Month: November 2010

  • PhuketPhuket golf series heating up | Thaiger

    Phuket golf series heating up

    PHUKET: The race to become Phuket’s top amateur golfer is beginning to heat up with five qualifying rounds of the Phuket-Times.Com Amateur Open already completed. There are eight events in total, culminating in the season-ending Master’s Final next year that will determine who will be crowned the island’s best amateur golfer. Laong Cameron is the current Order of Merit leader,…

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  • Phuket

    New Phuket marina will not affect drug trade: poll

    PHUKET: Phuket Gazette online readers are skeptical that the opening of the new Chalong Marina will have much of an impact on drug trafficking on the island, results of the latest readers’ poll reveal. The poll question asked readers: “Officials hope the opening of the new Chalong Marina, with improved Customs and Immigration controls, will lead to a decrease in…

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  • Phuket

    Petroleum exploration underway off Phuket

    PHUKET: State oil firm PTT is conducting a study off the coast of Phuket that could lead to test boreholes being drilled there by 2012, the company says. The work falls under the second phase of work being carried out by PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited, or PTTEP. Visit Coothongkul, PTTEP vice president in charge of projects in…

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  • PhuketBIS touch rugby tourney in Phuket open to all | Thaiger

    BIS touch rugby tourney in Phuket open to all

    PHUKET: British International School Phuket will host a “touch rugby” mini-tournament on Saturday. The tournament and post-event gathering at the Spice Island in the Boat Lagoon marina is open to everyone – no matter what gender, age or fitness level. Participants do not need to know the rules as they will be explained to you beforehand, and individuals will be…

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  • Phuket

    Cigana, Granger reign supreme at Laguna Phuket Triathlon

    PHUKET: It was a big day of former champions at the 2010 Laguna Phuket Triathlon yesterday, as Italian Massimo Cigana and Australian Belinda Granger took top honors. The pair were in dominant form in their respective races, crossing the finish line well ahead of the chasing pack, which included a host of top professional athletes and more than 800 amateurs…

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  • Phuket

    Central Festival Phuket to get Bt.5bn upgrade

    PHUKET: Central Retail Corporation (CRC) has announced a .5 billion baht facelift of the Central Festival Phuket shopping mall that will include the opening of its fourth floor.The renovation, the first since the complex opened in September 2004, will be completed by the beginning of next year. It is intended to cash in on the recovery of the Phuket tourism…

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  • Phuket

    Phuket hails Rino’s recovery

    RINO Mangon Vogt, a 10-year-old suffering from a rare and congenital heart condition known as Ebstein’s Anomaly, had his successful life-saving operation in Bangkok. The Phuket Gazette first ran the story on August 17, which was picked up by the ThaiVisa website and this media attention led to the generous donations needed to pay for expensive treatment, including 750,000 baht…

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  • Opinion

    Phuket Opinion: Dogs trump humans against drugs

    PHUKET: A police officer this week was able to sniff out thousands of poorly-concealed ya bah (methamphetamine) pills being smuggled onto the island in a car at the Tah Chat Chai police checkpoint. (See story, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full newspaper.) This raises the question of why detection dogs are not…

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  • Phuket

    FC Phuket 2 – 0 Bangkok FC

    PHUKET: FC Phuket had a solid 2-0 win over Bangkok FC last night and now sit tied at the top of the table in Group B play in the “mini-league” for promotion to Division 1 of the Thai League. In other Group B matches, Rayong FC drew at home to Chainat FC 1 – 1, while Loei City drew with…

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  • PhuketPhuket police seeking “white guy’ sneak thief | Thaiger

    Phuket police seeking “white guy’ sneak thief

    PHUKET: Police believe a Caucasian man carried out a burglary in Kalim around midnight Tuesday, while the Canadian homeowner and his wife were asleep in their bedroom. The Canadian, who asked to remain anonymous, said he discovered something was wrong only when he could not find his laptop computers around 9am the next day. In all, about US$ 5,000 dollars…

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  • Phuket

    Illegal worker “sweep’ to target Phuket

    PHUKET: A special task force of government officers will sweep through Phuket and arrest and likely deport any foreigners found working illegally, the Gazette has learned. The move follows the creation of a Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO) task force set up to identify and arrest any foreigners found working without appropriate permits. Headed by PPEO chief Noppadol Ployudee, the…

