Phuket News
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FC Phuket pick up valuable point in league opener
PHUKET: FC Phuket secured a solid 1-1 draw away from home against Suphanburi FC in their opening fixture in Thai League Division 1 football on Sunday. Following the game, Phuket manager Surachai Jirasirichote said he was “satisfied” with the point picked up on the road but somewhat “disappointed” in the manner in which his side conceded the equalizer after going…
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Power outages to hit southern Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) has announced scheduled blackouts to carry out maintenance on high-voltage power lines, install new lines and move power poles in Chalong. The dates and locations of the operations, which will be carried out from 9am to 5pm, are: February 17 Along Chao Fa West Road, from in front of Chalong Temple to Land…
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Phuket call for urgent blood donations
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center is calling for urgent blood donations, especially of types A- and O-. Pornthip Ratthajak, director of the Red Cross Phuket Regional Blood Center, said the blood was needed for two emergency cases: a leukemia patient at Bangkok Hospital Phuket and a Danish road accident victim at Vachira Phuket Hospital who desperately needs O-. In…
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Isuzu mechanic dead in Phuket motorbike crash
PHUKET: Phuket City Police are investigating the road death of a young mechanic whose body was found in the central drainage ditch of the bypass road early this morning. Phuket City Police duty inspector Sien Kaewthong was informed of the body’s discovery at about 2am today. Arriving at the scene, the median strip of the bypass road in Rassada, they…
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Phuket Live Wire: International internet speeds are up
PHUKET: International internet speeds in Phuket this week were generally excellent for 3BB, CAT and True, but bad-to-abysmal for TOT. 3BB customers are being upgraded, free, frequently without any notification before or after the upgrade. TOT Fiber Optic was performing horribly – often half as fast as standard ADSL lines, at five times the price – but the speed has…
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Phuket MET: January 2011 wettest on record
PHUKET: Last month was the rainiest January on record in Phuket, the Meteorological Department (MET) has confirmed. A meteorologist at the Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast) at Phuket International Airport told the Gazette this afternoon that his station recorded about 77mm of rain at both MET monitoring stations on the island. This amount was about twice the mean annual rainfall…
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PHUKET NIGHTMARE: Missing girl feared sold to Phuket brothel
PHUKET: The girl who vanished from the Chalong Temple Fair on Wednesday was lured away by a teenage boy named “Bow” and taken to Patong, her family has learned. They fear the youth may be planning to sell her to a brothel. La-ongda “Tanyong” Narmsra, 14, was reported missing on Wednesday by her mother. See our earlier report here. La-ongda’s…
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FC Phuket hit the road for league opener
PHUKET: FC Phuket begin their quest for promotion to the Thai League Premier Division tomorrow when they visit Suphanburi FC for their opening fixture in Division 1. Kickoff is at 4:30pm. Phuket secured promotion to the second tier of Thai league football in December and will be looking to get their 2011 campaign off to a winning start. The Phuket…
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BREAKING NEWS: 33 Rohingya remain detained in Phuket, tell of hardships at home
PHUKET: The whereabouts of the 68 Rohingya refugees who were arrested on January 31 when their boat drifted to Phuket’s shores has been confirmed by the Phuket Gazette. Phuket Immigration late yesterday gave the Gazette access to 33 Rohingya men in custody at the Immigration Detention Center (IDC). The youngest in the cell was only nine years old and the…
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Serial thief arrested, charged with 13 burglaries in Phuket
PHUKET: A 33-year-old Nakhon Sawan man who was just released from prison last year was arrested and charged yesterday with 13 counts of burglary in Phuket. His previous jail time, 18 months in Phuket prison, stemmed from multiple instances of purchasing stolen goods from colleagues in the trade, according to police at a press conference this afternoon. The accused, Weerapat…
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Phuket Reminder: Business law tops agenda for IBAP meeting tonight
PHUKET: The keynote speaker at the International Business Association of Phuket (IBAP) meeting tonight will be Michael Doyle, a US attorney and partner of the Bangkok-based law firm Seri Manop & Doyle. Mr Doyle, co-author and contributing editor of the recently released book Doyle’s Practical Guide to Business Law in Emerging Countries in Asia, will speak on the issue: Business…
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MISSING CHILD: Girl, 14, vanishes from Phuket temple fair
