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Phuket based celebrity chef Keith Floyd passes away
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette has learned that Phuket-based celebrity chef Keith Floyd, owner of Floyd’s Brasserie at Burasari Resort Patong, Phuket, has died following a heart attack on Monday at his home in Dorset in the UK.He was 65 years old. — Gazette Reporters
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Bill Owen has passed away
PHUKET: Bill Owen, the founder of The Travel Company and, later, the events management firm Oriental Leisure, passed away in hospital earlier this morning in Swansea, South Wales. The popular entrepreneur had been a Phuket resident for more than 20 years and was best known for his enthusiasm about Thailand and southeast Asian travel, and for his zest for life.…
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Air crash simulation at Phuket Airport
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: A full-scale air crash simulation took place at Phuket International Airport this morning under the banner of the Emergency Plan Exercise 2009. From 9.00am to 12pm officials from the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, Phuket Provincial Police, Tourist Police, Marine Police, airline staff and other local government and private sector agencies combined efforts to evaluate their readiness…
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Phuket public transport goes Paiboon pink
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Provincial Administration Organization President Paiboon Upatising was ‘tickled pink’ to present a new fleet of buses to the media today. The new 16-million-baht fleet is painted bright pink – Mr Paiboon’s campaign color. Eight of the 16 new songtaew (two-row) buses started services today, and will be joined by the remaining eight in two months. The new…
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JJ in new Phuket jet-ski dispute
PATONG, PHUKET: New footage has emerged showing Phuket’s infamous jet-ski man, Winai ‘JJ’ Naiman, in another dispute with marines – this time from the US Navy. The video, released by British TV producer Gavin Hill, shows police officers standing by as Thai jet-ski operators demand cash for damage to a vehicle. The footage ends with one US serviceman handing over…
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Phuket license plate goes for 800,000 baht
PHUKET: A man paid 800,000 baht for a single license plate at the Department of Land Transport’s 5th Annual License Plate Auction at the Metropole Hotel in Phuket City last weekend.Kampanat Thantiwat was the winning bidder for the plate ‘Kor Tor 9999′, the most expensive at the auction.Department of Land Transport Director General Chairat Sa-nguanchuen presided over the event, which was…
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OPINION: Is Phuket ready for welfarism?
PHUKET: Thailand’s leading think tank has proposed a “survival strategy” for the nation: an exit from the current economic and political distress by transforming the country into a “welfare state” that would help bridge wealth and income disparity. The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), led by its chairman, Dr Nipon Poapongsakorn, says the group’s research has found that disparities in…
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Hydrofoils the latest boon for Phuket
PHUKET: At present it sits on the quay at the Phuket Deep Sea Port in Ao Makham, looking like it’s just waiting for Buck Rogers or Dan Dare to come aboard and blast off into space. It’s not quite that exotic, however. This is the first of three hydrofoils that will whisk passengers off to Phi-Phi, Krabi, Koh Lanta or…
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Phuket police seize almost 4,000 ya ba pills
THA CHAT CHAI, PHUKET: Phuket police arrested a 26-year-old man in possession of almost 4,000 ya ba (methamphetamine) pills at Tha Chat Chai checkpoint yesterday. Mr Pakorn Sa-nguansin told police he was a courier delivering the pills to a customer in Mai Khao. He picked up the drugs from a Burmese man in Phang Nga, he said. Tah Chat Chai…
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Appeal for help from Phuket’s divers
PHUKET: The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources is appealing to Phuket’s dive industry for volunteers to take part in its ‘Reef Watch’ surveying program. The program aims to assess the health of Thailand’s coral reefs. The collected data will be used as part of World Ocean Day 2010, and all findings will be available to the public. The research…
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Phuket parents outraged over school beating
KATHU, PHUKET: A 12 year-old student at a Phuket school claims her math teacher gave her a severe beating with a steel ruler in front of a class full of students because she did not do her homework. The girl’s parents have complained to police about the incident and are demanding that Baan Mai Riab School in Kathu issue the…
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Phuket jet-ski operators face insurance scheme
KATHU, PHUKET: Phuket’s jet-ski operators will soon have to insure their craft for damage, the Phuket governor told a crowd of industry representatives at a crisis meeting at Patong Municipality offices yesterday. The measure is aimed at ending the island’s infamous ‘jet-ski scam’, in which unsuspecting tourists are made to pay thousands of baht for spurious repairs to the vehicles…
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New Phuket airline launches regional flights
PHUKET: A new Phuket-based airline has announced the launch of daily flights between Phuket and Haad Yai along with a new weekend Phuket-Langkawi route. The newly-launched Happy Air will begin operating flights from Phuket next month with its 34-seat Saab 340A aircraft. The daily 40-minute Phuket-Haad Yai flights are currently scheduled to depart from Phuket at 9:30am and arrive in…
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Landlocked Chinese eye up Phuket’s beaches
PHUKET CITY: Representatives from three landlocked Chinese provinces were in Phuket this week to examine the island’s appeal as a tourist destination for their sand- and sea-deprived residents.The delegates from Yunnan, Hunan and Guizhou provinces, which have a combined population of over 150 million, held talks with Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop and other officials at Provincial Hall yesterday.The six Chinese…
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Dispute leaves Phuket homes on a precipice
WICHIT, PHUKET: More than a hundred angry Phuket residents took to the streets last night to protest against a new housing development which they say will make them homeless. Panason City Village is a modern housing complex being built on 78 rai next to Soi Thep Anusorn off Chao Fa East Road in tambon Wichit. A number of the protesters have lived in…
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Phuket parents make the most of lucky number nine
