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How much is Thai health insurance?
Health insurance in Thailand is essential for expats and locals, providing financial protection and access to quality care. Costs depend on age, health, and coverage level, with basic plans being cheaper but limited and comprehensive plans offering more benefits at...
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Phuket Governor reveals his “Seven Wonders’
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut in an exclusive interview with the Phuket Gazette this week revealed his personal philosophy in handling the high-level decisions and complicated issues that facing the resort province .“This is my seventh week as the Governor of Phuket and the Phuket Gazette is the first English-language publication I have had a chance to talk to exclusively.Friendly,…
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Phuket Sports: World golf round-up; Golfing tip
PHUKET: Kingston Heath Golf Club was the venue for the Australian Masters last week. The course is the ‘pride of the sand belt’ in Victoria. Adam Scott and Ian Poulter were the two highest world ranking players at number 5 and number 13 respectively. Going into the last round, Scott was 12-under and Poulter 13-under. With home crowd advantage and…
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Phuket Sports: F1 – Interruptions and Interlagos
PHUKET: Austin was a great race for McLaren. Lewis Hamilton, on the dirty side, lost ground on the first corner, but after four laps passed Mark Webber. Then he hunted down Sebastian Vettel and when Narain Karthikeyan momentarily slowed Vettel, swooped into the lead on lap 42. Jenson Button started on the dirty side, dropped to 15th and fought back…
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Laguna Phuket Triathlon attracts world-class field
PHUKET: The 19th Laguna Phuket Triathlon (LPT) takes place this Sunday at 6:30am. The event has attracted a world class international field to Asia’s premier destination triathlon. The LPT consists of a 1.8 kilometer swim, 55km bike ride and 12km run through the tropical scenery of Laguna. Australian Chris “Macca” McCormack, the two-time Ironman World Champion and one of the…
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Phuket Finance: No fund is risk free… but
PHUKET: I recently began using a very interesting fund with retirees who need a steady income called Lavaux Capital, which is run out of the very well-regulated jurisdiction of Switzerland. The managers have all been involved in trade finance for many years and basically specialize in bridge financing backed by insurance contracts. The fund pays 8% simple interest in quarterly…
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Hard Rock Cafe Phuket gives thanks to first responders
PHUKET: Hard Rock Cafe Phuket celebrated ‘Thanksgiving’ on Thursday by inviting 20 firemen for a Thanksgiving lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. These were the first responders from Patong Municipality Fire Department who assisted with the Hard Rock Cafe patio fire that took place on October 18 causing superficial damage but no injuries. The firefighting team, led by Visit Mathasoontornpoj, general…
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Work to commence on the Phuket underpass tonight, footbridge to go
PHUKET: The concrete blocks that will block lanes in front Central Festival Phuket so that work can commence on Phuket’s first underpass will be put in place tonight, the contractor’s project manager confirmed to the Phuket Gazette today. “At about 10pm, we will start by installing the barriers to close off the lanes we will be working on,” explained project…
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Phuket teaching assistant suspended over “child hitting’ allegation
PHUKET: A female teaching assistant at Koh Kaew Child Development Center has been suspended pending an investigation over a mother’s claim that the assistant slapped her 4-year-old son in the face.Ratkaphat Tonnum, the 41-year-old mother of the student at the center of the incident, told the Phuket Gazette yesterday that she had originally filed a complaint with the Koh Kaew…
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Phuket officials target beach management issues
PHUKET: Phuket Vice Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada has ordered every municipality and local administrative organization on the island to report all of their beach related issues to him by next week. The move is an attempt to redress a slew of problems ranging from floating lanterns affecting air traffic at Phuket Airport to illegal beach vendors counter-suing officials as a “stall…
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International Cricket: Clarke blasts a double; Proteas lose pace
