Search Results for: Tak
- Phuket News
Phuket jet-ski operators face insurance scheme
KATHU, PHUKET: Phuket’s jet-ski operators will soon have to insure their craft for damage, the Phuket governor told a crowd of industry representatives at a crisis meeting at Patong Municipality offices yesterday. The measure is aimed at ending the island’s infamous ‘jet-ski scam’, in which unsuspecting tourists are made to pay thousands of baht for spurious repairs to the vehicles…
- Phuket News
Phuket parents make the most of lucky number nine
PHUKET: Many Phuket couples tied the knot yesterday in wedding ceremonies specially arranged to take place on the auspicious date 09/09/09. Many expectant mothers also considered it fortunate to give birth on the day considered especially lucky by Thais. Seventeen Thai women and one Burmese gave birth at Vachira Phuket Hospital yesterday, ten of them naturally, the rest by Cesarean…
- Thailand News
Loan shark shaken by suicide cell
BANGKOK: A loan shark found the police were the least of his worries after being detained in a haunted cell. On September 1, Crime Suppression Division (CSD) officers arrested Sombun Thong-kham, 39, for extortion and unauthorized money lending, and placed him in custody at CSD headquarters on Phahonyothin Rd. Around 3am the following morning, the duty sergeant heard Mr Sombun…
- Thailand News
Drunk driver chows on cops
UDON THANI: A drunk driver bit two police officers who asked him to take a breathalyser test. Police said salesman Chatsak Ploicharoen, 36, was weaving all over the road as he drove his pickup truck towards a police checkpoint in Udon Thani. Police signaled for him to stop, but he drove straight through the checkpoint. Two officers chased after him…
- Phuket News
Movie to entice more Koreans to Phuket
PHUKET: A new 5-million-baht short film about Phuket aims to tempt more Korean tourists to visit the island. The film, simply entitled Phuket, stars a well-known Korean movie star, Im Soo Jung, and Thai actor Sorapong Chatree. Phuket will be previewed at the Pusan International Film Festival 2009 next month and screened on board airlines, including THAI and Korean. The…
- Phuket News
Phuket Lifesaving Carnival in Patong next month
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Lifesaving Carnival is set to return to Patong next month after the original event in July was postponed because of bad weather. The carnival is now scheduled to take place on October 3. Carnival organizers are hoping to attract between 40 and 60 international entrants and as many as 80 local participants. Events will include a…
- Phuket News
Big Phuket birthday party for ‘World’s oldest man’
PHUKET CITY: More has been revealed about the amazing life of Luang Pu Supha, claimed by adherents to be the oldest man in the world. Luang Pu Supha, abbot of a temple named after him in Chalong, is preparing to celebrate his 113th birthday in Phuket next week. Government-issued identification records presented to the Gazette show he was born on…
- Phuket News
Phuket Land Office announces February deadline
PHUKET CITY: Holders of Sor Kor 1 land possession papers have only until early February to apply for upgrades to full land title deeds, the Phuket Provincial Land Office has announced. Land Office chief Paitoon Lertkrai said that all Sor Kor 1 papers, which allow holders to use land for commercial purposes, will expire on February 6 next year. “To…
- Phuket News
Phuket house will cost 100 baht for lucky winner
PHUKET CITY: The top prize in this year’s Red Cross Fair raffle will be nothing less than a new home, it was announced yesterday. In past years the top prize has always been a car or truck, but this year the Red Cross is upping the ante. “I am sure no province in Thailand has ever dared to give away…
- Phuket News
New tsunami warning buoy for Phuket
PHUKET: The tsunami detection buoy off Phuket will be replaced “as soon as possible”, the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) has said. NDWC Deputy Director Somsak Khawsuwan told the Gazette the mission will take place as soon as conditions at sea allow. “We can’t wait until the end of the monsoon season,” he said. For our previous report on the…
- Phuket News
Foreign investors in Phuket facing police investigation
