On May 26th the military-backed government has extended Thailand’s state of emergency for a second time, to the end of June. The emergency imposed late March gives Thailand's Prime Minister, Dictator, Songwriter and a man of many words Prayut Chan-o-cha sweeping powers, including a ban on large gatherings that prevents anti-government protests. The latest extension is a consolidation of power, and an unnecessary use of power, said Anusorn Iamsa-ard, a spokesman for Pheu Thai, the largest opposition party. But Thailand’s Deputy Premier Gen. Prawit Wongsuwon, the man of 'borrowed' luxury watches, claims fear of a second wave of infections, and not politics, is behind the government’s need to extend the emergency decree. The government is being cautious about a possible second wave of Covid-19 infections, he added.

Thailand’s Deputy Premier Gen. Prawit Wongsuwon in hot waters: The Nation: Citizens frown at NACC decision clearing Prawit in luxury watch case Khaosod English: Prawit Denies Involvement With ‘Plot’ to Name Him Party Leader

• From June 1st, the curfew will be enforced from 23:00 to 03:00
  It's a real joke! This curfew does not stop people gathering!
• Wearing sanitary masks, social distancing and temperature screening is still mandatory
• Operators of shopping centers, shops and/or restaurants as well as customers will be required to use the Thai Chana website for checking in and out of premises
• Inter-provincial travel will be allowed to restart on June 3rd for those who had necessary (!) journeys to make
• Department stores are allowed to remain open until 21:00
• Exhibition halls with total area less than 20'000 square metres square can open until 21:00
• Temples and Temple services are allowed with social distancing but no mass gatherings
• Amulet shops can open but with social distancing
• Barber shops are allowed to dye and curl hair, two-hour service for each customer and refrain from having other customers waiting inside the shop
• Nurseries can open for employees to make food to distribute to children under care
• Beauty salons, beauty institutes, and tattoo shops can operate on any part of the skin but must follow good health practices such as wearing a mask and keeping clean
• Massage houses are allowed to open but they must refrain from opening sauna and steam rooms while prohibiting the touching or massaging of customers' faces
• Fitness centres can fully open but they must limit the number of customers in the area and refrain from opening sauna and steam rooms
• Team sport is now available for exercise and practice; no viewers are allowed in such areas and the number of players must not exceed 10
• Bowling houses, skating parks, and rollerblade parks are only allowed for exercise and practice
• Ballrooms (?) allowed to open
• Pools and areas for water sport are allowed with operators limiting the number of customers
• Theatre and Playhouses are allowed to open with only 200 people or less participating, but concert and music performances are still not allowed
• Cinemas were proposed to be reopened but eating or drinking will not be permitted during the shows because saliva droplets can spread. Couples will be allowed to sit together, but occupied seats must otherwise be three spaces apart. Nevertheless, the movie companies say there are currently no new movies to release ...
• Zoos can open with limited customers in the area
• The country would remain closed to foreigner visitors due to concern over the spread of Covid-19 from abroad, but foreigners with work permits or permission from the Labour Ministry or other government agencies will be allowed to enter the country after registration. For additional information click here!
• Karaoke & Beer Bars, Nightclubs, A Go-Go & Gentlemen Clubs remain closed
• The Royal Household Bureau announced that the Grand Palace in Bangkok will be open to the public from June 4th with social distancing. Visitors must wear masks and clean their hands with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitising gel
• Pattaya City Mayor, Sonthaya Khunpluem, has stated that all Pattaya and Koh La(r)n area beaches are scheduled to open June 1st for all activities but with social distancing. Anyway, the hotels on Koh Larn remain closed
• On May 31st, the Chonburi Government announced that starting from June 1st, hotels and guesthouses and similar establishments in Chonburi Province can open. Moreover, government offices for passports and social security will reopen for all services.