PHUKET: The mother of a girl who went missing from the Chalong Temple Fair grounds in Phuket on Wednesday is asking the public for help in locating her. Sapsiri Narmsra, 29, reported her 14-year-old daughter La-ongda Narmsra missing to Chalong Police on Wednesday. Mrs Sapsiri, a resident of Ayudhya, said she arrived with her daughter and relatives on January 29…
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Hot time in Old Phuket Town tonight
PHUKET: Tonight is the last night of the annual Phuket Old Town Festival, centered in Thalang and Phang Nga Roads and in Queen Sirikit Park in Phuket Town. Despite being held mid-week, this year’s event has been busier than ever with a wide range of staged entertainments, food and drink, and exhibitions focused on life in the olden days. The…
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Anchalee calls for all islanders to register as Phuket residents
PHUKET: Anchalee Vanich Thepabutr, Secretary-General to the Prime Minister, this morning urged all people living in Phuket to register as residents so that appropriate-size development budgets could be allocated for the number of people actually living on the island. The rapid pace of development in Phuket was a serious concern of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the Cabinet, and the…
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German methadone survivor out of Phuket ICU
PHUKET: A German man whose male partner died of an apparent methadone overdose by penile injection last week is out of a coma, staff at Vachira Phuket Hospital have confirmed. The German, in his mid-30s, was transferred to Vachira Phuket Hospital from Bangkok International Hospital last Friday. “He was released from the ICU [on Tuesday], but is still under close…
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Thai lawyers urge action over refugees, human trafficking
PHUKET: The Lawyers’ Council of Thailand (LCT) today released a statement demanding the government to “tackle Rohingya trafficking organizations”. The statement comes after 68 Rohingya were arrested in Phuket last week, and 158 in Trang and Satun provinces last month. The status and location of the 226 Rohingya is currently unclear amid conflicting reports of transfers and possible human rights…
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Phuket Old Town Festival starts today
PHUKET: The 12th-annual Phuket Old Town Festival kicks off at 7pm tonight, offering a wide range of performances, food and fun activities along Thalang Road and at Queen Sirikit Park. Coming less than a week after the arrival of the Year of the Rabbit, one of the highlights of this year’s events is two objects related to reverence of the…
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Phuket committee agrees to set standard tuk-tuk fares
PHUKET: A maximum fare of 200 baht has been set for any tuk-tuk or taxi ride within Patong, a Phuket provincial committee confirmed today. The committee was tasked to address problems associated with tuk-tuk drivers overcharging customers. Members held a meeting at Provincial Hall today to reach a final agreement on the fares, which are now set to be standard…
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Phuket “mangrove road’ EIA approved
PHUKET: After more than a decade, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) has finally approved an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for a controversial road through a mangrove forest in Phuket Town. News that the EIA of the Klong Koh Phee Road project had been approved was announced yesterday at a project committee meeting chaired by Phuket Governor Tri…
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Mutilated body found in Phuket palm plantation
PHUKET: The body of a Burmese man was found on a Phuket palm plantation yesterday morning with a half-severed head and intestines spilling out. Thalang police were informed of the gruesome discovery at about 8am. The body lay in Palm Anchalee, just south of the Heroines’ Monument and adjacent to the offices of the Phuket Gazette, off Thepkrassatri Road. The…
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Mick Tonkin funeral set for Wat Prathong, Phuket
PHUKET: The funeral for well-known Phuket resident Mick Tonkin is now scheduled for Tuesday, February 8, at Wat Prathong in Thalang. The ceremony will start at 12 noon and be followed by a wake at the Black Cat restaurant, one of Mick’s favorite places, in Cherng Talay. For directions to Wat Prathong, see Google Maps and enter the search term:…
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German dead in Phuket from penis injection
PHUKET: One German tourist is dead and another in hospital following apparent overdoses of the drug methadone, with one of the men allegedly injecting the drug into his penis. Chalong Police said the tourists, a gay couple in their mid-30s, arrived in Phuket on January 26 as part of a group tour and were staying at a five-star hotel in…
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Chinese New Year surge for Phuket tourism
PHUKET: Phuket is reaping the rewards of a huge surge in tourists for this year’s Chinese New Year. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) expects revenue generated over the festival period to top the eight-billion-baht mark nationwide, from both domestic and foreign markets. Reports from around the island point to occupancy rates hitting 90 percent in the three and four-star…
