Month: February 2011
- Phuket News
Phuket police investigate Englishman’s “whiskey poisoning’
PHUKET: Patong police have sent a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red Label whiskey for laboratory tests to determine whether a 77-year-old Englishman found dead in his Phuket guest suite was poisoned. Duty Officer Lt Col Jongserm Preecha today told the Gazette that the tests were only a precaution. No evidence of fighting was found in the man’s room, in a…
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Phuket jokers have “nothing to declare’
PHUKET: Stand-up comedians Nick Doody, Josh Howie and Michael Legge amazingly cleared Customs at Phuket International Airport yesterday ahead of their Punchline Comedy Club performance in Patong on Wednesday. The comedians, who will be performing at the Holiday Inn Resort Phuket on Wednesday night were picked up by the Phuket Stretch Limo Company, the only stretch limo operator in Thailand.…
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Five Phuket tourists die in Cha-am horror crash
PHUKET: Five tourists returning home from a holiday in Phuket were killed yesterday morning when their minivan slammed into the back of an 18-wheel truck on a highway in Cha-am District, Petchaburi province. The minivan driver, Uthen Faksaeng, 34, is in police custody and will be charged with causing death by negligent driving, police say. The 10 passengers of the…
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Phuket Island View: Get more creative with Phuket’s image
PHUKET: I was happy to read Janpen Upatising’s article last week [Phuket Gazette: ‘Lights, camera, action for future island creativity’, February 12]. As a retired creative marketer, I can say that if there’s demand, or if you can create demand for something and supply it, you will be successful. Phuket needs to develop at least one festival or event each…
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Phuket Petition: Foreign donations critical in recurring calls for blood
PHUKET: Coming as it does every year during the high season for tourism here in Phuket, Valentine’s Day once again coincided with urgent pleas for donations of rare negative blood, this time for a Danish road accident victim desperately in need of it. Negative blood types are very rare among Thais, who make up the bulk of the donors at…
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Phuket woman, 80, dies in family water well
PHUKET: Police are treating as accidental the apparent drowning death of an elderly woman whose body was discovered in the family water well early this morning. Thalang Police Inspector Lt Patiwat Yawdkhwan was informed of the death by the family of the victim, 80-year-old Saner Bureerak, a resident of Thepkrasattri Village 4. Responding to the 4:30am call with Kusoldharm Foundation…
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Ex-PM Chuan Leekpai in Phuket
PHUKET: Former prime minister Chuan Leekpai, currently adviser to the ruling Democrat Party, arrived in Phuket today to preside over the Baba Symposium 2011. The one-day conference, being held at the Phuket Merlin Hotel in Phuket Town, brings together “Baba Peranakan” ethnic Chinese from throughout Ranong, Trang, Phang Nga and Phuket provinces. Mr Chuan himself is of “Baba” origin. His…
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Phuket weekend with your Gazette
PHUKET: This week’s Andaman Edition of the Phuket Gazette went on sale last night and our Nationwide Edition was released in Bangkok and placed aboard the major international airlines serving Thailand early this morning. Both editions contain reams of information not available here in the Gazette Online. NEWS – Tunnel of Love? An update on the Patong Tunnel plan, and…
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Phuket snatch bandits strike again
PHUKET: A pair of Phuket snatch bandits have robbed no fewer than five people in the same part of Phuket in the past 30 days, according to one of the most recent victims. The victim, a woman who asked that her name not be revealed, lost over 30,000 baht to the bandits when they pounced on her in front of…
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Phuket palm oil frenzy amid shortage fears
PHUKET: Shoppers in Phuket yesterday snapped up a cache of government-distributed palm cooking oil amid fears the household necessity will soon disappear from local stores. The Phuket Commerce Ministry Office (CMO) received 24,000 bottles of palm oil for distribution to help ease the shortage. For months now, major retailers in Phuket have been rationing sales of palm cooking oil to…
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PHUKET FINE DINING: Beat the rush to Brush
PHUKET: Kalim Bay has developed into Phuket’s fine dining epicenter, where the island’s trendiest restaurants stretch from Baan Rim Pa to IndoChine, and include the White Box, Acqua and Lim’s – and now the stylish new five-star bistro Brush Restaurant & Lounge. Brush is the creation of Australian sculptor John Underwood, whose studio also created the award-winning interiors at Phuket’s…
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Phuket Bus Terminal inches forward to opening
PHUKET: Phuket Bus Terminal 2 should open by mid-year, after which time an unprecedented traffic control experiment will begin on Thepkrasattri Road, officials say. Kanok Siripanichkorn, chief of Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO), this week assured the Phuket Gazette that the new terminal will open no later than June. Work on Phuket Bus Terminal 2 was completed in December 2009,…
