- Phuket News
Krabi tourists roused by new year fire
PHUKET: Tourists on holiday in Ao Nang, Krabi, across the bay from Phuket, were roused from their new year slumber early yesterday morning as hotel staff ordered an emergency evacuation and firefighters attempted to douse a blaze in a room full of gas cylinders. Hundreds of tourists staying at the Ao Nang Buri Resort ran for the safety of Haad…
- Phuket News
Storm leaves 70 Rohingya adrift off Phuket
PHUKET: A boat carrying about 70 Rohingya fleeing persecution in their homeland in Myanmar were taken into custody by the Thai authorities off Phuket today.Local fisherman first sighted the boat off Bon Island, off Rawai Beach at the southern end of Phuket, and reported it to Rawai Municipality.“I was told by fishermen this morning that there was a suspicious-looking boat…
- Phuket News
Former NBT broadcaster Phuket’s first road death for the new year
PHUKET: A former broadcaster for the National Broadcasting Services of Thailand (NBT) has become the eighth person to die on Phuket’s roads since the Seven Days of Danger national new year road-safety campaign began last Thursday. Eak Eakwewchakul, 26, died when his Toyota sedan overshot a curve and hit a power pole near the Phuket Go-Kart track in Kathu on…
- Phuket News
Phuket ushers in the New Year 2013
PHUKET: About 1,000 people gathered at Queen Sirikit Park in Phuket Town this morning to join a mass blessing ceremony to usher in the new year 2013. Phuket residents, officials and tourists offered alms to 145 monks as part of the festivities this morning. Phuket Vice Governor Sommai Prijasilpa at 7am officiated the blessing ceremony, joined by Vice Governors Somkiet…
- Phuket News
Phuket’s deadly ‘Seven Days of Danger’ claims two more lives
PHUKET: Two men on a motorcycle on Thepkrasattri Road in Thalang were hit and crushed under a Phuket tour bus early this morning, bringing to seven the number of deaths in the ongoing “Seven Days of Danger” new year road-safety campaign. As is relatively standard practice in Phuket, the bus driver fled the scene and is being sought by the…
- Phuket News
Sydictive skips a beat in Phuket beach party launch
PHUKET: The crowd of 50,000 people predicted by the Sydictive party organizers has yet to appear on Patong Beach, despite the event having started last night. The much-ballyhooed party got off to a seven-hour late start yesterday due to incomplete preparations. It reopened today at 3pm to a small group of people. Despite some complaints on the Sydictive Element’s Facebook…
- Phuket News
Phuket 2012: Crimes take center stage
SPECIAL REPORT PHUKET: There were many high-profile crimes on Phuket in 2012. Perhaps none horrified the audience of the world as much as killing of Australian tourist Michelle Smith, 60. Mrs Smith, a travel agent, died from stab wounds after two men tried to steal her handbag and she fought back.Her assailants, Surasak Suwannachote and Surin Tadthong, were apprehended, tried…
- Opinion
Phuket Opinion: Trash the past for the New Year
PHUKET: A new 960-million-baht incinerator went into operation in the middle of last year, yet Phuket still faces a solid waste crisis – one that requires a better solution than simply building a third incinerator at Saphan Hin. (See also tomorrow morning’s Web review of ‘Phuket 2012: Feeling the pinch from growing pains’.) When the new plant went into operation,…
- Phuket News
Go Eco Phuket record-breakers win “Person of the Year’
PHUKET: As with our ‘Person of the Year Award’ last year, we have again opted for the plural and are delighted to announce that the honor goes to two of the driving forces behind the launch of the marine conservation group Go Eco Phuket. The group united dive centers throughout the island and rallied the support of the Royal Thai…
- Phuket News
ENGLISH FOOTBALL ROUNDUP: Man City draw on recent memory for New Year title fight
