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Phuket Live Wire: Internet speeds up; TOT down; iPad2 launches
PHUKET: Tales of woe about TOT lines to new housing developments in Phuket continued this week. In at least two cases, major new developments have reached exclusive agreements with TOT to deliver voice and data lines to the developments. As you might have guessed, the results have been, uh, less than stellar. The lesson: for best service, count on competition.…
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What’s in this week’s Phuket Gazette?
PHUKET: This week’s Andaman Edition of the Phuket Gazette went on sale yesterday and 20,000 copies of our Nationwide Edition were delivered early this morning to all Star Alliance airlines for placement aboard all of their flights serving Thailand. Both editions contain extensive content not available here in the Gazette Online. However, digital subscribers may click here to download their…
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Phuket roads claim more lives
PHUKET: High-season mayhem continues on Phuket roadways, with one man dead and two others in ICU in separate road accidents in recent days. Yesterday morning, 31-year-old Apiwan Wongcheu sustained severe head trauma, a broken wrist and other injuries when the motorbike she was riding along Chao Fa West Road northbound in Chalong was struck by a southbound truck turning across…
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Phuket Mining Museum now open
PHUKET: Governor Tri Augkaradacha stepped up to buy the first entrance ticket to the Phuket Mining Museum yesterday to mark the official opening of the 180-million-baht attraction. The museum showcases Phuket’s tin mining history and the lives of the Chinese miners of the era through indoor and outdoor exhibits in both English and Thai languages. Outdoor displays include an abandoned…
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Canine-crazy couple have gone to the dogs
NAKHON PATHOM: Champa Tangsombun is crazy about dogs – so much so that it’s ruining his wife’s retirement. Mr Champa, 74, has been taking stray and injured dogs into his home in Village 9 in Bangchang subdistrict for 15 years. The retired bus station master now has 61 canines to take care of and he has spent his entire life…
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Middle East riots will not affect Phuket tourism
PHUKET: Tossaporn Thepabutr, chairman of the House Committee for Tourism and Sports, said the political unrest in the Middle East would have little effect on Thailand’s tourism industry. Speaking to reporters in Phuket late last month, Mr Tossaporn called for tourism operators nationwide to work together to attract 18 million tourists to Thailand this year. This was a realistic figure,…
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New Phuket police station plans inch forward
PHUKET: Plans to build a new police station in Karon are progressing at a snail’s pace, but work on the new Police Region 8 headquarters now under construction in Mai Khao is steaming ahead, officials were told this week. Maj Gen Decha Budnampeth, Deputy Commissioner of Provincial Police Region 8, told a meeting on Tuesday that his office was still…
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Join Phuket’s grumpy men on their rally for a cause
PHUKET: The Phuket GOMS (Grumpy Old Men’s Society) will stage their inaugural Car Rally-Treasure Hunt this Sunday, and there’s still time to get involved. GOMS consists of over 130, presumably grumpy expat and Thai members who get together twice a month to meet, discuss issues which grind their gears and think of ways to raise money for local charities. There…
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Phuket delegates ready for “amazing’ German tour
PHUKET: The Phuket delegation to next week’s ITB Berlin 2011 travel trade show will comprise 60 members, all on a mission to draw ever more tourists to the island under the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s (TAT’s) newest slogan: “Amazing Thailand Always Amazes You”. Among those representing Phuket at the event will be Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha and his wife Nalinee,…
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Russia extends invitation to Phuket
PHUKET: The first vice mayor of Nakhodka, Phuket’s Russian “twin town”, invited local officials yesterday to visit the far-eastern port city. Mayor Boris Gladkikh extended the invitation to Phuket Vice Governor Nivit Aroonrat during a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall to discuss building closer relations between the two cities. Nakhodka, on the Sea of Japan near Vladivostok, has been Phuket’s…
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Finnish tourist found dead in Phuket room
PHUKET: Police are not treating as suspicious the death of a Finnish tourist found in his rented room opposite Patong Municipality offices yesterday. Capt Weerapong Rakkittoo of Patong Police said he was notified of the death at about 2:30pm. At the scene, a rented room on the second floor of a shop-house on Ratchapatanusorn Road, Capt Weerapong found the body…
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BREAKING NEWS: FC Phuket awarded league points after protest
PHUKET: FC Phuket were today handed all three points from Saturday’s Thai League Division 1 encounter against Rajpracha FC after they successfully lodged a complaint against Rajpracha for using too many foreign players during the game. Although the game ended in a 1-1 draw at Surakul Stadium, FC Phuket later sent documentation to the Thai Premier League providing evidence that…
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Developing Phuket: Calls for yet another major public hospital
PHUKET: Phuket MP Tossaporn Thepabutr last week proposed to Governor Tri Augkaradacha that another government hospital be built in the island resort province. Instead of smaller branches or satellite clinics of major government hospitals being built to serve local people, Mr Tossaporn proposed a wholly-new, high-end facility to attract health practitioners who are specialists in their field. Vachira Phuket Hospital,…
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Poll: Do Burmese in Phuket enjoy basic human rights?
