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2 Cave Rescue Volunteer Divers Named ‘Australians of the Year’

By
Associated Press
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Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, at right, stands with Richard Harris, at left, and Craig Challen at the 2019 Australian of the Year Awards on Friday in Canberra, Australia. Photo: Mick Tsikas / AAP Image via AP
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, at right, stands with Richard Harris, at left, and Craig Challen at the 2019 Australian of the Year Awards on Friday in Canberra, Australia. Photo: Mick Tsikas / AAP Image via AP

CANBERRA, Australia — Two amateur divers who canceled their vacation plans to join what they thought was a hopeless mission to rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in Thailand received one of Australia’s most prestigious awards on Friday.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison presented Australian of the Year Award 2019 trophies to anesthetist Richard Harris and his dive buddy Craig Challen, a retired veterinarian, at a ceremony in the national capital Canberra on the eve of Australia’s national day.

“A lot’s been said about this little adventure that we’ve had, but the bottom line for me is that there are 13 families that have still got their sons they wouldn’t have if we hadn’t been there as part of that group,” Challen said. “That’s what floats my boat.”

The complex rescue against the odds by an international team in July captured international attention. Both Australians have conceded they didn’t expect that all 13 team members trapped in the cave for two week would emerge alive.

“It was the best-worst plan that we had. I had no confidence at all that it was going to work and that the children could survive,” Harris said.

All 13 rescued Wild Boar soccer teams members congratulated the pair through a video message in which they said: “We love you. All the best.” The thanks brought tears to both men. Harris said it was their first communication with the boys since the rescue.

Challen said anyone with the necessary skills would have volunteered to help.

The boys and their 25-year-old coach entered the cave on June 23 for a quick exploration, but flooding quickly blocked the exit and they had to retreat deeper inside the cave. Heavy rains raised water levels further and thwarted the initial searches before two British divers on July 2 found the group huddled on a dry patch of ground, safe but hungry.

Harris and Challen arrived at the cave on July 6 and reached the team the next day.

Harris sedated the 13 before they began their journey out over three days, fearing panic in the dark and confined cave system was a major threat to their survival.

Challen helped remove the team’s masks and wetsuits as the boys and coach were brought out on stretches through dry places. He then prepared them for their next dive through flooded sections of the cave.

Their citations say that Harris’s medical expertise was key in the plan to get the children out. After swimming through the narrow caverns to assess the health of those trapped and giving the medical all-clear for each evacuee, he remained behind until the last team member was safe.

The citation also says Challen’s technical expertise was critical to the operation. He played a leading role, working 10-12 hours each day in extremely dangerous conditions to swim the children one-by-one through the dark and narrow flooded passageways.

Two weeks after the rescue, the pair was awarded the Star of Courage, the second-highest civilian bravery decoration in the Australian honors system after the Cross of Valor.

Harris said he would use his title of Australian of the Year to encourage children to test their own limits in the outdoors.

“I do fear for kids today who living in a risk-averse society will not learn to challenge themselves and to earn the grazed knees and stubbed toes that really are necessary to build resilience and confidence,” Harris said.

“You might think it’s strange that having just rescued some kids from a cave, that I would like to promote kids to come under ground,” he added.

The two friends had been planning to take a cave diving vacation together when the Australian government invited them to Thailand.

Harris was nominated for Australian of the Year by his home state of South Australia and Challen by his state of Western Australia. They were chosen from eight state and territory nominees.

An Australian of the Year is chosen by a government-appointed board to celebrate the achievements and contributions to society of eminent citizens who are regarded as role models for their nation.

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AP Analysis: Retreat on Shutdown Reveals Trump Weakness

By
Associated Press
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US President Donald Trump walks back into the Oval Office after announcing a deal to temporarily reopen the government Friday in the Rose Garden of the White House. Photo: Evan Vucci / Associated Press
US President Donald Trump walks back into the Oval Office after announcing a deal to temporarily reopen the government Friday in the Rose Garden of the White House. Photo: Evan Vucci / Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will emerge from the longest government shutdown in U.S. history politically weakened, his reputation questioned and his signature campaign promise still glaringly unfulfilled.

The 35-day partial shutdown over the president’s demand for billions of dollars to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border was, in the end, futile. Facing defections within his own party, sagging poll numbers and public criticism for interrupted services, the self-proclaimed master dealmaker accepted an agreement that he had previously spurned and set an ignominious record that will remain part of his legacy.

