Tuesday 2 June 2026

Good morning Bangkok. Happy Tuesday.

🌡️ Weather: 28-35°C (82-95°F). Cloudy with scattered showers across Bangkok through today. TMD forecasts continued rain across upper Thailand this week as the southwest monsoon strengthens. Morning is the cleaner outdoor window.

🌫️ AQI: 81-142 (Moderate to Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups). At the lower end, decent air. At the upper end, mask recommended. Check your local sensor.

Immigration Bureau officers raided the school at approximately 1PM on May 30 after receiving a tip-off that it was operating without approval and employing foreign teachers illegally. The Office of the Private Education Commission and the Department of Employment joined the operation. Officers found the school had no operating license and was employing six foreign teachers from the Philippines and Myanmar, none of whom held valid work permits. The teachers were arrested and taken to Khlong Tan Police Station for legal proceedings. The school had been running kindergarten through secondary level programs for more than five years, serving over 100 students, all of whom were foreign nationals.

The story raises a question that will be uncomfortable for anyone in the international school community: how does an unlicensed school with 100+ students and six foreign teachers operate on a well-known Bangkok soi for half a decade without being flagged? The answer likely involves a combination of factors: the school served a community of foreign families who may not have known or checked whether it held proper accreditation, the teachers were from countries where English-medium education is standard, and the operation was small enough to avoid the visibility that larger schools attract. For the families involved, the immediate concern is where their children go next. For the broader expat community, the lesson is practical: before enrolling a child in any international school in Thailand, verify its license through the Office of the Private Education Commission. A school can look professional, charge real tuition and operate for years without holding the documentation that makes it legal.

Bottom Line: The International Schools Association of Thailand maintains a directory of accredited institutions. If your child's school is not on it, ask why. The Soi Pridi Banomyong school was not a scam in the traditional sense. It was providing education to children who needed it. But the absence of licensing means no regulatory oversight, no guaranteed teacher qualifications, no recourse if something goes wrong, and no recognized diplomas at the end. Five years is a long time to build a school-shaped structure on a foundation that does not exist.

Investors face a dilemma. When the S&P 500 finished its worst quarter since 2022 last month, diversifiers like bonds and bitcoin fell too.

Even with the turnaround in mid-April, analysts at Goldman Sachs and Vanguard have projected low-single-digit annualized returns from 2024-2034.

Bloomberg asked where experts would personally invest $100,000 for their March monthly edition.

One answer that surfaced for a second time? Art.

It's what billionaires like Bezos and the Rockefellers have privately used to diversify for decades.

Why?

Thanks to the world's premier art investing platform, now anyone can invest in works featuring legends like Banksy, Basquiat, and Picasso, without needing millions.

Shares in new offerings can sell quickly but...

Our subscribers skip their waitlist*

^{*According to Masterworks data. Investing involves risk. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. See important Reg A disclosures at masterworks.com/cd.}

If today's sponsor interests you, consider giving them a click.

Those clicks help support The BKK Insider and allow us to keep delivering free daily recommendations, events, and local discoveries to 2,000+ Bangkok readers.

It takes just a second, and it goes a surprisingly long way toward keeping the newsletter free and growing.

Thanks for being part of the community.

I-Sang is what happens when a chef who earned a Michelin star in Hong Kong decides Bangkok is where the next chapter belongs. Chef Lee Sanggun, known as Chef Steve, was the head chef at Hansik Goo in Hong Kong, where he earned the restaurant its first Michelin star in 2022 and received the Michelin Young Chef Award for Hong Kong and Macau. He brought I-Sang to Bangkok last year, and the restaurant was immediately listed in the Michelin Guide Thailand 2026. The concept fuses Korean roots with Thai produce in a concise tasting menu that BK Magazine described as "moving Korean fine dining forward." Thai ingredients are central: local vegetables, seafood and Chiang Rai rice appear throughout, shaped by Korean fermentation techniques and the kind of bright, citrus-forward flavors that make the fusion feel earned rather than forced. Highlights include the naengchae, a colorful cold vegetable dish, the perilla oil guksu noodles, and the crispy crab, which is Chef Steve's playful riff on Korean fried chicken. The room is minimalist, with taupe tones, natural light and clean lines. Chef Steve serves dishes personally and talks guests through each course, which gives the evening a warmth that most fine dining rooms at this level do not have. For a Tuesday dinner when you want something genuinely different from the usual Bangkok dining rotation, I-Sang is the call.

TIP: Book ahead. The tasting menu format means seating is limited. Let Chef Steve guide the evening rather than asking for modifications.

Have a good Tuesday, and see you tomorrow morning.

— Devon