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Royal Project outlet shop opens in Phuket City
PHUKET CITY: Phuket residents can help improve the lives of some of Thailand’s poorest citizens by purchasing products from ‘Thung Ngern Thung Thong’, a new store that opened in Phuket City on Saturday. Thung Ngern Thung Thong, which translates as ‘bag of silver, bag of gold’, is the first-ever store in Phuket with permission from the Office of the Royal…
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Water truck crashes in Kata
KATA, PHUKET: A six-wheel water tanker owned by the Diamond Cottage Resort and Spa yesterday rolled about 10 meters downhill on Patak Rd, crashing into two nearby shops in Kata Center and damaging their front canopies. Fortunately, no injuries were reported. Staff at the hotel said the tanker was pumping water into the hotel at about 3:30pm when the handbrake…
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Phuket Carnival underway in Patong
PHUKET CITY: ‘Phuket Carnival at Patong 2009’ kicked off in style yesterday with fireworks, a colorful parade and plenty of activities along the Patong beachfront. The grand opening began at 5:30pm with a welcome speech by Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop, followed by a parade from the football field all the way along the beach road south to the Holiday Inn.…
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Phuket tsunami memorial services announced
PHUKET CITY: Memorial services marking the fifth anniversary of the 2004 tsunami disaster will take place on December 26 at locations in Patong, Mai Khao and Kamala. In Patong, a religious ceremony will take place at Loma Park on Patong Beach from 8am to 12pm, and again in the evening from 6pm to 7pm. In Mai Khao, similar ceremonies will…
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Phuket seeks highest minimum wage in Thailand
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Labor Office has requested a daily minimum wage increase of nine baht for Phuket workers, which, if approved in full, would give the province the highest minimum wage rate in the country. Labor committees in 70 of Thailand’s 76 provinces have submitted proposals to the Labor Department requesting minimum wage increases of between one and nine…
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Year-end celebration of local Phuket life
PHUKET: Old Phuket Town will be strung with lights and festive decorations for the fourth annual ‘Local Life Festival’ on the last Sunday of December, giving Phuketians young and old, a taste of yesteryear.From 6:30pm until 11pm on December 27, all are invited to wander through Soi Romanee and Thalang Road to take in the sights, sounds and smells of…
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“Phuket Balloon Festival 2009′ at Central Festival
PHUKET CITY: Central Festival Phuket will host the Christmas-themed ‘Phuket Balloon Festival 2009’ starting with a grand opening ceremony at 1pm on Saturday. To take place in the Grand Hall on the mall’s first floor, the event will feature balloons up to three meters across, specially crafted to resemble a variety of sea creatures. Under the theme ‘Christmas Under the…
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PHUKET OPINION: What constitutes a crisis?
PHUKET: I expected some backlash for my support for a provincial plan to implement a charge for plastic bags, and it came the weekend before last in the form of a strongly-worded open letter to the Phuket Energy Office with the heading: ‘Crisis? What Crisis?’, after the 1975 Supertramp album by the same name. The letter, by a Canadian who…
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Drowning confirmed as cause of Russian tourist death
PHUKET: Autopsy results have confirmed drowning as the cause of death of Russian tourist Andrey Khabrin, who appeared to suffer a seizure after swimming at Kata Beach on Saturday morning. Mr Khabrin, 37, fainted after swimming in front of the Kata Beach Resort, where he, his wife and a cousin were staying on holiday. After he lost consciousness, he was…
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Phuket rescue effort fails to save dolphin
PHUKET CITY: A Risso’s dolphin that washed ashore in Chalong on Friday night and later died, might have been suffering from exhaustion due to giving birth, researchers at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) think. Residents of the Khok Tanode community in Chalong Village 9 initially reported two stranded dolphins at Haad Son (Pine Beach) to the PMBC’s Marine Endangered…
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Satree Phuket boy grabs gold at science olympiad
PHUKET CITY: Satree Phuket student Peerasak Sae-eung was among Thailand’s three gold medal winners at the the sixth International Junior Science Olympiad (6th IJSO) in Azerbaijan from December 2 to 11. Another three Thai contestants took silver medals in what proved to be the country’s best-ever medal haul at the Olympiad, which this year had 258 competitors from 49 countries.…
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Three Phuket City cops face transfer after nightclub beating
PHUKET: Three Phuket City Police officers are set to be transferred after a fight with a group of Territorial Defense Volunteers in a Phuket Town nightclub early on Saturday. The altercation took place at the ‘Khon 101’ nightclub, a ‘songs-for-life’ establishment located near Nimit Circle. The three volunteers claimed they were beaten at about 1am by a group of six…
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Phuket taxi drivers demand fare share
KARON, PHUKET: A group of Phuket taxi operators has demanded a ‘fair share’ of the tourists transported between a Karon hotel and local tour destinations. The demands follow a complaint from Centara Karon Resort that heated arguments at the hotel between taxi drivers and tour company representatives have scared off tourists and threatened to ‘tarnish Phuket’s image’ as a tourist…
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Health workers gear up for swine flu spread
PHUKET CITY: The Department of Disease Control is gearing up for a re-emergence of the A(H1N1) virus that causes swine flu.Mrs Sirilak Thaijaroern, director of the Department of Disease Control (DDC) Region 11 Office in Nakhon Sri Thammarat, said the number of new cases of A(H1N1) is increasing nationwide with the arrival of the cool season.To fight the spread of…
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Kathu police keep tabs on ladyboys
PATONG, PHUKET: A ‘ladyboy’ registration plan that went into effect in October has been hailed a success by Patong’s top cop, with a drop in the number of crime cases committed by members of Patong’s transgender community. The registration plan was established last October following concerns that US military servicemen on leave in Phuket might fall prey to gangs of…
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TAT accepting Thai Tourism Award 2010 applications
