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Is tap water in Thailand safe to consume?
Wondering if you can drink the tap water in Thailand? From brushing your teeth to filling up a bottle, it’s helpful to understand a few basics. Tap water safety in Thailand varies by location, and while some people use it...
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Phuket hosts Thai handicrafts fair
PHUKET: Fans of Thai handicrafts will want to visit Phuket’s Jungceylon shopping complex over the weekend, as the second annual Thai Handicrafts Domestic Roadshow is in town until Monday. Phuket Vice Governor Weerawat Janpen presided over the event opening yesterday. A large and varied selection of the best Thai handicrafts are on sale from 11am to 10pm daily in the…
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Phuket Live Wire: Finding your “True’ internet speed
PHUKET: I’ve received email from all over the world as a result of the ‘Bang for the Baht’ chart that Khun Roger and I put together for the August 27 Live Wire in the Phuket Gazette. The emails I received fall into three broad categories. Some people expect to be in Phuket shortly – either moving here or taking an…
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Korean tourist rescued from Phuket drainage ditch
PHUKET: Phuket rescue workers and local residents came to the aid of a Korean tourist whose leg became wedged between two cement drainage ditch covers on Tuesday night. Phuket Kusoldham Foundation rescue workers were alerted to the man’s plight at about 8:30pm on Tuesday. Racing to the scene, near the Bank of Ayudhya branch on Chao Fa East Road in…
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US Embassy reaches out to Phuket
PHUKET: During a visit to the Phuket Gazette offices last week, US Ambassador to Thailand Kristie A Kenney asked staff to remind readers that there will be an outreach clinic by the Consular Section of the US Embassy in Phuket tomorrow. During her visit, Amb Kenney said that given the current funding problems in the US there was little likelihood…
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Phuket Big Buddha image nears completion, huge ceremony planned
PHUKET: The Big Buddha image in the Nakkerd Hills is scheduled for completion next month, with a nationally-televised prayer ceremony in honor of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej and HM Queen Sirikit to take place in November, its builders say. The Mingmongkol Faith 45 Foundation, set up to construct the Big Buddha, made the announcement at a press conference on September…
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Phuket passenger van crashes in Trang: 1 dead, 4 injured
PHUKET: One person was killed and four badly injured when a Phuket passenger van bound for Haad Yai lost its brakes and crashed into a car in Trang yesterday afternoon. Muang District Police in Trang were notified of the accident at 2pm yesterday. At the scene, a four-way intersection on the Trang bypass road in Nayong subdistrict, they found a…
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Phuket Airport to double car park
PHUKET: Phuket International Airport will open its new car park to vehicles by November, Airport Director Duangchai Condee announced today. “The new car park will be ready to use by this coming high season,” Ms Dungchai told a meeting chaired by Phuket Vice Governor Weerawat Janpen. The new car park, located in front of the airport cargo buildings just to…
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Phuket’s unsightly roadside signs finally fall
PHUKET: Advertising signs and billboards on public land lining Phuket’s main roads are being removed, the Phuket Highways Office confirmed yesterday. Sathaporn Sornchana, Deputy General Manager of the Phuket Highways Office, announced the news at the second meeting of Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha’s advisory committee, which the governor formed in May to start tackling such issues. The move follows Surin…
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Phuket’s Koh Kaew Market to rise from the ashes
PHUKET: Forensic Police continue to investigate the cause of the fire that ripped through the Koh Kaew Market in Patong last month, raising the distinct possibility that the complex could be rebuilt and open for business before the cause of the blaze is determined. Tossapol Rungruengpawan, president of Patong Retail Business Club, said work cleaning up debris is ongoing and…
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Korean Ambassador says “Farewell, Phuket’
PHUKET: South Korean Ambassador to Thailand Chung Hae-moon today paid a visit to Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha at Provincial Hall to say farewell before his return home.“I am going back to [South] Korea at the end of this week as I have completed my four-year term in Thailand,” Ambassador Chung told the Phuket Gazette. He encouraged more Korean companies to…
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Phuket “mad bomber’ bank robbery foiled by closing time
PHUKET: Police are hunting for a man who tried robbing a bank in Phuket Town late this afternoon reportedly with grenades strapped to his chest, but was foiled by the bank having been closed for business just five minutes earlier. The man, described as dark-skinned and about 30-35 years old, arrived at the Kasikorn Bank branch on the corner of…
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Phuket convention center plan gets bi-partisan backing
PHUKET: Government spokesman Prompong Nopparit was in Phuket over the weekend to assure that the Pheu Thai Party has no plan to cut central government funding for the international convention and exhibition center project planned for Phuket. Mr Prompong made the announcement in Mai Khao on Saturday after meeting villagers at the project site on the island’s northern tip. Mr…
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Phuket weather report: wet and windy all week
PHUKET: The Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) has issued another weather advisory for Phuket, the second in as many days. Issued at 6am today by the Southern Meteorological Center at Phuket Airport, the advisory notes a “rather strong” southwest monsoon over the Andaman Sea and coastline. People living in windward coastal areas should be especially prepared for “abundant and heavy” rain…
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Phuket schools get ‘drugged up’
PHUKET: The Phuket Public Health Office (PPHO) and island pharmacists have joined forces to provide every Phuket school with a free medicine cabinet and first-aid training. The project, “Medicine Cabinets Donated to the Community”, was arranged by the PPHO, Phuket Pharmacists Association and Phuket Drug Shop Association. Paiboon Upatising, president of Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), presided over the launch…
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Catamaran founders off Phuket, passengers saved