• On June 12th Dr. Taweesilp Visanuyothin (or Taweesin Wisanuyothin), spokesman for the government’s Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), announced that on Monday June 15th, almost all businesses reopen, including ones with high risks. But all Karaoke & Beer Bars, Nightclubs, A Go-Go & Gentlemen Clubs have to remain closed.
• Restaurants will no longer be banned from serving alcohol, completely ignoring the fact that the lifting of the ban on alcohol sales has led to a blatant increase in fatal road accidents.
• The (absurd) night curfew will end on Monday, June 15th.
• For travel between provinces, airlines no longer need to apply social distancing to their seating arrangements, though passengers must wear masks. On buses and trains, however, people must sit apart, with occupancy restricted to 70 percent of capacity.
• National parks, botanical parks, concert halls, exhibition halls and entertainment venues may reopen. Venues used for exercising or sports competitions may reopen, but no spectators are allowed at competitive events.

Thai International, Thailand's National Airline, today mainly managed by retired and completely overwhelmed generals, is bankrupt. The carrier has an accumulated debt of around 261 Billion Baht. THAI's creditors asked the country's Dictator Prayut Chan-o-cha to find a replacement for the current THAI board members and insisted that the top military personnel should no longer sit on the board. In order to get out of the status of a state enterprise, the Ministry of Finance sold a 3.17% stake in the national airline to the Vayupak 1 Fund on May 22nd. FYI: The Vayupak Fund is a registered investment management fund in Thailand in which the Government is a major unit holder. To save face and protect the airline from being bought cheaply by anyone, Thailand's Prime Minister, Dictator, Songwriter and a man of many words Prayut Chan-o-cha has asked five leading businessmen to act as administrators in a rehabilitation plan. The five designated businessmen are Chumpol NaLamlieng, Vichit Suraphongchai, Banthoon Lamsam, Prasert Bunsumpun; and Chainoi Puankosoom. Click on their names and you can read their Business Biographies. You will learn that they all have strong connections with state owned companys and or the Crown Property Bureau. the PTT (a Thai state-owned company), Siam Cement Group (its major shareholder is the Crown Property Bureau) and Siam Commercial Bank (its largest single shareholder is HM King Vajiralongkorn). On May 25th Thai International also replaced four of its board members ahead of the airline's restructuring. The new member are Piyasvasti Amranand, Tevin Wongwanich, Pirapan Salirathavibhanga and Boontuck Wungcharoen. All these people have close connections with PTT and/or Kasikorn Bank and are Protégés of Thailand's Dictator Prayut Chan-o-cha - or vice versa. Also on May 25th Prayut Chan-o-cha appointed Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam as the chairman of a new 'superboard' to monitor the rehabilitation plan for Thai International. The Dictator's new superboard includes former Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong, permanent secretary for finance Prasong Poonthanet, permanent secretary for transport Chaiwat Tongkamkoon, chief of the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning Chayathan Promsorn, permanent secretary for justice Wisit Wisitsora-at, the Council of State deputy secretary-general Pakorn Nilprapunt, Secretary-General, Securities and Exchange Commission Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol and State Enterprise Policy Office director-general, Prapas Kong-Ied, who is also the member and the secretary-general of the new board. The newest member of the Thai Airways International board, Pailin Chuchottaworn, resigned the day after he was appointed to help the airline. For additional information please read Thai Airways appoints chair, ex-CEO to bankruptcy rehab body, published by Bangkok Post.

Thai Airways International Plc (THAI) claims it owes 24 billion Baht in unused tickets. The company has admitted that debt rehabilitation has kept it from refunding customers for unused tickets. The airline is restricted by obligations under the law which prevents it from disbursing refunds at this point in time. But it promises to return the money within six months without any fees.

Former international crime prosecutor Wanchai Roujanavong compared the planned restructuring of Thai Airways International to the opening of a Pandora's box, which will expose the extensive corruption in the ailing national airline, previously hidden from the public.

Despite the bankruptcy of Thai International, the airline continues to serve domestic airports through its 100% subsidiary THAI Smile, a lower-cost airline created on August 19th, 2011.

We will keep you up-to-date.

