News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.
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Sponsored Digital nomading in Chiang Mai? What US$1,000 a month really gets you
Chiang Mai has become a popular destination for digital nomads due to its low living costs, rich culture, and active remote work community. The city offers affordable housing, tasty food, reliable internet, and many co-working spaces, making it a great...
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Work underway on Patong Hill flooding problem
PHUKET: After almost daily flooding, work is now underway on a ‘permanent solution’ to the chronic drainage problem on the low-lying stretch of Patong Hill road where sinkholes have formed in the past. For our previous reports, click here and here. The Phuket Provincial Highway Department and Patong Municipality are joining forces and funds to complete the 5-million-baht project which…
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Don’t coax crocs, Thai tourists told
NAKHON RACHASIMA: Authorities at Khao Yai National Park have given a stern warning to tourists, ordering them to stop taunting the park’s pair of two-meter-long crocodiles. The warning came after officials spotted visitors tempting the beasts with their feet. The reptiles first hit the headlines last year when they were seen swimming around a waterhole in the park, which is…
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Funeral services for Eric Tomlin
PHUKET: Eric Tomlin, founder of Phuket-Villas.com and Lynx Management Group, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 63 last week. A former Cathay Pacific pilot, Mr Tomlin was a pioneer in the development of the upscale villa market on the island. The native of Leicestershire, England is survived by his wife Suchada Chaloemtoem and two young daughters. Cremation services are…
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Murdered woman’s corpse found on Phuket roadside
PHUKET: A man on his commute to work made a gruesome discovery this morning, finding the rotting corpse of a woman stuffed into a suitcase and deposited along Chao Fa Thani Road, behind the new Honda Showroom on Chao Fa West northbound in Wichit. The discovery was made at 9:15am by 35-year-old Prasit Klaigate, an employee of the VSN Service…
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Airport baggage thieves bagged
PHUKET: Two baggage staff at Phuket Airport are to be charged with theft after allegedly stealing two cellphones from an Australian tourist’s luggage yesterday. When Bret Drinkwater arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok aboard a Thai Airways flight, he noticed his iPhone and Nokia cellphone were missing from his bag. After he informed police in Bangkok, at around 4pm, they…
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Phuket to host travel congress
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. World Cup? Get instantaneous scores and news updates right here on the Gazette Online (fed directly from FIFA). PHUKET: The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) will hold its 59th Annual Travel Congress (convention and exhibition) in Phuket, from…
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Lithuanian father seeks missing son in Phuket
PHUKET: A Lithuanian man desperate to re-establish contact with his missing son is offering a 25,000-baht reward to anyone who can help him find the young man. The father, 40-year-old Andrej Korkus, was at Kathu Police Station yesterday in search of his 24-year-old son who bears the same name. Mr Korkus Sr said his son, his only child, went to…
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Aussie death plunge in Phuket likely an accident
PHUKET: The expat operators of a Patong hotel have dismissed local media reports suggesting that an Australian man who plunged three floors to his death on the morning of June 10 took his own life following a World Cup dispute with a Thai girlfriend. The death was most likely accidental, they said. According to one media report, 29-year-old Shawn Morris…
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Aussies like it overseas
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. World Cup? Get instantaneous scores and news updates right here on the Gazette Online (fed directly from FIFA). PHUKET: Australians, a top tourism market for Phuket, are taking one less holiday at home each year, and are being enticed…
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Phuket Poll: Patong City sign
PHUKET: Work is underway on a 9-million-baht project to create a large welcome sign on Patong Hill, at the border between Patong and Kathu municipalities. The project, funded under the Thai Khem Kaeng (Strong Thailand) financial stimulus package, has drawn criticism from some quarters. What do you think? Have your say in the latest Phuket Gazette readers’ poll by clicking…
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Readers’ poll: Phuket economy hurt by Bangkok turmoil
PHUKET: Most Phuket Gazette online readers think the political turmoil in April and May seriously harmed Phuket’s economy, the results of the latest readers’ poll reveal. Of 536 readers who took part, 59.7% overall said the protests seriously harmed Phuket’s economy. A smaller percentage, 27.6%, said the events had hurt Phuket’s economy ‘a little’, while 5.2% thought Phuket had not…
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Vice Governor Nivit back in Phuket
PHUKET: New Phuket Vice Governor Nivit Aroonrat is on the job as of today, June 21. V/Gov Nivit comes to Phuket from Sukhothai, where he served as provincial vice governor for almost a year. The 59-year-old native of Phuket brings 35 years of public service experience to the job. He is taking over the position from departing Vice Gov Smith…
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Another road death in Phuket
PHUKET: A Phang Nga man was killed in a motorbike accident near the entrance to the Phuket Shooting Range early Friday morning. Chalong Police identified the driver as 28-year-old Nopparat Yodying, a resident of Tambon Baan Muang, Takuapa District. Initial police investigations showed that Mr Nopparat was unable to stop when a Honda sedan in front of him slowed down…
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Phuket, Chiang Mai launch “exchange tourism’
PHUKET: A 100-strong party of Chiang Mai businessmen, entrepreneurs and government officials will arrive on Phuket on July 4 for a three-day inspection visit with the aim of promoting tourist travel between Phuket and Chiang Mai, and to foster better relations between the tourism businesses of the two holiday destinations. The exchange tourism project was announced yesterday at a meeting…
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Is Phuket business ready for the bulls?
