Phuket News
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Tsunami volunteers warned: get work permits
PHUKET: Foreign volunteers assisting in tsunami-related charity work are required to hold work permits, regardless of whether they are being paid for their efforts or not. Sayan Chuaiyjan, head of the Phuket Provincial Employment Service Office [ESO], told the Gazette yesterday that there could be no exceptions and that his office would begin to enforce the regulations soon – possibly…
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Tennis superstar Hingis visits Patong
PATONG: Former world number one tennis player Martina Hingis was moved to tears today as she heard about Phuket children’s experiences in the tsunami.The tennis star visited the kindergarten of Patong Municipality School while on a whistle-stop tour of Phuket, arranged by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to promote tourism after the tsunami.After meeting the children – and hearing…
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Election: clean sweep for Democrats
PHUKET: Despite a massive campaign by Thai Rak Thai (TRT) to convince voters to back the ruling party, and despite surveys showing that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s popularity is at unprecedented levels, Phuket yesterday reinstalled its two Democrat MPs.Indeed, Phuket voters made it quite plain that they are not ready for TRT MPs, by handing the two Democrats hefty victories.In…
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Top Unicef official checks on progress
PHUKET: The Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), Carol Bellamy, has been to Phuket and Phang Nga to see what is being done to help children recover from the tsunami.Unicef officers were sent to Phang Nga and Phuket within a week of the tsunami, said Ms Bellamy, and since then, Unicef has supported Thai government efforts to…
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TAT blitz “helping to change perceptions’
PHUKET: Tour operators and journalists from eastern Europe have changed their perceptions of post-tsunami Phuket after seeing the effects for themselves, Suwalai Pinpradab, Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) office in Phuket has told the Gazette.“The journalists have been to Krabi, too,” said K. Suwalai. “They were very surprised to see Phi Phi Island, and Maya Bay, and…
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Linkin Park star visits Bang Tao
PHUKET: Chester Bennington, the lead singer of Californian band Linkin Park, visited Bang Tao beach today to see for himself the damage caused by the tsunami.Bennington was in Phuket to record material to be broadcast by MTV in the USA, as part of a global campaign to raise money for tsunami victims.After lunch at the Banyan Tree, Bennington and his…
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Court orders businessman off SorPorKor land
PHUKET: Businessman Charoen Thavornwongwong has been ordered to leave 16 rai of land in Karon’s Nakkerd Hills, after the Phuket Appeal Court overturned the Provincial Court’s earlier judgement that he could stay on the land.The Appeal Court said that the Phuket Provincial Land Reform Office (PLRO) had been right to contest the judgement of the lower court, on the grounds…
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Phummisak challenges Gov over water supplies
PHUKET: Former Phuket City Mayor and tin mine owner Phummisak Hongsyok has dismissed Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura’s assertion that he will use the law to force owners of private water resources to share them with the province if there is a water shortage this year.K. Phummisak, who owns two flooded former tin mines with a total capacity of three million cubic…
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F1 powerboat race postponed to March 2006
PHUKET: The Formula One powerboat race scheduled to take place next month in Ao Makham has been postponed for a year.Kata Group Chairman Pamuke Archariyachai told the Gazette today that a combination of the tsunami and the Cabinet’s slowness in approving funds to support the event had forced the decision to postpone until March 2006.“We had only a short time…
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Vehicle rental ban stays – Bhokin
PATONG: Interior Minister Bhokin Bhalakula is adamant that vehicle rental businesses will be barred from Thaveewong Rd, despite a 300-vehicle rally yesterday by owners of rental businesses opposed to the ban.Speaking at Provincial Hall this morning, K. Bhokin added that the restoration of Patong Beach would go ahead in line with plans drawn up by the Tourism Authority of Thailand…
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Stars Hingis and Keating aid Phuket
PHUKET: Former world No 1 women’s tennis player Martina Hingis will arrive in Phuket next Monday to help promote tourism to the area, just days after Irish pop star Ronan Keating recorded a music video on the island.Hingis, a five-times grand slam champion, is in Thailand to compete in the WTA Volvo Women’s Open in Pattaya, her first professional tournament…
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Entertainment licence fees in limbo
