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Stay up-to-date with the latest news from across Thailand and beyond with The Thaiger. Our dedicated team brings you breaking news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from this stunning part of the world, covering a diverse range of topics, including local politics, business, culture, and tourism. Keep yourself informed about the Kingdom’s rich history, stunning landscapes, and thriving expat communities, as well as updates on events, attractions, and transportation.
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5 hidden healthcare costs in Thailand and how to avoid them
Thailand's healthcare system is affordable and supported by the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) scheme, offering essential services to most citizens. However, hidden healthcare costs can surprise patients and lead to unexpected expenses. These include specialist fees, insurance gaps, emergency services,...
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Krabi taxi drivers’ brawl goes viral
KRABI: Airport ‘Limousine’ drivers and metered taxi drivers came to blows when a heated argument about passengers escalated at Krabi International Airport on Tuesday. A video clip shot by a bystander was shared and widely criticized on social media. The caption of the video is “Krabi International Airport fight between green plate taxi and taxi meter [sic]. I don’t want…
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Man in ICU after drive-by road rage shooting
PHUKET: A 23-year-old Thai man is in intensive care after being shot in a drive-by road rage attack this morning. Thalang police told the Phuket Gazette they received an emergency call at about 6am, after Chayan Srinual was rushed to Thalang Hospital. “Mr Chayan was shot once in the left side of his back,” said Thalang police Captain Chatree Chuwichian.…
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Airport staff welcome festival arrivals
PHUKET: Phuket International Airport celebrated the Vegetarian Festival by giving souvenirs to the passengers from several flights yesterday afternoon. The souvenirs were distributed in honor of China’s ‘Golden Week’, also known as China’s National Day. Phuket International Airport Director Monrudee Gettuphan, together with Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Phuket Office staff, were waiting at the domestic arrival terminal at 3pm…
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Longtail passengers rescue fellow tourist
KRABI: A Chinese tourist was lucky that a Royal Thai Navy rescue team was on hand after she nearly drowned in the Andaman Sea on Saturday. Xiaochang Lai, 23, along with five other tourists, was touring the bay on a longtail boat and had stopped to snorkel around the coral reef at Koh Gai. Ms Lai became separated from her…
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New venture fills luxury travel niche
PHUKET: Getting from the airport to a hotel in Phuket is probably one of the biggest headaches facing any visitor fresh off a plane. Public transport is limited to just about nothing and taxis have long been notorious to do business with here, so there has been a gap in the market just waiting to be filled – offering tourists…
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Festival firecrackers ignite Supercheap blaze
PHUKET: Police said they believe a fire that spread across Bang Tao’s Supercheap store yesterday was ignited by children’s firecrackers. Firefighters and personnel from the Cherngtalay Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) office raced to the scene of the blaze yesterday afternoon. Firefighters reportedly battled the blaze for 20 minutes before it was extinguished. Goods inside the store were…
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Vegetable Frenzy brings economic boon
PHUKET: Phuket’s controversial Vegetarian Festival is expected to generate 3.4 billion baht in revenue for the local economy, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) claimed today. According to the TAT, during the closing days of the festival, hotel occupancy along the parade routes was up to 90 per cent. Additionally, officials said occupancy of beach hotels also increased during the…
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Russian swimmer dashed against rocks at Karon Beach
PHUKET: A Russian man broke his arm today when he was dashed against rocks by strong waves off Karon Beach, after ignoring red flags warning beach goers not to swim in the dangerous surf. Viktor Sizouenko, 32, was rescued by lifeguards and given first aid by medics at the beach before being taken to Patong Hospital. Eye witnesses said Mr…
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Phuket Vegetarian Festival in full swing
PHUKET: This year’s Vegetarian Festival in Phuket is fully underway, with processions of devotees marching to Chinese shrines across the island for the second day of rituals this week. Yesterday, devotees and festival participants gathered at Choor Su Gong Naka shrine for the first street procession of the festival. Crowds gathered at the Bang Ku shrine today for a second…
