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  • Phuket hit-and-run driver surrenders, victim still in hospital

    PHUKET: The driver of a white sedan that struck a motorbike on Thepkrasattri Road then failed to stop has handed himself in to police, while the victim in the accident remains at Vachira Phuket Hosiptal recovering from serious injury. Motorbike rider Suriya Thathamlay was rushed to hospital by emergency workers after he was thrown to the ground when a car…

  • Phuket Local Food Fair starts today

    PHUKET: The Phuket Local Food Festival 2012 starts today at the central stage area at Saphan Hin Public Park in Phuket Town. The event, funded and organized by the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO), runs through Sunday night with a wide variety of staged entertainment, games and shopping opportunities. Most of the staged entertainment will be by children in schools…

  • Work underway on Phuket’s newest police headquarters

    PHUKET: Work is underway on the headquarters of Phuket’s newest police station, with some officers already taking up residence in barracks near what will eventually be the Wichit Police Station. The work follows an announcement by Phuket Provincial Police in early 2009 that it planned to establish two new independent police precincts in the south of the island. The move…

  • Finnish tourists unharmed in Phuket bus fire

    PHUKET: A group of Finnish tourists on a tour to Laem Phromthep had a sudden change of itinerary this morning when their Phuket tour bus burst into flames on a hilly stretch of road in Karon. The incident occurred at about 8:30am near to the entrance to Centara Grand Beach Resort Phuket on Wiset Road, a curvy coastal road that…

  • House fire leaves Phuket poor homeless

    PHUKET: A young girl and her mother lost what few possession they owned to a house fire yesterday, leaving them without money for their monthly motorbike rent or for the girl’s school fees. Prapha Pongkunchorn, 52, and her daughter Mookrin Pongkunchorn, 16, had been living rent-free in the house, which had been converted from a garage and had no address,…

  • Phuket fruit vendor died of spider bite: wife

    PHUKET: A Phuket fruit vendor died yesterday from a severe allergic reaction to a spider bite, his pregnant wife believes.Mrs Piyanan Boonsri, 30, took her husband Wanchai Wonglakorn from their home in Mai Khao to Thalang Hospital on Sunday evening after he complained of soreness in his arm. Eight month’s pregnant, the young wife said her husband returned from work…

  • Henan Acrobatic Troupe dazzles Phuket

    PHUKET: Thousands of people who attended a Chinese New Year celebration in Phuket Town last night were spellbound by a performance by one of the world’s top acrobatic troupes. The fun began in the late afternoon, as scores of Thai and foreign tourists dined on a huge variety of local dishes on offer by vendors lined up under a walkway…

  • Phuket Business: Now is the time to structure your financial investments

    PHUKET: Now that 2012 is in full swing and no doubt many of the New Year’s resolutions have been thrown out of the window, it’s time to get a hold of the purse strings and have a set plan for the forthcoming year. I have already given my views on what I believe we can expect from the year ahead.…

  • Myanmar Concert 2012 touted in Phuket

    PHUKET: Many Burmese residents of Phuket are expected to head north to Phang Nga on Sunday for the first-ever Myanmar Concert 2012, part of the annual Phang Nga Red Cross Festival. Performers will include R Zar Ni, Zaw Paing, Wai Su Khine Thein, Yae Lay, Yae Bakar Win and Chan Chan. Posters publicizing the event have been put up at…

  • Phuket Media Watch: British Airways resume flights; New Zealand plane crash

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community British Airways to resume flights to Libyan capital in May Phuket Gazette / News WiresPHUKET: British Airways plans to reinstate flights to the Libyan capital of Tripoli later this year, the airline announced yesterday. Flights were suspended in February 2011 as a result of the country’s civil…

  • Phuket Media Watch: Chinese New Year fuels flight record at Hong Kong Airport

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Hong Kong airport sees single-day record of 1,057 flights Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Hong Kong International Airport, one of the world’s busiest airports, handled a single-day record of 1,057 incoming and outbound flights late last week, aviation authorities announced on yesterday. A spokesman for the Civil Aviation…

