While a local media gossip columnist was reporting Khunying Pojaman na Pombejra was in Hong Kong and enjoying cooking Thai food for her visitors, her ex-husband was apparently toughening it out, wandering around Europe and the Middle East - from his Dubai base, to Montenegro, Sweden, Russia and then back to Dubai.
Among those countries, Montenegro - the country in the Balkans on the Adriatic Sea - seemed the most interesting of his recent stopovers. The country was in the Thai media spotlight when Thaksin and his family stayed there as his red-shirt supporters rallied in Bangkok last month.
Pictures of Thaksin and family were widely published as the ex-PM visited an under-renovation hotel he'd invested in with friends.
The Podgorica daily Vijesti said Thaksin and family stayed in a luxury villa in Budva, a Montenegrin Adriatic resort. Some reports said they stayed at the Astoria hotel, where Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic is a regular guest.
It was reported last year that Thaksin bid for an island in Montenegro in the belief he wanted to invest there in order to get a passport and citizenship. And it was confirmed by Montenegro officials during his latest visit that Thaksin was in Montenegro as a citizen.
For an investor, his interest sounded reasonable.
According to Wikipedia, Montenegro is well suited for development for all kinds of tourism, as it has both a picturesque coast and a mountainous northern region. The country was a well-known tourist spot in the 1980s, but the Yugoslav wars fought in neighbouring countries during the 1990s crippled the tourist industry and destroyed Montenegro as a tourist destination.
It was not until the 2000s that the tourism industry began to recover, and the country has since experienced a high rate of growth in the number of visits and overnight stays. The government of Montenegro has made the development of Montenegro as an elite tourist destination a top priority, Wikipedia said.
In 2007 the number of tourists to the country peaked, almost reaching pre-war volume. As a result, in 2008 many roads were renovated (which affects driving time) and many hotels constructed or renovated (resulting in extra noise and inconvenience).
Apart from being a tourist spot, the country was reported as a haven for criminals and money laundering.
It was said drug boss Serbian Darko ŠAric and Stanko Subotic, aka Cane, head of the so called "Tobacco Mafia", sheltered in Montenegro.
Montenegro was recently sharply criticised by Serbia, where officials accused the tiny republic of allowing fugitives from justice to obtain citizenship.
Since its laws, as in all other former Yugoslav republics, prohibit the extradition of citizens for prosecution in other countries, many criminals have found shelter from justice not only in Montenegro, but also other countries in the region.
So, once fugitive ex-premier Thaksin receives its citizenship, he can use the country as a shelter. It was confirmed by the Montenegro Interpol Office chief, Dejan Jurovic, last month that Montenegro would not extradite Thaksin.
"Shinawatra is our citizen, and Montenegro can only extradite its citizens to the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague," he told media in Podgorica.
This then could be the answer why Thaksin, who faces a two-year jail term in Thailand, wanted to invest in Montenegro - as he could finally shelter there for as long as he wanted to live as a fugitive.
