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Phuket road blockade over Islamic cemetery
THALANG, PHUKET: Around 500 angry villagers blockaded Phuket’s Thepkrasattri Road for two hours yesterday after forestry officials arrested about 30 Muslims for trying to clear protected forest land.Those arrested wanted to use 30 rai of Pa Bang Khanun Reserved Forest to build a new cemetery for Muslims from Tambon Thepkrasattri villages 6, 8 and 9.One of those was the imam…
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Dragons rounded up before Phuket’s veg fest
PHUKET CITY: Three members of the so-called ‘Dragon Gang’ wanted for a string of robberies in Phuket City were arrested yesterday as part of a pre-Vegetarian Festival crackdown.Thanachote ‘Liw’ Saekhor, 19, Kriangsak Sawasduang, 21, and Rachan Khumphum, 27, all had intricate dragons tattooed on their backs, earning the gang its police nickname.Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pekad Tantipong and Phuket City…
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Phuket bungee jumper in near-fatal accident
KATHU, PHUKET: A British tourist was nearly killed in a bungee jumping accident at the Jungle Bungy Jump center in Phuket, it emerged today. Rishi Baveja hit the water below the 165-foot high platform at around 130km/h after the harness slipped from his legs during the jump. Luckily he took the full force of the impact on his chest, escaping head…
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OPINION: Roy the right word for Phuket music fest
Phuket likes to think of itself as the island that offers something for everyone.But the major events that take place here tell us a lot about the sort of tourists the island is best at attracting.The Blues Festival, the Old Town Festival, the King’s Cup: all perfectly respectable, but much more appealing to the old than the young.While Phuket is…
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Phuket sea rescue service improvements on the way
PHUKET: Following a Cabinet ruling this week, the Andaman Sea Rescue Service (ASRS) is set to receive 18 million baht to splash out on new speedboats and lifesaving equipment.The decision came as welcome news to the overstretched ASRS Phuket, which currently operates sea rescue services in Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi, Ranong and Trang provinces along the Andaman coast.With the new…
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Countdown clocks put Phuket motorists at ease
PHUKET: Drivers are likely to have noticed new countdown displays that have been installed at eight Phuket intersections recently.The work has been funded by the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization to the tune of three million baht.The intersections where the countdowns have been installed are at Phuket International Airport, Bangku, Samkong, Darasamut, Wat Naka, Kajornkiat School, Laemchan and Ban Teen Khao.“We’ve…
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Phuket Tourist Police promote 1155 hotline
PHUKET: Foreign tourists arriving at Phuket International Airport (PIA) are being introduced to their ‘first friend’ on the island, the Tourist Police, with the distribution of bookmarks displaying important telephone numbers, including that of the Tourist Police hotline.The nationwide public relations campaign, titled ‘Your First Friend’, was launched by the Tourist Police last month with the aim of putting a…
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“Floating gold’ washing up on Phuket beach
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: The most expensive excrement in the world has been washing up on a Phuket beach since last weekend: ambergris, or ‘floating gold’, as it is known.Villagers living near Mai Khao Beach have been scrambling to collect the substance, which begins life as bile excreted by sperm whales and is extremely valuable.Several hundred kilograms of it have already…
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Bt300mn historical park slated for Phuket
THALANG, PHUKET: A 300-million-baht historical park commemorating the Battle of Thalang is being planned as a new tourist attraction for Phuket.More than forty architects have submitted designs for landscaping of the new ‘Victory Park’, which will occupy 96 rai in tambon Thepkrasattri, next to Thalang Museum.One winning design will be selected on March 13, 2010, the 224th anniversary of the…
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Aussies’ turn for shore leave in Phuket
PATONG, PHUKET: Royal Australian Navy fleet replenishment vessel HMAS Sirius, with a complement of 70 officers and crew, is anchored off Patong for a five-day stay. The ship has been at sea for the past seven months.On Tuesday, the ship’s captain, Commander John Cowan, paid a visit to Phuket governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop, where he told the assembled press, “We are…
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Revamped Phuket hospital to offer low-cost treatment
PHUKET CITY: Phuket’s Phyathai Hospital is being refurbished at a cost of 265 million baht and will be renamed ‘Phuket Provincial Administration Organization Hospital’, PPAO President Paiboon Upatising said last week.He said the hospital should enter service in the middle of next year.The PPAO originally bought the Phyathai Hospital from the Thai Asset Management Corporation for 327 million baht in August…
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Punchline Comedy Club returns to Phuket
PATONG, PHUKET: British TV comedy star Bob Mills is among the noted funnymen performing at Punchline Comedy Club when it returns to Phuket on October 14. Mills is best known as star of TV show ‘In Bed With Medinner’, and has a long list of presenting and writing credits under his belt. Time Out magazine called him “a master of…
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Tsunami Watch canceled
PHUKET: The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has canceled today’s tsunami watch following warnings earlier this evening that a tsunami could hit the region.The warning center’s latest and ‘final’ report issued to government agencies stated that sea level readings indicate that a significant tsunami was not generated by the magnitude 7.6 earthquake off Sumatra. — Gazette Reporters
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Phuket tsunami alert update
PHUKET: The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has issued a tsunami alert for Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Thailand, according to an Associated Press report.The center issued the warning following a powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.6 about 50km west of Padang in Western Sumatra at 5.16pm.There were no immediate reports of a high waves or injuries, it added.An officer at the Department of…
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Phuket on high alert following tsunami warning
PHUKET: Phuket authorities are on high alert following a tsunami warning after a magnitude 7 earthquake off Sumatra.More details shortly. — Gazette Reporters
