Search Results for: Bangkok
- Thailand News
Crack of doom
PATHUM THANI: Readers living in Thailand may occasionally experience the frustration of having to deal with a sudden infestation of red ants, roaches, or termites. What can be more annoying than discovering that savory breast of barbecued chicken you left on the table moments ago is swarming with feisty red ants? Discovering your house swarming with glistening, newly hatched cobras,…
- Phuket News
Motorbike smash victim recovering
PHUKET CITY: Bangkok Hospital Phuket has listed motorcycle crash victim Steve Donnelly of Britain as conscious and in stable condition, though he is still connected to breathing apparatus. On Tuesday the hospital issued an urgent appeal through the Gazette and other avenues for donations of rare A-negative blood for Mr Donnelly, who was involved in a road crash in which…
- Phuket News
Tsunami tower test causes consternation
PHUKET: Officials declared this morning’s test of 12 tsunami warning towers a success, but residents of some parts of the island said they were terrified as they had received no warning of the test, during which full emergency messages were broadcast.One woman living in Chalong said, “The warning tower kept broadcasting a message telling us to get out and run…
- Phuket News
Plan to relax license rules for yacht skippers
BANGKOK: The Ministry of Tourism and Sports (MoTS) is planning to put before Cabinet a proposal to allow people with foreign captain’s licenses to skipper Thai-registered sailing yachts.The proposal, intended to give a boost to the marine tourism industry, would do away with an existing regulation that requires foreign skippers wanting to sail boats in local waters to obtain Thai…
- Phuket News
Urgent call for A-negative blood
PHUKET: Anyone with the rare A-negative blood group is asked to report to Bangkok Hospital Phuket immediately to make a donation to save the life of British national Steve Donnelly, injured in a motorcycle accident in Patong two days ago. He is in critical condition and on life support with 11 broken ribs, punctured lungs, two broken collar bones and…
- Phuket News
Low-cost carriers keen on Krabi
KRABI: Low-cost carrier Thai AirAsia will launch daily direct flights from Bangkok to Krabi on March 1, while Singaporean low-cost carrier Tiger Airways has announced it will extend its Singapore-Krabi service to run throughout the low season. Thai AirAsia Public Relations Executive Jaqueline Mercader told the Gazette that the new service, designated FD 3165, will depart Bangkok daily at 5:05…
- Phuket News
Plan to legalize foreign guides under fire
PHUKET: Panomphol Thummachartniyom, President of the Phuket Professional Guide Association (PPGA), has blasted a proposal to legalize foreign tour guides, arguing that there are already enough qualified Thai guides, while slamming the authorities for not cracking down on foreigners working illegally as guides.“Phuket already has problems with foreigners working as tour guides, especially Koreans and Russians. Thais who have already…
- Phuket News
Gov proposes new Patong-airport road
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura yesterday ordered the Phuket Provincial Highways Office (PPHO) to conduct a study into the feasibility of building a road between Phuket International Airport and Patong.“Right now, a lot of properties are being developed along the main road from the airport [Route 402], and soon Phuket will have traffic congestion problems,” he said.“The same happened in…
- Thailand News
Growing pains in the B30 medical scheme
PRACHIN BURI: Admirers of the government’s 30-baht medical scheme may wish to consider, after reading the following, whether reform is necessary. Prachinburi resident Chaluay Pantam, 37, has watched with increasing alarm over the last two years as a ping pong ball-sized lump on his right shoulder grew into a Quasimodo-like hump “weighing more than 20 kilograms.” In the meantime, the…
- Phuket News
Overstay 12 still in jail, face deportation
RANONG: A group of 12 foreign tourists arrested for overstaying their visas have spent their second night sleeping on the floor of a jail cell at Ranong Police Station.Ranong Immigration Police, who have announced that they will deport the group, say they are only following “standard procedures” and will send the 12 to an Immigration detention center in Bangkok “soon”.The…
- Phuket News
Promthep wind power project stalled
LAEM PROMTHEP: A ban on structures taller than eight meters at Laem Promthep has stalled the construction of three 50m-tall wind turbines, each costing 40 million baht, at Phuket’s premier sunset tourist attraction.Ong-ad Thanachanmongkol, Chief of the Phuket office of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, said on Tuesday that he must first obtain the go-ahead for the project…
- Phuket News
‘White knight’ rescues Jungceylon
PATONG: A mystery white knight has ridden to the rescue of the stalled Jungceylon megamall project, buying 53% of the mall’s operating company from one of the two main partners, who have been at loggerheads for months.The identity of the white knight is being kept secret for the moment, but it is understood to be a major investment fund, which…
- Phuket News
Thaksin should listen more, says TRT party-list MP
PHUKET CITY: In the wake of anti-Government protests in Bangkok last weekend, Thai Rak Thai party-list MP Dr Premsak Pearyura yesterday called for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to make changes to his leadership style.Visiting Phuket in his capacity as Vice-President of the Parliamentary Natural Resources and Environment Committee, the outspoken MP from Khon Kaen made a vague call for the…
- Thailand News
Miss Chicky gets herself fingered
PATONG: It is well-known that women, in general, spend more money than men in the effort to keep themselves attractive. But for men trying to pass themselves off as women, expenses are greater still. In the case of one Thai post-op ladyboy, the costs of ongoing upkeep proved so great that he turned to a life of crime. At 10…
- Phuket News
Mediation ends Jungceylon deadlock
PHUKET: The deadlock that resulted in a complete halt to construction of the Jungceylon complex in Patong has finally been broken, and the complex is expected to be open for next high season, Samrarn Yothayai, Chief Judge of Phuket Provincial Court, has told the Gazette.Jungceylon, which occupies 55 rai of land off Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd, was due to open…
- Phuket News
PTT, Shell, cut fuel prices by B0.40
