Body of Hungarian national Balog Laszlo is carried out of Suvarnabhumi Airport Police Station on Jan. 26, 2020.
BANGKOK — A 60-year-old Hungarian national was found dead inside an airport police station after spending just a day under detention, police said Monday.
Balog Laszlo, who was sent to Suvarnabhumi Airport’s holding cell on Saturday on overstay offenses, did not appear to have any injuries on his body, leading police to suspect he might have died from illness on Sunday morning, police spokesman Krissana Pattanacharoen said.
The Hungarian Embassy has been informed of his death, Col. Krissana said.
Nevertheless, the spokesman added that a disciplinary inquiry has been launched to determine whether any there was foul play or negligence involved.
Foreigners’ deaths in police custody are not unheard of. In 2018, two foreign men died while held at an immigration detention center. Police also blamed their deaths on their pre-existing medical conditions.
In this June 14, 2009, photo, Los Angles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant celebrates with his daughter Gianna, following the Lakers 99-86 defeat of the Orlando Magic in Game 5 of the NBA Finals at Amway Arena in Orlando. Photo: Stephen M. Dowell / Orlando Sentinel / AP
CALABASAS, Calif. (AP) — NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others were killed Sunday when their helicopter plunged into a steep hillside in dense morning fog in Southern California, his sudden death at age 41 touching off an outpouring of grief for a star whose celebrity transcended basketball.
The chopper went down in Calabasas, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Authorities said nine people were aboard and presumed dead. Bryant, an all-time basketball great who spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, was among the victims, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.
Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, also was killed, a different person familiar with the case said.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva would not confirm the identities of the victims Sunday pending official word from the coroner.
“God bless their souls,” Villanueva said at a news conference.
The cause of the crash was unknown.
FILE – In this March 28, 2016, file photo, Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant waves to the fans after his introduction before the start of the first quarter of an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz, in Salt Lake City. Bryant, the 18-time NBA All-Star who won five championships and became one of the greatest basketball players of his generation during a 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, died in a helicopter crash Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020. He was 41. Photo: Rick Bowmer, File / AP
News of the charismatic superstar’s death rocketed around the sports and entertainment worlds, with many taking to Twitter to register their shock, disbelief and anguish.
“Words can’t describe the pain I am feeling. I loved Kobe — he was like a little brother to me,” retired NBA great Michael Jordan said. “We used to talk often, and I will miss those conversations very much. He was a fierce competitor, one of the greats of the game and a creative force.”
NBA players were in tears during pregame warm-ups as crowds chanted “Kobe! Kobe!” Tiger Woods was unaware of the news during his final round at Torrey Pines in San Diego when he started hearing the gallery yell “Do it for Mamba,” referring to Bryant by his nickname.
The medical examiner’s office said specialists were working at the scene to recover the bodies, and investigators were trying to confirm identities. Federal transportation safety investigators were en route.
Bryant’s helicopter left Santa Ana shortly after 9 a.m. and circled for a time just east of Interstate 5, near Glendale. Air traffic controllers noted poor visibility around Burbank, just to the north, and Van Nuys, to the northwest.
After holding up the helicopter for other aircraft, they cleared the Sikorsky S-76 to proceed north along Interstate 5 through Burbank before turning west to follow U.S Route 101, the Ventura Highway.
Shortly after 9:40 a.m., the helicopter turned again, toward the southeast, and climbed to more than 2,000 feet above sea level. It then descended and crashed into the hillside at about 1,400 feet, according to data from Flightradar24.
When it struck the ground, the helicopter was flying at about 160 knots (184 mph) and descending at a rate of more than 4,000 feet per minute, the Flightradar24 data showed.
At the time of the crash, the Los Angles County Sheriff’s Department had grounded its own helicopters because of the poor weather conditions. The impact scattered debris over an area about the size of a football field, Villanueva said.
Among other things, investigators will look at the pilot’s history, the chopper’s maintenance history, and the records of its owner and operator, NTSB board member Jennifer Homendy said at a news conference.
Justin Green, an aviation attorney in New York who flew helicopters in the Marine Corps, said weather may have contributed to the crash. Pilots can become disoriented in low visibility, losing track of which direction is up. Green said a pilot flying an S-76 would be instrument-rated, meaning they could fly the helicopter without relying on visual cues from outside.
