Thai Life
Thailand guides, travel tips, cultural insights, and essential local information—discover everything you need to know about living, visiting, and experiencing the Land of Smiles. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted source for Thailand guides.
-
Putting the ‘I’ in your Phuket garden
PHUKET: You probably hadn’t noticed that I was plowing my way through the botanical alphabet before getting distracted by more alluring prospects, or the pressing horticultural needs of a four-month- long drought. Well, anyway, most of the tropical plants listed under the letter “I” are in the index by virtue of an Indian designation: Indian banyan, Indian cork tree, Indian…
-
Laguna Phuket to launch “Fully Booked!’ mobile learning center
Laguna Phuket has announced that it will be launching a new community project, “Fully Booked!”, which will see the opening of a new mobile learning center for schoolchildren. The project is one of many initiatives set up by Laguna Phuket to support its wider strategic goal on social and educational development, which aims to build the capacities of local communities…
-
Emerald pools and more just across the bay from Phuket
PHUKET: Typically, upon hearing any reference of Krabi, the first thing that springs to mind is the stalactite-studded Railay, party-island Phi Phi or any one of the other 154 awe-inspiring islands that draw millions of visitors a year to this quiet province on the Andaman Sea. Without a doubt, visitors who come to this little corner of the world would…
-
![SY Silolona confirmed host of the 2014 Asia Superyacht Rendezvous opening party [Video] | Thaiger](data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0naHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmcnIHZpZXdCb3g9JzAgMCAzMjggMjIwJz48L3N2Zz4=)
SY Silolona confirmed host of the 2014 Asia Superyacht Rendezvous opening party [Video]
PHUKET: Asia Superyacht Rendezvous 2014 organizers have confirmed that the event’s opening cocktail party will be hosted aboard a luxury superyacht. “As the Asia Superyacht Rendezvous starts preparations for another spectacular event in 2014, we are happy to announce that the opening night cocktail party will be held aboard the stunning superyacht SY Silolona,” said Lucy Powell, Asia Superyacht Rendezvous…
-
Seacon Group plans three new villa projects in Phuket worth Bt1 billion
PHUKET: Seacon Group plans to launch three new villa projects worth 1-billion baht in Phuket, aiming for sales growth of about 5 per cent this year as the property market in Bangkok has declined. The group’s executive director Piya Sosothikul said the company predicted that demand for homes in Phuket would grow by 15-20 per cent annually over the next…
-
Huge line up of events for Phuket Pride Week 2014
PHUKET: The Phuket Loves You Club (PLU) has just announced its line up of events for Phuket Pride Week 2014 with eight days of fun and celebrations planned. The theme for this year’s Pride Week is “Celebrating Who We Are”. All through the week there will be parties and events which will offer the opportunity for all people – gay,…
-
Central Festival holds Songkran fair
PHUKET: Central Festival Phuket has transformed the ground floor of the mall into a traditional temple fair for the Thai New Year holidays. At the main entrance shoppers can have a splashing good time enjoying traditional fun and games including greasy pole boxing, dunking damsels and building s sand Chedi at the Table Spoon Cafe. Songkran shoppers at Central Festival…
-
Phuket Bike Week rolls into town
PHUKET: On April 11, Patong Beach welcomed thousands of motorcyclists and enthusiasts to Phuket Bike Week. With two decades of successful Bike Week’s under their belts, Phuket’s party-central has pulled it off again with a full schedule of activities amid a sea of bikes, babes and brews. Hawker stalls lined the boardwalk north of the stage, offering everything from alligator…
-
Bicycling for barflies
PHUKET: Bicycling Baz is only too aware that his is not the only opinion when it comes to cycling in Phuket. With this in mind, he asked his erstwhile drinking associate, Hugo Barfly, to write an alternative viewpoint from the perspective of a well-padded bar stool in Rawai. Here’s Hugo’s take on cycling in Phuket. So, I was sitting there…
-
Walking the brand dogma: Hotel-branded residences
PHUKET: One of my recurring nightmares is that of a tropical island sunset framed by a sinking orange ball, and the erotically charged image of a scantily-clad, swimsuit-model type gently grasping onto the edge of a mega-villa infinity swimming pool, staring aimlessly onto an empty horizon. Please bear with me, I have not entirely lost my mind. Not yet anyway,…
