News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. The Thaiger delivers the latest national news that matters.
-
Sponsored How one hospital visit in Thailand could cost more than your whole trip
Thailand is a favourite spot for travellers who want to enjoy more while spending less. From cheap street food to low-cost hotels and fun attractions, it’s easy to stretch your budget here. But there’s one thing many people don’t think...
-
Songkran blitz holds road toll down
PHUKET: A Songkran crackdown by police and government officials has held Phuket’s Thai New Year holiday road toll to one death and 340 injuries so far. The figures, recorded up to midnight last night, were in line with last year’s, when the number of deaths was restricted to two during the 10-day festival. In contrast, the tally of arrests at…
-
Laws of physics win
OOPS: Passers-by at the Thepkrasattri Rd – Komarapaj Rd intersection in Phuket City on Saturday night were astonished to come across this humpbacked pickup truck. Witnesses said that the truck, heavily laden with fruit, was not involved in an accident, but had jack-knifed – vertically – after its driver slammed on his brakes at the lights.
-
First road death recorded in “Safe Songkran’
PATONG: Within minutes of government officials urging people to ride safely, Sarawuth Kohavee became the first road fatality in Songkran week in Phuket. About noon his motorbike, bound for Phuket City, slammed into the rear of a six-wheel truck as it turned into a soi in Chalong, near the entrance of Phuket Vanich Company. K. Sarawuth was not wearing a…
-
Report to Immigration, foreigners told
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Immigration Office has renewed its warning that foreigners holding any type of one-year extension-of-stay must visit an Immigration office every 90 days to confirm their identity and address, or face a 2,000 baht fine. More stringent application of the rules – along with random visits by officers to check passports in areas where foreigners gather –…
-
Air hostess grants offered to needy dreamers
PHUKET: The government is offering 60 scholarships for good-looking, tall, well educated Thai women living in poverty to realize their dreams of becoming air hostesses. Under the “Eur Ah-torn Air Hostess Project”, women granted the scholarships will attend the three-month basic cabin attendant course at the Civil Aviation Training Center (CATC) in Bangkok. The project, says an announcement from the…
-
More Songkran water play zones designated
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura has designated two more zones for Songkran water play, adding to the three previously announced by Phuket Provincial Police. In a pamphlet issued by the Provincial Public Relations Office, the Governor listed the following areas as places where people may legally fling water at one another during Songkran: Muang District: Saphan Hin, Tambon Rawai,…
-
Two-tier pricing claim baffles developers
PHUKET: Real estate developers have reacted with bafflement and irritation to an accusation that the property industry in Thailand indulges in double pricing, with foreigners paying up to 75% more than Thais do for homes. The accusation came in a report published yesterday by the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong – the biggest market by far for the…
-
Patong politician attacked with metal bar
PATONG: Suwat Somnam, a member of the Patong Progress Party, which is currently under investigation by the Phuket Election Commission for vote-buying after it won the February 8 Patong municipal election, was beaten with a metal bar early on Tuesday morning while he was jogging along Patong Beach. “I woke up early as usual and went jogging along Patong Beach,”…
-
Bad debt property up for auction
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Legal Execution Department (PLED) will hold its first “distressed property” auction of the year on May 15 at the Phuket Merlin Hotel. The PLED, which is responsible for auctioning off bad-debt properties, currently has on its books 220 properties worth an estimated 750 million baht. Those that are unsold on May 15 will be offered at…
-
Air Andaman to launch Phuket-Singapore route
PHUKET: Air Andaman will begin a regular service between Bangkok and Singapore from May 13, stopping at Phuket on the way. Public Relations Manager Am-nad Thienhiranchaikul told the Gazette that the airline is awaiting delivery of two new Fokker-100 jet airplanes to fly the new route. With capacity for 108 passengers, the new planes will replace the smaller F-50 turboprop…
-
Warning over export of antiques
PHUKET CITY: Officers from the Customs Office at Phuket International Airport and from the Thalang National Museum have issued a reminder that people wanting to take antiques or Buddha images out of Thailand must first obtain a permit to do so. Nittaya Pinchaisiri, an officer at Thalang National Museum, said, “People who want to take antiques or Buddha images bought…
-
Food fight
PHITSANULOK: They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, but a housewife in Nernmaprang District wound up dead with a shotgun blast through her stomach – after serving her drunk husband a dinner that he deemed mai aroy (not delicious). The wife, 33-year-old Somtong Kamyuang of Tambon Chompoo Village 3, had prepared dinner for her husband…
-
Really tough love
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: Some parents learn too late that the time to teach their offspring some discipline is when they are still young. The retired cop who pulled a out a .22 caliber pistol and shot his only son on the afternoon of March 4 in Thoong Song District may be one such parent. When police arrived at the scene,…
-
Phuket City elects a new mayor
PHUKET CITY: A woman is Phuket City’s first directly-elected mayor. Somjai Suwannasuppana led the Khon Noom (Young Turks) Party to a relatively narrow victory in the Phuket City Municipality poll yesterday. K. Somjai, previously second on the party ticket, behind long-serving mayor Phummisak Hongsyok, polled 11,986 votes, narrowly defeating Prawat Suwannadithakul, of the Chao Baan Sarng San (Creative) Party, who…
-
Better Songkran Order emphasized