Days after Trump marked the midpoint of his term, the shutdown highlighted the disquieting side effects of his unconventional governing style and the trials that lie ahead for him in dealing with emboldened Democrats.The folly of the effort was readily apparent inside the White House, where aides had warned Trump even before the shutdown began that there was no avenue to success in the showdown with Capitol Hill. Democrats ran for office on preventing Trump from building the wall — and it’s hardly a popular idea even among Republican lawmakers. Advisers watched in shock as Trump declared in a December meeting with lawmakers that he would be “proud” to shut down the government.

And when he ultimately did just that, they feared the messaging war had already been lost.

“He was playing double-A ball against major leaguers,” said former Republican Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, who once headed the House GOP’s campaign arm. By backing himself into the shutdown with no way out, Davis said, Trump displayed a lack of discipline from the start.

The strategic deficit was only magnified by what allies saw as tactical errors. Trump spent the holidays tweeting from the White House rather than making public appearances to showcase his readiness to negotiate. He didn’t deliver a public address or visit the border to make his case until weeks had already gone by. Perhaps most crucially, he underestimated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the unity of congressional Democrats, thinking the Californian would be more amenable to a deal on the wall once she won the speakership.

Trump’s message zigzagged sometimes by the hour. He maintained he was proud of shutting down the government and then tried to pin the blame on Democrats. One moment he signaled he was ready to concede the wall in favor of other barriers on the border, and the next he tweeted he was fighting for the wall as strongly as ever. It was emblematic of the dysfunctional White House culture he has fostered and the challenges that have been manifest on decisions big and small for two years.

By the end of the shutdown, West Wing aides and outside allies of the president began to look at the seminal promise of Trump’s 2016 campaign as an immense — and unachievable — burden on his presidency.

It was complaints that Trump appeared to be passing up his last, best opportunity to make good on his build-the-wall pledge that led Trump into the shutdown to begin with. Conservative commentators and House Freedom Caucus members fired off warnings that Trump’s base would sour on him if he didn’t use the last days of unified GOP control of Washington last year to try to get money for the barrier.

But in his quest to appease his base, the president tarnished his standing with the American public. Overall, 34 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance in a survey released this week by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s down from 42 percent a month earlier and nears the lowest mark of his two-year presidency.

“Hopefully now the president has learned his lesson,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a press conference with Pelosi.

The impasse was an early test for Pelosi after her return to the speakership, one that she appeared to pass handily. Democrats remained unified against White House efforts to divide the caucus, and they head into the next round of debate over border security funding determined to make good on their own 2018 promises to block Trump’s wall.

As White House aides suggested that the shutdown had brought Democrats to embrace border “barriers,” Pelosi make clear her party remained resolved against the wall.

“Have I not been clear?” she said. “No, I have been very clear.”

Trump, characteristically, refused to concede that he’d conceded. Instead, he insisted he hadn’t caved to Democrats, and he threatened yet another shutdown even while bemoaning the last one’s impact on Americans.

“This was in no way a concession,” Trump tweeted late Friday. “It was taking care of millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the Shutdown with the understanding that in 21 days, if no deal is done, it’s off to the races!”

Story: Zeke Miller

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Bad Brakes Cause 10-Wheeler Accident, Friday Gridlock

By
Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief
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Image: BumTanita / Twitter

BANGKOK — A major road accident on Ratchadapisek Road left 10 cars damaged and an entire lane blocked during a Friday afternoon rush hour.

The accident took place at about 4pm on the southbound lane of a bridge over Na Ranong Road in Khlong Toei district. Witnesses told the media they saw a 10-wheeler truck smashing through the traffic and damaging 10 cars in total. No injury was reported so far.

The driver, who was not immediately identified, reportedly blamed a “faulty brake” for the incident.

The pile-up is expected to cause a massive impact throughout this evening on road traffic across Bangkok downtown.

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โพสต์โดย JS100 Radio เมื่อ วันศุกร์ที่ 25 มกราคม 2019

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Date Set For ‘Black Panther’ Poaching Verdict

By
Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter
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Premchai Karnasuta, far left, sits in the campsite where he was found on Feb. 5 with the remains of a leopard, panther and other wildlife in the Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in Kanchanaburi province.
Premchai Karnasuta, far left, sits in the campsite where he was found on Feb. 5, 2018, with the remains of a leopard, panther and other wildlife in the Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in Kanchanaburi province.

