Search Results for: cat
- Phuket News
Call for action over illegal Burmese workers in Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket Chamber of Commerce (PCC) is demanding that action be taken to deal with the the large and growing population of Burmese in Phuket. Dr Sirichai Silapa-archa, chairman of the PCC and also a deputy director at Vachira Phuket Hospital, told the Gazette that the number of newborns at Vachira alone ranges from about 60 to 100 a…
- Phuket News
Phuket convention center should open mid-2014
PHUKET: Work on a world-class conference and exhibition center for Phuket should begin next year and be ready to open by mid-2014, project consultants told two recent public hearings. The meetings about the proposed Phuket International Convention and Exhibition Center (Phuket-ICEC), planned for the island’s northern tip, met with no serious opposition, but some concerns over environmental impact and infrastructure…
- Opinion
PHUKET OPINION: New market a boon for Old Phuket
PHUKET: The soft opening of the new municipal wet market in Phuket Town last weekend was a major achievement by the municipality, one that could mark an important turning point in its efforts to transform Old Phuket Town into a meaningful tourist destination. Given the months of effort needed to convince the vendors to return to their old Ranong Rd…
- Phuket News
Phuket Surf Lifesaving Carnival a hit with tourists
PHUKET: The Surf Lifesaving Carnival was in full swing today as spectators, bands, surfers and VIPs gathered on Patong Beach for some fun in the sun. The event, organized by the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization and sponsored by the Phuket Gazette, began at 9am with competitive events with age categories ranging from under 15s to over 50s. Among the numerous…
- Phuket News
Phuket to host ‘Alternative Ownership’ conference
PHUKET: Some 150 delegates are expected to descend on Phuket next month for the second Alternative Ownership Conference for Resorts and Hotels – Asia Pacific (AOCAP) at the Millennium Resort in Patong. “Following the success of the inaugural AOCAP conference in 2009, we are excited to announce AOCAP 2010 will take place 10-12 October in Phuket,” said Bryan Lunt, Chairman…
- Phuket News
Tsunam drill puts Phuket students on alert
PHUKET: Some 350 primary school students in Patong ran for higher ground today in a tsunami drill organized by the Phuket office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket). At 1pm yesterday, the students at Baan Sainamyen School in Patong were split into two groups and educated about tsunamis by DDPM-Phuket officer Thanakuan Pinthong. After the information session,…
- Phuket News
Construction of new Phuket incinerator underway
PHUKET: Work to build Phuket’s second incinerator at Saphan Hin is underway and the 940-million-baht facility should be completed by the end of the year, a provincial committee on trash management issues was told on Wednesday. Prachoom Suriya, who heads the Phuket City Municipality Environmental Division, told the Phuket Provincial Trash Management Committee that project contractor PJT Technology is now…
- Phuket News
Toxic waste collection drive in Phuket
PHUKET: A special tent has been set up at Saphan Hin as a collection point for toxic waste materials for safe, off-island disposal.The project, started on Monday, invites households, businesses and government organizations to bring any and all toxic waste to the tent, located near the basketball gymnasium.Light bulbs, batteries of all sorts, toxic packaging and other dangerous materials not…
- Phuket News
Water service finally restored in Kathu, Phuket
PHUKET: Residents in parts of Phuket’s Kathu District are angry with local authorities because their water supply, cut off on Monday, was only restored this afternoon. Residents of the Baan Neua and Moo Baan Pak Dee communities, off Wichit Songkraam Road, contacted the Gazette at 10am to complain about the shortage, which forced students to go off to school without…
- Phuket News
Phuket sails in China; Phuket air lift; Reliable police?
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Team Phuket to sail in China PHUKET: The Nation reports that ‘Team Phuket King’s Cup Regatta’ has entered the China Cup International Regatta, to take place in Daya Bay, Shenzhen, China from October 29 to November 1.…
- Phuket News
New Phuket Town market finally opens for business
PHUKET: The new market on Ranong Road finally opened for business on Sunday, despite the refusal by a handful of holdout vendors to sign the contracts and occupy stalls they are entitled to. On the ground floor are stalls selling fresh meat, seafood and dry foods. Below, in the basement level, are small restaurants and vendors selling fresh fruit and…
- Phuket News
Cook arrested for religious icon theft in Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket Police on Sunday arrested a thief who tried to return two stolen religious relics to their rightful owner, claiming they had brought him bad luck. News of the arrest came at a press conference at Chalong Police Station yesterday afternoon. Chalong Superintendent Police Colonel Wichit Intorrasorn identified the culprit as 36-year-old Janya Tongboonto, a resident of Karon. Presented…
- Phuket News
Swiss man falls to his death in Phuket
PHUKET: A Swiss man fell to his death from the third-floor balcony of his home on a Patong hillside this morning. The man was living in a rented home on Phisit Gorani Rd, Soi 1 in Patong, not far from Suwankhiriwong Temple, at the time of his death. The man’s live-in Thai girlfriend, a woman of about 30 years old…
- Phuket News
Phuket Police nab postal fraud trio
PHUKET: Chalong Police yesterday held a press conference to announce the arrest two employees of a camera store in Chonburi for allegedly defrauding a camera store owner in Phuket out of more than 150,000 baht’s worth of photographic equipment. Ya Paenkaew, a local motorcycle taxi driver, is also in police custody for his alleged role in the scam. Anankorn Itthi-atsakorn,…
- Phuket News
Phuket ‘surfer girl’ takes another title
PHUKET: Annisa Flynn, an 11-year-old from Chalong, took top honors in the under-15 category of the Rip Curl GromSearch Surf Series at Kata Beach on Saturday. The event, the second leg of the 2010 Phuket series, was held under very rainy and windy conditions. Despite this, competitors as young as four years of age took part. The GromSearch series is…