  • Phuket’s ‘Coconut Island’ gets new pier

    PHUKET: The new 10-million-baht pier on Koh Maphrao in Phuket was officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony presided over by the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) President Paiboon Upatising on Friday. The new concrete pier, 170 meters long and three meters wide, replaces a dilapidated wooden structure, making passage to the island safer and more convenient for residents and tourists.…

  • Fire breaks out at Phuket official’s residence

    PHUKET: Phuket firefighters extinguished a fire at the Thalang District Office compound in the early hours of this morning. The fire was reported to Thalang Police at about 2:15am. Thepkrasattri Municipality firefighters took about half an hour to extinguish the blaze, which gutted a room on the second floor of a wooden home used as the residence of a government…

  • Phuket ATM scams: Even professionals get caught out

    Special Report: Patong Police report at least four people recently being ripped off by gangs scanning their ATM cards and stealing money from their accounts. The Phuket Gazette reports. PHUKET: Alan Robinson, 71, has been living in Phuket for 17 years. As he is a former vice-president of a Swiss bank’s national branch in Japan, one can only imagine his…

  • Phuket land probe: witness found hanged

    PHUKET: A security guard questioned by government officials about the ownership of land at Freedom Beach in Patong has died of what appears to be a suicide, a local Phuket newspaper has reported. A report in today’s edition of Siangtai Daily newspaper identified the deceased as 54-year-old Narong Piromrak, a native of Nakhon Sri Thammarat province. The death was reported…

  • Phuket Police nab exchange booth robbery duo

    PHUKET: Chalong Police last night arrested two suspects for the armed robbery of a currency exchange booth in Phuket in late November, which has now been revealed as an “inside job”. The first suspect, 25-year-old Kriangsak ‘Jae’ Jintaphakul, was arrested at his home at the Chao Fa Village residential estate on Chao Fa East Road in Wichit at about 9:30pm…

  • Phuket Business: Hotel leaders to confer at Thailand Tourism Forum

    PHUKET: Thailand’s hotel leaders and international experts will discuss the state of the hospitality sector at the Thailand Tourism Forum (TTF) 2012, to be held on February 2 at the InterContinental Bangkok. Key event participants include Chanin Donavanik, chief executive officer of Dusit Hotels and Resorts, Dillip Rajakarier, CEO of the Minor Hotel Group, and Peter Henley, CEO and president…

  • Phuket Projects: ‘Benefits’ at odds with people’s choice

    PHUKET: The results of the most recent Phuket Gazette readers’ poll reveal that a clear majority want “airport bus” services to Phuket’s west coast resort towns as the tourism development project to move ahead above all others this year. [See page 11, current issue of the Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full newspaper.] The results indicate that…

  • Phuket Police name “mastermind’ suspect behind “Ae Inside’ murder

    PHUKET: Police today announced the name of the man they believe masterminded the assassination of Wisut “Ae Inside” Tangwitthayaporn, who was shot dead in rush-hour traffic while driving to Phuket Town on January 12. Maj Gen Chonasit Wattanavrangku, superintendent of Phuket Provincial Police, this morning confirmed that arrest warrants had been issued for Atsadakorn “Pod” Seedokbuab (pictured above), 48, and…

  • Phuket’s Luangpor Daeng passes away, age 79 | Thaiger

    Phuket’s Luangpor Daeng passes away, age 79

    PHUKET: More than 1,000 people, including the Phuket Governor, attended a memorial service for Luangpor Daeng, the revered abbot of Mai Khao Temple since 1978. Originally from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Luangpor Daeng was ordained at Wat Khunapanangtun Temple in Phattalung in 1967. He was appointed abbot at Mai Khao Temple in 1978, serving as a teaching abbot there until his…