BANGKOK — One year after a construction tycoon and three of his associates were arrested on poaching charges, the verdict for his court case was given after final arguments were heard Friday.

The verdict of the so-called “Black Panther” case against Premchai Karnasuta and three other suspects will be heard at 9am on March 19 at Thong Pha Phum Provincial Court.

Closing arguments were submitted Friday morning at a court in Kanchanaburi province.

Premchai faces a total of six allegations including hunting protected wildlife, illegally carrying firearms in public and poaching in a wildlife reserve.

The three suspects apart are Yong Dodkrua, Thanee Tummas and Nathee Riamsaen.

Premchai, president of one of Thailand’s largest construction companies, was arrested in February after park rangers found him and three others had set up camp at the Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary, where they were found with guns and the carcass of a black panther among other animals.

 

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Refugee Group: Use Frozen Billions to Aid World’s Displaced

By
Associated Press
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Rohingya refugees shout slogans during a protest against the repatriation process at Unchiprang refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, in Bangladesh, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018. The head of Bangladesh's refugee commission said plans to begin a voluntary repatriation of Rohingya Muslim refugees to their native Myanmar on Thursday were scrapped after officials were unable to find anyone who wanted to return. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

UNITED NATIONS — The World Refugee Council called Thursday for up to USD$20 billion stolen by government leaders and now frozen in the United States, Britain and other countries to be reallocated by courts to help millions of displaced people forced to flee conflict, persecution and victimization.

The council also called for people responsible for the growing crisis of refugees and internally displaced people – including government leaders, military officers and opposition and rebel figures – to be held accountable, all the way to the International Criminal Court.

Chaired by former Canadian foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy, the 24-member council which was formed in May 2017 includes former heads of state and ministers, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Leymah Gbowee, and leading business, civil society and human rights officials.

The 218-page report it launched Thursday goes beyond what the United Nations has done, at a time when the number of people forcibly displaced from their homes is 68.5 million, the highest since World War II. Its release also comes as populist and nationalist political figures “are exploiting people’s anxieties, fears” about refugees, Axworthy said,

Tanzania’s former President Jakaya Kikwete, a council co-chair, said the current crisis is a consequence of some countries’ internal policies, authoritarianism, sectarianism, violence and conflicts, “but the other aspect is that the attitude towards refugees has changed.”

“In the past people have been welcoming, friendly,” he said. “Now people are … closing the doors for people who are … fleeing from danger. But they say, ‘no, no you can’t come’ … and refugees are being blamed as being the problem.”

Kikwete said “unscrupulous politicians” are using refugees to get votes “because when you tell your people they’re dangerous” they react, and the politicians become popular.

At the same time, the report said, “the humanitarian commitment of nations, once a norm, has given way to nativism. Xenophobia – fear and exclusion of the ‘outsider’ – has gathered force in America, Europe, Australia and elsewhere.”

The U.N. refugee agency, which relies on voluntary contributions, is seriously underfunded and its head, Filippo Grandi, called in his latest report on forced displacement for “a new and far more comprehensive approach” to the crisis “so that countries and communities aren’t left dealing with this alone.”

Axworthy told a news conference: “What we’ve really proposed is a way in which you have to get out of the box in which refugees are seen simply as ‘a humanitarian issue.'”

“There has to be a much stronger level of involvement,” he said, in matters of security, development, human rights, accountability and finance for the world’s 25.4 million refugees and 40 million internally displaced, along with 3.1 million asylum seekers.

Axworthy said the World Bank has estimated that there are between $15 billion and $20 billion “in purloined assets that various political leaders have stolen from their people.”

How much of that can be recovered, he said, depends on how many governments and countries are prepared to give their courts the right to reallocate the money. He pointed to Switzerland, which has done just that, as a model.

Fen Osler Hampson, the council’s executive director, said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime has complained it doesn’t have access to $3 billion in bank accounts frozen in the United States. He said there are several hundred million dollars belonging to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s family frozen in London bank accounts. And in the case of South Sudan, he said, “the generals have several hundred millions that are frozen in bank accounts in Nairobi.”

