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Sponsored Digital nomading in Chiang Mai? What US$1,000 a month really gets you
Chiang Mai has become a popular destination for digital nomads due to its low living costs, rich culture, and active remote work community. The city offers affordable housing, tasty food, reliable internet, and many co-working spaces, making it a great...
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Phuket Opinion: Stray dog ‘final solution’ should take a pounding
John Dalley is Phuket’s well-known founder of the Soi Dog Foundation, a not-for-profit, legally registered charitable organization in Thailand, the United States, Australia, the UK, France and Holland. Here, Mr Dalley replies to Phuket Livestock Chief Weerasit Putthipairoj’s public policy that strays should be rounded up from Phuket’s streets and impounded. PHUKET: In response to the comments made by Weerasit…
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After India, Phuket Rohingya face deportation from Thailand
PHUKET: The boatload of 91 Rohingya forced to land yesterday on Koh Lone, off the south end of Phuket, have been taken into custody and will face yet another deportation, this time from Thailand. The group, who were forced to land on Koh Lone because their boat engine seized, told reporters they were taken into custody by Indian authorities on…
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Phuket turned off for Happy Earth Hour
PHUKET: Although there will be no official event tonight to mark Earth Hour 2013, the chief of the Phuket office of the Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA) is urging people to join the global event to show their support for conserving energy. “It is a very good campaign that everyone can join. It is easy to do at home, just turn…
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Phuket Gazette Queer News: Penis erected against “widow ghost’
PHUKET: Visitors to Nong Yai in Rayong, on Thailand’s Eastern Seaboard, might wonder why residents have set up a shrine featuring a large wooden penis in the middle of their village. The answer? A so-called “widow ghost”, which the women of Nong Yai believe has been mysteriously killing married men in their village for 20 years. The spirit has killed…
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Phuket Gazette Sports: England hammer eight as Spain stutter; World Cup qualifiers
Spain stumbles as England, Germany and France win Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: World champions Spain were held by lowly Finland but there were wins for England, Germany, France and Netherlands as Europe’s top teams returned to the task of qualifying for next year’s World Cup finals yesterday. The first of this month’s two rounds of qualifiers – with another…
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Phuket Opinion: Draining Phuket turtle power
PHUKET: It would be difficult to find a more depressing issue than the plight of the various sea turtle species that face extinction in local waters, some of which are also at risk of disappearing from the planet completely (story here). Sea turtles are an integral, but fast disappearing, part of Phuket’s natural heritage. Older generations of Thais will remember…
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Phuket park rangers to step up patrols to stave off tree bandits
PHUKET: Officers at the Khao Phra Thaew wildlife sanctuary in Thalang have vowed to step up their efforts to keep bandits from cutting down valuable eaglewood trees in the park. Eaglewood trees are wanted for the aromatic resin they produce, which is also known as agarwood. The resin is used in making incense and perfumes. The news follows Phuket Governor…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Refugee camp fire kills 30; SET plunges; Nationwide alcohol ban mulled for Songkran
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Fire kills 30 at Mae Hong Son refugee camp The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A blaze raged through a refugee camp in the northern Mae Hong Son province on Friday evening, leaving at least 30 people dead and dozens others injured. About 100 houses in…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Myanmar violence spreads; tourists hostage in Egypt; Aus Labor in turmoil; Iran preps for polls; Atheists abandoned
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Myanmar riots stoke fears of widening sectarian violence Reuters /Phuket GazettePHUKET: Unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in central Myanmar has reduced neighbourhoods to ashes and stoked fears that last year’s sectarian bloodshed is spreading into the country’s heartland in a test of Asia’s newest democracy.Buildings in Meikhtila…
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Officials scramble as illegal tanker sinks, spills oil into Phuket canal
PHUKET: Marine Police scrambled this morning to contain an oil spill from an abandoned illegal tanker that sank in the Tah Jeen Canal on the east side of Phuket Town last night. The sunken boat, modified into an illegal tanker with the capacity to hold an estimated 20,000 liters of diesel oil, was spotted by local villagers at about 7:30am.…
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Phuket Sports: Trouble on the terraces
PHUKET: THE Thai Premier League Co Ltd (TPL) – the mother company of the Yamaha One league (Division 1, or YL1) – collected a total of 230,000 baht in fines in the first two weeks of the YL1 2013 season. Of this amount, Phuket FC were fined 5,000 baht for only having one ambulance at its first home match against…
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Phuket Sports: Scores, storms and Sepang – F1
PHUKET: Well, Melbourne was a great Grand Prix, and we now have some answers to those intriguing questions from the off-season. Last week I put my neck on the block and made some predictions about the Australian GP (click here for article) that were against conventional wisdom. How well did I do? I said slower teams have had a better…
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Phuket Sports: Patong pull clear at the top; Round 2 Junior league
PHUKET: After securing a first win of the season in their last match, the Village were confident of another successful outing against Phuket’s senior cricket league leaders, Patong, who loss in their last match to Jabudays (ICC). With only 3 points separating the top four teams, a win for the Village, last seasonfs runners up, would put them back in…
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Phuket sea gypsies unearth human bone under home
PHUKET: Sea gypsies in the southern Phuket beach area of Rawai panicked after discovering a bone believed to be human buried underneath a house.The bone could be up to 100 years old, said Panuwat Uasamal, an archaeologist at the Fine Arts Department Office in Phuket, who was contacted by the sea gypsies.The bone was discovered under Waek Lakkoh’s house while…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Senators walk on Charter change; Korn calls B2tn bluff; Baht dips; Yingluck wants quality
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Six senators withdraw support for charter amendment bills The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Six senators have withdrawn their names supporting three bills for Constitution amendment submitted to Parliament on Wednesday.Some said the content of the amendment in the submitted bills had been changed after Pheu Thai MPs…
