Month: April 2010
- Phuket News
Phuket throat slasher suspect arrested
PHUKET: A young man arrested in Phuket for the murder of Pirasak Pongchoo has confessed to slashing the man’s throat after enduring a month of sexual abuse. The badly decomposing body of the 43-year-old was found at his rented room on Wichit Songkram Road, Soi 1 on Monday. For the initial report click here. Surat Thani Police arrested Watcharin Srinin,…
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Swimming with sharks: Phuket debt reduction plan moves forward
PHUKET: The government is trying to help 2,000 heavily indebted Phuket residents escape the clutches of loan sharks as part of an ambitious nationwide program. The people selected owe between 50,000 and 200,000 baht each and were chosen from 4,000 island residents identified as being in debt to unofficial lenders. Their debts total at least 228 million baht. For our…
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Lost shopping bag still with Phuket Governor
PHUKET TOWN: Will the owner of two newly-purchased women’s purses please step forward? The Phuket governor is holding them for you. The handbags were among a small cache of items returned by an honest taxi driver in Patong last week. The purses were found in a paper bag along with two pearl rings, a pair of sunglasses and a slip…
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Phuket included in US travel warning
PHUKET: In the latest blow to the Phuket tourism industry, the US State Department has added its name to the growing list of foreign missions recommending that its nationals avoid travel to Thailand at this time. “Due to escalating violence in central Bangkok, demonstrations in Chiang Mai, and other incidents throughout Thailand, all US citizens should avoid nonessential travel to…
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Yellow shirts active in Phuket
CAPE PANWA, PHUKET: Around 100 yellow shirted members of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) gathered at the navy base at Cape Panwa yesterday to deliver a letter to the military demanding tough action against the red shirt protesters in Bangkok. PAD members led by Somnuk Tuito and Ms Aparat Chartchutikumjorn gave the letter to Vice Admiral Chumnum Ajwong of…
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Senators tour Phuket mangrove encroachment site
WICHIT, PHUKET: A Senate committee gave its support to Wichit Municipality Tuesday in its bid to secure proper permits for a road and football field it built illegally on mangrove forest land. Led by Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Environment chairman Surachai Liangboonlertchai, the committee members traveled to view the alleged encroachment, which covers five rai. Access to the…
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Phuket police sent to Bangkok
PHUKET: Nearly one-sixth of Phuket’s 1,200-strong police force has been sent to Bangkok to help manage unrest there. Since Monday, 173 officers with crowd control training have been dispatched from police stations on the island. Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pekad Tantipong denied the move would have any effect on law enforcement in Phuket. “The police left here will do their…
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Police babysat booze over Songkran
THAILAND: In a bid to cut the number of accidents during this year’s Songkran Festival, Thailand’s highway cops launched an innovative scheme: ‘Entrust Your Liquor With The Police’. Drinkers who couldn’t trust themselves to stay off the wheel were invited to leave their booze collections at any of 227 Highway Police offices around the country. The service was free, with…
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High fliers in Phuket
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: From May 21-23, Phuket will be playing host to its first-ever paragliding competition. Approximately 40 contestants from countries around the world are expected to arrive for the event. Among the challenges that will await the contestants are spot…
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Thai sailor dies in Phuket motorbike accident
RASSADA, PHUKET: A naval conscript on furlough died in a motorbike accident on Koh Sireh last night. The body of 22-year-old Kij Srichan was found by his father near the clock tower on the Koh Sireh ring road around midnight. Police think that Mr Kij, who was stationed at the Satthahip Naval Base in Chonburi, was killed instantly of a…
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Throat slash murder in Phuket
PHUKET: A 43-year-old man was found murdered in an apartment in Phuket Town yesterday afternoon. Police believe Pirasak Pongchoo, from Phatthalung, may have been killed in anger by his male partner for sleeping with another man. Mr Pirasak’s body was found wrapped in bedsheets in the toilet of his rented room on Wichit Songkram Road Soi 1 around 2:30pm. His…
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Memorial events for Tony Kelsey-Stead in Phuket
PHUKET: In memory of former Phuket resident Tony Kelsey-Stead, who died last week in England, friends and colleagues have arranged two memorial events on the island. The first, organized by The Andaman Players theater group, will feature a free show at The Green Man pub in Chalong at 6:30 pm on Sunday May 2. The performance will feature acts and…
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Phuket to host AFC Cup match
PHUKET TOWN: Instability in Bangkok is once again sending an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup match Phuket’s way. Thailand FA Cup 2009 champions Thai Port FC and NT Realty Wofoo Tai Po of Hong Kong are set to face off in an AFC Cup Group H match tomorrow night at Phuket’s Surakul Stadium. Kick-off is at 6:30pm. Thai Port FC…