“All it takes is political will to introduce that legislation” to give courts the right to reallocate that money, Hampson said.

The World Refugee Council’s argument is that refugees and internally displaced people, the majority of them women and children, are the most vulnerable in the world and should therefore have the primary claim on those assets, he said.

Other prospects for new money, Hampson said, are to leverage the vast resources of the private sector and create “refugee bonds,” similar to “green bonds” to tackle climate change.

Another proposal is a kind of cap-and-trade system where if a country isn’t willing to resettle refugees for political reasons it can make financial contributions to developing countries saddled with huge costs for hosting millions of refugees, Hampson said.

As for accountability, Axworthy said using the International Criminal Court to prosecute Myanmar’s military leaders for alleged crimes against humanity for the crackdown that led over 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh would “take away the impunity” for those responsible for massive displacement.

The council also called for the drafting of a new protocol to the 1951 Refugee Convention requiring “collective responsibility for refugees.”

Story: Edith M. Lederer

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Monk Killings Add Poison to Already Toxic Deep South

By
Pravit Rojanaphruk, Senior Staff Writer
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Buddhists and Muslims march Tuesday to protest attacks on civilians in Narathiwat province.
Buddhists and Muslims march Tuesday to protest attacks on civilians in Narathiwat province.

BANGKOK — When two monks were killed on holy ground in Thailand’s Deep South one week ago, virtually every human rights group from Human Rights Watch to the local Cross Cross Cultural Foundation denounced the violence as unacceptable. That didn’t stop a Buddhist monk from taking to social media three days later to stoke grievances by claiming the opposite.

“What’s the use of having rights activists? Or are they all dead? Soldiers are shot, they remain quiet. Villagers are shot, they remain quiet. Monks are shot, they remain quiet,” the Buddhist monk wrote Monday on Facebook under the name Phra Ajarn Frank Power of Awakening Chayakaro. “When the joen are caught, they shout out to protect the joen.”

Joen is a euphemism employed as a catch-all to describe Malay-Muslim separatists and is akin to “goons” or “bandits.”

The monks’ murders have further inflamed inter-religious and ethnic tensions, with activists and scholars comparing the current climate to a festering wound of distrust in which both sides only see and remember what they want.

“It’s like festering pus,” said Wichai Kanchanasuwon, director of the Peace Studies Institute at Prince of Songkla University in Hat Yai city. Wichai has for years sought peaceful resolution of separatist-related violence in the three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

'What’s the use of having rights activists? Or are they all dead? Soldiers are shot they remain quiet. Villagers are shot they remain quiet. Monks are shot they remain quiet. When the goons are caught, they shout out to protect the goons,' an account named Phra Ajarn Frank Power of Awakening Chayakaro wrote Monday on Facebook.
‘What’s the use of having rights activists? Or are they all dead? Soldiers are shot, they remain quiet. Villagers are shot, they remain quiet. Monks are shot, they remain quiet. When the goons are caught, they shout out to protect the goons,’ an account named Phra Ajarn Frank Power of Awakening Chayakaro wrote Monday on Facebook.

Both a local and Buddhist, Wichai said Buddhists have become enraged by the attacks one week ago which left two monks dead and two injured, with some calling for swift retaliation.

“But they have forgotten to look at the fact that three Muslim religious leaders have also been killed recently,” he said, adding that it doesn’t seem to register as big news or create a stir of the same magnitude in Thai society when such thing happens, which is predominantly Buddhist.

On the other side, Wichai said some Muslim religious leaders have floated conspiracy theories, questioning whether it was in fact a “false flag” operation by the state to sow more hatred against them.

“They said the temple wasn’t that far from an army outpost, and no culprits have been arrested so far,” Wichai said.

Wichai has been monitoring the use of social media and said rising hatred has become widespread in Thai society.

He likened it to filling a jug about to burst.

“Violence doesn’t solve problems. In the end more innocent people will die, not the extremists,” he said.

That includes messages such as those stoking resentment toward human rights groups which have spoken out about abuses, including torture and the execution of suspects without due process.

Caught in the crossfire has been leading human rights figure Angkhana Neelapaijit, caretaker National Human Rights Commissioner. Angkhana is a Muslim from Bangkok whose husband, a rights lawyer, vanished and was presumably killed 15 years ago.