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U-turn flyovers delayed again after local protests
PHUKET: The country’s highest-ranking ombudsman met with local town planning and highways officers on Wednesday to discuss local protests causing delays in construction of two proposed u-turn flyovers along Thepkrasattri Road. Ombudsman Office Secretary-General Raksagecha Chaechai met with the local officials to discuss plans following public complaints over two proposed flyover projects aimed at reducing road accidents and fatalities at…
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Krabi vet asks for donations to feed baby elephant
KRABI: A vet in Krabi is appealing the public to help fund milk supplies for a newborn male elephant who was rejected by his mother and needs up to 20 liters of infant formula a day. The baby elephant was born on September 7 to a 20-year-old elephant named ‘Pang Rampai’. However, the mother is refusing to feed the young…
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Driver finds 3-meter-long king cobra in car
KRABI: Snake catchers in Krabi pulled a large king cobra from a car yesterday. The deadly three-meter-long snake had hidden behind the headlight of the car after falling onto the vehicle from a tree. Suchayanmak Sukapan, 42, had parked her car under a tree in front a house in Din Udom sub-district, Lamthap District, when she happened upon the snake.…
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Opinion: Phuket Shrines Association chief explains spirit of Veg fest
PHUKET: Prasert Fakthongphol, 68, is the founder and president of the Phuket Shrines Association. He was born and raised in Phuket and has a vocational certificate in business studies from Dusit Commercial College in Bangkok. He has been the president of the association since 2001 and also owns a transportation company. Here, he talks about the real purpose and tradition…
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Blind community offered boosted standards and legal venue registrations
PHUKET: The Thailand Association of the Blind (TAB) organized an informational discussion at the Bhukitta Hotel & Spa on Wednesday to boost the standard of blind massage parlors and tweak their registration process. The event was led by Phuket Vice Governor Chokdee Amornwat, alongside deputy director of the TAB Surat Puengsiriwathana, and Petrat Techatracha, head of The Blinds Vocational Promotion…
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What’s different about The Thaiger?
The Thaiger is growing fast, reaching out beyond Phuket to cover the rest of Thailand as well. We will still be posting at least five stories a day for our Phuket readers but will be adding other regions of the Kingdom as well so we become a truly national portal. • In May 2018, alone, we grew our online audience…
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Local artists protest coal plant
KRABI: Twenty artists gathered at Krabi Provincial Hall to stage a peaceful protest on Thursday morning against a coal power plant slated to be built in the Nua Khlong District. Vasan Sitthiket, an artist and activist who is part of the group, painted landscapes depicting how locals in the area would be affected by the plant. “We went to the…
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The Thaiger reaches far and wide
Modern marketing is all about ‘reach’ – how many people are seeing/hearing/reading your ads – and targeting your customers. The Thaiger is an effective tool to do both. Our platforms are measurable and promise to provide you with superior effective reach at a price you can afford with a reputation and quality to match your product. Every package from The…
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Advertising on The Thaiger
. WELCOME TO THE THAIGER Our website has skyrocketed in new user from 275,000 page views per month at the start of 2018 to 2.1 million page views in February 2019, representing more than 1.3 million sessions. (Google Analytics) The Thaiger crosses a number of platforms including the main website, a smartphone App, Facebook pages, YouTube Channel, Instagram, Twitter and…
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Cockfighting purse largest in Thai history
PHUKET: Two veteran roosters in Samui’s cockfighting ring drew the largest bets in Thailand’s history yesterday. Cockfighters from Chumporn, Ranong, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Samui circled around the Baan Lipa Yai ring yesterday afternoon, cheering and placing more than 2 million baht in bets. The headlining fight, between an eight-month-old gamecock from Chumporn named Hua Pok, and a…
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New Phuket governor arrives
