- Thailand News
20 injured in Deep South bomb attacks
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Two more injured in further small blasts in Yala town Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Bomb attacks continued to erupt in Yala’s Muang district yesterday, raising the number of injured over the past two days to 20. Despite that, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister…
- Property
Across the Land: Strong baht, fewer buyers means soft summer market
PHUKET: The Year of the Goat (Sheep/Ram) was heralded February 19 and signaled the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year. After a disastrous Year of the Horse – two major airplane crashes, unrest in Ukraine, ISIS kidnappings and be-headings, social turmoil in Thailand – the Year of the Goat is much welcomed. For a start, The Tourism Authority of…
- Phuket News
No Rohingya holding center for Phuket, says Gov
PHUKET: Top Phuket and Navy officials have voiced support for the government’s move to find islands on which migrants, Rohingya and otherwise, can stop over on their way to their destination. However, they expressed concern about Phuket and islands which are part of Thailand’s National Marine Parks system being used as stop-over points. The move follows an order from Prime…
- Phuket News
Phuket Gov, Vice Gov return lost wallet to doctor
PHUKET: Governor Nisit Jansomwong and Vice Governor Suthee Thongyam teamed up to return a lost wallet to a Phuket doctor today. “Vice Governor Suthee’s friend, Sorachai Sirichoti, along with two other friends, found the wallet at Rang Hill yesterday,” Prapan Kanprasang, chief of the Damrongtham Center (ombudsman’s office) said. “However, they ended up handing over the wallet to the vice…
- Phuket News
Woman dies in car crash on slippery Krabi road
PHUKET: A woman died yesterday when she lost control of her pick-up truck on a wet road in Krabi and slammed into a pole. Police arrived at the scene on Petchkasem Road in Khlong Thom district at about 10am to find a pick-up truck wrapped around a sign pole in the median of the road. “Phonphan Khongyot, 31, died instantly…
- Opinion
Opinion: Road improvements to relieve Phuket’s traffic congestion
Samak Luedwonghad, 48, is the director of the Phuket Highways Office, under the Department of Highways. Originally from Nakhon Sri Thammarat province, he graduated from Mahanakorn University of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. He has been the director of the Phuket Highways Office since 2012. Here, he talks about the ever-worsening traffic congestion on the island and…
- Phuket News
BISP swim team racks up records, 2016 Summer Olympics qualifiers
PHUKET: When the JSA Swim Academy at British International School Phuket first took to the pool in August 2013, the team had five international swimmers on scholarship, four swimmers from the school’s Flying Fish club team and high hopes. During the August to December 2014 swim season, the team’s nine swimmers (five girls and four boys) competed in the Thailand…
- Business News
HK Express takes flight in Phuket market
PHUKET: Hong Kong’s low-fare airline has seen significant first-quarter growth as it continues its campaign to woo both the Thai and expat markets in Phuket. HK Express has carried close to 500,000 passengers in the first quarter of this year, which represents a 102 percent growth compared with the same period in 2014. The airline reports total passengers for March…
- Phuket News
Marine officials clamp down on IUU fishing in Phuket
PHUKET: Local maritime officers and fishing operators gathered yesterday to discuss measures launched to shut down illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities in the region. The push for solutions follows the EU putting Thailand on formal notice on April 21 for not taking sufficient measures in the international fight against IUUs (story here). Thailand was given six months to…
- Opinion
Opinion: Helmetless children, hurdles to Phuket parenting
PHUKET: I’m a recent arrival in Phuket after spending several months in Bangkok where I purchased a Honda CBR150 sports bike and then dared to negotiate the city’s infamous traffic. I’d been cautioned not to do so because of the potential for injury or death, but having successfully driven a Chinese-made 150cc motorcycle, which resembled a scaled-down Harley, on the…
- Opinion
Opinion: Russian Return – just victims of ‘host fatigue’
PHUKET: Good news for Phuket’s all-important tourism industry comes with indications that the sharp downturn in arrivals from Russia in the first quarter of this year is expected to be short-lived, with a solid recovery for this important market sector projected for the fourth quarter, according to industry analysts. The huge increase in the number of tourists from Russia to…
- Thailand News
Govt surveying two isles for detention of migrants
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Govt surveying two isles for detention of migrants Phuket Gazette/The Nation PHUKET: The prime minister has ordered a survey of two unpopulated islands off Ranong with the view of using them to detain Rohingya migrants. Sources familiar with the matter yesterday identified the islands as Kangkao…
- Thai Life
Excuse Buster: Magnesium – A powerhouse mineral
PHUKET: Guess which mineral deficiency makes you twice as likely to die as people with healthy levels? According to a study published in The Journal of Intensive Care Medicine, the answer is magnesium. Many people have heard of the benefits of getting enough magnesium to relax muscles (reduce muscle cramps) and promote sleep, but did you know magnesium is responsible…
- Business News
Finance: Sometimes you can buy happiness
PHUKET: I recently read a study about buying experiences versus material things and their relative effects on happiness. Interestingly, studies show that money only increases happiness up to a certain point, and buying experiences can have a longer effect on happiness than buying material things, even though the ‘things’ will be around for a substantial amount of time. The reason…
- Phuket News
Thalang man shot in alleged case of mistaken identity
PHUKET: A Thalang man was shot and seriously injured after he was allegedly mistaken for someone else. Kordetch Sinto, 38, was sitting outside of his rented room in Thalang on Wednesday evening when four suspects on two motorbikes rode up and shot him in the back. Mr Kordetch had already been rushed to Thalang Hospital before officers arrived, Phuket Provincial…
