Search Results for: Tak
- Business News
Finance: Untangling international pensions
PHUKET: I have never had so many questions and so many misunderstandings of the current options with regard to pensions for international expats as have arisen over the last year. It doesn’t help that governments are changing their rules faster than ever. Today I will give a brief overview of the current situation for UK expats. First I will address…
- Opinion
Opinion: Phuket beach confusion never ceases to amaze
PHUKET: The establishment of Patong Beach as the first strand to implement the ’10 per cent’ rule on beach use brings yet another surprising development in the utterly confusing and unpredictable effort to restore some semblance of order and predictability to Phuket’s beaches. When the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) took power more than a year ago, the…
- Phuket News
Phuket King’s Cup Regatta to set sail
PHUKET: One of the standout international sporting events in the Asia region, the 29th annual Phuket King’s Cup Regatta Under Royal Patronage, prepares to set sail once again, swelling Phuket visitor numbers and making a large contribution to overall tourism performance. The Phuket King’s Cup Regatta 2015 will be held at Kata Beach Resort and Spa from December 5 to…
- Phuket News
Squatters flee plantation fearing forceful removal by government
KRABI: About 200 squatters fled a Krabi oil palm plantation in fear that excessive force would be used to remove them today. A letter signed by Krabi Governor Pinij Boonlert explained that previous negotiations that failed to move the protesters off the land had led to violent attacks by the squatters. He did not address claims of excessive force being…
- Phuket News
Captain severely burned in boat fire
PHUKET: A speedboat captain was severely burned after a fire broke out on a vessel in Pa Khlok yesterday. Rainbow Runner captain Narong Looklek, 42, was cleaning the back of the boat at Jandara Pier when the fire started. All passengers had already disembarked. The fire caused a small explosion, during which Mr Narong suffered burns to about 40 per…
- Bangkok News
Bangkok bomb suspects set to be indicted
BANGKOK: The Military Court’s prosecutors are expected to indict the two suspects accused of involvement in the two bomb explosions in Bangkok in August, the lawyer for one of the suspects said yesterday. Kanchai Choochart, representing Bilal Muhammed, 24, said he would outline the defense plan once his client had been indicted. He was speaking at the Military Court after…
- Phuket News
Thailand returns rescued orangutans to Indonesia
BANGKOK: A group of smuggled orangutans were returned from Thailand to Indonesia yesterday following years of diplomatic wrangling over who will care for them after the majority were discovered abandoned on a roadside. Previous Thai governments sought compensation from Indonesia for the cost of housing and treating the 14 apes, but the junta government in Bangkok recently waived those demands…
- Phuket News
Phuket airport taxi driver fired for selling tour packages
PHUKET: The airport taxi driver who was under investigation after a social media post from a passenger went viral last week has been fired, confirmed Phuket Land and Transport (PLTO) Chief Policy Adviser Jaturong Kaewkasi. Montira Sakorn’s Facebook post alleged that the taxi she hired from the airport to Patong failed to bring her and her boyfriend to their destination.…
- Phuket News
Tourists rescued from sinking speedboat
KRABI: A speedboat captain was forced to beach his boat full of Chinese tourists after it started taking on water in Phang Nga Bay yesterday. “The boat, Nong Hong Te, started taking on water at about 6:20pm near Koh Kai [Chicken Island] during a day-trip from Krabi,” explained Krabi Marine Police Chief Anurak Parinyasathiragul. “The captain decided that the best…
- Phuket News
Phuket receives big budget for CCTV cameras
PHUKET: The Department of Tourism has approved a 117-million-baht budget for Phuket to set up 120 new CCTV cameras throughout the island. Under the campaign ‘Phuket, a peaceful city’, the installation of the cameras aims to boost island security, as well as to assure the safety of locals and tourists, confirmed Phuket Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada. The budget has been utilized…
- Phuket News
“Missing’ Irish teacher locked up for drunk driving
PHUKET: The Phuket Tourist Police search for an Irish teacher who disappeared Saturday night came to a screeching halt after the Patong Police revealed that the 35-year-old man had been locked up for drunk driving. Eion Cahill, a teacher at Satree Phuket School, was released on bail at 10:30 this morning. “Mr Cahill’s friends last saw him at Tai Pan…
- Phuket News
Wastewater flow on Karon Beach not hotels’ fault, says official
PHUKET: The foul black water that flowed across Karon Beach on Thursday was not connected to any hotel in the area improperly discharging untreated wastewater, confirmed officials. However, it was untreated wastewater. “The problem, which was caused by officers fixing some pipes, was blown out of proportion by people sharing photos and spreading rumors on social media sites,” Wanchai Saetan,…
- Phuket News
Gibbon touts return to Monkey Beach
PHUKET: Illegal-gibbon touts returned to Monkey Beach in Phi Phi with the start of the high season, confirmed a Phuket Gazette reader. Photographic evidence of two men walking the beach and offering to take pictures of tourists holding the gibbons was promptly passed on to officials. “They are apparently back for high season, because they can earn so much money,”…
- Phuket News
A Decade Ago: Airport taxis at it again
PHUKET: As Phuket continues to stumble through the fog of beach rules following the National Council for Peace and Order’s cleanup last year, it is refreshing to look back on simpler times at Patong Beach. Just a decade ago, as the island geared up for its first high season after the tsunami, a total of 1,000 masseuses rolled out beach…
- Opinion
Opinion: Creating cop camaraderie
Phuket Provincial Police Commander Teeraphol Thipjaroen, 56, is a Prachinburi native. He graduated from the Royal Police Cadet Academy and has been working in Phuket since 1983, except for brief postings to Krabi and Surat Thani. Here he talks about how building trust and offering support to Phuket’s police force will help create a happier working environment for officers, which…
- Business News