All around the world, people were glued to their phones and TV screens as news of the crash spread and networks broke into programming with live coverage. A visibly shaken LeBron James wiped his eyes with tissues and walked away alone from the Lakers plane that had just landed in Southern California.
Thousands of people gathered to mourn Bryant outside the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. Mourners in No. 24 jerseys mixed with those in fancy dress arriving at the downtown arena for Sunday evening’s Grammy Awards.
People carried flowers and chanted “Kobe!” and “MVP!” under giant video screens showing Bryant’s smiling face.
“This is where we needed to be,” said Naveen Cheerath, 31.
Bryant retired in 2016 as the third-leading scorer in NBA history, finishing two decades with the Lakers as a prolific shot-maker with a sublime all-around game and a relentless competitive ethic. He held that spot in the league scoring ranks until Saturday night, when the Lakers’ James passed him for third place during a game in Philadelphia, Bryant’s hometown.
“Continuing to move the game forward (at)KingJames,” Bryant wrote in his last tweet. “Much respect my brother.”
Bryant had one of the greatest careers in recent NBA history and became one of the game’s most popular players as the face of the 16-time NBA champion Lakers franchise. He was the league MVP in 2008 and a two-time NBA scoring champion, and he earned 12 selections to the NBA’s All-Defensive teams.
He teamed with O’Neal in a combustible partnership to lead the Lakers to consecutive NBA titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
His Lakers tenure was marred by scandal, when in 2003, Bryant was accused of raping a 19-year-old employee at a Colorado resort. He said the two had consensual sex, and prosecutors later dropped the felony sexual assault charge at the request of the accuser. The woman later filed a civil suit against Bryant that was settled out of court.
Bryant went on to win two more titles in 2009 and 2010, and retired in 2016 after scoring 60 points in his final NBA game.
After leaving the game, Bryant had more time to play coach to daughter Gianna, who had a budding basketball career of her own and, her father said, wanted to one day play in the WNBA. They were seen sitting courtside at a Brooklyn Nets game late last year, Bryant clearly passing along his wisdom to his daughter. He regularly showcased her talents on the court on social media.
Bryant’s death was felt particularly painfully in Los Angeles, where he was unquestionably the most popular athlete and one of the city’s most beloved public figures. Hundreds of fans — many in Bryant jerseys and Lakers gear — spontaneously gathered at Staples Center and in the surrounding LA Live entertainment complex, weeping and staring at video boards with Bryant’s image.
Among those killed were John Altobelli, head coach of Southern California’s Orange Coast College baseball team, his wife, Keri, and daughter, Alyssa, who played on the same team as Bryant’s daughter, said his brother, Tony, who is the sports information director at the school.
The National Transportation Safety Board typically issues a preliminary report within about 10 days that will give a rough summary of what investigators have learned. A ruling on the cause can take a year or more.
Colin Storm was in his living room in Calabasas when he heard what sounded to him like a low-flying airplane or helicopter.
“Ït was very foggy so we couldn’t see anything,” he said. “But then we heard some sputtering and then a boom.”
The fog cleared a bit, and Storm could see smoke rising from the hillside in front of his home.
Firefighters hiked in with medical equipment and hoses, and medical personnel rappelled to the site from a helicopter, but found no survivors, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said.
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Story: Stefanie Dazio. Associated Press writers Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, David Koenig in Dallas, Mark J. Terrill and John Antczak in Calabasas, Tim Reynolds in Miami and Michael Rubinkam in northeastern Pennsylvania contributed to this report.
This image released by Sesame Workshop shows, from left, Grover, Basma, Ma'zooza and Jad with Rami Delshad, who portrays Hadi in "Welcome Sesame," a new, locally produced Arabic TV program for the hundreds of thousands of children dealing with displacement in Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon. (Sesame Workshop via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — “Sesame Street” in the past year has tackled everything from foster care to substance abuse. Now its latest effort is trying to help children suffering as a result of the Syrian civil war.
Sesame Workshop — the nonprofit, educational organization behind “Sesame Street” — has launched a new, locally produced Arabic TV program for the hundreds of thousands of children dealing with displacement in Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.
