Chiwit Thai

Yamato · November 1, 2022

https://www.golfchannel.com/news/atthaya-thitikul-reaches-world-no-1-rookie-season-lpga

Atthaya Thitikul reaches world No. 1 in rookie season on LPGA
By Colby Powell October 31, 2022 at 10:46 AM

Atthaya Thitikul has reached No. 1 in the world prior to her 20th birthday, joining Lydia Ko as the only two players in LPGA history to accomplish the feat.

Ko first reached No. 1 at 17 years old. Thitikul is 19 and still in her rookie season on the LPGA. The only other player to reach No. 1 as a rookie was Sung Hyun Park in 2017.

Thitikul jumped Jin Young Ko to move to No. 1. Ko has spent a total of 152 weeks at No. 1, leaving her just six weeks short of Lorena Ochoa’s record.

"It means a lot for my team, my family, my supporters and myself,” Thitikul said. “It is such an honor to have my name at the top amongst the biggest names of the game. It is very special to get to the top but it is much harder to retain it. I still have a lot to learn from all the legends and current players both on and off the course. I will continue to work hard for my family, my team, my fans and my country."

A two-time LPGA winner this season, Thitikul becomes the second player from Thailand to hold the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Rankings, joining Ariya Jutanugarn, who first accomplished the feat in June 2017.

Along with the two wins, Thitikul has recorded 12 additional top-10s this season, including three at major championships.

Prior to joining the LPGA, Thitikul became the youngest player ever to win the Ladies European Tour’s Race to Costa del Sol in 2021 while also securing Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year honors. At 14, Thitikul also became the youngest player to ever win a professional golf tournament with her victory at the LET’s Thailand Championship in 2017.

Edited November 1, 2022 by Yamato

Yamato · November 1, 2022

https://www.lpga.com/news/2022/new-number-one-thitikul-remains-a-humble-champion

New Number One Thitikul Remains A Humble Champion
31 Oct 2022

It was just a matter of time, even if the timing turned out to be a surprise. The way the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings work, events from past years that are part of the formula roll off, even on weeks when the LPGA Tour isn’t playing. Because of that, with most players either enjoying some time at home or getting in some sightseeing in Asia before the TOTO Japan Classic, there was a change at the top of the Rankings. The new No.1 player in the world is 19-year-old rookie Atthaya Thitikul, a young woman everyone calls Jeeno, who is now the second-youngest player in history, man or women, to reach No.1 behind another teen phenom, Lydia Ko.

For those who have followed Thitikul’s career, this accomplishment seemed inevitable. In 2017, she won the Ladies European Thailand Championship, becoming the youngest player in history to win a professional event. At that time, she was 14 years, 4 months and 19 days of age.

A couple of months later, she made the cut at the Amundi Evian Championship, making her the youngest player ever to play the weekend in that major.

Proving that her success wasn’t a fluke, Jeeno won the Asia Pacific Women’s Amateur a week before turning 15. That earned her a spot in the LPGA Tour’s HSBC Women’s Championship in Singapore where she finished in a tie for eighth, the youngest player ever to finish in the top-10 in that event.

At 16, she won the Ladies European Thailand Championship again, this time running away from the field. Esther Heinseleit finished runner-up that week, five shots back. Later that summer, Thitikul was low amateur at the AIG Women’s Open and was No.1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings by a healthy clip until she turned pro in January of 2020, at age 16.

The month she turned 17, Jeeno finished fourth in the Women’s New South Wales Open in Australia. Then COVID hit and she went home to Thailand where she won five times on the Thai LPGA, finishing the season atop the money list.

She stayed near home in Thailand until May of 2021 when, playing on a sponsor’s exemption, she finished second in the Honda LPGA Thailand, a shot behind Ariya Jutanugarn. That finish and an easing of travel restrictions prompted Jeeno to head to Europe for a season on the LET.

Thitikul won four times in 2021, capturing the LET money title, Rookie of the Year, and was voted Player of the Year by her peers. She vaulted up to 18th on the Rolex Rankings. But more importantly, she earned a reputation as one of the kindest and most accommodating players in the game. Lewine Mair, who covered golf for the Daily Telegraph and Global Golf Post, called her “extraordinary on the course and off.”

