Hatyai Before & After Dark :- Info-sharing & FRs

[Red_Tirak1099]

Keep up the good work bro. KNN is the best...looking forward to reading your news articles.

[KatoeyLover69]

Originally Posted by Red_Tirak1099

Keep up the good work bro. KNN is the best...looking forward to reading your news articles.

Glad to hear that you appreciate reading the news articles !

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from Bangkok Post dated Sunday 7 October 2007 :-

Busted: Hat Yai bomb plot

Security forces have foiled a suspected terrorist plot to wreak havoc in Hat Yai, the commercial capital of Songkhla province, recovering 17 bombs in the city yesterday before they could be detonated.

A bomb disposal unit discovered the 17 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) hidden in two locations in the city.

A security source said five bombs were discovered near a fence of the Prince of Songkhla University on Poonakan road. Explosives experts said the detonation cords were missing and would have probably been attached only shortly before an attack.

Another 12 bombs were discovered outside a restaurant belonging to the navy in downtown Hat Yai.

All the bombs were home-made and authorities believe they were destined to be planted at various places in the commercial hub of Hat Yai.

The source said the low-pressure bombs were apparently intended to cause havoc rather than deaths. They were similar to a device that exploded near the army headquarters in Bangkok last week, which injured two bomb disposal officers.

On Sept 22, security forces came across five bombs at a public park in Hat Yai. That discovery, coupled with intelligence warnings of possible attacks in the once-bustling tourist city of Hat Yai, has spurred the authorities into beefing up security patrols in the area.
--- KatoeyNewsNetwork

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from Bangkok Post dated Friday 12 October 2007 :-

Tutorial centres mushrooming in Hat Yai

Hat Yai - The economy in the South may be slow, but the tutorial business is thriving in Songkhla's Hat Yai district, with at least 500 million baht in fees being paid annually. Handsome profits and rising demand from students have prompted tutorial centres in Bangkok to open branches in Hat Yai. There are now more than 100 tutorial centres in the downtown area.

More than 30 tutorial centres are on Juti-anusorn road, in the Hat Yai business area.

Popular cramming schools from Bangkok such as Ajarn Ou's Chemistry, Prakitpao Tomthitchong's Applied Physics and the Enconcept E-Academy have attracted many students even though they have to learn from videos.

Among popular tutorial centres run by local tutors are Kwankue, Ajarn Sawat and Hat Yai Tutors.

Not only Hat Yai-based students are taking courses. These tutorial centres also attract students from neighbouring provinces, including Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat in the deep South.

Tutoring schools offer a wide range of topics, with courses in physics, chemistry, maths and English the most popular. There are also special intensive courses for the university entrance examination.

Ms Kanya, a staff member of Wannasorn tutoring centre, an outlet of Ajarn Ou's Chemistry school in Bangkok, said many students applied for courses at the centre during school breaks. Most applicants were local people, or from provinces such as Phatthalung, Satun, Trang, Nakhon Si Thammarat and the three southernmost provinces.

More than 1,000 students are registered at the centre. Each room can take 70-100 students, she said.

''We provide courses every day. The average cost is about 2,000-3,000 baht. Courses covering the university entrance exam are 4,000 baht each,'' she said, adding that most outlets of Ajarn Ou's Chemistry school use video tape recordings by Ajarn Ou. Only the Sapan Kwai branch in Bangkok offers live tutoring courses.

An official in the educational zone 2 in Songkhla province said 106 private tutoring schools offer courses in the zone. Their standards are inspected at least once a year.

Many parents said allowing their children to take courses during school breaks was better than letting them stay home and spend their time watching TV or playing computer games.

Patcharee Leelapong said she paid 3,000 baht for her son's courses during this summer break as he was preparing to take an entrance examination for Mathayom Suksa 1 level next year. She said the price was worth it.

Another parent said extra tutoring fees for her son were higher than his formal education fees.

Krairop Watcharachutimanond, who runs the Kwankue tutoring centre, said at least 500 million baht was circulating in the tutoring business in Hat Yai.

Outlets from well-known tutorial centres from Bangkok attracted the largest share of students.

His centre offered packages covering five subjects at all education levels.

Each package for primary students cost about 2,800 baht per head and 2,000-4,000 baht per head for those studying at the secondary level.

Thatchapong Ungrattanakorn, a Mathayom Suksa 6 at Hat Yai Witthayalai school, said he liked tutoring courses as private tutors made the subjects easier to understand.

