Search Results for: Tak
- Phuket News
Tourists tell of their tidal wave ordeal
PHUKET: Swedish tourist Kjell Sköld, of Gothenburg, has described how the rising waters of the wave trapped him, his wife Bibi, and their young children in their bungalow at Andaman Bay Resort, at Bang Tao.“The water went out then came back in very, very quickly, taking everything with it,” said Mr Sköld. “When the water came into the bungalow, we…
- Phuket News
Panwa aquarium “to re-open in time for Songkran’
CAPE PANWA: Following Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura on Monday announcing that a private aquarium may be built at Surin Beach, Phuket Marine Biology Center (PMBC) director Wannakiat Thubthimsang today told the Gazette that the PMBC aquarium will be open in time for the Songkran holiday period in April 2005.The PMBC aquarium closed more than two years ago for renovations. The work…
- Phuket News
Police bust major gambling ring
PHUKET CITY: Police have arrested the suspected “bankers” of a multi-million-baht gambling operation in Phuket City.Somkid Korkiatiwong, 40, and Somchai Santi-Amorntat, 51, both of Kra Rd, were arrested at a home on Takuatung Rd on Sunday.The arresting officers found a computer, fax, two photocopiers, a bankbook, three large hessian sacks and 10,000 baht in cash, along with “betting slips” relating…
- Phuket News
Governor’s last chance for Ao Phuket approval
PHUKET CITY: Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura is to make a last-ditch attempt to persuade the Cabinet to approve the Ao Phuket development project before Parliament is dissolved for February’s general election.The proposed development concerns more than 3,200 rai of land and a budget of more than 63 billion baht. It would include a convention center, hotels, apartments, shopping centers, entertainment facilities,…
- Phuket News
Phuket gears up for national elections
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Election Committee (PEC) expects a high voter turnout in the province for the upcoming general election, which will be held from 8 am to 3 pm on February 6.PEC Chairman Dr Prapa Kayee said, “There was a low turnout, 74%, in the last general election. This time we think people are more familiar with the voting system,…
- Phuket News
TAT to put up B60m for F1 boat race
PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is set to double its sponsorship of next year’s F1 powerboat Grand Prix, to 60 million baht.Swin Chatsuwan, Managing Director of Paragon Events, which has won the contract to organize the race, said yesterday that the TAT had agreed to his company’s request to provide full sponsorship.He added that the race – the…
- Phuket News
TAT to celebrate B300m high-season bonanza
PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) expects no less than 300 million baht to be injected into the Phuket economy over the upcoming holiday period from December 23 to January 2.TAT Region 4 Director Suwalai Pinpradab told the Gazette today that a recent check of hotel occupancy rates and advanced bookings indicates that most island hotels will be fully-booked,…
- Phuket News
“Burmese Cemetery’ claims another victim
PHUKET CITY: Another murder victim was found floating in the murky waters of Rassada Port yesterday morning.Staff of the Por Pichai raft called police after finding the body floating in the sea close to the raft.Pol Lt Col Tiwakorn Kongpeth, of Phuket City Police Station, said the man – believed to be Burmese and between 20 and 25 years old…
- Phuket News
The beach party’s over
PHUKET: Vice-Governor Vinai Buapradit has ordered officials to take action tomorrow to prevent drunken youths and tourists “swarming” onto beaches when entertainment venues close at 1am.“People have complained to the provincial office about the disturbance caused by tourists and youths drinking and dancing on the beaches after the bars have closed,” said the Vice-Governor. “People who live near the beaches…
- Phuket News
Hi Fidelity edges ahead in King’s Cup
KATA: Winds were a steady 20 knots yet, apart from some moderate chop beyond Koh Racha, the seas were calm for some swift sailing in the King’s Cup Regatta today.Neil Pryde’s Hi Fidelity today finished just 44 seconds ahead of Peter Ahern’s Yo! to take the lead in the Racing class by a single point.As tomorrow will be a rest…
- Phuket News
Drive to decrease holiday accidents
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (ODPM) has launched a campaign to reduce the number of road accidents, injuries and fatalities in the period to the end of the New Year holiday.The ODPM is urging road users not to drink and drive and motorcyclists to wear helmets. It has also urged all drivers to carry their…
- Phuket News
Crash mars first race of regatta
PHUKET: Three people were rescued from the water and a woman has been hospitalized with a suspected broken hip after two yachts collided half a mile offshore in the first day of racing in the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta today.Simon James of the regatta’s race management committee, told the Gazette that Blue Juice and Pla Loma collided half a mile…
- Phuket News
Mobile minimarts launched
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) yesterday unveiled some of the “mobile minimarts” which will sell “clean” food around the island in a 1.5-million-baht initiative to promote food hygiene among vendors and buyers.Phuket Technical College worked with the OrBorJor to design a stainless steel rust-free minimart attachment for motorbikes, at a cost of 23,000 baht each.OrBorJor President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr…
- Phuket News
Gov mediates in spa tax dispute
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura has agreed to ask the Finance Ministry to review the controversial 10% excise tax on spas, following a meeting on the issue held at his office this morning. Gov Udomsak chaired the meeting, which was attended by Phuket Spa Business Club Chaiman Pakin Raktae-Ngam, who is leading the opposition to the tax, and Supatra Horsrisumpun,…
- Phuket News
On a wing and a prayer
PHUKET: People in Phuket have made more than half a million origami birds to be sent to the troubled southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat as part of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s unusual peace initiative.Nationally, more than 80 million of the origami birds have been collected. They will be taken by aircraft and scattered over the three provinces – which…