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Phuket Gazette World News: China’s Xi in Russia; Myanmar riot; Damascus blast; Sarkozy probe; US poll for migrants; Gillard survives
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Curfew in Myanmar town after 10 killed in riots Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: A central Myanmar town declared a curfew for a second night yesterday after clashes killed 10 people, including a Buddhist monk, and injured at least 20, authorities said.Riots erupted in Meikhtila, 540km north of…
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Phuket Opinion: Hi-so holidays harder for tourists to afford
PHUKET: Over the years, a number of my friends have made the journey from England to visit Phuket and enjoy a well-earned holiday. The recurring theme of their time here used to be how cheap the island was compared to the UK, but that has now changed. When I first moved to Phuket, years ago, the exchange rate from baht…
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Phuket Tourist Police shootout cop loses leg to gunfight injury
PHUKET: The Phuket Tourist Police officer injured in a shootout yesterday morning has had his right leg amputated in order to save his life. Sen Sgt Maj Pinchai Piyadilok, 34, was quickly transferred to the Prince of Songkla University Hospital in Haad Yai yesterday after he was shot in the leg and in the stomach in a gunfight at a…
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Body washes ashore near Phuket Town
PHUKET: Police are trying to determine the identity of a man whose body was found this morning washed ashore at Laem Tukkae, on the east side of Phuket Town. The man was likely a Burmese crewman aboard one of the many vessels operating out of Phuket, said Phuket City Police Duty Officer Chaleaw Taihoo. “He may have had an argument…
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Russian tour agent in Phuket faces deportation
PHUKET: Phuket Immigration officers arrested a Russian tour saleswoman in Patong yesterday for working illegally and for illegally entering the country. “We inspected the Kathu area for illegal foreign workers,” explained Phuket Immigration Investigator Chidchanok Sakornyen. “As we reached the tour counter of the Leon Speedy Travel company on Thaweewong Road [map here], we found Oleg Tikhomirova, 34, discussing tour…
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Phuket’s international boat show comes of age
PHUKET: The 10th Anniversary Phuket International Boat Show (PIMEX) opened today to a large gathering of island dignitaries, VIPs, exhibitors, visitors and media. While the traditional boating markets of Europe and the USA continue to struggle in the current economic climate, Phuket is driving Asia’s growth and continues to attract top international boat brands and marine products to exhibit. Pivotal…
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Phuket Opinion: Housing boom making snail mail slower
Boonsong Maneechai, 52, from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, served as Postmaster of the Thaweewong Post Office in Patong for four years before becoming the Postmaster of the Rawai Office in 2009. Here, he talks about why the residents of Rawai and Chalong have been experiencing mail delivery delays, and outlines the steps he is taking to correct the problem. PHUKET: The…
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No wildfire warning in Phuket, but fire alert remains
PHUKET: The lack of rainfall across the island in recent weeks has yet to prompt the authorities to issue a wildfire warning for Phuket, but they have called for people to be vigilant as a precaution.“We have not issued a fire warning as there are small packets of rain falling on scattered areas,” Phuket Forest Protection and Fire Control Director…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Cyprus crisis; Aus PM Gillard in leadership battle; Killer bees attack SA school
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Cyprus scrambles to avert meltdown, EU threatens cut-off Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Cyprus considered nationalising pension funds and ordered banks to stay shut till next week to avert financial chaos after it rejected the terms of a European Union bailout and turned to Russia for aid.Crisis talks…
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Phuket Gazette Sports: UN to rescue the World Cup
Exclusive – Brazil enlists U.N. help to ready World Cup stadium Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Brazil’s capital city, struggling to finish a new football stadium in time for an upcoming dress rehearsal for the 2014 World Cup, is turning to a surprising partner for help: the United Nations. The Brasilia government signed this week a 35 million reais (11.65…
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Police arrest 25 Sri Lankan refugees trafficked to Phuket
PHUKET: Police today arrested at least 25 refugees found walking along the busy Chao Fa East Road in Chalong. “The group included 18 men, six women and a 2-year-old boy. Among the six women, one was two months pregnant,” Chalong Police Superintendent Krittapas Det-intarasorn told the Phuket Gazette. None of the refugees could present passports, he explained. Some had United…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: DSI chief to repeat ‘Men in Black’ testimony; Monarchy loyalists rally; Thailand gets happy
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community House panel wants to hear from DSI chief again over ‘men in black’ The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: A House committee yesterday unanimously resolved to summon Department of Special Investigation chief Tarit Pengdith to repeat his statement to the committee about the operations of the so-called “men…
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Phuket Russians targeted in Thai New Year crackdown
PHUKET: Kathu District Chief Weera Kerdsirimongkol, who took up his position in Phuket less than a month ago, will target Russians, Nepalese and Vietnamese working illegally in Phuket, starting on April 14, the first day of the Thai new Year, he told a Provincial Hall meeting yesterday.“Initially, we will work with Phuket Employment Office and issue warnings to businesses involving…
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Tourist Police hit in Phuket Town shootout, killing two
PHUKET: A Phuket Tourist Police officer is in hospital this morning recovering from wounds sustained after a gunfight in a neighbor’s room which left two men dead early this morning. Sen Sgt Maj Pinchai Piyadilok was shot in the leg and in the stomach in the incident, and is recovering from surgery. Police have yet to question him. Officers received…
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Phuket Business: Why Google is still the best
PHUKET: The word ‘Google’ is a household name, synonymous with the word ‘search’ or even ‘research’ for most people around the world. The name itself originated from the word ‘Googol’, coined by Milton Sirotta, meaning the number 1 followed by 100 zeros; basically an extremely large number. It represents the vast universe of information that Google makes available to the…
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