Legacy Phuket Gazette

Legacy Phuket Gazette

Archiving articles from the Phuket Gazette circa 1998 - 2017. View the Phuket Gazette online archive and Digital Gazette PDF Prints.
  • Phuket NewsThree Phuket tour van crash victims still in hospital

    Three Phuket tour van crash victims still in hospital

    PHUKET: Two tourists and a tour guide travelling in a tour van that had its roof ripped off by a crane in Chalong yesterday are recovering in hospital, the Phuket Gazette has confirmed. All nine occupants in the van at the time of the accident were taken to hospital, Chalong Police Sub Lt Kraisorn Boonprasob told the Gazette. “A Russian…

  • Business NewsPhuket Business: Staying the course

    Phuket Business: Staying the course

    PHUKET: The island’s first and only authentic miniature golf course, “Phuket Adventure Mini Golf”, recently celebrated the completion of its first year of operation. Swedish owners, Thomas and Pia Anderson, Phuket expats for nearly a decade, spoke to the Phuket Gazette about the past, present and future of their leisure attraction, the first of its kind in the Kingdom, located…

  • Phuket NewsSports News: Thailand face tough challenge in Singapore tonight

    Sports News: Thailand face tough challenge in Singapore tonight

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international communityPHUKET: Thailand will aim to gain the upper hand over old foes Singapore in the first leg of the ASEAN Championship final today, in a showdown of the tournament’s two most successful sides. Both have won the title three times, with their second championship showdown in five years…

  • Phuket NewsBritish ambassador joins fight against tourist scams

    British ambassador joins fight against tourist scams

    PHUKET: The British Ambassador to Thailand, Mark Kent, has joined a campaign by Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism to tackle tourist scams and will be in Phuket in the new year to discuss the issue with high-ranking Phuket officials. Ambassador Kent is being featured in a nationwide television campaign that will run until the end of December. In the video, Ambassador…

  • Phuket NewsNo formal change in Non-Imm B visas

    No formal change in Non-Imm B visas

    PHUKET: The Department of Consular Affairs head office in Bangkok, which coordinates policy for issuing visas at all Royal Thai Embassies around the world, has confirmed to the Phuket Gazette that there has been no formal change in policy concerning non-immigrant Business (“B”) visas issued in Malaysia. “The Royal Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur is still issuing multiple-entry, non-imm B…

  • PropertyPhuket Property Watch: Weary wayward night owls

    Phuket Property Watch: Weary wayward night owls

    PHUKET: My mother always said, “nothing good happens after midnight”. For travellers, the witching hours, between the dead of night and the dawn, are a subtle or shall we say ‘sublime’ last call. In past lives I’ve worked the night shift; as a bartender, blackjack dealer and hotel clerk. It’s a unique microcosm of the secret lives of strangers. I’m…

  • Phuket NewsInternational Sports: Aussies snatch victory from jaws of a draw

    International Sports: Aussies snatch victory from jaws of a draw

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – International sports news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Siddle strikes to spark dramatic Australia win Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Seamers Peter Siddle and Mitchell Starc shared six late wickets to give Australia a dramatic 137-run victory over Sri Lanka in the last hour of the fifth and final day of the first…

  • Phuket NewsBreaking News: Busted penis prompts Phuket fighter to come forward

    Breaking News: Busted penis prompts Phuket fighter to come forward

    PHUKET: Speaking exclusively with the Phuket Gazette, MMA fighter Ray Elbe has come forward about the penis injury he suffered in his Kuala Lumpur condo earlier this month.Ray, who founded and for years ran the MMA program at Phuket’s renowned Tiger Muay Thai training camp in Chalong, urged all men who suffer a similar injury to immediately seek treatment.“I came…

  • Business NewsPhuket Business: There’s cash in that trash

    Phuket Business: There’s cash in that trash

    PHUKET: Sustainability is perhaps the most overused buzz word at present. Increasingly over the past several years, stake holders in the tourism and hospitality sectors have added momentum to the dialogue about saving the environment through the implementation of ‘green practices’. When it comes down to actually taking action and making all of the necessary investments, however, few have delivered.…

  • Phuket NewsTsunami warning app lands on Phuket shores

    Tsunami warning app lands on Phuket shores

    PHUKET: The National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) launched a mobile phone application this month that allows iPhone and Android phone users to receive instant notifications of any tsunami alerts and warnings issued by the center. The “app” was launched on the online Apple App Store for iPhones and iPads on December 11, with an Android version launched on the Android…

