Ryo Ishikawa in Thailand for Royal Trophy Golf Tournament

Japanese golf player Ryo Ishikawa answers a question from a reporter during a new conference in Bangkok on January 5, 2011. Asia will play against Europe at the 5th Royal Trophy Golf Tournament 2011 which runs between January 7 to January 9 in Thailand's beach resort city of Hua Hin.



Members of the Europe and Asia (in red) golf teams pose for photographers. The members are (from L-R): Rhys Davies, Johan Edfors, Pablo Martin, Matteo Manassero, Henrik Stenson, Peter Hanson, Colin Montgomerie, Naomichi "Joe" Ozaki, Prayad Marksaeng, Thongchai Jaidee, Ryo Ishikawa, Shunsuke Sonoda, Noh Seung-yul, Jeev Milkha Singh, Liang Wen-Chong, Kim Kyung-tae and Yuta Ikeda.

Mark Zuckerberg spotted in a Bangkok Bar

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been spotted in a Bangkok pub last Monday night.

Zuckerberg arrived in Bangkok to attend a friend's wedding, Chris Cox, Vice President of Product at Facebook. Chris Cox married a Thai woman in a Bangkok restaurant near Sukhumvit tonight.

Mark Zuckerberg was first sighted on Monday night in Enchanted Bar, a well-known bar in Bangkok. As the bar was totally packed due to a performance by Room 39, Zuckerberg couldn't get a seat and soon left the bar.

Channel 9 news reported that Mark Zuckerberg will be spending some time in one of Thailand's beaches.

The photos below show that Zuckerberg was indeed in Bangkok.

Below is the video to prove it!

Park Yong-Ha dies from apparent suicide

South Korean entertainer Park Yong Ha, one of the most sought after actors in South Korea and a popular singer in Japan, was found dead in his home in Seoul on Wednesday in an apparent suicide, local media reported.

R.I.P Park Yong-ha
(August 12, 1977 – June 30, 2010)

Park's body was found by his mother with an electrical cord around his neck but there was no suicide note, The Korea Herald quoted police as reporting.

Park, 32, had recently devoted himself to nursing his ailing father who was in the final stages of stomach cancer. He was reported to have been struggling with sleep problems as well.

Park made his acting debut in 1992 but rose to fame in 2002 in the television drama "Winter Sonata", winning a following in Japan and other nations in southeast Asia.

He also forged a career for himself as a singer in Japan where he put out 10 hit albums in the past five years and won four consecutive Japan Gold Disc Awards -- a first for a Korean pop singer.

He was due to start filming in July for a Korean television drama called "Comrades, Almost a Love Story", which is a remake of a popular 1996 Hong Kong film.

Park's death comes after a string of suicides by South Korean celebrities in recent years.

Figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2009 show that South Korea's suicide rate experienced a sharp increase from the late 1990s and South Korea now has the highest rate among OECD countries of around 22 deaths per 100,000 people.

Source: Reuters

Sirimongkol Singwangcha arrested for selling drugs

Former World Boxing Champion Sirimongkol Singwangcha alias Sirimongkol Singmanasak (Thai: ศิริมงคล สิงห์มนัสศักดิ์) has been arrested for selling Ice drug or Methamphetamine.



Chonburi police arrested him on Saturday night as he was about to make a delivery to a customer. He was found with 28.4 grams of Ice, and admitted to being an agent selling Ice.



Source: news.sanook.com

Paradorn Srichaphan launches herbal Viagra

Thai tennis superstar Paradorn Srichaphan has launched a new product billed as a natural alternative to Viagra.



Yes, he uses it - twice a week. No, it doesn't mean his two-year marriage to former Miss Universe Natalie Glebova from Canada is faltering.

"If you ask me, 'Paradorn, do you need to use this kind of medicine,' I would say no.

But when I do use it, I feel a lot healthier," he said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "My marriage is going really well."



The product, Majic Iris, is a supplement that contains ginseng, oysters and black galangal, which resembles ginger and is believed in Thailand to act as a stimulant.

The product is only available in Thailand from his company, Magic Thai Herbs by Paradorn.

The 30-year-old Paradorn hasn't played professional tennis since March 2007 due to a wrist injury. He is the highest-ranked player in Thai history and was once No. 9 in the world.

Paradorn said his wrist is "getting a lot better but isn't good enough to play tournaments." He's trying his hand at business in the meantime.

He recently opened an Italian restaurant in Bangkok and is opening a tennis academy in the Thai capital next week.

The herbal supplement has existed for several years but under a poorly marketed Thai brand, which Paradorn said he bought and re-branded and repackaged.

His target customers are "married men who are struggling with sex and want to freshen things up," and single men who "like to party." But he says the supplement has benefits beyond the Viagra market.