PHUKET CITY: In an effort to prevent the annual surge in road accidents during the Songkran holdiday, the Superintendent of Phuket City Police Station, Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, has announced that new rules restricting water-play to special zones will be strictly enforced across the island during the April 13-15 holiday period. Col Paween said that the new rules will limit…
-
Reward offered over missing man
KATA: The family of missing dive instructor David Wiewel are offering a reward of 50,000 baht for information leading to Mr Wiewel being found. The 57-year-old Dutchman walked out of his home in Kata on the morning of March 26 and has not been seen since. His brother, Frank, said, “We are living between hope and fear and the situation…
-
Mob protests police “lack of action’
CHERNG TALAY: In the latest flare-up in an ongoing gang war between youths from Bang Tao and neighboring Baan Don, some 100 teenagers blocked the main road intersection in Cherng Talay last night for seven hours. The mob were protesting about the “unfair” arrests of two Bang Tao teenagers during a brawl yesterday afternoon in Thalang, and about the repeated…
-
Anti-disease drive in markets
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) plans to spray the island’s fresh markets with germicides frequently this summer with the aim of preventing diseases. Somboon Aiyarak, from the PPHO, told the Gazette “Stomach illnesses such as diarrhea spread very quickly in the summer – we have problems almost every year. So we should try to provide some protection for…
-
Out of school, out of work
PHUKET: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s plan to find work for students over the hot-season school break has received a cool reception in Phuket. As of April 1, only 21 of the 207 students who applied for jobs had found work. The plan, which got a major publicity boost when PM Thaksin put his daughter Paethongtan to work passing out burgers…
-
Sun sets on Phromthep eyesore
RAWAI: Visitors going to Laem Phromthep recently to watch the sun set have been getting more than they bargained for. At the top of the stairs leading up from the carpark, and blocking the view, is a large, unfinished stone monument. But now it has been decided that the unsightly new structure, built at a cost of 200,000 baht as…
-
Gov urges swift action on seaweed
PHUKET: At a provincial meeting this morning Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura admitted that bright green seaweed covering large parts of Patong Beach is the result of poor waste disposal practices by the Patong Municipality, but stressed that it is not a danger to human health. The Governor did acknowledge, however, that the piles of macroalgae are a threat to tourism.…
-
Tax man’s take rises 50pc
PHUKET: The island’s tax collectors were highly successful in February this year, collecting almost 50% more than in the same month in 2003. The latest figures released by the Phuket Provincial Revenue Office show a rise in the overall tax harvest from 223.97 million baht in February last year to 334.17 million baht in the same month this year, an…
-
Roads claim 15 more lives
PHUKET: Fifteen people were killed on Phuket’s roads between January 20 and February 20, according to the latest statistics from the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals. All of the victims died while riding motorcycles, Ampaipan Pawawattananusorn, of the Phuket Provincial Health Office, reported. In the same period, 1,024 people were hurt in crashes involving motorbikes. Another 80 people were…
-
Heated views at zoning seminar
PHUKET: What might have been a dry discussion of the technicalities of zoning in Phuket turned into a wide-ranging and sometimes emotional discussion of Phuket’s ills when 150 people attended a Phuket Gazette-Nation seminar on Saturday. On stage to lead discussion of “Can Zoning Save Phuket?” at Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort were Dr Sommai Prijasila, Head of the Foreign…
-
Hotel unions examine service charge issue
PHUKET CITY: For members of local hotel labor unions, the question of who gets service charges was high on the agenda at a recent international meeting of labor officials in Phuket. Regional representatives of the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) gathered at the ST Hotel on March 27-28 to discuss collective…
-
Video captures tourist’s “suicide’
KARON: A video recording of a Thai tourist speaking her last known words was found in the bedroom of her Karon holiday home where she apparently committed suicide. Pol Maj Jessada Sangsure, of Chalong Police Station, told the Gazette that he received a call yesterday at 6 pm from a male cleaner who found the body. Maj Jessada arrived to…
-
Songkran water battles to be zoned
PHUKET (The Nation): Revelers will have to watch out where they hurl water during Songkran next month because local authorities plan to designate specific areas for their antics. “We will ensure that the revelers have fun while observing laws and safety rules,” Phuket police chief Pol Maj Gen Veerayuth Sittimalic said. The proposed free-for-all zones are Saphan Hin in Phuket…
-
First round of zoning hearings completed
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Public Works and Town and Country Planning Office (PWTCPO), which is responsible for drawing up a comprehensive set of island-wide zoning regulations by October 1, has completed a first round of public hearings in each of Phuket’s three districts to gauge public opinion on zoning issues. The zoning is intended to curb the unregulated development that…
-
Phuket Seminars to focus on quality-of-life issues
PHUKET: In connection with a Nation Multimedia Group (NMG) editorial board meeting to be held in Phuket this weekend, The Nation newspaper and the Phuket Gazette will present an English-language seminar entitled: “Can zoning save Phuket?” Focused on provincial planning, zoning, environmental and other issues critical for tourism, property development and day-to-day living on the island, the seminar will be…
-
Move to curb long-tail rip-offs
RAWAI: Island-wide measures are to be introduced to register all of Phuket’s long-tail boats, set standard fees for tourist trips, and punish rip-off boat operators. Most of the island’s long-tail operators are honest, but some unscrupulous boatmen have been known to charge excessive rates and cheat tourists. Another cause for concern – and action – is the tour group operators…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.