- Thai Life
Phuket Gardening – Thriving in stormy weather
PHUKET: Recently I enjoyed a visit to a Phuket spa with a South African couple who had come to live on the island. They pointed out that while many of the flowering shrubs are the same as in Cape Town or Johannesburg, they seem to be much less colorful in Phuket. There are reasons for this relative dearth of blooming.…
- Thai Life
Phuket’s corals and conscience now cleaner
PHUKET: The sandy seafloor suddenly gave way to the wall of wrecked coral skirting Coral Island. The forest of dead branching corals, which should have been a Mecca of sea life, was a ghost town. The site was haunting, but further along the reef, the barren coral landscape gave way to signs of life as a volunteer dive team carefully…
- Thai Life
Phuket Lifestyle: Sea creatures will soon have to swim for their lives
PHUKET: International marine scientists have warned that fish and other sea creatures will have to travel large distances to survive climate change or they will risk extinction.According to a new study by an international team of scientists, sea life, particularly in the Indian, Western and Eastern Pacific as well as the sub-arctic oceans are facing growing pressures to adapt or…
- Property
Phuket Property: The Privilege Residences Patong
PHUKET: The Privilege Residences Patong is the sister project of successful luxury condominium project The Bay Cliff. After the first project sold out, Bay Cliff Development decided to launch another condominium development and take the definition of ‘luxury living’ to the next level.“Since we launched The Privilege Residences Patong in October last year, we have sold about 30 per cent…
- Phuket News
Rebranded Strategic Airlines continues Phuket flights
PHUKET: Australian Low Cost Carrier (LCC) Strategic Airlines today launched its rebranding as Air Australia, offering special rates to Phuket from AUS$329. The reinvented LCC revealed the news earlier this month, showing off its new-look livery and flight attendant uniforms while emphasizing a commitment to bring Australia a fresh approach to affordable air travel. Strategic Airlines, founded in 2009, has…
- Thai Life
Phuket Lifestyle: Suey Restaurant, a beautiful fusion
PHUKET: Call me old-fashioned, but I have misgivings about so-called “fusion food”. I like my food the way it’s cooked traditionally: no added milk in my tom yum goong please, and I am very wary of mango sticky rice in the form of a shake. All that changes when a friend invites me to dine at Suey Restaurant in Phuket…
- Thai Life
Phuket Lifestyle – TEFL Courses: the good, the bad and the cowboys
PHUKET: Phuket has no shortage of expats who want to live and work here. Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) is a popular way to achieve this goal, which means that the competition for these jobs are fierce and wages are somewhat lower than those in other urban areas of Thailand. One way to improve the odds of finding…
- Phuket News
Phuket CCTV: take two
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) is about to install 189 CCTV cameras throughout Koh Kaew and Rassada at a cost of 29 million baht. The roll-out is phase two of the OrBorJor‘s “citizen safety” campaign, which will coordinate with police in providing CCTV footage of traffic accidents and other incidents, explained OrBorJor President Paiboon Upatising. The cameras, some…
- World News
Another major quake off Indonesia
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Strong earthquake strikes off eastern Indonesia, causing panic Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A strong earthquake struck the Molucca Sea in eastern Indonesia yesterday afternoon, causing panic but no damage or casualties. The 6.4-magnitude quake at 1.05pm local time (11:05am Phuket time) was centered about 69 kilometers (42…
- Phuket News
First blood goes to Laguna in league opener
PHUKET: The highly anticipated Island Furniture Cricket League’s maiden match at the new Alan Cooke Ground (ACG) did not fail to disappoint on Sunday with a great exhibition of fielding and batting provided by both Laguna CC and Patong CC.However it was a more consistent performance by Laguna that eventually decided the victory.Laguna were put into bat on a damp…
- Phuket News
John Terry wants to come out
PHUKET: “Being captain is about coming out and facing up to it.” England and Chelsea captain John Terry is keen to open up and take it like a man regarding claims he abused Queens Park Ranger player Anton Ferdinand with racist remarks. The query here must be why, after Terry’s last controversy of allegedly having an affair with an England…
- Thai Life
Phuket Books – I am woman, hear me laugh
PHUKET: Those eminent contemporary philosophers Jerry Lewis and Christopher Hitchens have advanced the proposition that women lack a sense of humor. This notion can be shot down in two words: Tina Fey. The former Second City improp trouper, head writer for Saturday Night Live and creator and star of her own sitcom 30 Rock, has now produced her first book,…
- Phuket News
Phuket Red Cross calls for blood donations to help Bangkok flood victims
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center (PRBC) is asking for increased donations for November as parts of Thailand experience the worst flooding in half a century. “Due to the floods in Bangkok, the National Blood Center had a shortage of blood at the beginning of the month. The center normally receives about 1,500 units of blood daily from donors, but…
- Phuket News
Bangkok floods boost Phuket short-term rentals
PHUKET: The hospitality and real estate sectors in Phuket are currently benefiting from one of Thailand’s worst floods in a century. A report released by professional services real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle stated that Bangkok’s housing market has been hit particularly hard by flooding with many major housing areas across the capital are now under water. This has resulted…
- Phuket News
Phuket’s BIS tourney a success
PHUKET: The British International School (BIS) held its10th annual international 7-a-side football tournament in perfect conditions on November 4 and 5. Over 700 players from 25 schools participated in the competition with all teams exhibiting good footballing skills and excellent sportsmanship. Schools, clubs and projects from all over East and South East Asia traveled from as close as Pa Khlok…
- Phuket News
Phuket schools relax rules for hiring English teachers