“The thing that became very apparent in our work on the ground is how critical the need was for the children of this region and children who have been affected by traumatic events to have the social and emotional skills they need,” said Sherrie Westin, president of Social Impact & Philanthropy at Sesame Workshop.
Called “Ahlan Simsim,” which means “Welcome Sesame” in Arabic, the show will feature Elmo, Cookie Monster and Grover, as well as two brand new Muppets — the boy monster Jad, who had to leave his home, and Basma, a purple girl monster who befriends the young stranger. An adorable goat named Ma’zooza adds comic relief.
Each 26-minute show will explore emotions experienced by all kids but particularly relevant to those dealing with trauma and will offer coping skills for feelings like anger, fear, frustration, nervousness and loneliness. In one episode, Basma shares her toys with Jad, since he left his behind. Some of the strategies include belly breathing and expression through art.
A variety show in the second half of each episode offers creators the chance to bring in local celebrities and attract an adult audience to hammer home the message. “The humor has to be there always, which is the ‘Sesame’ spirit,” said Khaled Haddad, an executive producer.
“Ahlan Simsim” will premiere Feb. 2 on MBC3, a pan-Arab satellite network that reaches 20 countries in North Africa, the Gulf and the Levant, as well as YouTube and national broadcasters across the region.
Production is based in the Jordanian capital Amman, with input from writers and performers from across the region. Dialects will be diversified, from Jordanian to Saudi.
“We know a lot about children and children’s development and what’s needed. But we always want to learn from people on the ground,” said Westin. “We know that when children can see themselves, identify with these characters and when they can relate to the story lines, we are the most effective.”
Targeted for children ages 3-8, the show will steer clear of the larger political, social or religious issues. “To the best of our ability we are not making political statements,” Westin said.
“The spirit behind ‘Sesame Street’ has always been it doesn’t matter if you have purple fur or yellow fur,” said Scott Cameron, a two-time Emmy Award-winning producer who serves as executive producer of the new show. “It’s a place where children can feel safe and supported and where real things are tackled — like fear of the dark, frustration or loneliness. We try to always do it with comedy alongside the heartfelt.”
The show is at the center of a wider push together with the International Rescue Committee that includes direct services, including home visits, classrooms and health clinics, all enhanced by Sesame materials like storybooks, puzzles, games and videos. One episode, for example, will show Jad terrified of going to the doctor and then will explore that fear.
“It’s more than a TV show. It’s a massive intervention,” said Cameron. “It’s a world where children and their families can feel safe and secure. And it’s a world where the media content is meant to be a portal into a fuller, broader set of humanitarian assistance.”
The program was initially funded by a $100 million award by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The LEGO Foundation then awarded an additional $100 million to deepen the play-based learning of “Ahlan Simsim” and gave Sesame Workshop the chance to expand to Bangladesh to serve families affected by the Rohingya crisis.
Since the Syrian conflict broke out in 2011, some 5 million children have been displaced internally and outside Syria, according to the U.N.-backed Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic. Its report this month said the youngsters have been “robbed of their childhood” by violations from all sides.
“Sesame Street” has had a presence in the Middle East for decades, starting when the show “Iftah Ya Simsim” premiered in 1979 in Kuwait, followed by local Egyptian, Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli versions of “Sesame Street.”
This time, to assess which early childhood interventions work best in crisis settings, Sesame Workshop is working with New York University’s Global TIES for Children center to independently evaluate both the direct services and mass media components of the program.
Creators hope the lessons learned in the Middle East can be translated to other regions, just as things “Sesame Street” learned in American inner cities can help all children. “It will reach children throughout the Middle East but the benefits will be to all children,” said Westin.
Chinese tourists pack a large number of masks into their suitcases after buying them in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district on Jan. 26, 2020.
TOKYO (Kyodo) — China’s ban on all outbound group travel to stop the spread of a deadly coronavirus has come as a blow to Japan’s retail and tourism sectors, which had been looking forward to robust spending by Chinese visitors during the Lunar New Year holidays.
“We may see an impact on our sales as 80 percent of visiting foreign customers at our flagship Hankyu department store in Osaka are Chinese,” said an official of operator H2O Retailing Corp., in reference to the group travel ban imposed Monday.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center, speaks to reporters at his official residence in Tokyo Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020. Abe said he is making arrangements to fly Japanese people home from the Chinese city of Wuhan, hit by an outbreak of a new virus recently. (Mizuki Ikari/Kyodo News via AP) (Associated Press)
TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan will help all its citizens wishing to travel back to the country from the central Chinese city of Wuhan amid a deadly outbreak of coronavirus, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday.
