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Top 5 luxury villas in Phuket and Koh Samui for your next holiday
Ask people to name the most beautiful places in Thailand, and you'll often hear Phuket and Koh Samui being mentioned. Who would disagree? One is renowned for its bustling nightlife, vibrant culture, and lively beach scene, while the other is...
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Phuket neighborly dispute ends in fatal stabbing
PHUKET: Thung Thong Police today held a re-enactment of the assault that resulted in the death of Kamonchai Suwanin, 38, from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, on Sunday evening. The suspect, Arak Kraisap, 38, from Nonthaburi, confessed to police that following many arguments he stabbed Mr Kamonchai in the throat outside their apartments, opposite the 7-Eleven store on Wichit Songkhram Road near…
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Tourist, 25, survives six-storey fall from Phuket hotel balcony
PHUKET: A 25-year-old woman from the Philippines has escaped serious injury after falling from the balcony of her sixth-floor Phuket hotel room late last night. Rescue workers from the Kusoldharm Foundation in Patong told the Phuket Gazette that they received a call notifying them of the incident at about half past midnight. The rescue workers arrived to find Jardeliza Samireh…
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Phuket currency exchange robbery key witness refutes prime suspect
PHUKET: A key witness in the investigation into the 48,000-baht robbery of a Phuket currency exchange kiosk on Saturday night today told police that their prime suspect was not the man who committed the robbery. Chalong Police had named Nathee Srisawang, 28, from Prachuap Khiri Khan, as their prime suspect. Mr Nathee was named in a complaint filed by a…
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A Phuket Star is born
PHUKET: Phuket-born Jaruwat “Dome” Cheawaram has won the eighth season of the nationally televised singing talent quest The Star. The 21-year-old law student at Thammasat University, Thailand’s premier law school, was a surprise win in the show’s season finale held at the Impact Muang Thong Thani stadium, better known simply as the “Impact Arena”, on the outskirts of Bangkok last…
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Phuket Events: Large crowds expected for Sunday’s trail runs
The Columbia Trailmasters 2012 Phuket Edition will add yet another stunning sport event to the Phuket calendar when it gets underway this Sunday (May 6) at the Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club. The competitions, comprising a 21.5km Off Road Half Marathon; a 10km Trail Run; and a Fun Run for kids and adults less athletically inclined, look set to see…
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Russian language warning sought for Phuket tsunami sirens
PHUKET: Phuket officials will ask the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) to add Russian language to the spoken messages played by its 19 warning towers along Phuket’s coast.Preedee Aengseng, Communications Officer at the Phuket office of Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket), told the Phuket Gazette that the request will be made on May 16, when NDWC officers come…
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Race to repair Patong Hill road
PHUKET: The Highways Department hopes to begin shoring up one landslide-prone section of the road over Patong Hill in June, but work on another section of the same road will have to wait until at least next year.Sathaporn Sornchana, deputy director of the Highways Department office in Phuket, told the Phuket Gazette that the plan to reinforce a section of…
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Red light confuses alleged drunk driver into taking out Phuket power poles
PHUKET: An alleged drunk driver took down a power pole and damaged two Phuket homes and after mistaking a flashing light on the road for a police checkpoint over the weekend.Thung Thong Police were notified of the accident at 12:45am on Saturday.At the scene, a densely populated area along Wichit Songkram Road near the Kathu Chinese Shrine, police found a…
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Phuket business: What does the UK budget mean for British expats?