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  • Phuket

    Gov lauds PPAO sponsorship of Laguna Phuket Triathlon

    PHUKET: Ahead of the 17th Laguna Phuket Triathlon this Sunday, Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha has lauded the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization (PPAO) for becoming an official sponsor of the event for the first time ever. The annual triathlon kicks-off a week of sporting and social activities culminating with the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship the following Sunday on December 5,…

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  • PhuketBusiness Air increases Phuket – South Korea flights | Thaiger

    Business Air increases Phuket – South Korea flights

    PHUKET: Bangkok-based airline Business Air has announced plans to increase flight frequency on its service connecting Phuket with Incheon, South Korea. The extension to the carrier’s existing Phuket – Incheon route will make it easier for holidaymakers to travel between the two destinations during the high season for tourism. Business Air already runs four weekly flights from Phuket to Incheon,…

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  • Phuket

    New tsunami buoys off Phuket by new year: NDWC

    PHUKET: Two new Italian-built tsunami direct detection units will be installed off Phuket by the end of the year, the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) has revealed. NDWC Director Somsak Khaosuwan said the two units, known as “tsunameters”, will be located about 400 to 500 kilometers offshore. Although the exact locations have yet to be determined, one of the units…

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  • Phuket

    Phuket VIPs greet cruise ship passengers

    PHUKET: Phuket officials gathered in Patong yesterday to welcome 900 tourists who arrived from Indonesia aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. Wannaprapa Suksomboon, deputy director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) office in Phuket, said her office hopes to encourage more Indonesian tourists to visit Phuket. Officials from the TAT, Patong Municipality and Kathu Police welcomed the tourists as…

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  • Phuket

    Phuket Immigration launches online hotel guest registration drive

    PHUKET: Phuket Immigration is warning hoteliers they could soon face fines if they fail to register their guests’ details though the agency’s new online database. Phuket Immigration Superintendent Panuwat Ruamrak made the announcement at an instructional seminar at the ICT Center in Saphan Hin earlier this month. “After one month, we will look at how the system is performing. We…

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  • Phuket

    Case closed on bizarre murder-suicide in Phuket restaurant

    PHUKET: Police have closed the case file on the bizarre murder-suicide that shocked Phuket Town earlier this month. Diners at Khrua Pailin Restaurant were stunned when restaurateur Bundit Anurakbundit stood up from a table of friends, walked across the restaurant floor to his sister-in-law Wassana Jarit and shot her in the head point-blank. He then turned the gun on himself.…

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  • Phuket

    British expats’ Phuket home burgled

    PHUKET: A British couple living in Rawai returned home from dinner last night to find their house burgled, with several valuable items stolen. Charles Stuart Crompton and his wife left their home in Soi Natai at 8:30pm on Tuesday night and went out for a meal. When the couple returned home two hours later they found their house had been…

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  • Phuket

    Phuket’s most wanted: DEA souvenirs

    PHUKET: Officers from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) met with their Thai counterparts in Phuket yesterday to discuss when and where they will hand out souvenir items bearing images of some of the “most wanted” drug traffickers in Asia. Attending the meeting at Tourist Police headquarters in Phuket Town were DEA Group supervisor David McConell and special agents Scott…

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  • Phuket

    British PM: Phuket, I’m not coming

    PHUKET: British Prime Minister David Cameron will cancel a planned family holiday in Phuket over the Christmas holidays following concerns about negative publicity and Thailand’s human-rights record, the British press has reported. Matt Chorley, political correspondent at The Independent, wrote that Prime Minister Cameron had faced claims that the trip would be viewed as showing support for the government of…

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  • Other NewsPhantom of the ape paw | Thaiger

    Phantom of the ape paw

    PHUKET: A bizarre dream has convinced a woman in Phrae province that a pile of stones her husband dug out of a mung bean field are the fossilized hands of prehistoric apes. In typical Thai fashion, residents of the village in Tambon Naphoon in Wangchin District are now queuing up to see the “hands” in order to divine winning lottery…

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  • Phuket

    Phuket Poll: Will the new Chalong Marina curtail the drug trade?

    PHUKET: Officials hope the opening of the new Chalong Marina, with improved Customs and Immigration controls, will lead to a decrease in drug trafficking on the island. How much of an effect on the island’s drug trade do you expect the new facility to have? Have your say in the new Phuket Gazette readers’ poll by clicking here or on…

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