Year: 2005
- Phuket News
Hotel occupancy rates rise 15pc
PHUKET: Hotel occupancy rates on the island for July are expected to be up 15% when compared with June, thanks mainly to Tourism Authority of Thailand marketing, Pattanapong Aikwanich, President of the Phuket Tourist Association, predicted today. “There have been many Thai groups who bought the ‘Beach basking, bargain shopping’ packages, as well as tourists from Australia, the Middle East,…
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Wat Kamala to be “blitzed’
KAMALA: Popular Australian TV gardening program Backyard Blitz is to spring a Buddhist Lent surprise on tsunami-hit Wat Kamala – in the shape of a newly-landscaped garden.The program specializes in renovating viewers’ gardens along themed lines and is a popular Sunday evening show. This is the first time an episode has been recorded overseas. Jacq Brophy, Head of Production, told…
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Gazette appointed agent for major magazines
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette Co Ltd has been awarded the local agency appointment for a number of major international publications which have expressed interest in expanding their business here. Readers wishing to subscribe to Business Week, Business Traveller, Time, Forbes, Fortune, or Reader’s Digest (English and Chinese editions) are invited to contact the Gazette to make the necessary arrangements. The magazines will be delivered by…
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Property tax break ill-timed – Phummisak
PHUKET: Phummisak Hongsyok, President of the Phuket Real Estate Club (PREC), yesterday criticized the government’s move to reduce the tax on transfer of property ownership as ill-timed and inappropriate.His criticism came despite the fact that many would assume that real estate companies and property developers would welcome the proposed tax break as a stimulant, however small, to house sales.The proposal…
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Police appeal for new wheels
PHUKET CITY: Phuket City Police Superintendent Col Paween Pongsirin is appealing for public donations to help buy badly-needed police vehicles for his cash-strapped department. Col Paween told the Gazette last week that although cars and motorcycles are essential for police work, seven of the department’s 14 squad cars are no longer roadworthy or are currently being repaired. He added that…
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December quake moved Phuket 27cm
LONDON: Scientists say that Phuket moved 27 centimeters to the southwest when the massive tsunami-generating quake erupted near Sumatra on December 26 last year, and moved a further 7cm in the 50 days following the quake.Writing in the latest issue of the respected Nature magazine, published yesterday, scientists say that the quake ripped a gash in the Earth’s crust more…
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Scottish girl, 15, dies in crash
PATONG: A 15-year-old Scottish schoolgirl, Alexandra Stark, died early yesterday morning when the motorcycle on which she was riding pillion was hit by another bike.Pol Maj Sophol Borrirak, of Kathu Police Station, said that the accident happened at about 2 am at Tanut Corner on Nanai Rd. Miss Stark was riding behind the family babysitter, Tientong Kanson, when they were…
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Tsunami alarm system online in August
PHUKET: The island’s tsunami warning system will be linked in August via satellite to the Nonthaburi-based National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC).Patong, which has been chosen for the pilot project of the NDWC’s tsunami warning system for the entire Andaman coast, is home to three NDWC warning towers and there are plans to increase the number of towers to cover 24…
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Store owner’s death “was suicide’
KATHU: A grocery store owner living in the Moo Baan Irawadee housing development in Ketho apparently committed suicide early this morning by shooting himself in the head. Pol Lt Col Ampolwat Saengraung of Tung Tong Police Station identified the man as 35-year-old Songkhla native Prawee “Ead” Kaewbutr.He lived with his daughter and common-law wife, who discovered his body in a…
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Businesswoman gunned down in Patong
PATONG: A 27-year-old woman from Udon Thani, Nilasnuch Tongnun, was shot dead by hitmen on Friday evening while chatting with her uncle and neighbors at Ericsson Guest House on Nanai Rd.Pol Lt Col Boonlert Onklang, of Kathu Police Station, said, “She was shot four times: once in the chest, once in the left shoulder and twice in the back.”Col Boonlert…
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New Abbot fails flock
PHANG NGA: The new Abbot of Wat Yan Yao is on temporary leave after some 150 villagers staged an angry protest calling for him to step down. The reason? He banned gambling and drinking at the temple, famous for its former tsunami victim identification center. The monk, Wichjit Phuttawichito, agreed to temporarily step down to appease the villagers, who were…
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30-baht nightmare
UBON RATCHATHANI: A housewife in Muang District found out the hard way that the state’s 30-baht medical care scheme doesn’t always guarantee top-notch care. Puttachart Nammontri, 32, was admitted to Ubonrak Thonburi Hospital in Muang District to give birth to her second baby girl, on March 10 last year. She told her gynecologist, Dr Jamras Poompuang, that she wanted to…
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Rice praises Thai tsunami recovery