She said Thursday that she had been a target of many social media attacks due to the issues she promotes, for which she is accused of siding with the separatists.

“Our job is to verify the facts and make proposals,” Angkhana said. Last year, she even lodged a police complaint over threatening speech made against her.

“They posted my photos and asked why a person like me should live,” she said.

Angkhana fears that people of the two religions and ethnicities will increasingly hate one another as the conflict continues unabated. More than 7,000 people have been killed in the past 15 years of conflict, according to monitors.

Also subscribing to the festering wound analogy is Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, director of Cross Cultural Foundation, a human rights advocacy group that has promoted rights and published reports of system torture practiced by the Thai military.

Pornpen believes hate speech on social media wouldn’t be effective was there no mutual anger and frustration simmering beneath the surface.

“This uneasiness cannot be activated by online media alone. There must be a germ festering,” she said.

Human rights activists working in the south are often branded as useless if not as assisting enemies of the Thai state when they defend the civil and political rights of Thai-Malay Muslims prosecutes by authorities.

Pornpen acknowledged that it is disturbing for Buddhists to see bullet holes in monks’ alms bowls. She added the pictures of the bullet holes cut deep into the hearts of many Buddhists, but that most do not remember images of mosques being attacked or Muslim religious leaders being shot to death.

A monk's alms bowl purportedly hit by a bullet in last week's attack on a temple in Narathiwat province is displayed after the attack.
A monk’s alms bowl purportedly hit by a bullet in last week’s attack on a temple in Narathiwat province is displayed after the attack.

The commissioner suspects that some of the hate speech has been planted by extremists on both sides to stoke division.

Such speech prevails online on both sides of the divide, where public Facebook groups such as “We Love Buddhism and Hate Islam” exist. Though it only boasts about 180 members, it exemplifies the incendiary language used in the conflict. On the other hand, Facebook pages such as “We love Buddhism” recount the issue from the other side.

On the page – which has more than 25,000 likes – a Yala province monk in a short video posted the day after the attacks, said he’d been threatened with death by Thai-Malay Muslim youths who told him not to go out for alms in the morning.

His message of being ignored, saying such complaints are ignored by the mass media, struck a chord.

In under a week, the video was watched more than 345,000 times and shared almost 12,000 times.

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FIFA Asks Thai Premier to Release Bahraini Soccer Player

By
Associated Press
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Hakeem Ali Mohamed Ali AlAraibi led in handcuffs at the Thai Criminal Court.
Hakeem Ali Mohamed Ali AlAraibi in December led in handcuffs at the Thai Criminal Court.

The Thai government has been asked by FIFA’s leadership to release a Bahraini soccer player who is in detention while embroiled in extradition proceedings despite having refugee status in Australia.

FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura called for an urgent “humane outcome” to the case of Hakeem al-Araibi, who lives in Melbourne but was arrested while on vacation in Thailand last month on an Interpol notice.

Bahrain wants its former national team player returned to serve a 10-year prison sentence that was handed down in absentia after he was accused of vandalizing a police station — a charge he denies.

In an emailed letter, Samoura asked Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha “to take the necessary steps to ensure that Mr. AI-Araibi is allowed to return safely to Australia at the earliest possible moment, in accordance with the relevant international standards.

“We strongly believe that this course of action will do justice not only to Thailand’s obligations under international law, but also to basic human and humanitarian values, which we know your country and government hold dear.”

The Asian Football Confederation, which is led by Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, a member of Bahrain’s royal family, would not say if it endorsed the appeal from FIFA. AFC spokesman Colin Gibson said in a written response that the governing body “is working with FIFA on this issue … along with other stakeholders.”

Bahrain has a Shiite majority but is ruled by a Sunni monarchy, and has a reputation for harsh repression since its failed “Arab Spring” uprising in 2011. Al-Araibi has said he believed he was targeted for arrest because of his Shiite faith and because his brother was politically active in Bahrain.

Al-Araibi has said he was tortured in Bahrain after his 2012 arrest and fled in 2014 to Australia, which granted him political asylum in 2017 and where he now plays for Melbourne’s Pascoe Vale Football Club.

“This situation should not have arisen in particular, since Mr. AI-Araibi now lives, works and plays as a professional footballer in Australia, where he has been accorded refugee status,” Samoura wrote in her letter to the Thai premier.