PHUKET CITY: Wisut Romin, Deputy Secretary of the Phuket Provincial Administration Office, has hinted that licence fees may be waived for entertainment businesses damaged by the tsunami.K. Wisut told the Gazette today that the office had yet to receive details of the new fees – originally due to be announced in December 2004 by the Department of Local Administration.He said,…
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We need B700m immediately – Pian
PHUKET CITY: Patong Mayor Pian Keesin has urged the government to approve immediately funding of 700 million baht to improve Patong Beach, in line with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)’s draft plan for reconstructing the resort.Mayor Pian told Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, during his recent visit to Phuket, that Patong was the worst-affected of all the tsunami-hit places on…
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Rental vehicle operators in mass protest
PATONG: Operators of vehicle rental businesses have staged a rally with more than 300 cars and large motorbikes to protest Patong Municipality’s plans to ban them from the beach road as part of the post-tsunami clean-up.The operators, some of whom carried placards stating, “Better to have died in the tsunami than live with a dictatorial government”, demanded that, if the…
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Island has water to last until May
PHUKET CITY: The Bang Wad reservoir will be able to supply Phuket with enough water until May, because the drop in the number of tourists caused by the tsunami has reduced water consumption, a post-tsunami review meeting has been told.Irrigation Project Director Watchara Arepornsiri told the Phuket Provincial Hall meeting, “At the moment we have 5.9 million cubic meters of…
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3,000 Burmese “still missing’ in Phang Nga alone
PHUKET: One month after the tsunami, more than 3,000 Burmese workers in Phang Nga are still unaccounted for, a seminar was told yesterday.The meeting, arranged by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the international NGO, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), heard that many Burmese are still hiding atop hills and in rubber plantations in the province – often in bad conditions –…
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Flowers for remembrance
KHAO LAK: At a solemn ceremony in the now calm waters some five miles off Khao Lak, the Royal Thai Navy (RTN) aircraft carrier HTMS Chakri Naruebeth led a flotilla of nine other RTN vessels to place wreaths on the water for those lost in the tsunami of December 26.The German, British, Swedish and Singaporean ambassadors to Thailand, as well…
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German town donates B1m to Kalim School
PATONG: The citizens of the small German town of Bad Rappenau – population 20,500 – have donated 1 million baht to help rebuild Baan Kalim School, which was badly damaged by the December 26 tsunami.On January 28, Heiko Schmidt, owner of Baan Suan Villa in Patong, who is originally from Bad Rappenau, handed over a check in that amount to…
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Candle ceremony on Patong Beach tonight
PATONG: Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) is inviting everyone to join a “Light up Patong” event this evening, the aim being to place 100,000 candles along three kilometers of Patong Beach, in memory of the victims of the tsunami.OrBorJor President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr said the OrBorJor intends to make the ceremony an annual event, partly as a memorial to the victims…
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Charity tsunami photo book on sale
PHUKET: A special joint publication of The Nation and The Phuket Gazette entitled 26.12.04: Wrath Of The Tsunami is on sale now at bookstores across Thailand and from all regular Gazette distribution agents. All net proceeds from the 48-page full-color photo memoir, priced at only 90 baht, will be donated to charities aiding tsunami victims and their families. A copy…
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Singaporean airlines offer Phuket deals
PHUKET: A couple of days after THAI Airways angered the tourism industry by abruptly dropping all of its flights from Singapore to Phuket, airlines in Singapore are doing precisely the opposite, by offering special deals to travellers.In a joint promotion with selected hotels in Phuket, Krabi and Langkawi, SilkAir is offering travellers special-value packages to these holiday destinations, valid until…
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Samui speedboat crash toll rises to 14
KOH SAMUI: Rescue services have today recovered a further seven bodies from the waters around Koh Samui, bringing the official number of dead following Tuesday morning’s speedboat crash to 14. Pol Cpl Pongkasem Thanawanitnam, Koh Samui Police Station spokesman, told the Gazette that there are now two people still posted as missing.Koh Samui Hospital gave the names and nationalities of…
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Scandi tour firms to spread the good word
PHUKET CITY: An inspection team representing major Scandinavian tour companies Star Tour, MyTravel & Tour, and Apollo Tours, yesterday announced that they will return home and spread the word that Phuket and the other Andaman provinces are safe tourist destinations.The team of five yesterday wrapped up a week-long inspection tour that took in some 80 hotels in Phuket and Krabi,…
