Thursday 23 July 2026

Good morning Bangkok. Happy Thursday.

🌡️ Weather: 26-36°C (79-97°F). Hot through the afternoon with scattered thundershowers. TMD warns of continued heavy rain through July 25. Morning is the outdoor window.

🌫️ AQI: 70-138 (Moderate to Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups). Morning is the cleaner window.

Thai police confirmed on July 22 that they dismantled 4,576 illegal online gambling websites that were operating during the FIFA World Cup 2026 tournament period. The operation resulted in 617 arrests and uncovered more than 20 billion baht in circulation moving through the gambling network. The scale of the takedown makes it one of the largest coordinated online crime operations Thailand has conducted this year. The websites targeted Thai bettors with live odds, in-play wagering and payout systems designed to operate outside regulated channels.

Twenty billion baht circulating through illegal gambling in six weeks of football tells you two things. First, the appetite for online sports betting in Thailand is enormous, far larger than the legal framework currently accommodates. Second, the enforcement capability to monitor, identify and shut down thousands of sites simultaneously exists and was deployed at scale. The 617 arrests spanned organizers, operators and facilitators across the network. For a country that officially prohibits most forms of gambling, the ฿20 billion figure is a reminder that prohibition does not eliminate demand. It pushes it underground. Thailand's ongoing debate about legalizing and regulating online gambling will likely use this operation as evidence for both sides of the argument.

Bottom Line: 4,576 websites. 617 arrests. ฿20 billion. The World Cup is over. The gambling infrastructure behind it has been dismantled. Whether Thailand chooses to regulate the demand or continue playing enforcement whack-a-mole with the next tournament is a policy question that ฿20 billion makes harder to ignore.

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The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand confirmed new regulations allowing security officers to open and inspect checked baggage without the passenger present if X-ray screening detects potentially dangerous or suspicious items. The rules take effect on October 16 and apply to all checked luggage at Thai airports. Previously, opening checked bags required the passenger to be called back to the screening area. The new regulation removes that requirement, allowing officers to inspect flagged bags while the passenger waits at the gate or has already boarded.

Thailand is a safe and honest country, and this regulation is designed to strengthen aviation security rather than create problems for ordinary travelers. The policy responds to a real enforcement gap that became clear earlier this year when drugs were found concealed in crew luggage and checked bags on multiple Thailand-origin flights. For everyday travelers, the practical advice is straightforward: keep valuables, electronics, medication and important documents in your carry-on rather than your checked bag. This has always been sensible travel practice, but with the new regulation, your checked bag can now be opened, inspected and resealed without your knowledge during the screening process. Anything you would not want handled by someone else should travel with you in the cabin.

Bottom Line: The regulation takes effect October 16. Keep your valuables on your person or in your carry-on. Pack your checked bag as if someone might open it, because now they can. For the vast majority of travelers, this changes nothing about the experience. For anyone who was relying on checked bags to move items they should not have been moving, the window is closing.

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Yim Yim has been serving Teochew Chinese food in Bangkok's Chinatown for over a century, and the remarkable thing is that a restaurant this old, this good and this well-located is often nearly empty because most of its business comes from catering rather than walk-ins. The restaurant sits on the second floor of a building on Ratchawong Road in Samphanthawong, and Chinese Cooking Demystified, one of the most respected Chinese food channels on YouTube, called it "leagues better than any of the tourist-focused restaurants in the area." Pailin Chongchitnant of Hot Thai Kitchen also recommended it through her trusted Bangkok contacts.

The menu covers classic Teochew fare adapted to the Thai palate over generations: crispy roasted suckling pig, raw prawns in spicy fish sauce, oyster omelette, Teochew-style dim sum, fish maw soup, fried grouper hot pot with taro, and a yam paste dessert that one reviewer describe as the best they have ever tasted. "Old school Teochew restaurant. On the pricey side for sure but super nice and fresh food. Went back twice," one reviewer wrote. The 4.5-star rating across 235 Google reviews reflects a restaurant that has survived for a century by being genuinely excellent rather than well-marketed. On an evening when you want something that connects you to the oldest culinary tradition in Bangkok's Chinatown, Yim Yim is the restaurant most people have not found yet.

TIP: Go at 5PM opening for the freshest preparation. The crispy suckling pig and the yam paste dessert are the two items you do not skip. No parking, but you can park at the nearby temple and get two hours free from the restaurant.

📍 89, 2F, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100
📞 062 396 4255
🕐 Opens 5PM daily
⭐ 4.5 stars (235 Google reviews)
💰 ฿400-1,200 per person

Always check opening times before heading out.

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Have a nice Thursday, and see you tomorrow morning.

— Patrick