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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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Dolphins washing ashore, injured or dead
PHUKET: A dead dolphin was discovered off a Patong Beach and another is recovering at a Royal Thai Navy facility on Koh Lanta. Both were discovered by scuba divers on Saturday. Phuket Marine Biological Center veterinarian Patcharaporn Gaewmong told the Phuket Gazette that she believes recent discoveries of sick, injured or dead cetaceans are likely the result of monsoon season…
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Last call for illegal migrant workers to register
PHUKET: Immigration officials are calling on employers of illegal migrant workers to register their employees before a grace period ends this month. “At least 20,000 foreign laborers, predominantly Myanmar nationals, have registered at Phuket’s ‘one-stop center’ since it began accepting applications on April 1, so they can be properly registered and issued with work permits,” said Phuket Provincial Employment Office…
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![Blaze guts alleyway of shops in Patong [video] | Thaiger](https://thethaiger.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/1_2016718101340960_oNMheadLJdNuflDPxhIfbdGnCNSJPJmEWzlAZOMi_jpeg.jpeg)
Blaze guts alleyway of shops in Patong [video]
PHUKET: A blaze gutted shops in a narrow alley off Bangla Road in Patong last night. The fire broke out about midnight near Thaweesawong Road (beach road), damaging several shops including a tailor’s and a minimart. Firefighters and six fire trucks took more than an hour to extinguish the inferno, which is estimated to have caused several million baht worth…
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Indonesian busted at Samui airport with 3kg of cocaine in suitcase
KOH SAMUI: An Indonesian man has been detained by police after picking up a suitcase stuffed with 3 kilograms of cocaine at Samui International Airport on Thursday (July 14). The suspect, named by police as Djemmy Petrus Mokodompit, 48, had arrived on Koh Samui a week earlier, on July 8, on a Bangkok Airways flight from Singapore. The unaccompanied suitcase…
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Government takes back more land, angers locals
PHUKET: Locals are furious after government officers demolished plantations and houses in Thalang on Thursday. “This is incredibly unfair,” said Sorasid Saksuay, a representative of the 200-member community, talking to the press yesterday. “We’ve been living here since before 1998.” A Suan Pa Bang Kanun census in 1998 registered community members and property claims. The area, spread out over some…
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Fake monks charged for begging in Patong
PHUKET: Two monks with fake ordination certificates and a bank book were arrested by Patong Police yesterday. According to reports from locals, Tanai Jai-uea, 52 and Bundit Sairat, 42, have been regular food beggars at the Sai Nam Yen intersection on Rat Uthit 200 Pee Road in Patong for two years. “They were not doing alms rounds like other monks…
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Turkish coup bid crumbles as crowds answer call to streets, Erdogan returns
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Turkish coup bid crumbles as crowds answer call to streets, Erdogan returns Phuket Gazette / Reuters ISTANBUL/ANKARA: An attempted Turkish military coup appeared to crumble in the early hours of this morning after crowds answered President Tayyip Erdogan’s call to take to the streets to support…
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Analyzing the luxury car industry in Phuket
PHUKET: Behind the closed doors of the glitz and glamor of the luxury car business in Phuket, are a host of complicated market forces at play. Let’s take a closer look at the factors that come together in the day-to-day running of this business. Millennium Auto, located on the Bypass Road, sells some of the most renowned luxury brands in…
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Condo conundrum
PHUKET: Your ownership of a condominium or your ability to rent it out has nothing to do with whether or not you have a work permit, Phuket Employment Office Chief Pitool Dumsakorn has told the Phuket Gazette. Legal ambiguities over real estate regulations distressed foreign owners last week, when Phuket Vice Governor Chokdee Amornwat announced a crackdown on condominium complexes…
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Island View: Irrefutable commandments for Phuket farangs
PHUKET: Remember, I am the whiteness of thy skin. Despite how burned thou may become, I have led thee out of the land of the West, out of the bondage of actual behavioral standards. These are my commandments to you, Chosen People! THOU shalt not pay less than 200 baht for a taxi fare, regardless of the distance or length…
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Finance: Investment potential of the Philippines
PHUKET: I recently spent a week in the Philippines – a country long labeled with the dubious distinction as ‘the sick man of Asia’ and a country investors might want to take a closer look at. The Philippines’ presidential and vice presidential election on May 9 saw the rise of Rodrigo Duterte, after incumbent President Benigno Aquino III (who took…
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Gulu opens up about RPM sale
PHUKET: The Royal Phuket Marina (RPM) is on the market. The announcement of the ‘luxury lifestyle development’s impending sale comes as a surprise to many industry analysts, particularly as RPM Chairman Gulu Lalvani has often referred to the development as his legacy. Just last year, Mr Lalvani announced a 5 billion baht investment plan for the marina. In an exclusive…
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Opinion: Phuket chosen as ‘model city'”¦ again
PHUKET: While the media narrative abroad regarding our Land of Smiles has focused on such lofty issues as democratic development, freedom of expression, human rights and so forth, it is somehow reassuring to know that here on the ground the saying plus ็a change, plus c’est la m๊me chose still seems to apply as far as daily life is concerned.…
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Truck attacker kills up to 80 in Nice Bastille Day crowd
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Truck attacker kills up to 80 in Nice Bastille Day crowd Phuket Gazette / Reuters NICE, FRANCE: An attacker killed up to 80 people and injured scores when he drove a heavy truck at high speed into a crowd watching Bastille Day fireworks in the French…
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19-year-old arrested for more than 20 robberies
PHUKET: Police arrested a teenager yesterday who confessed to committing more than 20 robberies in Phuket since February. Channarong Petchmanee, 19, was charged with illegal possession of a firearm in public, gang theft and evading arrest using a vehicle, as per the arrest warrant issued on April 1. Among other incidents, Mr Channarong confessed to using a firearm to steal…
