Month: September 2016
- Phuket
Cockfighting purse largest in Thai history
PHUKET: Two veteran roosters in Samui’s cockfighting ring drew the largest bets in Thailand’s history yesterday. Cockfighters from Chumporn, Ranong, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Samui circled around the Baan Lipa Yai ring yesterday afternoon, cheering and placing more than 2 million baht in bets. The headlining fight, between an eight-month-old gamecock from Chumporn named Hua Pok, and a…
Read More » - Phuket
New Phuket governor arrives
PHUKET: Newly appointed Phuket Governor Dr Chokchai Dejamornthan and his wife Raweewan Dejamornthan, who is the new president of the Phuket Red Cross, received a warm welcome on their arrival in Phuket this morning. About a hundred people from both government and the private sector showed up to welcome the couple at Phuket airport at 10:30am. In keeping with tradition,…
Read More » - Opinion
Ministry of Farang Affairs: Showing off your work ID
The Ministry of Farang Affairs is a one-stop shop where foreigners in Thailand can learn all they need to know about living here. No, we’re not talking about work permits, visas or taxes. We’re talking about day-to-day life in the Land of Endless Shocks and Riddles, of Blur, Befuddlement and the Bizarre. Stay tuned for weekly insights from Minister Stephff.…
Read More » - Phuket
Samkong Underpass to be closed for maintenance, completion pushed to October end
PHUKET: The Samkong Underpass is to be closed from 10pm today until 4am tomorrow for electrical maintenance and installation. Motorists are only allowed to use the road above the underpass during this time slot. “We have also installed signs at the junction to notify motorists,” said Chalermpol Wongkiattikun, the project engineer from the Department of Highways. “The underpass is expected…
Read More » - Thai Life
Keep it green: Implications of climate change
PHUKET: The world’s two most powerful countries, the United States and China, have just formally agreed to ratify the Paris climate change agreement. This landmark commitment, sealed last December after two weeks of intense negotiations, needs to be ratified by 55 countries, representing 55 per cent of global emissions, in order for it to come into effect. According to a…
Read More » - Opinion
Opinion: Confusion at new airport terminal
PHUKET: Confusion among passengers following the recent opening of the International Terminal at Phuket Airport demonstrates a disappointing lack of readiness on the part of Airports of Thailand (AoT), Phuket Immigration and other related agencies. While it would have been naive to expect that such major changes to airport operations could come off without a hitch, the lack of manpower…
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Burmese dies from anal injuries
KOH SAMUI: A Myanmar man died Wednesday afternoon in Koh Samui, nine days after he was admitted to hospital with a torn anus, anal inflammation and a blood infection from a torn intestine. Capt Issaret Saneangwan of Samui Police received reports regarding the deceased from Samui Hospital. “Thirty-year-old Mueang Santoo had passed away about an hour before we arrived at…
Read More » - Phuket
Phuket Airport Road: Landslide plan to be revealed next month
PHUKET: A plan to prevent landslides along the road running parallel to the runway at Phuket International Airport is expected to be completed by next month. The need for a plan came about when continuous rains on August 31 loosened the earth on the 141-meter-tall hill (Khao Bo Sai), and caused a landslide that spilled onto the road (story here).…
Read More » - Phuket
Task force shuts down illegal gambling ring in Krabi
KRABI: A joint task force arrested 66 suspected gamblers and confiscated over half a million baht worth of gambling paraphernalia during a raid of a local gambling den in Krabi yesterday. More than 30 officials from Nua Khlong Police, along with 16 military personnel, marched into the middle of a rice field at Pakasai sub-district of Nua Khlong District, where…
Read More » - Phuket
Patong Swimmer stung by Portuguese Man of War
PHUKET: Lifeguards at Patong Beach helped a swimmer on Monday who had been stung on one of her legs by a Portuguese Man-of-War. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the lifeguards said they had helped remove the siphonophore from the victim after she was stung. The swimmer, who wished to remain anonymous, said the sting was small but painful. The…
Read More » - Phuket
Floating officials visit flooded village
KRABI: Villagers in Ao Luek district have been using boats to get to and from their houses after torrential flooding has left their neighborhood under water for the past month. Following complaints filed with the Ao Luek Administration Organization (OrBorTor), Ao Luek District chief Chaiwut Buathong examined the site on Tuesday. Approximately 300 meters of roadway have been flooded in…
