the category of sex tourism has resulted in major economic gains for countries like Thailand that have become known for its availability.  According to their website, the World Tourism Organization defines sex tourism as “trips organized from within the tourism sector, or from outside this sector but using its structures and networks, with the primary purpose of effecting a commercial sexual relationship by the tourist with residents at the destination.”  Stated more plainly, sex tourism is travel for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity with the people of a particular place. 

Ever since the military coup of 2006 that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand had been sailing in uncharted waters. Though a divisive figure in Thai politics, Thaksin was democratically elected in 2001. He won re-election by a landslide with the highest voter turnout in Thai history, in 2005. A populist and a multibillionaire, he’d done more for the rural population than all his predecessors combined, introducing effective policies to alleviate rural poverty by half in only four years, and, equally enticing, implementing universal health care. 

“There's a big boom in Thai food globally, and we aim to be at the vanguard of that boom,” says Pitaya Phanphenonsophon, CEO of Bangkok-based Mango Tree, already considered the world’s biggest Thai restaurant brand. What Pitaya started in 1994 has grown into 70 locations in 16 countries worldwide, with expectations to double its existing annual turnover to reach US$100million within two years as it sets it sights on expanding to 100 restaurants by 2015 with further expansion throughout Asia Pacific, and the Middle East, but also China, Australia and, in the United States

Lan Na – meaning  ‘many rice fields’ – is the name of an ancient kingdom in northern Thailand. And this unique restaurant is modeled on a northern nobleman’s longhouse and decorated with stunning antiques, including several large, rare, wooden Buddhas.  Start with crispy golden-fried squid rings with garlic and zesty Thai spices; or minced duck mixed with an array of herbs. 

From New America Media and Inter Press Service: Bangkok's 8 million people are paying the price of ignoring warnings over many years concerning the city's climate vulnerability and the incapacity of its soggy foundations to handle flooding. [Since late October] large swathes of the Thai capital, built on a flat marshy delta with some sections below sea level, have been submerged by floodwaters.