Legacy Phuket Gazette
- Phuket News
February blood drive in Phuket
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Chapter of the Thai Red Cross Society in conjunction with the Phuket Regional Office of the National Blood Center has announced the following dates and times for it mobile donation clinics for February: February 10 (10am to 2pm): Phuket Wittayalai School, Phuket Town February 11 (11am to 3pm): Jungceylon, Patong February 15 (1pm to 4pm): Radi…
- Phuket News
Phuket education fair this Sunday
PHUKET: More than 20 Phuket-based Thai, bilingual and international schools are taking part in the Phuket Private Education Fair at Central Festival this Sunday. The schools will be occupying booths at Central Festival’s Event Hall on the 2nd floor from 11am to 8pm on February 14, giving prospective students and their parents the chance to meet school representatives and find…
- Phuket News
Car crushes cobra in Mai Khao
PHUKET TOWN: A cobra trying to cross Thepkrasattri Road in Thalang got crushed by oncoming traffic late yesterday afternoon. Estonian freelance photographer Ardo Kaljuvee, who happened to be driving past at the time, was among the many motorists who stopped to view the remains of the flattened serpent, which was at least three meters in length. The snake’s final slither…
- Phuket News
Phuket fishing boat scuttled after blaze
RASSADA, PHUKET: A wooden fishing boat that burst into flames during repair work this morning was deliberately sunk in the waters of Klong Tha Cheen. After receiving a report of a boat fire at about 9:30am, Phuket City Police, Marine Police and four fire engines from Rassada Municipality and Phuket City Municipality rushed to the scene. Arriving at the Pichai…
- Phuket News
Man killed in bypass road collision
RASSADA, PHUKET: A young man was killed last night when he drove his motorbike at high speed into the back of an 18-wheel truck parked on the bypass road. Police believe 22-year-old Uthen Thepohol failed to notice the truck because its tail lights were switched off. Mr Uthen, from Nakhon Phanom province, died instantly in the smash, which happened around…
- Phuket News
Phuket Gazette Readers Poll: Don’t enforce drugs law
PHUKET: Most Phuket Gazette readers think current Thai laws regarding the sale of prescription drugs like diazepam (Valium) should not be enforced, according to the results of our latest poll. More than half of the respondents to the last survey thought over-the-counter sales of such drugs should either be legalized or tolerated, as they are now. The poll followed the…
- Phuket News
Phuket prepped for Super Bowl
PHUKET TOWN: Super Bowl XLIV (that’s 44), the culmination of the NFL season and the biggest annual sporting event in the USA, will kick off early tomorrow morning, Thai time. The New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts will meet in Miami to decide the destination of the next Vince Lombardi trophy. It will be an historic occasion for the…
- Phuket News
Phuket bar destroyed in arson attack
RAWAI, PHUKET: Police are investigating an arson attack that completely destroyed the popular Roxanne Bar on Wichit Rd in Rawai early yesterday morning. Chalong Police were notified of the blaze at 3:30am. It took two Rawai Municipality fire engines about 30 minutes to put out the flames, but not before they destroyed the bar and everything inside. Located near the…
- Opinion
PHUKET OPINION: Stop ‘zero fare tours’ before they start in Phuket
PHUKET: Plans by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and three tourism business associations to stop ‘zero tour fare’ operators from setting up in Phuket are laudable, especially given the damage such outfits have already done to the inbound Chinese market in places like Chiang Mai and Pattaya. (See story here.) Often run out of Bangkok, zero fare tour operators…
- Phuket News
Paddlers go for gold in Phuket
PA KHLOK, PHUKET: One of the more colorful events taking place this weekend is the 6th Annual ‘Hua Tong’ Boat Paddling competition at Ao Por Pier in Pa Khlok. Eighteen teams with ten paddlers each are taking part in the main competition, which began at 9am yesterday with an opening ceremony presided over by Phuket Vice Governor Smith Palawatwichai. In…
- Phuket News
Phuket passes on swine flu vaccine
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket residents at high risk of contracting swine flu are failing to get vaccinated due to fears of side effects. Fewer than 7% of those identified as being at high risk have taken the vaccine, according to figures from the Phuket Public Health Office (PPHO). The PPHO says there are around 10,000 people in Phuket listed as having…
- Phuket News
Donations sought for Phuket road project completion
PHUKET TOWN: Wichit Municipality is seeking donations to help build a new house for a family of squatters who are holding up completion of a new road running behind Darasamuth School. Wichit Mayor Kreetar Saetan told the Gazette the municipality currently lacks the funds to build a new home for Chamnan Rungklin and his family, even though they already have…
- Phuket News
Red shirts plan big Phuket rally
PHUKET TOWN: Leaders of Phuket’s small red shirt movement yesterday declared the group will no longer back down against parties denying them their right to free speech – and say they are planning a large regional rally in Phuket. Four leaders of the ‘Phuket Protect Democratic Group’ [sic], the local branch of the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship…
- Phuket News
Phuket cops speak on tourist murders
PATONG, PHUKET: Patong’s most senior cop says perceived injustice, drunkenness and robbery attempts are the three factors that lead Thais to assault foreigners. Kathu Police Superintendent Grissak Songmoonnark says it is important to examine the underlying causes of Thai-on-farang violence. The comments come just after the announcement of Col Grissak’s transfer from the bright lights of Patong to Phang Nga’s…
- Phuket News
Phuket villagers burn red flags
WICHIT, PHUKET: Villagers burned flags belonging to a band of red shirts who attempted to rally in front of the Thai naval base in Cape Panwa this morning, warning them: ‘You are not welcome here’. A local man told the Gazette, “I don’t think they’ll come back, but if they do, we’re ready for a fight.” At around 9:30am a…
- Phuket News
