Month: August 2009
- Phuket
Two more sick turtles found in Phuket
KATA, PHUKET: Two stricken turtles have been found in Phuket over the past two days. Fishermen found an injured olive ridley turtle missing its front-right flipper floating in the sea off Kata Beach yesterday evening. Dr Patcharaporn Kaewmong, a Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) vet, said the turtle was hit by a boat motor, severing the flipper. The roughly 15-year-old…
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Dr Preecha returns to Phuket
PHUKET CITY: An old Phuket hand made a welcome return to the island on Saturday when former governor Preecha Ruangjan opened a new OTOP fair at Central Festival Phuket. The ‘All Thailand OTOP/OPOP Festival’ features products from 14 different provinces around the country. Dr Preecha was representing Phitsanulok province, which he now governs. Dr Preecha was governor of Phuket for…
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Phuket’s luxury villa sales top 3.5 billion baht
PHUKET: Transactions in Phuket’s luxury villa market topped 3.5 billion baht in the first half of 2009, according to figures just released by Phuket-based consulting firm c9 Hotelworks. The report, ‘Luxury Villa Market Update Mid-year Edition’, defines luxury villas in Phuket as those with price tags of 65 million baht (approx US$ 1.9 million) and above, and puts the value…
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OPINION: Is xenophobia damaging Phuket’s prosperity?
A recent front page story in the Bangkok Post claiming foreigners control 90 percent of Phuket’s beach land through Thai nominees stopped many expats in their tracks.The truth of the claim – by the authors of a new study into foreign land ownership in Thailand – is difficult to verify.The authors of the research, a team from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open…
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Minister went missing off Phuket, now back safely
PHUKET: A government vice-minister fell foul of the terrible weather conditions currently spoiling many a tourist’s Phuket vacation when the speedboat returning him from Koh Racha Yai to Phuket got lost in the rain yesterday. Commerce Vice Minister Veerasak Jinarat’s boat set out at around noon. Shortly afterwards, the Immigration officer steering the boat reportedly became confused because of the…
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Patong mayor helps fill the gap
PATONG, PHUKET: A large sinkhole which opened up on the route from Phuket City to Patong following torrential rain last night received quick attention thanks to the vigilance of one Patong Municipal official. The mayor of Patong himself, Pian Keesin, happened to be heading down Phra Baramee Road towards Patong at about 5pm – just as the surface of the…
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Phuket Yamu back on track
PHUKET: Construction of the stalled Yamu Hotel and Residences development on the East coast of Phuket is set to restart later this year. The revival of the über-luxury development is the result of a new partnership between the project’s developer Campbell Kane and Evolution Capital PCL, which is listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). Construction is expected to…
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Mermaid baby returns to Phuket
PHUKET CITY: The Burmese infant born with ‘mermaid syndrome’ returned to Phuket on Wednesday night after being declared terminally ill by doctors at Prince of Songkla University (PSU) Hospital in Songkhla’s Haad Yai district. The baby girl, named Nichapa, is now back at Vachira Phuket Hospital, where she was born earlier this month. She was rushed to PSU Hospital after…
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FIFA president to open Phuket football center
PHUKET: FIFA President Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter is set to visit Phuket next month as part of a whistle-stop three-day visit to Thailand. Mr Blatter will travel to Phuket on September 15 to participate in the grand opening ceremony of the Tsunami Memorial Football Center with Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop. Built at the Baan Ao Nam Bor School near Ao Makham,…
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Weekend washout forecast for Phuket
PHUKET CITY: Those hoping to spend this weekend basking in sunshine on Phuket’s beaches will be disappointed, if the Met’s predictions are anything to go by. The weekend is expected to be a washout. Chokchai Patarayongphaisarn, a Phuket Meteorological Department forecaster, predicted the heavy rain pouring down over Phuket would continue until Wednesday. And there was worse news to come.…
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Best Western enters Laguna Phuket
PHUKET: Hotel chain Best Western has been signed to manage the Allamanda phase 2 and 3 condo hotel, which is to be re-branded as the Best Western Laguna Phuket Resort. A re-launch of the hotel will be in place by October. With 120 keys in their rental pool, the property will complement a number of other flagged Best Western hotels…