PHUKET CITY: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is accepting applications for its 8th annual Thailand Tourism Awards, with 101 prizes in five categories up for grabs. The five categories are: attractive tourist destinations, tourist accommodations, tour packages, tourism support organizations and health tourism. Categories are subdivided, with destination awards for such classifications as best ‘natural’ tourist destination, best historic…
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Racha Yai residents protest new resort development
PHUKET CITY: More than 100 villagers from Koh Racha Yai gathered outside Phuket Provincial Hall on Tuesday to protest a new resort development they claim is disrupting their way of life and destroying the environment. The protesters, led by Chakrit Chandee of the Koh Racha Environmental Conservation and Protection Association, handed a letter to Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop outlining their…
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Alcohol act to be strictly enforced in Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket businesses selling and promoting alcohol and tobacco will face stricter enforcement of the Alcohol Control Act in the New Year.Operators of bars, pubs, restaurants and advertising agencies face fines up to 500,000 baht and prison sentences of up to two years for infringements of the laws.The imminent crackdown follows a Ministry of Public Health report claiming that despite…
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Centenary celebrations at Satree Phuket School
PHUKET CITY: Phuketians are invited to join festivities currently underway at Satree Phuket School to celebrate the school’s 100-year anniversary.Many of the school’s 3,334 students have been taking part in celebratory activities since yesterday, including comedy shows, student marching band performances, live animation shows, IQ tests, science and singing contests.Visitors can also have souvenir pictures taken with students wearing traditional…
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Phuket Red Cross Fair starts Dec 30
PHUKET CITY: Phuket is getting ready for what promises to be the biggest Red Cross Fair ever, with the grand prize in the annual raffle no less than a house valued at 2.7 million baht. Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngob yesterday morning chaired a press conference to announce the fair, which will take place at the main staging area at Saphan…
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Fish breeder takes life by hanging in Wichit
WICHIT, PHUKET: Phuket police are treating as a probable suicide the case of a man found hanged to death outside his Wichit home Monday morning. Chalong police station identified the deceased as 34-year-old Sutee Sirithungkan, whose body was discovered by a neighbor around 8am yesterday. Mr Sutee’s body was found suspended by a nylon cord tied to a cross beam…
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‘Aqua Zone’ opens in Patong
PATONG, PHUKET: Tourists seeking some good, clean fun in Patong can once again enjoy ‘Aqua Zone’, a collection of 13 inflated playthings floating in a roped off section of Patong Bay. The 150-square-meter aquatic playground is located off the Patong Bay Garden Resort, which is owned by Patong Mayor Pian Keesin. The structures are anchored to the seabed about 20…
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Domestic dispute turns explosive
TRAT: A quarry worker and his wife were blown up after the man apparently detonated a quantity of C-4 plastic explosive during a domestic dispute on November 19. The blast, heard for up to 50km away, had villagers fearfing an invasion by the Cambodian army. Police and rescue workers found the house of Phen Buntham, 42, and his wife Saijai…
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Alleged Aussie perfume thieves out on bail in Phuket
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: A young Australian couple accused of stealing three bottles of perfume from a duty-free shop at Phuket Airport have been released on bail, but must remain in Phuket while their court cases are heard. Police identified the couple as 21-year-old Nathan Robert Hinds and his 16-year-old fiancée, whose name cannot be reported because she is a minor.…
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Police officers caught smuggling migrant workers
PHUKET CITY: Two police officers in Ranong were caught using a police truck to illegally transport migrant workers between jobs on December 6. Sen Sgt Maj Sombun Yita-amrit, 43, and Sen Sgt Maj Kasem Srisawai, 52, both squad leaders at Phato Police Station in Chumphon, were stopped at an army checkpoint in Ranong’s La-un District. In the back of the…
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Swedish man found dead on Koh Racha Yai
RAWAI, PHUKET: Chalong Police are investigating the case of a Swedish man found dead in his hotel room at a resort on Racha Yai Island in the early hours of Sunday morning. Lt Chana Suthimas of the Chalong Police identified the deceased as 36-year-old Jan Mirael Viltfors. Mr Viltfors’ body was discovered by police in his bed at the Ban…
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Mr India restaurant burns in Rawai
RAWAI, PHUKET: A fire at the ‘Mr India’ restaurant on Wiset Road last night caused an estimated 300,000 baht in damages and brought an abrupt end to the meals customers were enjoying. Chalong Police Inspector Chana Suthimas said it took a total of four fire trucks about 30 minutes to contain the blaze, which broke out in the two-unit shophouse…
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Phuket Gazette Readers’ Poll: Night bashes at Karon Beach
PHUKET CITY: With the ‘Roy Fest Phuket Music Festival’ in September and the subsequent revelry at the ‘Chang Regatta Moonlight Night’ full moon party on December 2, Karon Beach appears to be the new hot spot for large crowds of night-time revelers. But is this really a positive development for Phuket? Have your say by clicking the icon on the…
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German and Czech shine at Laguna Phuket Triathlon
LAGUNA, PHUKET: 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medal winner Jan Frodeno took first place in a new course record and US$ 3,500 in prize money at this year’s exciting Laguna Phuket Triathlon.The South Africa-based superstar posted an overall finish time of 02:24:56, besting the previous record set by Richie Cunningham (AUS) in 2008 by over three minutes.Frodeno was followed home some…
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Barge damages coral at Racha Island
RAWAI, PHUKET: A barge carrying building material has seriously damaged a patch of coral reef off Koh Racha, according to the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR). Locals reported that the barge, allegedly belonging to Namchai Ocean Transport Company, was being towed ashore at Siam Bay on Koh Racha Yai. Prachuap Mokharat, a fisheries officer with the DMCR’s regional…
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