CHIANG MAI — A travel company for Chinese tourists in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai is celebrating Loy Kratong – the Thai floating lantern festival – five months early this year.

The company held a mock Loy Kratong festival for around 30 Chinese tourists on the bank of Ping River near Pa Daed Bridge yesterday evening, attracting curious attention from some Chiang Mai residents in the area, as Loy Kratong is normally held on a full moon in November. The tourists left the area on a bus after the ceremony was over. 

Photos of the incident also went viral on social media, with some commentators praising the company for teaching Thai culture to the tourists, and others expressing concern that the river will be polluted by kratong (floating lanterns made of banana leafs) if too many Chinese tourists follow the example. 

Wallop Namwongprom, a member of the Cultural Committee of Chiang Mai Province, said he has seen photos of the Loy Kratong festival and believes it is a "gimmick" by the tour company to draw tourists.

"Releasing hot air lanterns is forbidden, so the company may have resorted to only floating the kratong, so that tourists can engage in Thai traditions and take photos," Wallop said. "But I think it looks rather strange, because Loy Kratong actually takes place during the flood season, when water is reaching up to the river bank, but they held Loy Kratong while the Ping River is still very dry. But, of course, they can do that, for the sake of tourism, to help tourists learn about [Thai traditions]."

He added, "It's better than letting Chinese tourists climb ancient walls, defecate in the city moat, spit on the street, or blow their noses in public. It's good that they are engaging in this Lanna [northern] tradition."

Chiang Mai is a popular destination for Chinese tourists, some of whom arrive in the city by driving from China by car. Official records say 4.5 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand in 2014 – more than any other nation – bringing in more than 190 billion baht in revenue for the Kingdom. 

However, the influx of Chinese tourists has also led to tension between native Thais and the Chinese visitors, who some locals have accused of behaving rudely and lacking cultural sensitivity. Last year Thailand's tourism agency printed pamphlets for Chinese visitors explaining –  in Mandarin – proper etiquette for visiting museums and temples, as well as driving and queueing.

Earlier this month MasterCard’s chief economist Yuwa Hedrick-Wong told Reuters that some countries in Asia are too "dependent" on Chinese tourists, and urged them to diversify their sources of visitors. 

PHRA PHUTTHABAT (DPA) — In a rehab centre north of Bangkok, one recovering addict remembers the highs as well as the lows.

"I felt like I could do anything and the world was mine," said the 25-year-old, who gave her name only as Sai. "I was happy and free of all stress."

"Then I became depressed, confused and paranoid. So I needed the drugs again. I wanted to end that cycle."

Sai is trying to control her drug addiction at Thamkrabok Monastery, Thailand's oldest and largest free drug rehabilitation facility, 140 kilometres north of Bangkok.

She started using methamphetamine tablets and crystals at 17 and developed a compulsive habit.

Around 1.4 per cent of Thais are addicted to amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), including methamphetamine and MDMA, or ecstasy, among the highest percentage in the world, according to estimates by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Thai users of these and other drugs are estimated at more than 1.2 million people, or around 2 per cent of the population, and that number may be rising fast.

Between 2009 and 2014, the numbers of drugs cases more than doubled from about 151,000 to about 347,000, while the number of registered drug offenders rose at a similar rate from nearly 168,000 to almost 366,000, officials figures show.

Strict laws appear to have made little impact.

"The harsh punishment never crossed my mind," said Sai, who has been in jail three times for drug abuse. "All I thought about when I needed drugs was that I had to get it."

Thailand is one of 32 countries that imposes the death penalty for some drug offences.

Producing or trafficking illicit drugs can lead to capital punishment, while users face imprisonment, fines or mandatory rehabilitation, depending on the type and amount of drugs.

Thailand has executed 30 people for drug crimes since it became a capital offence in 1979, and 14 are currently on death row. Since lethal injection was adopted in 2003, five out of six people executed in Thailand were killed for drug offences.

Drug offenders account for nearly 77 per cent of all prison inmates.

"Drug problems have become more prevalent and persistent," said Chuenjit Iemwimangsa, principal of Chaengarkart Amrung Primary School, whose pupils were on a school trip to Thamkrabok on the day that dpa visited.

"There are news reports about drugs everyday, more frequently than before," she said.

Thai authorities say they seize about 100 million methamphetamine pills, 1 ton of crystal methamphetamine and 800 kilograms of heroin each year, with official figures showing an upward trend.

