Bombing at Erawan Shrine: Was there a bomb under Chao Phraya Princess Pier before?

Did the bombers of Erawan Shrine first plant a bomb at Chao Phraya Princess Pier in Bangkok, where hundreds of Chinese tourists gather each day to board dinner cruises along the river? The bomb planted at Erawan Shrine on August 17 in 2015 killed 20 people, mostly ethnic Chinese. Now reporters of Reuters cite the military indictment, according to which a first attempt at Chao Phraya Princess Pier (River City pier) failed.

Yusufu Mieraili and Adem Karadag, the two suspects arrested last year by Thai police after the attack at Erawan shrine, are Uighur Muslims from China's Xinjiang region. The two suspects appeared in a Bangkok military court on February 16 to hear the charges against them, including murder and illegal possession of explosives. Both men say they are innocent. Read more.

The motive for the bombing is still uncleared. But speculations have centred on revenge, because Thailand repatriated 109 Uighurs to China in July 2015.

Authorities downplay IS Terror Warning for Phuket and Thailand, but beef up Security

It has emerged that the Russian Intelligence Service FSB has warned Thailand, that terrorists could have arrived in Phuket and travelled on to other places in Thailand. According to FSB 10 Syrians connected to Islamic State (IS) entered the Kingdom in October with a possible plan to attack Russian interests, reports The Nation. Thaiöands security authorities boosted safety measures in the capital and many provinces. PM's Office Minister Suwaphan Tanyuvardhana said that Russia had exchanged information with Thailand and wanted the Thai side to check the accuracy of the information on whether the Syrians had entered Thailand. "Thai authorities looked into the information and as of yesterday, we found no clues on Russia's concerns," he said.

The Governor of Phuket, Jamleran Tipayapongtada, said that all military, police and other authorities were aware of the reports and had intensified security precautions, as phuletwan.com reports. "Everybody who lives on Phuket or is visiting Phuket can help," he said. '"Please let police know if you see something that is not quite right."
Targets for terrorists could be Phuket, Khao San Road in Bangkok and the walking street in Pattaya. But experts as Thammasat University Middle East specialist Jaran Maluleemsay say, that Thailand could also not be the target but a safe hub for terrorists, reports The Nation.

Also in Malaysia police have beefed up security, particularly around places associated with Russian and Western interests, which the reports indicated the militants were likely to target, writes Thai PBS.

Malaysia's police said on Saturday that it had arrested five people, including a European employed as a teacher, on suspicion of links with militant groups like the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, reports Reuters.

Bombing at Erawan shrine: They point at the Uigurs

Who was behind the bombing at Erawan shrine in Bangkok on August 17, that cost twenty lifes? More and more annaouncements of Thailands Police point at people with connections to China's ethnic Uighur minority.

A man, carrying a Chinese passport in the name Abudureheman Abudusataer (also known as "Izan" or "Ishan"), may have directed the Aug 17 bombing of the Erawan shrine according to the police. He left Thailand on Aug 16 for Bangladesh.Information gathered by Thai police and Bangladeshi officials showed that the man departed Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, on Aug 30 and travelled to Istanbul in Turkey as his final destination, via New Delhi and Abu Dhabi, as Bangkok Post reports.

Several of the 12 bombing suspects for whom arrest warrants have been issued are believed to be Turkish.

Two suspects in the Erawan bombing case were moved from Min Buri prison to the 11th Military Circle for 12 days of detention on Monday: Adem Karadag, 28, and Yusufu Mieraili, 25, as Bangkok Post reported. Yusufu Mieraili was carrying a Chinese passport, as bbc.com noted. In Thai custody he admitted giving a bag containing a device to the man who carried out the bomb attack. He seems to have travelled from Nong Chok to Hua Lamphong station. A Chinese official told the press that Mieraili may have belonged to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a local militant group active in Xinjiang, reports time.com.

Adam Karadag, also known as Mohammed Bilaturk, insisted he had nothing to do with the attack trough his lawyer on Monday, as Khaosod English. reports. Karadag traveled from Turkey to Thailand via Laos and Vietnam, having paid a broker called Abdullah Abdullahman for his passage, his lawyer said.

Stolen Artifacts from Ban Chiang Archaelogical Site are back In Thailand

Pieces of pottery, bronze ornaments and instruments, stone instruments, sandstone moulds and glass ornaments, stolen mostly from Ban Chiang บ้านเชียง, an archaeological site in Thailand's Northeast near Udon Thani: They all have returned to Thailand now and will be kept at Kanjanapisek National Musuem in Pathum Thani. The Bowers Museum in Santa Anna, California, has given back more than 550 artifacts. They were handed over to Thailand by the US government following almost a decade of investigation, as The Nation reports. The pieces date back to as early as 1500 before Christ. Ban Chiang-style pottery is unique in appearance, with its characteristic brownish orange hue and circular, stylised pattern.

Picture by Gryffindor
Example of Ban Chiang pottery, at Museum für Indische Kunst in Berlin-Dahlem

After a five-year undercover operation, US federal agents in 2008 had seized hundreds of allegedly looted antiquities from the Bowers, the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, the Mingei International Museum in San Diego and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma). The authorities were investigating an alleged smuggling network that funnelled looted Thai, Cambodian and Burmese artefacts into museums, as theartnewspaper.com wrote. One of the early targets of the investigation was Armand Labbé, the chief curator at the Bowers Museum for nearly three decades before his death in 2005, court records show. Labbé accepted two donations of illegally imported Thai antiquities from an undercover federal agent posing as a donor, the records allege according to the theartnewspaper.com. In exchange for the returns to Thailand, government prosecutors agreed not to criminally charge anyone at the Bowers, the museum’s lawyer says.

