News
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Phuket’s Happy Air launches Langkawi flights
PHUKET CITY: New regional airline Happy Air on Saturday launched its three-times-weekly flights from Phuket to Malaysia’s duty-free island of Langkawi. The service, which takes 40 minutes, is aboard a Swedish-built SAAB 340A aircraft. The 34-seat, twin-engine turboprop plane will be manned by two cabin crew per flight. The Happy Air marketing team told a press conference at the The…
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Patong motorbike taxi drivers get free helmets
PATONG, PHUKET: Hoping to improve both safety standards and their public image, scores of blue-vested motorbike taxi drivers on Saturday took part in a training project and received free safety helmets. The initiative is part of a road safety and crime prevention campaign created by Kathu Police Superintendent Grissak Songmoonnark. At 1 pm on Saturday, about 400 members of the…
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Homeless Swedes face deportation from Phuket
PHUKET CITY: A homeless couple from Sweden face imminent deportation for overstaying their permits to stay. Lt Col Boonlert Onklang of the Chalong Police identified the couple as Bjorn Lennart Lundqvist, 59, and his female companion Gabriella Rose-Marie Strand, 58. Officers found the couple lying on the sidewalk in front of the Bangkok Bank branch in Kata at 1pm last…
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New tsunami buoy deployed off Phuket
PHUKET: Thailand’s tsunami direct detection buoy has been successfully replaced and the new unit began transmitting data via satellite at 9:15am Thursday morning.Staff of the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) and technical experts from the US who conducted the mission returned aboard MV Seafdec at 8am yesterday, as planned.NDWC Director Viriya Mongkolveerapan told the Gazette the old unit will be…
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OPINION: Tuk-tuks clearly a bane to Phuket tourism
PHUKET: The past week saw the launch of the Gazette’s new readers’ forum that allows readers to post their comments on news stories. The interactive feature was an instant hit, with more than 120 comments in three days on a single story: the demand by a group of tuk-tuk drivers for a bigger slice of the transport pie at a…
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Englishman dies in Phuket boating accident
CHALONG, PHUKET: An Englishman died yesterday after the catamaran he was sailing in with two friends capsized off Koh Hei.Chalong police identified the deceased as UK national Kevin Corrigan, a retired former employee of AIG Insurance.One of the survivors, 67-year-old English expat Bill Dobbs, told the Gazette that he and Mr Corrigan left Chalong Bay in the catamaran owned by…
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No late nights for Phuket City bars
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Governor has refused a request by several bar owners on Yaowarat Road to be allowed to stay open until 2am, saying he lacks the authority to overrule Ministry of Interior regulations.In recent years a number of small bars and restaurants have opened up on the stretch of the road close to the intersection with Dibuk Road…
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Phuket – Udon Thani flights start Monday
PHUKET CITY: Thai AirAsia will launch a new direct flight service connecting Phuket and the Isarn town of Udon Thani on Monday, December 21. The new service, with a 1 hour and 40 minute flight time, will operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Thai AirAsia CEO Tassapol Bijleveld said “Udon Thani is in the central part of the Northeast…
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Krabi motorbike monk seeks media justice
PHUKET CITY: A monk from Krabi made his way to the Phuket press club office yesterday in an effort to clear his name following a newspaper report that he was breaking the monk’s code of conduct by using a motorbike instead of walking during his morning alms collection. A photo of Phra Tossaponchana Kommasutho of Wat Tamtheppratan in the Muang…
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Phuket lifeguards seek back pay from PPAO
PHUKET CITY: Fifty former members of the provincial beach guard gathered at the offices of the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization (PPAO) yesterday morning to protest over non-payment of two months’ salary. The guards, led by Kamala Beach head lifeguard Tawee Sariya, were met by PPAO Vice President Chawalit Na Nakorn at about 11:30am. The guards complained that all 67 members…
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Kamala Fest 2009 activites announced
KAMALA, PHUKET: Live performances from Kangkeng and Hin Lek Fai as well as a fishing competition and a football tournament are among the highlights of the Kamala Festival 2010, set to take place next month. Juta Dumluck, president of the Kamala Tambon Administration Organization (TAO), recently announced details of the festival, funded to the tune of three million baht. The…
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Phuket Gov seeks end to Darasamuth Road impasse
WICHIT, PHUKET: A poor family with no place else to go is the only thing holding up government plans to complete a road project that could reduce traffic congestion on the bypass road at the Darasamuth School Intersection. Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop held a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall Tuesday afternoon to discuss the impasse. The 550-meter-long road starts just…
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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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