Abe told reporters that the government will arrange a charter flight or other means to bring them back from the city, where the new virus was first identified. It has killed at least 56 people in China and infected more than 2,000 globally.
Passengers line up to have body temperatures measured at a station in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, Jan. 26, 2020. (Xinhua/Li Jianan)
WUHAN (Xinhua) — The novel coronavirus cases in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province, is expected to rise by around 1,000 as more cases are being confirmed, Zhou Xianwang, mayor of Wuhan, said Sunday at a press conference.
As of 12:00 a.m. Sunday, a total of 618 cases have been confirmed in the city, with 40 recovered and 45 deaths, Zhou said.
A total of 533 cases are being treated in the hospital, with 87 in severe condition and 53 in critical condition, he added.
The city has around 2,000 suspected cases and 643 people under observation in fever wards.
“Previous experience shows that about 45 percent of these cases could become confirmed cases after tests,” Zhou said, as he explained the latest estimate.
The mayor also said there will be more recovering patients as nearly 80 are cured but still under observations in the hospital.
Eleven medical staff who had been infected have shown negative results in the latest novel coronavirus test, and can leave the hospital after another test and evaluations, according to a local hospital.
China’s Lunar New Year extended
Chinese authorities on Sunday announced plans to extend the Lunar New Year holiday originally set to end on Jan. 30 “to a proper extent” as a key measure to control the novel coronavirus outbreak. The holiday started on Jan. 24.
The decision was disclosed in a statement issued after the leading group of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus outbreak held a meeting Sunday to make work plans.
The meeting was presided over by Premier Li Keqiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the group. Wang Huning, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy head of the group, attended the meeting.
A riverside boulevard in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, Jan. 26, 2020. (Xinhua/Xiong Qi)
The meeting stressed that the country is at a crucial time in the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus outbreak, urging Party committees and governments at all levels to take more “decisive, powerful and orderly, scientific and well-planned” measures to effective curb the spread.
The meeting stressed the need to focus and strengthen prevention work in Hubei Province and Wuhan City. The following points were made.
— Send groups to Hubei to direct work on the ground.
— Coordinate resources across the country to prioritize supply of medical personnel and medical goods such as protective clothing and face masks which are badly needed for the prevention work in Hubei and Wuhan, as well as daily necessities for the general public.
— Open “green passages” to ensure smooth transport of the supplies.
— Speed up the building of hospitals designated to treat infected patients and transform some hotels into quarantine areas.
— Ensure timely diagnosis and treatment of patients with a fever.
— Step up staff rotation and protection of the medical personnel and take measures to relieve their physical and psychological stresses.
— Toughen restriction on the flows of people across rural areas, cities and regions.
On the work of other localities, the meeting made the following requirements.
— Leading groups must be set up and leading officials must stand at the frontline.
— Strengthen surveillance, strictly quarantine patients confirmed to have been infected, and apply isolation and examination measures on suspected cases and close contacts.
— Speed up designating hospitals, beds and quarantine areas for coronavirus outbreak prevention and control in cities that have relatively large numbers of cases.
Passengers line up to have body temperatures measured at a station in Zhengzhou, central China’s Henan Province, Jan. 26, 2020. (Xinhua/Li Jianan)
— Postpone and reduce meetings and mass gatherings.
— Strengthen virus prevention work in rural areas.
— Make arrangements for prevention work after the Lunar New Year holiday.
— Take measures to reduce population flows such as extending the Lunar New Year holiday, adjusting the starting dates of schools, supporting people to work from home by working online.
— Crack down on hoarding of the prevention work supplies.
The meeting also underlined strengthening the treatment of patients to minimize death rates, training more medical professionals, and pool resources to make an early breakthrough in vaccine research and development.
The meeting further demanded severe punishment for people who deliberately withhold information.
HANGZHOU (Xinhua) — China’s internet giant Alibaba has launched free online medical consultation services in an effort to relieve hospital pressure amid the novel coronavirus spread.