- Phuket News
Shortage of monitors for general election
PHUKET: Just over two months before Thailand’s general election is due to take place, Phuket still does not have enough observers to monitor the polling to ensure that it is clean, one of Thailand’s four Election Commissioners revealed yesterday.“This is a big problem,” the Commissioner, Prinya Nakchudtree, told local authority officials gathered at Phuket Municipality.K. Prinya said the shortage of…
- Phuket News
Visitors to Phuket up by 10pc
PHUKET CITY: Around two million tourists visited Phuket between January and June this year – an increase of more than 10% on the same period in 2003 – according to the Director of the Phuket office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Suwalai Pinpradab.This year’s visitors brought around 38 billion baht into Phuket, around 4 billion more than during…
- Phuket News
Tropical storm may bring heavy weather
PHUKET: Tropical storm Muifa, which took the lives of at least 65 people when it passed over the Philippines last weekend, is in the Gulf of Thailand and the storm center is expected to make landfall around Surat Thani or Nakhon Sri Thammarat early tomorrow morning. Vichit Phuangsombat, Director of the Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast) told the Gazette that…
- Phuket News
Patong Tower apartments up for auction
PATONG: Eighty apartments in the tallest building by far in Phuket, Patong Tower, will come under the auctioneer’s hammer on December 12, some 13 years after planning permission for the 32-story block on Thaweewong Rd was first given. Siripong Chechang, chief of the Public Works Department of Patong Municipality, today addressed concerns by some potential buyers that the building was…
- Phuket News
Murdered tourists’ parents in disbelief
BANGKOK (The Nation): The parents of British backpackers Vanessa Arscott and Adam Lloyd, who were murdered by an off-duty police sergeant in Kanchanaburi province in September, have reacted with fury at the “secret” release of the policeman on bail.They now plan to fly to Bnagkok to meet with, among others, the Ministry of Justice and the Tourism Authority of Thailand.A…
- Thailand News
Another fine mess
BANGKOK: Unscrupulous police officers extorting money from the public hardly constitutes news in Thailand – but it is noteworthy when the police themselves become victims of malfeasance. Between March and October this year, Pol Sgt Tarntip Preak-kratok managed to skim off nearly 3 million baht in fines collected by the Nongkam Police Station, where she was employed as a desk…
- Phuket News
Chalermlak “chained” by election rules
PHUKET: The rules imposed by the Office of the Election Commission of Thailand (OECT) governing what MPs may do during the run-up to the election campaign period have, according to Chalermlak Kebsup, Democrat MP for Phuket District 2, obstructed her.“I feel chained by the rules,” K. Chalermlak said. “The OECT has said that MPs must not conduct any campaigning or…
- Phuket News
Land fees generate B935m
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Provincial Land Office (PPLO) has collected 935 million baht in taxes and fees this year, more than three times the amount collected last year.The money was generated from purchases and sales of land, subdivisions of plots, and issuance of permits for development projects during the financial year from October 1, 2003 to September 30, 2004.PPLO Chief Suphot Suwannachote told the…
- Phuket News
Three injured in “visa run’ smash
RANONG: One man had a leg amputated and two others required hospitalization after a minivan taking passengers from Phuket on a “visa run” collided with a water truck on November 12.Pol Sub Lt Chatchai Pongsingto, of Ranong Town Police Station, told the Gazette that the accident happened on Paknam-Ranong Rd at about 12:20 pm.The van, which is owned by Andaman…
- Phuket News
B1.5m damage in Patong blaze
PATONG: One man is seriously ill in Phuket International Hospital after being badly burned during a fire that destroyed two houses in Phisit Gorani Soi 1 late last night.After evacuating his family from the house, Chalermporn Jikpipaksit, 46, ran back into the blaze to remove a gas cylinder from his cooker so it would not explode. He suffered severe burns…
- Phuket News
Cabinet approves B300m improvements at fishing port
PHUKET CITY: The Cabinet has approved a plan to spend more than 300 million baht to improve Phuket Fishing Port in Tambon Rassada, and to build a seafood processing plant there.The proposal, drawn up by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, was approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday.The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives told the Cabinet that improvements would make…
- Phuket News
Student pharmacist dies from overdose
PATONG: Police believe that a 19-year-old pharmacology student on holiday in Phuket committed suicide by overdosing on barbiturates in a hotel room in Patong.Alongkorn Pitaktrirat, of Nakhon Ratchasima, had been dead for around two days when his body was found on Wednesday at the Baan Bua Hotel, where he was staying.Pol Lt Padungpong Duksukaew, of Kathu Police Station, said that…
- Phuket News
Governor to appeal for homes to stay on state land
PHUKET CITY: Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura will ask the Cabinet to allow residents in Soi Kingkaew, near Koh Sireh, to keep their homes, even though government offices have long claimed that the houses have been built on state land.The Governor visited the soi on Tuesday with Phuket Provincial Office of Natural Resources and Environment chief Thongchai Saowapong. The inspection came after…
- Thailand News
The final upshot
BANGKOK: Police arrested a 27-year-old man after he was caught taking photos up a girl’s skirt at a motor show at Central Plaza on Phra Ram III Rd last month. Worakarn Jaruphat was collared by security guards after “Amp”, a young woman taking part in the Miss Motorshow Contest, grabbed his wrist when she felt something touch her legs. When…
- Phuket News
B95m Ao Por marina plan unveiled
PHUKET: Thailand’s largest construction company, Italian-Thai Development (ITD), is to invest 95 million baht in its first project in Phuket, a marina at Ao Por.The project will be handled by the Ao Por Pattana Co, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ITD.Project manager Akaraphan Suwanchot said the marina would be built near Ao Por pier, which is itself about to undergo complete…