- Phuket News
Phuket pow wow over illegal alien workers
PHUKET: The number of illegal alien workers in Phuket is around 200,000, it was announced at a Senate committee meeting in Phuket on Friday. About 150 government officers, senators and private-sector representatives met at the Kata Beach Resort on Friday morning to brainstorm better ways to legalize the estimated 1.5 million illegal workers from neighboring countries, especially Burma. Suvit Meksereekul,…
- Phuket News
Tsunami drill in Phuket this month
PHUKET: The National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) has announced that a full-scale tsunami evacuation drill will be conducted simultaneously in the six Andaman coast provinces on September 13. All 127 tsunami warning towers in the region will be sounded from 9:30am to 10:30am. The 19 towers in Phuket are located at: Mai Khao, Nai Yang, Bang Tao, Kamala, Patong, Kata,…
- Phuket News
Phuket tourism firms win TAT awards
PHUKET: Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced the names of nine local tourism businesses and associations awarded prizes in the 8th Annual Thailand Tourism Awards. The biennial awards are designed to instill awareness and promote responsible management in tourism among tourism entrepreneurs, ultimately leading to sustainable tourism. Bangornrat Shinaprayoon, director of the TAT South Region 4 Office in Phuket…
- Thailand News
Doubts raised over “eggspecting mother’
LOEI: Villagers in Nong Hin District have been rushing to see a woman who had reportedly given birth to an egg. At last report Chawee Chinchaiphum and her husband, Prayut, both 40, have not let anyone see the egg, but enterprising locals have been selling photos of the recently-arrived object for 10 baht each. Demand has been so strong that…
- Phuket News
More sewage treatment for Phuket
PHUKET: Karon Municipality will levy charges on hotels, restaurants and other small businesses in the area for the wastewater they produce. The scheme, to start in October, will affect hotels and businesses in Karon, Kata and Kata Noi. Restaurants will be charged a flat rate of 5.25 baht per operating square meter, and hotels will be billed at 84 baht…
- Phuket News
50 largest landholders control 14.3% of Phuket
PHUKET: Land ownership in Phuket is highly concentrated in the hands of a relatively small group of wealthy landowners, according to a prominent Thammasat University economics professor. Prof Duangmani Laowakul, a member of the watch-dog committee Policy Watch, said the top 50 largest landholders in Phuket control 14.3% of the island’s total area. A report published in Krungthep Turakij, the…
- Phuket News
More Dragons for Phuket; Siam Makro expanding
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. More Dragons for Phuket PHUKET: Dragon Air intends to increase services on its Hong Kong-Phuket route. Cathay Pacific Airways, parent company of Dragon Air, says traffic to Phuket is robust with an average load factor of 90…
- Phuket News
Chuan slams money politics
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket leaders and ordinary residents put their heads together at a meeting Saturday to consider how Thailand can reform itself and resolve the ongoing political crisis that caused this year’s violent red-shirt protests. The seminar, “Reforming the Country at a Time of Change“, was the fourth of five organized by the National Economic and Social Advisory Council (Nesac)…
- Phuket News
Stealers’ Wheel: missing in Phuket
PHUKET: A retired teacher and his family on a weekend trip to Phuket had an unpleasant surprise yesterday, when they checked out of their Phuket Town hotel to find the spare tire of their pickup had been stolen during the night Niphon Phetkong, 62, a former director of Ban Tha Chang school in his home province of Ranong, said he…
- Phuket News
Another Phuket drug bust: more than 6,000 pills seized
PHUKET: Phuket’s governor and top police brass held a press conference at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday to announce the arrest of a four-man drug ring and the seizure of over 6,000 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills. The arrest was the result of an investigation ordered by Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop and spearheaded by Lt Col Sutthirat Thochampa, who heads the Provincial…
- Phuket News
Snake removed from Norwegian’s Phuket bungalow
PHUKET: Rescue workers from the Phuket Ruamjai Kupai Foundation yesterday removed a large snake from the home of an elderly Norwegian tourist. Chalong Police received a report at 11:30am that a large snake had entered the man’s bungalow on Soi Suki in Chalong Village 9. When workers from the foundation arrived, they found the 78-year-old Norwegian standing inside the dwelling.…
- Phuket News
Phuket murder suspect Lee Aldhouse arrested at UK airport
PHUKET: Fugitive murder suspect Lee Aldhouse has been detained by airport authorities while trying to enter the UK, the Gazette has learned. Lt Col Anukul Nuket, investigating officer in the case, confirmed that Chalong Police received the news from British officials yesterday. Aldhouse is said to have departed Thailand from a small border crossing in Khlong Yai, Trat province, on…
- Phuket News
Bullish on Phuket; Pedophilia suspects nabbed
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Bullish on Phuket Foreign investors find Phuket a lucrative spot in which to do business due to its international appeal as a beach destination, its eye-catching natural beauty and year-round tropical climate, says Allan Zeman, owner of…
- Phuket News
Korean firm ready to invest in Phuket tunnel
PHUKET: Representatives of a Korean firm are the latest potential East Asian investors to meet the Phuket Governor to discuss involvement in a Phuket transport mega-project, this time the proposed Patong Tunnel. Accompanied by Phuket MP Raywat Areerob, a delegation from the AZ Worth Trust Company was received by Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop at his office in Phuket Provincial Hall…
- Phuket News
Woman dies in Phuket car crash
PHUKET: A young woman died of injuries sustained in a high-speed car crash on the bypass road near Tesco Lotus early this morning. Phuket City Police were informed of the crash at 4:20am. The accident occurred in the southbound lane, in front of the Tesco shopping complex. Arriving at the scene they the found a red Toyota Vios overturned on…