- Phuket News
Phuket to promote health tourism
PHUKET TOWN: “Come to Phuket for your health” will be the catchy slogan for a new strategy aimed at attracting tourists who need medical or dental care to come to Phuket. Thailand’s inexpensive surgery is to be used as the lure to make the island a center for health care, in addition to its traditional beach, diving and golf attractions.…
- Phuket News
Deputy Interior Minister on Social Order visit
PHUKET TOWN: Deputy Interior Minister Pracha Maleenond plans to meet with owners of Phuket entertainment venues tomorrow as he pursues more effective implementation of the national Better Social Order Policy. Tonight he is likely to make an excursion to check on how the policy is working in local venues, where 2 am closing and adults-only admission are being strictly enforced,…
- Phuket News
Bold trio rob tourists of 200,000 baht
PHUKET TOWN: A couple on vacation in Phuket had cash and belongings worth about 200,000 baht stolen from their car yesterday afternoon by a gang who distracted their attention while their possessions were taken. Luckana “Ann” Polthep, 26, from Nonthaburi, came to Phuket on vacation with her foreign boyfriend. The couple, who were staying in Patong, withdrew 60,000 baht from…
- Phuket News
Phuket proposed as air hub for the South
PHUKET TOWN: Kanok Abhiradee, President of Thai Airways International (THAI), yesterday announced that the airline will propose that Phuket become the regional aviation hub for Southern Thailand. The announcement, which follows the central government’s plan to have three regional aviation hubs in Thailand – the other two being at Chiang Mai and Ubon Ratchathani – was made at a seminar…
- Phuket News
Gunmen make off with 70,000 baht
PHUKET TOWN: Motorcycle raiders knocked a man off his motorbike, held a gun to his head and escaped with cash and checks totalling 70,000 baht yesterday, in a bold daylight robbery. Police said the two men pounced as Pramote Sanmongkol, 24, rode the 500 meters along Rassada Rd from Phuket Adventure Group Co, where he works, to a nearby bank,…
- Phuket News
Visit targets better social order
PHUKET: Deputy Interior Minister Pracha Maleenond is to visit Phuket on Wednesday as the national campaign to improve “social order” continues. At a meeting that afternoon, K Pracha will relay the latest developments in policy to members of local administrations before visiting a one tambon-one product site on Koh Sireh. On Thursday K. Pracha will meet Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi…
- Phuket News
Skull and bones found on island
RAWAI: Forensic scientists are trying to identify a skull found washed up last week on the bank of a stream on an island off Rawai. The skull and some small bones from a hand and a leg were found at about 10 am on Friday by a resident of Koh Bon. Pol Maj Jessada Sangsuree of Chalong Police Station said…
- Thailand News
Bottom’s up for Okker shockers
PATONG: Many Australians have been known to have a drink or two every now and again and perhaps a lie-in as a result. The three young Aussies who performed a strange show for bystanders in front of the souvenir shops in Patong’s Thaweewong Rd earlier this month probably wished they’d stayed in bed. The scene was quite remarkable, even by…
- Thailand News
Is there a real doctor in the house?
UDON THANI: Laborers Samrit Rattanawong, 38, and Prayad Ubolkrut, 29, knew that doctors’ bills could be expensive, but they didn’t realize that a routine check-up would end up costing them 60,000 baht each. The two went to Panyavej Hospital for a medical certificate they needed to apply for work in Singapore. A doctor, who introduced himself as Dr Charnwit Sattayaprasert,…
- Phuket News
PMs enjoy “productive’ talks in Phuket
LAGUNA: Relaxed, smiling and looking like old friends, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his Singaporean counterpart Goh Chok Tong today met members of the press and told them that their talks in Phuket had been, in PM Thaksin’s words, “wide-ranging, revealing and most productive”. There were three main areas of discussion – global and regional development; strengthening the Association of…
- Phuket News
Students aim to cut road accidents
PHUKET TOWN: Students from Rajabhat Institute Phuket have launched a project aimed at reducing road accidents on the island, which for its size has one on the highest road death and injury tolls in Thailand. The students, studying for master’s degrees in development strategy, will campaign to publicize telephone numbers people should call if they see bad driving they believe…
- Phuket News
Longest cake bake for Children’s Day
CHALONG: About 1,000 children are expected to turn out tomorrow to watch an attempt to produce a record-size cake for Children’s Day at Chalong Police Station. Pol. Lt. Col. Worrapong Wongjom told the Gazette that the officers there had organized activities on Children’s Day for the past six years. Last year they produced a cake 22 meters long. This year…
- Phuket News
PMs’ visit puts pressure on illegals
