Things we want to know... Editorial cartoon from the late 1960s? - December 3, 2006 A reader writes: We enjoy your site very much. It is an excellent way for foreigners living in Bangkok (such as myself) to learn more about Thai popular culture, currents events, and history. I particularly enjoy the political cartoons and explanations you post on your site. I wonder if you are familiar with a cartoon drawn in the late sixties by Prayoon Chanyavongs that involves a Thai soldier trying to persuade a Thai Prime Minister (most likely Thanom) not to tear down Victory Monument. I have been trying to find it for several months, but unsuccessfully. Do any 2B readers know where to find this? Pradit Tiemsanguan? - September 11, 2006 Ryan Tiemsanguan writes: Please help me locate my father, Pradit Tiemsanguan, last known address 526/D Wachprakarn Rd., Soi Srin Korm, Mueng Chon Buri. His date of birth is 01/04/1947, Deported from U.S. in 1995, he may be back in U.S., maybe Chicago. Please advise at tiemsa2259@yahoo.com. Please help me find him. Looking for Ronald Alfred Morris - September 24, 2005 Bob (Robert) Morris is looking for his father, Ronald Alfred Morris. Ronald came to Thailand in 1964 to work at Avro Aircraft. He eventually married a Thai lady and had at least 6 children. The family lost contact with him in 1979. He was from Conventry, UK and would be about 83 years old today if still living. If anyone has any information on Ronald Alfred Morris, please let us know. Earlier: Do you know Roger Harpel? - December 11, 2004 Tom Harpel asks: 16 years ago, my father left Washington state for Thailand. For the first year, he sent letters back home but eventually stopped communicating. I wonder if in your travels you have met him? His name is Roger Harpel. He lived in Washington state and ran a software company called Cosmos until 1989. It may be a long shot but the world can be surprisingly small. I look forward to your reply. Bridge bomb photo - March 31, 2005 Anyone know the details of this photo? The caption is "490th Bomb Squadron target photo of a bridge near Bangkok." A thread has been started here. Subway tunnel segments - March 21, 2005 (Photo: 2Bangkok.com) Above: Fort site in 2004 The missing fort of Songkhla Province - March 7, 2005 2Bangkok Editor Ron Morris writes: At the northern beginning of the Tinsulanonda Bridges in Songkhla Province once stood a old fort nestled in a thick grove of trees. It was a circular-style fort somewhat like the city wall forts in Bangkok, but probably on a smaller scale (one side had partially collapsed). While it was near Highway 408, it was not easy to see unless you pulled off the road and clambered into the underbrush. I 'found' it one day after stopping along the highway to take some photographs. Locals I knew were not aware of the fort until I showed them. I always made a effort to stop and see 'my' fort each time I passed through the area. In 2004, I was shocked to find the scene above: a construction area for Nawarat Patanakarn Public Company Limited for the doubling of the Tinsulanonda Bridges. The fort was completely gone. Do any 2B readers know anything about the history of the fort or its removal? Bangkok's floating forest - March 2, 2005 (Photo: 2Bangkok.com) Construction at the Grand Palace - January 5, 2005 There seems to be major construction of new structures at the back of the Audience Hall at the Grand Palace (above). Anyone know what this is? Where is the Last Life house? Pygmy elephants in Thailand? - December 2, 2004 Has anyone heard about pygmy elephants in the south? On this page about Thai elephants: All other members of the proboscidea animal order are now extinct. Historically there were some 300 different species that belonged to this category. These included mastodons, mammoths and pygmy elephants believed to have died out in Southern Thailand in the early 1920's... Satellite tracking project to help conserve Malaysia's pygmy elephants - AFP, July 4, 2005 ...The pygmy elephant has an appealing rounded appearance, and is thought to stand about 2.4 metres (8 feet) tall, as much as 60 centimetres (two feet) shorter than elephants found elsewhere in Asia. Their faces are smaller and squarer, their tails are longer, reaching almost to the ground, and their tusks are straighter... What is happening with the The Royal Thai Survey Department? (Photo: 2Bangkok.com) The Pattaya interchange - May 15, 2005 Two years ago we asked: This simple Highway 7/Highway 36 interchange at the Pattaya turn-off has been under construction for years (six years?). Now that it is done, it is still closed and grass is growing between the cracks of the finished highway. Anyone know what's going on with this project? Thawatchai Wongrach explains: I solved your question about closed Highway 7 at Pattaya. If you see the motorway map from the Highway Department website you can see Highway 7 that connects from the Bangkok-Chonburi Motorway. Actually the Motorway and Highway 7 are the same line and some parts of Highway 36 are changed to Highway 7 because of the Highway Department has a plan to do the project little by little. In the near future Highway 7 will change to be a motorway (tollway) and Highway 7 is being prepared to be a motorway project. This closed road is waiting for the motorway to be extended to Rayong (completed in 2015). (Photo: Tom) The Pattaya interchange - January 3, 2008 Tom writes: Reference is made to the closed intersection near Pattaya you asked about earlier.... Actually the extension from this intersection to Pattaya North is in full swing and expected to be done at the end of 2008. Please see a map from the DOH's website showing the route of the extension as well as some pictures I took of the actual construction works last weekend (picture 658 [below] is at this Google Earth Placemark). 662 [above] is basically the same intersection on your photo from the side which has not been opened yet. I also found this interesting article. There is no word however on the extension from Pattaya to Map Ta Phut? Does anybody have an idea? (Photo: Tom)