Other students said they turned to tutors for help before university entrance exams to brush up on certain subjects.
--- KatoeyNewsNetwork

[ProfessorOokami]

Must apply to lecture in HDY liao. But spend more than I could earn...blah

[China_Kid]

Tks Bro KatoeyLover69 for the update. Me planning to go Hatyai 2 weeks later. Don't whether that safe for Cheonging Land there.

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from Bangkok Post dated Monday 15 October 2007 :-

Rectors oppose plan to give Yawi priority - Varsity council believes move could backfire

Hat Yai - The Council of University Rectors yesterday opposed a draft education plan for students in the deep South which would make Yawi the main teaching language.

Rectors of the 26 state universities attending the meeting insisted that the government make teaching in Thai language compulsory in the southernmost region, while Yawi, the local Malay dialect, could be taught to local students as a second language in school.

The Education Ministry has been trying to improve the academic performance of Muslim students in the far South for quite sometime now.

Test scores have consistently shown that the average performance of students in the region was worse than their peers in other regions. Research has led to the conclusion that a major cause of that was poor Thai language ability.

Since members of most Muslim communities in the five southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, Satun and Songkhla communicate in Yawi at home, they cannot be expected to comprehend their lessons in state schools which are taught in Thai.

To bring improvements, the ministry recently introduced a pilot bilingual project in 14 primary schools in the region. Under the scheme, teachers were asked to give most of their lessons in Yawi.

The project has drawn heavy fire from some educators, who warn that the move could backfire and would only worsen the situation.

Council chairman Vanchai Sirichana said students should not be stopped from learning Yawi to maintain the unique culture of their communities, but the dialect should be relegated to a second language in school.

"If their Thai is not good, it would be difficult for them to excel in other subjects, and finding a well-paid job won't be easy after graduation," he said.

"We'll forward our recommendation to the Education Ministry and will ask rectors who are also members of the National Legislative Assembly to discuss the issue at length with the NLA education committee," said Mr Vanchai, rector of Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai.

The ministry has also drawn up a four-year strategic plan, 2008 to 2011, to develop education in the five southern border provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, Songkhla and Satun, for which it plans to seek a 16-billion-baht budget from the cabinet.

The Council of University Rectors has called on the ministry to take education experts' opinions into account before implementing the strategic plan.

The council yesterday announced the launch of the Hat Yai agreement, which reflected a concerted effort by the 26 state universities to solve education problems and upgrade the region's education standards.

The Prince of Songkhla University in Hat Yai will act as the nerve centre for developing the quality of teachers and other education personnel in the region.
--- KatoeyNewsNetwork

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from The Nation dated Tuesday 23 October 2007 :-

12 southern provinces warned of heavy rains, flash floods

The Meteorological Department Tuesday warned residents of 12 southern provinces to brace themselves for heavy rains and possible flash floods.

The department said the low pressure ridge, which has moved down from the Gulf of Thailand, to be over the middle part of the South, would unleash heavy rains from Tuesday to Thursday.

Expected to be hard hit with heavy rains are Phetchaburi, Prachup Khiri Khan, Chum Phon, Ranong, Phang Nga, Phuket, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Songkhla, Pattani, and Narathiwat.
--- KatoeyNewsNetwork

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from The Nation dated Wednesday 31 October 2007 :-

2 explosions rock Sugnai Kolok

Narathiwat - Insurgents detonated two bombs in the Sugnai Kolok town Wednesday morning, slightly injuring two civilians.

The first explosion occurred at the aerobic ground in front of a petrol station at 6:20 am. Two people were injured.

Another bomb was detonated in front of a hotel, but no one was injured.

Two more bombs were also found and disposed at the bus station in the district and near a restaurant, police said.
--- KatoeyNewsNetwork

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from Bangkok Post dated Friday 2 November 2007 :-

Tiger Airways terminates Singapore-Hat Yai route

The Singapore-based no-frills carrier Tiger Airways has terminated daily flights from Singapore to Hat Yai in a move that may undermine its bid to rebuild the southern Thai city's struggling tourism industry.

The route cancellation, which took effect last Sunday, has cut the last direct air link between the largest metropolitan area in southern Thailand with a foreign country as security concerns are growing with the proliferation of insurgent attacks in recent years.