“When according refugee status to Mr. AI-Araibi, the Australian authorities concluded that Mr. AI-Araibi is at serious risk of mistreatment in his home country. As stated publicly on several occasions, FIFA is therefore respectfully urging the authorities of the Kingdom of Thailand to take the necessary steps to ensure that Mr. AI-Araibi is allowed to return safely to Australia at the earliest possible moment, in accordance with the relevant international standards.”

Samoura said she wants to meet the Thai government with player union officials.

“We look forward to your timely response on this urgent request and sincerely thank you for your efforts towards a humane outcome of this matter,” Samoura said.

Story: Rob Harris

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Escaping Bangkok: One Dam Day in Nakhon Nayok

By
Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter
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Top: A view of the Khun Dan Prakarn Chon Dam reservoir in January.
Top: A view of the Khun Dan Prakarn Chon Dam reservoir in January.

Top: A view of the Khun Dan Prakarn Chon Dam reservoir in January.

Photos by Jintamas Saksornchai

Two hours by car from Bangkok is a slow-life town where a huge dam watches over sun-soaked roads lined with yellow cotton trees. It’s an easy road-trip destination from the capital to a place where one can cruise around a reservoir shaded by mountains and waterfalls before grabbing a hearty lunch.

Nakhon Nayok, a fortress-town province since the Ayutthaya era, isn’t likely to be a first or fourth recommendation for a weekend getaway, but the 10th smallest province is just right for a low-key weekend for those bored of Hua Hin’s beaches but without the gas or time to zoom all the way to Korat.

Getting There

From northern metro Bangkok, Pathum Thani actually, head out northeast on Route 305 via the Rangsit-Nakhon Nayok Road. After about an hour and a half under clear road conditions, look for Nakhon Nayok city, a familiar-looking cluster of markets with a Tesco Lotus where the highway meets Suwannason Road.

Most lodgings are found either in the city or on the 3049 and 4016 roads near the dams and waterfalls to the northeast of the city, with bookings available via the usual online services for anything from 500 baht to 600 baht for a simple 2.5-star room to 2,500 baht for a private bungalow with a river view.

Things to Do

Much Dam Water

Head out northeast from town along a 20-kilometer stretch of road to find the trove of falls and the reservoir.

It took 10 years to build the Khun Dan Prakarn Chon Dam, but when it opened in 2009, it was an engineering marvel 2.6 kilometers long. It holds the claim of being the longest dam in the world to be made of a particular blend of concrete and generates about 28 million kWh of power annually for the province.

Taking advantage of this artificial lake presents several options – cruise, golf cart or tram – for everyone from active adventurers to seniors with limited mobility. The dam is open 6am to 6pm daily.

Dual pricing at Khun Kan Prakan Chon Dam.
Dual pricing at Khun Kan Prakan Chon Dam.

For the boat tour, the first cruises depart about 7am with the last heading out at 5pm. To find the pier, follow signs leading to the dam to find the welcome center. Look for a shack with large signs advertising reservoir cruises by the parking lot.

Tickets are, unfortunately, set at dual pricing. Up to seven Thais can rent a boat for 1,500 baht, with 200 baht for each additional person. Five foreigners however must pay 2,000 baht for the same boat, plus 400 baht for each additional. For mixed groups, Thais and foreigners pay the separate rates.

Khun Dan Prakarn Chon Dam.
Khun Dan Prakarn Chon Dam.

There, staff lead visitors down a flight of stairs to boats docked by the reservoir’s shore. Take a minute to admire the breathtaking view of the dam that reaches across the vast blue expanse of water. Once aboard, settle into a wooden plank seat while the boat operator sits at the back and maneuvers the boat propeller. The waters are calm and ride smooth here.

Views of the reservoir from the trail leading up to Khlong Khram Waterfall.
Views of the reservoir from the trail leading up to Khlong Khram Waterfall.
Khlong Khram Waterfall.
Khlong Khram Waterfall.

In the morning, catch clouds of mist rolling across the flat, calm water. As the day progresses, light glints across the wind-dimpled emerald surface. As the tour continues around the reservoir, see slope after slope of jungle appear. In the dry winter month of January, low water levels leave a dry strip of grass near the shoreline. Oriental darters, a species of water bird, glide across the surface, diving to snatch fish before alighting on the shore to sun, wings outstretched.