China is to loan Thailand cash for three Railway Lines - serving as Connection with China

15.11.2014 China is to loan Thailand cash to construct three dual-track railways: The agreement was made at a meeting led by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. The meeting followed bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Gen Prayut said at the Apec summit in Beijing that the project will cover three routes — Bangkok-Nong Khai, Bangkok-Map Ta Phut and Kaeng Khoi-Map Ta Phut, as Bangkok Post reports. Thailand will be able to repay the investment costs to China with rubber and rice.

Map by Bangkok Post


8.3.2014
The plans for highspeed railway lines in Thailand are back on track: Thailand military junta, National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), first put on hold the projects, when it took power in May. Now it has approved two high-speed train projects at a total cost of 741.4 billion baht according to Bangkok Post. The two routes will serve as a transport link between Thailand and southern China.

One route would travel 655km from the border town of Chiang Khong to Ban Phachi in Ayutthaya province in central Thailand. Another would see freight carried 737km from Nong Khai, across the Mekong River from Vientiane prefecture, to the Thai port and industrial estate of Map Ta Phut, as The Nation reports. The former project of the Shinawatra government included lines from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Bangkok to Rayong, Bangkok to Nong Khai and Bangkok to Padang Besar.

The NCPO intends to bring down the costs of the projects from 500-600 million baht per km to a range of 350-400 million baht per km. Therefore the railways are planned for a maximum speed of 160 kilometres per hour instead of 200 kilometres per hour, announced permanent secretary for transport Soithip Traisuth according to Bangkok Post. This was to allow a possible shift to a higher speed train system in the future after more investment were put in,she said.

The construction of the two routes should begin in 2015 and be completed by 2021, said Soithip.

Also endorsed by the NCPO were six more metre gauge dual-track rail routes for a construction budget of 117.4 billion baht with construction to begin next year. These routes are from Chira junction to Khon Kaen (185 kms), from Prachuap Khiri Khan to Chumphon (167 kms), from Nakhon Pathom to Hua Hin (165 kms), from Mab Kabao to Nakhon Ratchasima (132 kms), from Lopburi to Pak Nam Pho (148 kms) and from Hua Hin to Prachuap Khiri Khan ( 90 kms ), as Thai PBS reports.


Read older stories:
Chinas Railway for Laos: Waiting for Thailand
Chinese money brings big change: A railway from the North of Laos to Vientiane and Thailand

The Street Vendors of Tha Tian: How clean should Bangkok become?

Picture by I-Ta Tsai

Did you ever mind about the street vendors around Tha Tian market and pier or around Tha Chang pier in Bangkok? Did you feel, that they occupy your footpath? Well Bangkoks Metropolitan Administration minds. Bangkok City Hall ordered vendors at Tha Tian and Tha Chang to move to other sales venues arranged by the administration, as Bangkok Post reported. They should move to Thewes market, Sanam Luang 2 market, Talat Phlu market and a market in front of Rat Burana district office. According to Pol Mai Gen Wichai Sangprapai, an advisor to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, there are about 500 old and new vendors in the Tha Tian and Tha Chang areas who had erected stalls on footpaths for a long time. And why should they leave now? Because: The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has launched a campaign to tidy footpaths and improve the landscape around historic Rattanakosin Island to restore beauty to the area as part of the cultural heritage of Bangkok.

Well, did you ever have the idea, that street vendors are not part of the cultural heritage of Bangkok? Did you read "Four reigns", a novel by Thai author Kukrit Pramoj, and did this give you the idea, that there were no street vendors around the Royal Palace?

Pol Mai Gen Wichai of course has arguments. "I believe they will understand and cooperate because footpaths are public spaces for everyone to use, not for someone to occupy and make personal gains."

Well, also disabled people don't like it, when street vendors take over the foot paths. That's an argument.

But is Bangkok not also famous for the quality of its streetfood?

Picture by 246-You
Streetfood at Tha Tian

Therefore: Let's watch what happens now. The vendors of course are protesting against the plan of City Hall. A group led by Watchara Nimnak turned up at Government House to submit a complaint letter to General Prayuth Chan-ocha, chief of Thailands military junta, as Bangkok Post reports.


Get an impression from the area around Tha Thian Pier:
Good Morning old Bangkok: In the Neighborhood of Wat Pho

Eastern & Oriental Express derails - and State Railways of Thailand now is plannung an insurance, that covers murder too

Picture by David Jones
The Eastern & Oriental Express train at the Bridge over the River Kwai

Two Japanese women were injured, when the Eastern & Oriental Express train derailed on Sunday 27 July 2014 at a curve in Ban Pong district of Ratchaburi province, near Sa Kosi Narai station, reports Khaosod. The train was traveling to the River Kwai Bridge in Kanchanaburi province. Five out of 18 carriages have jumped off the tracks, as Bangkok Post notes. Officials from the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) said acoording to Khaosod that heavy rain may have caused the train track to sink and widen, causing the derailment. But an investigation is ongoing. The railway line was closed and reopened on Monday after repairs.

But tourists should be aware, that derailment is common on Thai railways, due to old facilities and a lack of proper maintenance. The State Railway of Thailand is now preparing to provide accident and life insurance to railway staff and passengers, as Bangkok Post adds. The insurance will also pay, when someone is murdered on the train. This after the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl, a passenger on an SRT train, has sparked public fear about railway services. She was attacked by an SRT worker on a night train from from Surat Thani to Bangkok earlier this month.