Tanutam Thawan

Tanutam Thawan

Local Thai journalist speaking fluent Thai and English. Tanutam studied in Khon Kaen before attending Bangkok’s Chulalongkhorn University.
  • News

    Fire in Pattaya’s Walking Street. Two injured.

    Bars in Walking Street Pattaya were in flames last night (Saturday) after a transformer exploded in the packed red light district. Two tourists were rushed to hospital. Witnesses say there was a large explosion around 10pm. The blaze quickly spread to neighbouring bars as motorbikes parked on the street burst into flames as well. Dozens of bars in a plaza…

  • News

    Nearly 1300 houses damaged after week of ‘freak storms’

    The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation says that summer storms have damaged 1,293 houses in 24 Thai provinces. And one person has been killed as a result of the storms, primarily in the north-east and central provinces. The storms have hit the 24 provinces between March 5-8. The director-general, Chayapol Thitisakdi, says summer storms have hit 189 villages in 57…

  • Thailand News

    Has Alexa been laughing at you?

    Voice recognition personal assistants are all the rage at the moment, sometimes with hilarious results. Alexa is a offering from Amzon and might be having the last laugh. (By the way Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos was found to be the world’s richest man in a Bloomberg article today). Anyway, Amazon is promising to keep virtual assistant Alexa from spontaneously cackling,…

  • News

    ‘MURDER AMONG THE MATEYS’ – Murder Mystery Dinner Night

    After a voyage filled with pillaging and plundering, The Jaded Jewel – a pirate ship captained by Redbeard, an old but dangerous pirate – is docked in a cove near Port Royal. As the pirates head into town to celebrate their homecoming and spend their gold and goods, a night of turmoil and trouble is sure to transpire. As the…

  • News

    E-commerce sites will be blocked if they don’t pay local VAT

    Do you shop online? Plenty do, and increasingly retail is heading offshore and the main winners are Thai Post. A legal loophole, allowing foreign e-commerce companies to avoid paying Thai VAT, may soon be plugged with new legislation. But the Thai Revenue Department is threatening to block giant foreign e-commerce websites if they don’t pay VAT taxes in the future,…

  • News

    What does Anastasia Vashukevich know?

    PHOTOS: Instagram The raid on a ‘sex seminar’ in love-making in Pattaya last week has grown into an international story of intrigue with links to the ‘Russia-meddling-in-US-election’ ongoing investigation. A Belarusian escort, with close ties to a powerful Russian oligarch said from behind bars in Bangkok, yesterday that she had more than 16 hours of audio recordings that could help…

  • News

    ‘Freak storms’ on the way – Thai Meteorological Department

    The Thai Meteorological Department has issued a warning of freak storms in regions of the country until Friday, with the possibility of hail storms in some parts of the northern and northeastern regions. They say the ‘freak storms’ would be attributable to strong high pressure from China which is moving southward to cover the Northeast and the South China Sea…

  • Travel

    Thai Airways continues to struggle against newer, nimble competitors

    Fierce competition and rising fuel costs are said to be the main cause of Thai Airway’s tough last year. Thai’s operating profit for the last year was down nearly 30% to 2,856 million baht. This included the parent airline and all its subsidiaries. The main culprit, according to TTR Weekly, was a 24.2% increase in fuel prices for its planes.…

  • News

    Krabi Airport Director is waiting for engineer’s report tomorrow

    The Krabi airport management has a team of engineers coming to the airport tomorrow to come up with a schedule to repair the runway where damage has been caused at either end of the landing strip. The Airport’s Director says they’ll be scheduling repairs between midnight and 6am to cause the least flight disruptions but had to wait for the…

  • News

    Nearly 5,000 visited this year’s Thailand Yacht Show

    After four days and excellent weather, the third edition of the Thailand Yacht Show finished last Sunday with the traditional symphony of horns at Ao Po Grand Marina, Phuket. Over the four sunny days the show welcomed a total of 4,730 visitors who were treated to new yachts on display, activities for kids and the family and the best of…