PHUKET: The Phuket Primary Education Area Office has relaxed the requirements for foreigners to be hired as English-language teachers at government schools in Phuket. The move is aimed at combating a critical staff shortage, explained Office Director Jian Thongnoon. “We need about 100 English teachers, but right now we have only about 50 teachers and some of these are not…
- Phuket News
Phuket’s All Stars bowled over at ACG opener
PHUKET: The eagerly anticipated opening of the Alan Cooke Ground (ACG) was launched in thrilling style recently when the Phuket Cricket Group (PCG) “All Stars” took on the oldest cricket club in Asia, Singapore CC, at Thailand’s newest cricket facility. Heavy downpours the night before meant the new synthetic surface was still damp, making batting a treacherous task. Singapore won…
- Thai Life
Pearl of Thai reggae at Phuket’s Nai Yang Beach Club
PHUKET: Reggae fans can start preparing for a magical evening by the sea on November 25 when The Beach Club in association with Indigo Pearl launch the 2011 Nai Yang Beach Party Grand Opening Season. Headlining this event will be the hugely popular Job2Do. Indigo Pearl is the title sponsor of this initial collaboration between the award winning resort and…
- Phuket News
Phuket Public Transport: The decision to have public buses is ours
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Land Transportation Office has responded admirably to criticism that it has obviously failed over the past 20 years to develop public bus transportation in this province. (See front page, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full newspaper.) Office Chief Terayout Prasertphol says he has applied to his superiors in…
- Phuket News
Phuket’s “Buffalo Alley’: car overturns, bus damaged in vehicular bovicide
PHUKET: One car overturned, a bus was damaged and two buffaloes were killed on November 11 after a motorbike driver clipped one of the beasts as he drove past, spooking both animals and causing them to run into oncoming traffic. Kusoldharm Rescue Foundation workers received a report at about 12:30am that an accident involving three vehicles and two buffaloes had…
- Phuket News
Phuket expat, wife arrested for M16 assault rifle in car
PHUKET: Phuket police early this morning arrested a long-term expat and his wife after finding what they identified as an M16 automatic assault rifle with a loaded clip in the back of their car.Thung Thong Police Duty Officer Lt Col Chana Suttimard told the Phuket Gazette, “At 4am today, police arrested Ivan Vaclavik, 43, from Slovakia, and 32-year-old Phuket-native Suppasa…
- Phuket News
Phuket Prosecutor may appeal Fanelli sentence
PHUKET: The Phuket Attorney General’s Office is considering filing an appeal over the sentence of 10 years and three months imprisonment handed down to former US Marine Ronald Fanelli for the stabbing murder of bar hostess Wanphen Pienjai last year. Fanelli was formally handed down a sentence of 20 years imprisonment for murder and another six months in jail for…
- Phuket News
Phuket officials push for buses from airport to main beaches
PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Land Transportation Office (PLTO) Chief Terayout Prasertphol has announced that his office will apply for Phuket to have two new bus routes operating from the airport: one to Rawai and another running through Patong to Kata-Karon. He expects bus services along the new routes to be in operation by February. “The next step is to apply to…
- Thailand News
Phuket Media Watch: Flood Roundup
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community More than 1,000 suicidal following flood crisis The NationPHUKET: More than 1,000 people whose lives have been disrupted by the floods in central Thailand are at risk of committing suicide, Disaster Mitigation Centre director Phanu Yaemsri said Friday. Of more than 1.3 million Thais affected by…
- Phuket News
Bangkok Flood “phishing’ scam sinks hooks into Phuket
PHUKET: A scam email appealing for users’ bank details under the guise of helping to make a flood relief donation of one million dollars for flood victims in Bangkok is finding its way into the in-boxes of many residents in Phuket and probably around the world.“Every disaster brings scammers, and the flooding in Thailand is no exception. We’ve seen several…
- Phuket News
Phuket Poll: How alcohol dependent is Phuket?
PHUKET: The floods in Bangkok and Central Thailand continue to wreak havoc with domestic production of beer and its distribution to Phuket. The disruptions have caused serious shortages, much to the bane of hoteliers, restaurateurs and bar owners across the island. The Phuket Gazette has received many reports of severely inflated prices, up to nearly double for one brand of…
- Phuket News
Phuket’s Patong to transform feces into fertilizer
PHUKET: Patong Municipality will apply for a 65-million-baht loan to build a treatment plant that will convert thousands of tonnes of Phuket’s fecal matter into fertilizer. The Patong Council yesterday carried the motion in favor of building the fertilizer factory, with a plan to profit from the horrendous waste. Residents and tourists in the resort town generate up to 10…
- World News
Three more to be executed in China
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community China said to execute thousands annually Phuket Gazette PHUKET: It is unknown how many people are executed in China each year as the government withholds the information as a state secret. But according to an Amnesty International report, the figure is at least “thousands”. Three more…
- Phuket News
Phuket Airport ready for flood-redirected flights
PHUKET: Phuket International Airport (PIA) is ready to take on the role as the Airport Authority of Thailand (AoT) Emergency Operations Center if Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok succumbs to floods.“We held a meeting to discuss the possibility of PIA becoming the alternate [main] airport in case Suvarnabhumi Airport is unable to operate,” said an AoT Phuket spokesperson yesterday.“We are…
- Phuket News
Flood price rises no match for Phuket flower power on Loy Krathong
PHUKET: Floods in Bangkok and Central Thailand forcing the prices of some flowers to double in Phuket have not stopped people from splashing out for the Loy Krathong festival tonight. The krathong, lotus-shaped floats traditionally made of banana leaves, with a small offering of food, flowers, joss sticks and/or candles, are usually adorned with lotus and orchids. Prices of both…
