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- Phuket News
Pedestrians reclaim Phuket’s Sarasin Bridge
PHUKET: The reinforced, raised, redecorated Sarasin Bridge connecting Phuket with the mainland Thailand is now open to pedestrians. “People are walking onto the bridge – and we’re not stopping them,” said Phuket Provincial Highways Office Chief Arun Sanae. “They think that the bridge is now open because we have finished construction but what we are doing now is cleaning up…
- Phuket News
After the floods, Phuket mops up
PHUKET: Emergency response crews across Phuket continued their clean-up operations as the flood waters subsided and breaks in the rain came late this afternoon. “Today, there are no major flood waters left standing in the Patong area. We started our cleanup work yesterday, especially in the hard-hit areas,” Wisit Methasoonthornpot, chief of the Patong Municipality Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Division,…
- Phuket News
Phuket rain drives visitors to hospitality expo
PHUKET: Heavy rain on Phuket this week has provided a handy boost to the inaugural Andaman Hotelier hospitality expo, which attracted nearly 3,000 visitors on the event’s opening day on Thursday. The event, which cost 3 million baht to stage, is open from 11am to 9pm at HomeWorks on the bypass road until Sunday. The expo marks the first time…
- Phuket News
Market fire leaves Phuket vendors broke
PHUKET: Market vendors whose shops were destroyed by fire on Wednesday are seeking government assistance in restarting their businesses. Tossapol Rungruengpawan, president of Patong Retail Business Club, told the Phuket Gazette that the fire caused an estimated 50 million baht in total damage. Most of the vendors did not have insurance as most insurance companies do not offer policies for…
- Thai Life
Phuket gardening: Goodness gracious, great buds of fire
PHUKET: Blooming ‘flame trees’ have Phuket ablaze with scarlet flowers all over the island, particularly in July. Trees, like flowers, often remain unnoticed until they burst into bloom. The seasonal rains stimulate a number of trees into showing off their wares. The flame trees, for example, are aflame with their brilliant scarlet flowers everywhere during their season. Less dramatic, but…
- Phuket News
Phuket landslide dumps home onto factory, cars
PHUKET: Heavy rains in Phuket today caused a landslide that plunged a house in Kathu, in central Phuket, down a slope, over a small retaining wall, and onto an industrial laundry nearby. The house, only two years old, cost 2 million baht to build, said Narachai Chumsri, who owns the house and the laundry, operated under the name Phuket Island…
- Phuket News
TAT confident in big numbers for 2011 Phuket Veg Fest
PHUKET: THE current economic climate will have no effect on the Phuket Vegetarian Festival this year, says the director of the southern regional office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). The festival last year generated about 500 million baht in revenue for the local economy, said Director Bangornrat Shinaprayoon. She expects this year’s event, to be held from September…
- Opinion
Phuket Opinion: Please don’t sell our reservoirs
PHUKET: After learning that a young man had been caught on a CCTV camera urinating into the local reservoir, the chief administrator of the Portland, Oregon Water Bureau in the US made a hasty decision last month. He ordered that all 7.8 million gallons be drained out of it. While Portland is far from Phuket, the controversial move that cost…
- Phuket News
Patong’s “middle road’ to get facelift before Christmas
PHUKET: Work on surfacing Phang Muang Sai Kor Road in Patong, which runs behind the Jungceylon shopping complex, will begin before the end of the year, the Phuket Gazette was told today. “The construction contract was signed in Bangkok and work on the road will start by the end of this year,” Teeraporn Jirarattanakorn, director of the Department of Rural…
- Phuket News
Phuket airport lands record meth bust
PHUKET: A Thai woman was caught trying to smuggle a record 3.2 kilograms of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine) into Thailand at Phuket International Airport last night. The haul, valued at 10.5 million baht, was touted to be the biggest meth bust in the airport’s history. The suspect, 39-year-old Ratchanee Chidnaporn, from Khon Kaen Province in Northeast Thailand (Isarn), arrived from…