PHUKET: Michael Clarke blasted his second double-century in consecutive innings to drive Australia to a mammoth first-day total of 482-5 in the second test today as South Africa’s pace attack was brought to its knees by injury.Captain Clarke blasted 39 fours and a six in a sparkling unbeaten 224 in bright sunshine at Adelaide Oval to demoralise the Proteas after…
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Phuket Sports: Brazil top futsal world rankings after winning fifth title
PHUKET: Brazil’s national futsal team have reclaimed their world number 1 ranking after being crowned world champions in Bangkok last Sunday. Meanwhile, the previous number one, Spain unofficially become the world’s second best team after holding the top ranking for the past two years. Brazil concluded their dominance of the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2012, winning all seven of their…
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Live Wire: Getting wired into Phuket
PHUKET: High season is approaching. Every year about this time I start getting inquiries about connecting to the Internet in Phuket. As people flock to Phuket for vacations and new jobs, many decide to stay for a week or a month or a decade, and one of the very first questions they have is how in the world to get…
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Police identify Russian tourist killed in Phuket car crash
PHUKET: Police have identified the foreign man who died in a high-speed car crash early Saturday morning on a Phuket west-coast road as Andrei Pavlov, a 31-year-old Russian national. (Click here to see Phuket Breaking News report.) Patong Police inspector Pratuang Polmana confirmed to the Phuket Gazette that Mr Pavlov was a tourist living in rented accommodation in Kamala. “He…
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Phuket Sports: Bowling for a good cause
PHUKET: The Phuket Cricket Group (PCG) hosted the Chris Hart Memorial T20 fund match on November 18 at the Alan Cooke Ground (ACG) last Sunday. The event was a huge success and the PCG would like to thank everyone that played, as well as all the supporters who turned out to pay their respects to Chris. In addition to giving…
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Phuket FC get new head coach ahead of next season
PHUKET: The Islanders, Phuket FC have secured a new Head Coach, with an official announcement expected to be made this Saturday. Paniphon “Tu” Kerdyaem, a former coaching staff member of Thai Premier League team, Army United will fill the vacancy left by Anurak “June” Srikerd, who coached the struggling team in the final six matches of last season, and helped…
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Phuket Business: Tourism growth projected at 15% by Seacon head
PHUKET: Piya Sosothikul, executive director of Seacon Group, and owner of the Renaissance Phuket Resort and Spa, recently gave his outlook for Phuket tourism. Mr Piya said he expects tourist arrivals to increase by 15% this year, despite a decline in arrivals from the island’s traditional tourist source markets in Western Europe, due to the economic and financial crises affecting…
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Krabi Police clamp down on noisy motorbikes
PHUKET: Krabi Police destroyed more than 600 illegal motorbike exhaust pipes seized during police checks across the bay from Phuket in September. At a ceremony on Tuesday to mark the culmination of a campaign entitled “Youths join together: ride motorbikes without modified exhaust pipes”, Krabi Governor Prasit Osathanon and Krabi Police Commander Nantadech Yoinuan witnessed the crushing of the impounded…
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Phuket councillor road death prompts by-election
PHUKET: The death of incumbent councillor Samart Piman in a Phuket road accident in September led to San Changlek being elected councillor to Rawai Municipality after a close by-election on Sunday. According to the preliminary vote count, Mr San received 895 votes, just 32 votes more than those cast for Sommai Yukunakorn, his only rival for the Ward 1 seat…
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World News: Fragile truce takes hold; Bus bombing in Tel Aviv
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Hamas-Israel ceasefire takes hold but mistrust runs deep Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A ceasefire between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers finally took hold today after eight days of conflict, although deep mistrust on both sides cast doubt on how long the Egyptian-sponsored deal can last.…
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World News: Fallen Gurkhas honoured
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Nepal rites to banish ghosts of fallen Gurkha soldiers Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Wrapped in white and with their heads shaven, retired Gurkha soldiers sat cross-legged on the stems of dried rice plants for three days of symbolic and traditional mourning, laying to rest the…
