Arusa Pisuthipan
Deputy editor of the Life section
Arusa Pisuthipan is the deputy editor of the Life section of the Bangkok Post.
Lessons from Korea on soft power
South Korean actor Lee Jung-jae recently bagged the Best Actor title at the 27th Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles earlier this month. This makes him the first Korean actor to take home the Best Actor accolade in the Drama Series category. Lee is known internationally for his lead role in the nine-episode survival drama Squid Game.
Long Covid is the hidden pandemic
Covid-19 has changed people's lives drastically in many ways. For one, masks have become essential items now while hybrid workplaces, remote learning, and cashless shopping are normal practices. We will also never feel at ease riding in an elevator with strangers the way we did before.
Make merit, stay home
The Communicable Disease Committee in Chiang Mai ordered two more places to close last week due to the spread of Covid-19.
Schools sing pandemic blues
Given the continuing surge of Covid-19 cases countrywide, the Ministry of Education had no choice but to postpone the start of the new school semester from June 1 to today.
Is Prayut's Covid jab enough to ease vaccine hesitancy?
Thailand finally saw the first shot of the controversial AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine being administered to Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha last week along with members of the cabinet.
Covid confusion is the new normal
With this new surge of Covid-19 cases hitting the country, Thais know that the disease is not new. Certain buzzwords like coronavirus and the new normal are familiar narratives and protective face masks and alcohol-based sanitisers have become common household items.
It never rains, but instead it pours
As the rainy season comes to an end, the population of Bangkok and its neighbouring provinces are readying to brave the return of PM2.5 dust particles that have been clouding the sky as reported recently by the Department of Pollution Control. A new working team has been set up to alert people of the situation and apparently, it will function just like the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).
Vaccine promise doesn't mean guard can be let down
When it comes to Covid-19, Thais might think they have a few reasons to celebrate. First, the country made a record of 102 days without domestic transmission. The slow rising curve in infections is the result of returnees importing the infection from abroad, however, they are made to stay in state quarantine facilities.
Fight hate with love
Martin Luther King Jr once said: "Through violence you may murder the hater, but you can't murder hate." This statement could not be more true, especially today in a world full of unrest triggered by discrimination and intolerance towards diversity of any kind.
The greatest test
Songkran is strange this year. There will be no water war where people dowse buckets of water on each other to cool off from the summer heat. We are encouraged to stay home and not to visit our old parents. Or if we do, we have to stay at least 2m away from them.