About 50 monkeys from the nearby Laem Pu Jao mountain are raiding the houses of the Navy and the Industrial Department based in Sattahip, one of Thai Army's stronghold. The monkeys are stealing food from kitchens and dustbins and are damaging property on an almost daily basis. It seems that Sattahip's clever monkeys got General Prayuth Chan-ocha order too and want to be part of his Returning Happiness to the People campaign. Should Sattahip's monkeys join their counterparts on Pattaya's Walking Street, Beach Promenade, City Hall and/or Soi 9 you will read it here...

Today at about 10:30 the Eastern & Oriental Express Train derailed with 80 passengers on board near the Bridge on the Kwai River in Thailand's Kanchanaburi district as it was taking a curve before Luk Kae station. The accident injured at least two Japanese women who were taken to San Camillo Hospital in Bang Pong. The injured passengers were Japanese women. The train with 18 cars departed from Singapore for Thailand, travelling through Malaysia and on to Kanchanaburi. The passengers were all foreign tourists taking a vacation in Thailand.

During the last year dozens of derailments happened in Thailand. There aren't any adequate maintenace procedures at Thailand's State Railway.

Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) reported that the number of dengue cases this year reached 11'225, adding more than 1'000 cases to the 10'112 cases reported on July 10. Singapore's Minister for Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan said that the rate of potential mosquito breeding in construction sites and homes is still unacceptably high. During the last few years Pattaya reported rising dengue cases during the rainy seasons too. For this year City Hall didn't publish any numbers, but Bangkok Hospital Pattaya warned Pattaya's citizens about the problem and recommends to use a mosquito repellents. But be shure that it contains DEET, it's the magic ingredient against mosquito carrying the Aedes aegypti virus.

According to a video clip posted on YouTube a Lecturer at Kalasin Rajabhat University exchanged grades for 7-Eleven discount stamps. The professor asked students to trade their 7-Eleven stamps in exchange for better grades. I will give you a better grade if you bring me the stamps. It is not mandatory, just a suggestion, the lovely professor tells his students in the clip. One girl reportedly exchanged 400 stamps for an A grade... 7-Eleven stamps are part of a promotional campaign run by the convenience store. Patrons are rewarded with stamps for their purchases, which can then be traded for gifts and discounts. PS.: On his his weekly address to the nation Military Junta Leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha complained on July 11th that Thais were lacking in morality which leads to corruption and a decline in national prestige. Update: Nopporn Kosirayothin, the acting rector of Kalasin Rajabhat University, told the press that she [the Lecturer] might have thought it was ordinary practice, judging from what I heard, that some lecturers at other places also exchange grades for some beer... Update (July 18th, 2014): Assist Prof Nopporn Kosirayothin, acting rector of Kalasin Rajabhat University, said lecturer Nattaya Hokpunna, head of the pre-school education department at the faculty of education, has been suspended from teaching and banned from involvement in any educational activities with immediate effect.

Travel + Leisure magazine reports its readers voted Bangkok out of the world's top 10 tourist destinations. After months of political turmoil Bangkok lost the top position it occupied during the last 4 years. To improve the immage of Thailand's capital the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) announced it will start reorganising street vendors mid this month. The process should be complete by the end of the month. BMA adviser Pol MajGeneral Wichai Sangprapai said that would explain to street vendors that they don't have the right to sell goods on footpaths. Street vendors have until the end of the month to adjust to the move, with police set to arrest footpathblocking vendors, the BMA adviser said. Update (July 8th, 2014): The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) announced it will try to restore confidence in order to reclaim its title as the top tourist destination from Kyoto. Bangkok's City Hall will organise activities as Music in the Park, Fashion Street Events and Food Festivals to promote tourism during Thailand's cool season.

The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) added August 11th to the list of public holidays this year in order to create an extra long weekend to boost the tourism sector. Due to political unrest Thailand is missing foreign tourists. According to the Military Junta the four-day long weekend from August 9th - 12th will help to re-energise tourism in the country. Beneficiaries of the long weekend are Civil Servants and Bank Employees. Ordinairy people have to work. Bring Happiness to the High(er) Earners.

Pattaya Police and members of Sattahip's Navy are almost daily on Pattaya's and Jomtien's Beach Roads as well as on Walking Street's establishments. They fellow an order of General Prayuth Chan-ocha's National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). Farangs without Passport (or a copy of it) face arrest. Happy Holidays...

TTRweekly and Thaivisa.com report The End of Visa Runs. According to Thailand's Foreign Ministry border runners will be prohibited from re-entering Thailand at overland checkpoints as of August 12th, 2014, once their original visa-free stay expires.

On July 1st Bangkok Post published a report called Customs enforcing duty-free limits on personal goods purchased overseas. It tells that the Suvarnabhumi Airport Passenger Control Customs Bureau will calculate the value of all personal items, souvenirs, gifts and/or brandname goods purchased overseas. If the combined value of those products exceed 10'000 Baht, passengers will have to pay import duty. The 10'000 Baht duty-free limit is now being strictly policed, the Customs Department announced. On July 2nd the same newspaper published Random checks to continue as usual, says new customs chief, saying that Suvarnabhumi's Customs Department did not intend to start enforcing stricter controls on travellers. Customs officials at airports would continue with their random checks as usual. Please read both reports very carefully and you will agree that the statements mean that it is up to the Officials of the Customs Department if they will fine you - or not. An Open Door for Corruption and Bribes? Update July 4th, 2014: The Customs Department's working committee says it will ask to raise the duty-free limit on new personal items bought abroad from 10'000 Baht at present to about 80'000 to 100'000 Baht. It seems the Officials already knew that the current duty-free limit is too low and not in line with economic circumstances. With today's duty-free limit you not even can take your new Apple or Samsung phone into Thailand without paying import duties.

Thanks to a system error at National ITMX Co., the system provider for the intra-bank clearing system, customers could not withdraw money by using the ATM machines of other banks. Moreover customers found that their withdrawal was debited from their account, but the machine did not pay out the cash... Weidt Nuchcharoen, a senior executive vice president of Krungthai Bank, said the system went down around noon on June 30th and resumed, but became unusable again about 16:00. When the system resumed, some ATM machines showed a message saying that the service was not available. All banks faced the same problem. Bangkok Bank's call centre advised customers not to withdraw money for a few days to prevent any recurrence of the problem. That's High-Tech in Thailand - or with the words of the Military Junta: Bring back Happiness to the Thai People...

Tourist Police in conjunction with the Royal Thai Navy Military Police based in Sattahip conducted checks of a number of venues which were suspected of employing Royal Thai Navy Officers as Security Guards which is not permitted under Military Regulations. The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) ordered all sections of the Military to make checks on their personnel to ensure they are operating within the confines of Military laws and regulations. The checks revealed that two Navy personnel were working as Security Guards in front of Luzifer's Disco. Both were detained and taken away by Military Police for further investigation. It's simply funny: We know since many years that venues can 'order' Navy personel as security guards at an (official?) office in Sattahip... We recommend the Navy to check some venues in Northern Pattaya too! It's still a miracle how people can do their duties without sleeping whole the night.