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- ‘Start exercising!’: secrets of Thailand’s 105-year-old athletics champion
A recent winner of four Masters Games gold medals, Sawang Janpram began competing at 97 – motivated by his daughter, now 73
For the 105-year-old Thai athlete Sawang Janpram, the day normally starts at 5.30am. He has a breakfast of two boiled eggs, some protein, vegetables and fruit, and by 6am or 7am he’s out at the beach or local stadium near his home in Rayong province, training with his 73-year-old daughter Siripan.
He will walk between 1km and 2km before doing a quick 100m run, once or twice. Then, he practises one of his other sports: javelin, discus or shot put.
Continue reading...30 May 30 2025Thailandhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/30/sawang-janpram-thailand-105-year-old-athletics-champion-world-exercise - Pink Man pushing his pink trolley through a field in Thailand: Manit Sriwanichpoom’s best photographPink Man pushing his pink trolley through a field in Thailand: Manit Sriwanichpoom’s best photograph
‘In his tasteless suit, he is a personification of consumerist greed. He was so hot he had to run to the car for a blast of the air-con’
The idea for Pink Man was born when I went to the first giant mall that opened in Bangkok. It was a warehouse on the outskirts of town that was so huge you got lost among stacks of products. Normally I would go to the supermarket with a small basket, but the trolleys I saw there were so big you could lie down in them. I saw a family in front of me filling one and I thought: “How many days will it take them to finish that? How much money do you need to fill this?” It reminded me of Duane Hanson’s hyperreal sculptures of American families but also how his art reflected his time. I thought my art should reflect my time, too.
I was born in 1961 and lived by the canals with rice fields right in front of me. I couldn’t believe how society had changed within my lifetime, how it had happened right in front of my eyes. In many ways my art is a reflection of my life. When I pass away you can look at my art and you will see my life.
Continue reading...28 May 28 2025Photographyhttps://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/may/28/pink-man-pink-trolley-thailand-manit-sriwanichpooms-best-photograph - ‘People buy a lion and can’t handle it’: inside the farms breeding cubs for TikTok and Instagram likes
In Thailand, exotic pets are increasingly popular among the wealthy elite, but few are prepared for a long-term commitment and campaigners say many animals are kept in cruel conditions
Champagne glasses clink at an exclusive Bangkok party, where guests in designer clothes laugh and mingle. They take turns posing with a cat, passing it casually from one to the other. But as the camera settles, it becomes clear this is no house cat – it’s a lion cub. One woman, in a red cocktail dress, lifts the animal to her face and blows a kiss at the camera, a glass of wine balanced in her other hand.
Clips such as this are flooding Instagram and TikTok, offering a glimpse into Thailand’s booming captive lion trade. According to a new report by the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand and the Oxford Wildlife Trade Research Group the number of lions in captivity has more than tripled since 2018 – a trend fuelled in part by the rising popularity of exotic pets among the country’s wealthy elite. A growing network of lion farms cater to this demand – many of them run by amateurs with little experience in wildlife care.
Lion breeder Patamawadee Chanpithak plays with cubs in the nursery at her farm. Photograph: Ana Norman Bermudez
Continue reading...28 May 28 2025Illegal wildlife tradehttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/28/thailand-lion-exotic-pet-trade-instagram-tiktok-aoe - Young British woman held on drug charges in Sri Lanka could be linked to Culley case
Charlotte May Lee, 21, from south London, flew from the same Bangkok airport as Bella May Culley, who was arrested a day earlier
Within a day of Bella May Culley being arrested at a Georgian airport for allegedly trying to smuggle 14kg of cannabis, the same fate met another Briton 3,000 miles away.
As Charlotte May Lee stepped off her flight at Bandaranaike International airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka last Monday, the 21-year-old former cabin attendant was arrested for an alleged attempt to bring in £1.2m worth of a synthetic cannabis strain known as kush in her two suitcases.
Continue reading...19 May 19 2025Sri Lankahttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/19/young-british-woman-held-on-drug-charges-in-sri-lanka-could-be-linked-to-culley-case - British teenager held in prison in Georgia on drug charges – video
Bella Culley, 18, was arrested in Tbilisi on Tuesday on suspicion of illegally buying, possessing and importing large quantities of narcotics including marijuana. The teenager's family had thought she had gone missing while travelling in Thailand because they had not heard from her for several days and her phone appeared to have been turned off. Culley faces up to 20 years in prison or a life sentence if she is found guilty
Continue reading...15 May 15 2025Drugs tradehttps://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2025/may/15/british-teenager-bella-culley-held-in-prison-in-georgia-on-drug-charges-video - British teenager Bella Culley held in Georgia on drug charges
Eighteen-year-old great-granddaughter of late Labour MP Frank Cook faces potential life sentence if found guilty
The 18-year-old great-granddaughter of a late Labour MP is being held in prison in Georgia on suspicion of drug offences.
Bella Culley was believed to have gone missing in Thailand before she was detained 3,700 miles (6,000km) away in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, on Saturday.
Continue reading...15 May 15 2025UK newshttps://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/15/british-teenager-being-held-in-georgia-on-drug-charges-bella-culley - Myanmar refugees in Thailand face health crisis after USAid withdrawal – in pictures
Thousands of people who fled Myanmar’s civil war to refugee camps in Thailand are struggling to find healthcare after Donald Trump ordered a freeze on US foreign aid spending. In the Thai border region of Tak, clinics inside refugee camps were forced to suddenly shut down
Continue reading...14 May 14 2025Global developmenthttps://www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2025/may/14/myanmar-refugees-in-thailand-face-health-crisis-after-usaid-withdrawal-in-pictures - Vesak Day 2025: celebrations of Buddha – in pictures
Vesak is the most sacred day for Buddhists, commemorating the birth, enlightenment and death of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, all traditionally believed to have occurred on the full moon day of the Vesakha month in the ancient Indian lunar calendar
Continue reading...13 May 13 2025Buddhismhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2025/may/13/vesak-day-2025-celebrations-of-buddha-in-pictures - Auction of ancient Indian gems ‘imbued with presence of Buddha’ condemned
Sotheby’s sale of Piprahwa gems, excavated after burial with Buddha’s remains, denounced as perpetuating colonial violence
Buddhist academics and monastic leaders have condemned an auction of ancient Indian gem relics which they said were widely considered to be imbued with the presence of the Buddha.
The auction of the Piprahwa gems will take place in Hong Kong next week. Sotheby’s listing describes them as being “of unparalleled religious, archaeological and historical importance” and many Buddhists considered them to be corporeal remains, which had been desecrated by a British colonial landowner.
Continue reading...2 May 02 2025Buddhismhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/02/auction-of-ancient-indian-gems-imbued-with-living-presence-of-buddha-condemned - American academic held in Thailand charged with insulting monarchy
Paul Chambers detained under strict lese-majesty law, which can lead to 15 years in jail on a single charge
A prominent American academic has been detained in Thailand after being charged with insulting the monarchy, a rare case in which a foreign national has fallen foul of the country’s strict lese-majesty law.
Paul Chambers, who specialises in civil-military relations and democratisation in south-east Asia, was denied bail on Tuesday and is being held at Phitsanulok provincial prison in northern Thailand, his lawyers said.
Continue reading...8 April 08 2025Thailandhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/08/american-academic-paul-chambers-thailand-charged-insulting-monarchy