PHUKET: A fact-finding effort is underway in Phuket to compile information about local businesses in which Thai people are hired by foreigners as their nominees – a practice which is generally illegal under Thailand’s harsh Foreign Business Act. Provincial governor Wichai Phrai-sa-ngob, who ordered the investigation, said he was not discriminating against foreign investors, but guarding against the illegal use…
- Phuket News
Dr Preecha returns to Phuket
PHUKET CITY: An old Phuket hand made a welcome return to the island on Saturday when former governor Preecha Ruangjan opened a new OTOP fair at Central Festival Phuket. The ‘All Thailand OTOP/OPOP Festival’ features products from 14 different provinces around the country. Dr Preecha was representing Phitsanulok province, which he now governs. Dr Preecha was governor of Phuket for…
- Phuket News
Phuket Yamu back on track
PHUKET: Construction of the stalled Yamu Hotel and Residences development on the East coast of Phuket is set to restart later this year. The revival of the über-luxury development is the result of a new partnership between the project’s developer Campbell Kane and Evolution Capital PCL, which is listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). Construction is expected to…
- Phuket News
Phuket police bust fish poaching ring
RAWAI, PHUKET: Phuket Marine Police officers busted a tropical fish poaching ring on Tuesday, seizing hundreds of valuable aquarium fish and coral blooms from a house in Rawai. Police said the owner of the house, Suthee Sirisaringkarn, hired local fishermen to illegally catch the fish, many of which were worth up to 2,000 baht each. Around 200 living coral blooms…
- Phuket News
Phuket governor dishes out money, advice
PHUKET CITY: After dishing out 156,000 baht in cash to some of the island’s poorest families at a ceremony at the Phuket City Municipal Offices this week, Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop dished out some advice. Phuket’s poor must work harder, stop gambling and not spend so much time watching bird singing contests, the governor told his audience. Otherwise, he said,…
- Phuket News
Andaman Sea storms sink Thai bulk-carrier
PHUKET: A Thai bulk-carrier ship transporting millions of baht worth of teak from Burma sank in the Andaman Sea just off Phang Nga province on Sunday. All crew on board the Chart 1 managed to escape on inflatable rafts. Vice Admiral Narong Tesvisarn, Commander of The Third Naval Area Command in Phang Nga, received a distress call from the crew…
- Phuket News
Phuket’s sea gypsies face strict regime to repay debt
RAWAI, PHUKET: Many Moken sea gypsies living in a village close to Rawai Beach are still heavily in debt to violent loan sharks, despite the actions of a community organization which paid off more than half a million baht’s worth of their debts earlier this month. Now, the villagers have agreed to strict new rules aimed at helping them pay…
- Phuket News
Phuket school celebrates a century of “cultivating knowledge’
PHUKET CITY: Plukpanya Municipal School celebrated its 100th birthday on Saturday with a special Buddhist ceremony attended by pupils, teachers, alumni and other well-wishers. On April 29, 1909, King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) opened the school, naming it Plukpanya, which means ‘cultivating knowledge’. The birthday celebration may have taken place a few months late, but it was nevertheless well attended, with more…
- Phuket News
Phuket’s ‘Coral Reef Squadron’ 90% destroyed: TDA
PHUKET CITY: Phuket’s ‘Coral Reef Squadron’ sunk off Bang Tao Bay last November is 90 percent missing or destroyed, the Thai Dive Association admitted today. Rainer Gottwald, head of the Thai Dive Association (TDA) technical committee, said TDA divers visited the site on Wednesday and were only able to find one of the 10 aircraft that formed the artificial reef.…
- Phuket News
Phuket’s men of the cloth in plastic purgatory
PHUKET CITY: With the landfill at Saphan Hin continuing to pile up at the alarming rate of about 300 tonnes of waste per day, the provincial government hopes a new campaign promoting the use of cloth bags will help cut down the waste stream until a second incinerator is completed. The island’s sole incinerator, built and operated by Phuket City…
- Phuket News
Dangerous dogs rounded up in Phuket City
