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Sponsored Why 8 Atelier Residence is poised for growth: Phuket’s investment hotspot in the making
Phuket’s residential real estate market is no longer defined only by beachfront villas and short-stay resort condominiums. The island is now seeing sustained interest from international investors targeting long-term yields, capital stability, and access to full-scale lifestyle infrastructure. Looking at...
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Phuket convention center impasse triggers political concerns
ANALYSIS PHUKET: The latest political obstacle to the construction of an international convention and exhibition center on the island is a staggering blow to the Phuket tourism industry. Over the past five years, the nation’s domestic political infighting has crippled efforts to develop a sustainable plan for tourism in Thailand. As Asia led the world in a post-2008 economic surge,…
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Phuket taxi mob beats driver in broad daylight
PHUKET: A gang of taxi drivers encamped outside an upscale resort on Phuket’s west coast today beat a local driver with an iron bar before causing a reported 50,000 baht in damage to his car. His tourist passengers were reportedly inside the vehicle at the time of the attack. Preecha Choowong, 38, filed a complaint at Kamala Police Station this…
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Sunday Opinion: Meth, mobiles and keeping the peace in Phuket
PHUKET: The fact that persons unknown recently enjoyed success smuggling ya ice (crystal methamphetamine) and mobile phones into Phuket Prison by concealing the items inside dead rodents may have a comic aspect to it, but the revelation reflects a serious problem with the security situation – if not the hygiene – at that facility. The problem of smuggling at an…
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Aldhouse extradition to Phuket looks inevitable: British press
PHUKET: The extradition of British kick-boxer Lee Aldhouse to Thailand to stand trial for the August 2010 stabbing murder of US Marine Dashawn Longfellow now seems inevitable, British media have reported. Britain’s Sunday Mirror today reported a source in the British Home Office as saying: “The only way he could have realistically avoided extradition is if he would have faced…
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Phuket Square plans Bangkok mall
PHUKET: Phuket Square, managers of Jungceylon in Phuket, will launch a 300-million-baht “lifestyle community mall” on Sukhumvit Soi 20 in Bangkok during the first quarter of next year. The venture follows the company’s success with the Patong-based Jungceylon, it’s first and only other mall project. But the tail is not wagging the dog. Phuket Square has been headquartered in Bangkok…
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Phuket’s convention center, slammed by a report, now on hold
PHUKET: Phuket’s decades-old dream of having a world-class convention center took a leap backward on Wednesday when the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) issued an Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) report that highlighted numerous environmental and financial flaws in the project. A source at the MNRE Office of Policy and Planning (OPP) told a Prachachat reporter that his agency…
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Phuket lifeguards step up lifesaving campaign
PHUKET: The unveiling of plans for a new lifeguard “education center” at Phuket’s Nai Harn Beach yesterday also saw the announcement of new surf warning signs for tourists and a training program to educate more locals about the dangers of swimming in the sea. New signs will be posted on Phuket beaches this year in five languages – Thai, English,…
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Phuket Campaign for standard tuk-tuk fares sparks colorful comments
PHUKET: Tuk-tuk drivers in Kata and Karon are stepping up their campaign to have members operating in their areas certified as “safe” and in compliance with a schedule of standard fares. Certificates, to be issued annually, are meant to assure tourists that they will be treated politely and not overcharged for their ride, said Vice Governor Nivit Aroonrat at a…
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Thailand dishes Australia world cup surprise
PHUKET: Cheers could be heard across Phuket as Thailand scored first against Australia in the FIFA World Cup 2014 qualifying match late this afternoon. The affair marked both sides’ opening match for the World Cup 2014 third round Asia regional qualifiers. Thailand and Australia were drawn in Group D along with Saudi Arabia and Oman, who also play tonight. Since…
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Envoy warns of EU advisory against tourists using Phuket tuk-tuks
PHUKET: The continued failure of local authorities to address problems of tuk-tuk drivers with foreign tourists could force European Union (EU) member states to issue a joint travel advisory warning against using tuk-tuks while in Phuket, the Austrian Ambassador to Thailand has warned. Austrian Ambassador to Thailand Johannes Peterlik issued the warning to local officials during the third meeting between…
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Aussie embassy bolsters bilateral ties with Phuket students
