e2001 Your Digital Future - Bangkok Post Special Supplement

CONTENT

All things Thai now available on the web

Web Traveller

Local sites have been relative latecomers to the Web scene, largely due to the "chicken and the egg" problem, given the low numbers of Thais accessing the Internet, now about one million people.

Fewer visitors meant fewer sites -- while not having local sites means fewer newcomers to the Web.

But over the past year, Thailand has seen an explosion of local web sites that should,

in turn, encourage more to log on and take a look at what is there.

Here's a guide to some of the best and most interesting among the local web sites. Much of the content is in Thai, while are bilingual.

TRAVEL

The Amazing Thailand Tourism and Travel Directory at <www.Thailand-travelsearch.Com> offers various types of tourism information ranging from upcountry destinations to entertainment areas in bangkok.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand at <www.tat.or.th> offers useful travelling information in Thai, English, Korean, French, German and Japanese.

Sawadee.com at <www.sawadee.com> offers travel information for each province with the

country organised by region along with a general information section.

ThaiFocus.com at <www.thaifocus.com> offers itself as a one-stop travel and shopping web resource for Thailand and the Indochina region.

TourThai.com <www.tourthai.com> offers places to visit and information (in Thai) about all 76 provinces in Thailand. You can also send an e-card with views of Thailand to your friends.

Sabuy.com at <www.sabuy.com> is designed for those who love both technology and travel, offering experiences from contributors.

TrioDiving at <www.triodiving.or.th> offers diving trips and provides pictures of undersea life. There is information about diving courses and also news and short notes about dive sites in Thailand.

MuangThai.com at <www.muangthai.com> presents a map of Thailand which you can click on to

access information for each region of the country.

LuxuryThai.com at <www.luxurythai.com> offers information in English about our nation, its people and culture.

Phuket.com <phuket.com> offers information about skin and scuba diving activities in the Andaman sea.

To learn more about "The Pearl of the South", visit PhuketInsider.com at <www.phuketinsider.com> or <phuket-web.com>.

The State Railways of Thailand at <www.srt.motc.go.th> offers a search service to find the timetable that will help get you to your destination.

Thai Airways <www.thaiairways.com> offers an online booking service for domestic flights as well as flight schedules here and abroad. When this was introduced, there were substantial discounts offered if you booked your ticket online.

LEISURE PORTALS

MusicHut at <www.thainet.org/mp3/musichut> and MusicHouse at <www.musichouse2000.com> provide Thai songs in MP3 format and also links to related sites.

ThaiDiver.com at <www.thaidiver.com> provides information about the underwater world, including about dive sites and about diving.

For sport fans, there is HotLeague.com at <www.hotleague.com> which offers information about soccer in both Thai and English and a chance to win prizes.

ThaiNBA at <thainba.hypermart.net> is for basketball lovers, and ThaiGolfer.com at <www.thaigolfer.com> offers a golf directory service and golf news.

108Pets.com at <www.108pets.com> is the country's first Thai-language portal for pet-lovers.

If you like to send pager messages, then you can visit SiamPage.com at <siampage.com/pager> for the service that allows you to send messages to any pager in Thailand from your keyboard.

Movieseer at <www.movieseer.com> offers information about and reviews of movies showing in Thailand with details of show times at cinemas in Bangkok.

FINANCE

QThai.com at <www.Qthai.com> offers Thai investors up-to-date financial news and online price quotes from the Stock Exchange of Thailand <www.set.or.th>.

fnWEB.com at <www.fnWEB.com> is a one-stop centre for all news, data and information on the equity and capital market in Thailand. The information centre includes essential data and information on Stock Exchange of Thailand trading, fixed-income activities and research and analysis.

eCom Thailand at <www.ecom.co.th> provides real-time transaction clearing online or functions as an epayment gateway operator.

CoolRhino.com at <www.coolrhino.com> is an e-marketplace where investors and entrepreneurs can meet with high-tech advice and fund raising services.

"e-Banks" includes Bank of Asia at <www.bankasia4u.com>, Siam Commercial Bank at <misc.scb.co.th/bill> for individual use and <scbcash.scb.co.th/cig/scbcash.htm> for business use, and Thai Farmers Bank at <www.tfb.co.th>.

ENTERTAINMENT

Grammy, the country's largest record company, has launched an entertainment site at EOtoday.com <www.eotoday.com> while Siam2you offers news, business information, entertainment, a section about love, community and sport.

