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Why did Phuket police officers cross the road?
BECAUSE: Phuket Provincial Police have now moved into their new HQ, just across the road from the 40-year-old former headquarters on Yaowarat Road in Phuket City.Although construction work on the new 21-million-baht police station was mostly completed in 2008, officers finally moved in over the weekend, after landscaping work was eventually finished.The new Phuket Provincial Police HQ will be officially opened with a…
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Hearing held for two Phuket road megaprojects
PHUKET CITY: If Friday’s public hearing is any indication, there appears to be little grassroots opposition to two major road projects being considered for Phuket.The event at Royal Phuket City Hotel combined two public hearings into one.By coincidence, the two hearings were scheduled to take place at the same time in the same hotel, causing a great deal of confusion…
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October blood donation drive in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Chapter of the Thai Red Cross Society has arranged for its mobile unit to accept blood donations at the following places and times in Phuket in October.October 15 (noon to 7pm): Tesco Lotus Phuket, RassadaOctober 16 (noon – 6pm): HomeWorks Phuket, WichitOctober 29 (10am – 7pm): Tesco Lotus Phuket, RassadaOctober 30 (noon – 6pm): Phuket Airport,…
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‘Exciting opportunities’ at Phuket AOCAP event
PHUKET: Phuket property and tourism professionals are taking advantage of networking opportunities and learning more about the boom in fractional ownership at the Alternative Ownership Conference–Asia Pacific, which got underway this morning at the Millenium Resort Patong. Key speakers in the property and tourism industries have flown into Phuket from around the world for the region’s first two-day AOCAP conference.…
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Thepkrasattri Road in Phuket gets a facelift
KOH KAEW, PHUKET: Traffic jams on Thepkrasattri Road in Koh Kaew will be a familiar sight for up to four months while resurfacing work is carried out at the bypass road junction. Heavy traffic and other factors had caused the road to deteriorate on both sides of the 250-meter stretch now under reconstruction. Starting on the northbound side, all four…
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Phuket triathlon champs to defend titles in December
LAGUNA, PHUKET: Defending champions Richie Cunningham and Belinda Granger of Australia will return to Phuket in December to defend their Laguna crowns, following maiden victories in 2008.For both Cunningham and Granger, victory last year came as a great relief. Neither had ever managed to top the Laguna podium despite competing in the ‘Race of Legends’ five and six times respectively.This…
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Phuket Piracy: Who controls the gold?
PHUKET: Thailand is now jumping into the intellectual property protection game in a big way. For decades prey to foreign-controlled bounty hunters who collect commissions by seizing pirate editions of copyrighted works, the nation is now moving to secure local copyrights and patents – and to marginalize foreign violators. Together with its regional partners, Thailand will create an ‘Asean Database…
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Phuket braces for vegetable frenzy
PHUKET: Residents in downtown Phuket are busy gearing up for the annual Vegetarian Festival. Celebrated by the Chinese community on an island best known for its beaches, stylish resorts, and laid-back attitude, the annual Vegetarian Festival showcases Phuket’s more ‘mystical’ side. A combination of vegetarian food, peaceful chants, non-stop ear-splitting firecrackers and often macabre processions, the festival is primarily for…
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Readers’ Poll: Does Phuket need Patong Tunnel?
PHUKET: The new Phuket Gazette Poll asks readers to give their views on proposals for a Patong Tunnel between tambons Kathu and Patong. Does Phuket really need this project? Would the money be better spent on improving the existing road? Click on the Gazette Poll icon at the top right corner of this page to register your vote. You can…
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Phuket culture center construction stalled
RASSADA, PHUKET: Development of a new cultural center in Phuket to educate visitors about Phuket’s sea gypsy traditions is on hold until more funding can be found to complete the project. Another two million baht is needed to complete the Urak Lawoi Culture Center, which is being built near the Laem Tukkae sea gypsy village on Koh Sireh in Phuket. Two million baht in government funding from…
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Beatles memorabilia up for auction at Beach Fun Fest
PHUKET: A guitar signed by members of the Beatles is just one of the unique items of entertainment and sporting memorabilia to be auctioned off for charity at next Saturday’s Beach Fun Fest at Surin Beach. Other autographed items on auction at the much-anticipated fundraising event organized by the Patong Rotary Club include a Pele 1960s Brazil shirt; a US…
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Morning Nai Harn jog turns into nightmare
RAWAI, PHUKET: An expat Phuket resident narrowly escaped an attempted rape in the Nai Harn area of Phuket when she was attacked by a Thai man wielding a screwdriver last Friday morning. The victim, 39, told the Gazette today that the attack came as she was out for a morning jog near Nai Harn Lake at about 8am. She was…
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“Now I’m a believer’: Phuket cop-cum-medium