PHUKET: Newly appointed Phuket Governor Dr Chokchai Dejamornthan and his wife Raweewan Dejamornthan, who is the new president of the Phuket Red Cross, received a warm welcome on their arrival in Phuket this morning. About a hundred people from both government and the private sector showed up to welcome the couple at Phuket airport at 10:30am. In keeping with tradition,…
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Samkong Underpass to be closed for maintenance, completion pushed to October end
PHUKET: The Samkong Underpass is to be closed from 10pm today until 4am tomorrow for electrical maintenance and installation. Motorists are only allowed to use the road above the underpass during this time slot. “We have also installed signs at the junction to notify motorists,” said Chalermpol Wongkiattikun, the project engineer from the Department of Highways. “The underpass is expected…
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Opinion: Confusion at new airport terminal
PHUKET: Confusion among passengers following the recent opening of the International Terminal at Phuket Airport demonstrates a disappointing lack of readiness on the part of Airports of Thailand (AoT), Phuket Immigration and other related agencies. While it would have been naive to expect that such major changes to airport operations could come off without a hitch, the lack of manpower…
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Burmese dies from anal injuries
KOH SAMUI: A Myanmar man died Wednesday afternoon in Koh Samui, nine days after he was admitted to hospital with a torn anus, anal inflammation and a blood infection from a torn intestine. Capt Issaret Saneangwan of Samui Police received reports regarding the deceased from Samui Hospital. “Thirty-year-old Mueang Santoo had passed away about an hour before we arrived at…
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Phuket Airport Road: Landslide plan to be revealed next month
PHUKET: A plan to prevent landslides along the road running parallel to the runway at Phuket International Airport is expected to be completed by next month. The need for a plan came about when continuous rains on August 31 loosened the earth on the 141-meter-tall hill (Khao Bo Sai), and caused a landslide that spilled onto the road (story here).…
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Patong Swimmer stung by Portuguese Man of War
PHUKET: Lifeguards at Patong Beach helped a swimmer on Monday who had been stung on one of her legs by a Portuguese Man-of-War. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the lifeguards said they had helped remove the siphonophore from the victim after she was stung. The swimmer, who wished to remain anonymous, said the sting was small but painful. The…
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Floating officials visit flooded village
KRABI: Villagers in Ao Luek district have been using boats to get to and from their houses after torrential flooding has left their neighborhood under water for the past month. Following complaints filed with the Ao Luek Administration Organization (OrBorTor), Ao Luek District chief Chaiwut Buathong examined the site on Tuesday. Approximately 300 meters of roadway have been flooded in…
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Man ‘bathes’ in pothole to push road repairs
PHUKET: A Krabi local ‘bathed’ in a pothole Tuesday morning as a sarcastic act of protest against the condition of the roads in the area. The man, who calls himself ‘Rosemary’, is 53-year-old Payong Noosiri. Several surprised locals watched as Mr Payong took pictures of himself bathing in a pothole in Krabi’s Baan Lamthap village. Mr Payong said he was…
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Arrest warrants issued for ATM hackers
PHUKET: Police issued two more arrest warrants on September 26 for Russian suspects wanted in connection with the nation-wide ATM fraud that ripped off over 12 million baht from Government Savings Bank (GSB) ATMs. The group of foreigners travelled around the country using specially-engineered credit cards to overcome safety precautions and empty ATMs in Phuket, Phang Nga, Surat Thani, Phretcha…
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First wedding planner’s congress in Asia coming to Phuket
PHUKET: Wedding planners from across the world will descend on Phuket for a global conference this Spring, the Ministery of Tourism and Sports announced last week. The Destination Wedding Planners Congress (DWPC) is hosted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and is scheduled to be held at Laguna Golf Phuket in May of 2017. “Destination-themed weddings are a big…
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Teenager killed in “double hit-and-run’
PHUKET: A teenager was killed and another man injured in a ‘double’ hit-and-run collision at about 1:15am today on Thepkasattri Road. The victim, Noppadol Yaprajan, 19, was riding pillion with his friend Sirichai Witsuma, 20, when the accident occurred. “Mr Sirichai told us that an 18-wheeled truck hit their motorbike in front of the Democratic Party Office, causing Mr Noppadol…
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