- Phuket News
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.…
- Phuket News
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…
- Phuket News
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…
- Cannabis News
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…
- Phuket News
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…
- Phuket News
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…
- Phuket News
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…
- Phuket News
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…
- Opinion
Phuket Opinion: Beach nipples not naughty
PHUKET: I note there is no space [for a reader to] comment on Blair Christopher’s online story ‘Phuket Nipple Alert: Staying abreast of nude on our beaches’. (See story here.) So [as a Phuket resident] I’d like to comment here on how it is apparently perfectly acceptable for the male walking along the beach in the accompanying picture to have…
- Phuket News
Phuket road decision spells higher risks for Thailand’s mangroves
PHUKET: The long-awaited approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment for the “Klong Koh Phee Road” project comes as great news for all sides and represents a reasonable solution to an infrastructure hurdle that has needlessly wasted thousands of hours of commuter time over the years. For background on the approval, see page 6, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital…
- Phuket News
Phuket Live Wire: International internet speeds are up
PHUKET: International internet speeds in Phuket this week were generally excellent for 3BB, CAT and True, but bad-to-abysmal for TOT. 3BB customers are being upgraded, free, frequently without any notification before or after the upgrade. TOT Fiber Optic was performing horribly – often half as fast as standard ADSL lines, at five times the price – but the speed has…
- Phuket News
Phuket MET: January 2011 wettest on record
PHUKET: Last month was the rainiest January on record in Phuket, the Meteorological Department (MET) has confirmed. A meteorologist at the Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast) at Phuket International Airport told the Gazette this afternoon that his station recorded about 77mm of rain at both MET monitoring stations on the island. This amount was about twice the mean annual rainfall…
- Phuket News
FC Phuket hit the road for league opener
PHUKET: FC Phuket begin their quest for promotion to the Thai League Premier Division tomorrow when they visit Suphanburi FC for their opening fixture in Division 1. Kickoff is at 4:30pm. Phuket secured promotion to the second tier of Thai league football in December and will be looking to get their 2011 campaign off to a winning start. The Phuket…
- Phuket News
Are you ready for the weekend in Phuket?
PHUKET: Today’s Andaman Edition of the hard-copy Phuket Gazette newspaper went on sale late last night and our Nationwide Edition was released in Bangkok and placed aboard the major international airlines serving Phuket early this morning. Both editions contain reams of information not available here in the Gazette Online. NEWS – In-depth reports about the fate of the 68 Rohingya…
- Phuket News
BREAKING NEWS: 33 Rohingya remain detained in Phuket, tell of hardships at home
PHUKET: The whereabouts of the 68 Rohingya refugees who were arrested on January 31 when their boat drifted to Phuket’s shores has been confirmed by the Phuket Gazette. Phuket Immigration late yesterday gave the Gazette access to 33 Rohingya men in custody at the Immigration Detention Center (IDC). The youngest in the cell was only nine years old and the…
- Phuket News
Serial thief arrested, charged with 13 burglaries in Phuket
PHUKET: A 33-year-old Nakhon Sawan man who was just released from prison last year was arrested and charged yesterday with 13 counts of burglary in Phuket. His previous jail time, 18 months in Phuket prison, stemmed from multiple instances of purchasing stolen goods from colleagues in the trade, according to police at a press conference this afternoon. The accused, Weerapat…
- Phuket News
Phuket Reminder: Business law tops agenda for IBAP meeting tonight
PHUKET: The keynote speaker at the International Business Association of Phuket (IBAP) meeting tonight will be Michael Doyle, a US attorney and partner of the Bangkok-based law firm Seri Manop & Doyle. Mr Doyle, co-author and contributing editor of the recently released book Doyle’s Practical Guide to Business Law in Emerging Countries in Asia, will speak on the issue: Business…
- Phuket News
MISSING CHILD: Girl, 14, vanishes from Phuket temple fair
PHUKET: The mother of a girl who went missing from the Chalong Temple Fair grounds in Phuket on Wednesday is asking the public for help in locating her. Sapsiri Narmsra, 29, reported her 14-year-old daughter La-ongda Narmsra missing to Chalong Police on Wednesday. Mrs Sapsiri, a resident of Ayudhya, said she arrived with her daughter and relatives on January 29…
- Phuket News
Phuket sea gypsies fear losing rights to ancestral burial ground