She also has a compelling personal story. “No one in my family plays golf,” Jeeno told Golf Digest. “As a child, I was sick a lot. It wasn’t anything serious, but I got colds constantly. A doctor told my dad, Montree, and my mom, Siriwan, that I needed to play a sport— either golf or tennis—so I’d be outside, and I could control my own schedule. We watched golf on TV, and I chose that over tennis. Tennis requires too much running.

“My dad owns a carwash, and my mom is a hairdresser. They worked around their schedules to take me. I liked golf immediately. It was challenging and fun, and there were other kids to play with. At 10, I knew I loved golf and competing. I also realized back then that if I got good enough, I could support my family.”

Now, she has two LPGA Tour wins and 12 other top-10 finishes. She is heavily favored to capture the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year title and is in the running for Rolex LPGA Player of the Year. Jeeno is also now the No.1 player in the world.

Even so, the character and kindness others recognized early remains her greatest asset.

“One thing that I have, like I really want to do, no matter where I am (whether it’s) No. 1 in the world, No. 2, 3, 4, 5, 100, 1000, I want to be same (person),” Thitikul said to media heading into the MEDIHEAL LPGA Championship. “I want to be the same as before, not changing myself. I want to have fun, not really taking (golf) too seriously. I don't want to think about myself like a superstar or act like I’m No. 1 in the world.

“I don't really think about the ranking that much. I mean, like I said, it's the outcome that we can’t control.

“I play golf because I want to take care of my family,” she added during the BMW Ladies Championship. “I want to feed my family. Whatever I am is fine. Even my family, they have a good life already. Ranking is not that important to me.”

Edited November 1, 2022 by Yamato

Yamato · November 1, 2022

Been very busy lately after the 2 long trip and a short trip to Singapore last week. Will continue my posts now.

Went to a Japanese restaurant for great sashimi

Presenting the freshly arrived seafood from Japan

Starts the a drink of course

Sashimi

Grilled sea snails

Yummy

Grilled fish

Steamed egg

Tofu

Snacks

Dessert - sweet potato abd Hokkaido ice-cream with avocado

Yamato · November 7, 2022

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Retail/Thai-retailer-opens-Tops-Club-a-membership-only-supermarket?utm_campaign=GL_asia_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=NA_newsletter&utm_content=article_link&del_type=1&pub_date=20221107123000&seq_num=17&si=44594

Thai retailer opens Tops Club, a membership-only supermarket
Around 70% of items on sale are imports, for which members can get a discount

Around 70% of the items Tops Club sells are imports. (Photo courtesy of Central Retail)
KOSUKE INOUE, Nikkei staff writerNovember 6, 2022 12:28 JST

BANGKOK -- Thailand's Central Retail opened a new membership-only supermarket in Bangkok targeting the Southeast Asian country's growing middle class.

The Thai retail giant also plans to spend 30 billion baht ($790 million) over the next five years in neighboring Vietnam, with the aim of more than doubling the number of supermarkets there. The company wants to

become an industry leader in both countries.

Central Retail opened Tops Club in southwestern Bangkok late September. For an annual membership of 999 baht, customers will have access to over 3,500 items, including daily necessities and fresh food, the supermarket sells in its 15,000 sq.-meter warehouse-style building.

"Everything is brought together here to fulfill our customers' needs, as if they were shopping in famous stores overseas," Central Food Retail Group CEO Stephane Coum said in a statement.

Some 70% of its products are imported from about 20 countries, including the U.S., Australia and South Korea. Members will get a 5% discount, like at U.S. membership-only wholesale chain Costco, and also free deliveries to Bangkok and nearby regions.

Thailand's rising middle class is widely sought after by retailers. Thailand's gross domestic product per capita is around $7,000, according to the International Monetary Fund, positioning it as an upper- to middle-income country. Bangkok's per capita GDP is even higher at around $10,000.

Since Central Retail first entered Vietnam in 2012, the operation has grown steadily, pulling in 38.6 billion baht in revenue last year to account for around 20% of its total figure. (Photo courtesy of Central Retail)

Central Retail expects that an average Tops Club customer will spend two or three times more than those at regular supermarkets. The company hopes to be able to grab a big chunk of the high-end supermarket clientele by being one of the first to launch such a business.

Meanwhile, the company plans to increase the number of supermarkets in Vietnam to more than 710 by 2026 from about 340 in September.

"We always put ourselves in the center of consumers' lives and aim to generate 100 billion baht in sales in Vietnam alone by 2026," Olivier Langlet, CEO of Central Retail Vietnam, told Nikkei in an email reply to questions.

