Phuket Governor gets married again

PHUKET: Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha and his wife Mrs Nalinee today renewed their wedding vows this morning at a ceremony in Old Phuket Town as part of a two-day wedding festival to honor Baba Pernankan (“Straits Chinese”) traditions.

Gov Tri and Mrs Nalinee were one of four guest couples invited to renew their vows at Hongsyok House on Thepkrasattri Road.

With them were five couples being married for the “first time”, with two of the couples traveling from Taiwan for the occasion.

“We want to support tourism from Taiwan to Phuket. We have similarities in culture and demographics,” said Suwanchai Ritthirak, Adviser to Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Governor Suraphol Sawetseranee.

“Taiwanese couples married during the Baba wedding ceremony in Phuket will return after they have children, and they will tell their children about where they were married,” he added.

After the ceremony, recently remarried Gov Tri and Mrs Nalinee joined a parade from the Hongsyok family home to the Phuket Thaihua Museum on Krabi Road in Old Phuket Town for a photo session.

“I am impressed. There is no Baba wedding ceremony like this in Taiwan. It is unique and interesting,” said Chang Chin Hao, one of the Taiwanese grooms.

It was his first trip to Phuket, he added.

“My wife and I chose to marry here because Phuket has a long history and because one of my work colleagues was married here, and suggested that we marry here too,” he said.

— Janpen Upatising