PHUKET TOWN: The weekend visit to Phuket by Singapore’s Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, who arrives this evening, has triggered a crackdown by police on illegal immigrants. The Commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, Pol Lt Gen Chanwut Watcharapook, said last night that aliens would be repatriated to get rid of troublemakers and to make Thailand a safer place. He said…
- Phuket News
Phuket ready for visit by PMs
PHUKET TOWN: Everything is ready for this weekend’s visit to Phuket by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his Singaporean counterpart, Goh Chok Tong, Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi said yesterday. The two leaders have no fixed agenda but are expected to discuss a range of regional and bilateral issues in an informal weekend retreat, with a relaxing round of golf…
- Phuket News
New prison chief invites visitors
PHUKET TOWN: The new Chief of Phuket Prison has invited groups of people, including students, to tour the prison to see facilities and watch convicts’ activities. The Chief, Panya Panatnachee, who arrived in Phuket two months ago, explained that the new activities he has introduced are batik making and the manufacture of bamboo blinds. Both products are in big demand,…
- Phuket News
Businesses, Movies and Tides
The 2003 edition of the Gazette Guide, Phuket’s ‘yellow pages’, will go on sale (at 140 baht) from January 17, with bulk deliveries to the hotels scheduled for the following day. For a list of retailers selling the Guide, or for discounts on bulk orders (10 or more copies) for guesthouses, clubs, associations and other non-profit organizations, please contact Guide@PhuketGazette.net…
- Phuket News
Mayor clears out the touts
PATONG: The new mayor of Patong Municipality has taken resolute action over the past few weeks to clear Patong’s streets of aggressive sidewalk vendors – long a leading complaint of tourists walking around the town. Speaking today with the Gazette, Mayor Chalermsak Maneesri, who took up his new post less than two months ago, said officers of Patong Municipality had…
- Phuket News
Student gunned down in love triangle slaying
PHUKET TOWN: Police are hunting a gang behind the execution-style slaying of a student in a Phuket Town street on Friday night. Inquiries have led officers to believe that the killing was over a love triangle. The student, Niwat Kamplong, was shot down in Rassadanusorn Rd about 10 pm on Friday when he failed to escape his pursuers, who were…
- Phuket News
Well surrenders murder secret
THALANG: Mystery surrounds the death of a tattooed man whose body was found in a well on Friday. He was probably murdered in an argument and dumped there, police say. Rubber-cutters discovered the body in a disused well about 200 meters from workers’ cottages in Baan Maa Nik after noting a bad smell. A rescue team lassoed the body, which…
- Phuket News
Skipper hacked to death by Burmese crew
PHUKET TOWN: Police believe the Thai skipper of a fishing vessel found dead on Sunday was murdered by members of his Burmese crew and dumped in the water after an argument that ended in violence. Jirachai Krairat, 35, who had gone missing the previous night, was found floating face down with his head almost severed from his body, in water…
- Phuket News
Student news readers head for finals
PHUKET TOWN: Students who picked up awards in a news reading contest today will have the chance to compete in a national competition on Children’s Day next weekend. Awards were given to young Phuket news readers at primary and secondary levels. The winner for news reading in Thai at the primary level was Pabhasara Boonsukul, from Tessabaaan Plookpanya school, followed…
- Phuket News
Gambling and drug arrests dip
PHUKET: The number of arrests for gambling and drug-taking has fallen slightly, police statistics for December 1-25 reveal. The figures show 180 arrests for gambling in 97 cases compared with 198 arrests in 102 cases in the comparable period of November. In the same December period, 61 people were arrested on drug offenses in 61 busts, compared with 93 arrests…
- Phuket News
PM to visit Phuket twice
PHUKET: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is scheduled to make two weekend-long visits to Phuket this month, first for a bilateral summit then for a Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party congress. The PM will make his first visit next weekend, from January 10-12, to meet Singapore’s Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and his entourage of 30 to talk about mutual economic…
- Phuket News
Hotels report bumper New Year
PHUKET TOWN: Resorts and hotels have been full over New Year and the three-star sector has solid bookings for January, but Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi anticipates a possible drop in top-end occupancy rates. “I hear that hotel bookings during the New Year holiday were good,” he told a press conference yesterday. “Three-star hotels, especially, will be full until the end…