Since Central Retail first entered Vietnam in 2012, the operation has grown steadily, pulling in 38.6 billion baht in revenue last year to account for around 20% of the total figure, according to the company. Vietnam is the company's biggest moneymaker outside of Thailand.

By 2026, Central Retail's stores in Vietnam will offer a variety of formats selling both food and nonfood products. It plans to cover 55 of the country's 63 provinces, said Langlet, adding that it is aiming for 30% of Vietnam's total sales.

In Vietnam, conventional small, family-run shops still make a significant share of the industry, but demand for supermarkets is expected to grow as the country's retail industry modernizes.

The pandemic has pushed consumers toward supermarkets and other retailers that are able to secure a stable supply of products. Consumers are also able to buy in bulk in these chains, which was handy during the worst of the pandemic.

Consumption is expected to recover to pre-pandemic levels in Thailand and Vietnam, now that both countries have eased COVID-related entry restrictions, prompting retailers to jostle for more commercial facilities and supermarket space.

Yamato · November 23, 2022

https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Tea-Leaves/In-Thailand-there-is-life-beyond-the-capital?utm_campaign=GL_asia_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=NA_newsletter&utm_content=article_link&del_type=1&pub_date=20221123123000&seq_num=23&si=44594

In Thailand, there is life beyond the capital
In an over-centralized country, not all roads should lead to Bangkok

A garden with a green wall tucked into forested hills some 80 kilometers southeast of Bangkok. (Photo by Dominic Faulder)
DOMINIC FAULDERNovember 23, 2022 11:00 JST

When I unexpectedly got stuck in Bangkok during the failed April Fool's Day coup of 1981, it was still the only real city in Thailand -- a kingdom of villages. Chiang Mai, the "rose of the north," ranked second, but was really no more than a large, sleepy provincial town.

In Thai, the capital has the world's longest place name, according to Guinness World Records, beginning Krung Thep Maha Nakhon. It was not just the seat of government, but the nation's industrial and business hub and main port. Oil refineries were close to the port, and refined petrochemicals were transported upcountry by rail -- a disruptive feature of this fascinating but dysfunctional city of some 15 million that continues to this day.

The Thai capital, a tawdry "Venice of the East," had its charms but was essentially a sleepy backwater afflicted by a plague of heat-absorbing concrete shophouses, and virtually bereft of libraries and bookshops. The American travel writer Paul Theroux, visiting at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, described it unkindly as a "flattened anthill."

That has changed. Bangkok has become rich and sophisticated, and has been spared permanent gridlock by the most spectacular and ingenious mass transit infrastructure in Southeast Asia. But the city remains frenetic and dysfunctional. Some middle-class families virtually live in their cars doing school runs.

About 10 years ago, my wife and I decided to quit the city for forested hills some 80 kilometers along the Gulf of Thailand. With no buildings in sight, the main view across our field is a small, wooded hill that is home to hundreds of exceptionally promiscuous macaques. In the drier periods of the year, the monkeys descend in tribes upon our village and shred unguarded plastic rubbish bags.

Top: Bangkok is famous for some of the longest traffic lights in the world. Bottom: Much quieter scenes can be found surprisingly close to the capital. (Photos by Dominic Faulder)

There are snakes of every kind in the undergrowth, including cobras. One night I returned late to find a 3-meter reticulated python draped along the front gate. It eyeballed me through the windscreen for 15 minutes before doubling back on itself and departing noiselessly along the garden wall.

But this life is not really as "jungly" as it sounds. Anyone who has lived in Bangkok will have tales of pythons in the laundry and various lizards in the cupboards. Our home sits in the heart of Chonburi province and is connected to Bangkok by two motorways built to service the Eastern Seaboard, Thailand's industrial heartland. That was developed in the 1980s to drag the economy beyond commodities and tourism, and is integral to what has long been the largest conurbation in Southeast Asia.

Larger visitors to the garden sometimes need to be taken in hand. (Photo by Dominic Faulder)

Chonburi is a full employment province, and home to Laem Chabang, the country's biggest port, with refineries close by. Further down the coast in Rayong province, there is further industrialization at Map Ta Phut. This whole stretch is the gateway to the Eastern Economic Corridor, essentially a 21st-century version of the Eastern Seaboard.

