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The Thaiger key takeaways Peak season brings higher prices, but smart planning and local know-how can help you experience Northern Thailand affordably. Chiang Mai, Pai, and Chiang Rai offer plenty of free or low-cost attractions, from temples and canyons to...
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Work restarts on fire-ravaged Phuket homes
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: Work to rebuild 17 houses that were burned to the ground in a fire at a sea gypsy village in Phuket at the end of June restarted yesterday after a two-month hiatus. Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop arrived at Ban Hin Look Diow village in the morning to set 150 builders off to work again. The rebuilding of…
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New bridge plan good news for Phuket yachties
PHUKET: Phuket yachties will be pleased to know that a 300-million baht deal to build a new Sarasin Bridge includes raising the old bridge to give up to 10-meters’ clearance beneath all three bridges.The old Sarasin Bridge will become a car-free tourist attraction once construction of the third bridge is complete.Italian-Thai Development Co, which built Sarasin Bridge and the newer…
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Roy’s the word at Phuket’s beachside shindig
KARON, PHUKET: Thousands of youngsters converged on Karon Beach last night for the first ever Roy Fest, the island’s new music festival. A hefty dose of Roy – Southern Thai for ‘fun’ – was in the air as a succession of bands and DJs did their thing from an enormous stage erected by the beach road. The rain that had…
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Phuket businesses face software inspection raids
PHUKET: Computers used in Phuket businesses will be targeted in raids by modern bounty hunters on the lookout for unlicensed copies of software from October 26 onwards.Under intellectual property rights legislation, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) will be sending inspectors acting on behalf of copyright holders to search offices, first in Bangkok and then in Phuket, which is a principal…
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Phuket Gazette Poll Results: Prevent drownings with better safety campaign
PHUKET: Phuket Gazette readers favor a tourist information campaign as the most effective way to prevent drownings on Phuket’s beaches, according to the last Gazette Poll. Of 806 readers who voted, 34 percent thought a campaign warning of the dangers of swimming in the sea was the best way to prevent more deaths. Thai nationals were only 25 percent in favor…
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Doors open for Phuket Hospitality Show
PHUKET: Cooks, cakes, wines, spas and a plethora of products and services catering to the hospitality industry went on display today when the RPM International Exhibition & Conference Center opened its doors for Phuket’s first International Hospitality Show. The three-day event is attracting a wide variety of people and businesses involved in the region’s hospitality sector, giving participants and attendees the…
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Phuket sea gypsies to get Bt2mn culture center
RASSADA, PHUKET: A two-million-baht cultural center at a sea gypsy village close to Phuket City has been given the go-ahead, a spokesman for the Phuket Provincial Culture Office announced on Tuesday.Planning for the Urak Lawoi Culture Center at Ban Tukkae sea gypsy village on Koh Sireh, in Tambon Rassada, is still in its early stages and a contractor has yet…
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Autism treatment success at Phuket hospital
PHUKET CITY: Vachira Phuket Hospital says it is successfully treating children with autism using a treatment known as ‘hyperbaric oxygen therapy’ (HBOT). HBOT patients spend periods inside a ‘hyperbaric chamber’ – the same sort of high-pressure oxygen chamber commonly used by divers for decompression and treatment of the bends. Parents of children who have completed a course of HBOT at…
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Bids invited for Phuket jet-ski insurance contract
PHUKET CITY: Insurance companies have 15 days to submit bids for a contract to insure every jet-ski on Phuket, it was announced at the latest ‘jet-ski summit’ at Phuket Provincial Hall today. By November 8 – thirty days after the bid deadline – every operator in Phuket will have to apply for insurance or stop doing business. For our previous…
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Phuket corruption cases to be fought on home turf
PHUKET CITY: Phuket people seeking justice over incompetent, uncooperative or corrupt bureaucrats will be able to fight for their rights in Phuket when the Phuket Administrative Court opens in 2011. Thailand’s Administrative Courts handle disputes over the conduct of government officers. An event last week at the Metropole Hotel in Phuket City aimed to inform the public about the role of Administrative Courts…
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Huge contingent of US sailors arrives in Phuket
PHUKET: Almost 7,000 US Navy sailors arrived in Phuket this afternoon on board the enormous aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, as well as the USS Chancellorsville and the USS Gridley.The crew will enjoy five days of R&R on Phuket – though they have been forbidden from using the island’s increasingly infamous jet-skis.Look out for a report from on board the…
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Phuket people wish His Majesty a speedy recovery
PHUKET: Following His Majesty the King’s admission to Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok on Saturday, a book has been placed outside the Phuket Governor’s office at Phuket Provincial Hall for people to sign and wish His Majesty well. According to statements issued by the Royal Household Bureau, His Majesty was admitted to Siriraj Hospital with a high fever and has been…
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Wake for Bill Owen
RAWAI, PHUKET: A wake will be held at Nikitas on the Rawai beach road tomorrow night (Tuesday, September 22) for long term Phuket resident Bill Owen, who died on Tuesday last week. Mr Owen, a popular entrepreneur who made his home on Phuket for more than 20 years, died in a hospital in Swansea, South Wales after a battle with…
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Phuket Excise Office closes big bike loophole
PHUKET: The Phuket Excise Office says big bike owners have until September 25 to pay excise on motorcycles assembled from parts – or face hefty fines. Motorcycles subject to prohibitive tariffs have long been assembled from parts by ‘grey market’ operators in order to avoid paying the tax. Now excise officials insist the owners of such vehicles – not the…
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Norwegian tourist drowns in calm waters off Phuket
WICHIT, PHUKET: An elderly Norwegian tourist drowned off Phuket in calm waters yesterday after the lilo she was sunbathing on drifted out to sea. Oslo native Jorunn Olden, 65, was on vacation with her husband in Ao Yon, on Phuket’s east coast, when the tragedy struck. Witnesses told Phuket City Police Inspector Anek Mongkol they saw her drift out at…