The boat makes several stops at different waterfalls, including Khlong Kram and Chong Lom. Expect to trek across boulders and exposed mud beds for a few hundred meters to get to them (do it barefoot or with washable hiking sandals). Although the waterfall’s stream is quite weak during the dry months, the weather isn’t too hot and the cool streams are fun to splash around in as neon butterflies dart around you.

Depending on how fast or slow one goes, the tour will run a little under or over three hours.

DAM 190115 0014

Alternatively, skip the boat fees and ride a golf cart up and down the long dam. A four-person cart costs 350 baht for an hour, and a six-person cart costs 500 baht for the same amount of time. Riding a tram around the dam is by far the cheapest option, costing 30 baht for a 30 minute trip.

More Water to Fall

Not enough waterfalls? Stop by the Sarika Waterfall or Wang Ta Krai Waterfall, the latter of which has ample space for picnics and sunning on rocks or dipping tired toes into rushing waters. Eager swimmers should rent or bring their own inner tubes to float merrily downstream.

Entry to Wang Ta Krai is 20 baht per person on foot. Cars with eight people or fewer pay 150 baht. Thais and foreigners pay the same price.

Food Time

On the way back to Bangkok, be sure to stop for some plum mangoes – mayong chid – for snacking or souvenirs. For quick eats, any number of the folksy, roadside eateries should do, usually Thai restaurants with names and menus on big cola brand signs.

Those hankering for Western food can have at least a dish at Bee’s Cafe and Fika where plates of pasta are under 200 baht, quality kho-khun T-bone runs 479 baht or the unmissable grilled kho-khun beef with homemade jim-jaew Isaan sauce (399 baht), open since 2011.

Or check out the photogenic Montreux Cafe and Farm, near the border between Nakhon Nayok and Pathum Thani. Avoid the too-sweet drinks, but do take a walk around the interconnected bamboo walkways over water and muddy rice paddies which connect an open-air cafe, boat dock, activity areas for children, a greenhouse, a chicken pen and a duck pond.

This article is completely unsponsored editorial content, with all visits unannounced and uncompensated.

Related stories:

Thai Desserts Modern But Unpretentious at Ayutthaya Cafe

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Photos of Actor Chris Hemsworth Filming in Ratchaburi Go Viral

By
Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter
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Chonburi governor Chaiyawut Chan with Chris Hemsworth. Photo: Chaiyawut Chan/ Facebook
Chonburi governor Chaiyawut Chan with Chris Hemsworth. Photo: Chaiyawut Chan/ Facebook

RATCHABURI — When the God of Thunder descended upon the mountains of a local national park, a fanboying government official shared the photos to viral fame.

Chonburi governor Chaiyawut Chan rushed to take photos with actor Chris Hemsworth, best known for his role as Thor in Marvel’s superhero films. Hemsworth is in Khao Ngu Stone Park for the filming of his new movie “Dhaka.”

“I went to Khao Ngu the other day to meet Chris Hemsworth, the handsome, muscular actor from Hollywood film ‘Thor,’” Chaiyawut wrote. “This movie has been allowed to be filmed here by the Ministry of Culture. I expect the movie to be worth at least 300 million baht and to help promote Ratchaburi tourism.”

Chaiyawut posted the photos Wednesday on Facebook, which have since gone viral. By Friday morning, they had garnered more than 6,000 likes and 2,500 shares. He said the scenes in Khao Ngu are of Hemsworth’s character in his home in Australia.

Chaiyawut also incorrectly compared it to the filming of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which he said was shot in Zhangjiajie National Forest in China.

“You tried to show off. This is embarrassing. [“Lord of the Rings”] was filmed in New Zealand. It’s “Avatar” that was filmed in Zhangjiajie,” Facebook user Kritdikorn Wongswangpanich said.

“Dhaka” follows the story of a mercenary out to rescue an Indian boy, and is being filmed in Bangkok, Phuket, Ratchaburi, Nakhon Pathom and Samut Sakhon. Directed by Sam Hargrave, it will be released on Netflix in 2019.

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Khaosod English
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Note to editors: No royalties payable if TWG Tea is stated as the source. More images are available upon request.

About TWG Tea

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