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Phuket biologists believe stranded dolphin now safely out to sea
PHUKET: Officers at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) who released a stranded Spinner dolphin back into the sea on Saturday are confident that it is now safe. “Our officers monitored the release area after letting the dolphin go on Saturday. We haven’t seen it return to the beach,” Dr Kongkiat Kittiwattanawong, who heads the PMBC’s Endangered Species Unit, told…
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World News: Sesame Street’s Kevin Clash resigns over sex allegations
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Voice actor of Elmo resigns amid underage sex allegations Phuket Gazette / News WiresPHUKET: Kevin Clash, the puppeteer who has been on “Sesame Street” for more than 28 years and created the high-pitched voice of Muppet character Elmo, resigned yesterday after new allegations were made public that…
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Phuket Business: Pepsi gets new Andaman arm
PHUKET: Super Cheap Co Ltd has taken over distribution of Pepsi beverage products in Phuket and two other key Andaman coastal provinces, a spokesperson from the local retail giant has confirmed.The development follows the expiration on November 1 of a long-running contract between the Thai subsidiary of Pepsi-Cola (PepsiCo) and local beverage firm Serm Suk.Prior to the split, Bangkok-based Serm…
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Phuket Business: Coca-Cola pouring B200mn into Thai cola battle; New player enters market
PHUKET: Coca-Cola (Coke) is spending 200 million baht on marketing in the final quarter of this year in hopes of surpassing Pepsi to become the undisputed leader of Thailand’s 38.5 billion baht carbonated-drink market.Colas represent about 75% of Thailand’s carbonated drink market. This is followed by flavored drinks (20%) and lemon-lime beverages (5%). The cola segment is also the most…
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One Phuket swimmer drowns, one sent to hospital
PHUKET: Two swimming* incidents on Koh Racha, about 25 kilometers south of Phuket, have left a Chinese woman dead and an Indian woman in hospital. (Click here to see Phuket Breaking News report.) Yuan Dingrong, 56, who was spending a week in Patong with nine of her family members, drowned after getting into difficulties while swimming* off Ao La (La…
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World News: India hangs last Mumbai militant in first capital sentence since 2004
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community In great secrecy, India executes last surviving Mumbai attacker Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: India executed Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the lone survivor of a militant squad that killed 166 people in a rampage through the financial capital Mumbai in 2008, hanging him today just days before the fourth…
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Phuket mass fish deaths put flood-prevention project on hold
PHUKET: Dredging of a popular fishing pond in Suan Luang (Rama IX Park)* in Phuket Town is on hold after hundreds of fish were found dead along the banks of the pond this morning. Local residents believe the fish died from oxygen depletion in the water brought on by dredging. The dredging is part of a 25-million-baht flood-prevention project. Residents…
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Tourists rushed to Phuket after ‘near drowning’ during snorkelling day trip
PHUKET BREAKING NEWS: A 50-year-old Chinese tourist has been rushed to Phuket International Hospital after being pulled from the water feared drowned while snorkelling off Racha Yai Island at about midday today.Meanwhile, about the same time also off Racha Yai Island, an Indian woman, about 40 years old, was pulled from the water after also choking on water difficulties while…
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World News: Extramarital sex not unusual says wife of U.S. General on trial for adultery
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international communityPHUKET (Reuters): The wife of a U.S. Army general facing adultery and sex charges said on Monday that military marriages have suffered from the extended U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, and described infidelity as an emotional war wound that gets overlooked.In an interview with Reuters, Rebecca Sinclair…
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Brit Aldhouse to be extradited to Phuket
PHUKET: British national Lee Aldhouse, wanted on murder charges in Phuket, has lost his High Court appeal and will be extradited to Phuket. The news of the UK High Court dismissing Mr Aldhouse’s appeal follows High Court judges agreeing to postpone the extradition hearing so that Mr Aldhouse’s lawyers would have more time to prepare their case. Mr Aldhouse successfully…
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