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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 plant fair starts next week
PHUKET CITY: Green thumbs take note: the 17th Annual Ornamental Plants & Flowers Fair will take place at Saphan Hin from July 24 to August 2. Somchai Hengwatcharaphaibul, chief of the Phuket Agriculture and Cooperatives Office, said he expects this year’s event to generate about 40 million baht in sales. The fair will include exhibitions, displays, competitions in flower arrangement…
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Readers’ Poll: More buses best solution to Phuket’s transport woes
PHUKET CITY: Gazette readers think an expanded public bus network is the single best solution to Phuket’s transport woes, last month’s readers’ poll has determined. Over 400 readers cast votes in the poll, which is now closed. We asked readers to tell us what they thought was the single best solution to Phuket’s transport problems. The most popular solution, with…
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Phuket still safe despite Jakarta bombings
PHUKET: The bomb blasts which shattered Jakarta’s Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott Hotels this morning, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens more, have sent the topic of terrorism rocketing to the top of the agenda at the 42nd Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting which got underway in Phuket today. Asean Secretary General Dr Surin Pitsuwan said officials and delegates were…
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Partial solar eclipse in Phuket on Wednesday
PHUKET CITY: Weather permitting, a partial solar eclipse will be visible in Phuket on Wednesday morning. The eclipse, blocking about 20% of the sun at its peak at 8.10am, will last around six minutes. Rajabhat Phuket University is hosting a viewing event at the traffic circle in front of the Dean’s Office on the Rajabhat campus. Assistant Professor Sakchai Phetchuai…
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Dasta holds public hearings in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: The public organization pushing to develop the Ao Phuket mega-project off Saphan Hin is conducting public hearings to gauge reaction to the possibility of designating all of Phuket as a special administrative zone for sustainable tourism. Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Dasta), a public organization whose board answers directly to the Prime Minister’s Office, held the first…
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Haunted heister makes amends
CHONBURI: A man claiming to be haunted by a ghost after stealing a 30,000 baht gold bracelet from a shop five years ago turned himself to police today. Jirasak Phahurat, 33, told police that a ghost came to him every day for five years, telling him to return a bracelet with the same value to the shop owner. So, Mr…
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Abbot claims black magic nailed him
UTTARADIT: A temple abbot was admitted to hospital after doctors found nails in his stomach for the second time in two months. Phra Athikananuwat Wisutho, 32, abbot of Wat Hat Song Khwai in Tha Pla District, was admitted to Uttaradit Hospital on July 7 after an X-ray found five 3- to 4-inch nails in his stomach. The director of Utaradit…
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Phuket abuzz with pride and wonder about ASEAN event
PHUKET: Phuket has begun pulsing with vibrancy today. Official cars, police and army officers, and security guards are becoming a common sight. It’s all about the ASEAN foreign ministers meetings and the ASEAN Regional Forum, to be held at Laguna Phuket from Friday to July 23. Phuketians generally welcome the massive security effort, despite all the checkpoints and limitations on…
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Rolly Tasker donates land for Phuket road project
PHUKET CITY: Rolly Tasker Sails Co Ltd yesterday morning donated eight rai of land to the state for construction of a second airport road. Company founder Mr Tasker, an Australian sailing legend, handed over the title deeds to Phuket Governor Wichai Praisa-ngop at a ceremony at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday morning. Gov Wichai has pushed for the new new airport…
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Inmates spruce up Phuket roadsides for ministers’ meeting
PHUKET: The Phuket governor called in Phuket Provincial Prison inmates to help clean up and landscape the Airport Road that delegates to the 42nd Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will pass on their way to the host venue Laguna Phuket.The order followed an inspection tour of the road on Friday during which Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop found the median strip and roadsides…
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Foundered ferry under tow to Phuket
PHUKET CITY: Salvage workers are today trying to tow back to Phuket the unregistered passenger ferry that foundered in heavy seas in Phang Nga Bay over the weekend. Phuket Marine Police on Sunday morning rescued the captain and crew of the unregistered ferry Kacha Marine, which sank during a sea squall near the Mu Sung Rocks about seven miles off…
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Burmese government to open ID centers for illegals
PHUKET CITY: In an effort to legalize untold thousands of its citizens working illegally in Thailand, the Burmese government will tomorrow open ‘citizen identification centers’ at three immigration checkpoints along the Thai border. The announcement came at a seminar at the Thavorn Grand Plaza Hotel on Saturday attended by Burmese Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister U Maung Myaint, Thai Labor Minister…
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ASEAN Meetings: Phuket residents rush for stickers for fast-track security clearance
PHUKET: Col Piyapong Wongchan, Deputy Chief of the Internal Security Operations Command in Phuket, said this afternoon that Phuket vehicle owners who want special passes to facilitate clearance through the many special security checkpoints now being set up around the island should contact their village heads in Thalang and Kathu districts. More than 40,000 such stickers have already been issued…
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Phuket to get new 378 million baht bridge
PHUKET: The Sarasin Bridge, which joins Phuket to the mainland, is to be dismantled and replaced by a new four-lane structure in a construction project worth 378 million baht. Italian-Thai Development (ITD) said it signed the contract to carry out the New Sarasin Bridge Project with the Department of Highways, Ministry of Transport and Communications, late last month. The work, which is…
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Outta here! Phuket red shirts off to Chiang Mai during Asean meetings
PHUKET CITY: Even as military troops and hardware deploy in Thalang, the leaders of Phuket’s small ‘red-shirt’ movement say they have no plans to disrupt the Asean-led meetings set to begin in Cherng Talay a week from today.In fact, they plan to be in Chiang Mai for a meeting of their own while the talks are on, their leader says.Phuket…