Thailand's Navy announced that it will sign a contract with the BBS consortium comprising Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction, Bangkok Airways and BTS Group Holdings to built the 290-billion-baht Eastern Airport City Project at the Military's U-tapao airport in Sattahip. It's one of the five megaprojects initiated by Thailand's Prime Minister, Dictator, Songwriter and a man of many words Prayut Chan-o-cha and known as the Eastern Economics Corridor (EEC). And who is a shareholder of Sino-Thai? It is Anutin Charnvirakul, a well-known flip-flopper, a man of derogatory comments disparaging foreigners, Thailand's Public Health Minister and a close friend of the Dictator. Anutin's younger Brother, Masthawin Charnvirakul, is the Managing Director at Stp & I PCL and a board member of Thai Solar Energy PCL. He is also a member of the BBS consortium, the winning bidder of the Eastern Airport City Project. The subcommittee handling infrastructure development projects at the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) choosing the BBS Consortium on April 27th, 2020, was chaired by Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana, by far the richest man in Prayut's actual government with assets worth over 223 million baht.

• Wash your hands with a good soap.
  Hands are one of the most common ways that a virus spreads from one person to the next.
  Most viruses and some bacteria have lipid membranes that resemble double-layered micelles. These membranes are studded with important proteins that allow viruses to infect cells and perform vital tasks that keep bacteria alive.
  These lipid (fatty) bilayer are the weakest link of a virus.
  When you wash your hands with soap and water, you surround any microorganisms on your skin with soap molecules. Soap dissolves the fat membrane and the virus falls apart.
• A virus can not enter your body throught the skin. The virus get into your body through your eyes, nose or throat.
  Therefore it is important to protect your eyes, nose and mouth, at least if you are one of those people who likes to touch the face with the hands.
  Keep in mind, that the average person touches the face 23 times per hour.
• The coronavirus is spread from person to person when someone with the virus coughs or sneezes. So people in close contact are at high risk.
  The influenza virus is spread in a similar way. A study shows when healthcare workers are within 1.8 metres of patients with influenza, their risk of being infected is increased.
  We therefore recommend to stay away from mass gatherings and to keep a distance of 2 meters to other people.
  Nowadays this behaviour is called social distancing and is a tool to slow down the spread of a disease that is passed on from person to person.
• Avoid the polite but unsanitary greeting by shaking hands.
  Rather nod your head or use the WAI that is common in Thailand.
• Do not kiss your partner or any other people
• Refrain from sex or use a condom!
• Stay at home - and wait for better times!

If you want to enter a Thai shopping centre, mall or even a small shop, you usually have to register via the Thai Chana website. This approach was used by gangsters to launch fake Thai Chana websites in order to access the personal data stored on your smartphone(s). So be sure to check which websites your smartphone contacts!

On May 23rd Bangkok Post reported that a number of people have been approaching hotel operators in Pattaya offering to ensure their properties are chosen for state quarantine if they pay them up to 40% of what the hotels will receive from the government. On May 26th the very same newspaper announced that the Quarantine hotels graft probe begins. Kongcheep Tantravanich, the spokesman for the Defence Ministry, claimed that no military officers or those from the Public Health Ministry are involved in the alleged racket. On May 27th Bangkok Post writes that at least six people have been implicated in a kickback scandal involving state quarantine contracts. But Kongcheep Tantravanich explained that the accused individuals acted on their own and their alleged misconduct had nothing to do with the organisations with which they are affiliated ... On May 31st Pattaya Mail reports that the police have identified the people who demanded kickbacks from hoteliers but they have not been charged because no damaged parties have filed a complaint with police.

The Nation reports that Nong Chok police station in Phetchaburi had to dismiss 8 policemen after they allegedly demanded 40'000 Baht from a woman.

According to Wikipedia, corruption is still widespread among government officials in Thailand.

An outbreak of Dengue Fever has killed two people and sickened 1'037 in Nakhon Ratchasima from January 1st to May 24th. While Thailand seems to have the corona virus under control, the situation with dengue fever, another viral disease, is particularly worrying in Korat (Nakhon Ratchasima). In the Central and Northern Provinces of Ang Thong, Rayong and Phichit, already more than 8'200 people have contracted the disease. 4 of them have died. Thailand's Public Health Officials advise people to make sure that there is no standing water around their homes, as this is a breeding ground for mosquitoes carrying the dengue virus. In Thailand, peak transmission typically occurs during the rainy season, from April to December. 2020, the number of infections is very high compared to previous years, the Deputy Director of the Department of Disease Control warns.