- Phuket News
Phuket students to have tablet ‘e-textbooks’ next year
BANGKOK: The government yesterday announced a practical side to Pheu Thai Party’s election campaign promise to give free tablet computers to students throughout Thailand: They will come equipped with e-textbooks. Education Minister Woravat Auapinyakul explained that each tablet will cost no more than 3,000 baht and have a life span of up to four years. Presently, the government allocates between…
- Phuket News
World record on the cards for Raceweek’s Larsen
PHUKET: Australian Paul Larsen and his DaVinci crew raced in to second place after an exciting four days of Multihull class sailing at this year’s Six Senses Phuket International Raceweek. Racing conditions in the waters off the Evason and Bon Island resort for the event were exciting, but certainly less threatening than what Paul has been used to over the…
- Phuket News
Phuket readies for HM Queen Sirikit’s birthday
PHUKET: Visitors and residents in Phuket will have ample opportunity to honor and celebrate HM Queen Sirikit’s 79th birthday – also celebrated in Thailand as Mother’s Day – on Friday. Police sources have confirmed to the Phuket Gazette that alcohol sales will not be banned on Friday, a national holiday. “We only ask for people to comply with [the ban…
- Phuket News
Patong residents to pay for wastewater
PHUKET: Patong Mayor Pian Keesin announced today that Patong Municipality will start charging residents and business owners for wastewater treatment. The news was delivered this morning at a meeting with visiting members of the Senate Standing Committee for Natural Resources and the Environment. The committee members are on a two-day fact-finding visit to Phuket. “Patong is continually growing. More people…
- Phuket News
Plans to build Phuket offshore diesel station on hold
PHUKET: A public hearing held yesterday has left in limbo plans to convert a water-refilling platform in Chalong Bay into an offshore petrol station. The meeting, held at the Al Wallan Hidayah Mosque in Rawai, was called after a letter of protest against the project was filed with the provincial government by Sommai Naoprai, the president of a group called…
- Phuket News
Yingluck’s official, but who will call the shots?
BANGKOK (The Nation): Officially, only Yingluck Shinawatra, confirmed as Thailand’s new Prime Minister today, and Yongyuth Vichaidit, her Pheu Thai party’s leader, have the final say on who is to be included in the Cabinet. Unofficially, nobody is quite sure who will call the shots. Most reports in the media seem to ignore the party’s official version. So far, every…
- Property
Phuket Property Watch: Hooray for Koh Sireh as prices rise
PHUKET: FOR THOSE of a certain age, the never-ending, tortuously-lingering melody of the song “Que Sera, Sera” ignites throughts of waterboarding at Guantanamo. It’s like the nerve-screeching act of sawing a frozen turkey with a violin bow. For most of us, commercials and advertising jingles stuck in our subconscious outnumber memories of more profound events in our lives. Anyone who…
- Phuket News
Onslaught of waves forces Phuket sea gypsies to evacuate homes
PHUKET: Large waves brought on by the wet-season monsoon are damaging homes at a small sea gypsy community on Phuket’s east coast, forcing villagers to seek refuge with family members or even sleep outdoors. At least eight houses have suffered damage, altogether home to 53 people. John Pramongkij, 57, is scared to sleep in his house, with the walls cracking…
- Phuket News
Phuket police extend manhunt for accomplice in slaying of Swede
PHUKET: Police have stressed to the Phuket Gazette that they have not identified the alleged accomplice of Tommy Viktor Soderlund, the man being sought for the murder of Swedish national Maksim Schantz last night. Phuket City Police Deputy Superintendent Jumroon Playdoung told the Gazette that local media reports identifying a 36-year-old Swedish man as Soderlund’s accomplice in the brutal stabbing…
- Phuket News
New Phuket bridge opens to traffic
PHUKET: The new Thao Srisoonthorn Bridge, unofficially called “Sarasin Bridge 2”, opened to traffic heading northbound off Phuket this morning. The first vehicle to trundle onto the 300-million-baht span was a van carrying Phuket Provincial Highways Office Chief Arun Sanae and his immediate superior, Sakchai Suwanprasert, head of the regional Highways Office. However, Mr Arun warned motorists that the left…
