Thai Life
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The stork and the snail
PHUKET: As we all know to our cost, snails are the gardener’s bane. Today’s subject, however, is not about the common or garden variety creature that hides in the day and slides and slithers around at night to devour your seedlings, but another, more exotic species. Perhaps it merits a less disparaging mention in dispatches. The species in question is…
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Phuket Property: Asking for a second opinion
PHUKET: Many times prospective buyers of property in Thailand search online for legal information in regards to their purchase. They soon discover that online legal advice varies depending on the law office, lawyer or advisor providing the information. In some cases advice is given which recommends that to secure an investment in property a Thai company should be incorporated to…
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Phuket Property Watch: The season of our discontent
PHUKET: Anyone who has ever taken a cross-country road trip can certainly understand the blurred state of fatigue known as ‘white line fever’; late night driving as the music drums steadily into the oncoming darkness. This is the time that your imagination wreaks havoc in the mulched up madness of what can be summed up as “too far, too long…
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Indian tycoon eyes Thailand
PHUKET: Asgar Patel, group chairman of India-based multinational House of Patels, and one of the wealthiest people in India and the United Arab Emirates, earlier this week expressed an interest in investing in Phuket’s property market. “We are interested in investing in the Thai property sector not only in Bangkok, but also in other locations such as Hua Hin and…
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Fine dining at Phuket’s NINE
PHUKET: In the three months since it opened, the NINE Wine Bar and Bistro, tucked away in a cozy corner at the Royal Place, has brought a fresh new dining treat to Phuket. For those of you who fly past the Tesco Lotus intersection to enter the bypass road speedway, try and slow down a bit and you’ll see the…
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Phuket Books: The new wave general
PHUKET: General David Petraeus is justly famous for introducing a sophisticated counter-insurgency strategy in Iraq that averted a catastrophic civil war and led to an orderly American withdrawal. Previously, American troops had been stationed in huge forts from which they would venture forth in under-armored vehicles, which fell prey again and again to roadside bombs. Petraeus introduced a badly needed…
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Phuket Gardening: The ABCs of plant names
PHUKET: “A” is for arbitrary – which is what the articles that follow will inevitably be. How else to describe in the same breath, an array of plants as different as acalyph (also known as the red cat’s tail) and the golden allamanda. “A” also represents excellence, so I hope the ensuing choice of plants will reflect that principle. In…
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Phuket Tech: Cyber-crime law being revised
PHUKET: The Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) has launched the process of reforming the country’s computer crime law and expects new legislation to be announced within the next three years. Surangkana Wayuparb, chief executive officer of the ETDA, said the law, which was implemented five years ago, still leaves problems about cyber-crime and the cyber-environment, and people are concerned about…
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Phuket In Focus: Dreaming in black and white
PHUKET: Members of the Phuket Darkroom Club (PDC) will have their first exhibition of black and white photography at the Chalermraja Cultural Centre, Phuket Town from May 1-14. The works on display are portraits of heritage and culture that capture the love Phuketians have for their home, through the lens of a black and white camera. Audiences will enjoy rare…
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Phuket Tech: Woody retires but ‘Live Wire’ lives on
PHUKET: This week’s column marks the end of my eleventh year as a Phuket Gazette columnist and, as of the end of this month, I’m retiring in Thailand – something I probably should’ve done years ago. Just too many irons in the fire, and my family has had to put up with a lot. Although I’m hanging up my keyboard…
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AREA punctures bubble scare
PHUKET: Recent speculation that Thailand’s real estate market is on the verge of collapsing, is far from the current reality, the head of a major real estate services firm has insisted. The President of the Agency for Real Estate Affairs Company Limited (AREA), Dr Sopon Pornchokchai, PhD, has once again shunned news report warnings of an imminent property bubble burst.…
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Phuket Property Watch: Bare walls and other real life catastrophes
PHUKET: Many of my early childhood memories are of my great Aunt Louise. She was the black sheep of the family and no one could quite figure out the exact connection, whether it was on my mother or father’s side, but nonetheless, she was on our family role call. She was a hard drinker and you would rarely find her…
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Phuket People: Rittidat Kodsan
PHUKET: Tucked away halfway up Rang Hill, in Phuket Town, is the small office of the National Broadcasting Services of Thailand, Phuket (NBTP), the production house of the town’s only national television station, Channel 11. The 15-year-old station is tiny and quaint – if somewhat run-down. Its setting is made more rustic surrounded by a virgin forest overrun with creepers…
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Phuket Gardening: Treasures in your garden
PHUKET: If you asked a stranger propping up a bar why he lived in Phuket, he would probably reply – in no particular order – the girls, the climate, the easy, smiley lifestyle and the cheap cost of living. I doubt he would mention the all-too ephemeral beauty of the place, or the sheer convenience of life on the island.…
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Phuket Pets: Dog(s) of the week – Angel and Silver
PHUKET: My baby (Angel) and I (Silver) are madly in love and spend most of our days curled up in the corner snuggling together. A few months ago we were found and rescued from a local animal holding facility. Our owners dumped us there in bad health, since they were going away on holiday and didn’t know what to do…