Users can access the consultation service and view real-time epidemic data nationwide from the National Health Commission on Alibaba’s online shopping platform Taobao or mobile payment app Alipay.
Hundreds of professional doctors from all over the country are providing services through the app, with more than 70 percent of them being respiratory and general practitioners, the company said.
As of 12:00 a.m. Sunday, the service homepage received nearly 400,000 visits after being launched for 24 hours, with 97 percent of them from central China’s Hubei Province, where the epidemic is most severe, according to data from service provider AliHealth.
More than 90 percent of the questions are focused on the prevention and treatment of the novel coronavirus and pneumonia, the data showed.
Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks to the media before attending the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/ Jacquelyn Martin)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have spent the past year courting the Democratic Party’s base with appeals to the working class and sweeping promises to curb climate change.
But as they balance their responsibilities to participate in the Senate’s impeachment trial and rally voters on the campaign trail, they’re turning to private air travel, an option typically reserved for the elite and criticized as environmentally unfriendly.
Sanders is expected to charter a flight to Iowa this weekend while the Senate trial is in recess. Warren hasn’t finalized her plans but is also considering private travel, and Amy Klobuchar hasn’t ruled it out. Only Michael Bennet says he’ll be flying commercial.
The senators are facing an unprecedented challenge in the final days before the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses. At a time when they would typically barnstorm the state, they’re instead stuck in Washington as jurors in President Donald Trump’s impeachment case. The little time they have for campaigning makes commercial travel tough.
But the private planes present unique issues for Warren and Sanders. As the leading progressive voices in a crowded Democratic primary, they often criticize rivals they deem insufficiently loyal to those values. The sudden use of private travel is an example of how ideological rigidity can sometimes collide with White House aspirations.
“This is the problem of presenting your purity above your practicality,” said Democratic strategist Chris Lippincott, who has not endorsed any of the 2020 primary candidates. “When we think about certain candidates who talk a lot about the environment … you’re going to hold them to a different standard.”
Lippincott applauded the 2020 presidential hopefuls in the Senate for being willing to fly privately, if that’s what their campaigns need.
“I understand it,” he said of trying to live progressive values at all times, “but the reality is, there’s a big risk of being perceived as being an ideologue and not a problem-solver.”
Transportation emissions overall make up the largest share of U.S. climate-damaging emissions, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Globally, air travel pumps out about 3% of overall emissions of climate-destroying carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels. Surging growth of air travel in Asia and around the world means those emissions will triple by 2050, the United Nations says, and recent studies say even that figure underestimates the explosive growth of air travel and its emissions.
In March, Sanders’ campaign became the first to announce it would provide carbon offsets, donations to environmental groups meant to mitigate the environmental effects of extra emissions. Since then, it had spent about $9,000 on them through September. And during his primary challenge to Hillary Clinton in 2016, Sanders paid around $14,000 for such offsets.
His campaign is making payments to NativeEnergy, based in Burlington, Vermont, which is the same company that Clinton used for them during her presidential bid in 2016. That’s also the same firm Warren uses, with her campaign paying a little more than $10,000 to it in September.
Some climate advocates said they weren’t bothered by the private travel, especially because they view a more carbon-conscious administration as a far better result for the climate than four more years of Trump in the White House.
“If you’re a presidential candidate running to try to beat Donald Trump, who is a climate denier to his bones, and that requires you to move around the country … you should do that,” said Leah Stokes, a professor and researcher into climate and energy politics at the University of California-Santa Barbara.
“World leaders fly around in airplanes — this is the modern era,” Stokes said. They can’t just hop a speedy train to Iowa, she said.
Trump has made a similar point for the opposite reason, poking fun at Democratic environmental plans.
“I really don’t like their policy of taking away your car, of taking away your airplane rights, of ‘Let’s hop a train to California,’” Trump said during a rally last February.
Sanders has pledged a $16.3 trillion environmental plan that would declare climate change a national emergency and calls for the U.S. to move to renewable energy across the economy until 2050. Warren wants to spend $3 trillion over 10 years to move the U.S. to 100% clean energy. And both are aggressive supporters of the “Green New Deal,” a sweeping plan to combat climate change.
Sanders recently suggested on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” that he’d consider a kind of “jet-pooling” arrangement in which he and other candidates could share private flights, saying, “Maybe we can all chip in, get one plane and come back.”