PHUKET (Reuters): Champions Manchester City go into 2013 facing a daunting seven-point deficit on Premier League leaders Manchester United and a testing encounter against stubborn Stoke City on Tuesday.Roberto Mancini’s side ended the year which delivered their first Premier League title with a gritty 4-3 triumph over Norwich City, proving their high-profile players also have the mettle for a fight.It’s…
- Phuket News
Letter from the Phuket Governor: Working together for a brighter new year
Maitri Inthusut arrived on the island to take up the position of Governor of Phuket on October 8. With a master’s degree in political science from Thammasat University, he joined the National Security Council, rising to the position of NSC Secretary-General, before taking up the position of Chief Secretary for Secretariat of the Cabinet. He has also served as Governor…
- Phuket News
Phuket hospitality running on a full tank
As Phuket looks back a year full many negative news reports, the Phuket Gazette is happy to publish this reader’s first-person account of what makes living in Phuket great. PHUKET: Phuket is the Thailand I know and love. Having flown straight to the island and stayed, I have only heard rumors of “mainland” hospitality and the kindness Thai people are…
- Phuket News
Phuket moorings break loose, wreak havoc for yachtsmen at Chalong Bay
PHUKET: As yachts continue to arrive in Phuket ahead of the New Year’s Eve celebrations and countdown tonight, the new moorings installed in Chalong Bay late last month have already wreaked havoc, with brand-new mooring lines breaking and setting boats adrift. The broken lines have sent the yachts and other vessels to smash against their neighbors in the bay, resulting…
- Phuket News
Two dead in Phuket motorbike crash
PHUKET: Police are attempting to identify a foreign man and a woman killed in a motorcycle accident in Cherng Talay, on central Phuket’s west coast, last night.The pair were riding a motorcycle along the Cherng Talay-Baan Don Road when they were struck by a pickup truck in front of Soi Pasak 3 at about 9:15pm, Lt Col Rassada of the…
- Phuket News
Sydictive Phuket beach bash kicks off today – amid confusion and stringent rules
PHUKET: The Sydictive Element Phuket beach party has jumped its last bureaucratic hurdle, and with the setup for the mega-event now said to be 90 per cent complete, it’s finally “a go” for Patong Beach. However, the party organizers were handed a 15-point list of rules the party must adhere to or face the possibility of being shut down. “We…
- Phuket News
Aldhouse pleads “not guilty’ to Phuket murder charge
PHUKET: British national Lee Aldhouse entered a plea of not guilty this week for the murder of former US Marine Dashawn Longfellow in Phuket in 2010.Aldhouse was presented to the Phuket Provincial Court on Wednesday and formally charged with murder. The maximum penalty under the charge is death.“He has been charged with premeditated murder under Section 288 of the Thai…
- Phuket News
Phuket Poll: Should parking lots be mandatory?
PHUKET: Queuing is an unpleasant but unavoidable aspect of modern life – we queue to check in at the airport, to buy a movie ticket and to purchase things in a store. And more and more in Phuket, we queue to park our cars. Poor oversight of parking lots, lack of public transportation and a growing number of cars on…
- Phuket News
Colorful Countdown Phuket kicks off today
PHUKET: The New Year celebrations on the island starts at 6pm today as the annual “Colorful Countdown Phuket” for 2013 kicks off. The event, put on by the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization, will be held at Chai Field (map here), opposite Provincial Hall in Phuket Town. The event will host a variety of top Thai artists, including Thai-country rock singer…
- Thailand News
Corruption in Phuket: Is there now hope for a cure?