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Fake ring puts Phuket woman in jail
PHUKET: Police arrested a woman in Chalong on Saturday for selling a fake gold ring to a gold shop. When she sold the item to the Chao Fa Gold Shop on Chao Fa East Road for 8,200 baht, another shop, allegedly, had already told 25-year-old Sajee Sutthiprapha that the ring was a fake. Phuket’s Chalong Police arrested Ms Sajee, who is…
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Skating Swedes through Phuket
PHUKET: Two Swedes who are skating almost 5,000 kilometers from Chiang Mai to Singapore rolled in and out of Phuket earlier this month sporting a few road scars – but relishing their long slog south. Education workers Jim Petersson, 25, and his girlfriend Maria Larsson, 29, have skated 30 to 90 kilometers a day through 21 Thai provinces since January.…
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Gun crackdown underway in Phuket
KATHU, PHUKET: Thung Thong Police are hoping to cut down on violent crime in their district by cracking down on the illegal possession of firearms. Thung Thong Police Superintendent Kraithong Chanthongbai said there is a particularly high concentration of unauthorized people carrying weapons in tambon Kathu. Many people living in Kathu work nights in Patong as touts and bar workers…
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Compromise needed at new Fresh Market
PHUKET: Pressure is mounting on Phuket City Municipality to reach an agreement with 425 market vendors who have been waiting almost three years for completion of the new fresh market on Ranong Rd. (See story in the current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here.) Most of the vendors have been operating at a temporary market on Wirat…
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Phuket to host Asian bike tour
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: SpiceRoads Cycle Tours has launched an epic journey for cyclists – a 3,000 kilometer bicycle tour from Hanoi to Phuket. Riding through Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, the organizers say it will take 39 days to complete this “trip…
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Hearing on Patong Tunnel in Phuket soon
KATHU, PHUKET: Members of the public will get the chance to air their views on the controversial Patong Tunnel project at a hearing in Phuket on Tuesday. The project, which is currently the subject of a 40-million-baht feasibility study, will see a tunnel bored through the hills separating Patong from the rest of Tambon Kathu. Proponents of the project, including…
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Traditional paddlers back in Phang Nga Bay
PHANG NGA: To the excitement of local villagers, rowers are once again taking to the waters of Phang Nga Bay in traditional boat races. Today is the final day of the second annual Phang Nga Bay Canoe and Long Boat Racing Festival, which started on Wednesday at Ta Dan Pier. Koh Panyee Tambon Administration Organization (TAO) organized the event in…
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Phuket Gazette Readers’ Poll: Turning Patong around
PHUKET: Patong Mayor Pian Keesin’s plan to reverse the one-way system in Patong would see traffic on the beach road run south and traffic on Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Road run north. In general, would this make travel through Patong more convenient for you? Would it inconvenience you? Or would it have no effect? Have your say in the latest Phuket…
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Phuket vies for Indian tourism conference
PHUKET: Around 2,000 Indian tourism professionals will gather in Phuket later this year if the island is selected to host the annual meeting of the Tourism Association of India. Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) South Region 4 office director Bangornrat Shinaprayoon said the conference could generate as much as half a billion baht for the local economy if Phuket is…
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Readers’ Poll: Protests damaging Phuket tourism
PHUKET: Most Phuket Gazette readers believe the red-shirt rallies in Bangkok have had a negative effect on the island’s tourism industry, according to the results of our latest poll. With 615 readers casting votes, nearly two-thirds (64.4%) think the demonstrations in Bangkok have damaged tourism to Phuket, despite some earlier industry suggestions that Phuket, as a peaceful destination, could benefit…
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Phuket a super-star for hotel performance
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: According to data compiled by STR Global Hotels and reported by Hotel News Now, the Asia/Pacific region, and most notably Phuket, experienced increases in all three key performance metrics for March 2010. “The Asia/Pacific region is still leading…
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Phuket lifeguards start on Monday
PHUKET: Lifeguards will be back on Phuket beaches from Monday, after the Phuket Lifeguard Club signed a 10-million baht contract with the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) to provide services earlier this week. Club president Prathaiyut Chuayuan inked the agreement on Wednesday, finally putting to rest fears island beaches would be unmanned during the upcoming monsoon season. The club aims…
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Phuket People Network to PM: stay the course