"The main point is that it helps you feel stronger and gives you more energy in general," Paradorn said, adding that he also plans to launch a supplement for women.

Tata Young Ready For Love

Tata Young's latest international album "Ready For Love" releases on August 25, 2009.



The album's first single, "Ready For Love", was written by Alex Smith, Mark Taylor and Ayak Thiik and produced by André Brix Buchman from Valicon Company in Germany. It also features a track ‘Perfection’ co-written by Leona Lewis along with many of the tracks written by internationally acclaimed songwriters.

Short-haired Tata Young is "sexy and glamorous", says Rainmaker Cho, the South Korean who's shot her latest music video, but he set out to make her even "more energetic and lovely".

Tata Young gets a Korean makeover for her highly anticipated third international album.



The concept of the music video for the first single "is basically from me", Tata told reporters the other day as they previewed the CD produced by Andre "Brix" Buchmann of Berlin's Valicon Productions.

Like Cho, who's previously worked with South Korean superstars Rain and Wang Lee Hom, Buchmann wanted more variety.

Rhythm and blues mix with dance pop on 12 tunes from songwriters around the world.

The title track, which has been airing for a couple of weeks, "feels cool and energetic like in the '60s", Tata says, saying she learned the "big voice" techniques of American R&B singers Aretha Franklin, Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson.

"My Bloody Valentine" will be the follow-up single. "Mission is You" and "Shine Like a Superstar" are Silom Soi 2-style rousers. "Burning Out" and "Suffocate" get melancholy.

"Ugly" is a return to the catchy form of "Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy" and "Love is the Law" sounds like Madonna's "Rain".

Tata calls "Boys Will Be Boys" her favourite track, and "Exposed" the "opposite of her real life".

"It isn't me, but the Sony bosses in Europe said it's gonna be a hit there."

It's about a small-town girl who's dumped by her lover after she becomes famous, and that's sure not our big-city Tata.

A massive advertising campaign is pushing "Ready for Love" across Asia, Australia and Europe.

Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, India, Singapore and Japan will receive an unprecedented level of promotion for an album by a Thai pop artist.

Liverpool F.C. arrives in Bangkok

English Premier League side Liverpool F.C. arrives in Bangkok today before taking on the Thai national team on July 22.



The players arrived at Don Muang Airport this evening and took a bus straight to Hotel Grand Hyatt Erawan.



Ticket prices for Liverpool Football Club's match in Bangkok on July 22 ranges from 600 Baht to 3,000 Baht. The match will take place at Rajamangala Stadium with 48,000 capacity. Most of the stadium will operate a 'free seating' policy, and tickets in Thailand will be available solely though Adidas shops in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya.

David Carradine found dead in Bangkok hotel

Actor David Carradine was found dead in a hotel room in Bangkok on Wednesday.



"Kung Fu" and "Kill Bill" star Carradine, 72, was in Bangkok to shoot his latest movie, Stretch, and stayed at the Nai Lert Park Hotel on Wireless Road at Suite Room 352 since June 2.

Thai police believed he committed suicide.

The film crew were aware of his absence when they went to dine out at a restaurant on Sathorn Road on June 3.

Carradine did not show up at the dinner and the team could not reach him. They assumed that he took a rest because of his age.

It was the hotel's maid who opened his suite on Thursday at 10 am only to find Carradine in a closet. He was described as behind half naked.

Police investigation showed that he hung himself with a rope, the kind used with curtains.

Police said he was dead for not less than 12 hours and found no sign of fighting and assaults.

His personal manager, Chuck Binder, told BBC that the news was "shocking", adding: "He was full of life, always wanting to work... a great person."



Aside from Quentin Tarantino's two-part "Kill Bill" in 2003 and 2004, Carradine was perhaps best known for his role as the fugitive half-Chinese Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s easternwestern TV drama "Kung Fu". He also starred in Martin Scorsese's "Boxcar Bertha" in 1972, portrayed folksinger Woody Guthrie in "Bound for Glory" in 1976, acted in Ingmar Bergman's "The Serpent's Egg" in 1977 and co-starred with half brothers Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine in the 1980 western "The Long Riders".

His father was the noted actor John Carradine.

In Thai cinemas, Carradine was recently seen as a martial arts guru in the Rob Schneider comedy "Big Stan" and as a perverted elderly Chinese mobster in "Crank: High Voltage" starring Jason Statham.

Manny Pacquiao in Thailand today

Update: Manny "Pac-Man" Pacquiao shakes hands with PM Abhisit Vejjajiva in Bangkok on Monday May 25, 2009.





Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao visits Thailand today as a presenter for a Filipino beer brand San Miguel and would host a press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Bangkok at 10.00 a.m.