Some foreign missionaries and artists used to reside upcountry. A few intrepid souls enrobed in remote monasteries, and there is a dwindling residue of U.S. Vietnam War veterans who married locally and never went home.

But the number of foreigners living outside Bangkok used to be minuscule before Thailand started to appear in global lists of the best countries in the world to consider for retirement, before its highway capacity doubled in the 1990s, before its health care system improved exponentially, and before the retail revolution of the 1990s started wiping out obsolescent mom and pop stores with breathtaking ranges of local and imported produce.

Top: One never need feel lonely in the Thai countryside. Bottom: Mowing the lawn takes on a whole new meaning. (Photos by Dominic Faulder)

Today, I can get to central Bangkok in under 90 minutes when necessary, and to the main airport in just half that time. My regular trips into the business district are quicker than those for many Bangkok residents. A high-speed rail link is under construction down the Eastern Seaboard that will bind together all the main population centers, ports and airports.

So life in Thailand's supposed boondocks is in many respects far more livable and efficient than in choked Bangkok with its questionable air quality. Country living should be promoted, but successive Thai governments, mired in essentially 19th-century thinking, continue to see decentralization as a threat, and deny all but one of the country's 77 provinces (Bangkok) the right to elect their own governors.

As long as all roads lead to Bangkok, so will the kingdom's problems.

Dominic Faulder is a Nikkei Asia associate editor.

Yamato · December 21, 2022

Visited a rebuild restaurant in Bangkok known as Nathong.

Over the Covid period the owners too the opportunity of shutdown to rebuild the entire restaurant. Like to share some photos here

It is now known as Nathong Terrace Bar and Restaurant heres the google map link - https://goo.gl/maps/1tGGaQDgVcre8WWu8

Starter - Miang Kham

Bean salad

Grouper tomyam

Fried omlette oysters

Inside is big and fresh oysters and beansprouts

Seabass deep fried with fish sauce

Grilled giant river prawns

Seabass baked in salt

Thai dessert

Mango sticky rice dessert

Yamato · December 21, 2022

Nathong Terrace Bar and Restaurant heres the google map link - https://goo.gl/maps/1tGGaQDgVcre8WWu8

Edited December 21, 2022 by Yamato

Yamato · December 21, 2022

Now this is "peasant" food I just had for lunch today with 2 colleagues

Our Thai lunch at a countryside shop

Yam pla kapong - sardines Thai salad

Khana moo - kale stir fry with sliced pork

Krapow moo sup - minced pork stir fry with Thai basil

Khai jeow moo sup - minced pork omelette

Tomyam kung - shrimp tomyam soup

My rice with egg

Yamato · December 21, 2022

I visited Singapore last week and had a great time there here are some of the meals I had

Had lunch on the second day there at ION foodcourt

My goodness I have not eaten this for so many years

Fishball noodles and fried stuffs

Love the chili sauce

Yamato · December 21, 2022

Coming back this time I found that there are many of this coffee shop around - Bacha

[img]https://i.imgur.com/QQL3SUW.jpg[/img]

So I thought I try - this is at Takashimaya basement 1

My coffee

The sugar so beautiful

Nice

For her

Our pasteries

Yamato · January 4, 2023

I recently saw this near my home. Dangerous? But I guess not much of choice for them. Wish them safe

Yamato · January 4, 2023

Woke up this morning saw the kitchen still have left over rice so decided to make breakfast - Egg Fried Rice with Gravy

Yummy breakfast (brunbch)

Yamato · January 11, 2023

Visited the Singapore Airlines lounge in Suvarnabhumi Airport last Friday while waiting for TG flight to Singapore. I always like this lounge because its got very good food.

The bar

Cheese platter

Delicious chicken porridge

Nasi lemak and eggs

Condiments for nasi lemak

My nasi lemak breakfast

Pork ribs

Bolognaise Spaghetti

Seafood tomyam

Brocolli with mushrooms

Singapore style chicken rice

Chicken rice

Thai desserts

Yamato · January 11, 2023

Visiting the Gardens by the Bay's Supertree for the first time, it was actually pretty good

https://i.imgur.com/CI49hAP.jpg[/img]

View was really nice

I did enjoy it so I decided I'd come again soon

Yamato · January 11, 2023

The view of the Gardens By The Bay from the top of Marina Bay Sands is also very beautiful especially at night. Was up there for dinner one night

Daylight

Dinner was served

Night view

More wine

Dessert

Yamato · January 13, 2023

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2479769/panel-seeks-unesco-listing-for-late-king

Panel seeks Unesco listing for late king

PUBLISHED : 11 JAN 2023 AT 04:00 NEWSPAPER SECTION: NEWS WRITER: POST REPORTERS

The Education Ministry has set up a committee tasked with collecting all of the papers Unesco would require to add His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great to the list of the world's eminent personalities,...