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Leading financial advisors put on Phuket seminar
PHUKET: Tax-free pension plans for expats will be on the menu of financial advice served up by international investment gurus at the Holiday Inn Resort, Patong Beach tomorrow night.Award-winning fund management advisor Sam Liddle will be joined by Billy Popham – ‘the first Financial Adviser in Thailand to successfully effect transfers from UK pensions to QROPS (Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension…
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Phuket autopsy for large dugong
PHUKET: A large female dugong measuring almost three meters long and weighing more than a third of a ton died off the coast of Trang and was brought to Phuket for examination yesterday.The crew of a squid fishing boat found the dugong dying in the sea between Koh Libong and Koh Laoliang in yesterday morning.By the time officials from the Office…
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Phuket Passport Office opens Thursday
PHUKET CITY: Phuket’s Thai citizens will be able to apply for new passports without leaving the island once the new Ministry of Foreign Affairs office opens at Phuket Provincial Hall on Thursday.Foreigners hoping for visa services, certificate translations and marriage certification services will have to wait, however.Acting chief of the ministry’s passport section, Jackrid Kanjanasoon, said the office will begin…
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Young man killed in Phuket gang fight
PATONG, PHUKET: A 20-year-old shop assistant was stabbed 10 times in the chest and died in front of Bangla Boxing Stadium last night. Tawatchai ‘Noom’ Pookanknam, who sold clothes in a nearby shopping center, died on the scene. Chief Investigator Sophon Borirak said fighting erupted between two gangs of teenagers at around 11pm. The cause of the fighting was probably…
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Crowd batters thieves at Phuket’s Roy Fest
KARON, PHUKET: Chalong Police officers had to defend three suspected thieves who were set upon by revelers at Phuket’s otherwise highly successful Roy Fest concert on Karon Beach. The attack took place in the early hours of Saturday morning. Karon village chief Winai Chitchiew said the three suspects, Wittaya Khahapana, 30, Rachet Harun, 25, and Manusak Kobthing, 20, were all…
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Fun-filled sunset fundraiser on the beach
PHUKET: Catch an earful of live reggae and the latest dance grooves at Catch Beach Club for Patong Rotary Club’s Beach Fun Fest fundraiser on Saturday, October 17.Reggae band Job 2 Do and a handful of international DJs will be pumping out the tunes at the beach from sunset onwards.Tickets are 1,000 each and include a seafood barbecue and the…
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Aussies put Phuket in World Top 10
PHUKET: According to statistics released to the Phuket Gazette today by giant hotel booking website Wotif.com, Australians have changed their travel patterns and are visiting Asia more and more. And Phuket has ascended into the mega-site’s Top Ten world destinations over the past two years. Pointing to the website’s league tables below, Kristy Harrison, Wotif’s Marketing Director for Asia, notes…
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Beach volleyball bounces back to Phuket
PHUKET: The fourth Beach Volleyball Phuket Thailand Open, powered by PTT, is scheduled to take place at Karon Beach from November 3 through 8. Some of the best players from around the globe will be here for the tournament, including the world ranked Number One team of Larissa Franka and Juliana Silva from Brazil. The pair have amassed an impressive…
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Phuket people help spread global message of peace
PHUKET: Tonight, people in Phuket will be dancing to a global beat of peace for Earthdance 2009, an annual, synchronized event held every September in hundreds of locations around the world in recognition of the United Nations International Day of Peace.At 4pm Pacific Standard Time on Saturday, September 26 (6am Sunday in Thailand), thousands of people in more than 200…
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New Gazette Poll: Prostitution in Phuket
PHUKET: The new Phuket Gazette opinion poll asks readers to give their views on prostitution in Phuket. When it comes to Phuket’s ‘issues’, prostitution is the elephant in the room. It is technically illegal and receives relatively little official acknowledgment – yet everyone knows it happens. A night out in Patong will confirm it. There are prostitutes in Phuket, and…
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Work restarts on fire-ravaged Phuket homes
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: Work to rebuild 17 houses that were burned to the ground in a fire at a sea gypsy village in Phuket at the end of June restarted yesterday after a two-month hiatus. Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop arrived at Ban Hin Look Diow village in the morning to set 150 builders off to work again. The rebuilding of…
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New bridge plan good news for Phuket yachties
PHUKET: Phuket yachties will be pleased to know that a 300-million baht deal to build a new Sarasin Bridge includes raising the old bridge to give up to 10-meters’ clearance beneath all three bridges.The old Sarasin Bridge will become a car-free tourist attraction once construction of the third bridge is complete.Italian-Thai Development Co, which built Sarasin Bridge and the newer…
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Roy’s the word at Phuket’s beachside shindig
KARON, PHUKET: Thousands of youngsters converged on Karon Beach last night for the first ever Roy Fest, the island’s new music festival. A hefty dose of Roy – Southern Thai for ‘fun’ – was in the air as a succession of bands and DJs did their thing from an enormous stage erected by the beach road. The rain that had…
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Viagra goes to new lengths in Phuket
PHUKET: Viagra will soon be sold in Phuket pharmacies following a decision by Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA).The drug was previously only available through hospitals or illegally on the black market.The drug, sildenafil citrate, most commonly known under the Pfizer company trade name ‘Viagra’, alleviates erectile dysfunction syndrome (EDS or male impotence).In a bid to stem the illegal sale…
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Phuket Gazette Poll Results: Prevent drownings with better safety campaign
PHUKET: Phuket Gazette readers favor a tourist information campaign as the most effective way to prevent drownings on Phuket’s beaches, according to the last Gazette Poll. Of 806 readers who voted, 34 percent thought a campaign warning of the dangers of swimming in the sea was the best way to prevent more deaths. Thai nationals were only 25 percent in favor…
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