Superstar Pacquiao, nicknamed the "Pac-Man", is making a one-day trip from his home country the Philippines. Pacquiao is scheduled to meet the Thai Prime Minister Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva at the Government House at 16:00.

Pacquiao recently beat British boxer Ricky Hatton by a knockout in Las Vegas, adding the IBO light welterweight belt to his impressive collection of world titles. Upon returning home on May 8, the Filipino superstar was greeted to a heroes welcome with a grand celebration and warm welcome from Filipino President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

According to the earlier reports, Pacquiao was scheduled to travel to Thailand for a one-day trip on May 21, but San Miguel, however, recently announced that the Filipino boxer would not come to Thailand on the planned date due to a schedule conflict with an event at home and "certain domestic issues".

Joo Ji Hoon arrested on drug charges

Popular South Korean model and actor Ju Ji Hoon, 26, has been arrested on drug charges! Joo, best known for portraying Crown Prince Lee Shin in the Korean drama Princess Hours (Goong), and movie "The Naked Kitchen", is charged with two counts of taking drugs in March 2008 at drug parties with fellow entertainers.



Arrest warrants for actress Yoon Sul Hui, 28, and model Yeh Hak Young, 26, have also been issued. The two are accused of smuggling drugs from Japan since August 2007.

They were reportedly paid 100 million won to smuggle recreational drugs such as ecstasy and ketamine from Japan on three occasions. The drugs were hidden in their underwear, brought into the country and sold in clubs or taken by the traffickers. Joo has admitted to receiving drugs from the pair.

"It is the first case that has been discovered in which entertainers smuggled in drugs from a foreign country for their own use," a police officer was quoted as saying.

Thai Boxing legend Saensak Muangsurin Dies

Boxing legend Saensak Muangsurin (Thai: แสนศักดิ์ เมืองสุรินทร์) passed away this morning at the age of 58 after suffering from blood infection.



The former WBC (World Boxing Council) light welterweight died during an operation at the Rajvithi General Hospital after having admitted since April 12 for intestine infection.

Profile of Sangsuk:
Full Name: Saensak Muangsurin
Nickname: Boonsong Mansri
Boxing Division: Light welterweight
Height: 5 ft. 7 in. (170 cm)
Birth date: 13 August 1950
Birth place: Phetchabun Province, Thailand



Sangsuk, widely called "I Saeb" (Thai: ไอ้แสบ) among fans, held the world record for taking the shortest time to claim a world title after just three professional bouts. Throughout his 20 career fights, he won 14 including 11 knockouts and lost 6 times.

Source: The Nation

Watch the You Tube video of Tommy Hearns and Saensak Muangsurin fight on Oct. 1979

Sayan Doksadao, Thai comedian dies at 48

Sayan Doksadao Muangcharoen (Thai: สายัณห์ ดอกสะเดา ม่วงเจริญ), a popular comedian with Down's syndrome died at Chulalongkorn Hospital on December 14, 2008 at around 6:08pm.



He was in a critical condition and suffered from severe brain haemorrhage that made it difficult to breathe, and was placed on life support earlier.

Sayan, 48, whose real name was Sayan Muangcharoen was admitted to hospital on 18th October, 2008, and has been receiving treatment ever since.



A popular TV and film comedian in Thailand, Sayan is one of the world's few working actors with Down's Syndrome. Sayan was adopted by Deux Doksadao, one of Thailand's most famous comedian. Sayan was a patient under The Royal Patronage.



Sayan's Films include:
Woak Wak (โว๊กว๊าก)
Variety phii chalui aka Ghost Variety
Rohng tiam
Phii hua khaat 2 aka Headless Hero 2
Luang phii theng



RIP Sayan.

Mum Jokmok in Ong-Bak 2

Mum Jokmok (Thai: หม่ำ จ๊กมก), one of Thailand's most famous comedian, will be appearing on Ong Bak 2 as a crazy guy.



Mom Jok Mok, who's real name is Petchtai Wongkamlao (Thai: เพ็ชรทาย วงศ์คำเหลา), plays the role of a harmless mentally ill, yet good-tempered man called "I-Men" (Thai: ไอ้เหม็น) which means "stinking person" in Thai.

Mum dresses up as a homeless, dirty looking man who tries to mimic anybody he comes across.



Mum's past appearances in Tom-Yum-Goong and Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior sure did add more fun and laughter to those Tony Jaa movies. Sounds like Ong-Bak 2 is going to be more fun!

Ong-Bak 2 is releasing tomorrow, and I just can't wait to watch that trailer scene where Tony Jaa runs barefoot towards a stampede of tusked elephants, climbs onto one of them, and then jumps from one elephant to another. Tony Jaa said in an interview on Channel 3 talk show called Night at 10, that he did a lot of practicing using slings but on the final take, he did not use a sling! He could have died if he fell off an elephant!