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Phuket police bust fish poaching ring
RAWAI, PHUKET: Phuket Marine Police officers busted a tropical fish poaching ring on Tuesday, seizing hundreds of valuable aquarium fish and coral blooms from a house in Rawai. Police said the owner of the house, Suthee Sirisaringkarn, hired local fishermen to illegally catch the fish, many of which were worth up to 2,000 baht each. Around 200 living coral blooms…
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Phuket’s Prime Place taking shape
PA KHLOK, PHUKET: Work on the 300-million-baht Prime Place Phuket Monument mega-project, set on 20 rai in Pa Khlok, is well underway. The development, located about 800 meters from the Heroines’ Monument on the way to Pa Khlok, features around 120 units built in ‘modern tropical’ style. Prime Place will also include a park and will aim to provide natural…
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Phuket practices for protests
PHUKET: About 1,300 police officers battled it out with ‘protesters’ near Phuket International Airport this afternoon in a mock riot as part of a regional security drill. The simulated riot was a scripted scenario in which a mob of about 400 protesters aimed to force the closure of Phuket’s airport, protesting against construction of a casino in Phuket. The protesters…
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New condos set to tempt Phuket’s golfers
KATHU, PHUKET: The 61-unit Green Golf Residence Condominiums are located in Kathu, in the heart of Phuket. They’re complemented by a full array of facilities and provide easy access to Phuket’s international schools, shopping centers and hospitals. The complex is a 15-minute drive from Patong. Developed by Tamarind Bay Co., Ltd, work on the project began in December last year…
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Phuket governor dishes out money, advice
PHUKET CITY: After dishing out 156,000 baht in cash to some of the island’s poorest families at a ceremony at the Phuket City Municipal Offices this week, Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop dished out some advice. Phuket’s poor must work harder, stop gambling and not spend so much time watching bird singing contests, the governor told his audience. Otherwise, he said,…
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Phuket governor responds to explosive land claim
PHUKET CITY: The governor of Phuket, Wichai Phraisa-ngop, on Tuesday responded to explosive claims by a Thai research body that foreigners own 90 percent of the island’s beach land. The Thailand Research Foundation announced the results of its research into land ownership at a seminar attended by economics and law scholars last week. The Bangkok Post quoted Siriporn Sajjanont, a member…
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Mermaid baby given less than a month to live
PHUKET: ‘Nichipa’, the Burmese infant born with ‘mermaid syndrome’ in Phuket earlier this month, is still fighting for her life in Prince of Songkla University (PSU) Hospital in Haad Yai.However, doctors said they did not expect her to survive much longer.Her kidneys remained underdeveloped and her body had stopped expelling waste through the artificial waste orifice created for her, doctors…
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Andaman Sea storms sink Thai bulk-carrier
PHUKET: A Thai bulk-carrier ship transporting millions of baht worth of teak from Burma sank in the Andaman Sea just off Phang Nga province on Sunday. All crew on board the Chart 1 managed to escape on inflatable rafts. Vice Admiral Narong Tesvisarn, Commander of The Third Naval Area Command in Phang Nga, received a distress call from the crew…
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Phuket cultural heritage on display next month
THALANG, PHUKET: The Thalang National Museum will hold a free exhibition of antique beads from Phuket and around the Andaman region next month. The museum will display jewelery owned by collectors from around the South, including Phuket, Surat Thani and Krabi. The exhibits, which are hundreds of years old, will not be for sale, but visitors will be able to…
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OPINION: Do foreigners really own 90% of Phuket’s beach front?
PHUKET: The front page story in today’s Bangkok Post which quotes a leading research body as saying foreigners own 90% of Phuket’s beach front land has certainly struck a sour note against foreign ownership of land in Thailand. The study, which was put together by the Thailand Research Fund, quotes a professor from Sukhothai Thammathirat University who says these holdings…
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Phuket’s sea gypsies face strict regime to repay debt
RAWAI, PHUKET: Many Moken sea gypsies living in a village close to Rawai Beach are still heavily in debt to violent loan sharks, despite the actions of a community organization which paid off more than half a million baht’s worth of their debts earlier this month. Now, the villagers have agreed to strict new rules aimed at helping them pay…
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