PHUKET: Phuket sea gypsy villagers at Laem Tukkae are living in fear that access to their ancestral burial ground will be closed permanently. The issue was raised directly today with Somchai Seanglai, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, who led a delegation of officers to the area to hear a variety of complaints from the villagers. The graveyard…
- Phuket News
Hot time in Old Phuket Town tonight
PHUKET: Tonight is the last night of the annual Phuket Old Town Festival, centered in Thalang and Phang Nga Roads and in Queen Sirikit Park in Phuket Town. Despite being held mid-week, this year’s event has been busier than ever with a wide range of staged entertainments, food and drink, and exhibitions focused on life in the olden days. The…
- Phuket News
German methadone survivor out of Phuket ICU
PHUKET: A German man whose male partner died of an apparent methadone overdose by penile injection last week is out of a coma, staff at Vachira Phuket Hospital have confirmed. The German, in his mid-30s, was transferred to Vachira Phuket Hospital from Bangkok International Hospital last Friday. “He was released from the ICU [on Tuesday], but is still under close…
- Phuket News
Thai lawyers urge action over refugees, human trafficking
PHUKET: The Lawyers’ Council of Thailand (LCT) today released a statement demanding the government to “tackle Rohingya trafficking organizations”. The statement comes after 68 Rohingya were arrested in Phuket last week, and 158 in Trang and Satun provinces last month. The status and location of the 226 Rohingya is currently unclear amid conflicting reports of transfers and possible human rights…
- Phuket News
Phuket yachting icon succumbs to road accident injuries
PHUKET: Tony Knight, a leading figure in Phuket yachting for more than a decade, died in Brisbane, Australia last night after succumbing to injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. “Tony had a motorcycle accident in Australia on Friday and seemed not too bad, but his condition deteriorated over the next few days as we believe his lung or spleen was…
- Phuket News
Phuket Old Town Festival starts today
PHUKET: The 12th-annual Phuket Old Town Festival kicks off at 7pm tonight, offering a wide range of performances, food and fun activities along Thalang Road and at Queen Sirikit Park. Coming less than a week after the arrival of the Year of the Rabbit, one of the highlights of this year’s events is two objects related to reverence of the…
- Phuket News
Phuket “mangrove road’ EIA approved
PHUKET: After more than a decade, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) has finally approved an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for a controversial road through a mangrove forest in Phuket Town. News that the EIA of the Klong Koh Phee Road project had been approved was announced yesterday at a project committee meeting chaired by Phuket Governor Tri…
- Thai Life
Phuket loves sun, sea, surf and… Singto
PHUKET: Thailand’s indie music scene is ambiguous. That is to say, there doesn’t appear to be any defined ‘scene’ as such. On the surface, the country’s live musical experience is a stable diet of tone-deaf karaoke yodelers screeching out Lady Gaga’s latest hit, or over-excited Thai jam bands churning out the same old predictable covers at deafening decibels. But scratch…
- Phuket News
Mutilated body found in Phuket palm plantation
PHUKET: The body of a Burmese man was found on a Phuket palm plantation yesterday morning with a half-severed head and intestines spilling out. Thalang police were informed of the gruesome discovery at about 8am. The body lay in Palm Anchalee, just south of the Heroines’ Monument and adjacent to the offices of the Phuket Gazette, off Thepkrassatri Road. The…
- Thailand News
Sky-blue robotic cat invades temple
SUPHAN BURI: A Temple in Suphan Buri province has become a national sensation after an unusual character was spotted hiding in its wall paintings: the Japanese cartoon character Doraemon. Noticing Doraemon’s huge popularity with Thai schoolchildren, artist Rakkiat Lertjitsakun added the sky-blue robotic cat to murals at Wat Samp Pa Siew in Muang district. Now Doraemon and his schoolboy friend…
- Phuket News
Mick Tonkin funeral set for Wat Prathong, Phuket
PHUKET: The funeral for well-known Phuket resident Mick Tonkin is now scheduled for Tuesday, February 8, at Wat Prathong in Thalang. The ceremony will start at 12 noon and be followed by a wake at the Black Cat restaurant, one of Mick’s favorite places, in Cherng Talay. For directions to Wat Prathong, see Google Maps and enter the search term:…
- Opinion
PHUKET OPINION: Guns and gangs not child’s play
PHUKET: Just hours before this editorial was written, friends of slain Phuket teenager Surachai (‘Neung’) Takuasook were burning his remains in the furnace of the crematorium in Baan Don village. (See front page story, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full newspaper.) The shiny white coffin used to house Surachai’s body until it…