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Phuket Live Wire: TOTtering along
PHUKET: After a truly terrible week of slow international download speeds and patchy service, TOT’s download speeds have improved across much of the island, although several TOT customers are still reporting problems. Surprisingly, TOT Fiber Optic now appears to be the fastest commercially available Internet package – although it’s quite expensive. We also continue to log truly amazing wireless “3G”…
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The sacred unborn baby of Village 11
SUPHAN BURI: For 10 months now, residents of a village in Suphan Buri province have been wondering when Niphawan Bunjaroen, 35, is going to give birth. Niphawan, who lives in Village 11 in Nong Makha Mong subdistrict, claims to have been pregnant with her fourth child for a rather long time: 19 months, to be precise. Doctors say the maybe-mother-to-be,…
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Phuket Games Mascot: Chinese dragon devours starfish hopes
PHUKET: The humanoid blue starfish unveiled at the beginning of this month as Phuket’s official mascot for the 28th Thailand Youth Games has been laid to rest – to be replaced by a “cute” sea dragon. The news follows a meeting on Tuesday at which Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) Phuket Office Director Wirat Patee confirmed the starfish mascot idea…
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Phuket snatch banditry on the rise
PHUKET: Phuket City Police are urging women to be extra cautious when walking along the street as attacks by young snatch bandits are increasing – and proving hard to catch. Duty Officer Capt Kittiphum Tinthalang told the Phuket Gazette today that bag snatching attacks are becoming more common. “Nowadays, we get reports of bag snatching all the time,” he said.…
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Phuket bars asked to close for Makha Bucha holiday
PHUKET: Patong Police Superintendent Col Arayapan Pukbuakhao has asked all bars in Patong to be respectful and observe the Buddhist Makha Bucha Day tomorrow by not selling alcohol. Keeping in mind the tourist nature of the resort town, he added, “Bars will be allowed to sell alcohol after midnight tomorrow.” Under his jurisdiction as police chief for Kathu police district,…
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‘Brand Phuket’ boosted by northern resort alliance
PHUKET: Dissecting the term ‘destination marketing’ has proved an enlightening experience. Wikipedia describes it as: “A proactive, strategic, visitor-centered approach to the economic and cultural development of a location, which balances and integrates the interests of visitors, service providers, and the community.” Despite its wordiness, this pretty much sums up what destination marketing is all about. For those not in…
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Phuket Poll: How safe is Phuket?
PHUKET: Road accidents, burglaries, drownings, murders, con artists, frauds, drugs… local news junkies might get the impression that crime makes Phuket a pretty dangerous place to live in or visit, but is it really? The latest Phuket Gazette poll asks our esteemed readers how safe the island really is. So have your say in Phuket’s popular online poll by clicking…
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Saving Phuket’s cultural heritage
PHUKET: Old Phuket Foundation President Kawee Tansukatanon spoke last week to the Phuket Gazette about preserving the resort island’s traditions, community values, and unique heritage. Reporter Janpen Upatising, herself a Phuket native, filed this report: Smartly dressed and upbeat, Kawee exhales and furls his lips in a smile as he recalls growing up in Phuket in the late 1960s. He…
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BREAKING NEWS: Teen missing from Phuket found in Songkhla
PHUKET: The teenage girl feared sold to a Phuket brothel has been found alive and well at a fairground in Haad Yai, Songkhla. La-ongda “Tanyong” Narmsra, 14, was reported missing by her family, a clan of fairground attraction operators, on February 9. For the Phuket Gazette‘s previous reports click here and here. Initially fearing abduction, Tanyong’s mother reported the girl’s…
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Phuket tourist trapped in a gutter
Phuket Island View: The following lament was filed at the Phuket Gazette office last week by Phuket tourist Hans Skarholm: This is our first visit to Phuket and I would like to report something that has happened to my wife. On Friday afternoon we came back to Karon Beach on a local bus from a visit to Phuket Town. When…
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BREAKING NEWS: UN visits Rohingya refugees in Phuket
PHUKET: The United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) visited the 33 Rohingya men in custody at Phuket Immigration today, the Phuket Gazette has confirmed. The UNHCR hopes to determine where the men come from, what their protection needs may be, and whether or not they are seeking refugee status. Originally, 68 men were detained in Phuket after their boat…
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Phuket Tourism: Has Phuket been ruined by tourism?