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Pedal power proves popular in Phuket
PHUKET: Environmental awareness was given a boost in Phuket on Sunday when about 250 Phuket cyclists took a tour of the island in support of Phuket Car Free Day.The cyclists, all dressed in orange shirts provided by Phuket City Municipality, pushed off from Phuket Provincial Hall at 9am with a send-off from Phuket Provincial Energy Office director Jirasak Thommayet.The cyclists…
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Phuket gears up for the ‘ultimate beach party’
KARON, PHUKET: Phuket is about to witness the birth of its very own dance music festival – ‘Roy Fest’, which debuts on Karon Beach this weekend. In Southern Thai, ‘roy‘ means ‘fun’, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is hoping the more than 50 international DJs and musicians it has booked for Roy Fest will help the party live…
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Industry experts warm up for Hospitality Show
PHUKET: The region’s hospitality industry is heating up for the first International Hospitality Show, to be held at the RPM International Exhibition & Conference Center in Phuket from September 24 to 26. The three-day event will include a trade exhibition featuring: suppliers from all areas of hospitality; a demonstration forum, the Phuket Culinary Fair; and various industry-specific seminars. Exhibits will…
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Phuket’s reds and yellows rallying today
PHUKET: More than 100 of Phuket’s red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) activists have taken buses to Bangkok to join today’s pro-Thaksin Shinawatra rally in front of Government House. Meanwhile, the island’s yellow-shirt People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) members have headed to Sisaket province to a protest at the Cambodian border, close to the disputed Preah Viharn temple. Around…
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Phuket workshop prepares for disaster
PATONG, PHUKET: “How can communities best prepare themselves for disaster?” was the question posed to participants at an international workshop held earlier this week in Patong.The Sixth Practitioners’ Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia and the Pacific was held over three days, September 15-17, and brought together some 190 “influential people” from 26 countries – representing governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and…
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Swine flu crisis abating in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: Thanks to continuing measures to prevent the spread of swine flu, Phuket’s authorities believe the crisis is abating. Rapid spread this year of the flu, formally identified as ‘novel influenza virus A (H1N1)’, led the World Health Organization (WHO) – for the first time since 1968’s Hong Kong flu – to declare a global pandemic. In Phuket, two…
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Company faces prosecution for Phuket jet-ski show
PHUKET CITY: The Thai television company responsible for producing the Big Trouble in Tourist Thailand series, which featured footage of an alleged jet-ski scam on Phuket, is to be prosecuted, the Bangkok Post reported today. The managers of Black Sheep Productions, which produced the show, could face 12 months in jail and fines of up to a million baht, the…
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Old Phuket’s restoration enters new phase
PHUKET CITY: Work to restore Phuket City’s Thalang Road to its former glory is gathering pace, with the launch of a new project to re-open the disused Chinese-style arcades that line the historic street. The arched corridors, known in Hokkien Chinese as ‘ngorkakee‘, form part of the design of many of Old Phuket Town’s Sino-Portuguese shophouse buildings. In former times…
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World’s oldest man a teenager again
PHUKET: The world’s oldest living man, Luang Pu Supha, a revered abbot who lives in Chalong, Phuket, is celebrating his 113th birthday today. His landmark birthday makes him a teenager for the second time. The festivities are taking place at his Phuket temple, just off Chao Fa Road West in Chalong. Luang Pu Supha is reputed to have been born on…
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One-Two-Go crash remembered on Phuket
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: On the second anniversary of the One-Two-Go air crash at Phuket International Airport [PIA], two survivors of the accident held a private ceremony of remembrance on the island today.Marcel Squinobal and Christoph Salchetti, who were both on the plane when it crashed, flew all the way from Germany to pay their respects to their friends Andreas Adelhard and Sabine Schumacher,…
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Bill Owen: Farewell to a great friend of Phuket
PHUKET: The passing of Bill Owen leaves his many Phuket friends in great sadness. His battle with lung cancer came to an end at a hospital in Swansea, South Wales, the city where he started life 59 years ago. Bill came to Phuket 22 years ago, in October 1987, on a brief visit after attending a friend’s wedding in New…
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Gazette Online tops Google for Phuket
PHUKET: As the result of a recent fine tuning in the way Google ranks the “importance” (popularity) of websites around the world, the Gazette Online is now tie for Number One with Phuket.Com for sites in or about Phuket. With a Google ranking of ‘6’, the two sites share the highest rating Google confers for Phuket, and they are the…
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No ban on Phuket marinas
PHUKET: Asked by a number of readers to check on a report that there is now a ban on further marina and pier development projects in Phuket, the Gazette has today obtained confirmations that such is not the case. According to both the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) and the Office of the Governor of Phuket, with whom…
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Trawling fingered as threat to Phuket dolphins
PHUKET: Trawling by fishermen in the seas off Phuket and other parts of Thailand has led, it is charged, to the deaths of around 20 dolphins since the beginning of this year.Two more turned up dead last week in Satun province, on the southern border with Malaysia, and one was found on Saturday, badly injured in the surf off Nai…
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Seven-year-old drowns in Phuket pool
RASSADA, PHUKET: An unsupervised seven-year-old boy drowned in a swimming pool at the Top Land housing estate on Saturday.Police were alerted to the incident about 2pm by residents of the estate, located near the Tungka elementary school in tambon Rassada.They rushed to the scene with emergency workers and found the boy, identified as Prawit Manapreecha-ngamlert, a student at Ketho School,…
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