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Wishing you a very Merry Christmas
PHUKET: As yet another year full of ups and downs draws to a close, thousands of travellers are trying to find their way to Phuket’s shores from the cold shelter of snowed-in airports across Europe and the UK. Thousands more have already landed in Phuket, helping to usher in the high season by joining the carnivals, festivals and other events…
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Phuket stages full-scale tsunami drill
PHUKET: Scores of emergency rescue workers from all over Phuket took part in two hours of search-and-rescue drills at Saphan Hin this morning. The drill was intended to improve the ability of staff to react in an effective and organized fashion in the event of a disaster by giving them practical experience using rescue equipment and coordinating efforts among the…
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Judgment Day for FC Phuket
PHUKET: FC Phuket face a date with destiny on tomorow afternoon at Surakul Stadium when they take on Samut Prakhan in their final Thai League playoff game of the season. Kick-off is at 4pm. The club currently sits in second place, a point behind table toppers FC Chainat and two ahead of FC Rayong who they defeated 2-0 on home…
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Phuket’s Tuptim given a fighting chance
PHUKET: A fund-raising campaign that began in Phuket just over a week ago and spread around the globe could have saved the life of a seven-month old baby. (See stories here and here.) Tuptim Jadngooluem – the only daughter of Rattanachai “Kru Nai”, a well known trainer at Tiger Muay Thai in Chalong – was diagnosed with a terminal liver…
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New Phuket traffic flow given green light
PHUKET: Changes to the Patong traffic flow, on Phuket’s west coast, moved a step closer this week when officials confirmed the new one-way system will take effect on January 15. Adding to the changes will be new parking zones and regulations coming into effect on December 30, with new road markings and signs being put in place to assist motorists.…
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Skype back on in Phuket in time for Christmas
PHUKET: Skype internet telephone service has “stabilized” with core services returning to Phuket just in time for Christmas. “We’ve been able to successfully stabilize Skype due to the dedicated supernodes deployed by Skype’s engineering team,” Skype CEO Tony Bates wrote on the company’s website earlier today. “We’re at roughly 90 per cent of normal user volumes,” he said. “Audio, video…
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Phuket Poll: Is our tap water safe to drink?
PHUKET: The current issue of the Phuket Gazette out today carries a feature on whether Phuket tap water is safe to drink. The authorities say it is at the point it leaves the water treatment plants, but resident water-quality expert Brad Kenny of Environmental Solutions says there are many factors that affect water quality between where the water is treated…
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Aceh asks Phuket for tsunami drill training
PHUKET: A delegation of medical staff from the Indonesian province of Aceh is in Phuket to seek assistance in developing their own tsunami search and rescue training drills. A total of 226,000 people were killed or went missing in the 2004 tsunami, the majority of which were Indonesians. About 65 per cent of the 170,000 Indonesians who died in the…
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Site chosen for new Phuket Provincial Hall
PHUKET: The new provincial hall under planning will be built on a 15-rai vacant plot of government land in Phuket Town. The site chosen is next to the Regional Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Center on Damrong Road.The announcement was made on Wednesday at a meeting convened especially to discuss the project. “There are many government offices here at the current…
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Details of Phuket tsunami memorial services announced
PHUKET: Details of Sunday’s remembrance services for those who lost their lives in the 2004 tsunami disaster have been announced. The first service will take place at 8:30am at the Tsunami Wall of Remembrance in Mai Khao. Later in the morning, at the Tsunami Monument in Kamala, memorial speeches will be given by various dignitaries, including Governor Tri Augaradacha and…
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Foreign pirate duo nabbed in Phuket raid
PHUKET: Two alleged foreign copyright pirates were arrested in a raid by Phuket police yesterday. High-ranking provincial officers along with Patong Police Superintendent Arayapan Pukbuakhao led the search on a warehouse off Nanai Road in Patong. The warehouse tenants named as Truong Van Doan, 33, and Tong Vankorn of Vietnam, were arrested at the scene, police said. Police seized about…
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Phuket bypass-bypass officially opens
PHUKET: The long-awaited “bypass-bypass” road is now finished, connecting the existing bypass road with Ekwanit Road behind Surakul Stadium and Darasamuth School. The 550-meter shortcut – marked by a street sign as “Ekvanit Darasamud Road” – was officially opened at a ceremony today chaired by Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha. Joining the ceremony were Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) President Paiboon…
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Phuket to remember tsunami victims
PHUKET: Services to remember those in Phuket lost to the 2004 tsunami disaster will be held at Patong, Kamala and Mai Khao this Sunday. Governor Tri Augaradacha announced today that the annual Light Up Phuket event will be held at Loma Park in Patong. In Mai Khao, a remembrance service will be held at the Wall of Remembrance. He added…
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Euro snow will not stall Phuket tourism
PHUKET: The heavy snowfalls that forced airports across Europe to close this week are only a short-term problem and will not dramatically affect Phuket tourism, say key local industry figures. Suchart Hirankanokkul, president of the Thai Hotels Association (Southern Chapter), told the Gazette he didn’t think the airport closures would result in mass booking cancellations. “The heavy snow in Europe…
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Scores turn out for PAD meeting in Phuket
PHUKET: More than 1,000 people from throughout the South gathered in Phuket for the yellow-shirt People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) conference last night. PAD Phuket coordinator Aparat Chartchutikumjorn confirmed that people had come from Krabi, Surat Thani, Phang Nga, Nakhon Sri Thammarat and as far as Bangkok and Phetchaboon to attend the conference. Security for the gathering at the Royal…
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Phuket readers split over UK spousal visa English tests