Phuket to benefit from EVA – Bangkok Air agreement
PHUKET TOWN: Bangkok Airways and Taipei-based long-haul carrier EVA Air have signed a ‘code share’ agreement for services from Amsterdam, Vienna, London (Heathrow) and Taipei to Phuket, Koh Samui, Phuket and Chiang Mai. A code share agreement enables two airlines to sell seats on the same flight. Under the agreement, EVA will operate the international flights and Bangkok Air will…
- Phuket News
Phuket red shirt rally foiled by residents
WICHIT, PHUKET: Plans by supporters of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to hold a peaceful rally at the Navy Base at Cape Panwa early this afternoon got off to a bad start this morning, when the red-shirts got into a fight with local residents. Following the argument, the red-shirted members of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) were…
- Phuket News
Phuket could benefit from Finnish retirement community plan
PHUKET TOWN: Finland plans to build serviced apartments for retirees in Thailand, the Finnish website aamulehti.fi has reported. The move is intended to help Finnish retirees enjoy their golden years in this country, where their pension savings and other benefits will go much further than in Finland. According to Finnish government projections, the population of people aged 65 years and…
- Phuket News
USS Nimitz readies to ship out after Phuket visit
PHUKET TOWN: Servicemen and women from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and her two companion vessels USS Pinckney and USS Rentz have been painting the town in recent days, both figuratively and literally. As part of the US Navy’s community relations work during their current visit to Phuket, a team of sailors yesterday painted the canteen at the Baan Ao…
- Thailand News
Cell phone fears grip the North
CHIANG MAI: People in Northern Thailand have been afraid to answer their cellphones in recent weeks, following claims that calls from certain numbers cause instant brain haemorrhages. People are warning each other to watch out for numbers containing the sequence 3333. If the gossip is to be believed, when calls from the numbers are answered the phones send out a…
- Phuket News
Phuket firemen battle inferno
WICHIT, PHUKET: It took over fifty firefighters three hours to bring a blaze at a recycling center in Wichit under control last night. The blaze started at about 7:40pm at the Naka Recycle warehouse, located just north of the turnoff to Wat Naka on Chao Fah West Road. A total of 18 fire engines rushed to the scene: six from…
- Phuket News
Phuket Immigration chief transferred
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Immigration Superintendent Col Chanatpol Yongbunjerd is taking a transfer order to Immigration Headquarters in Bangkok in his stride, saying the new post will allow him to be near his family as he nears the civil service retirement age. Col Chanatpol arrived in Phuket from Pattaya in late 2007. Although initially perturbed about not having been given advance…
- Phuket News
Phuket Old Town Festival
PHUKET TOWN: The annual festival showcasing Phuket Town’s distinctive blend of Chinese and Thai culture is set to return this month. This year’s Phuket Old Town Festival will take place from February 19 to 21, after the arrival of the Year of the Tiger that falls on Valentine’s Day. The Tourism Authority of Thailand and Phuket City Municipality are promising…
- Phuket News
Rawai to set trash collection times
RAWAI, PHUKET: A recycling campaign launched by Rawai Municipality will include the removal of public garbage bins from streets and the introduction of fixed collection times. Rawai Mayor Aroon Solos said locals and tourists visiting Rawai tourist sites generate about 20 tons of solid waste daily in the high season. “The municipality has an ongoing campaign encouraging both local residents…
- Phuket News
USS Nimitz arrives in Phuket
PHUKET TOWN: Thousands of US servicemen stationed aboard the USS Nimitz and its support vessels arrived in Phuket yesterday morning for five days of rest and relaxation. Anxious to get off the 333-meter vessel after a month on board, sailors and marines quickly formed a long line extending almost the entire length of the hangar deck. As enlisted men and…
- Phuket News
From Phuket to California by kayak
PHUKET: Two Phuket kayakers are getting ready for a spot of exercise: the world’s longest paddling expedition, a 14,000-mile voyage from Phuket to California in a 20-foot wooden boat. American Ryan Doran, 26, and Phatum Thani born Piya ‘Mr X’ Sukunthai, 28, plan to leave Nai Harn Beach on March 10 – and they won’t be back for a while.…
- Phuket News
Phuket camp owner defends berserk elephant
PHUKET: The owner of an elephant that recently went berserk and injured two Swedish tourists has defended the beast, blaming its mahout for the incident. Trin Khanwilaikul, owner of ‘Camp Chang’ in Kalim, said the elephant named ‘Captain’ would not be punished for the rampage, which also damaged a car. “He is a nice elephant, but he had the wrong…
- Phuket News
Phuket: More tourists, fewer baht
PHUKET: With hotel occupancy rates on the island currently reported at around 90 percent, hoteliers and other tourism business operators find themselves for the first time in two years unable to complain about a lack of tourists. This is obviously good news, but businesses on the island are finding that strong arrival figures haven’t translated into the kind of revenue…
- Phuket News
‘Splash Jungle’ opens in Phuket
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: ‘Splash Jungle,’ Phuket’s first state-of-the-art water park, opened today on the grounds of the West Sands project in Mai Khao. Among the park’s many attractions are a 335-meter ‘Lazy River’ water ride that meanders through seven themed sections: Inca-Maya, Africa, Asia, Turkey, Northern Europe, North America – and even the North Pole. Two high-octane slide rides are…
- Phuket News
Phuket telephone book launched today
PHUKET: The 2010 edition of the Gazette Guide, (Phuket’s ‘yellow pages’), goes on sale across the island and in major cities throughout Thailand this morning. Printed on traditional telephone book paper this year, the new directory contains even more information than last year, yet is half the weight of the 2009 edition. It’s significantly lighter in price, too – 50…
