Entries Tagged 'Thailand' ↓

In Samut Songkram, Thailand, the Mae Klong railway passes through this crowded market several times a day. See those tracks on the ground in the picture above? Those are the tracks it uses. Hard to believe that you could get a whole train through the market on tracks like that.

Watch the video to see the train roll through the market. It’s pretty cool the way it all rolls up.

Via Think or Thwim: Train Passes Through Market

I found this amazing article about the abandoned skyscrapers in Bangkok Thailand. During the early 90s many Asian economies grew at a rapid rate. But in 1997, many of these nations had a serious financial crisis. Overnight stock markets crashed, currencies were devalued, and prime real estate became worthless. Though nearly all of the Asian markets felt the effects, Thailand was one of the hardest hit.

With it’s currency suddenly devalued, thriving businesses went bankrupt with no warning. When this happened to developers, many of the massive projects they were working on were simply abandoned. The city of Bangkok which had been growing at a fantastic rate, suddenly didn’t need any new office buildings or skyscrapers. So the skyscrapers were just abandoned, becoming “ghost buildings.”

Check out this video to see some of the many projects left partially finished and rusting away.

Via Travel Happy: Thailand’s Ghost Buildings: The Wall Street Journal video

The sculpture of Yoda above was created by YumiModal, a small business located in Bangkok Thailand. They specialize in metal movie sculptures. Specifically in sculptures from the Terminator, Alien, Predator, and Star Wars movies. But they also do Stargate, RoboCop and various other SciFi and fantasy sculptures.

They will ship their art anywhere in the world, and are even willing to do custom work. Prices range from $75 up to $4300 with the buyer paying for all shipping costs.

The artwork is absolutely amazing. The amount of detail and sheer quantity of work that must go into each of the statues is astounding.

Check out their site for more pictures: www.YumiModal.com

It seems that Thailand has decided to punish it’s police officers who break rules, by making them wear a Hello Kitty armband. The idea seems to be that shaming and embarrassing the cops will do more for discipline than a standard type of punishment.
Pongpat, the chief of the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok said,

“Simple warnings no longer work. This new twist is expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor”

This has to be the most bizarre and strange way of punishing someone I’ve ever heard of.
For the whole story read the Yahoo News report: Bad Thai cops to endure Kitty shame