Month: August 2011

  • Phuket NewsThai sailors seek blessing from Phuket’s Heroines

    Thai sailors seek blessing from Phuket’s Heroines

    PHUKET: The captain and crew of the Royal Thai Navy HTMS Thalang this morning performed a ceremony seeking the blessing of Phuket’s renowned heroines Thao Thepkrasattri and Thao Srisoonthorn. Presiding over the ceremony was Lt Cdr Apiruk Mangkorn, commander of the HTMS Thalang. Reinforced by members of the ship’s 75 crew, Lt Cdr Apiruk asked for Phuket’s ‘guardian angels’ to…

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  • Phuket NewsPlans to build Phuket offshore diesel station on hold

    Plans to build Phuket offshore diesel station on hold

    PHUKET: A public hearing held yesterday has left in limbo plans to convert a water-refilling platform in Chalong Bay into an offshore petrol station. The meeting, held at the Al Wallan Hidayah Mosque in Rawai, was called after a letter of protest against the project was filed with the provincial government by Sommai Naoprai, the president of a group called…

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  • Phuket NewsPhuket Roads: Motorcycle crash claims another life

    Phuket Roads: Motorcycle crash claims another life

    PHUKET: A motorcycle accident early this morning claimed the life of a Phuket man as he drove between the Heroines’ Monument and Cherng Talay. Thalang Police responded to a call at about 2am reporting that an accident had occurred on Srisoonthorn Road in Baan Manik. A team from the Kusoldharm Rescue Foundation arrived at the scene to find a lone…

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  • Phuket NewsLong trail leads police to Phuket auto theft gang

    Long trail leads police to Phuket auto theft gang

    PHUKET: Patong Police have arrested six suspects accused of running a car and motorcycle theft racket in Phuket’s entertainment hub, Patong. The Thai and Burmese suspects were presented at Kathu Police Station yesterday along with eight stolen motorcycles, parts of a further four or five bikes, mechanic’s tools, spray painting equipment, one stolen pickup truck and six other cars that…

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  • Phuket NewsPhuket Big Buddha donations to continue

    Phuket Big Buddha donations to continue

    PHUKET: The foundation constructing Phuket’s Big Buddha image will continue to collect donations for the project, the Phuket Gazette has learned. The news follows a provincial committee ruling that the Mingmongkol Faith 45 Foundation was no longer allowed to advertise or publicly solicit donations for the project. The committee ruling stated that the organization will be allowed to receive donations…

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  • Phuket NewsPhuket Disgrace: Airport needs to double its Immigration officers

    Phuket Disgrace: Airport needs to double its Immigration officers

    PHUKET: Phuket International Airport has only half the number of Immigration officers it needs to effectively handle the high volume of tourists using the facility, the leading senator of a fact-finding team was told today. The team, comprising the 26 senators who form the Standing Committees for Transport and for Natural Resources and the Environment, arrived in Phuket yesterday to…

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  • Phuket NewsYingluck’s official, but who will call the shots? | Thaiger

    Yingluck’s official, but who will call the shots?

    BANGKOK (The Nation): Officially, only Yingluck Shinawatra, confirmed as Thailand’s new Prime Minister today, and Yongyuth Vichaidit, her Pheu Thai party’s leader, have the final say on who is to be included in the Cabinet. Unofficially, nobody is quite sure who will call the shots. Most reports in the media seem to ignore the party’s official version. So far, every…

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  • Thai LifePhuket Dog Whisperer: Sensing what humans can’t

    Phuket Dog Whisperer: Sensing what humans can’t

    PHUKET: DOGS inherited their keen senses from wolf ancestors, and it’s these attributes that enable dogs to play a massive part in our lives. With their phenomenal sense of smell, dogs are being used to sniff out illegal narcotics, explosives and even pirated DVDs. Their sight and hearing capabilities help assist the blind and deaf to live more independent lives,…

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  • Phuket NewsFC Phuket seek away win and BBCU seek vengeance

    FC Phuket seek away win and BBCU seek vengeance

    PHUKET: FC Phuket face Big Bang Chulalongkorn United (BBCU) on Sunday in what may be termed a grudge match considering the cup defeat inflicted by Phuket on BBCU in June. Sunday’s match will be played at the 20,000 seat sporting arena, Army Stadium in Din Daeng, Bangkok. Kickoff is sceduled for 6pm. Coming into their 19th match, Phuket cling to…