That opportunity might have presented itself last weekend since Sanders, Warren and others were campaigning in Iowa and then went to South Carolina for Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations and then on to Washington to be in the Senate. But they didn’t share private flights.
Sanders’ campaign says the senator’s comment to Colbert wasn’t realistic. Even if several senators were looking to decamp from Washington to Iowa quickly after the impeachment trial concludes each day, they would be headed to different parts of the state.
Tom Steyer, the billionaire hedge fund manager and environmentalist, has shunned all private plane travel and called on his fellow Democratic candidates to “walk the walk” on climate change activism by also doing so. Still, i t’s not just those candidates tethered to Washington by the impeachment trial who often opt to fly via chartered jet. Former Vice President Joe Biden spent at least $1.2 million on private flights through September, while Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, had spent at least $750,000.
That was more than Sanders (at least $377,000) and Warren (at least $190,000) over the same period, though impeachment could change that. Spending data through December 2019 won’t be ready until the end of the month. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg mostly flies private to campaign stops.
Buttigieg’s, Biden’s and Bloomberg’s campaigns all say they are also paying for carbon offsets.
Buttigieg faced criticism this summer for his penchant for flying private from presidential rival Beto O’Rourke, who produced an online ad filmed aboard a commercial jet proclaiming “No private planes for this campaign.” Buttigieg responded during a CNN climate change town hall by saying, “This is a very big country, and I’m running to be president of the whole country.” O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman, dropped out of the race in November.
Sanders, meanwhile, drew fire after spending nearly $300,000 on private jets in September 2018, as he crisscrossed the country campaigning for other candidates during the midterm elections.
The issue also came up in August, when Sanders traveled to Paradise, California, which had been ravaged by wildfires, to unveil his plan to fight climate change. He was unapologetic.
“I’m not going to walk to California,” Sanders replied when asked about flying private. “We do the best we can as an example, but I’m not going to sit here and tell you that we’re not going to use fossil fuels.”
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Knickmeyer reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Brian Slodysko in Washington and Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.
A bowl of 45 baht noodles from the noodle shop in Soi Chan 43.
Just south of Sathorn Road are clusters of back-to-back street food shops who’ve been serving hungry locals and honing their craft for decades.
By paying as little as 40 baht, you could get a dish of noodles and fish balls that someone has spent 40 years perfecting in this neighborhood along the streets of Chan, Saint Louis, and Sathu Pradit.
Plus, they’re largely free of tourists, so you’ll actually be eating what locals eat, not what Instagram influencers/backpackers are snacking on. Ride up and down Chan Road on the following red hop-on-hop-off song taew buses: 1256, 1271, 1279.
Unnamed ‘Bamee Jub Gung’
Unnamed Bamee Jub Gung
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Weera Nopparatcharoeksuk, 50, holds a bowl of noodles.
A bowl of 45 baht noodles from the noodle shop in Soi Chan 43.
A bowl of 45 baht noodles from the noodle shop in Soi Chan 43.
Pork broth.
Weera Nopparatcharoeksuk's egg noodle shop is right next to the Soi Chan 43, Yaek 11 sign.
Taxi drivers, Grab Bike riders, and bros daring each other to finish multiple huge bowls are just some of the regulars that come to an unnamed shop serving huge bowls of egg noodles since the 1970s.
“One big bowl used to be just 50 satang. My mom wanted to give huge portions to working people who need lots of energy,” said Weera Nopparatcharoeksuk, who took over from his parents about 10 years ago, as he swirls noodles with a stick in hot water. “We can charge cheaply because we make the noodles ourselves.”
The shop’s specialty is Bamee jub gung, literally “coolie egg noodles,” a dish popularized by Chinese laborers in the past, who needed cheap, high-energy dishes.
There are three sizes to choose from: 30 baht, 40 baht, and 45 baht: or in layman’s terms, large, larger, and largest. The noodles have no added color – the light yellow is all from the eggs. We couldn’t even make a dent in the 45 baht noodles (and we asked for extra, free pork rib broth as well), a pile of eggy goodness with thick chunks of grilled pork and homemade pork wontons.
“Most of my customers are men, but I’ve had some ladies come in and finish a 40 baht bowl while a guy couldn’t finish a 30 baht one,” Weera said.
