A fruit and vegetable carving competition in Bangkok on August 4, 2017. It is a royal tradition that has proved bountiful through the ages and one that Thailand’s fruit carvers are determined to keep alive — even as young people peel away from the unique art form.
Not many chefs don a welding mask before they enter the kitchen, but Sila Sutharat prefers to cook his chicken sunny side up. Two hours south of Bangkok this 60-year-old vendor has found an ingenious way to offer his customers something a little different by harnessing the power of the sun. Using a large wall of nearly 1,000 moveable mirrors — a device he designed and built himself — he focuses the sun’s rays onto a row of marinated chickens, sizzling away under the intense heat.
Veterinarians at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand operated on 25-year-old green sea turtle “Bank” to remove 915 coins, weighing 11 pounds, from her stomach. Bank swallowed the coins after misguided human passers-by tossed them into her pool for good luck in eastern Thailand.
The Lunar New Year, known locally as the Spring Festival, falls on January 28 this year and marks the Year of the Rooster in the Chinese calendar.
After losing part of her left foot in a snare in Thailand, baby elephant ‘Clear Sky’ is now learning to walk again — in water. The six-month-old is the first elephant to receive hydrotherapy at an animal hospital in Chonburi province, a few hours from Bangkok. The goal is to strengthen the withered muscles in her front leg, which was wounded three months ago in an animal trap laid by villagers to protect their crops.
Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, passed away on October 13 at the age of 88 after years of ill health.
The government has announced an official mourning period of one year. Thais have been asked to avoid wearing bright colors or hold any festive events for 30 days.
Monitor lizards are known as “hia” in Thai — a noun which doubles as the language’s most powerful swear word. Which may mean there’s a lot of cursing in Bangkok lately, with the lizard’s population soaring to 400 in the city centre’s main park. Given the glut, Thai officials have begun bagging the meaty reptiles and relocating them to a nearby sanctuary.
Scores of Thai farmers ditched their paddy fields for the race course to sprint across a dusty track on prized water buffalo, vying for glory in a decades-old racing contest.
Southern Thailand was hit Thursday by the most severe haze ever from forest fires in Indonesia, forcing all schools in a province to close and disrupting flights in a popular tourist area, officials said.
“87,000 miles. 44 airline flights. 396 days. 35 countries. 1 family.”
That would be the epic movie tagline for the Rivenbark family, of Howard County, who recently returned from a 13-month trip around the globe. The family —- consisting of mom Julie, dad Tim, Tyler, 12, and Kara, 10 — sold their house, and their cars; Julie quit her job, Tim took a leave of absence. And the kids did their homeschool work while on safari in Africa, in a hotel in Nepal or whenever they could find time.
The family kept a near-daily blog, which was fed by stunning photos from Julie and fun, educational videos from Tyler. A short documentary about the Rivenbark’s trip is below.
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