In June last year, AirAsia, the Malaysia-based low-cost carrier, suspended its daily service between Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Hat Yai International Airport after nine months of bumpy operations due to poor traffic demand on the route.

Tiger Airways' termination of the Singapore-Hat Yai service will limit the flow of Singaporean tourists to the city, which is popular among Malaysians, Singaporeans and Indonesians.

Tiger Airways officials said the decision to drop Hat Yai from its network has less to do with the poor load factor on the route than its strategy to shift aircraft capacity to support last month's launch of service to India, which offers more business potential.

The airline is operating nine Airbus A320-200s, each capable of seating 180 passengers.

It has won approval from Indian authorities to start flying to six cities in India: Chennai, Kochi, Goa, Trivandrum, Kolkata and Kozhikode. It has already started flights to Chennai and Kochi.

Before its termination, Tiger Airways was reportedly carrying about 120 passengers on each flight.

Tiger Airways' exit is bad new for Hat Yai's tourism industry, which is already reeling from a wave of rebel attacks. Two major bomb blasts in the past few years and the sabotage of railway tracks have deterred many tourists from visiting the city popular for its night entertainment and restaurants.

The occupancy rate in hotels in Hat Yai dropped from an average of 65% to a low of 20% after the bombs in Sept 2006, which killed four and injured 82, according to the Thai Hotel Association of Hat Yai.

Meanwhile, airlines operating domestic flights between Bangkok and Hat Yai will only increase route frequencies marginally as the outlook for incremental demand in the high season that started this month does not look promising.

Only two budget carriers - Thai AirAsia and Nok Airlines - decided to increase flights on the route to six a day from five, starting at the end of last month, according to Hat Yai International Airport director Wicha Nernlop.

Thai Airways International's three daily flights and One-Two-Go Airlines' two daily flights will continue throughout the high season.

Hat Yai registered low growth in passenger throughput among the six major airports operated by the Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) for the year ending in September.

Passengers through Hat Yai inched up 3.28% year-on-year to 1.33 million, comprising 1.24 million domestic passengers (up 7.17%) and 94,612 international passengers (down 30.02%). Passenger traffic through Hat Yai was below its annual capacity of two million.
--- KatoeyNewsNetwork

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from The Nation dated Sunday 4 November 2007 :-

Briton injured after falling from 4th floor of Hat Yai hotel

Hat Yai, Songkhla - A British tourist was severely injured late Saturday after falling from the fourth floor of a hotel.

Police said Wilson Vincent, 37, was severely injured after falling from the fourth floor of the Hat Yai Garden Hotel at 11:40 pm.

He was rushed to the Songkhla Nakharin Hospital.

Hotel staff told police that the man drank alone in the hotel's restaurant and left the restaurant without paying the bill yet. Five minutes later, the staff heard a loud noise on the ground floor and saw the body of the man.

Police said the tourist might try to commit suicide.
--- KatoeyNewsNetwork

[alex18122003]

Have been raining the whole day for the past few days since arrived Danok & Hatyai......Hatyai nite life very quiet nowaday. Not like few yrs back....so happening during peak hours. Prefers cheonging at Danok nowadays.

[KatoeyLover69]

Originally Posted by alex18122003

Have been raining the whole day for the past few days since arrived Danok & Hatyai......

Report from The Nation dated Sunday 4 November 2007 :-

10 southern provinces warned of flash floods

Residents of ten southern provinces were warned of heavy rains and possible flash floods Sunday.

In its morning forecast issued at 4 am, the Meteorological Department said a low-pressure mass over the Gulf of Thailand and the southern region would unleash heavy rains in Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, Krabi, Trang and Satun.

Strong winds would also cause the waves in the sea down from Surat Thani to be as high as 2 metres, the department said.
--- KatoeyNewsNetwork

[proprimate]

Bro katoey,
Pls keep me updated on the rain, floods, the areas hit, how high and so on. Much appreciated coz travelling up soon and dun wan to b stucked. Plus unrest areas. Thanks so far for the recent updates. Cheers!

[MrDevil]

Originally Posted by alex18122003

Have been raining the whole day for the past few days since arrived Danok & Hatyai......Hatyai nite life very quiet nowaday. Not like few yrs back....so happening during peak hours. Prefers cheonging at Danok nowadays.

The usual hatyai cheongster spots are quiet on weekdays. check out local scene like Ice Bar (Blue Kiss), Sugar Beat, Sabai Bar.. most crowds are there.