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. World Cup? Get instantaneous scores and news updates right here on the Gazette Online (fed directly from FIFA). PHUKET: Robotic as it is, Phuket NEWS Hound is obedient in the extreme. It never fails to do what Gazette editors…
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Love in Phuket: Thai-foreigner marriages that fail
PHUKET: Thai-foreigner relationships accounted for well over half of all contested divorces in Phuket last year, according to the new chief justice of the Phuket Provincial Juvenile and Family Court (PPJFC). Chief Justice Methinee Thipmonthian said at a press conference earlier this month that in 2009 there were 24 Thai-foreigner divorces contested in Phuket, out of a total 36 cases…
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Aussie fraudster’s Phuket vacation cut short
KATHU, PHUKET: A young Australian tourist is facing deportation from Thailand after falsely claiming that she had been robbed in order to claim on her insurance, police in Phuket said. Patong Police said the 20-year-old college student told them that two young men on a motorbike had snatched her bag in Patong yesterday. But on questioning, it emerged that the…
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Phuket Music Festival returns
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. World Cup? Get instantaneous scores and news updates right here on the Gazette Online (fed directly from FIFA). PHUKET: The Phuket Music Festival will take place next weekend, June 25-26, the Bangkok Post reminds us. Hosted by the Tourism…
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Phuket to go postal over World Cup sweepstakes
PHUKET: If you have business at the post office, here’s a tip: don’t wait until the last few days before the World Cup Final to get it done because the snail mail centers are likely to become beehives buzzing with activity as millions of Thais descend upon them to send off postcards as part of a 40-million-baht World Cup sweepstakes.…
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Phuket Property at awesome prices
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. World Cup? Get instantaneous scores and news updates right here on the Gazette Online (fed directly from FIFA). PHUKET: Trends in property prices in Phuket have not been easy to discern since the end of the “boom” began to…
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Chiang Mai cops see red
CHIANG MAI: Police responding to reports of a gathering of hundreds of armed red-shirt demonstrators on June 12 were relieved when the group turned out to be South Korean soccer fans cheering on their team. Residents told police that a group of around 300 people, many wearing red, had gathered in Manna Rim Mae Ping restaurant on the banks of…
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Thai police see red in Chiang Mai
CHIANG MAI: Police responding to reports of a gathering of hundreds of armed red-shirt demonstrators on June 12 were relieved when the group turned out to be South Korean soccer fans cheering on their team. Residents told police that a group of around 300 people, many wearing red, had gathered in Manna Rim Mae Ping restaurant on the banks of…
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World Cup update: Day 7
PHUKET: Argentina went on a scoring spree against Korea Republic with Gonzalo Higuain firing the first hat-trick of this Fifa World Cup to take a huge step towards the last 16, beating the Asians 4-1. Meanwhile in Bloemfontein, Dimitrios Salpingidis and Vasileios Torosidis scored to earn Greece a 2-1 comeback victory over a Nigerian team that played most of the…
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Phuket cops nab debauched bandits
PHUKET: A police dragnet led to the arrest of three young men wanted in connection with numerous cases of armed robbery and sexual assault in Phuket. Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pekad Tantipong presented the suspects to the media yesterday, identifying them as Noppon ‘Bell’ Gerdphon, Chaiwut ‘Boy’ Plengsri and Wittawat ‘Tee’ Saenai. All are Phuket residents in their early 20s.…
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Work on new Phuket incinerator to start next month
PHUKET: Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwansupana has confirmed that the construction of Phuket’s long-awaited second solid waste incinerator is to begin next month, while a 43-million-baht project to improve the surrounding landfill is now complete. “Construction of the new plant was delayed because the original plans had be to modified for the incinerator to pass the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA)…
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English out of World Cup in Phuket
PHUKET: Authorities in Patong are reportedly cracking down on bars illegally showing World Cup football matches with English-language commentary. A source has told the Gazette that officials last night raided a restaurant that allegedly violated international copyright law by airing broadcasts telecast on the Malaysian-based Astro SuperSport satellite TV network. Astro Supersport is included in packages offered by many local…
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Phuket hero pulls motorist from burning Volvo
KOH KAEW, PHUKET: A courageous 62-year-old man saved a driver’s life by pulling him from a burning car following a crash in Koh Kaew before dawn this morning. Armard ‘Mard’ Pattanee rushed to the crumpled Volvo after hearing a loud bang. He cut driver Banjong Laocharoen’s seatbelt and helped him to safety – shortly before the car became completely engulfed…
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Phuket opinion: lax standards led to mudslide deaths
PHUKET: Like so many accidents in Phuket, the fatal mudslide at a building site in Patong earlier this month could have been prevented if any of the parties involved – developer, contractor and local officials – had done their jobs professionally. (See front page story in the June 12-19 issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here.) If the…
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World Cup update: Day 6
PHUKET: Last night’s play saw the first major upset in the FIFA 2010 World Cup, with Spain falling to underdogs Switzerland 1-0. Chile earned three points by defeating Honduras 1-0, putting them at the top of Group H, alongside Switzerland. Host South Africa’s chances of proceeding to the second round were dimmed when they lost 3-0 to Uruguay. Tonight’s matches:…
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Phuket Court dismisses sex case against PIA teacher
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. World Cup? Get instantaneous scores and news updates right here on the Gazette Online (fed directly from FIFA). PHUKET: ABC News reports that child sexual assault charges against a Tasmanian teacher working in Phuket have been dropped. Andrew Clements,…
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