thegreglowe.com

BY GREG LOWE In Bangkok THAI-LISTED companies posted net profits of 152.4 billion baht (S$6.5 billion) in the first quarter of this year, a third higher than the same period last year, the Stock Exchange of Thailand revealed yesterday.

[Read more →]

GREG LOWE in Bangkok THE Asia-Pacific’s tourist trade made first steps towards tackling climate change at an industry level, at a Bangkok conference last week. Pacific Asia Tourism Association (Pata) organised the two-day Pata CEO Challenge: Confronting Climate Change, in Bangkok, last Tuesday and Wednesday. More than 230 delegates exchanged information and discussed practical initiatives […]

[Read more →]

GREG LOWE “GOES ISLAND” AND FINDS HIMSELF IN A RURAL, POTTERY-BEDECKED TIME CAPSULE ONLY MINUTES FROM BANGKOK’S SKYSCRAPERS IF YOU WERE TAKEN from your central Bangkok hotel, blindfolded, driven around for three hours, dropped off at Koh Kred and then asked where you were, upstream Phitsanalouk, rural Isaan, or south of Samut Songkhram would be […]

[Read more →]

GREG LOWE in Bangkok [BANGKOK] International hotelier Golden Tulip Hospitality Group has chosen Thailand as the centre of its one billion euro (S$2.11 billion) South-east Asian expansion plan under which it will open up to 50 properties over four years. The Swiss-based company, which now operates 324 hotels in 54 countries including China and India, […]

[Read more →]

GREG LOWE DOES THE ROUNDS OF THAILAND’S HARDEST HOLES ACROSS THE BEST NINE OPEN COURSES FROM AZURE SOUTHERN seas to misty northern mountains, Thailand offers some of the best technical golfing available in Asia. Ease of access combined with luxurious leisure activities and unsurpassed environments make it second to none. But where should you play? […]

[Read more →]

BANGKOK–Swiss-based hotel chain, Golden Tulip Hospitality Group, on Monday announced plans to pump US$1.56 billion over the next four years to expand its operations in Southeast Asia, which include building high-tech guest rooms. The company, which currently operates 324 hotels in 54 countries, is targeting to open 50 hotels in the region by 2012 and […]

[Read more →]

Asia’s ability to compete on a global scale will remain severely hampered until the Northern Hemisphere’s better off nations loosen their economic grip by removing barriers to trade. Access to markets in the West is a vital lifeline for the development of Asian countries, not only on purely economic levels, but also in terms of […]

[Read more →]

Unlike most people, Jane Flemming, the protagonist of Scottish author Christopher Brookmyre’s novel All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye, can pinpoint the exact turn of events that transformed her life. A drunken, awkward, and most importantly unprotected bout of unsatisfying sex with her Catholic boyfriend Tom morphed the 19-year old blue-haired punk […]

[Read more →]

It is folly to talk of Asia as if it was a unified entity. It is home to more than half the world’s population and comprises some 53 countries. However, the continent today does suffer from a “certain commonality of problems”, according to Colin Mason author of A Short History of Asia. Underdevelopment, poverty, disease, […]

[Read more →]

It’s hard to deny Thailand’s intrinsic charm has made it one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations. The kingdom’s magnetism pulls in more than 10 million visitors each year, with white westerners, aka farangs, making up a third of this figure with an average of around 10,000 arriving each day. Along with the flow […]

[Read more →]