  • Phuket NewsCrane rips roof off Phuket tour van

    Crane rips roof off Phuket tour van

    PHUKET: A retractable crane arm hanging over Patak Road in Chalong ripped the roof off a Phuket tour van full of tourists just after 9am today.The west-bound tour van was about 200 meters from Chalong Circle when it collided with the arm of the crane.The van was not overturned in the accident and at this stage no deaths or serious…

  • Thai LifeAsia Superyacht Rendezvous sends sublime ripples through Phuket’s lifestyle scene | Thaiger

    Asia Superyacht Rendezvous sends sublime ripples through Phuket’s lifestyle scene

    PHUKET: The first night of the Asia Superyacht Rendezvous 2012 kicked off yesterday evening at the Angsana Laguna Phuket resort on the shores of Bang Tao Bay, on Phuket’s west coast.The annual three-day superyacht extravaganza began with the formal welcoming of local and international sponsors, media and guests, as well as the captains and owners of all the magnificent participating…

  • Phuket NewsBrazen youths caught after bag snatch in front of Phuket police | Thaiger

    Brazen youths caught after bag snatch in front of Phuket police

    PHUKET: Three teenagers were arrested minutes after they snatched a bag from a Chinese tourist right in front of four Phuket police officers in a patrol pickup truck on Saturday night.“The officers watched as the young men on a motorbike with no license plate approached the woman, Wang Ying, while she was walking by the side of the road with…

  • Phuket NewsPhuket’s “Non Tanon’, 16, wins The Voice Thailand

    Phuket’s “Non Tanon’, 16, wins The Voice Thailand

    PHUKET: Phuket teenager Tanon “Non” Chamroen won the national singing talent quest The Voice Thailand 2012 last weekend. Standing on stage in Bangkok on Saturday night, Non sang the Thai love song Yung Mai Koey (“Still Never”) live on Channel 3’s nationwide broadcast of the finals.Now called “Non Tanon”, the Mattayom 4 student at Satree Phuket School in Phuket Town…

  • World NewsWorld News: These tragedies must end: US President Obama

    World News: These tragedies must end: US President Obama

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Funerals begin for Newtown victims as schools confront tragedy Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The small Connecticut town shattered by an act President Barack Obama called “unconscionable evil,” held today the first two of 20 funerals for schoolchildren massacred in their classrooms last week. Meanwhile, schools across…

  • Thai LifePhuket Gardening: Native and imported plants

    Phuket Gardening: Native and imported plants

    PHUKET: For the aspiring or experienced gardener, it’s always a good idea to go on a reconnaissance patrol to see what plants are thriving in your territory. And I refer not only to other gardens in Phuket, but also to everything else that fosters greenery – from roadsides, shore-lines, tree-clad slopes and scrub-land to plant nurseries. If a species is…

  • Thai LifePhuket Food: Three steps from heaven

    Phuket Food: Three steps from heaven

    PHUKET: Trisara is a very imposing but undeniably beautiful resort: Set on 40 acres of hillside lushness on the northwestern coast of Phuket, every one if its pool villas afford gorgeous sea-and-sunset-views out to a mysterious looking rocky promontory in the Andaman Sea. The resort is the sort of place that celebrities come to and, well, disappear for a few…

  • Thai LifePhuket Explore: Blazing Saddles

    Phuket Explore: Blazing Saddles

    PHUKET: Welcome to Blazing Saddles as we take you on one of Phuket’s most famous and favorite bike rides, down to the charming southernmost beach on the island’s west coast, to Nai Harn. It’s a bleary 6am start as you clamber into your Lycra biking attire, adjust the funny codpiece bulging at the front of your shorts and wheel your…

  • Business NewsExplaining UK pension transfers

    Explaining UK pension transfers

    PHUKET: For the many people who leave the UK each year to live, work and retire in Thailand, or many popular countries across the world, a decision needs to be made as to whether they will keep their private or occupational pension funds in the UK or transfer them overseas. Since April 6, 2006, an individual looking to transfer their…

  • Phuket NewsPhuket rallies for expat sailor Kevin Ashby

    Phuket rallies for expat sailor Kevin Ashby

    PHUKET: Hundreds of people turned out at the Ao Chalong Yacht Club (ACYC) on Friday night to contribute much-needed money for the life-saving surgery of beloved Phuket expat sailor Kevin Ashby. Kevin, 42, was recently diagnosed with stage three colon cancer, but does not have the health insurance needed to cover the critical surgery. “It was a great event. More…