Atthapol Sangkhawasi, the permanent secretary at the Education Ministry, said yesterday the ministry had agreed to establish a committee to oversee the collection of all relevant royal projects before...

Unesco will then send letters of consideration to all of its member countries. Any revisions must be made before the second quarter of 2025 so that the proposal can be presented at Unesco's General Conference...

Yamato · January 15, 2023

In Singapore had this wonderful dinner with a few friends at Holy Crab restaurant in Capitol

We started with lo-hei

Lo-hei with abalone

My favourite dish there - bitter gourd in salted egg sauce

Deep fried goby

Burnt beehoon - another once of my favourite there

Black tofu seafood

Green chili crab - 1.4kg

Crab fried rice

Had a great time with great food there

Yamato · January 15, 2023

One of the mornings went to Tiong Bahru market for the famous lormee and jweekueh

Love this lormee

Jweekueh

Then there is this curry rice shop

Long queue

Best

Yamato · January 16, 2023

Whenever I visit Singapore I will never fail to have roti-prata at Tanglin Halt Market

For me this is perfect breakfast
ttps://i.imgur.com/3dB95el.jpg[/img]

Another breakfast I like is lormee and carrot cake there

Edited January 16, 2023 by Yamato

Yamato · January 16, 2023

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/daughter-of-thailands-exiled-former-pm-thaksin-to-seek-premiership

Daughter of Thailand's exiled former PM Thaksin to seek premiership

Ms Paetongtarn Shinawatra has led opinion polls in recent months on top prime minister candidates. PHOTO: REUTERS

BANGKOK - The daughter of Thailand’s self-exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra has declared her readiness to run for prime minister in an election this year, as the main opposition seeks to regain power after being ousted in a coup eight years ago.

Ms Paetongtarn Shinawatra, whose father Thaksin and aunt Yingluck Shinawatra both led governments toppled by the army, will run under the Pheu Thai Party, the latest incarnation of a populist movement founded by her billionaire family two decades ago.

“Yes, I am ready,” she told reporters late on Sunday in north-east Thailand, the rural stronghold of the Shinawatras that delivered them unprecedented majorities in five elections since 2001.

“We want the party to win the election by a landslide so the promises we made to the people can be realised,” she said.

Pheu Thai, which is hugely popular among the rural and urban working classes, won most seats in the last election in 2019 but was unable to form a government.

Administrations loyal to Shinawatras have each been removed by the military or judicial rulings, adding fuel to a seemingly intractable political crisis that has ebbed and flowed in Thailand for over 17 years.

Ms Paetongtarn, 36, has attended party rallies in the past year and has led opinion polls in recent months on top prime minister candidates, far ahead of incumbent Prayuth Chan-ocha, who as army chief overthrew Ms Yingluck’s government.

Both Ms Yingluck and Mr Thaksin are living overseas to avoid jail terms handed down under military rule.

Mr Prayuth has been in charge since 2014, initially as junta leader and then prime minister picked by Parliament after a 2019 election that his critics said was held under rules designed to keep him in power. He insists he earned the role fairly.

Mr Prayuth, 68, joined the new United Thai Nation Party last week, hinting at a bid to remain premier.

He has yet to dissolve Parliament and an election must be held by May. REUTERS

Yamato · January 16, 2023

Before leaving Singapore I also have to visit this chicken rice stall, my favourite.

Located at Block 40 Holland Drive

Lunch

Delicious chicken cooked just right so juicy

Boiled beans sprouts

Vegetables with oyster sauce

Yamato · January 16, 2023

Margaret Drive Hawker Centre is one of the newest food centres in Singapore opened on August the 1st last year however most of the stalls are really old like over 30 years old most moved from Tanglin Halt Food Centre about 1.2km away.

This new Margaret Drive Hawker Centre is located beside the old Margaret Drive Market, built in 1960 or 63 years ago it is now being conserved.

This is the old Margaret Drive Market now refurbished