Saturday 9 May 2026

Good morning Bangkok. Happy Saturday.

🌡️ Weather: 27-31°C (81-88°F). Noticeably cooler today as cloud cover and rain push through. TMD forecasts scattered showers for Bangkok and surrounding provinces through tomorrow, with heavier rain in the southern region. Bring an umbrella if you have outdoor plans. A welcome break from last week's heat.

🌫️ AQI: 87-152 (Moderate to Unhealthy). Still a wide range. At the lower end the rain is cleaning things up nicely. At the upper end, mask recommended for extended outdoor time. Morning remains the cleaner window.

A group of visitors to Wat Arun Ratchawararam posted on social media this week claiming that photographers working at the temple told them to move from a public area so that paying photo clients could use the space. The complaint spread quickly, generating significant engagement and reigniting a debate that surfaces periodically but has never been resolved: the boundary between public access to Bangkok's most iconic heritage sites and the commercial photo businesses that operate inside them. Professional photography services at temples like Wat Arun, Wat Pho and the Grand Palace area have been growing steadily for years, driven by Chinese, Korean and increasingly Western social media demand for styled portrait sessions at photogenic locations. The services are not formally licensed by the temple authorities in most cases, and the grey zone between "photographer who happens to be there" and "commercial operation using public space as a studio" has become harder to distinguish.

For expats who live in Bangkok and visit these temples outside of peak tourist hours, the friction is familiar. The dynamic is not hostile but it is increasingly assertive: photographers staking out the best angles, assistants managing sightlines, and visitors being asked, sometimes politely and sometimes less so, to wait or move. The temple authorities have historically avoided cracking down because the photographers bring revenue-adjacent activity and do not charge the temples themselves. But the viral complaint this week is exactly the kind of pressure that forces a public response, and the fact that it has been circulating across both Thai and English-language social media means the temple administration and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration are now aware

Bottom Line: This is a small story with a familiar shape. Bangkok's heritage sites are simultaneously sacred spaces, public parks, tourism magnets and commercial backdrops, and nobody has worked out how those four things coexist without friction. If you are visiting Wat Arun this weekend and someone asks you to move for a photo shoot, you are not obliged to comply, it is a public temple, but the experience is a useful window into a tension the city has not resolved.

The Cabinet approved the decree on May 5, authorising the Finance Ministry to borrow up to ฿400 billion to address the energy crisis and fund Thailand's transition away from fossil fuel dependence. PM Anutin explicitly used the word "stagflation" in his announcement, warning that Thailand faces the simultaneous risk of slowing growth and rising inflation. The ฿400 billion is split equally: ฿200 billion for grassroots economy and SME cost-of-living support, ฿200 billion for clean energy transition and restructuring. Finance Minister Ekniti confirmed all borrowing will be sourced domestically, with excess liquidity of over ฿1 trillion available, meaning no foreign exchange risk. Public debt will remain below the 70% legal ceiling. Core inflation is now forecast at 3% for 2026, up from 0.3% earlier in the year.

The Bank of Thailand, which held the policy rate at 1% unanimously this week, issued a separate statement warning that the borrowed funds must be tightly targeted to avoid misallocation. The People's Party shadow cabinet echoed the same concern from the opposition side, warning the decree "must not be used for blanket handouts" and raising additional concerns about the government's Landbridge infrastructure scheme. The decree goes to parliament next week and the debate will determine whether the money flows toward genuine structural reform or politically motivated distribution. The borrowed sum is among the highest in recent Thai history, though below levels seen during the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic years.

Bottom Line: This is the most consequential fiscal decision Thailand has made in 2026. The split between cost-of-living relief and energy transition is the right framework. Whether it holds through the parliamentary process and the spending allocation committee is the open question. The BOT's public warning about tight targeting is notable because central banks do not normally comment on fiscal policy unless they are genuinely concerned about the execution. Worth following closely through the rest of the month.

The name translates to "eat rice, eat fish" in Vietnamese, and the menu delivers on both sides of that promise with more conviction than any other Vietnamese restaurant in Bangkok right now. Timeout Bangkok called it "Bangkok's hottest Vietnamese restaurant" when it opened, and the reason starts with the setting: a 100-year-old Indo-Chinese house on Soi Ngam Du Phli in Sathorn, with wooden decor, geometric tiles and paintings that together create the feeling of having stepped into a quieter, slower version of the city. The restaurant is run by Atchara "Pla" Burarak, the restaurateur behind the Iberry group, who also recently opened the sought-after brunch spot Fran's. The kitchen leans into seafood and traditional street food rather than fusion, with the pho broth made by the head chef of the Thong Smith boat noodle chain, a pedigree that shows up in the depth and clarity of the stock. The dishes to order are the ones that showcase ingredient quality rather than technique: grilled blood cockles with scallion oil, spicy Indochina river prawns, and the banh khot, crispy turmeric-tinted mini pancakes each crowned with a single shrimp, which Ideal Magazine's 2026 Vietnamese restaurant guide described as "particularly good, its presentation sharp, its flavour precise." The Sathorn original is the most atmospheric of the locations and the one worth going to first. On a rainy Saturday afternoon when the temperature has dropped and something warm, fragrant and Vietnamese is the right call, this is it.

TIP: Go for lunch on a weekday if you want the full dining room experience without a wait. Weekend evenings get busy. The banh khot is the dish to start with.

(Confirm times and ticketing directly before heading out.)

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See you tomorrow morning.

— Devon