The key problem, however, is that the authorities only manage to seize an estimated 20 per cent of the drugs that are trafficked through the country, according to the Thai Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB).

Police corruption may play a role. After a drugs raid earlier in June, 12 police officers were suspected of participating in the drugs trade and reassigned.

About three-quarters of the drugs are trafficked through northern Thailand near the Golden Triangle, an area along the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, where the majority of opium and synthetic drugs in the region are produced, said Sucheep Kotcharin of the northern branch of ONCB.

"The traffickers take advantage of the country's good road networks," he said, adding that they also used routes through forests and mountain ranges.

"There was never a shortage of drugs when I needed them," said Tui, another patient at the monastery, who has been using methamphetamine for 19 years, since he was 14.

Sai said she could walk to a street corner in her hometown near the Thai-Cambodian border to buy drugs, while Tui had dealers' numbers on speed-dial and could call for a delivery any time in Bangkok.

They both paid around 200-300 baht (between 6 and 9 dollars) for a single methamphetamine pill, which they would ingest. The current minimum wage in Thailand is 300 baht per day.

"The profit made by traffickers and dealers is the main motivator," said Secretary General Permpong Chaowalit of the ONCB. "For them, the money is worth the risk of getting caught."

"I started using because I wanted to have fun," Tui said. "But it's not fun anymore. I can't function each day without it."

Sai and Tui felt the effect of drugs on their health: fatigue, pain, premature aging, insomnia and loss of appetite. With several days left at the monastery, both vowed not to return to drugs.

"No matter how harsh the law is, the reason not to do it should be that you love yourself," Sai said. "I wish someone had told me not to do drugs then."

(Reporting by Siraphob Thanthong-Knight)

BANGKOK — In a rare departure from the junta's zero tolerance on political protests, police did not arrest any of the fourteen pro-democracy activists who marched along a historic road in Bangkok today.

Seven of the activists are members of a Bangkok-based student network, while the others belong to Dao Din, a social justice group founded by law students in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen.

All fourteen are facing charges of violating the junta's ban on protests for staging demonstrations to commemorate the first anniversary of the 2014 coup last month, and have since defied police's orders to surrender for formal prosecution. 

The group announced the formation of a new group called Neo-Democracy Movement this morning, which they said will campaign for democracy, public participation in politics, human rights, justice, and non-violence. The activists made the announcement at a press conference outside the home of the prominent historian Sulak Sivaraksa, whose house also doubles as a bookshop and hostel. 

Speaking at the press conference this morning, Rangsiman Rome, one of the activists from Bangkok's Thammasat University, said his group is ready to accept any punishment from authorities for their struggle against the junta. 

"If we are to be punished by the NCPO, we are willing to accept it," Rangsiman said, referring to junta's official, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). "But our acceptance does not mean we recognize that our actions are illegal. It is because we have only two hands, and we are few in number, while the NCPO has guns and numerous personnel at its disposal, and they use these forces barbarically to violate human rights." 

He continued, "I insist that even if we are to be detained, and our human rights are stripped, we will only stay in prison physically while our hearts will still [hold on to] democracy, and hunger for freedom." 

The activists then set out for Ratchadamnoen Avenue on a bus, with dozens of plain-clothed and uniformed security officers trailing them. After arriving on the avenue, the activists marched to various landmarks in Thai political history, including the monument to the 1973 Student Uprising, the memorial to the 1976 massacre of student activists at Thammasat University, and Democracy Monument, the focal point of numerous political protests over the past decade.

The activists before they set out on their pro-democracy march in Bangkok, 25 June 2015.

After wrapping Democracy Monument with black banners to symbolize the junta’s suspension of democracy, and delivering speeches to a crowd of supporters, the activists declared the end of the demonstration at around 7 pm and dispersed peacefully from the scene. Rangsiman said his group "will be back" for further campaigns against the junta. 

No arrests were made throughout the day, marking a notable exception to security officers' standard practice of swiftly arresting anti-coup dissidents. Public protests and political activities of any kind remain banned by the NCPO, which has sent some violators to stand trial in martial courts.  

Adul Kiewboriboon, a chairperson of the Relatives of May 1992 Martyrs and a member of the junta’s reform center, observed the protest today. Adul told Matichon he believes the activists' march was a "colorful" event and not provocative. He also said the junta's reform forum may invite the fourteen activists for discussion in the future, Mathichon reported.

Asked what he thought of the security officers who had been stalking the activists for hours, Adul replied, "It's a security measure. They weren't only there to follow the activists, but also provide protection to the activists."