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Phuket Pets: Working dogs
PHUKET: Previously we have looked at the power of canine senses. Most of us are aware of some of the uses these powers are put to: guide dogs for the blind or police dogs sniffing out drugs or explosives at airports. But the role of the humble dog in our lives is vast and they are doing much more than…
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Phuket Humor: In praise of sitting
PHUKET: A recent article claimed that too much sitting can kill you. It causes heart attacks, diabetes and a bigger bum. The author worried about the health of people who spend all their working days sitting in cubicles in front of computers, then go home to spend their entire evenings sitting in front of TV sets. Indeed, I have often…
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Slave to the bean
PHUKET: I’ve just checked out of the emergency room, covered in bandages not dissimilar to those worn by the damaged star of the movie The English Patient, or perhaps more fittingly, Return of the Mummy. Anyway, same-same but different, said the man outside the sliding hospital door. My horrific accident that will no doubt result in permanent scars, comes from…
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Two Phuket hotels honored at DestinAsian Reader’s Awards
PHUKET: The JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa was named the Best Hotel in Phuket in the 8th annual DestinAsian Readers’ Choice Awards 2013, while the spa arm of the Banyan Tree brand was named Top Hotel Spa in the Asia-Pacific region. On Phuket’s beautiful Mai Khao Beach, the luxury 265-room JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa is set across…
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No cooling measures needed in BKK
PHUKET: As concerns of a real estate bubble escalate, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) recently asked commercial banks to become more cautious about mortgage lending, particularly to borrowers who are suspected of buying houses or condominiums for speculative purposes. While the BOT’s position is reasonable, as easy lending can inflate real estate bubbles, cooling measures are not needed at this…
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Portrait of a modern day backpacker
PHUKET: Just as Americans are fond of saying, “We were all immigrants once,” so old expats in Thailand say: “We were all backpackers once.” Though some first came with the military or on teaching contracts, it’s true that most of us first stepped foot in Thailand as backpackers. Technically, I was never a backpacker. In 1976, I carried my kit…
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Phuket Gardening: Wallflowers and blushing violets
PHUKET: The English language has a wealth of expressions for reticent or modest behavior. “Take a back seat” is one; another, with a biblical provenance, talks of “hiding your light under a bushel”. Brought up as children on AA Milne’s tales, older Phuket Gazette readers may recall Winnie the Pooh saying: “it’s not much of a tail, but I’m sort…
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Relearning the balance of life
PHUKET: French national Roland Fabre, 34, was an up-and-coming Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter, up until about five years ago, when his life changed forever – seemingly for the worse. Approaching the height of his career, he was just starting to make waves in professional MMA rings in both the US and Japan. Then, during one particular fight in Japan,…
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Phuket Health: What’s happening to all my power?
PHUKET: “I cannot sleep!” That is frequently what I hear in my consultations. Nearly all of us have experienced difficulty sleeping, be it falling asleep or other sleep worries such as frequent awakening, sleep apnea, nightmares, narcolepsy, sleep paralysis or even jet lag.Sleep is the sweet balm that soothes and restores us after a long day of work. It seems…
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Boiling down a life of rice
PHUKET: It’s not easy to find staff for a boiled rice shop in Phuket Town. Sometimes new employees run away after just one day. It might have something to do with the starting time… 4am, or the regular days off… none. But Nalinee “Ann” Sukjaroen has been working at the Boiled Rice Shop on Dibuk Road for the past 25…
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Phuket Tech: What, exactly, is a Bitcoin? – Live Wire
PHUKET: In the past couple of week, three of my friends in Phuket – all of whom are reasonably savvy with their investments – have asked me about Bitcoin. There’s a lot of misinformation floating around, so I figured it’d be worthwhile to bring you all up to speed on the topic. I’ll get into the technical details momentarily, but…
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Viva la Tri Trang
PHUKET: The Viva Patong is located in the exclusive Tri Trang beach area, south of Phuket’s main tourist town. Tri Trang is home to luxury brands such as The Rosewood, Avista Hideaway and Amari Coral Resorts. The Viva Patong will overlook Tri Trang and Freedom Beach, and you can walk to Paradise Beach and bustle of Patong in only five…
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Phuket’s latest luxury resort
PHUKET: The island recently saw the opening of the new Outrigger Laguna Phuket Beach Resort. This 255-room beachfront property offers locally- sourced dining and the first club floor at Laguna Phuket, Bang Tao Beach. Flying in for the VIP gathering were members of the Kelley family, owners of the Outrigger Laguna Phuket Beach Resort, and senior corporate executives from Hawaii,…
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On the menu: Trisara hosts Mozaic’s Chef James Ephraim
PHUKET: There have been some pretty spectacular sunsets in Phuket in recent weeks, or maybe I have just been fortunate enough to witness them from spectacular locations. The Trisara’s ‘Seafood’ restaurant is one of those places that reaffirm the reasons one has chosen to live on a tropical island. Another island that has glorious sunsets is Bali, and I am…
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Phuket Gardening: From fetid to fragrant
PHUKET: Shakespeare’s father, John, was fined for digging a “midden” in front of his neighbor’s house. Very unneighborly. Today the word has almost vanished from the English language as modern sanitation systems have replaced the foul cesspits of yesteryear. But make no mistake, a “midden” is neither pleasant to behold nor smell. Originally a hole in the ground, a dump…
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