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket People Network is planning a large rally at Saphan Hin to show support for embattled PM Abhisit Vejjajiva. The PPN is a group of Phuket residents who claim to be neither ‘red’ nor ‘yellow’, but are deeply committed to democratic rule with the Thai Monarch as head of state. Members have been holding daily rallies at…
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Phuket hotels count costs of flight bans
PHUKET: Island hotels are counting the costs to the local hotel industry of the volcanic eruption in Iceland that forced airlines to delay and cancel flights between Europe and Phuket for a week. More than 600 tourists remain stranded on the island days after direct flights to Germany and Belgium were canceled, while many more travelers remain stuck here because…
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Grenade attacks rock Bangkok
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community THE NATIONFive grenades were fired from M-79 launchers at BTS Saladaeng Station and nearby areas last night from unknown launch sites in Bangkok, killing a Thai woman and injuring 75 others including three foreigners, officials said. Ten are in…
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Mystery surrounds Phuket car fire
RASSADA, PHUKET: Police continue to investigate the mysterious explosion and fire that left a Honda Accord a charred wreck on the bypass road in front of Tesco Lotus at about 5:30pm yesterday. The driver, 35-year-old construction contractor Supachai Jongchanasetthakul, was rushed to nearby Bangkok Hospital Phuket, where he was treated for burns to the right side of his stomach. He…
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‘New’ motorcycle helmet law for Phuket
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Authorities in Phuket say they are about to bring to a halt the dangers of riding a motorcycle without a helmet after the region’s Police queued up new motorcycle safety laws set to come into force later this…
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Will Air Asia become Phuket’s favorite airline?
PHUKET: Given its penchant for quickly fleeing the scene by abandoning routes (such as Phuket-Perth and Phuket-Singapore) when business turns bad, and following notorious fare hikes on routes into Phuket earlier this month, THAI Airways has exposed itself to disenchantment across a wide swath of Phuket’s resident market. And now the island resort province has an increasingly credible suitor –…
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Phuket Governor lobbies AoT for lower airport taxi fees
PHUKET: In a bid to lower taxi fares on the island Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop is lobbying to reduce fees for taxis operating out of Phuket International Airport (PIA). Land Transport Department director Kanok Siripanichkorn told the Gazette today that Gov Wichai sent a letter to Airports of Thailand (AoT) management in Bangkok requesting a meeting by the end of…
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Phuket Police mediate Phanason City dispute
WICHIT, PHUKET: A tentative agreement has been reached between parties involved in a violent confrontation earlier this month at the Phanason City project on Chao Fa East Road in Phuket. In the latest face-off between the two sides, project workers on April 9 demolished local villagers’ vehicles purposely blocking the entrance to the development. Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pekad Tantipong,…
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‘Phuket People Network’ shows support for PM Abhisit
PHUKET TOWN: Around 500 Phuket residents assembled at Provincial Hall yesterday afternoon to deliver a show of support for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. Manoon Kiowkram, leader of the newly-formed ‘Phuket People Network’, handed a formal letter to Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop around 4:15pm. The letter urged the embattled prime minister to resist red shirt demands to dissolve parliament. The group…
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Beached dolphin dies in Phuket
PATONG, PHUKET: Marine biologists were unable to save a wounded dolphin found clinging to life off Patong Beach yesterday. Veterinarian Patcharaporn Kaewmong of the Phuket Marine Biological Center’s endangered species unit responded to reports of a beached dolphin just before noon yesterday. Arriving at the scene off Loma Park, Ms Patcharaporn found the 60-kilogram, 2.2-meter spotted dolphin in weakened condition,…
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Foreigners in 25% of Phuket road accidents over Songkran
PHUKET TOWN: About one-quarter of the injuries recorded in Phuket during the recent Songkran ‘Seven Days of Danger’ holiday road safety campaign were foreigners, according to official statistics. Figures released by the Phuket Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office (DDPM-Phuket) show 60 reported accidents resulting in two deaths in the province from April 12 to 18. Of the total number of…
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“Ironman’ thief nabbed in Phuket
CHALONG, PHUKET: Chalong Police on Monday arrested a man with a motorbike sidecar full of pilfered iron, including drainage grates stolen from local roadways.Amnaj Suebsin, 33, was caught with two stolen iron drainage grates, three car ramps, two supports designed to hold exhaust pipes, an industrial pipe-cutter and various other large pieces of iron.Chalong Police became increasingly concerned about public…
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