CHERNG TALAY: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday praised Thailand, which she described as “a close ally of the United States”, on its recovery from the tsunami.Dr Rice made her comments following a meeting with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and other ministers at the Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket.At the press conference, she called on Thailand and other Southeast Asian…
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Fortune magazine hails Phuket as “Paradise found’
PHUKET: The island has been named by one of the world’s top business magazines, Fortune, among the top five “idyllic places … where you can still live like a king on what you’ve saved”.For a feature in Issue 1, Volume 25, titled “Paradise found: where to retire abroad”, the magazine chose Phuket – along with San Carlos de Bariloche in…
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Early rise in minimum wage expected
PHUKET CITY: Phuket’s current minimum wage of 173 baht a day could increase earlier than usual to offset inflation and the rising price of gas.At a seminar on wages organized by the Ministry of Labour on July 8 and 9, Charupong Ruangsuwan, the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, said that employees have been requesting that the minimum wage be raised earlier in the…
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Gambling tops arrests stats again
PHUKET CITY: In statistics for June released today by Phuket Provincial Police, gambling again topped the the arrests table with 176 apprehensions made. Seventeen of the cases involved the sale of underground lottery tickets.Sixty-four people were arrested for the illegal possession or use of controlled substances, with 1,077.5 ya bah (methamphetamine) tablets seized.Fifty-nine people were arrested for offenses related to…
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ADB earmarks US$1.7m for tsunami aid plan
MANILA: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has set aside US$1.7 million (about 75 million baht) for Thailand, to help Bangkok develop long-term solutions for tsunami-affected areas, especially Krabi, Phang Nga, and Phuket, an ADB report announced on July 7. The funds will come from the Asian Tsunami Fund, which was set up by the ADB in February 2005 with an…
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Two slain at upmarket development
PHUKET: An army sergeant and a security guard were murdered on Wednesday night (July 6) at the upmarket Phuket Pavilions project in Cherng Talay.Pol Lt Col Siriwat In-yim of Cherng Talay Police Station told the Gazette that the victims were found the following morning under one of the villas at The Pavilions.They were identified as Royal Thai Army Sgt Buntoon…
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Gov proposes changes to entertainment zones
PHUKET CITY: Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura has announced proposals for new, larger entertainment zones for Phuket, subject to public consultation.The proposed new entertainment zones, in all three districts, were discussed at a meeting yesterday at Phuket Provincial Hall.“This is the first step in the expansion of our entertainment zones,” Gov Udomsak said. “Each district will conduct a one-month round of consultations…
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B36m awaits tsunami jobless
PHUKET CITY: Huge amounts of money are sitting waiting for employees who lost their jobs because of the tsunami. Of more than 40 million baht set aside for this purpose, only four million baht has been disbursed, the Ministry of Labour said on July 1.Surin Chiravisit, Director General of the Ministry of Labor’s Department of Labour Protection and Welfare said…
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Phuket City to get new beach
PHUKET CITY: In an effort to spruce up the city’s premier recreation area, Phuket City Municipality will spend a total of 39 million baht on drainage, repairs and other improvements at Saphan Hin.Once the project is complete, Saphan Hin will have a 500-meter-long beach, created from recovered sand, near the remaining mangrove stands on the north coast of the peninsula.…
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Milk needed for tsunami kids
PHANG NGA: A charity daycare center in Bang Muang has appealed for donations of milk for small children.The “Nice Care Center” behind the Tambon Administration Organization in Baan Bang Muang, near Baan Nam Kem, is run by the Duang Pratheep Foundation in Bangkok. Coordinator Rojana Phraesrithong explained that the daycare center looks after more than 150 children as their parents…
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191 emergency service back online
PHUKET: The police emergency phone number, 191, is now back in service, after inquiries were made by the Gazette as to why it had not been functioning for at least two weeks.Phuket Provincial Police Deputy Commander Pol Col Kokiat Wongvorachart told the Gazette on Tuesday that the 191 line had not been working for about 15 days, and police were…
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TT&T introduces high-speed ‘Max Net’
UBON RATCHATHANI: In an all-bells-and-whistles launch in this eastern Isarn city on July 1, telephone company TT&T went into the ISP business, with the introduction of a nationwide broadband service.The launch included video conference link-ups with both Phuket and Chiang Mai, via the Internet, as a way to demonstrate what may be achieved with TT&T’s new system.The company boasts that high-speed…
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SIM card registration underway
PHUKET: Phuket Vice-Governor Winai Buapradit has urged all Phuket residents who bought prepaid Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards for their mobile phones before May 10, 2005 to register them with the government.Registration began July 1 and phone users have until the end of the year to submit their registrations. A source at the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MoICT)…