Fun fact: Although the shop doesn’t have an official name. Locals have christened it “Bamee Jub Gung Pa Pranee” or Aunt Pranee’s Coolie Noodles, after Weera’s mom.
Open 9am to 2pm Mondays through Saturdays at Soi Chan 43, Yaek 11.
Saphan 3 Duck Porridge
Saphan 3 Duck Porridge
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Duck porridge (40 baht).
Saphan 3 Duck Porridge's menu.
Worapon “Song” Nimsaeng, 44, is the extremely busy owner of the Saphan 3 Duck Porridge shop as customers flock there post-work hours, queueing for both take-aways and in-house bowls of porridge.
“Our shop has been open for 40 years, by my mother,” he said. “This location here is only three years old, though, because we moved.”
A bowl of porridge with one topping costs 40 baht, two is for 45 baht, three for 50 to 60 baht depending on the toppings, and four to six toppings cost 70 to 80 baht. Choose from toppings of duck, snakehead murrel, hog maw, pork ribs, chicken, minced pork, sweet pork, duck wings, duck legs, fish heads, and fish maw.
Large portions (piset), as well as soups of the meats without rice (kao lao) both start at 50 baht.We tried the eponymous duck porridge. Although its rice grains were rough and chunks of duck tough, the Chinese celery and soft pork blood balanced it out. Definitely a filling meal for cheap.
Open 5pm to 11pm daily at Soi Chan 29. Also available on Grab, Get Food, and Line Man.
Sui Homemade Fish Balls
Sui Homemade Fish Balls
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A bowl of giam-ee noodles with yentafo sauce (40 baht).
Pawadee “Sui” Sukaratpipit cooks some noodles.
Sui Homemade Fish Balls stall.
Pawadee “Sui” Sukaratpipit, 67, has been shaping her own fishballs for her stall for 40 years – “ever since this area was all forests and fields.”
Today, she’s still serving up hot bowls of guay tiew noodles with her secret recipe of fish and shrimp balls at Sui Homemade Fish Balls. We recommend the giam-ee noodles with yentafo sauce – the springy fish balls, along with the crunchy-fresh jellyfish, offer a bowl of textures for just 40 baht (50 baht for a large).
Can’t get enough? Buy 100 fish or shrimp balls for 400 baht to take home.
Open 10am to 10pm everyday on Chan Road 18/4.
Nong Puy Bakery
Nong Puy Bakery
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Nong Puy Bakery cakes range from 150 baht to 220 baht.
Teun Santipapromwong.
3-baht eclairs.
Three-baht eclairs and bravely colorful cakes with endearingly wonky icing decorations are just some of the unintentionally whimsical offerings at Nong Puy Bakery, open for more than 20 years.
“Everything is yummy,” 50-year-old owner Teun Santipapromwong said.
A pack of six chocolate balls with sprinkles is 30 baht, a one-pound cake costs 150 baht, a two-pound cake 220 baht.
Open every day from 10am to 11pm in Soi Tharurat in the Worarat community area. Watch out for motorcycles traversing everywhere if visiting here on foot, as there is basically no distinction between road, motorcycle lane, or sidewalk here.
Yoo-Nguan Pochana
Yoo-Nguan Pochana
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A bowl of egg noodles with fish balls (40 baht).
Manuschai Thongchantra.
Yoo-Nguan Pochana's menu.
For half a century, Manuschai Thongchantra’s family worked to establish Yoo-Nguan Pochana as the premiere spot for fish ball noodles north of Chan Road.
Now Manuschai, 35, is the third-generation owner of the popular noodle shop, known for its light, bouncy fish balls (just a touch fluffier than Auntie Sui’s). The secret to their longevity? The fish balls are made from a mixture of Bigeye snapper and cutlassfish, Manuschai said.
Some decor is from the time of the shop’s founding, such as light-up boxes displaying the types of fish used to make the fish balls (though not lit up anymore). Bowls of guay tiew noodles cost 40 baht to 60 baht depending on noodle type and portion, and fish balls can also be bought by the hundreds. We recommend getting egg noodles with fish balls only (40 baht) – or just a bowl of fishballs (50 baht to 60 baht).