  • Tropical Phuket likely to be caught in center of next El Nino heat wave

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community 2011 ninth warmest year in recorded history, NASA says Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since at least 1880 [maybe earlier], according to NASA scientists on Thursday. Nine of the ten warmest years have occurred…

  • Phuket’s Patong Immigration office to reopen

    PHUKET: Phuket Immigration Office Superintendent Panuwat Ruamrak has confirmed to the Phuket Gazette that the Immigration Office in Patong will reopen next week. The news comes amid rumors that the Patong Immigration Office, which is located right next door to the Patong Tourist Police Volunteers office, had been closed permanently. “The Patong Immigration Office has not been shut down. It…

  • Kamala Festival 2012 underway in Phuket

    PHUKET: Kamala Festival 2012 got underway this morning with a fishing competition on Kamala Beach. A wide variety of fun activities throughout the weekend are expected to draw tourists and residents from across Phuket. Organized and funded by the Kamala Tambon Administration Organization (Kamala OrBorTor), the center of activities is Chalermprakiat 100 Pee Park on Kamala Beach, where staged events…

  • Flirting with the Blues

    PHUKET: ‘It’s like flirting with a girl. Perhaps she will resist you at first, but if you continue to ask her out, it always ends well. Never give up.” Zhu Jun describes negotiations with Chelsea to sign striker Didier Drogba for his side, Shanghai Shenhua. Drogba could be joining forces with former team-mate Nicolas Anelka as the Chinese club moves…

  • Phuket villagers protest land claim via dubious title deed

    PHUKET: In the latest land dispute in Phuket, more than 100 residents of the Soi Kingkaew Community in Rassada have protested to the governor over alleged attempts by a private investor to get a Chanote land title deed for a 300-rai plot in the area. Led by 41-year-old Thongchai Kaewthong, the residents of Rassada Village 3 went to see Phuket…

  • Officials warn of “fake monks’ targeting Phuket tourists

    PHUKET: The ‘monk police’ of Phuket are warning everyone on the island of con men who are impersonating Buddhist monks and tricking locals and tourists into giving them money. Chatpawit Jinapong, Director of the Phuket branch of the National Office of Buddhism, which operates directly under the Prime Minister’s Office, spoke with the Phuket Gazette about these fraudulent “monks”. “High…

  • Phuket dive crew rescues seven from blazing catamaran

    PHUKET: Quick action by the crews of a Phuket dive-boat and another vessel saved the lives of seven foreigners when their chartered catamaran caught fire and sunk in the waters off Koh Rok last night. The crew of the Sailing Yacht (SY) Diva Andaman were interrupted during their beach barbecue on Koh Rok, an island about 30 kilometers southwest of…

  • Weird World News: Eye on Eastern Europe and Hitler’s lair for rent, the Bulgarian renegade referee and wacky scuba divers in Estonia

    PHUKET: Eastern Europe caught the attention of Weird World News this week, with a fine display of odd-ball antics served up by Poland, Bulgaria and Estonia. Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair up for rent HITLER’S massive fortified base, The Wolfe’s Lair, has gone on the rental market in Poland. The site, where the Nazi leader spent most of World War II and…

  • Phuket Events: New vehicle for tickets in Phuket

    PHUKET: With more and more events gracing Phuket every year, and with the vast majority of them sponsored by the Phuket Gazette, the newspaper’s events promotion team thought it time to do something special for event organizers and attendees alike. Phuket Tickets is now in “business” and doing all it can to help promote the next two ‘tickets required’ events…

  • Nong Pin’s mom asks Phuket Governor for help

    PHUKET: The desperate mother of Samudchaya “Nong Pin” Yanpunya yesterday met with the Phuket governor to seek high-tech help in tracking down her missing 12-year-old, who vanished without a trace over six weeks Nong Pin’s mom Samruay Saenthaweesuk asked Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha yesterday for help from the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology in tracing the origin of her…