabloids, but by rising waters and a phone full of social posts. It all started with a message on Threads on November 24, posted by a woman identified only as Zara. She says she discovered the affair after a friend — the wife of one of four Malaysian men stranded in a hotel in Hat Yai — asked her to help check on the group. With roads cut and rescues in motion, Zara reached out to relatives in Thailand to verify the men’s safety. Hotel staff confirmed all four men were there, but one of them, the friend’s husband, was apparently sharing a room with…
The roar of engines might one day echo through Bangkok’s leafy heart. Thailand’s Sports Authority (SAT) has pulled back the curtain on a proposed Formula One street circuit that cuts a 5.732-kilometre clockwise ribbon through the Chatuchak district — a bold plan that blends high-octane spectacle with some of the capital’s most familiar sights. Imagine a lap that threads through eight headline locations: Krungthep Aphiwat Central Terminal, Mo Chit Bus Terminal, the world-famous Chatuchak Weekend Market, Queen Sirikit Park, Chatuchak Park, Vachirabenjatas Park (Suan Rot Fai), the PTT Public Company HQ and tracts of land owned by the State Railway of Thailand. Behind the Mo Chit Bus Terminal the design slots in the pit building and paddock — a neat logistical move that keeps the teams tucked right into the urban fabric. The layout promises a classic street-circuit feel. Expect long, breath-taking straights interrupted by tight, low-speed hairpins and technical…
A disturbing string of allegations has shaken parts of Bangkok’s nightlife and social media circles: a man who presented himself as a wealthy, high-society figure on Instagram is now accused of sexually assaulting at least four women after luring them to secluded spots across the city, according to a report filed with the local non-profit Saimai Survive on November 24. The pattern: charm, Instagram, and isolation According to Saimai Survive founder Ekkaphop Lueangprasert, two victims — a 19-year-old university student and a 25-year-old private company employee — first sought help from the organisation and later found that two more women came forward after their stories were posted online. At a press conference, both women recounted frightening, similar sequences: contact through social media or in nightlife settings, an appearance of wealth and influence, and then being taken to remote streets where they were allegedly attacked. The suspect reportedly cultivated a “hi-so”…
Under the neon halo of Koh Pha Ngan’s legendary party lights, an island that usually conjures images of carefree Full Moon revelry saw a grimmer, if quieter, drama unfold on the night of Sunday, November 23. Police acting on a tip-off raided a rented house in Ban Tai subdistrict and arrested a Chinese national accused of smuggling and selling party drugs to tourists — a bust that reads like a how-to guide for modern narcotics trade and, at the same time, a reminder of how swiftly the island’s underground economy can move behind closed doors. The takedown Local officers conducted undercover surveillance after receiving reports about a foreigner allegedly peddling narcotics from a private residence. The pattern was telling: a steady stream of foreign visitors at odd hours, a telltale sign that the property was functioning less like a home and more like a discreet party supply line. When police…
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, a quiet corner of Samut Prakan turned into the scene of a violent scare: a blast, an overturned scooter and two teenage riders hurt outside the familiar glow of the Mali rice porridge restaurant in Mueang Bang Pla Kot. The incident, reported at about 1:30 a.m. in Phra Samut Chedi district, left the teens shaken and bleeding and set local police and volunteers scrambling for answers. Police Lieutenant Sunthorn Phimpanth from Phra Samut Chedi Police Station and rescuers from the Ruam Katanyu Foundation were among the first to arrive after callers reported an assault involving an explosive device. What greeted them was chilling in its small-scale chaos: a black Honda Zoomer‑X lying on its side, two boys aged 15 and 16 nursing cuts and bruises across their faces and bodies, and the lingering smell of smoke or burnt powder in the cool night…