Opinion
The Thaiger Opinion Columns
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Retiring in Thailand can be affordable and enjoyable, but many retirees lose money due to common mistakes. High living costs, scams, and unexpected expenses can quickly drain savings. There are five ways that retirees in Thailand can lose money and...
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Phuket Opinion: Out of the house, into a brave new world
The Chief of the Phuket Women’s Development Fund is 52-year-old Natthaporn Phanitpichatewon. A Chiang Mai native, she has lived in Phuket for 30 years. She is a realtor and board member of the Phuket Red Cross and the Juvenile Observation and Protection Center.Here she talks about why women shouldn’t stay home and how she helps women start their own businesses.…
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Phuket Opinion: Legacy of accuracy in black and white
PHUKET: With advances in information technology in recent years, much has been said about the “inevitable” demise of print media. Few among us would deny that we are living in a time of breathtaking change in the way news is delivered, consumed and shared. Copyright laws are becoming virtually unenforceable in our global world, and the new reality is that…
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Phuket Opinion: Hailing a new era
Prasat Pechwang, 56, is a Phuket native. He earned a BA from King Mongkut’s University of Technology in North Bangkok, majoring in Electrical Engineering. He started working at Saudi Oger Company Ltd in 1981 and moved to We-Ef Lighting Company Ltd in 1987. He has been a taxi driver with Phuket Taxi Meter Service Company Limited for ten years. Here,…
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Phuket Opinion: The testing paradox
PHUKET: Obtaining a driver’s license on our island is a paradoxical task.It is an ostensibly simple process, all done within one building and in eight hours, driving lessons optional – which may rev your confidence up – but it’s fussiness has been known to trip up even those with decades of driving experience.A mere inch of yellow line-overstepping during the…
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Phuket Opinion: Tourist Court vs Holiday Justice
PHUKET: The opening of a new court to resolve non-criminal cases involving foreign tourists in Phuket tomorrow is a welcome step in the right direction, but only time will tell if the initiative will achieve its goal of bringing about prompt justice for visitors and improving Thailand’s image as a tourist destination abroad. When the idea of establishing such a…
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Phuket Opinion: Speaking of warm welcomes
Yodying Viprakasit, 45, was raised in Bangkok and attended high school in England. She has BA and MA degrees from the US and attended culinary school in Italy. A Phuket resident for over seven years, she is the owner of Cafe Y Te on Phang Nga Road and Casa Blanca, a boutique hotel on Phuket Road. Here she talks about…
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Phuket Opinion: Chow for a champion cheap charlie
PHUKET: First thing I did when I got out of prison last week was go to my favorite Thai-Muslim eatery and scoff down a brunch of champions – fried fish, veggies, Chernobyl-strength namprik (chili sauce), with plenty of rice and a fried egg to prevent me from spontaneously combusting.It cost less than half the price of an equally voluminous plate…
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Phuket Opinion: Beauty is only skin deep – even in paradise
PHUKET: The emergence of Phuket as an important regional center for plastic surgery is great news for the local economy, but raises some important ethical concerns about elective surgeries in general. Throughout history, people – especially women – have wanted to look their best. Until very recently, however, the only certain way to achieve this came, like everything worthwhile in…
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Phuket Opinion: Providing a safe haven for abandoned pets
Dr Suchon Jittanon, 58, is a Krabi native. After earning a degree in Veterinary Medicine from Kasetsart University, he ran his own veterinary clinic in Bangkok until 1997. After that he moved to Phuket and opened another veterinary clinic, the Phuket Animal Hospital in Chalong. Here, he talks about caring for abandoned pets and urges people to think carefully before…
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Phuket Opinion: Relegate the blight of jet-skis to the past
PHUKET: It is time that the provincial government considers phasing out the jet-ski rental industry that has brought so much ill-repute to the island. The latest tragedy involving a jet-ski and a foreign tourist came last weekend, when 27-year-old Chinese visitor Shen Baocheng was rendered comatose after his rented jet-ski collided with a speedboat towing a parasailing tourist in Patong…
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Phuket Opinion: So near, but often so far
PHUKET: I don’t miss real bread and real butter, cheese and steak tartare. I don’t miss walking my dog through winter’s first snow, skiing in the French Alps or the mountains of the Czech republic. I don’t miss autumn strolls in my local park or the relief of springtime. I don’t miss the first tulips, young potatoes, fresh raspberries and…
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Phuket Opinion: How to steer children as they surf the web
Chalam Attatham, 54, has been the Director of the Phuket Primary Education Service Office since 2011. In 2010 he served in the same capacity in Pattalung. A Phuket native, he has a BA in Education from Srinakharinwirot University and an MA in Education from Thaksin University. Here he talks about how parents and teachers can work together to help children…
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Phuket Opinion: Corruption-fighter says it’s time to cleanse the island of graft
Surin Bamrungphol, 53, is a founder and President of the Phuket Anti-Corruption Network. He is a Phuket native with a PhD in Development Strategies from Phuket Rajabhat University. Mr Surin is CEO of SureMed Corporation and vice-president of the Federation of Thai Industries, Phuket Chapter. He also serves on the board of a variety of companies. Here, he talks about…
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Phuket Opinion: Needed – more greenery for our souls
PHUKET: When I lived on Racha Island, I could never really figure out where Thalang was. The only time I encountered it was taking a taxi to the airport. Around Koh Kaew I’d ask the driver, “Is this Thalang?”, then again at the Heroines’ Monument. Finally, as we whizzed through the Ton Sai Waterfall intersection, he’d say, “This is it.”All…
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Phuket Opinion: Not backing down in Phuket’s edgiest district
Veera Kerdsirimongkol, 57, originally from Nakhon Si Thammarat, has been District Chief of Kathu for four months. He was a district chief for 13 years before coming to Phuket, most recently in Palian, Trang. He has a master’s degree in Management Sciences from Prince of Songkla University. Here, he talks about what he has done to stop illegal activity in…