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Marina developers to fight encroachment charges
KRABI: The developers of the Port Takola Yacht Marina in Krabi have been charged with land encroachment after Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) officers raided the site on June 29. The DMCR officials said that during the raid more than 100 officers inspected the marina property to determine whether or not it was encroaching on government land. After…
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Dolphin dies despite locals’ efforts
PHUKET: A lost and weakened dolphin found at Rawai beach last night has died, despite rescuers attempts save the mammal. Rawai Mayor Aroon Solos told the Phuket Gazette that he received a report around 5pm from locals that they had found a dolphin in trouble off Rawai beach. “We immediately called the Phuket Marine Biological Center’s (PMBC) Endangered Species Unit,”…
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Phuket Transport Office vows to continue crackdown
PHUKET: Five hundred seventy-three drivers were arrested during a three-day crackdown in Phuket, July 3-5, according to officials from the Department of Land Transport (DLT). Royal Thai Army personnel and Phuket law enforcement officers set up checkpoints across the island, in what DLT officials called an “attempt to boost Thailand’s image”. DLT director-general Sanit Promwong said on July 5 that…
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Junkies and vandals flock to Samui park
KOH SAMUI: Photos circulating on line of dirty and unsafe toilets at Pru Chaweng Park in Koh Samui have sparked enough public outrage that officials are considering moving the facilities. Images of used needles, condoms and faeces went viral on July 5, after a user posted them on Facebook. The ten-toilet public restroom is located in a public park and…
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ASEAN in disarray over Chinese claims
BANGKOK: China’s territorial claims to the South China Sea are expected to be dealt a blow today as the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague (PCA) is scheduled to announce its decision on seven issues advanced by the Philippines against the People’s Republic. The PCA, one of the world’s oldest and most widely-respected bodies for resolving international disputes, is…
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Opinion: Sorting out messy overhead cables
PHUKET: Wichan Praenam is a Phuket native and the manager of the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), Thalang Office. He has been working in this position since 2014. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management from Phuket Rajabhat University. Here he talks about unorganized overhead cables and the progress the PEA has made to improve the situation. As…
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Rescue operation underway to save injured dolphin
KRABI: The Royal Thai Navy was working to save the life of an injured dolphin found stranded on a beach on Lanta Noi Island in Krabi yesterday. Locals found the fatigued cetacean with a damaged left fin on Lang Sod Beach and called the Navy for help. Lieutenant commander Peerapat Pattanasopon of the Third Naval Area Command rescue unit said…
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Island View: Need to be nicer to our beaches
PHUKET: It’s been a year since I came to Phuket and I have managed to discover a lot more of the island than many others who’ve been living here a lot longer than I have. This is mostly because I didn’t fuss or spend hours reading reviews or deciding where to go. I simply opened up Google Maps, ‘dropped a…
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Scarce hauls concern local fishermen, conservation officials
PHUKET: As fishermen across Phuket and Krabi returned to shore after the July 1 reopening of the season, their meager catches furrowed foreheads and drew exasperated sighs. Fish stocks are dwindling, and many of western Thailand’s captains and deck hands are worried as a fog of uncertainty obscures the future of their industry – and livelihoods. “Every year it keeps…
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Experts predict Phuket’s housing market is headed for positive territory
PHUKET: After a long lull in the province’s real estate market, experts believe at least 5 billion baht will be invested into the market between the last fiscal quarter of this year and the first quarter of next year. The Phuket Real Estate Association (PREA) president, Thanusak Pungdet, made the announcement yesterday, after reportedly meeting with developers and reviewing market…
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Woman killed in Phuket Town shooting
PHUKET: Police are searching for suspects who allegedly shot a woman in the head yesterday morning in Phuket Town. Phuket City Police responded to a reported attack on a souvenir shop on Phang Nga Road a little after 4am. The Phuket Gazette has confirmed that the woman is a hilltribe, non-Thai citizen from Chiang Mai, named Wenlang Sae-Lee. The 22…
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Heavy rains damage roads, flood farm land and houses in Krabi Town
KRABI: Heavy rains have deteriorated roads, farms and homes in Krabi. Overnight storms on Wednesday caused flooding in the areas downhill from Phanom Bencha mountain, just north of Krabi Town. Officials warned residents that flooding may increase if the province receives additional rainfall over the weekend. Talengsak Puwayannapong from the Krabi Office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation…
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Finance: Anyone can play the market
PHUKET: You don’t need a brokerage account or a financial adviser to get involved in the market. Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are index funds that can be accessed through a low-cost online platform and give an almost identical return as those of the underlying market they represent. However, you can still lose a fortune very quickly if you don’t know…
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1,000 free WiFi hotspots planned for Phuket
PHUKET: One thousand free WiFi hotspots are to be made available in Phuket in time for the tourist high season at the end of this year. “The hotspots will be made available in Phuket Town and Patong by December, at the latest, as part of Phuket’s development as a ‘smart city’, said the provincial head of the Software Industry Promotion…
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Opinion: Implications of the Hotel Act on Phuket
PHUKET: Despite the additional damage it may inflict on Phuket’s long moribund property market, the Thai Hotels Association (THA) is justified in pushing the government for better enforcement of the Hotel Act. This legislation was intended to create some semblance of a level playing field over the vast and varied Thai lodgings industry, but its reasonable objectives have not been…
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