Phuket News
Phuket news, politics, business, tourism, and nightlife—stay updated with breaking stories, events, and expat updates from Thailand’s top island destination. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Phuket news source.
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Phuket Veg Fest threat: your “fake’ meat might be real
PHUKET: Officials are conducting inspections of food stalls taking part in the Phuket Vegetarian Festival following reports that some unscrupulous vendors have been lacing “artificial meat” dishes with real meat products in order to make them more attractive to potential consumers. “Artificial meat” dishes are a staple among many who take part in the annual 10-day purification ritual, during which…
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Supermodel search lands in Phuket
PHUKET: A bevy of beauties participating in the Look Supermodel Search 2011 beauty pageant will visit Phuket next Monday and Tuesday to take part in various activities. The 12 models are scheduled to meet Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha and hand out cloth bags at Provincial Hall at 11:45am on Monday, before visiting the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) offices. The…
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Phuket Veg Fest processions hit the streets
PHUKET: Day three of the annual Phuket Vegetarian Festival today was highlighted by a loud and colorful procession through the streets of Phuket Town by members of the Sapam Shrine in Koh Kaew. Adherents, including many mah song spirit mediums, were up early to prepare for the walk, which took place under relatively dry conditions, given the recent rainfall on…
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Officials admit fear of reprisals killing Phuket bus plans
PHUKET: Top Phuket officials have openly admitted that fear of reprisals by taxi and tuk-tuk drivers is preventing people from launching affordable bus services between Phuket’s main tourist beaches. Phuket Vice Governor Weerawat Janpen yesterday chaired a meeting at the Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) to discuss strategies to resolve the decades old problem of tourists being cheated by “transportation…
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Phuket Debacle: Bus Terminal 2 may never open
PHUKET: As Phuket Bus Terminal 2 approaches its second birthday, the Phuket Land Transport Office [PLTO] is determined to open the facility by the end of the year, despite continued resistance from Rassada Municipality where it is located (click here to see PGtv footage). The latest discussion about the problems facing the station came at a meeting of the Phuket…
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Aphrodite Cabaret opens tonight in Phuket
PHUKET: The Aphrodite Cabaret Show will hold its soft opening tonight with a special private performance for the media, government officials and other selected guests. Aphrodite General Manager Siri Deejingtrakool told the Phuket Gazette, “The soft opening will be held tonight, but we have not decided on a date for the grand opening yet. But after tonight we will open…
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Phuket Airport tipped to reach breaking point
PHUKET: With tourism numbers surging, Phuket International Airport is expecting a record four million passenger arrivals for the year 2011. As arrivals to Asia’s leading resort destination in the first half of the year increased 20% over the same period in 2010 and an unprecedented number of new hotel rooms opened, sagging infrastructure is creating a widespread danger to the…
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Fried Noodles: Transformer explodes, food cart incinerated
PHUKET: The explosion of an electrical transformer in Phuket this afternoon incinerated a noodle vendor’s cart, injured a woman, and damaged several vehicles. The fire followed the explosion of a transformer in front of a townhouse project across from the Ocean View Phuket Hotel on Sirirat Road, which runs from Patong to Karon. Roadside noodle vendor Kanjana Sonjai, 29, said,…
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Phuket’s Gov to bring illegal hotels into the fold
PHUKET: Tri Augkaradacha, Phuket’s 43rd governor, was promoted to the top job on October 1, 2010, when he set tourism promotion as his prime policy objective. Here, in his regular monthly “Governor’s Letter” in the Phuket Gazette, he talks about the problem of unregistered hotels, a stalled road project, and the coincidence that he and PM Yingluck Shinawatra are both…
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Phuket Island View – Soi Dog in it for the long haul
PHUKET: THE recent Gazette online story about Soi Dog Foundation’s new cat hospital prompted a forum comment that justifies a response. The writer queried how the Soi Dog Foundation could justify spending money on such a facility at the same time it was appealing for funds to purchase the remaining land where its shelter and headquarters are based. In 2009,…
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Phuket’s Sri Panwa is ready to pilot minimum wage
PHUKET: One of the island’s most luxurious lodgings says it’s ready to pilot daily minimum wages of 300 baht, after the government named Phuket as one of six provinces (along with Bangkok) where higher pay will be introduced first. Songkran Issara, the managing director of Charn Issara Development, which runs the Sri Panwa resort at Cape Panwa, said the company…