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Phuket’s 2011 Business Directory goes on sale today
PHUKET: The Gazette Guide for 2011 goes on sale this morning at vendors throughout Phuket and the Andaman region. With contact details of thousands of businesses classified into 142 different categories, the 368-page book is priced at just 50 baht. A list of our retailers in Phuket, Phang-nga, Khaolak, Krabi and Koh Samui is available here. Discounts are available on…
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Phuket puts on spectacular Chinese New Year show
PHUKET: Chinese New Year kicked off with a hail of fireworks and live performances by acrobats, dancers and some of Thailand’s top musical acts at Sanaam Chai field in Phuket Town yesterday evening. The event, hosted by the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), started at 4pm and saw thousands of people turn out for the food and entertainment. “This event…
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TAT invites Phuket tourists, locals to join shrine tours
PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) office in Phuket Town is inviting residents and tourists to take part in special po thong bus tours of nine Chinese Shrines in Phuket. The cultural tours, conducted aboard 10-seat open-air buses known locally as po thong, will start from the TAT office on Thalang Road at 9am and 10am daily. Those wishing…
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Popular Phuket expat resident Mick Tonkin is dead
PHUKET: The well-known Phuket businessman and computer software entrepreneur Mick Tonkin has died suddenly in Bangkok. Mick collapsed as he arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport early on Wednesday evening for a business meeting. Efforts to revive him at the scene and later in hospital were unsuccessful. It is understood he suffered a massive heart attack. Born in south London at the…
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Vachira Phuket Hospital opens outpatient clinic
PHUKET: Vachira Phuket Hospital, Phuket’s main government hospital located in Phuket Town, has opened an off-site outpatient clinic to ease the workload at the hospital’s main facility. “Vachira Phuket Hospital 2 was set up to help reduce the number of patients at Vachira Phuket Hospital, which is now up to 2,000 a day,” Hospital Director Dr Jessada Chungpaibulpatana told the…
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BREAKING NEWS: Phuket murder suspect Lee Aldhouse in court
PHUKET: Phuket “kickbox murder” suspect Lee Aldhouse appeared in Westminster Magistrates Court in London on Tuesday for an extradition hearing following a request from the Thai authorities, the UK Home Office has confirmed. He will remain in custody in the UK until at least March 1, when he will return to the same court for extradition proceedings, Sam Eversden of…
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Coconut shortage hurting Phuket retailers
PHUKET: Phuket grocers are struggling to keep coconut products on their shelves amid a nationwide shortage due to drought and an insect infestation in the heart of Thailand’s coconut country. Supermarket giants Tesco Lotus and Big C both told the Phuket Gazette that their orders for coconut milk – a main ingredient in many Thai foods, especially desserts – are…
Phuket is a province in the south of Thailand. Phuket's beaches face the Andaman Sea allowing the west coast beaches fantastic sunsets right throughout the year. If you're looking for news in Phuket, go to thethaiger.com/phuket Or follow our instant news in our Facebook pages.
The good news is that Phuket is famous for its foodie scene with an enormously diverse range of local and international foods - Phuket and southern favorites, street food along with international choices catering for the 12 million visitors to the island each year. Thaiger follows Phuket news and information 24 hours a day with regular updates.
Phuket is only 'just' an island with a 300 metre bridge linking it to Thailand's mainland. We're always reporting in the news that the channel beneath is frequently dredged to maintain Phuket's status as an island. On the other side of Sarasin Bridge is the Province of Phang Nga.
Getting to Phuket is easy as the island has land, air and sea connections. Phuket is also used as a take-off point for local island trips as Thailand's largest island is surrounded by over 30 pristine islands. Koh Phi Phi and the famous Maya Bay are always in the news and would be the best known of the island's just off Phuket's shores.
Phuket is an island and a province. It's the largest island in Thailand – 48 km north to south, 21 km east to west.
It's about 20% smaller, in area, than Singapore but much less densely populated. Whilst the island nation of Singapore boasts a population of nearly 6 million, Phuket has a permanent population of around 400-450,000 (but varies a lot with the influx of tourists and a workforce that is always changing). Most of Phuket remains jungle and tropical rainforest despite an acceleration of development over the past 20 years.
Unlike some of Thailand's other popular islands (that are in the Gulf of Thailand), the news is that Phuket is located in the Andaman Sea.
Phuket is 878 km north of the equator.
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