From January 1st to May 25th this year, 14'136 people were found to have caught dengue fever. Eleven people died from the disease during the same period, the director-general of Thailand's Disease Control Department told the media on May 31st.

On May 23rd Pattaya City Hall decided to go ahead with its nine-kilometre Monorail project and to waste another 70 million Baht of taxpayer's money for a feasibility study. It's a project that nobody needs, except the Kunplome-Empire, which has been driving it since 2008. Read the stupid arguments presented by the Pattaya City administration promoting the useless Monorail project. Only a fool can assume that after an hour-long flight, tourists are still willing to change the means of transport two to three times with their luggage and wait 30 to 60 minutes for the connection until they reach the destination of their dreams (read hotel) - and this in a country completely unknown to most of them with characters they have never seen before. In a country where almost everything is written in Thai and hardly anyone like to speak another language than the mother tongue. Most tourists, not only group travelers, want to reach their hotel directly and as fast as possible. Look around in Suvarnabhumi or Don Mueang or any other International Airport and you'll see how it works. The Monorail is not even suitable for sightseeing tours, it would have to offer a circuit that it does not have. It is also unsuitable for shopping trips. How do you want to transport a television set, a gas cooker or even a washing machine in a Monorail? And how are the employees of all that projected 5-star hotels supposed to reach their workplace if they live in South Pattaya, Naklua or even on the Dark Side? In this sense, the Monorail is nothing more than a big rip-off, designed to fill the pockets of certain people as fast as possible.

During June 2010 Itthiphol Kunplome and his Pattaya City Hall installed lifeguard towers along Pattaya Beach. They remained unmanned most of the time and slowly rusted away until they finally collapsed. Itthiphol's older brother Sontaya, the current Mayor of Pattaya, took up the idea again and had new, much higher lifeguard towers installed on Pattaya's beaches. It remains to be seen whether the new lifeguard towers will suffer the same fate or not... We will keep you up-to-date.

During the last few weeks, almost all Bus Stop areas got a fresh and colorful painting, despite the fact that virtual all Baht Bus, Van and MiniBus drivers ignore the offer. But maybe the Kunplome Clan will activate the school busses, which were shut down when Itthiphol Kunplome and his Crew were replaced by the Military Junta, to extend the already overstrained offer of public transport by a new variant, which could then justify the bus stops ...

This is the current state of the pavement at Pattaya Second Road in front of the entrance to the very popular Wat Chai Mongkron. Nobody cares! Instead of carrying out the necessary maintenance work, City Hall and its Mayor prefer to present extremely expensive stupidities.

On June 2nd, Pattaya City Mayor Sonthaya Khunpluem welcomed prominent business leaders and officials at Pattaya City Hall to discuss the proposal of a new look and feel of the world's (in)famous Walking Street. Mayor Sonthaya said that the redesign needs to be smart and modern as well as aesthetically pleasing but not cause negative effects to people lives and the overall fascination and atmosphere of the neon lights and vibe of the street. The new design should make Walking Street become alive not only during the night but also during daytime, he added. Mayor Sonthaya assured the audience, that City Hall's leaders are committed to keeping nightlife and entertainment venues a core attraction of the city. This is a 180 degree U-turn, as Sonthaya's younger brother Itthiphol Khunpluem, the former Mayor of Pattaya, always claimed to ban the red light districts from Pattaya and turn the city into a kindergarden (read Family Resort). Obviously the Family Clan has realized that there is no money to be made with children and only prohibited* activities can fill the pockets of the greedy officials. *Prostitution and related activities are still prohibited in this Kingdom

On June 11th, Pattaya officials presented plans to transform Pattaya's Walking Street and Bali Hai into a concrete desert with a monorail and some (probably green) trees. For additional information please read the report published by Pattaya Mail.