PHUKET CITY: Phuket City vets rounded up a group of vicious stray dogs at a temple today following complaints that the dogs were biting worshipers and killing local cats. Phuket City Municipality veterinarian Boonsom Roongudom and two helpers took away at least 10 dangerous dogs from the grounds of Wat Langsarn in Phuket City this morning. The dogs were taken…
- Phuket News
Asean summit not coming to Phuket
PHUKET CITY: The 15th Asean Summit meeting in October will take place in the twin resorts of Cha-am and Hua Hin, not Phuket, the government has confirmed.Suthep Thaugsuban, deputy prime minister in charge of security issues, confirmed the decision this morning.With the island’s successful hosting of the Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meetings at the Laguna Phuket resort complex in Cherng Talay…
- Phuket News
Annissa Flynn wins surf titles in Kamala, Phuket
KAMALA, PHUKET: Eleven-year-old surf sensation Annissa Flynn stole the show on the final day of the King of the Jungle 2009 Quiksilver Thailand Surf Series event on Sunday, claiming both the women’s open and groms divisions on a great day of competition at Kamala Beach. Kata-based Flynn, who learned how to surf just two years ago, successfully defended the groms…
- Phuket News
Community group helps pay off Phuket sea gypsy loans
RAWAI, PHUKET: Threats of beatings and electrocution by loan sharks have abated for scores of Moken sea gypsies since a Phuket-based community organization stepped in to help. The ‘Poor’s Right to Develop Phuket Network’ (PRDPN) paid off debts worth more than half a million baht for 162 Rawai sea gypsies earlier this month. Nevertheless, hundreds of residents of the sea…
- Phuket News
Jilted lover stabs girlfriend, plunges to death
KOH RACHA, PHUKET: A luxury resort on Racha Yai Island was left reeling after one of its employees stabbed another to death before plunging to his own demise. Harin Tipnarong, an electrician at The Racha resort, planned the murder after his girlfriend and colleague Voraporn Pithom told him she wanted to end their relationship, police said. Superintendent Chinarat Rittakananon of…
- Phuket News
Is Phuket challenged in grasping the gist?
(PHUKET): The GAT (General Achievement Test) and PAT (Professional Aptitude Test) results for July, officially released yesterday, have Thai educators scratching their heads over some very grim results. The July tests were the second round for Thai students this year, the first having been in March. The National Institute of Education’s Testing Service (NIETS) is probing the causes of the…
- Phuket News
Phuket City’s Kaset Market gets a hose down
PHUKET CITY: A ‘big cleaning day’ was held at Kaset Market as part of celebrations marking the birthday of HM Queen Sirikit on Wednesday. Municipal workers, shopkeepers and volunteers all got behind the effort, spraying the floors of the market with high-pressure hoses, picking up garbage and scrubbing the filthy floors with detergent. Targeted for extermination by poison as part…
- Phuket News
New swine flu cases down 50% in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: The number of new swine flu cases reported in Phuket has been reduced by almost half, with 271 reported cases and the death toll still at two. To help people who contract the type A(H1N1) virus that causes the disease, the Phuket Public Health Office (PPHO) has signed contracts with 12 private clinics to distribute the the antiviral…
- Phuket News
Emergency response plan coming for Phuket Airport
PHUKET CITY: A provincial committee will draw up an emergency response plan for Phuket International Airport (PIA), the first of its kind in Thailand.The announcement came at a meeting chaired by Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop at Phuket Provincial Hall on Thursday.Representing the airport at the meeting was PIA Deputy Director Sutheep Sansiripan.Governor Wichai said the need for an emergency response…
- Phuket News
Phuket yellow shirts sue red shirts over petition
PHUKET CITY: Phuket’s yellow shirt leaders have filed police charges against the island’s red shirt organizers for gathering signatures seeking a royal pardon for exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The move echoes similar actions taken by People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) leaders around the country. Led by Phuket PAD coordinator Aparat Chartchutikumjorn, around 30 PAD members filed complaints at…