Pop at <www.pop.co.th>, ThaiTop <www.thaitop.com> and Yumyai.com <yumyai.com> also offer variety and entertainment information plus a directory service.

Sabye.com <www.sabye.com> offers a variety of information on sports and entertainment. The site also offers a fast way to send pager messages as well as offering web space for rent. Shareware and e-cards are also offered.

Kaolao.com at <www.kaolao.com> provides various information about computer technology, entertainment, games, news and gossip on celebrities and provides a web board. It also offers hints and tricks as well as cheats for playing famous games and online games.

Sunha.com at <www.sunha.com> provides links about various topics, categorised into computers, Internet, games, education, entertainment, sports, travel, government agencies, health, home and lifestyle and religion.

HEALTH

Thaiclinic.com at <www.thaiclinic.com> has Dr Thanes Puapornpong, who offers not only a medical bible, but also a consulting service.

HealthNet at <www.healthnet.in.th>, which is supported by the Public Health Ministry, offers a web board where you can post your mental or physical problems to directly consult with a number of doctors from various hospitals who are experts in their field. Also offered are links to other web sites related to health.

Thai Talk of the Town at <www.thai-talkofthetown.com> also claims to offer a live consulting service and here you can post your questions get advice from experts in particular fields.

ThaiQuit.com at <www.thaiquit.com> gives news and information related to smoking, its effects and also the merits of various cures for addiction.

DooLaeDek.com at <www.doolaedek.com> offers lessons for parents to take proper care of newborn babies while SleepBest.com at <www.sleepbest.com> may tell you the reason why you cannot get to sleep, or how you can interpret someone's personality from their sleep posture.

ThaiHeart.org at <www.thaiheart.org/general.html> provides information related to a healthy heart as well as links to its magazine.

The Asthma Foundation of Thailand and the Asthma Club of Thailand at <www.asthma.or.th> has launched a site to inform you how to protect yourself from asthma or to treat the condition.

POPULAR PORTALS

eThailand.com at <www.ethailand.com> is designed as a business portal site where you will find useful information to fit your needs, whether you are looking for a job, want to travel or are searching for airfares or for currency exchange rates.

Jorjae.com at <www.jorjae.com> is designed to be a portal for youths while LemonOnline.com of Hutchison Telecommunications (Thailand) also focusses on teenage web surfers.

Sa-on at <www.localinfo.lib.ubu.ac.th/~saon> or <www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Shrine/

1855> is designed to be a Northeast portal site where you can find news and information on the rich culture of Isan (the Northeastern part of Thailand).

Mthai.com at <www.mthai.com> aims at Thai teens and here you can send them your favorite stickers for a show or a contest. Shareware programs are also available.

Sanook.com <www.sanook.com> offers you a wide variety of information and services while Mweb.co.th at <www.mweb.co.th> and Shinee.com <www.shinee.com> offer directories and a search capability. Categories include business, travel, entertainment and even free email.

THAI SEARCH ENGINES

Siamguru.com at <www.siamguru.com> offers not only a text search in both Thai and English, but also the ability to search for songs and images.

Other search engines are at:

Catcha <www.catcha.co.th>; DooDeeDee.com <www.doodeedee.com>; ThaiFind.com <www.thaifind.com>; Thai Search2000 <www.thaisearch2000.com>; <www.thaicast.com/thaisites>; TodaySeek.com <www.todayseek.com>; and ThaiTop.com <www.thaitop.com>.

FREE EMAIL

KhonThai.com at <www.khonthai.com>; Bangkok.com <mail.bangkok.com>; BKK Mail.com <www.bkkmail.com>; JDMail.com <www.jdmail.com>; NetSiam Mail <www.netsiam.com>; Cybernet <www.cybernet.in.th>; ChaiYo.com <www.chaiyo.com>; SiamMail.com <www.siammail.com>; KorKai.com <www.korkai.com/mail>; Thai2K.com <www.thai2k.com>; Thailand.net <www.thailand.net>.

COMMUNITY

The Bangkok.com <www.ebannok.com> offers you a link to social activities and community services.

SaraThai.com <www.sarathai.com/portal.htm> offers various web boards.

SiamWeb.org <www.siamweb.org> creates a community for Thais and those who are interested in anything related to Thailand.

Centerpoint108 <www.centerpoint108.com> offers stories on Siam Square's Centre Point.

ICQ Thai.com <www.icqthai.com> offers cyber communities, news, web hosting and also web designing.