PHUKET: Many Phuket couples tied the knot yesterday in wedding ceremonies specially arranged to take place on the auspicious date 09/09/09. Many expectant mothers also considered it fortunate to give birth on the day considered especially lucky by Thais. Seventeen Thai women and one Burmese gave birth at Vachira Phuket Hospital yesterday, ten of them naturally, the rest by Cesarean…
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Drunk driver chows on cops
UDON THANI: A drunk driver bit two police officers who asked him to take a breathalyser test. Police said salesman Chatsak Ploicharoen, 36, was weaving all over the road as he drove his pickup truck towards a police checkpoint in Udon Thani. Police signaled for him to stop, but he drove straight through the checkpoint. Two officers chased after him…
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Chinese celebrate Por Tor festival in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: Phuket’s ethnic Chinese community celebrated the annual Por Tor festival in style over the weekend with ceremonies at the new Phuket City Fresh Market 1 on Ranong Rd. Science and Technology Minister Kalaya Sophonpanich presided over the opening of the festivities, which featured Thai and Chinese cultural shows on a stage in front of the market. It was…
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Movie to entice more Koreans to Phuket
PHUKET: A new 5-million-baht short film about Phuket aims to tempt more Korean tourists to visit the island. The film, simply entitled Phuket, stars a well-known Korean movie star, Im Soo Jung, and Thai actor Sorapong Chatree. Phuket will be previewed at the Pusan International Film Festival 2009 next month and screened on board airlines, including THAI and Korean. The…
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Phuket Lifesaving Carnival in Patong next month
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Lifesaving Carnival is set to return to Patong next month after the original event in July was postponed because of bad weather. The carnival is now scheduled to take place on October 3. Carnival organizers are hoping to attract between 40 and 60 international entrants and as many as 80 local participants. Events will include a…
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Phuket prepares for lucky number nine
PHUKET: Tomorrow – the ninth day of the ninth month of the year 2009 – is considered a highly auspicious day by Thais.In Phuket, Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop will preside over a ceremony attended by his deputies and other government officials at Phuket Community Hall to mark the special date.A large number of couples will also register marriages at Phuket’s registry offices…
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Phuket president cleared of vote-buying
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) President Paiboon Upatising has been cleared of vote-buying following an Appeals Court ruling earlier today. Mr Paiboon said he would return to work ‘immediately’ following the ruling by the Region 8 Court of Appeals in Bangkok. The verdict overturned a ‘yellow card’ ruling by the Election Commission (EC) in Bangkok, which found there…
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Big Phuket birthday party for ‘World’s oldest man’
PHUKET CITY: More has been revealed about the amazing life of Luang Pu Supha, claimed by adherents to be the oldest man in the world. Luang Pu Supha, abbot of a temple named after him in Chalong, is preparing to celebrate his 113th birthday in Phuket next week. Government-issued identification records presented to the Gazette show he was born on…
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Phuket Land Office announces February deadline
PHUKET CITY: Holders of Sor Kor 1 land possession papers have only until early February to apply for upgrades to full land title deeds, the Phuket Provincial Land Office has announced. Land Office chief Paitoon Lertkrai said that all Sor Kor 1 papers, which allow holders to use land for commercial purposes, will expire on February 6 next year. “To…
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Opinion: Nature punishing man’s folly in Phuket
Developments in recent weeks underscore the need for better engineering design when planning construction projects on the island. Phuket was able to withstand centuries of tin mining with enough of its natural beauty intact to subsequently develop into a world-class tourist destination. Yet as destructive as tin mining was, its legacy has been no match for the environmental destruction that…
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Phuket’s police find nothing in drug raids
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop, some top officials and a lot of police officers crashed some of Phuket City’s most popular parties on Friday night – on the hunt for drugs and weapons. But those who fret about the loose morals of Thailand’s youth of today will be relieved to find out the police came out empty-handed. Gov Wichai,…
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‘Mermaid’ baby passes away at Vachira Phuket Hospital
PHUKET CITY: The Burmese infant born in Phuket with ‘mermaid syndrome’ has died of kidney failure after a month-long struggle for survival, doctors have confirmed. The infant, named Nichapa, was born at Vachira Phuket Hospital on July 9 after just 35 weeks of gestation. She suffered from the rare congenital condition known technically as Sirenomelia, which is found in approximately…
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Phuket road project still on hold
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Governor and three of Phuket’s top politicians on Thursday traveled to Bangkok to lobby Cabinet to endorse a controversial plan to allow construction of a new road to Saphan Hin through protected mangrove forest. Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-gnop made the trip with Phuket MPs Tossaporn Thepabutr and Rewat Areerob, as well as appointed Senator Phummisak Hongyok,…
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Plans for wind farm near Phuket’s “Big Buddha’
PATONG, PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Energy Office plans to build windmills in the Nakkerd Hills near the ‘Big Buddha’ image, a seminar on alternative energy was told on Thursday. Phuket Energy Office chief Jirasuk Tummawetch made the announcement during the seminar, held at the Royal Paradise Hotel in Patong. Chaired by Phuket Vice Governor Smith Palawatvichai, the seminar was organized…
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Phuket Police to earn “coffee money’
PHUKET CITY: Phuket City Police Superintendent Wanchai Ekpornpit has a passion – other than fighting crime, of course. Col Wanchai is mad about coffee. That’s why he came up with the idea for ‘The Seat’, a new coffee shop under construction next to Phuket City Police Station. The Seat is a ‘police welfare project’ aimed at supplementing the ‘meager income’…
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