Hyperlocal taxi situation to grab market
PHUKET: Myteksi, an on-demand taxi booking service in Malaysia, quickly diversified its branding and services offered by successfully expanding throughout Southeast Asia. MyTeksi remains the leading taxi-booking application in Malaysia, but is better known in Phuket, and much of the rest of the region, as GrabTaxi. The company continues to work hand-in-hand with local government offices, after garnering the support…
- Phuket News
Phuket police catch fraudulent Facebook “catfish’
PHUKET: Police charged a woman with the Computer Crimes Act following her creation of a false Facebook account to defraud buyers. Piyanut Singkaluk, 23, confessed that she started collecting pictures of people from the internet in August in order to create a fake Facebook account, a practice that has widely become known as ‘catfishing’. Once the account was established, she…
- Phuket News
Phuket police on prevention alert prior to Pai rape
PHUKET: Phuket police reassured the community that efforts to enforce closing times of nightlife venues here were already in full swing prior to the directive issued by the Royal Thai Police in the wake of a British woman being raped. Royal Thai Police ordered officers this week to renew efforts in ensuring that all entertainment venues are closed on time,…
- Phuket News
Car crashes into Phuket International Airport, one injured
PHUKET: An out-of-control car crashed into the departure hall of Phuket International Airport yesterday evening. “Woranut Buted, 33, said she confused the brake and gas pedals, accidentally accelerating into the trolleys and breaking the glass wall near an airport security checkpoint,” said Maj Santi Prakobpran of the Tah Chat Chai Police. A nearby passenger, Chinese national Shuya Zhang, 24, received…
- Phuket News
Special Report: Controversial Dolphinarium puts on first Phuket shows
PHUKET: A number of local schools and orphanages were invited to join the soft opening of Phuket’s highly-contested dolphinarium on the weekend of October 31. Though the manager of the the Dolphins Bay Phuket facility declined to detail exactly how many invitations went out, the five dolphins, two seals and their trainers debuted to a packed 900-seat house. “We actually…
- Phuket News
Phuket speeders: 70% caught on camera fail to pay fine
PHUKET: Not a single Phuket driver of the 70 per cent who failed to pay their speeding tickets has had their licence revoked, confirmed Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) chief policy adviser Jaturong Kaewkasi. The news follows Phuket Provincial Police Commander Teeraphol Thipjaroen explaining that if a driver fails to pay the ticket the case is handed over to the…
- Opinion
Opinion: Moving public transportation forward
PHUKET: More glimmers of hope have emerged that the days of the island’s notorious ‘tuk-tuk and taxi mafia’ may be numbered. Issues of democratic development aside, one of the National Council for Peace and Order’s (NCPO’s) greatest achievements has been its no-nonsense approach in breaking up the tourism-killing stranglehold that thuggish, self-entitled transport syndicates have maintained over the island for…
- Thai Life
Gardening: Slippery slopes of landscaping
PHUKET: I was recently consulted about changes to a large, established garden of some four rai in Laguna. Nothing unusual about that, but here’s the catch. The villa, itself in the throes of major renovation at the behest of a new owner, is sited on a steep hillside and the front garden – mostly Malaysia grass – slopes steeply down…
- Thai Life
Excuse Buster: Treating sickness with water
PHUKET: “You’re not sick; you’re thirsty. Don’t treat thirst with medication,” says Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, author of the acclaimed book Your Body’s Many Cries for Water. We all know that water is essential to life and that in fact it makes up more than 70 per cent of most living things. We also know that although we can survive weeks…
- Phuket News
Woman fakes robbery to pay back funeral debt
KRABI: A Krabi woman has been charged with filing a fake police report in order to pay off debt accrued by her father’s funeral. Amporn Patchimkleang, 47, told officers that she and her husband were at the Krabi district office to file paperwork. She claimed that while she was in the restroom, someone hit her over the head, bound her…
- Phuket News
A Decade Ago: Floating city dream sinks
PHUKET: Even now, ten years later, the images for the purposed ‘Ao Phuket’ look futuristic – more appropriate for Japan, Singapore or South Korea than our island in the Andaman. The plan was to build a mini-city on reclaimed land in the bay off Saphan Hin, complete with hotel, conference hall, international sporting facilities and… wait for it… a casino.…
- Phuket News
Gov threatens total beach ban if rules not followed
PHUKET: Though details of the Phuket beach rules remain up in the air, Phuket Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada has vowed that if locals are caught trying to bend the rules once they are established, he will ban all beach vendors, chairs and umbrellas from the sands. “We understand that beach businesses make a lot of money, millions of baht in fact.…
- Phuket News
Phuket beach-usage issue halts lifeguard tower construction
PHUKET: Local complaints and land-usage issues brought the construction of a much-needed lifeguard tower on Kata Noi Beach to a halt last month. Construction on the tower, backed by the Phuket Marine Office, began in September. However, officials are now removing the unfinished structure. “We received a lot of complaints from locals about the new location of the tower, so…
- Phuket News
Police stations given quotas for drunk driver arrests
PHUKET: Police officers were given the green light to pull over and arrest anyone suspected of drunk driving in Phuket, after it was revealed that they would now need to make more than 150 drunk driving arrests a month. The penalty for driving under the influence is up to two years in prison, a 10,000 baht fine or both, confirmed…
- Phuket News
Phuket gains 200 new police officers
PHUKET: A flock of new police officers has arrived on the island adding 200 more bodies to Phuket’s force. The new recruits, who recently graduated from the Provincial Police Training Center Region 8 in Surat Thani, were welcomed to the force on November 1, confirmed Phuket Provincial Police Deputy Commander Peerayuth Karajedee. “With more officers we will be able to…