PHUKET: Heavy seas off Phuket over the weekend swamped a German man’s sailboat and prompted a dramatic rescue of his three Thai passengers off Mai Thon Island yesterday. German sailor Paul Zicman, 68, invited 34-year-old friend Thewarat Kongmuang and her two daughters aboard his catamaran Blue Lagoon for a trip to Koh Khai on Saturday afternoon. The four set sail…
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Asia’s first Urak Lawoi cultural center set for Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Office is pushing ahead with the construction of a 5.4-million-baht culture center for Urak Lawoi sea gypsies, with the facility set to become the first of its kind in Asia. The center, which is more than 70% complete, will aim to preserve the distinctive way of life and culture of the Urak Lawoi and to attract…
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Man survives jump off Phuket’s Thepkasattri Bridge
PHUKET: A man is in hospital recovering today after being plucked from the fast-flowing waters under Phuket’s Thepkrasattri Bridge. Sen Sgt Maj Sayan Mesang, stationed at Tha Nun Police Box under the nearby Sarasin Bridge, told the Gazette that he received reports of a man attempting to jump off the bridge at about 10:45am yesterday. “I rushed to the scene,…
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FC Phuket down Bangkok Utd, 1-0
PHUKET: A goal by Sarach Yooyen just three minutes into play was all FC Phuket needed to secure a 1-0 victory over Thai League Division 1 rivals Bangkok United in an exciting match at Surakul Stadium last night. In front of 8,520 fans, crowd favorite Sarach Yooyen used his lightning quickness to get past two defenders before launching a shot…
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FC Phuket ready for Bangkok Utd
PHUKET: FC Phuket will be back in action on the friendly turf of Surakul Stadium tonight, when they will be gunning to snatch all three points from division 1 rivals Bangkok United and revive their dimming hopes for promotion to the elite Thai Premier League. FC Phuket go into the match in ninth place in the Thai Division 1 table,…
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Phuket kids flock to Kathu street fair
PHUKET: Children of all ages are flocking to the Kathu Kids’ Street Fair, which is on through Sunday in Phuket’s Kathu subdistrict. The three days of fun activities include stage performances, contests, games and a wide variety of other entertainments put on by children from local schools. The event is being held on Wichit Songkram Road, near the entrance to…
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Phuket estate manager denies gun charges
PHUKET: Police have confiscated the gun of a Phuket housing estate manager who is accused of using it to intimidate a construction team into stopping their noisy work. The estate manager felt the work was “too noisy”. Phuket Police are now investigating whether the gun license he produced is genuine. Seree Duangsuwan arrived at Phuket City Police Station for questioning…
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Phuket tourist safety among top concerns: US Ambassador
PHUKET: Highlighting the role of wardens as her embassy’s “eyes and ears” in Thailand, United States Ambassador Kristie Kenney today affirmed that tourist safety was among the top priorities of her mission. Amb Kenney’s comments came during a day trip to Phuket, which included a visit to the offices of the Phuket Gazette and a closed-door meeting with the island’s…
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Phuket machete attack puts Burmese workers in ICU
PHUKET: Two Burmese workers on their way home from a Phuket karaoke bar were critically injured after they were attacked by knife-wielding youths yesterday. Thalang Police received an anonymous report at 1:10am from a local resident in Srisoonthorn reporting that two heavily bleeding men were lying in an alley near the Baan Manik boxing camp on Srisoonthron Road. Arriving at…
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Phuket Police yet to question tour driver attackers
PHUKET: Kamala Police have been issued a court summons to bring in two drivers for questioning over the savage beating of a Phuket tour company driver last Sunday. “I will give them a week to come and see me. If it’s more than a week, a second summons will be issued. If they still don’t come, I will apply to…
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Phuket taxi bullying continues
PHUKET: Police today were called in to resolve yet another taxi dispute, this time reports of drivers using their vehicles to block the entrance to the renowned Evason Phuket & Bon Island resort. About 20 “black plate” drivers massed at the entrance to the Evason – one of the very first resorts on the island – at about 10am, reported…
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Phuket expats to remember fallen Dane
PHUKET: Friends of Michael Sand Andersen, a long-term Phuket expat who died in a motorcycle accident on August 26, will hold a remembrance gathering for him on Saturday, September 10. Mr Andersen, 39, died from injuries sustained when he fell off his motorbike on Soi Yodsane while trying to drive down Big Buddha Hill in Chalong during heavy rain. Mr…
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Patong Hospital to fight Phuket floods
PHUKET: Patong Hospital faces a chronic flooding problem so bad that its administrators plan to construct an emergency dike and pedestrian footbridge to keep out flood water and allow patients to access the facility during periods of heavy rainfall. Phuket Public Health Office Director Sak Tanchaikul reported on short-term solutions to the hospital’s growing flood problem, which caused a shutdown…
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Top Cop: Phuket is car-theft capital of the South
PHUKET: Thailand’s top traffic cop was in Phuket yesterday to brief top-ranking officers on the need to crack down on vehicle theft and the smuggling of luxury cars. Assistant national police chief Rapeepat Palawong chaired a high-level meeting on the issue at Phuket Provincial Police Headquarters yesterday morning. Lt Gen Rapeepat, who also serves as director of the National Traffic…
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Brit fraud fugitive nabbed in Phuket
PHUKET: A British expat arrested in Phuket today was on a list of fugitives wanted by an international division of the UK’s Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA), the Phuket Gazette has learned. Paul Ridden, 58, was arrested today after being fooled into meeting a friend in front of Chalong Police Station. When he drove into the police station car park,…
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Honda racing returns to Phuket
PHUKET: More than 100 racing cars representing 40 teams will be zooming around Saphan Hin in Phuket Town on September 17-18 as the Phuket Honda Racing Fest 2011 comes to town. “This is the fifth year of Honda Motor Sport racing [in Thailand] and the second time this event will be held in Phuket,” said Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha at…
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