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Phuket Opinion: Waste not, and waste not wanted
PHUKET: I was recently contacted by a man named David, a graduate-level research assistant from a reputable University in Bangkok, who had come to Phuket for the first time – but not for the typical reasons. The destination luring David to our “paradise island” was not any particular beach, cove, resort, restaurant or bar, but was in fact the Waste…
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Phuket Opinion: Phuket Town, worthy of Unesco World Heritage status
PHUKET: Approaching Phuket Town from the north at dusk provides a magical moment. At the intersection of Thepkasattri and Thalang Roads, the ivory-white Song Nuan Pharmacy building is cinematically lit with colors that manage to stay just on the right side of garish.Every time I pass it on my daily two-wheeled commute home, and then proceed through streets lined with…
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Phuket Opinion: Health insurance for tourists at 7-Eleven
Dr Sirichai Silpa-archa has been the Director of Patong Hospital for six months and was Deputy Director of Vachira Phuket Hospital for 26 years. He has a medical degree from Chulalongkorn University with a specialty in Urology from Chiang Mai University, as well as an MBA. Here, he discusses options for relieving the financial burden of uninsured foreign tourist and…
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Phuket Opinion: Isle of Caprice
PHUKET: The naming of 11 parties who will be investigated by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) for so-called “mafia” activities in the island’s tourism industry (story here) have piqued the interest of even some of the most jaded Phuket media observers. However, only time will tell if this initiative turns out to be the first dose of the long-awaited…
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Phuket Opinion: Italy’s Honorary Consul – respect and enforce laws
Dr Francesco Pensato, 53, became the Honorary Consul of Italy for Phuket and Southern Thailand in May. A director of the Thai-Italian Chamber of Commerce, Dr Francesco has degrees in Pharmacology, Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Sound Engineering, and is the CEO of World Pharm, JK Drinks and King manufacturing company. Here, he talks about the most pressing problems facing Italian tourists…
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Phuket Opinion: Island paradise – it’s the bomb
PHUKET: News of the the unprecedented bomb explosion outside of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) offices on August 1 (story here) came as just the latest blow to the reputation of Phuket as a safe tourist destination. Fortunately, nobody was physically harmed in the incident, though a number of vehicles were damaged. While the bombing itself was as completely…
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Phuket Opinion: The road not taken
PHUKET: After a road trip off island, a resounding thump lets you know you’ve arrived back home. I can’t drive anywhere in Phuket anymore without crater divots and potholes lurking in front of me, threatening to bring my motorbike scuttling to the ground or sending a wheel on my car scraping high into its arch. Each time I stop at…
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Phuket Opinion: Snakes in the house: who you gonna call?
Watchara Srikacha, 26, has been catching snakes since he was 10 years old. Originally from Sisaket province in Thailand’s Northeast, Watchara has been working with the Kusoldharm Foundation since he came to Phuket almost five years ago. Part of his job is catching snakes. Here, he explains why more and more snakes are appearing in residential areas of Phuket. PHUKET:…
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Phuket Opinion: For tourists, due diligence is essential, as is due skepticism for media hype
PHUKET: Tourist safety issues have been a hot topic in the news lately as the number of accidents and crimes involving foreign visitors continues to grow with the largely unregulated expansion of the island’s tourism industry. Despite the often colorful announcements of an impending “crackdown” on this or that, or the establishment of another new “safety zone” or other largely…
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Phuket Opinion: Bus about face
PHUKET: The quiet launch last week of a new bus to shuttle tourists from the airport to Patong (story here) comes as a small dose of good news for Phuket’s ailing public transport sector, which nevertheless continues to suffer from the chronic and very serious effects of collusion, self-entitlement and a blatant, goon-like disregard for the law, common decency and…
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Phuket Opinion: Enigmatic beach flags
PHUKET: You arrive at the beach ready for a day of sun, sea and sand, but you are greeted by a line of different colored flags lining the shoreline: red, red and yellow, yellow, blue, red and white chequered. Most people, myself included, aim for the area away from the red flag as they know what that means. The others…
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Phuket Opinion: Sea change in mindset needed to avoid dire straits
PHUKET: The recent discovery and subsequent removal of a large fishing net from the well-known dive site Shark Point (story here) is just the latest in a long series of indicators that the marine environment off Phuket is in dire straits. Government researchers at the ‘National Parks and Protected Area Innovation Institute’ told a recent seminar that coral bleaching had…
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Phuket Opinion: Saving swimmers by keeping them out of the sea
Phang Nga native Uten Singsom, 37, has been working as a lifeguard for 14 years, first at Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort in Patong and for the past three years on Karon Beach. Today, he is the head of the Kata-Karon Lifeguard Club. Here he talks about what government and hotels should do to make Phuket beaches safer and stop…
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Phuket Opinion: Thanks giving for 4th of July celebrations at Phuket Airpark
PHUKET: We would like to extend a most heartfelt thanks to every one of the many volunteer groups who worked together so well to make last weekend’s inaugural Phuket Airshow and Family Picnic such a successful charity event. The splendid festivities, timed to celebrate the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence 237 years ago, had so much going…
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Phuket Opinion: It doesn’t hurt to give
PHUKET: On this lovely island renowned for its wonderful spas, the place I’ve felt most pampered is not one. It’s the sleek and modern Phuket Regional Blood Center (PRBC) next to the employment office, staffed by professionals delivering five-star service to those of us who give about 45 minutes of our time and about 10 per cent of our blood.…
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