The pictures below are a screen capture of Tony Jaa jumping on elephants from the Ong-Bak 2 trailer on YouTube

Sam Yuranan Pamornmontri to run for Bangkok Governor

Popular actor "Sam" Yuranan Pamornmontri (Thai: แซม ยุรนันท์ ภมรมนตรี) today announced that he is ready to contest in the Bangkok gubernatorial race under the Puea Thai Party banner.



Now 45 years old, "Uncle" Sam Yuranan was a former MP belonging to the now-defunct Thai Rak Thai party.

Puea Thai Party is finalizing its endorsement today and Uncle Sam will register his candidacy in a day or two.



The heart-throb actor-singer-turned-politician Sam Yuranand Pamornmontri was once considered to be one of the most handsome men in Thailand.



Uncle Sam says that if elected, his team for city administration will include Prapat Jongsanguan who ran in the October gubernatorial race, stock market regulator Kittirat na Ranong and retired city clerk Khunying Natthanan Thavisin.

Nattakorn Devakula runs for Bangkok Governor

News anchorman and talk show host M.L. Nattakorn Devakula (Thai: ม.ล.ณัฐกรณ์ เทวกุล), who is also ex-finance minister Pridiyathorn Devakula's son, registered as an independent candidate to contest in the upcoming Bangkok governor election.

He gets candidacy No 8 and shows his fingers in the image below.



Also known as Khun Pluem (Thai: ปลื้ม), ML Nattakorn traveled to the Bangkok City Hall to register himself on Monday morning.

Khun Pluem was a brand ambassador for Nissan Tiida last year and standing tall at 185 cm, he was able to fit in comfortably, with his knee cap intact.



According to ML Nattakorn, it is time for people in Bangkok to have a new alternative because they are tired of things happening around them at the moment.

Chalerm Taweebot aka Eddie The Cute Ghost Dies

Comedian Chalerm Taweebot (Thai: นายเฉลิม ทวีบท), 53, better known as Eddie "The Cute Ghost" died of cancer this morning.



The Noppharat Ratchathani Hospital announced that Chalerm died at 7:20 am Monday morning, 24 November, 2008.

Funeral rites will be held at Mulchinda Temple in Pathum Thani province.



Eddie (Thai: เอ็ดดี้ ผีน่ารัก) played the role of a Caretaker in the 2003 Hong Kong horror movie titled "The Park" (Chow lok yuen). The Park also starred Ploy Chermarn Boonyasak (Laila Boonyasak) who played the character of Pinky.

Below is a poster of the movie The Park (2003)



R.I.P Eddie The Cute Ghost.

Pole Dance at California WOW? 299 Baht!

Just saw this poster today by California WOW that says "XXX Pole Dance" - First Time in Thailand! It also states a Warning: Producing Hot Sexy Divas!

Check out the poster below that features one of their regular models in a hot pole dancing pose



299 Baht a month? All Hours All Days! Hmm... I thought it was a place mostly for gays... Looks like they want real men to show up now.

A very bold marketing campaign by California Fitness. I wonder if they are going to use one of those Chinese poles.



They even got a farang pole dancer that looks like a gymnast





This pretty Thai girl also gets to the pole for a pose

Stephanie Rice photographed partying in Patong nightclub

Swim star Stephanie Rice has lashed out, after a mystery man photographed her partying in Thailand and sold the pictures to the media. Stephanie Rice was snapped letting her hair down on the dance floor of a Patong night club.







(Photo credit: Live News)

The 20-year-old described it as being ‘really out of line’.

Rice was in Thailand for a relaxing holiday, hoping to have some down time after a whirlwind year.

A relative unknown in the tourist haven, the triple-gold medallist and her friends were also photographed falling into a giggling heap on the floor.

"Some of those photos from Thailand were kind of frustrating," the Daily Telegraph reported Rice as saying.

"I remember that night and I know who it was.

"This guy had asked me a photo with me and I said 'Sure, no problem', but then he kept taking photos of me having a good time with my friends.

"I just thought it was really out of line."

Rice's personal life has been under the microscope since she catapulted to superstardom after breaking both the 200 and 400m individual medley world records at the Olympic trials in March.

After breaking up with freestyle sprinter Eamon Sullivan in the lead-up to Beijing, she has been romantically linked with fellow swimmers Michael Phelps and Brisbane training partner Brendan Capell.

While in Thailand, Rice missed many of the Australian team's homecoming parade.

"The whole point of going to Thailand was to unwind and relax, to be with my friends because I've come out of probably the most intense year of my life and haven't had any down time because I knew it would calm down after Beijing," she said.

She is also the face of Davenport underwear and has also graced the cover of a men's magazine.

Source: National Nine News