PHUKET: An official from the Australian Embassy in Bangkok joined pupils at a Phuket Town school today for a teleconference with high-school students in Australia. Simon Farbenbloom, deputy head of mission at the Australian Embassy of Thailand, explained that the call was made to discuss an ongoing environmental sustainability project between the Srinagarindra, The Princess Mother School Phuket (SWPK, or…
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Gunfire silences Phuket construction clamor, says Swede
PHUKET: A Phuket estate manager terrified a team of Thai workers when he fired warning shots over their heads in an effort to get them to stop making noise yesterday morning, says the construction team’s foreman. Swede Mike Hjort and Songkhla native Waleeporn Chinpised, both 41, appeared at Phuket City Police Station to file a complaint against Seree Duangsuwan. The…
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Phuket Police nab teenage murder gang
PHUKET: Phuket Police took just a few hours to track down and arrest three teenagers wanted for the strangling murder of a Phuket resort worker yesterday. At least two more suspects remain at large. Police presented two of the suspects to the press at Phuket City Police Station this morning. The suspects were identified as Charin “Mutt” Chokekue and Kittiphum…
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German victim of Phuket mob bashing out of coma
PHUKET: German national Kurt Trotnow, who is in intensive care after being beaten by a mob in Patong, is conscious but still on a respirator. “Kurt is conscious now but still cannot talk because he is on a respirator. When he wakes up, I talk with him and he looks at me. He understands my words,” said his wife, Jiraporn…
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Phuket Town calls for heavy metals
PHUKET: Phuket City Municipality in conjunction with the Pollution Control Department, under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, is calling for people to donate all old items containing heavy metals. Phuket Vice Governor Weerawat Janpen, Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwanasupana and Rangson Pinthong, director of the PCD’s Waste & Hazardous Substances Management Bureau, launched the annual project at Phuket…
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Tuk-tuks, jet-skis top complaints by Aussie tourists in Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha yesterday received more bad news about the state of Phuket’s tourism industry as the Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian Embassy in Bangkok told him that complaints about tuk-tuk drivers and jet-ski scams topped the embassy’s list of complaints filed by Aussie tourists in Phuket. “I personally haven’t heard any complaints, but I do…
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Phuket consuls let loose over German bashing
PHUKET: The quarterly meeting between Phuket’s honorary consuls and local officials held at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday placed tuk-tuk drivers’ conduct squarely in the spotlight. The meeting became the forum for the strongest comments yet by the Phuket-based honorary consuls, who urged Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pekad Tantipong to take action and bring to justice tuk-tuk and taxi drivers who…
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Thai Army digs deep in Phuket to recover “landslide house’
PHUKET: A sortie of 15 soldiers from the Royal Thai Army 2nd Infantry Battalion based in Ranong arrived in Phuket yesterday to help excavate by hand a house located high in the hills of Kamala, on Phuket’s west coast. Heavy rains last Thursday caused earth on the slope above the house to slide down the hill, coming to rest along…
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Abandoned baby found in southern Phuket
PHUKET: Police have launched an investigation in Phuket to discover the parents of a baby boy found slightly bruised but otherwise healthy in the flat-bed of a pick-up truck this morning. Phuket City Police and members of the Ruamjai Rescue Foundation responded to a call at 8am from Wichit Moo 3 village headman Udom Nokseekaew reporting he had found a…
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The Curse of the Police Banyan Tree Shrine
NONTHANURI: A police investigation into the attempted murder-suicide by the wife of a police captain has taken a strange turn as a curse-cleansing ceremony was held at the police station’s banyan tree shrine. Last week, Siripat Kongkla, the wife of Nonthaburi city police officer Kongcham Kongkla, reportedly shot their five-year-old daughter using her husband’s police-issue 9mm handgun before turning the…
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Phuket anti-drug volunteer arrested in meth bust
PHUKET: A former volunteer member of the Phuket provincial drug suppression unit was among seven members of a gang of alleged drug dealers arrested in Chalong on Tuesday. Chalong Police rounded up the gang at a variety of locations in Chalong and Karon after a successful sting operation. A total of 123 grams of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine) and 432…
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Phuket Opinion: Bangkok to have no-booze zones. Will Phuket be next?