Read More » - Phuket
Man ‘bathes’ in pothole to push road repairs
PHUKET: A Krabi local ‘bathed’ in a pothole Tuesday morning as a sarcastic act of protest against the condition of the roads in the area. The man, who calls himself ‘Rosemary’, is 53-year-old Payong Noosiri. Several surprised locals watched as Mr Payong took pictures of himself bathing in a pothole in Krabi’s Baan Lamthap village. Mr Payong said he was…
Read More » - Phuket
Arrest warrants issued for ATM hackers
PHUKET: Police issued two more arrest warrants on September 26 for Russian suspects wanted in connection with the nation-wide ATM fraud that ripped off over 12 million baht from Government Savings Bank (GSB) ATMs. The group of foreigners travelled around the country using specially-engineered credit cards to overcome safety precautions and empty ATMs in Phuket, Phang Nga, Surat Thani, Phretcha…
Read More » - Phuket
Phuket Gazette Radio is here, launched at 0500 today
PHUKET: It’s here, and it’s on a mission with news all day. News remains the Gazette’s reason for being, just as it’s always been, since 1993. Our flagship show, ‘The News Room’, takes you deep inside the local news, issues and events that matter to Phuketians. Here you’ll also get the important regional and international stories that the island’s cosmopolitan…
Read More » - Thai Life
Law, Life and Society: Understanding the Thai concept of dowry
PHUKET: A misunderstanding of a Thai marriage custom nearly broke up the relationship between two of my clients. I represented an American in his application for a fiance visa for his Thai fiance. After successfully obtaining the visa, the Thai fiance requested 200,000 baht for her family before going to the United States to get married. The American became outraged…
Read More » - Thai Life
Diving: Mermaids spotted off Phuket
PHUKET: There are real mermaids out there. It’s a profession that some freedivers have found themselves slipping into. Phuket-based PADI scuba diving instructor Kate Gray, who was crowned Miss Germany 2010, made a big splash here a couple of years ago as ‘Mermaid Kat’ and opened Phuket’s Mermaid Kat Academy in 2012.“I first started ‘mermaiding’ as a hobby but it…
Read More » - Phuket
First wedding planner’s congress in Asia coming to Phuket
PHUKET: Wedding planners from across the world will descend on Phuket for a global conference this Spring, the Ministery of Tourism and Sports announced last week. The Destination Wedding Planners Congress (DWPC) is hosted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and is scheduled to be held at Laguna Golf Phuket in May of 2017. “Destination-themed weddings are a big…
Read More » - Phuket
Teenager killed in “double hit-and-run’
PHUKET: A teenager was killed and another man injured in a ‘double’ hit-and-run collision at about 1:15am today on Thepkasattri Road. The victim, Noppadol Yaprajan, 19, was riding pillion with his friend Sirichai Witsuma, 20, when the accident occurred. “Mr Sirichai told us that an 18-wheeled truck hit their motorbike in front of the Democratic Party Office, causing Mr Noppadol…
Read More » - Phuket
Body of Swedish man found hanged in Kamala hotel room
PHUKET: Staff at the Kamala Regent Resort found the body of a Swedish guest hanged by the neck in the bathroom of his hotel room yesterday afternoon. The 47-year-old Swede was wearing only a hotel bathrobe and found in a kneeling position, leaning forward, with a taut rope around his neck that was strung up on a part of the…
Read More » - Bangkok
Victim of Bangkok gang may be elderly European
PHUKET: A scan of body parts found in a refrigerator during a raid last week on a building in Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Soi 56 suggests it was an elderly European man who was dismembered by an electric saw, Dr Udomsak Hoonwichit, of Chulalongkorn University’s faculty of medicine, said yesterday. The deceased man’s DNA will be collected for identification and given to…
Read More » - Phuket
Portuguese Man-of-War back at the beaches
PHUKET: Sirinath National Park chief Kitiphat Tharapiban said today that ‘water activities’ have been suspended at Phuket’s Nai Thon, Layan and Nai Yang beaches after blooms of Portuguese Man-of-War siphonophore were spotted in the national park area on Friday (September 23). “Stings from the Portuguese Man-of-War can be fatal so we have closed the beaches and posted warning notices where…
Read More » - Phuket
Road Rage: Teen shoots at truck in Phuket Town
PHUKET: A teenage motorcyclist was arrested on Saturday evening for shooting at a 6-wheeled truck in the heart of Phuket Town. The 18-year old reportedly shot at one of the truck’s wheels in anger after, he claims, it nearly ran him over. “We had a report about the shooting on Srisana Road in Phuket Town at 4pm,” said Phuket City…
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