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Help offered for coping with tsunami trauma
PHUKET: Two psychotherapists, Dr Victor Adam from Singapore and David Foster, a Phuket-based Englishman, are to conduct free group sessions to help those in Thailand traumatized by the tsunami. The sessions are expected to begin on February 2. The owner of a house on the Loch Palm Golf Course has generously offered the use of it as a venue for…
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Tsunami bodies arrive in Mai Khao
TAH CHAT CHAI: Interior Minister Bhokin Bhalakula and Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura today visited Mai Khao Cemetery, to which the bodies of foreigners who died in the December 26 tsunami are being moved for identification and repatriation.The mass transfer of tsunami victim corpses from Phang Nga to Mai Khao Cemetery, at the north end of the island, began yesterday with…
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Search continues for 16 missing in speedboat smash
KOH SAMUI: Police have identified five of the people who drowned between Koh Samui and Koh Pha-Ngan after the speedboat they were in sank in the early hours of yesterday morning.The search continues for another 16 people who have been reported as missing by family or friends.Police are not, however, discounting the possibility that some of the missing might have…
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Court declines to move on Van Treeck extradition
PATTAYA: Despite widespread media reports that murder suspect Sam Van Treeck is back in his native Belgium, the Pattaya Provincial Court has ruled that it will not follow up on the issue or seek his extradition unless he fails to turn up at a scheduled court appearance in December.Van Treeck was 24 years old when he was arrested for the…
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THAI slashes Phuket flights
PHUKET: Thai Airways – whose website ironically announces “THAI’s Full Support On Tsunami Aftermath” – confirmed today that it is making drastic cuts to both domestic and international routes serving Phuket, with effect from February 1.However, the airline’s District Sales Manager for Upper-Southern Thailand, Kalayapha Panich, told the Gazette today that although the carrier would suspend all international flights serving…
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Tsunami dead moved to Phuket
PHUKET: Work began today to move the bodies of more than a thousand non-Asian victims of the tsunami from Phang Nga to the Mai Khao Cemetery in Phuket.The cemetery is close to Phuket international Airport, and the move is intended to make it easier for bodies, once identified, to be repatriated by air.Bodies believed to be Asian will remain in…
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World Tourism Organization to meet in Kata
KATA: The World Tourism Organization (WTO) Executive Council will hold an emergency meeting at the Kata Beach Resort on January 31 and February 1, to draw up plans to accelerate the recovery of tourism industries affected by the December 26 tsunami.Kata Group President and Phuket Chamber of Commerce Chairman Pamuke Achariyachai said today, “The WTO has invited national and international…
Phuket is a province in the south of Thailand. Phuket's beaches face the Andaman Sea allowing the west coast beaches fantastic sunsets right throughout the year. If you're looking for news in Phuket, go to thethaiger.com/phuket Or follow our instant news in our Facebook pages.
The good news is that Phuket is famous for its foodie scene with an enormously diverse range of local and international foods - Phuket and southern favorites, street food along with international choices catering for the 12 million visitors to the island each year. Thaiger follows Phuket news and information 24 hours a day with regular updates.
Phuket is only 'just' an island with a 300 metre bridge linking it to Thailand's mainland. We're always reporting in the news that the channel beneath is frequently dredged to maintain Phuket's status as an island. On the other side of Sarasin Bridge is the Province of Phang Nga.
Getting to Phuket is easy as the island has land, air and sea connections. Phuket is also used as a take-off point for local island trips as Thailand's largest island is surrounded by over 30 pristine islands. Koh Phi Phi and the famous Maya Bay are always in the news and would be the best known of the island's just off Phuket's shores.
Phuket is an island and a province. It's the largest island in Thailand – 48 km north to south, 21 km east to west.
It's about 20% smaller, in area, than Singapore but much less densely populated. Whilst the island nation of Singapore boasts a population of nearly 6 million, Phuket has a permanent population of around 400-450,000 (but varies a lot with the influx of tourists and a workforce that is always changing). Most of Phuket remains jungle and tropical rainforest despite an acceleration of development over the past 20 years.
Unlike some of Thailand's other popular islands (that are in the Gulf of Thailand), the news is that Phuket is located in the Andaman Sea.
Phuket is 878 km north of the equator.
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