PHUKET: British TV personality Phillip Schofield revealed in a recent Daily Telegraph interview that he thinks Phuket – in particular Promthep Cape – has been ruined by tourism. Recounting a recent trip to Promthep Cape with his wife, Schofield told the newspaper he was shocked by how much the place had changed for the worse since he visited in his…
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Phuket’s Scott Duncanson wins Bay Regatta
PHUKET: Testing weather and clever course design allowed this year’s Bay Regatta to be hailed as one of the best, with Scott Duncanson and his crew on Quantum Fusion M taking top honors in the Racing class. It was not plain sailing for Ducanson, however. He managed to scramble the last of his crew together only on registration day. Racing…
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Phuket Memorial for Tony Knight to be held Saturday
PHUKET: The memorial service to mark the passing of popular Phuket yachtsman Tony Knight has been rescheduled to Saturday night. “There have been many, many messages of sadness over Tony Knight’s death and the loss of a good friend and formidable character, with everyone expressing the desire to attend the wake planned for him,” said Mick Kealy, commodore at Ao…
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Police focus on Phuket youngsters in Valentine’s sweep
PHUKET: More than 100 Phuket police officers and volunteers conducted a sweep of Patong last night in a “Valentine’s Night” crackdown on youth crime. The coordinated raids targeted internet cafes, computer game shops, public parks as well as rented rooms and houses police knew to be occupied by young people. The raids began after a “rallying of the troops” at…
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Phuket teenager dead and five-year-old fighting for life after road crash
PHUKET: A four-motorbike collision left one boy dead and a family of three injured in Phuket this morning. None of the injured were wearing helmets, including a five-year-old girl now fighting for her life in hospital with massive head trauma and broken limbs. The accident took place at about 7:30am on Soi Nanachart Borrae, off Sakdidet Road near Phuket Town.…
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Kiwi bar owner found dead in Phuket
PHUKET: A Phuket bar operator from New Zealand died early Sunday morning from apparent heart failure. Kathu Police duty officer Jongserm Preecha identified the deceased as Paul Allen, 58. Mr Allen’s body was found at his rented home on Nanai Road by his female companion, Usa Kallaya, 32. The couple married two years ago and opened the KP Bar, located…
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Readers not convinced Phuket tourist shelter “a great idea’: Poll
PHUKET: Online readers are dubious about a plan by the Tourist Police to build a temporary shelter for down-on-their-luck foreign tourists, results of a recent Phuket Gazette poll reveal. The poll asked: “The Tourist Police will build a temporary shelter for down-on-their-luck foreign tourists. How do you feel about this project?” Overall, 22.7% of people who took part agreed with…
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Ex-Phuket police officer’s house burns
PHUKET: The abandoned home of a former policeman went up in flames last night in what police suspect was a fire lit accidentally by people who broke inside to take drugs. Phuket City Municipal firefighters received a report of the fire on Phul Pon Road Soi 13 at about 11:30pm. Firefighters arrived quickly, but their fire truck could not access…
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German expat found dead in Patong
PHUKET: A retired German man was found dead on the sidewalk in front of his rented home in Patong on Sunday night. Police say the body was discovered by neighbors at about 6:30pm. Harald Rainer, 69, had lived in Phuket for about a year. Police Sub Lt Pattapee Srichay told the Phuket Gazette last night that Mr Rainer was found…
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Phuket Blues Fest artists to stage free concert in Patong
PHUKET: Norwegian blues rock band ‘The Prodigal Sons’ and guest Rich Harper will stage a one-hour free concert in Patong on February 23. The concert, to be held on Patong Beach, will start at 3pm. The event is to highlight to people in Patong the upcoming Phuket International Blues Rock Festival at the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort and Spa in…
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FC Phuket pick up valuable point in league opener
PHUKET: FC Phuket secured a solid 1-1 draw away from home against Suphanburi FC in their opening fixture in Thai League Division 1 football on Sunday. Following the game, Phuket manager Surachai Jirasirichote said he was “satisfied” with the point picked up on the road but somewhat “disappointed” in the manner in which his side conceded the equalizer after going…
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Power outages to hit southern Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) has announced scheduled blackouts to carry out maintenance on high-voltage power lines, install new lines and move power poles in Chalong. The dates and locations of the operations, which will be carried out from 9am to 5pm, are: February 17 Along Chao Fa West Road, from in front of Chalong Temple to Land…
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Phuket call for urgent blood donations
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center is calling for urgent blood donations, especially of types A- and O-. Pornthip Ratthajak, director of the Red Cross Phuket Regional Blood Center, said the blood was needed for two emergency cases: a leukemia patient at Bangkok Hospital Phuket and a Danish road accident victim at Vachira Phuket Hospital who desperately needs O-. In…
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Isuzu mechanic dead in Phuket motorbike crash
PHUKET: Phuket City Police are investigating the road death of a young mechanic whose body was found in the central drainage ditch of the bypass road early this morning. Phuket City Police duty inspector Sien Kaewthong was informed of the body’s discovery at about 2am today. Arriving at the scene, the median strip of the bypass road in Rassada, they…
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