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No danger from morning tremor
PHUKET CITY: An earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale, centered in the sea off the west coast of Sumatra this morning, posed little danger to Phuket, where its shock waves passed largely unnoticed.The US Geological Survey website put the epicenter at 1.901ºN, 97.099ºE, about 120 kilometers west of the Sumatran coast, and at a depth of 30 kilometers.Chamnong Chitpukdee,…
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Motorbike gang accused of arson attack
PHUKET CITY: A second police booth has been destroyed by fire, leading police to believe that a earlier, similar incident was not due to an electrical fault, as was previously thought.Police received reports of the latest fire, at the police booth at the intersection of Wichit Songkram Rd and the bypass road, at 2:30 am yesterday. Pol Col Kokiat Wongvorachart,…
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US Sec of State Rice to visit Phuket
PHUKET: US Secretary of State (foreign minister) Condoleezza Rice will inspect reconstruction work in tsunami-affected areas of Phuket and Phang Nga Provinces on July 11, after being welcomed at the Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.Dr Rice will arrive at Phuket International Airport on a special flight on the evening of July 10. The following morning she…
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Phuket landing fees to be cut by half
PHUKET: Airports of Thailand (AOT) is set to cut as much as 50% off landing fees for both international and domestic arrivals at Phuket International Airport (PIA) until December, in an effort to boost the region’s flagging tourist industry.The Director of PIA, Sq/Ldr Pornchai Eua-aree, confirmed that AOT had had a meeting in Bangkok to discuss the cut in fees.…
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Mystery suicide identified
PHUKET CITY: The British Embassy in Bangkok has confirmed that the body of a man who committed suicide at the Phuket Merlin Hotel on June 18 is that of British national Lyndon John Pedley, 44, of Liverpool, England.Mr Pedley, who apparently swallowed a large number of antihistamine and tranquilizer pills in order to end his own life, was initially identified…
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New land committee sees first arrest
KAMALA: The new special committee set up by Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura to investigate land encroachment and abuses of environmental protection has garnered its first arrest – that of Boonchuay Reungpetch, 40, on June 25, for encroaching on and building three homes on national forest land in Kamala.The arrest came days before the Governor had even officially ratified the committee,…
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Irish, Danish get local representation
PHUKET: Requests by the Republic of Ireland and Denmark to establish consular representation in Phuket have been approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.The Deputy Director-General of the Ministry’s Department of Information, Kiattikhun Chartprasert, told the Gazette on Friday that both countries had proposed setting up official consulates on the island in order to serve their nationals living and traveling in…
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Phuket and Andamans “twinned’
CHERNG TALAY: Delegations representing the City of Port Blair and Phuket Province have signed an agreement “cementing the friendship” between the two geographic entities and effectively making them “sister cities”. The two sides also agreed in principle to try to establish direct air links and promote regional tourism. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed on Wednesday at a late-afternoon ceremony…
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Taiwan finally cancels travel warning
PHUKET: Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has finally lifted its “orange” alert, which warned against travel to Phuket.The ministry announced on Tuesday that it had received a report from Taiwan’s representative office in Thailand confirming that Phuket’s tourism facilities and transportation networks have been successfully repaired and rebuilt. Daily living for locals has returned to normal, the report said, and…
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Austrian Airlines plans Phuket flights
PHUKET: Starting November 4, Austrian Airlines will operate non-stop direct flights between Phuket and Vienna.Austrian Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer, Dr Josef E Burger, told the Gazette that the airline is expecting to carry at least 14,000 passengers a year on the route, generating revenue of as much as 500 million baht a year.From November to December 10 the flights will…
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Art exhibitions “to boost tourism’
PHUKET CITY: In an attempt to revitalize post-tsunami tourism, the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture (OCAC) is organizing a series of art exhibitions in Phuket between July and December.“Unique Andaman”, which will be held at Central Festival Phuket in July – the exact date has not yet been decided – will feature works entered in a contemporary art contest…
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Mystery over suicide case’s real identity
BANGKOK: The New Zealand Embassy has appealed for help in identifying a man who committed suicide in a Phuket hotel on June 18 (the previous story can be seen here. The man, who was found dead in the Phuket Merlin Hotel after apparently swallowing a large number of antihistamine and tranquilizer pills, was initially identified from the hotel register as…
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