THE WEEK AHEAD
MONDAY
Wattrapol Chanthararo and angry members of his Koh Phi Phi Tourism Business Club are scheduled to meet today to try to work out ways to combat the indefinite closure of the famous Maya Bay, aka The Beach.
If you haven’t already, this is the last day you can get bidding documents from the always interesting National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) for their next entertaining auction of the 900MHz frequency, scheduled to take place on Oct 20. Residents of Chachoengsao province, aided by the iLaw NGO, intend to file a “letter of inquiry” today to protest against the government’s much-disputed land-seizure policies and additional “negative impacts” in preparing the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).
TUESDAY
The annual Phuket Vegetarian Festival and Extremely Grotesque Body Piercing exhibition begins today and lasts through Wednesday of next week. Currently on their great American tour, the Wild Boars football team head from Argentina to the United States for a round of TV morning and late-night show interviews. They are on the NBC network only, so assume they have a contract and assume the contract includes gelt. The “2018 Mekong-Japan Cooperation” er... thing will open today in Tokyo. Government leaders of Japanese and the five Mekong River riparian nations will talk about cooperation strategy.
Iran wants its frozen assets back and the International Court of Justice at the Hague will listen this morning to US arguments why not.
WEDNESDAY
The three-day World Didac Asia conference for education professionals, beginning today, will use all three plenary halls at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin will keynote.
The IMF will release its latest World Economic Outlook this morning.
It is World Post Day, celebrating the 144th anniversary of international mail. World Mental Health Day today will be celebrated by the lucky people with discussions about raising awareness of mental health issues around the world. The World Coalition against the Death Penalty (aka WCADP for short, pronounced “Wcadp”) will celebrate the 16th World Day Against the Death Penalty by “raising awareness on the inhumane living conditions” on Death Row.
THURSDAY
Singapore Airlines begins direct, 19-hour flights to New York today, the world’s longest non-stop trip. Bring money when you book, though, because there’s no economy class in the brand new Airbus A340.
Thailand will be looking for a few “attaboys” at the major two-day meeting to discuss combatting wildlife trafficking, hosted by the UK government and WWF in London.
Thailand visit Hong Kong for an international football friendly beginning at 7pm, Thailand time.
The All Thailand Golf Tour’s Singha Classic 2018, this year’s penultimate tournament with world ranking points, starts today at Royal Hills, Nakhon Nayok. The purse is 2 million baht.
Pol Col Montri Sriboonlue, who failed to show at the Supreme Court last month to hear the final verdict in his murder trial, gets one more chance today, or loses his million-baht bail. He was convicted of murdering a young drug suspect during Voldemort’s war on drugs in 2004.
FRIDAY
Budget carrier GoAir of India begins direct Mumbai-Phuket flights today. Flights will be three days a week. Tonight’s Unbreakable concert at Bitec Bangna by Thai-American hip hop group Thaitanium starts at 7pm, with ticket info at www.thaitanium.biz.
The phuyai of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and every central bank are in Bali today for the 2018 Annual Meetings.
Croatia host England in group play in a busy night of Uefa Nations League football (actually early tomorrow) at 1.45. It’s the last day for US citizens to return their absentee election ballots via the US Embassy in Bangkok or the US Consulate General, Chiang Mai.
SATURDAY
The saddest day of the year is the anniversary of the passing of King Bhumibol in 2016. Monday will be a holiday. The Uefa Nations League matches and international friendlies all this week have wiped out regular weekend football. Pardoned sodomite, prime minister-in-waiting, Anwar Ibrahim only has to win a by-election in Port Dickson today to take the Malaysian government reins from Mahathir Mohamad.
Today is International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction, aka bet your tsunami detectors aren’t working, right?