NumJai.com <www.numjai.com> aims to encourage communities to learn the power of sharing goodwill and good things with each other.

Pantip.com <www.pantip.com> is the original community site that provided the spark of an idea for various young Thai webmasters. At the site, you can find friends or create your own cyber community via a chat room and web board.

ThaiAll.com <www.thaiall.com> aims to be a link to various Thai sites such as those with pictures, programs and educational services.

Sabyejai.com <www.sabyejai.com> positions itself as the place where any visitor can be cheered up and consoled in English. "Sabyejai" means "feeling good or better".

Thaicentral.com <www.thaicentral.com>, belonging to Mweb, offers various chat room and web boards.

Xaap Company <www.xaap.com> offers a space for you to publish your articles or to rate articles from other Xaapers. Categories of information include animals, art and culture, business, entertainment and travel.

DOT-COM INCUBATORS

Hatchem.com at <www.hatchem.com>; Thai Incubator.com of VNet Capital <www.thaiincubator.com>; and ThaiPan1.com <www.thaipan1.com>.

COMPUTERS AND TECHNOLOGY

ByXtreme.com <www.byxtreme.com> finds product list prices for you. Also offered is comment and IT news.

ARiP Group <www.arip.co.th> provides the latest information about IT and computer technology, game reviews and new products.

ThaiLoad.com <www.thaiload.com> sites such as those with pictures, programs and educational services.

Sabyejai.com <http://www.sabyejai.com> positions itself as the place where any visitor can be cheered up and consoled in English. "Sabyejai" means"feeling good or better."

Thaicentral.com <http://www.thaicentral.com>, belonging to Mweb, offers various chat room and web boards. Xaap Company <http://www.xaap.com> offers a space for you to publish your articles or to rate articles from other Xaapers. Categories of infor mation include animals, art and culture, business, entertainment and travel.

DOT-COM INCUBATORS Hatchem.com <http://www.hatchem.com> Thai Incubator.com of VNet Capital <http://www.thaiincubator.com> ThaiPan1.com <http://www.thaipan1.com>

COMPUTER AND TECHNOLOGY ByXtreme.com <http://www.byxtreme.com> finds product list prices for you. Also offered is comment and IT news. ARiP Group <http://www.arip.co.th> provides the latest information about IT and computer technology, game reviews and new products. ThaiLoad.com <http://www.thaiload.com> and Tha iware.com offer various types of free software for you to download.

ONLINE JOB AND CLASSIFIED SITES JobAA.com <http://www.jobaa.com> offers you not only careers opportunities in Thailand and also other countries in Asia Pacific and America. JobBees.com <http://www.jobbees.com> provides more than 2,000 career positions on its site . You can search for a job by type of position or by company name or post your resume with the site. ThaiJobCenter <http://www.thaijobcenter.com> offers around 2,000 jobs in more than 1,000 companies. The site is also advanced with an automatic matching position service. HeadHunterThailand.com <http://www.headhunterthailand.com> offers options to hunt for a job by keyword, type, location and company name. Jobs & Adverts <http://www.jobpilot.co.th> The site contains more than 12,300 positions of companies world wide. It also offer tips and has a "Career E-Journal." JobCentre <http://www.job.loxinfo.co.th> was designed by Loxley Infor mation Co (Loxinfo) with the aim of helping jobseekers find jobs or employers. The Department of Employment, of the Labour Ministry <http://www.doe.go.th> offers vacant jobs as well as hot news. Classified Now.com <http://www.classifiednow.com> offers free classified ad space as well as a search service of its classified database. Thaiadclick.com <http://www.thaiadclick.com/thai/default.asp> is an Internet advertisement sol ution provider.

DIRECTORIES eGuideThailand.com <http://www.eguidethailand.com/> has infor mation about products and Services, brands or companies. Thailand.com <http://www.thailand.com> offers a list of 300 exporters. It also offers free email and plans to offer tourism information. ITTradeFair.com <http://www.ittradefair.com/home.htm> is a Thailand trade fair and business directory and information centre. TryItAsia.com is a food directory, offering a convenient way to search for the best restaurants in Bangkok. A-Roi.com <http://www.a-roi.com> offers a directory service for food. Thailand's phonebook <http://www.nectec.or.th/ services/phonebook> offers a search engine to find home or office phone numbers, plus mobile phone numbers. HooRay <http://go.to/hooray> aims to be education and entertainment directory.