PHUKET: A Phuket City policemen who claims he was possessed by gods over 30 years ago will once again shower himself in boiling oil during the upcoming Vegetarian Festival.Police Senior Sergeant Major Pisit Kunsong, 54, is one of many mah song (literally, “entranced horses”) spirit mediums who plan to be possessed by the spirits of Chinese warrior gods over the…
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Phuket car bangers busted
PHUKET: When Phuket police eventually arrested four men in connection with a spate of car break ins in Phuket City, they found the suspects in possession of stolen laptops, a camera, mobile phones, a diamond ring, guns, marijuana and tools for breaking into cars.Three of the men are suspected of breaking into more than 30 cars parked along Thalang, Yaowarat and…
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‘Bypass overpass’ unveiled in Phuket
WICHIT, PHUKET: Two hulking siblings, the Central Festival Phuket and HomeWorks shopping complexes, were finally linked by a long-awaited pedestrian overpass today.Phuket Vice Governor Tri Augkaradacha opened a 20-million-baht footbridge across the bypass road, allowing shoppers to enjoy the pleasures of both megamalls without getting in a car, on a bike – or soaking wet.Both centers are owned by the…
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Wet week predicted for Phuket
PHUKET CITY: Phuket residents will get little relief from heavy rains and dark skies over the next week, but the severity of storms should lessen, according to the Meteorological Department office in Phuket. Methawee Nuanla-or, an officer at the Meteorological Department’s South (West Coast) station near Phuket International Airport, said current rainy conditions are expected for the rest of the…
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Public seminar on Phuket’s green issues
PHUKET: Green issues in city planning for Phuket will be addressed by government and public authorities at Phuket’s first free seminar on the subject, to be held at the Phuket Merlin Hotel this Friday.The seminar, titled PA+S FORUM – Issue Green Attention, will be attended by key speakers from the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planing, Phuket…
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Miss Poland contestants touch down in Phuket
PHUKET: Eyebrows and blood pressures were raised in Phuket this evening when 25 Miss Poland contestants touched down at Phuket international Airport.The Polish beauty pageant contestants are in Phuket courtesy of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and they’ll be visiting various venues around the island over the next few days, taking part in a series of photo shoots.TAT’s Frankfurt Office director Suwalai Pinpradab accompanied…
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Phuket drug cases up 161%
PHUKET: Crime statistics released by the Phuket Provincial Police for September show that wet weather has not put a damper on recreational drug use, as narcotics-related cases were up 161%. There were 230 drug cases reported over the period, an increase of 161.4% year-on-year. Police arrested 250 people and confiscated a wide variety of narcotics, including 5,271 ya bah (methamphetamine)…
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Phuket’s Sleeping Giant: Shared ownership of property
PHUKET: Shared ownership sales of Phuket properties reached US$ 61.2 million for 2008, validating the sector’s stability despite the economic downturn, according to a comprehensive research study into the industry. The ‘Phuket Shared Ownership Market Report’, compiled by leading Phuket-based hospitality consulting firm C9 Hotelworks, is seen as a natural development in Phuket’s tourism industry, which is well on its…
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Bangla beggar’s raking it in: Phuket police
PATONG, PHUKET: On a night patrol in the early hours of Monday morning, Patong’s top cop showed a crowd of shocked tourists just how much money Phuket’s beggars can make. Kathu Police Superintendent Grissak Songmoonnark stopped a known beggar in front of the Pizza Company restaurant on the famous Soi Bangla entertainment strip. When the contents of the old man’s…
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Phuket prepares for qwacky ‘Race Day’
PHUKET: A host of ‘wacky races’ will take place during the Phuket Community Foundation’s ‘Race Day’ at Canal Village in Laguna Phuket next month. The aim of Race Day is to raise funds for grant-making at the end of the year and to raise awareness of the PCF and its activities. The day will feature kayak races, dragon boat racing,…
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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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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 people pray for King’s health
PHUKET: Muslim and Thai-Chinese religious groups held independent mass prayer meetings in Phuket yesterday to wish His Majesty the King a quick recovery as he receives treatment for a fever and a lung infection at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok.More than 1,000 Muslims gathered in prayer yesterday afternoon at the Dubai Mosque, Koh Kaew, which is also the location of the…
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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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“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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Polish beauties bound for Phuket
PHUKET: Gentlemen at Phuket International Airport on Wednesday evening (Oct 7) will get a generous eyeful when 25 Miss Poland 2009 contestants arrive aboard their Bangkok Airways flight. The Slavic beauties are spending 10 days in Thailand as part of a ‘preparation camp’ ahead of the final competition in Poland. As well as Phuket, the girls are set to visit…
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