It’s that time again when George Osborne tries to tighten the purse strings for the UK economy and cut down the huge debt levels the youth of today have inherited from poor decision making and fiscal policies of the past. Inconsequential it may well be to certain socio-economic brackets with Mr Osborne’s large outstretched arm unable to ruffle their financial…
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Live Wire: Google Street View has Phuket all mapped out
Google announced recently that it had released Google Street View for Phuket, Bangkok and environs, and Chiang Mai. Many of you read about the new service but have you had a chance to look at it? Mind boggling. The Nation quoted Pornthip Kongchun, head of marketing for Google Thailand, as saying, “In Asia-Pacific, Google Street View is available in Japan,…
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Phuket gets the “Doomsday Saturday’ party started
PHUKET: A high-power delegation of officials this morning met villagers in Srisoonthorn to reinforce the message that Phuket was not about to sink – and to get the day’s scheduled fun activities underway. Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha, Government spokesman Prompong Nopparit and Phuket MP Raywat Areerob along with other government officials, including from Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization (OrBorJor) President Paiboon…
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PHUKET OPINION: Where property speculation meets superstition
PHUKET: There never seems to be a dull moment covering the news in Phuket, and the rumor-mongering that followed the recent seismic activity has been particularly captivating. A basic review of facts: an 8.6-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sumatra on April 11 prompted the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) to issue an evacuation of tsunami-risk areas. A total breakdown…
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Phuket rolls on into ‘Doomsday Saturday’
PHUKET: The mass exodus from Phuket predicated by some failed to materialize today as police at the Tah Chat Chai checkpoint reported normal Saturday morning traffic on Srisoonthorn Bridge, which links outbound traffic to the mainland.Meanwhile, as part of the Provincial government’s efforts to boost confidence that today will not be a one of calamity, as rumors have predicted, a…
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Phuket Doomsday: Rumors of seismic proportions
PHUKET: RUMORS that the Pearl of the Andaman will be destroyed in a cataclysmic natural disaster on April 28 have spread like wildfire, and local officials have responded in classic Phuket style: by planning a number of events and parties on that date. The Phuket Gazette’s Chutharat Plerin and Kritsada Mueanhawong report on how it all got this crazy. SPECIAL…
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High-speed pile-up brings Phuket traffic to standstill
PHUKET: A pickup truck slid out of control on Chao Fa West Road in Wichit this morning, slamming head-on into another pickup truck and causing a multi-car pile-up on one of Phuket’s busy main roads to the south of the island. Eye-witness Teerachai Waiyakarn told the Phuket Gazette that at about 9:30am a white Isuzu D-Max pickup truck with Songkhla…
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Phuket Governor eyes interest in beach town beautification project
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha yesterday confirmed that he would follow up on proposals made by an international consortium of urban architects on how to improve the aesthetics of the tourist-popular Kata-Karon beachfront areas. The news came at a meeting of urban planning academics from Technische Universitat (TU) Kaiserslautern in Germany, headed by Professor Dr Wolfgang Bohm. His research team…
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Chinese tourists injured in Phuket bus crash
PHUKET: More than 10 Chinese tourists were injured as a tour bus ran off the road on Patong Hill yesterday evening. Tung Tong Police were notified of the crash, at the bottom of the hill near the Kathu Shooting Range, at about 7pm. Police arrived at the scene to find a tour bus lying on its side beside the road.…
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Phuket Grand Dame Cape Panwa Hotel wins rights to Raceweek regatta venue
PHUKET: The organizers of the Phuket Raceweek 2012 today announced that the host venue of the annual regatta this year will be the Phuket’s “Grande Dame” the Cape Panwa Hotel and sister property the Kantary Bay Hotel. “Cape Panwa Hotel and its sister property, Kantary Bay Hotel, on the tip of Cape Panwa in the southeast of the island, will…
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Phuket hosts international conference on disaster nursing
PHUKET: More than 100 registered nurses from around the world are in Phuket for a three-day seminar on emergency nursing, including how to respond to disaster situations. The conference, organized by the Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songkhla University, is focused on “Trends in Emergency, Trauma and Disaster Nursing: Using Evidence to Guide Decision-Making and Improve Nursing Care” and being…
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Paiboon launches new Phuket CCTV control center