PHUKET: A senate committee meeting in Phuket last year was told the number of migrant workers from Burma living in Phuket, both legally and illegally, could be as high as 200,000. The sight of trucks packed with these workers is common in Phuket, as are the proliferation of zinc-roofed shanties of Burmese workers’ camps that can be found at construction…
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Karen visit to Phuket full of firsts
PHUKET: Nine-year-old Ywa Hay Tha never went on family trips to the beach; never saw his favorite films on the big screen; never got a chance for a “normal” life. Nine-year-old Ywa Hay Tha was more concerned with keeping himself alive when he fled the Burmese military through the jungles of eastern Burma to the relative safety of the Umpiem…
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Greater Phuket: Shock TAT report on stinking beach
PHUKET: Despite regulations of the local village government stipulating that garbage not be placed out for collection before 8pm, trash continues to be dumped on Krabi’s Ao Nang Beach in broad daylight. Tourists say they don’t like it. The stink and the unsightly mess are a source of harsh complaints not only from tourists, but also from local residents. The…
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UK Ambassador puts Phuket safety on common agenda
PHUKET: UK Ambassador to Thailand Asif Ahmad met Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha this afternoon to discuss a slew of issues affecting British residents and tourists, with the aim of working together with local authorities to boost safety on the island. “We have 850,000 British tourists who visit Thailand every year. I’ll say up to half come to Phuket… The majority…
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Phuket cobras running out of room, into houses
PHUKET: A family in Phuket had their regular laid-back Saturday evening rudely interrupted by a cobra trying to enter their home. “We had dinner with family and friends in the garden near the pool. After dinner, my wife, Nongyao, cleared the table, and on her way back to the kitchen she encountered a snake,” explained Lothar Schudt, who has lived…
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Controversy reigns as FC Phuket drops league points at home
PHUKET: FC Phuket’s first Thai League Division 1 home game of the season ended in frustration as they were held to a 1-1 draw against Rajpracha FC at Surakul Stadium on Saturday evening. In front of a crowd of over 2000, Phuket couldn’t do enough to prevail over a team intent on clinching a draw. The visitors brought howls from…
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Phuket beaches left unguarded
PHUKET: The Phuket Lifeguard Club’s contract to protect the island’s beaches expired on Friday, leaving tourists to swim unprotected in seas that claimed many lives last year. On Saturday, staff removed their equipment from the beaches. The 9.9-million-baht contract to guard the beaches is put out on an annual tender, which critics claim is too short a period of time.…
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Phuket to survey options for burying beach-front power lines
PHUKET: Patong Municipality has approved a feasibility survey for a project to bury power and telephone lines along the road at Phuket’s most popular beach. The 8-million-baht study should take eight months to complete and work on the first phase of the project should be completed by 2013. The road project, called Route A, will run along Patong Beach and…
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Phuket Opinion: Bull elephants should be banned from Thai tourism
PHUKET: The terrible stomping death of a Swiss tourist by a berserk male elephant last week once again underscores the need to restrict tourism work to female elephants, as many operators who provide these services already do. (See story, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full issue.) Riding through the jungle on the…
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Phuket Readers’ poll results: Phuket is safe
PHUKET: Phuket is a safe place to visit or live, a majority of Phuket Gazette readers believe. A recent Gazette readers’ poll asked the question: “All things considered, do you think Phuket is a safe place to visit and live?” Overall, just under 63% of the people who took part answered that Phuket is “very safe” or “fairly safe”, compared…
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“Lucky plates’ rake in millions for Phuket
PHUKET: The sixth annual “Lucky License Plate Auction” kicked off today at the Metropole Hotel in Phuket Town with the much sought after Kor Nor 9999 plate selling for 1.4 million baht. The numbers “8” and “9” are auspicious numbers according to traditional Thai beliefs. In addition to taking home today’s top seller, motorcycle repair shop owner Jaruk Kaewpunnaray, 30,…
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Phuket sea kayak guide dies during tour
PHUKET: Funeral services are being held this morning for a Phuket tour guide who drowned during a kayak tour in Phang Nga Bay yesterday afternoon. The deceased has been identified as 25-year-old Suriyan “Mee Mee” Rachapai, a resident of Ao Por. Mr Suriyan was employed by well-known kayak tour operator John Gray’s Sea Canoe. Mr Suriyan apparently had a diabetic…
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Phuket Football: FC Phuket in first home game today
PHUKET: FC Phuket play host to Rajpracha FC in their first Thai League Division 1 home game of the season at Surakul Stadium this evening. Kickoff is at 6pm. Phuket opened their 2011 campaign in solid fashion two weeks ago when they bagged a deserved share of the spoils away from home against Suphan Buri FC. Phuket missed several chances…
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New regulations to impact Phuket development
PHUKET: New environmental regulations may significantly affect property developments and land values, leading law experts told those gathered at the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) Greater Phuket Chapter’s inaugural 2011 event yesterday. The keynote speakers at the event, entitled “Changes In Greater Phuket Planning and Environmental Regulations”, were Sorachon Boonsong and Kammalard Urapeepatanapong, partners at Baker & McKenzie, and Anurag…
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Phuket longtails get new pier at Chalong
PHUKET: Work on a new pier for longtail boats in Chalong Bay is now about 25 per cent complete and should be finished by the scheduled completion date in late May, the project contractor says.Work on the 11.6-million-baht project, known in Thai as “Saphan Reua Hang Yaow”, is funded by the Ministry of Transport. Wandee Suwanchot, controller of the main…
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Isarn comes alive in Phuket
PHUKET: An Isarn (Northeastern Thailand) cultural heritage fair is underway in Phuket with fashion shows and products such as premium Isarn silk on offer. The “Heritage Cultural of Southern E-San” event began yesterday and will run through Monday in the 1st floor Event Hall at HomeWorks on the bypass road. The fair, which features the cultural heritage of Isarn’s Nakhon…
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Woman found unconscious, half-naked on Phuket roadside
PHUKET: An unconscious woman was found yesterday morning on a Phuket roadside, naked from the waist down with blood pouring from her head. The 58-year-old, whose name is undisclosed, may have been raped, Thalang Police Lt Col Weerayut Sittirattanakul said. At about 5am yesterday, Thalang Police received a report of a woman lying unconscious near a parked motorbike on the…
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