PHUKET: Phuket Gazette readers are divided over whether it is fair for the UK to require spousal visa applicants to pass an English-language test: Most expats think the requirement is fair, but most Thais do not. The poll question followed a new requirement, effective from November 29, that Thai spouses applying for visas to join or marry British partners in…
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Phuket Red Cross to raffle Bt2.5mn house
PHUKET: The Phuket Red Cross has revealed the 2.5-million-baht home that will be raffled off as top prize at its annual fund-raising fair next month. The two-storey townhouse in Phanason Villa housing estate at Bor Rae in Wichit covers 21 square wah. The three-bedroom home was donated by Bangkok-based real estate developer Phanason, which has built many residential projects in…
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An early Christmas gift for one of Phuket’s poorest
PHUKET: As Christmas fast approaches, one of the poorest elderly residents of Rassada, near Phuket Town, received a special gift this year: a complete renovation for his dilapidated, old house. Put “Uncle Put” Nuengraksa, 73, was identified by Rassada Municipality as the most needy among five candidates living in the sub-district. His ramshackle abode in Soi Ta Tan, near the…
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UFC’s Dana White steps in to save Phuket baby
PHUKET: Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White has agreed to cover the cost of a liver transplant for Phuket baby Tuptim Jadngooluem. Ray Elbe runs the mixed martial arts (MMA) program at Tiger Muay Thai in Chalong, where the girl’s father, former World Muay Thai world champion Rattanachai Jadngooluem, is an instructor. Mr Elbe told the Phuket Gazette, “[I…
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Two dead, four injured in drunken Phuket grenade blast
PHUKET: Police suspect an explosion that killed two and injured four people in Rassada, near Phuket Town, early this afternoon was caused by an M67 grenade. Police arrived at the scene near Rassada Pier and found one man dead on a bench in front of a house on Soi Wanich 1. The man, identified as Sutthi Saeung, 25, of Nakhon…
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Phuket, South to be ‘medical tourism hub’
PHUKET: Development and promotion of southern Thailand as a medical tourism hub was the topic of an international conference last week at the Royal Phuket City Hotel. IMT-GT (Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle) cooperative initiative officials participated in the “IMT-GT Medical Tourism” meeting chaired by Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports Permanent Secretary Sombat Kurupan on December 15. Among the 350 people…
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Phuket tsunami warning buoys deployed
PHUKET: The operation to install tsunami direct-detection buoys in the Andaman Sea has concluded and been hailed a success. The Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (Seafdec) ship used to deploy the buoys returned to port in Phuket on Thursday. “The operation went smoothly. The first buoy was installed 250 kilometers west of Phuket, while the second was installed 150km from…
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Breaking news: FC Phuket trumps Rayong 2-0
PHUKET: Phuket football fans are rejoicing a solid 2-0 victory by FC Phuket over Rayong this evening. The win virtually assures the team’s promotion to Division I of the Thai League next year.Both goals were scored by Ivory Coast import Diarra Ali.The first came on a penalty kick half way though the first half.The insurance goal came half-way though the…
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Woman bites off husband’s penis, then stabs him to death
PATTAYA (Pattaya Daily News): A woman who was forced to have oral sex by her estranged husband bit off his penis. The act annoyed the victim and sparked a fight, during which the man, reportedly a senior official at the Ministry of Defence, was stabbed to death. Pattaya police were notified of the fight by a neighbor, Viroj Siritham, 70,…
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FC Phuket face ‘make or break’ Sunday
HUKET: Sunday is judgment day for FC Phuket as they face a make-or-break promotion clash with Rayong FC at Surakul Stadium. Kick-off is at 4pm. Victory for Phuket will put them in a great position for promotion to Division 1, while defeat will likely spell the end of their promotion dream. With only two games remaining, the Southern Sean Kirin…
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Crowds flock to Phuket Street Festival
PHUKET: The 2010 Phuket Street Show Festival kicked off yesterday evening on a packed Thalang Road with energetic performances by aerial acrobats from Bencha Theater Group. Some of the world’s best street performers have descended on Phuket Town this weekend for the event, which is sponsored by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). The festivities, taking place in the old…
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Superyachts arrive in Phuket
PHUKET: Beachgoers along Phuket’s west coast would have had a hard time not noticing a flotilla of superyachts massing in Nai Harn Bay this week then moving up the coast to Pansea Bay yesterday. Leading the fleet, in Phuket for the annual Asia Superyacht Rendezvous, is the 74-meter MY Silver Zwei launched just last year. The Silver Zwei is rated…
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Phuket call to save ‘Tuptim’
PHUKET: “Tuptim” is only seven months old, but has a condition that requires an urgent liver transplant or she will die within weeks. She is the daughter of Rattanachai “Kru Nai” Jadngooluem, a well known trainer at Tiger Muay Thai (TMT) in Chalong and a former World Muay Thai world champion. Mr Rattanachai, “Nit”, the child’s mother, and Phuket’s muay…
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Lucky lizard finds loving home
RATCHABURI: Do huge monitor lizards make strange bedfellows? One family in Ratchaburi doesn’t seem to think so. Bunchoo Rotchum, 75, his wife Somya, 65, and their two-year-old granddaughter Donlaya are sharing their bed with a 2.5-meter water monitor, causing a sensation in their village in tambon Pikunthong. The creature, which the family named “Jaothong”, wandered into their home on November…
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High-tech clearance on the horizon for Phuket yachts
PHUKET: Travelers entering Thailand via the new Chalong Marina will have the option of submitting official entrance and registration documents electronically, before reaching the port. The Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) is on schedule to complete the new registration system by February next year as construction on the complex continues. Construction is expected to finish by September next year. SIPA…
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