- Phuket News
Bikers baffled by nails scattered in bicycle lane
PHUKET: Island officials are searching for the culprit – or culprits – who left more than 100 nails in the bicycle lane at Saphan Hin, resulting in three punctured bicycle tires this week. A group of cyclists noticed the scattered nails when one of their bikes’ tires deflated while the group was riding on the path on Tuesday. “We didn’t…
- Phuket News
Phuket lifeguards to sign new contract
PHUKET: The Phuket Lifeguard Club (PLC) will sign a new contract tomorrow and lifeguards are expected to return to Phuket’s beaches by next Wednesday, just as the southwest monsoon season and corresponding dangerous sea conditions take hold. This year, the contract stipulates that there will be a total of 95 employees: 83 lifeguards, nine chief lifeguards and three managers. There…
- Phuket News
Phuket lucky licence plate auction next weekend
PHUKET: The Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) is hoping to raise more than 20 million baht from this year’s Lucky Licence Plate Auction, which will be held in Phuket Town next weekend. The two-day event at the Phuket Merlin Hotel will begin on May 23 at 9am, with 301 licence plates to go to the highest bidders. All licence plates…
- Phuket News
Cheap tuk-tuk service to be launched in Phuket Town
PHUKET: The Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) is organizing a tuk-tuk service in Phuket Town that will provide affordable transport for locals and tourists alike within the city limits. The news follows multiple complaints filed at Provincial Hall, the latest made on May 8, by a group of illegal tuk-tuk drivers who have been trying to obtain legal taxi status…
- Phuket News
Enormous king cobra caught creeping into Phuket hotel
PHUKET: A four-meter-long king cobra was wrangled into submission by rescue workers as it tried to sneak into a Phuket hotel room last night. Saiyan Thamaphan, chief of the Phuket Ruamjai Rescue Foundation, and his team arrived at Star of Phuket Resort to find panicked tourists and locals gathered outside. “We found the king cobra trying to gain access to…
- Bangkok News
Senior Bangkok official dies from Krabi hot spring splash
PHUKET: A senior official at the Attorney-General’s Office in Bangkok was pronounced dead on April 30 after a leap into a Krabi hot spring left him in a coma a few weeks earlier. Somkiat Phatkhun, the deputy director of the Training and Development Institute at the Office of the Attorney General in Bangkok, was on vacation with his wife when…
- Phuket News
Government vows to revisit Koh Kaew canal dredging project
PHUKET: The Marine Department director-general has vowed to renew efforts to find the best solution to the congested Koh Kaew canal, which links two of Phuket’s prominent marinas to Phang Nga Bay. The extension of the Koh Kaew canal, which leads to Royal Phuket Marina and the Boat Lagoon, was reported as being completed on December 28, 2014, allowing easier…
- World News
Magnitude 7 earthquake strikes in Nepal – USGS
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community MAGNITUDE 7 EARTHQUAKE STRIKES IN NEPAL – USGS Phuket Gazette / ReutersPHUKET: A strong earthquake shook Nepal today, sending people in the capital Kathmandu rushing out on to the streets weeks after a devastating quake killed more than 8,000 people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of…
- Phuket News
Thailand takes four-pronged approach to maritime-hub goal
PHUKET: The government will be pushing Thailand as a major yachting destination in the region using a four-pronged approach, the Marine Department director-general revealed at a public meeting in Phuket yesterday. To achieve Thailand’s goal, government offices will be working closely with maritime industry leaders to establish potential locations for new marinas in Thailand, develop and promote a yacht show,…
- Thailand News
Police identify alleged ‘money man’ behind Rohingya trafficking
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community ‘Trafficking bag man’ named Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Police yesterday obtained an arrest warrant for a man they said was a key financier behind the entire Rohingya trafficking racket in the South. The suspect, the 50th and latest wanted in connection with human labor…
- Phuket News
Summons issued for dangerous Phuket driver
PHUKET: The Phuket City Police are demanding that the owner of a black Fortuner SUV, whose vehicle was captured on video being driven recklessly, endangering other drivers, present himself to police. The video clearly shows the Fortuner cutting off two men on a motorbike in heavy traffic as it merges onto the bypass road from Yaowarat Road, and then coming…
- Food
Serving Indian soul food
PHUKET: The dishes served up by Spice Box’s chef, Savita Sriram, are the Indian version of the Southern American soul food that makes New Orleans a must-stop destination on any foodie’s travels – they are simply everything you want from Indian food and nothing you expect. “We are not a fancy restaurant. We are not tandoori chefs. We are none…
- Phuket News
Video Report: Drug dealer’s daughter nabbed for dealing in Phuket Town
PHUKET: Police arrested a convicted drug dealer’s daughter on Saturday after she was found in possession of 5,400 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills, 41.50 grams of ya bah powder and more than 50g of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine). Police had been keeping a close eye on Suphanan Chaichana, 30, after her father, Lep Chaichana, was arrested for selling drugs and sentenced…
- Thai Life
Shop, chill and eat at Phuket’s liveliest marina
PHUKET: The Lighthouse Weekend Market returns to Boat Lagoon this Friday for a three-day weekend extravaganza, the last of the year as the southwest monsoon season officially rolls in. The events kick off with a nightly Happy Hour from 5pm to 7pm, during which half-priced drinks and two-for-one specials will be offered at all the dockside bars and selected eateries.…
- Thai Life
Gravity defying yoga comes to Phuket
PHUKET: Aerial yoga, widely known as ‘anti-gravity’ yoga or ‘flying yoga’, is now available in Phuket, as it takes Asia, Australia and the rest of the world by storm. The new form of yoga, the first classes reportedly having been taught by Michelle Dortignac in New York City in 2006, takes adaptations of traditional yoga poses and combines them with…
