During these difficult times, many people are now working from home to help stop the spread of COVID-19 - so the daily commute or small trips are not necessary for them. So, while being socially responsible by practicing social distancing and limiting non-essential trips, vehicles that are stationary in garages, driveways or parking lots still require care and upkeep.
 
To help share knowledge of car care during this time, Nissan in Thailand has created five easy steps to protect your cars, and maintain their value and condition. As the leader in EVs in Thailand, there are also extra tips for EV cars, so owners please read on!

By Maxmilian Wechsler

Since the early days of his reign, His Majesty King Bhumipol has visited numerous rural areas to see how people live. These visits inspired him to launch the Royal Development Projects (RDPs) to improve the lives of the people and promote the sustainable use of natural resources.
 
The first RDP was initiated in 1951, when Tilapia mosambica fish were raised in the pond at the Ambhorn Villa. In 1953, the King distributed Tilapia fingerlings to villagers and district leaders throughout the country to provide an alternative source of protein for rural people.

The first rural infrastructure development project began in 1952, when His Majesty donated bulldozers to the Naresuan Border Patrol Police unit to build a road from Hua Hin District to Huay Mongkol Village in Prachuap Khiri Khan province. The road has provided the villagers with easy access to the city and allows them to bring their farm produce to provincial markets.

How three farangs and their volunteers are helping those who need it the most during the lockdown. Now they need your help with donations

By Robin Westley Martin
 
While scrolling through Facebook earlier this month it was impossible to miss the pic of this giant of a dude with a beard and massive tattooed biceps. He looked like some of the biker crews I knew back in the UK. What had most struck my attention about him, though, was that he was part of a group of ‘farangs’ (foreigners) who were handing out food parcels to little kids and their grandparents, in hidden parts of Bangkok.

 In some of the most impoverished parts of the city, home to the cash-strapped denizens of Bangkok’s underbelly, there these guys were … giving out essential supplies to families badly in need of a little TLC – and even more so thanks to the coronavirus-generated restrictions.

OK, game on … I needed to know more about this hombre.

I ‘friended’ him, and within an hour he had got back to me. The guy I had chanced across was Sebastian Bergstroem (Biggie) whose Viking blood had brought him from Sweden to Thailand in 2015, when he had started a security company offering close protection, followed by an events and media company in 2019.

Both these ventures required close interaction with individuals or the public, and Biggie saw quickly that his businesses would suffer because of the rapid spread of the coronavirus. In January 2020 he quickly moved to open up TCB Medik to provide facemasks and 70 percent hand gel, etc. It was this decision that has been able to keep his businesses afloat.

Since arriving in Thailand, Biggie quickly made many friends, both Thai and foreign. “I know a lot of people in Thailand, and some of my older Thai friends had begun to text me, reluctantly asking for food and help because they didn’t have any income and the government wasn’t responding.​

Expats and others who invested in any of the six following funds:
Axiom Legal Financing, LM Managed Performance, All other LM funds, Premier New Earth,  Premier Eco Resources, Kijani via FPI or RS /OMI are invited to join an upcoming class action in Isle of Man. The organisers say that such investors “have nothing to lose but everything to gain” by joining this initiative – and at no risk to themselves.
 
A small group working on this initiative for last six years have teamed up with a top lawyer and leading QC in London, who have prepared a statement of claim which has been registered in the IOM courts offers a the group a 60 % chance of winning the action.

Temporarily grounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, Bangkok-based American Rick Gazarian aka ‘Global Gaz’ is ready to complete his bucket list of places to see. What makes him tick, how did he get started on his quest and why he keeps going. Scott Murray finds out. 

I was born in Boston, went to university at Boston College, and worked for many years in financial services both in Boston and Chicago. This came to an end in 2008 during the Great Recession when I was laid off. To celebrate I embarked on an eleven-month trip around the globe.  During this trip, I knew I did not want to go back to corporate life. When I got back to the US, I made travel a much bigger part of my life and also started my own business. Today, as a travel blogger I am sharing content about must-see places, unique experiences, and off the beaten path locations as I try to travel to every country in the world.     ​

First time I traveled to Thailand was in 2005 when I spent four weeks exploring Bangkok and some of the islands.  But in 2012, I came for several months to volunteer and avoid the Chicago winter. I had read a book about Father Joe Maier, an American priest, who moved to Klong Toey in the 1970s.  I was inspired after reading that book and decided I wanted to volunteer at the Mercy Centre, which I did for two years and taught English a couple of days a week at two kindergartens.   

• Volunteering in the Slums of Bangkok, Klong Toey

Non one expects a return to normal once the current crisis ends. Indeed, it’s generally accepted that life in Thailand will be significantly different in the short and even the long term. Some aspects will never be the same again.

So what’s in store for us in this ‘new world’?

Just a few short months ago, hardly anybody had heard of coronavirus, let alone COVID-19. That’s no longer the case, of course.

Today, this nasty virus is recognized around the world as a mass killer. Here in Thailand, thankfully, we’ve been spared the worst effects of the disease with a relatively small number of deaths (50+) compared to the US (61,656) and Spain (24,000) – and counting.

For now at least, COVID-19 is less deadly than Thailand’s long list of other killer diseases - cancer, malaria, dengue, hepatitis, measles, tuberculosis, Japanese encephalitis, rabies, leptospirosis, seasonal flu and HIV.

But there’s another disease that few people know about – and yet it’s responsible for up to 2,800 deaths a year. Called melioidosis, it’s the country’s third most-deadly infectious disease after AIDS and tuberculosis. The number of fatalities could be even higher, according to some reports, because of a lack of information about the disease.​

It might be quiet now, but Bangkok faces a traffic nightmare in the next few years with the opening of seven giant projects competing for space on our roads.