Mouth of the Mekong

28/08/2024

Fleet's in. And a respite from the rain!

15/04/2024

Songkran!

03/03/2024

Most optimistic headline of the week award:

The cabinet on Sunday endorsed a new alcohol control bill from the Public Health Ministry but ordered it to include detailed measures to promote tourism within a week, before its legislative process starts, according to the government spokesman.

08/02/2024

Resistance is futile.

06/02/2024

What fun! Um...not?

A newly-built international airport in Tonpheung district in northern Laos' Bokeo province officially opened on Monday, with an expected capacity to handle about 2 million passengers a year.

28/08/2023

Same sh*t, different day.

Despite announcing a crackdown last year, the illegal operations have continued to flourish, protected by powerful officials with close ties to the government.

21/08/2023

Neither gone nor forgotten

Cambodia's authoritarian Prime Minister Hun Sen officially transfers leadership to his son after 38 years in power. Few expect the former commander of communist group Khmer Rouge to leave politics.

22/07/2023

Cambodians will vote in an election Sunday that will be neither free nor fair, but will extend the 38-year long rule of Hun Sen and likely ensure the succession of his son.

25/05/2023

Will they or won't they?

Voters in Thailand have delivered a stinging rebuke to the nine-year rule of the military-led government. But will the opposition party that won the most votes get a chance to rule?

15/05/2023

Oh, look, they won, for now.

Voters in Thailand overwhelmingly backed opposition parties promising to bring change — delivering a stunning rebuke to the military-backed government that has led them for nearly a decade.

13/05/2023

A wild weekend on tap

A progressive political party popular with young people is challenging the status quo in Thailand, where voters will go to the polls on Sunday after nine years of military-backed rule.

05/05/2023

Isn't there one just across the river?

"The exercise, to be held from May 9 to 28, will simulate attacks on transnational armed criminal groups, and involve more than 900 personnel, including more than 200 Chinese troops, China's state television reported."

China will hold a rare joint military exercise with its landlocked neighbour Laos this month as Beijing tries to bolster security ties with regional allies to counter an expanding U.S. presence in Southeast Asia.

03/03/2023

Visitors may choose countries with 'cleaner air' instead, industry chief warns

15/02/2023

The down side, this time of year.

01/02/2023

Nilar Thein, an activist who met her husband while imprisoned, started a family during the heady days of Myanmar's experiment with democracy. Her husband now dead, she's on the run.

31/12/2022

And...scene.

Friday should be the end of Myanmar's former leader's legal drama. What's next for Aung San Suu Kyi?

28/10/2022

In addition to being a place with unrivalled sunsets, Million Fields is on the cutting edge of providing healthy food up here in the north along the river!

Million Fields’ market garden operations in Chiang Rai Million Fields eyes organic awakening The farm in Chiang Rai is delivering organic fruit and vegetable boxes to families in Bangkok as well as supplying high-end hotel chains. by John Hey   Organic farming is not for the faint-hearted in Thai...

18/08/2022

Dam(n).

A top Thai court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit seeking to halt purchases of electricity by the country from a hydropower dam in neighbouring Laos over environmental concerns, bringing an end to a decade-long legal battle.

10/08/2022

And...SCENE

A big-budget production depicts the family as victims of a political vendetta, a popular narrative during the recent presidential election in the Philippines.

02/08/2022

An update on Brittany Griner, Viktor Bout and Paul Whelan, including the judge from Bout's case and the former DEA ops chief who snared him:
"There's no doubt in my mind he'll be back doing what he does best, and that is arm the potpourri of global scum with weapons that they need to keep their criminal enterprises and insurgent and terrorist movements operational."

Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer imprisoned in Illinois, could be key to securing the freedom of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, two Americans who are being held in Russia.

26/07/2022

Lao boat by a length

28/06/2022

This morning ain't bad, either.

27/06/2022

Good morning from the Golden Triangle.

24/06/2022

Potemkin prison? Fox/Henhouse? Discuss.

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/prison-06242022183119.html

21/06/2022

An excellent read.
Thailand cannabis: From a war on drugs to w**d curries
https://www.bbc.com/news/61836019

21/06/2022

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/20/science/giant-stingray-mekong.html

20/06/2022

Better late than never.

https://www.npr.org/2022/06/19/1106168933/cambodian-court-sentences-american-lawyer-amid-crackdown-on-dissent

Cambodian American lawyer Theary Seng and dozens of others were convicted of treason last Tuesday, as Prime Minister Hun Sen continues to crackdown on dissent.

08/06/2022

Mornin' from the Golden Triangle.

27/05/2022

Happy Friday from the Golden Triangle