PHUKET: Loosely in formed in 2010, the Anti-Corruption Network this year has become a key organisation that has shed unprecedented light on corruption in Thailand. This group, comprising entities from the public and private sectors, is pushing hard in its campaign against corruption at the corporate and national levels, with the ultimate goal of ensuring fairness to all Thais and…
- Phuket News
Phuket human traffickers jailed for deaths of 54 illegal Burmese
PHUKET: Four Thais found guilty of human trafficking were sentenced to between three and 10 years’ imprisonment yesterday for their intricate involvement in the 2008 “death truck” that left 54 Burmese dead from suffocation inside a seafood container bound for Phuket. Of the 121 Burmese found in the sealed container heading from Ranong, 17 men, 36 women and one 8-year-old…
- Phuket News
Phuket Sports: Brothers Grimes racing year
PHUKET: Since the last update by the Phuket Gazette on the progress of Ben and Sam Grimes in their rookie karting race year, the boys have made good progress in the second half of the season. Clearly their mid-season driver coaching and testing sessions, together with improved fitness levels paid off, and showed just how important investing time and effort…
- Property
Phuket’s SMART Property and Lifestyle Expo is off and running
PHUKET: The SMART Property and Lifestyle Expo started December 27 and runs until December 30, 2012 at the Royal Phuket Marina (RPM). It’s billed as Phuket’s best extravaganza for accessible luxury. A showcase of best investment properties and “lifestyle” activities that epitomize luxury aspiration are on display. According to the organizer, Hoi Cheung, director, 3C Ltd, “In recent years Phuket…
- Phuket News
Phuket tour bus driver charged for 18-vehicle pileup
PHUKET: The driver of the tour bus that caused an 18-vehicle pileup in Patong last night was today charged with reckless driving causing damage to property and health. Prawet Wongthai, 51, was driving towards Patong from Kata Beach when he realized the bus brakes had failed. Unable to stop, he caused a collision involving 17 vehicles before coming to a…
- Thai Life
Phuket Lifestyle: 2012 quiz answers
PHUKET: Answers to the Phuket Gazette’s 2012 Super quiz. 1) Iran 2) Spain 3) Germany 4) Novak Djokovic 5) Costa Concordia 6) Cairo 7) Declared bankrupt 8) The United States and Israel 9) Yahoo! 10) Royal Bank of Scotland 11) Facebook 12) Her 60th 13) Malév Hungarian Airlines 14) Greece 15) Harry Redknapp 16) Whitney Houston 17) Egypt 18) Germany…
- Thai Life
Phuket Lifestyle: Three New Years for the price of one
PHUKET: Making (and often immediately breaking) New Year’s resolutions is an age-old tradition all over the world as we pass from one year into the next. Hope, and its close cousin, self delusion, are abundant at this time of year as we promise to be better and brighter versions of ourselves. In Phuket, in fact you get not just one,…
- Thai Life
Phuket Diving: Into the New Year
PHUKET: With the world’s biggest single day reef cleanup behind us, not to mention numerous underwater adventures from discovering manta rays to testing out new gear, it is time to focus on what another year of diving will bring. As an hour underwater is never an hour wasted, it’s impossible to list all the goals a person should consider adding…
- Phuket News
Two dead in Phuket on first day of new year road-safety blitz
PHUKET: Two people have died on Phuket’s roads within the first 24 hours of the annual Seven Days of Danger new year road-safety campaign, according to the official Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket branch (DDPM-Phuket) statistics issued today. Yuthapong Taempetch, 37, died after the motorbike he was riding and a pickup truck collided on Kwang Road (see map)…
- World News
World News: Americans still want their guns, with some restrictions
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community After Newtown, Americans want their guns, with some restrictions Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Nearly seven in 10 Americans support the idea of placing strong or moderate limits gun ownership following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a Reuters/Ipsos poll revealed yesterday.But laws that permit citizens…
- World News
World News: Stormin’ Norman stands down
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Famed Gulf War US General Schwarzkopf dies Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Retired US General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr, who headed the coalition forces that drove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s army out of Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm, has died, a US official said yesterday. He was 78.The highly…
- Thailand News
Thailand News: A look back at some of the memorable moments for Thai athletes in 2012
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Triumphs, tears and TV rights The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: This year was a mixed bag for Thai athletes on the international front. The Nation looks back at some of the memorable moments and missed opportunities and wishes Thailand’s sportsmen and women a brighter future on the…