  • Thai Life

    Top 25 Asian beaches survey is out – three in Phuket

    Thailand has ended up with two beaches in the top ten in the latest ‘Top 25 Beaches in Asia’ survey. The survey is based on comments from TripAdvisor’s 300 million users, or at least the ones that have visited a beach in Asia and taken the time to make a comment. The top three beaches are Agonda Beach in India…

  • Thai Life

    Dream Beach Weddings In Phuket

    By Thavorn Hotels & Resorts With couples seeking unique and memorable weddings, destination weddings have become the wedding trend on the rise. Couples are increasing skipping the traditional hometown ceremony and running off to a beach wedding. After all, what can more perfect than saying “I do” on the sandy beaches of Phuket? Thavorn Beach Village Resort & Spa provides…

  • News

    Thailand Yacht Show 2018 – starts tomorrow (Thursday)

    Some of the world’s most prestigious marine brands are assembling at the Ao Po Grand Marina for the third edition of the Thailand Yacht Show. It starts tomorrow (Thursday) and runs until Sunday. Buyers, charterers and locals are invited to climb aboard and experience the watercraft – superyachts, catamarans, sailboats, sports-fishers, dinghies, tenders, water sport boats and day cruisers, in…

  • News

    The legacy lives on – International Gill Dalley’s Remembrance Day

    PHOTO: John & Gill Dalley (soidog.org) February 13 is known by Soi Dog Foundation as the International Gill Dalley’s Remembrance Day, in order to honour the kind heart of the co-founder of the foundation, Gill Dalley, who had dedicated her life working on the strays’ issue in Thailand. Gill Dalley founded the Soi Dog Foundation in 2004 with her husband,…

  • News

    Firefly’s direct Penang flights go daily from March 25

    Firefly are upping the direct flights from Penang to Phuket from four a week to daily starting March 25. The regional airline is owned by Malaysian Airlines and flies ATR 72s with 70 seats. Flying out of Penang, Firefly flies internationally to Banda Aceh on Sumatra, Indonesia and Phuket. Locally it serves Langkawi and Kota Baru. For now the new…

  • News

    1,000 baht for 841 Km. 400 baht for 6 Km. Let’s do the maths.

    PHOTO: File photo Posting from ‘Bewildered’ in a Facebook post this morning… (Edited) “I arrived in Phuket 7am this morning after taking the overnight bus from Bangkok. It’s been a loooong time since I’ve done that, and I was impressed. I travelled on the VIP bus for just under 1,000 baht. Big seats, lots of leg room and decent drivers.…

  • Thailand News

    Getting ready for the big one – Myanmar’s earthquake threat

    Special report from partners Voice of America Last month, the residents of Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, felt a strong bump in the night. Their national leaders in Naypyidaw, the country’s thinly populated capital, were also stirred from their sleep. A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck between the two cities, in the early hours of January 12. The Southeast Asian country is…

  • News

    Patong & Krabi wastewater ‘being tackled’

    Local administration officials in Phuket and Krabi provinces are assuring people that they are trying to tackle the pollution problems in the sea at Ao Nang beach of Krabi and the sea at Tri Trang beach in Patong. Broken waste water treatment facilities are being blamed for the flow of untreated effluent from households and tourism-related establishments into the sea…

  • Thailand News

    Reuters detail work of journalists detained in Myanmar

    Reuters have released a report on ethnic killings in Myanmar, detailing research done by two of its reporters currently jailed in Myanmar. The news agency details the slaughter of 10 Rohingya men in the village of Inn Din, where Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo spoke with Buddhist neighbors who reportedly admitted to killing the men and burying…

  • Travel

    Records broken at windy 2018 The Bay Regatta

    A strong line-up of 33 boats and almost 300 sailors from around the world competed in 21st edition of The Bay Regatta from January 31 to February 4, 2018. A travelling regatta that sails through three of Thailand’s most beautiful provinces – Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi – and stays at different anchorages each night, participants came from far and…