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  • Thai LifePhuket Yacht Chefs are Franke-ly brilliant

    Phuket Yacht Chefs are Franke-ly brilliant

    PHUKET: SIX Senses Phuket Raceweek not only enjoyed great competition on the water this year, but also witnessed a great culinary challenge to celebrate the 100th anniversary of kitchen appliance supplier Franke Kitchen Systems. The ‘Franke Yacht Chefs Cooking Challenge’, a first for Thailand, was organized in Phuket to test the cooking skills of yacht chefs, with 100,000 baht worth…

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  • Phuket NewsYingluck becomes first female Thai prime minister

    Yingluck becomes first female Thai prime minister

    PHUKET: Yingluck Shinawatra today became Thailand’s first female prime minister, by winning 296 of 299 votes in Parliament, state-news agency MCOT has reported. Mrs Yingluck was confirmed as prime minister shortly before noon today after a campaign that saw her Pheu Thai party sweep to victory over the former ruling Democrat Party. There were 197 abstentions in the House of…

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  • Phuket NewsPhuket probe digs deep into ‘missing hill’ row

    Phuket probe digs deep into ‘missing hill’ row

    PHUKET: Land owners digging up and selling the earth on their plots in central Phuket has sparked a row from neighbors, who say the extensive excavation work is causing dangerous landslips, for which they are seeking 300,000 baht in compensation. An investigation headed by Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkhaosutthirak yesterday deemed much of the excavation work on the plot in Srisoonthorn,…

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  • Phuket NewsPhuket residents cry foul over poisoned water

    Phuket residents cry foul over poisoned water

    PHUKET: Parents and local residents are calling for action against repeated poisoning of a canal along a major Phuket Town school, killing hundreds of fish. About 5pm yesterday, residents entered a section of Klong Bang Yai that runs next to Satree Phuket School on Damrong Road and removed hundreds of dead fish. The water in the canal was black, thick…

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  • Phuket NewsYoung woman drowns after fall at Phuket’s Phromthep Cape

    Young woman drowns after fall at Phuket’s Phromthep Cape

    PHUKET: Police have confirmed the identity of a Thai woman who slipped off rocks and drowned at Phromthep Cape late yesterday afternoon as that of Yula Suwan, 20, from Chiang Rai. Miss Yula arrived at Phuket’s iconic peninsula with a friend to take photos at about 5pm, said Chalong Police Duty Officer Lt Attawat Suwannarat. “They walked down the cape…

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  • PropertyPhuket Property Watch: Hooray for Koh Sireh as prices rise

    Phuket Property Watch: Hooray for Koh Sireh as prices rise

    PHUKET: FOR THOSE of a certain age, the never-ending, tortuously-lingering melody of the song “Que Sera, Sera” ignites throughts of waterboarding at Guantanamo. It’s like the nerve-screeching act of sawing a frozen turkey with a violin bow. For most of us, commercials and advertising jingles stuck in our subconscious outnumber memories of more profound events in our lives. Anyone who…

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  • Phuket NewsOnslaught of waves forces Phuket sea gypsies to evacuate homes

    Onslaught of waves forces Phuket sea gypsies to evacuate homes

    PHUKET: Large waves brought on by the wet-season monsoon are damaging homes at a small sea gypsy community on Phuket’s east coast, forcing villagers to seek refuge with family members or even sleep outdoors. At least eight houses have suffered damage, altogether home to 53 people. John Pramongkij, 57, is scared to sleep in his house, with the walls cracking…

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  • Thai LifePhuket Gardening: Plant life in the dry lane

    Phuket Gardening: Plant life in the dry lane

    PHUKET: Most Phuket gardeners probably don’t give growing catci a second thought. Here’s why they should… Although Euphorbias are one of the largest genera of succulents, cacti (cactacea) are certainly the best known. There are plenty of them in Thailand, even though most of them come from the Americas. Think of all those cowboy films with Mexican bandits and gun-toting…

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  • Phuket NewsSwedish murder case in Phuket sends reader interest off the charts

    Swedish murder case in Phuket sends reader interest off the charts

    PHUKET: Not since the tsunami in December 2004 have readers around the world shown so much interest in a single event in Phuket. Yesterday, as on December 27, 2004, the day after the waves hit, the demand for news, fueled by the Phuket murder of Swedish national Maksim Schantz, swamped and knocked over the Gazette Online for a period of…

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  • Thai LifePhuket Gardening: Climbing the walls

