#thailand

#thailand

For Thai national Khaochat Mankong, 2026 was meant to be the biggest year of her life. After filing the necessary paperwork with the United States embassy in Bangkok, Khaochat, 27, was poised to start a new life with her American husband in California. Last week, Khaochat watched those plans evaporate in an instant as US President Donald Trump's administration announced an indefinite pause on the processing of immigrant visa applications from 75 countries, including Thailand.

"Mommy, thank you for moving us to Thailand. I'm just so grateful for this experience."

When news broke this weekend that an elusive, endangered wildcat was spotted in Thailand for the first time in three decades, I rejoiced, obviously. What wonderful news that the flat-headed cat, which is estimated to have a wild population of just 2,500 in Southeast Asia, had not gone extinct in Thailand. The wildcat's presence was confirmed by remote camera traps, which recorded the cats 13 times in 2024 and 16 times in 2025 in the swampy peat forests of the Princess Sirindhorn Wildlife Sanctuary.

A woman in Thailand shocked temple staff when she started moving in her coffin after being brought in for cremation. Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a Buddhist temple in the province of Nonthaburi on the outskirts of Bangkok , posted a video on its Facebook page, showing a woman lying in a white coffin in the back of a pick-up truck, slightly moving her arms and head, leaving temple staff bewildered.

The Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian embassy in Thailand also did not respond to requests for comment, but Russia's consul general in Phuket, Yegor Ivanov, told Russian state news agency Tass that the consulate had "received notification of the arrest of a Russian citizen on charges of committing an information technology crime." "He was arrested on November 6 and transferred to Bangkok that same day," Ivanov said, without providing further details.

Globally, an estimated 50 million people were living as digital nomads by 2024, roughly doubling from around 20 million just a few years prior. In the United States alone, the number of people identifying as digital nomads increased from approximately 7.3 million in 2019 to 18.1 million in 2024, a 147% rise since pre-pandemic times. While remote workers once scattered randomly across the globe, something remarkable happened: they started clustering in specific countries where their foreign income could stretch furthest.

I genuinely think I've been more at airports than I have in my own bed.

Making the move to Asia is appealing to people of any age - from digital nomads to young families and professionals keen to get amongst the business buzz of , and Asia's other leading city hubs. And it turns out, two Asian countries are also among the most desirable destinations for the older generation, too, with and catching the eyes of American retirees ready to swap suburban lawns for tropical landscapes.

In July, Nicolia and Charles Connor boarded their first international flight on one-way tickets to Thailand. Their plan? To make it their new home. The couple, originally from New York but living in North Carolina at the time, didn't always expect to retire overseas. Although she had dreamed of living abroad, he needed some convincing. They only began seriously considering it after a difficult stretch in which Nicolia lost four family members in three years.