-
Expat Business: Rocket Scientist and Phuket entrepreneur Don Battles tells his story tonight at RPM
PHUKET: NASA rocket scientist, farmer, entrepreneur, intellectual and whiskey-drinking former Phuket resident Don Battles will launch his autobiography ‘Merchant of the Orient’ tonight, 6:30pm, at the Speakeasy bar in Royal Phuket Marina. Now living in Chiang Rai in his 30th year of Thai residence, Don will also tell us what he thinks a foreigner needs to do – and not…
-
At the mercy of the sea
There are two crazy Frenchmen sailing around the world on a tiny boat and they are here in Phuket but leaving in one hour. That was the first word we heard at the Gazette of the adventurers who were in Phuket on a brief hiatus from their voyage in Poseidon’s watery world. Scenes from great ocean-faring tales were instantly resurrected…
-
Don Battles: Author of the Orient
PHUKET: From growing up in a poor family after the great depression, to rocket engineer during the Cold War missile and space-race era, to entrepreneur in Thailand during the turbulent 1997 financial crisis, and to successful chili farmer in China and Northern Thailand – Don Battles’ life could fill many books, but for now, one will have to suffice. The…
-
Experts gather in Phuket to discuss scientific advancements in AEC economy
PHUKET: The National Science Technology and Innovation Policy Office (STI) last week called a meeting in Phuket of the 10 Asean countries to discuss scientific advancement and flow of manpower as the inception of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) looms. “The objective of this workshop is to provide a forum in which experts can exchange their views and ideas about…
-
Soi Dog Foundation completes Phuket stray dog sterilization program
PHUKET: The Soi Dog Foundation has completed a campaign to sterilize stray dogs in every area of Phuket with the aim of creating a healthy, sustainable canine population on the island. The program was completed last week, the foundation said. With cooperation from the province’s local authorities, the Soi Dog Foundation has sterilized and vaccinated more than 15,000 dogs and…
-
![‘Music is My Life’ party kicks off tomorrow night at Diamond Beach Club [Video] | Thaiger](data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0naHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmcnIHZpZXdCb3g9JzAgMCAzOTAgMTQ0Jz48L3N2Zz4=)
‘Music is My Life’ party kicks off tomorrow night at Diamond Beach Club [Video]
The ‘Music is My Life’ party kicks off tomorrow night at Diamond Beach Club in Surin. Well known local club DJs Taz (Phuket House Mafia), Nemo (resident of Catch), James Dougall (Evil Twins) and an international DJ (former music director at Bed Supperclub in Bangkok) are set to perform some killer sets in tribute to DJ Josh Ezelle, a former…
-
Wine evolution or wine revolution? – Dinner at the Boathouse Bar & Grill
PHUKET: There is more to question about the glass of wine on your dining table than the usual “Is it half full or half empty?” The world’s thirst for wine has turned fermented grape juice into a precious commodity, and what used to be, and luckily in many places still is, considered art, has been turned by the forces of…
-
Phuket Arts: Young artists on show at BIS
PHUKET: Phuket has been showing the signs recently of a burgeoning art scene that is maturing rapidly. Many resorts offer art displays in their gift shops or lobbies and Phuket Town has a number of galleries that host various media covering a wide range of genres. Keeping art alive and passing on the visual expression of culture to younger generations…
-
Phuket Music: Celebrating a life in music
PHUKET: The recent tragic death of well-known and respected club DJ Josh Ezelle in a motorcycle accident, which left his four-month-old son Christian fatherless, has inspired fellow DJs and performers who worked alongside him to organize an event to celebrate Josh’s life and gather support for the young family he left behind. The event titled “Music is my Life” will…
-
Phuket Events: Phuket Bike Week 2014
PHUKET: Just in time for Songkran comes this year’s Phuket Bike Week 2014. Celebrating its 20th year, the event is expected to attract huge crowds of “rolling thunder” for the six days of festivities in Patong and Phuket Town. The first four days of the event will be hosted at Loma Park in Patong, from April 11-14. Activities will include…
-
Phuket Property: When you’re expecting