    Phuket Gardening: Climbing the walls

    PHUKET: Thailand is home to countless white-walled gardens. For the most part they are beautiful – until a year or two of tropical rain leaves them looking discolored and plain shabby. Of course, they can be repainted, but this is not as easy as it sounds when you have to manipulate your brush or roller behind rows of shrubs or…

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  • Thai LifePhuket Gardening: A lazy gardener’s delight

    Phuket Gardening: A lazy gardener’s delight

    PHUKET: The crown of thorns, or euphorbia millii, is a succulent plant that doesn’t require much attention. When the word “succulent” is used, it is usually applied to juicy, delicious fruit such as ripe mangoes, oranges, or pineapples. But for horticulturists, the word has very different connotations: it refers to so-called “fat plants” that store water in their leaves, stems,…

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  • Thai LifePhuket Gardening: Little lily love in the tropics

    Phuket Gardening: Little lily love in the tropics

    PHUKET: BOOKS on tropical gardening contain little information about types of lily. In fact, few ornamental varieties are mentioned. There is plenty about the allium branch of the family – onions, chives, garlic and the like – but little on flowering lilies. The problem is that though they have been around for 4,000 years, the majority of lilies grow only…

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  • Phuket NewsPhuket Live Wire: Surprise island internet speeds

    Phuket Live Wire: Surprise island internet speeds

    PHUKET: A little less than two months ago we changed the method for measuring internet speeds, as reported on PhuketInternetSpeed.com. Before that point, we were measuring international download speeds using a technique that was prone to caching – Internet Service Providers, using tools that are actually beneficial to customers like us, automatically bypassed the speed testing regimen. So we switched…

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  • Phuket NewsPhuket Red Cross blood drive to honor HM Queen Sirikit’s birthday

    Phuket Red Cross blood drive to honor HM Queen Sirikit’s birthday

    PHUKET: In honor of HM Queen Sirikit’s 79th birthday and Mother’s Day on August 12, the Phuket Regional Blood Center is hoping for an increase in donations this month. The center has set a higher target than usual for this drive, aiming to stock up in anticipation for an increased demand for blood in the coming months. “We received 1,568…

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  • Phuket NewsSwedish slashers confess to Phuket police

    Swedish slashers confess to Phuket police

    PHUKET: Phuket City Police tonight charged two Swedish men they say confessed to the murder yesterday of 25-year-old Maksim Schantz. Police said they caught Tommy Viktor Soderlund, 26, and Johan Sebastian Ljung, 25, hiding out at Surin Sweet Hotel on Surin Beach where they had recently rented a room. The pair confessed that they tracked Mr Schantz down through Facebook…

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  • Phuket NewsSex Drugs: Will Phuket’s tourists be subjected to Night Fire? | Thaiger

    Sex Drugs: Will Phuket’s tourists be subjected to Night Fire?

    PHUKET: Phuket is not the only town in Thailand selling fake Viagra or other illicit drugs to tourists. The nation’s capital is probably the leader. But in the most recent raids in Bangkok, at least, no tourists were arrested and none was invited to pee in a pink cup. Metropolitan police and other authorities in the City of Angels arrested…

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  • Phuket NewsMET: Phuket haze ‘not a load of hot air’

    MET: Phuket haze ‘not a load of hot air’

    PHUKET: The blanket of haze seen across Phuket today was only fog and not related to Indonesian wild fires, the top official at the Thai Meteorological Department weather center in Phuket said today. “The fog was caused by a decrease in air pressure and temperature and an increase in humidity coupled with intermittent rains, causing the air to sink,” said…

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  • Cannabis NewsNew test center to boost Phuket drug convictions

    New test center to boost Phuket drug convictions

    PHUKET: A Public Health Ministry center in Phuket is now conducting drug tests on urine and blood samples provided by police in a move that is expected to boost the number of drug convictions in Phuket. The tests will be conducted at the Regional Medical Sciences Center in Phuket, just north of the Heroines’ Monument on Thepkrasattri Road in Thalang.…

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  • Phuket NewsBREAKING NEWS: Swedish duo arrested for Phuket stabbing murder | Thaiger

    BREAKING NEWS: Swedish duo arrested for Phuket stabbing murder

    PHUKET: Phuket City Police have confirmed to the Phuket Gazette that two Swedish men have been arrested in connection with the stabbing murder yesterday of Maksim Schantz. Tommy Viktor Soderlund, 26, and Johan Sebastian Ljung, 25, are both in custody, a police officer said on condition of anonymity. Police are due to hold a press conference this evening when more…