PHUKET: If what’s good for the capital is good for the country, then Phuket could soon have alcohol-free zones. According to a report this afternoon by the government’s National News Bureau, Bangkok is tipped to have such zones throughout the city, in a move to “curb violence that often stems from binge drinking.” But this is not a tsk-tsk ‘social…
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Phuket Poll: Thaksin due back soon
PHUKET: A clear majority of Phuket Gazette online pollsters believe former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will return to Thailand by the end of 2012. In the Phuket Gazette Poll that went online August 10, readers were asked: Given current political events, how long do you think it will be before fugitive former PM Thaksin Shinawatra sets foot on Thai soil?…
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Phuket Prison to crack down on phone and drug deliveries
PHUKET: Phuket Prison will install 12 CCTV cameras around its perimeter wall and throughout the compound as part of a ‘crackdown’ targeting mobile phone and drug deliveries to inmates. “Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha has approved a budget of 90,000 baht from the Provincial Office for the CCTV system to be installed at Phuket Prison,” Prison Director Rapin Nichanon announced at…
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Phuket memorial for Ken Brookes
PHUKET: Friends and family will be gathering at a memorial event in memory of Phuket publisher Ken Brookes on Sunday, September 4. Mr Brookes passed away in the United Kingdom on August 10, 2011. The gathering will be held from from 2pm to 4pm at the Happy Hut Restaurant, located on the left of the entrance to the Ao Po…
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Phuket update: Patong Hospital flooding ‘worst in ten years’
PHUKET: Floodwaters that crippled operations at Patong Hospital on Saturday were the worst the facility has experienced in ten years, the hospital director told the Phuket Gazette. Patong Hospital Director Phumin Silaphan said operations were partially restarted after water was pumped from the basement over the weekend. “Out-patient and emergency cases are now being accepted and there are many Thais…
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German man still in ICU after dispute with Phuket tuk-tuk driver
PHUKET: A German man is in intensive care fighting for his life after he was beaten by a mob of Phuket tuk-tuk drivers for refusing to pay a fare of 200 baht (approx US$6.70). Kathu Police Duty Officer Teerasuk Boonsang told the Phuket Gazette that he was called to the scene, near the junction of Soi Bangla and Rat-U-Thit 200…
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Phuket Live Wire: Unofficial study nets surprising rates of speed
PHUKET: The amount you pay for an Internet line has almost no correlation with how fast the line runs internationally. Before you spend a fortune on a new Internet connection, make sure you understand what you are – and aren’t – getting. Hundreds of Phuket residents regularly report (click here for graph) their international internet download speeds on PhuketInternetSpeed.com. Computer…
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TAT targets timeshare use of logo
PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has warned businesses and operators that it would consider legal action against those counterfeiting or imitating their seal and initials. The move is intended to be a warning shot at illegal timeshare companies in Phuket. The statement signed by TAT Governor Suraphon Svetasreni appeared on the TAT News Room site on July 26,…
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Liverpool Legends stop in Phuket canceled
PHUKET: The Liverpool Legends tour series football matches, scheduled to take place in Phuket and Bangkok in October, has been canceled, the Gazette is sad to report. Cris Rosenbergs, creator of the Football Legends Tour concept, informed the Gazette by email this morning that the series of charity fundraising events could not take place: “Due to the obstacles and issues…
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