- Phuket News
Japanese to power up Phuket offshore students
PHUKET: Koh Lone School will receive their first free wind turbine in August following a joint initiative by a Japanese manufacturer and the Phuket Provincial Energy Office (PPEO). PPEO Chief Jirasak Tummawetch along with representatives from A-Wing Co Ltd, the Thai affiliate of the Japanese small wind turbine manufacturer, made the announcement at a meeting with Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet…
- Phuket News
Phuket pirates plea for sympathy, assert right to sell illegal goods
PHUKET: A group of pirates from Kata and Karon staged a protest in Phuket Town on Wednesday to fight rising opposition to the sale of illegal wares. The protest leaders first arrived at Phuket Police Station, where their letter of complaint was received on behalf of Phuket Police Commander Pekad Tantipong. The crowd of about 60 vendors then moved on…
- Phuket News
FA Cup run ends for FC Phuket
PHUKET: Sponsor Thai Premier League (TPL) side TOT SC hosted FC Phuket at their new stadium in Nonthaburi yesterday to see who would advance to the FA Cup fourth round. This match was the very first match to be played at the home side’s new stadium. TOT automatically qualified for this stage of the competition while Phuket earned their position…
- Phuket News
Phuket Live Wire: 3G wars start heating up
PHUKET: BANGKOK’S two big English-language newspapers have different takes on the topic, but it’s clear at this point that the 1-2-Call mobile phone company Advanced Information Systems (AIS) and Thai telecommunications services and hardware giant Samart are both going to try to match up with TOT to deliver High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) “3G” service to Thailand, and possibly Phuket.…
- Phuket News
Mayor protests Phuket Bus Terminal plans
PHUKET: The Mayor of Rassada Municipality is set to file a complaint with the Administrative Court if the Thepkrasattri Road median strip is broken to accommodate the yet un-opened Phuket Bus Terminal 2. Mayor Suratin Lianudom told the Phuket Gazette of his plans following an announcement made by Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) Chief Teerayout Prasertphol that the median strip…
- Phuket News
TrueVisions to expand HD services in Phuket
PHUKET: TrueVisions, Thailand’s leading subscription-based cable television operator, has announced an expansion of high definition (HD) services in a bid to broaden its subscriber base. Managing director Thiti Nantapastsri said yesterday that the company until now had operated three HD channels – Reality HD, HBO HD and True Sport HD – as a pilot project via its digital fiber-optic cable…
- Phuket News
Air traffic control unveil new systems at Phuket Airport
PHUKET: New technologies are set to be introduced at air traffic control centers in Phuket and throughout Thailand to help the country’s standards equal those of Europe and America. Somchai Thean-Anant, president of Aeronautical Radio of Thailand Ltd (AEROTHAI), said that work putting the new systems in place began at the beginning of the year. He expects the four billion…
- Phuket News
Phuket police blitz bags more than B5mn in drugs
PHUKET: A spate of arrests by Phuket police in the past 24 hours has led to drugs with a street value of more than five million baht being seized. Chuleekorn “Korn” Saithong, 34, from Nakhon Pathom, was arrested in Phuket Town yesterday afternoon with 1,940 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills valued at 400,000 baht and 266.2 grams of ya Ice (crystal…
- Phuket News
Blaze engulfs Phuket home
PHUKET: Damage caused by a fire that engulfed a wooden house in Phuket today is expected to be in the millions of baht. No deaths or injuries were reported to have occurred at the scene, in Chalong next to HomePro Village on Chao Fa West Road. The fire began just before noon and raged for more than an hour, consuming…
- Phuket News
Phuket plans parks at two reservoirs
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization (OrBorJor) is looking to develop tourist parks and facilities at two dam sites. A public hearing was held on Tuesday to gauge public opinion on a plan to turn areas surrounding Bang Wad Reservoir and Bang Neaw Dam Reservoir into eco-tourist destinations. “The areas have good potential. They are accessible by main roads and…