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  • Phuket NewsPhuket police extend manhunt for accomplice in slaying of Swede

    Phuket police extend manhunt for accomplice in slaying of Swede

    PHUKET: Police have stressed to the Phuket Gazette that they have not identified the alleged accomplice of Tommy Viktor Soderlund, the man being sought for the murder of Swedish national Maksim Schantz last night. Phuket City Police Deputy Superintendent Jumroon Playdoung told the Gazette that local media reports identifying a 36-year-old Swedish man as Soderlund’s accomplice in the brutal stabbing…

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  • Phuket NewsManhunt launched for Swedish suspect in slaying of fellow Swede

    Manhunt launched for Swedish suspect in slaying of fellow Swede

    PHUKET: Phuket City Police have issued an arrest warrant and appealed to the public to keep an eye out for the prime suspect in last night’s murder of Russian-born Swedish national Maksim Schantz, 25. Police have launched a manhunt for 26-year-old Tommy Viktor Soderlund, also from Sweden, and another white male who are said to have recently rented a home…

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  • Phuket NewsSwedish expat stabbed to death at luxury villa in Phuket

    Swedish expat stabbed to death at luxury villa in Phuket

    PHUKET: Phuket Police are investigating the stabbing murder of a Swedish man ambushed and stabbed to death as he returned to his luxury villa in Koh Kaew subdistrict last night. The murder took place in full view of neighbors. The police identified the deceased as a 25-year-old Swedish national. The name of the victim is known to the Phuket Gazette,…

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  • Phuket NewsPhuket in the mood for seafood

    Phuket in the mood for seafood

    PHUKET: The Phuket Seafood Fiesta got underway today with an official launch at Jungceylon in Phuket’s resort town of Patong. The festival offers a 10 to 20% discount on seafood dishes at more than 60 restaurants on the island from today through August 31, explained Bangonrat Shinaprayoon, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) regional office in Phuket. Coinciding…

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  • Phuket NewsPhuket daycare teacher charged over child beatings

    Phuket daycare teacher charged over child beatings

    PHUKET: The Phuket daycare teacher allegedly caught on video beating her students has been charged with child abuse, with the possibility of more charges to come. Meanwhile, Wichit Municipality has taken over the Wat Thepnimit daycare center, where parents and other teachers say the beatings took place regularly. The scandal unfolded on July 24 when teachers from the daycare center…

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  • Phuket NewsNew Phuket bridge opens to traffic

    New Phuket bridge opens to traffic

    PHUKET: The new Thao Srisoonthorn Bridge, unofficially called “Sarasin Bridge 2”, opened to traffic heading northbound off Phuket this morning. The first vehicle to trundle onto the 300-million-baht span was a van carrying Phuket Provincial Highways Office Chief Arun Sanae and his immediate superior, Sakchai Suwanprasert, head of the regional Highways Office. However, Mr Arun warned motorists that the left…

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  • Phuket NewsFC Phuket still waiting for away success

    FC Phuket still waiting for away success

    PHUKET: FC Phuket’s match on Sunday against Rajapracha FC in Nakhon Pathom ended in a scoreless draw, irritating Phuket’s winless wound in its eighth away game this season. There were about 1000 spectators that showed up to cheer the Rajpracha “Crowns” at Mahidol University Salaya campus stadium. As expected, Phuket fielded three of their new players: goalkeeper, Jonathan Matijas from…

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  • Phuket NewsMissing Aussie tourist found alive and well in Phuket | Thaiger

    Missing Aussie tourist found alive and well in Phuket

    PHUKET: Missing Australian tourist Geoffrey Hoffmann has been found alive and well. Mr Hoffmann disappeared while going for a morning walk at the lake at Karon Park on Saturday. His family raised the alarm after he failed to return four hours later. Their concern was heightened by the fact that Mr Hoffmann suffers from short-term memory loss. Mr Hoffmann’s brother-in-law…

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  • Phuket NewsFinal countdown

    Final countdown

    PHUKET: “It is not an easy draw. You have to be really, really focused and play every game like a final – but that will be another manager’s job.” England’s Italian manager, Fabio Capello, leaves advice for the next head on the chopping-block, that is the national team’s managerial role. Capello was present for the 2014 World Cup qualification draw…

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