Unlike the other shops on this list, Yoo-Nguan also offers a variety of drinks and desserts that hop on and off the menu: brown sugar milk (30 baht), pink milk (35 baht), toast with different jam toppings (20 baht), and shaved ice with bread (40 baht).
Open 9am to 9pm every day on Chan 18/7 Road. Available on Get Food and Line Man.
Guay Jap Trok Sung Bang Rak
Guay Jap Trok Sung Bang Rak
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A bowl of guay jap (50 baht).
Signs in the shop say they're open from 10am to 1
The taciturn elderly couple running Guay Jap Trok Sung Bang Rak told the reporter to interview the other places, and then refused to disclose any information about their own shop. A young employee later said to us that the owners “disliked new media,” and that the shop had been open for around 30 years.
The shop sells guay jap, or rolled rice noodle soup, filled with pork belly, hog maw, and tofu for 40 baht, 50 for a large portion.
“No other branches,” signs in the shop say. “Sundays off. Thank you for your patronage.”
Open 10am to 1am daily on 9 Sathu Pradit Road.
Moo Tong Congee
Moo Tong Congee
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A bowl of pork congee (40 baht).
Natthapon Prayut.
Right next to the guay jap shop is a 24-hour congee eatery bustling with youthful energy, where young men stir entire cauldrons of bubbling rice with boat paddles.
The Moo Tong Congee franchise has been open for 27 years, with this Sathu Pradit branch in business for 17 years. Natthapon Prayut, 22, is the second-generation heir of this five-branch congee business.
“Dad and mom started out at a small roadside cart until we expanded to having five branches today,” Natthapon said. “At first we opened only from 4pm to 4am, but then we pushed for 24-hour opening times so we could serve daytime customers too.”
The Sathu Pradit branch also includes Hainanese chicken rice (40 baht to 70 baht), pork noodles (40 baht to 60 baht), khao moo daeng (barbecue pork with rice) (50 baht to 100 baht), in case not everyone in the party wants to eat congee.
“My mom wanted to include these dishes because she liked them, and she thought they would draw more customers. She actually learned how to make Hainanese chicken rice from a workshop at Matichon Academy,” Natthapon said.
Matichon Academy routinely holds cooking and vocational skills workshops. It is operated by Matichon Group, which also owns Khaosod English.
Open 24 hours, every day on 49 Sathu Pradit Road. Available on Grab, Line Man, Get, and Food Panda. Moo Tong Congee’s other branches are on Somdet Phra Chao Taksin Road, Pracha Uthit Road, and in Chom Thong and Bang Khae districts.
Thanon Chan Area
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Taweepol Night Market in Soi Chan 16 Yaek 1.
A vendor at Taweepol Night Market in Soi Chan 16 Yaek 1.
The article is dedicated in memory of Boonkiat (Permpoon) Thaitrakulpanich, the author’s father, who loved and frequented these places.
A still from the video clip showing GrabBike driver Apichart Maneerat being assaulted by motorcycle taxi drivers on Jan. 24, 2020.
BANGKOK — A viral video published on Friday shows a Grab driver crying out in pain as he is beaten bloody by two motorcycle taxis in Bangkok.
In a footage recorded by a customer of the ride-hailing service and later posted by a Facebook page, two motorcycle taxi drivers can be seen headlocking and assaulting a GrabBike driver, later identified as Apichart Maneerat, while he was trying to pick up his passenger from her condominium in Soi Ratchadaphisek 36.
The customer can be seen in the video trying to break the fight, but all she could do was to record the video and call the police – a gesture ignored by the assailants. They eventually let GrabBike driver go, and he later filed a complaint to police.
Police are questioning Apichart and the two motorcycle taxis as of publication time.
Speaking to reporters after the incident, Apichart said he could hear motorcycle taxi drivers, or wins, near the condominium shouted “What the fuck are you doing here?” before he replied that he was picking up his passenger.
The wins then waited for his passenger to arrive, then charged at him and punched him in the ears, Apichart said.
Confrontations between state-regulated motorcycle taxis, or wins, and private ride-hailing applications are known to have made headlines. The taxis have long accused private drivers of operating outside the law and “stealing” their customers.
Last December, a passenger was shoved off her bike in front of Siam Paragon by a local motorcycle taxi driver while she was trying to take GrabBike back home.