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Photo Walk in Phuket on Saturday
PHUKET CITY: Calling all photographers: you are invited to join tens of thousands of snappers across the globe for a worldwide ‘photo walk’ next Saturday. Phuket City is one of 915 locations around the world in which groups of photographers will spend two hours walking the streets, talking about the art of photography and, of course, taking pictures. The Scott Kelby…
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Phuket internet cafes to be off line for two weeks
PHUKET CITY: Internet cafes throughout Thailand will be closed for two weeks following the death of a Phuket university student last week. Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai has announced plans to close tutorial schools and Internet cafes nationwide in a bid to prevent the spread of the A(H1N1) virus that causes swine flu. Schools and internet cafes will be asked…
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PSU Phuket closed for two-day cleaning after swine flu death
KATHU, PHUKET: The Prince of Songkla University (PSU) Phuket campus has closed for a ‘big cleaning’ following the death of a 19-year-old student from swine flu complications last week. The cleanup effort will target 1,500 university dorm rooms as well as common areas. Speaking at a press conference at the Phuket Public Health Office on Thursday afternoon, PSU Phuket Assistant…
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Asean meetings: Thai Army rolls onto Phuket
PHUKET: Troops and military hardware began arriving in Phuket today in preparation for the 42nd Asean Ministers Meetings at Laguna Phuket later this month. The convoy of equipment, including flatbed trailers carrying armored vehicles, troop transport trucks and four-wheel drive vehicles, rolled onto the island over the Thao Thepkrasattri Bridge at about 3pm. Military personnel waved on passing traffic after…
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Patong gears up for high season
PATONG, PHUKET: Patong Municipality will spend five million baht filling in the potholes on the unfinished Phang Muang Road that runs behind Jungceylon. Patong Mayor Pian Keesin said he hopes the work will be completed in time for the upcoming high season. The total price tag for the Phang Muang Road project, which requires completion of a three- to four-…
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Phuket university student becomes first swine flu fatality
PHUKET CITY: A university student who died of pneumonia at Vachira Phuket Hospital on Thursday was infected with the A(H1N1) virus that causes swine flu, lab results have confirmed.Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) chief Dr Pongsawas Ratanasang said the student was a 19-year-old in his first year of the engineering program at Prince of Songkla University (PSU) Phuket campus.He was…
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Phuket Governor marks Asarnha Bucha Day
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop this morning attended a Buddhist merit-making ceremony at Wichit Sankharaam Temple on Suthat Road. The ceremony was held to mark Asarnha Bucha Day, which commemorates the Lord Buddha’s first sermon. The governor and about 500 others took part in the traditional ceremony, which involves circling a chedi at the temple three times before placing…
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Fish die mysteriously in Phuket City
PHUKET CITY: Local people were surprised to find large numbers of dead fish floating in the pond in front of Prince of Songkla University’s Saphan Hin campus yesterday morning. When officials from Phuket City Municipality went to investigate, they found excited residents pulling dead grouper, red snapper and sea mullet from the water. While locals bagged fish with dinner in…
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10-man Phuket FC slumps to yet another defeat
PHUKET CITY: New team, same old result: Phuket FC slumped to their fifth-straight home defeat on Sunday in a disappointing 2-1 loss at Surakul Stadium. The new-look Sea Dragons took the lead midway through the first half, but two Narathiwat goals either side of half-time consigned them to their sixth defeat in eight matches. Expectations were high at the outset,…
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Kajonkietsuksa School issues statement on swine flu
PHUKET CITY: Kajonkietsuksa School has had two cases of swine flu and no deaths, the school management has said. School Manager Permkiat Ketkul said the school closed for a “big cleaning” on Friday after the Phuket Public Health Office (PPHO) confirmed a kindergarten student as having the A(H1N1) virus two days earlier. The PPHO inspected the entire school, which comprises…
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Successful salvage of Chrysalis-T, yacht returns to Phuket
PHUKET: The 77-foot yacht the Chrysalis-T, which was left floundering on the sands of Maya Bay last month after the yacht owner’s 21-year-old son ran it aground during a joy-sail with friends, was successfully re-floated on June 30.The US$2 million yacht is now back in Phuket and is being repaired at the Boat lagoon.Trouble began for the young yachtsmen when…
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Thieving teens victimize blind masseuse in Phuket City
PHUKET CITY: Two teenagers ran off with a blind masseuse’s handbag on Friday night as she was sitting in front of the small massage parlor where she works in Phuket City. Kainapa Jeenapueng, who operates the six-bed Nong Neuy traditional Thai massage parlor in Phuket Villa 1, said the thieves struck at 7.40pm. The victim, 43-year-old Wilawan Maikhong, was sitting…
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Phuket gym closes temporarily
CHALONG, PHUKET: Members of the Chalong Gym on Chao Fa East Road in Phuket will be pleased to hear that the popular fitness center’s recent closure is only a temporary measure. When morning fitness enthusiasts arrived at the gym on June 27, they found the doors locked and saw that exercise equipment had been removed. Some members had recently paid…
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Bt1m in damages from Phuket furniture shop fire
WICHIT, PHUKET : The owners of a furniture shop on Chao Fa West Road have vowed to remain in business, despite a fire that reduced half the store to ashes and caused an estimated 1 million baht in damages. The blaze broke out at the Touch Wood Furniture & Thai Advanced Solar Power Co Ltd store on Chao Fa West…
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Confusion reigns in Phuket over alcohol ban
PHUKET: Following a Cabinet resolution late last month banning alcohol sales on Buddhist holidays, the province is “asking for co-operation” from nightlife entertainment operators in closing on July 7 and 8 – but local leaders say they have yet to receive any formal orders making closure an official requirement. Tuesday, July 7 is Asarnha Bucha Day, and July 8 the…
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