THAILAND: Thai petroleum giants Shell and PTT today announced that they have both dropped fuel prices by 40 satang a liter.In a press release, Chaivat Churitti, Senior Executive Vice President of the Oil Business Group of PTT, explained that average prices of oil on world markets had fallen recently, and PTT had therefore decided to lower retail prices of all…
- Phuket News
THAI adamant on axing Aussie flights
PHUKET: Despite an appeal from Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura, Thai Airways International (THAI) says it will stick to its decision to suspend direct flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Phuket, effective February 1.Kalayapha Panich, the airline’s Phuket-based District Sales Manager for Upper-Southern Thailand, said that the direct flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Phuket will be rerouted to Bangkok.She added, “The…
- Phuket News
Top artists working on tsunami sculptures
PHUKET: The Office of Contemporary Art and Culture in Bangkok and the Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi Provincial Cultural Offices have commissioned artists to create tsunami memorial sculptures to be erected at Kamala Beach, Bang Niang Beach in Phang Nga Province, and on Phi Phi Don.The Director of the Phuket Provincial Cultural Office, Thawichat Intararit, told the Gazette, “Award-winning Thai…
- Phuket News
Cheating alleged in OrBorJor exams
PHUKET: Seven people are under investigation for allegedly using high technology to cheat in an examination to select officials to work for the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor). The OrBorJor announced last October that it was seeking to fill eight clerical posts. Some 2,000 people applied, and examinations took place on Saturday at Phuket Wittayalai School in two sessions –…
- Phuket News
Amnesty slams death sentence call
BANGKOK (The Nation): Amnesty International Thailand (AIT) yesterday supported the mother of murdered British student Katherine Horton, who has said she does not want to see her daughter’s killers executed.The alleged killers, Bualoi Kosit, 23, and Wichai Somkhaoyai, 24, who are due to be sentenced tomorrow at Surat Thani Provincial Court, face the possibility of execution for raping and murdering…
- Phuket News
Horton killers “had watched porn movie’
KOH SAMUI (The Nation, Phuket Gazette): The two fishermen who have confessed to raping and killing 21-year-old Welsh student Katherine Horton were drunk and had been watching a pornographic movie before swimming ashore to find a victim, the Deputy Police Commissioner, Region 8, Pol Maj Gen Santhan Chayanon, said yesterday.“They said they intended to find a woman to have sex…
- Phuket News
Four questioned in Horton murder probe
KOH SAMUI (The Nation/Phuket Gazette): Police detained four men last night for questioning as part of their investigation into the murder of Welsh university student Katherine Horton on this popular resort island. They also took DNA samples from the four, all employees of a resort close to the bungalow where Ms Horton, 21, was staying. Witnesses saw the men dining…
- Phuket News
Phi Phi construction ban eased
PHI PHI ISLANDS: The government has finally allowed construction of tsunami relief homes on Koh Phi Phi Don, along with temporary structures so that locals may conduct business.Phankam Kitithorakul, Chairman of the Ao Nang Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor), the local authority responsible for the Phi Phi Islands, told the Gazette, “[It is] lucky for us that I had the chance…
- Koh Samui News
UK student found dead on Samui
SAMUI: The policeman in charge of the investigation into the death of British tourist Catherine Horton suspects foul play may be responsible, but said that a preliminary police examination of the body revealed no signs of assault or rape. Pol Maj Thanongsak Aksornsom of the Samui District Police told the Gazette that Miss Horton ‘s body, in a black dress,…
- Phuket News
She said YES! Tsunami victim to wed doctor who looked after him
PHUKET CITY: In a year when it seemed that almost every story concerning Phuket was relating bad news – with perhaps the exception of Hannes Bergstrom, the “unidentified” Swedish toddler reunited with his uncle and grandmother two days after the tsunami – ending these 12 months with a story of hope is a newspaper’s dream.December 26, 2004 saw Ron Bombiger,…
- Phuket News
Move for airport taxi meter desk stalls
PHUKET: Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura’s October 31 call for a service counter for metered taxis to be installed inside the terminal at Phuket International Airport has stalled, with his request yet to be reviewed by the Airports Authority of Thailand (AAT) headquarters in Bangkok.Gov Udomsak called for meter taxis to have a counter at the airport within two weeks following a…
- Thailand News
Biting back
BANGKOK: A drunken security guard had the tip of his tongue bitten off during an unsuccessful attempt to rape a 50-year-old partially-sighted woman. In a tale recounted by Pol Lt Col Paythai Thipmongkol of the Bang Khen Police, security guard Boonrawd Kanwan, 42, was off-duty and drinking with friends in the workers’ quarters of the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA)…
- Phuket News
Jet-ski victim still in ICU
BANGKOK: Australian Antonio Scognamiglio, 19, who was involved in a jet-ski collision off Patong Beach on November 23, is recovering in intensive care after undergoing brain surgery at Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok.Mr Scognamiglio sustained his injuries when a fellow jet-ski rider crashed into him. He was rushed unconscious to Patong Hospital where his heart stopped. Staff managed to revive him…
- Thailand News
Deep throat dentistry
BANGKOK: A 19-year-old student spent three agonizing days with a toothbrush lodged in her stomach – after she accidentally swallowed it and nobody would believe her. The student, whose name and address were not reported, felt an itch in her throat on the evening of December 5. Rather than visit the hospital, she decided to use her standard-sized Colgate-brand toothbrush…
- Phuket News
Hundreds get the blues
KARON: A bit of rain and blustery winds couldn’t dampen the spirits of the hundreds of people who turned up for first night of the two-day Phuket Blues Festival 2005, in the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Arcadia Resort and Spa yesterday. The event kicked off with the all-Thai Blue on Blue band from Bangkok, followed by Phuket’s own Big…