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Phuket’s rice prices set to rise
PHUKET: Menus in Phuket and across Thailand will soon be revised with the price of rice set to jump as a result of the Yingluk administration’s changes to the rice mortgaging scheme. Pitched as a mechanism to increase rice farmer’s incomes and spending power, the controversial program – first implemented by the Thaksin administration six years ago – will offer…
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Lengthen your contact, don’t follow through
PHUKET: This week’s tennis tip is on length of contact, comes courtsey of Travis Bertram who is the Tennis Director for Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club, Phuket. Length of contact is the length of the swing forwards at the moment of impact with the ball. Forget the term “follow through” and promise to never say it again! Follow through is…
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Rubber barriers saving lives in Phuket
PHUKET: Old car tyres being used to create median strips along Chao Fa West Road in Chalong have reduced fatal accidents by almost 100 per cent, say Phuket police. The rubber barriers comprise tyres stacked three high, tied together and painted red and white. “We have installed these stacks on the median of dangerous sections of road,” explained Chalong Police…
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Phuket’s “baby dumping’ rise sparks stateless alarm
PHUKET: The rising number of babies being abandoned on Phuket is causing alarm among the authorities, with the director of the Phuket Shelter for Children and Families voicing concern that babies who cannot be identified possibly becoming “stateless”. The shelter has been notified of more than 20 babies being abandoned since October 1 last year. The actual number is probably…
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Phuket sporting action round-up
PHUKET: A round-up of Phuket’s sporting action and players. Young gun slinger Phuket’s speed-merchant Dylan Young raced at the weekend’s JK Asia Racing Series in Singapore, for the Atlantic Racing Team. The 22-year old had secured a place for the premier open wheeler support category to the Singtel Singapore Formula One event and managed to finish in 8th spot on…
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Haitang fallout batters Phuket
PHUKET: The Thai Meteorological Department has issued another tropical storm warning coviering much of Thailand, including the Andaman provinces of Ranong, Phang Nga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun. The Thai Meteorological Department issued its initial warning after tropical storm “Haitang” made landfall at Hu, Vietnam at 4am yesterday. The national weather office re-issued its warning at 10:30 last night, following…
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Rampaging Phuket elephant whereabouts unclear
PHUKET: The whereabouts and future plans for Captain, the bull elephant that went on a rampage on September 12 sending a Ukrainian honeymooner to hospital with two broken legs, remain unclear amid dubious claims by the owners of Camp Chang Kalim. In response to claims that Captain was the same elephant involved in a previous rampage in January 2010 that…
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Honesty in football
PHUKET: “I think the Premier league is a strong product because there’s a tremendous honesty in our game and fans play a part in that.” Manchester United’s evergreen manager Sir Alex Ferguson asserting that football is a business. However, it seems that as the Scot reaches seventy-years-old his interpretation of honesty has become skewed somewhat. The fans maybe honest, but…
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Thailand relinquish Asian volleyball title
PHUKET: Thailand’s hopes of retaining the Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship crown were dashed in Taiwan last week losing to Japan at the semi-final stage. The reigning champions went down 25-13, 20-25, 25-18, 23-25, 15-13 to the world number four team, who exacted vengeance for their defeat by Thailand at the same stage last year. Despite the loss, an automatic…
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Phuket prisoners to observe Vegetarian Festival
PHUKET: About 200 inmates at Phuket Prison are taking part in this year’s Phuket Vegetarian Festival by observing a strict diet of ‘vegetarian only’ during the nine-day festival. Prison Director Rapin Nichanon said the effort is part of the facility’s on-going efforts to reform inmates so that they can become law-abiding and productive members of society. Taking part in the…
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Siam Niramit Phuket set for December opening
PHUKET: The new Siam Niramit Theater off the bypass road in Phuket is almost complete and should be ready to open in December, its operators say. Ratchada Niramit assistant managing director Wallapa Phokawat said work on the 2-billion-baht project is now almost 90 per cent complete. The 50-rai complex is located behind the Hino dealership off the southbound bypass road…
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Dropping a bombshell
PHUKET: “We’ve been practicing our goal kicking and our drop-goals a lot. Finals and semi-finals have really gone down to the wire and the track record has proven that drop-goals can win tournaments.” All Black Colin Slade suggests that the 2011 Rugby World Cup could have another Johnny Wilkinson moment to determine the outcome.
