BANGKOK – A downtown hotel announced its arrival on the business-class lodging scene this month with a major enhancement to its entertainment offerings. The Kinnaree Hotel and Spa, which describes itself as “an international-class hotel conveniently located in Bangkok’s Central Business District” has completed a Bt45 million renovation with its crowning achievement: the upgrading of its lounge... 

BANGKOK – As the year draws to a close, Thailand’s professional soothsayers and astrologers have issued their annual predictions. Their unanimous verdict is that 2012 will be a great year for their industry, concurrent with it being a poor year for human intelligence, rational thought, and deductive reasoning. “2012 is the year we’ve all been waiting for,” said fortune teller Varin Buaviratlert.... 

BANGNA – The massive flooding crisis in central Thailand came to an abrupt end when all flood-related problems were solved virtually overnight by the opening of a new IKEA branch in the Bangkok suburb of Bangna. The long-anticipated home furnishings and accessories store proved to be a surprisingly well-stocked source of everything that was in short supply in flood-ravaged provinces, including an... 

VILLA MARKET, BANGKOK – A late attempt at panic-buying forced central Bangkok resident Henry Porter, an American expat, to stock up on several months’ supply of exotic and expensive imported foods yesterday. With panic buying having already taken place among most of the city’s 12 million population, Porter’s decision to wait until the last minute forced him to confront empty shelves bereft... 

THE INFAMOUS SEASIDE RESORT OF PATTAYA — Known worldwide as a den of crime and vice, Pattaya municipal officials have decided to embrace its reputation by officially renaming the city “The Infamous Seaside Resort of Pattaya”. Explaining the decision, Mayor Tik Kunplome said, “We found that almost every international press report referred to us as ‘the infamous seaside resort’....