PHUKET: Life is odd. When you are young the future has no limits, time-frame or even, for the most part, a firm direction. Sadly, we get older, not wiser, and the time-line gets shorter by the day. Some nights, I lay awake and instead of counting sheep, start doing the math. This is not a happy place to be and…
-
Phuket Gardening: More vinous virtuosos
PHUKET: Asked what “vinous” means, most people would opt for something to do with grape vines or wine. But in fact the epithet can be applied to any kind of vine or climbing plant, of which there are literally hundreds, ranging from creeping figs and ivies to towering tropical lianas. For the gardener, the important distinction is between tendrilous or…
-
Phuket Lifestyle: Music is my playground [video]
PHUKET: Polish born pianist Katarzyna Wieczorek has turned music into her way of life. Her skills and reputation have taken her to countless festivals, won her numerous awards and let her visit the farthest corners of the globe – turning her life into a never-ending adventure filled with melody. Katarzyna Wieczorek recently performed at the British International School Phuket where…
-
Phuket Lifestyle: Affordable autos at Central Festival
PHUKET: The 18th Andaman Motor Show now on at Central Festival Phuket until March 19 is featuring the latest affordable autos under a million baht from a variety of Phuket car dealers, each offering very competitive low-interest deals and down payments. Also exhibiting at the Grand Hall on the first floor of Central Festival are new luxury imports with multi-million…
-
Video Report: Phuket Diving – Mermen need skills to hang with mermaids
PHUKET: It wasn’t going to happen. After three failed attempts at completing a 50-meter-underwater swim – in a merman tail – it became startlingly clear that the island’s first merman might not be gold merfolk material. His freediving skills simply weren’t shaping up for high-end mythical creature status. Things aren’t like they use to be. In the old days, merfolk…
-
Phuket Property Legal: Your lease could be buried with you
PHUKET: Leasing has become a popular option for foreign property buyers to acquire interest in land or apartment units, due to legal restrictions applying to the purchasing of property in Thailand. Many of us may have heard that the maximum term under Thai law for residential leases, that a lessor and his lessee can agree to register with the land…
-
Phuket Property Watch: Samui staying strong
PHUKET: One of my favorite movies in recent memory has to be Up in the Air. Given a hectic travel schedule, it’s certainly a subject I can identify with. One of the classic scenes has to be George Clooney, jumping into line behind some people of Asian descent at the foreboding metal detector and commenting how they “travel light”. Profiling,…
-
Phuket Property: The luxury of privacy
SUPERYACHTS, private planes, exclusive jewelry and privacy are just a few of life’s luxuries that people crave and strive for. Wait – privacy? Sadly, yes. It’s supply seems to be shrinking by the day, with the help of our friends from NSA, Google, Facebook and others. It might seem that the ship has sailed and not much can be done…
-
Phuket Travel: Escaping just got easier
PHUKET: There always comes a time when you need a time-out. An inaudible beckoning call comes out of the ether when the pressure and daily grind of work, home life and the day-to-day routine wear on you and you just have to escape. Escaping can be a chore in and of itself and you might find yourself in search of…
-
Phuket TECH: Internet freedom now in jeopardy
PHUKET: In case you haven’t heard the hype, internet neutrality recently suffered a blow in the “land of the free”, the United States. In the recent case of Verizon versus the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), the federal court overturned the FCC’s net-neutrality-promoting rule which prohibited service providers from imposing discriminatory charges and limitations. So, what is net neutrality and why…
![SY Silolona confirmed host of the 2014 Asia Superyacht Rendezvous opening party [Video] | Thaiger](https://thethaiger.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/3_201441815418332_qkRvQLEhNjoIsQmTVrTXmPmHurgDDcktcKslDpQt_jpeg.jpeg)
![‘Music is My Life’ party kicks off tomorrow night at Diamond Beach Club [Video] | Thaiger](https://thethaiger.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/22_20143271638789_skDuzSiFgVjLRGtBRlVyEKkScLdOteSSGqzjmOsK_jpeg.jpeg)
![Phuket Lifestyle: Music is my playground [video] | Thaiger](https://thethaiger.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/3_20143209245215_cSJKbOfvdNaYhpSDKDwjZEGlrxzIIjfqbNJZcyiw_jpeg.jpeg)
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.