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Phuket Vegetarian Festival blasts into 2011
PHUKET: Devotees at Chinese shrines across Phuket raised their go teng poles at dusk last night and began reciting incantations to invite the Jade Emperor and Nine Emperor Gods to descend from the heavens. Among the VIPs joining Kathu Mayor Chai-anan Sutthikul in declaring the Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2011 officially open at the Kathu Shrine – the “original home” of…
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“Monk’ hash mule nabbed at Phuket Airport
PHUKET: A Nepalese “monk” was caught on Saturday at Phuket International Airport (PIA) with eight kilos of hashish in his luggage. The haul was said to be worth an estimated 800,000 baht. The suspect, Hise Chhiring Tamang, was presented at a press conference yesterday by PIA Customs Director Montira Cherchoo. Also present was PIA Deputy Director Thani Chuangcho, who said…
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Phuket Town cable burying on hold for Vegetarian Festival
PHUKET: Work installing underground utility cables in Old Phuket Town has been suspended for the duration of nine-day Vegetarian Festival, which starts with the arrival of the new moon tomorrow. “There will be many processions along the streets of the Old Town. The traffic jams would be a nightmare if they continued working while the annual festival was going on,”…
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FC Phuket douse PTT Rayong
PHUKET: FC Phuket recorded their fourth consecutive league win last night, with a 3-0 drubbing of PTT Rayong in wet conditions at Surakul Stadium. Phuket went into the match without golden boy Sarach Yooyen, but Watcharapong “Paeh” Jan-ngam shouldered the goalscoring responsibilities dutifully. He got the Southern Sea Kirin on the board in the 7th minute when he powered down…
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Rondi wins Men’s Open Final at Phuket’s Quiksilver 2011 Surf Competition
PHUKET: The Quiksilver Thailand 2011 Surf Competition came to a thrilling finale on Saturday with Bali’s Raditya Rondi claiming victory in the Men’s Open Shortboard Division. Rondi gave a master class of producing big moves on small waves for the crowds which packed Patong Beach, Phuket. Along with the title, Rondi was awarded 30,000 baht, accommodations from Ibis hotels and…
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Two boys drown in canal along Phuket’s Phang Nga Bay coast
PHUKET: Two young boys drowned late yesterday while playing in an estuary near a popular tourist area on Phuket’s east coast. The boys – Pinitchnan Na Roied, 5, and Wannawut Thanakarn, 7 – were last seen playing in the Klong Mudong canal (map), a large tidal estuary that flows into mangroves along the Phang Nga Bay coast. A Kusoldham Foundation…
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Phuket’s Kamnan Winai dodges a bullet
PHUKET: In the latest violence in Phuket, the controversial chief (kamnan) of Karon sub-district narrowly escaped with his life early this morning when his would-be assassin failed to hit him after firing at close range. Winai Chidchiew told the Phuket Gazette he was returning by motorcycle from a funeral on Patak Road Soi 9 when the attack occurred at about…
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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