  • Food

    Kata Rocks Collective Series 11 celebrates Thai gastronomy

    One of Phuket’s favourite regular events, the Kata Rocks’ ‘Collective Series 11’, returned last weekend (February 3) with the first event for 2018 featuring a festive Thai market inspired ‘Night Bazaar – celebration of local culture’. The eleventh edition of The Collective Series was certainly a memorable evening for the local crowd that attended, enjoying the night’s festivities and celebration…

  • Travel

    Going Green: Mövenpick Resort & Spa Karon achieves Gold Green Globe status

    Guests enjoying the resort’s electric tuk-tuk Mövenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach Phuket has become a certified Green Globe Gold member in 2017 having recently received the coveted eco-sustainable certification for the sixth consecutive year, achieving some of the best rankings in Southeast Asia. “We are very proud of our achievements in sustainable operations at the resort and of our…

  • Property

    Introducing Thaiger Property – 8,000+ listings for Phuket

    Phuket Gazette/The Thaiger are proud to launch our new ThaigerProperty.com website. In Phuket, alone, there are more than 8,000 properties for sale on the website and, around Thailand, nearly 40,000 listings – by far the largest selection available. Some of the properties are exclusive, some are ‘motivated sellers’ and there’s also rental listings as well, making it a very comprehensive…

  • News

    Coal power plants shelved for at least three years

    The Thai Ministry of Energy has decided to put on hold two coal-fired power plant projects in Krabi and Thepa district of Songkhla for three years pending additional environmental and health impacts assessments and environmental impact studies. Energy Minister Siri Chirapongphan says the ministry would inform the cabinet its decision to put off the two controversial projects and, at the…

  • News

    January’s national road carnage up 65% – year on year

    With the Christmas/New Year road madness out of the way it’s now time to assess the road toll numbers for the first month of the year. After all the publicity leading up to the Christmas/New Year period the numbers are sure to drop. Right? No. In January 2017, 947 died on Thailand’s roads. For January 2018 the number jumped to…

  • News

    Laguna Phuket Marathon to welcome 8,000+ runners for 2018

    South East Asia’s leading destination marathon, the award-winning Laguna Phuket Marathon, will take place at the Laguna Phuket resort complex on Bang Tao Beach on June 9 & 10, 2018. Organised by leading event organiser Go Adventure Asia, Laguna Phuket Marathon has been certified by AIMS (Association of International Marathons and Distance Races) for a 13th consecutive year and remains…

  • News

    Phuket Hotels Association award their first six scholarships

    The PHAB (Phuket Hotels Association Benefit) fundraising event was held last year on May 13 and raised approximately 4 million baht. Since then, the Phuket Hotels Association’s Education Working Group has placed advertisements, shortlisted candidates and interviewed the prospects for its scholarship program. The three institutions they will be working with are Phuket Vocational College, Rajabhat University and Prince of…

  • News

    Graham needs a triple bypass. Doesn’t have health insurance.

    The plight of a British man highlights the risks for foreigners living in Thailand without health or medical insurance. Story by ThaiVisa… Graham Briar, who uploads videos about life in rural Thailand to his YouTube channel Graham & Pie, urgently needs a triple heart bypass operation but with no medical insurance and not enough money to pay for surgery he…

  • News

    The final search – ‘Ocean Infinity’ looks for MH370

    Just days after efforts to find Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 kicked back into gear, details have emerged on the man behind what has been called the “final” search for the missing aircraft. The private company Ocean Infinity has begun a 90 day search for MH370. After several failed attempts to locate the missing Boeing 777, the latest attempt by the…

  • Thai Life

    The best events and activities for expat families in Thailand

    by Tabby Farrar Thailand has become one of the world’s favourite destinations for travellers and expats. As well as culture and natural beauty, the nation offers a huge range of family-friendly activities. Below is a calendar of some key family and child-orientated events, followed by some all-year-round activities. JANUARY What: National Children’s Day – Wan Dek Where: National When: Second…