  • Phuket NewsPolice, officials knew of death threats, alleges Reisz girlfriend

    Police, officials knew of death threats, alleges Reisz girlfriend

    PHUKET: A woman close to Hungarian murder victim Peter Reisz gave her statement to Phuket police, claiming that Samui Police and officials at the Hungarian embassy in Bangkok were aware of death threats being made against Mr Reisz but failed to act appropriately on them. The woman, a Vietnamese national who asked not to be named in fear of compromising…

  • OpinionPhuket Opinion: Just slow down

    Phuket Opinion: Just slow down

    PHUKET: Samak Luedwonghad, 45, has been trying to make Thailand’s roads safer for 23 years, and is currently the Phuket Highways Office Director. Before he moved to Phuket in February, he had worked for the Department of Rural Roads’ Bureau of Bridge Construction for 10 years, and then for more than five years as the head project engineer of the…

  • OpinionPhuket Opinion: Parking management not “The Impossible’

    Phuket Opinion: Parking management not “The Impossible’

    PHUKET: Rising property prices, poor public planning and a dire lack of public transport options have combined to leave Phuket with a lack of public parking in some of its most densely-settled areas.In few places is the problem more acute than in shopping center parking garages. While some are better than others, the traffic nightmare that persists in some, during…

  • Phuket NewsFamily positive in identification of missing American Brett Bean

    Family positive in identification of missing American Brett Bean

    PHUKET: Based on CCTV footage the family of missing American Brett Bean have identified the man using Brett’s ATM card on November 23 as Brett. “My husband, my daughter and I all thought that the video on the 23rd was Brett. None of us are sure of the other videos. We are actively working on those videos, so that we…

  • Thai LifePhuket Diving: Building the reefs of the future

    Phuket Diving: Building the reefs of the future

    PHUKET: The texture from the flaking, oxidized iron of the 1700s hand grenade is a novelty in itself as we sit at five meters on the 1724 Guadalupe Underwater archaeological Preserve. The Dominican Republic “wreck” complete with ancient pieces of broken amphora pottery, ballast stones, cannons and other artifacts from the period, was developed as an underwater museum exhibit available…

  • Phuket NewsPhuket labor chief confirms illegal Burmese workers will be deported

    Phuket labor chief confirms illegal Burmese workers will be deported

    PHUKET: Any migrant workers found in Phuket without having completed the nationality verification process will be deported, the chief of the Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO) has warned. “The deadline for migrant workers to complete the nationality verification process was extended by six months, from June 15 until December 14,” PPEO chief Yaowapa Pibulpol told the Phuket Gazette. “During that…

  • World NewsWorld News: Connecticut in mourning; Gunman kills 28

    World News: Connecticut in mourning; Gunman kills 28

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Quiet Connecticut town rocked by mass school shooting Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The peace and security of the suburban Connecticut community of Newtown lay shattered yesterday after a gunman attacked a primary school in one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.Tearful parents and children gathered…

  • Phuket NewsPatong Carnival underway today

    Patong Carnival underway today

    PHUKET: The island’s premier party town of Patong is set to kick off the tourism high season with its annual carnival, starting today and running to December 20. Organized by the Patong Municipality, the annual festival draws thousands of visitors from all over the world to mark the start of the tourism high season in Phuket, which traditionally runs from…

  • World NewsWorld News: Egypt to hold referendum; Bloodshed likely: Ahmed Said

    World News: Egypt to hold referendum; Bloodshed likely: Ahmed Said

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Egyptian factions stage final rallies before referendum Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi staged final rallies today before a divisive referendum on a new constitution championed by the Islamist leader as a way out of the worst crisis since…

  • Phuket NewsPhang Nga officials implicated in illegal palm plantation

    Phang Nga officials implicated in illegal palm plantation

    PHUKET: Several high-ranking Phang Nga officials have been implicated in the operation of an illegal 16-rai palm plantation raided by officers yesterday after the site was deemed to be encroaching on protected park land.More than 70 officers cleared 420 palm trees in yesterday’s raid.The offensive targeted a district border area at the tourist-popular Ton Pariwat Wildlife Conservation Area, north of…