PHUKET: With the Thailand National Youth Games in Phuket just around the corner, local authorities yesterday checked the readiness of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) closed-circuit television (CCTV) control room. Paiboon Upatising, as one of his first official acts since being re-elected OrBorJor president in the election on April 8, led authorities on an inspection of the control center,…
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Aussie tourist dies of heatstroke in Phuket
PHUKET: An Australian tourist found unconscious by the side of the road near Surin Beach has died from heatstroke, Phuket rescue workers have reported. A Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organization rescue worker’s unit based at Layan Beach received a report at 2:39pm on Wednesday that a man had fainted by the road about 200 meters from Surin Beach. When the…
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Phuket sports: Masters of the trail
PHUKET: Young athletes on Phuket are being given a golden opportunity to take part in a brand new event coming to the island next month in the form of trail running. Following the recent announcement that Phuket will host episode two of the 2012 Thailand Trail Running Championship at the Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club (TSLC) on May 6, organizers…
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PHUKET BUSINESS: Artificial reefs key to mass tourism dive industry
PHUKET: In the tourism game creating memories is everything, explains the Head of Development at Reef Worlds, Dave Taylor. “If you can create a tourism memory then you have won your game. You have won everything, because that’s a memory that never leaves a potential client, and they always come back to it,” Taylor told the Phuket Gazette in an…
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“Phuket Lovers’ to rally on Doomsday Saturday
PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Office will hold several special events this Saturday, April 28, to restore confidence among residents and tourists alike and to quash rumors that the island will sink into the sea. Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha admitted that recent seismic activity following the initial 4.3 Richter earthquake on April 16 had stirred a sense of apprehension among tourists and…
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Phuket residents panic over fish fright
PHUKET: Reports of Phuket Town residents panicking yesterday, fearing that the dead fish found in canal were an omen of an impending tsunami strike, prompted officials to investigate. The brackish water of the mostly dry Klong Saensuk canal, which runs past the Seahorse Circle at the east end of Ong Sim Phai Road, had about 10 kilograms of dead freshwater…
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Laguna Phuket Marathon prepares for record entries
PHUKET: Hundreds of runners from around the world will ‘Run Paradise’ in the seventh annual Laguna Phuket International Marathon on Sunday, June 10, to help stamp its status as Asia’s fastest growing family-friendly destination marathon. International registrations opened in October and since then entries have surged ahead of the same period last year, with total international entries now close to…
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Phuket Sports: Buriram Utd cling on for AFC title
PHUKET: Thai Premiere League champions Buriram United still have a fighting chance to advance from the group stages of the 2012 AFC Champions League, despite back-to-back losses this month to Korean league champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. Now level with the Koreans on six points in Group H – the pot of death, Buriram’s good start in March was highlighted by…
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Weird World News: Pushing buttons for strip searches, sharks and instant drama
PHUKET: This week’s Weird World News Round-up hits the “press” as button pushers get dramatic outcomes. Pushed too far, one man initiates his own airport strip search, a “shark-whisper” taps great whites sharks on the nose, and a “drama button” in the middle of your average Flemish square all made headlines this week. ‘Harassed’ man strips down to protest airport…
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Phuket tourists, jet-ski operator scramble to stave off dolphin beaching
PHUKET: A pair of dolphins came dangerously close to beaching themselves on Patong Beach, on Phuket’s west coast, yesterday morning, but were successfully herded back out to deeper water. However, biologists from the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) still fear for their safety. The dolphins were first spotted in shallow waters opposite the Patong Beach Resort at about 9am. Initial…
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Disaster insurance to cover Phuket quakes, floods, landslides
PHUKET: Insurance coverage for homes and businesses damaged by natural disasters, including floods, storms, landslides, earthquakes and even tumbling boulders is now available in Phuket and the rest of Thailand again following the government’s creation of the National Catastrophe Insurance Fund (NCIF). The fund, launched on March 28 with a government budget of 5 billion baht, offers coverage through a…
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