Thai Life
Thailand guides, travel tips, cultural insights, and essential local information—discover everything you need to know about living, visiting, and experiencing the Land of Smiles. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted source for Thailand guides.
-
Sponsored Living on a budget in Thailand? Here’s how to stay healthy without breaking the bank
Thailand is a popular place for people who want to enjoy a good life at a lower cost or even on a budget. Many expats, retirees, and digital nomads choose to live here because daily expenses are cheaper than in...
-
Blame it on the rain – Phuket Property Watch
PHUKET: I was channel surfing the other night when the Hollywood classic “Singin’ in the Rain” came up on screen. Settling deep into my comfy TV chair as my dog Koko lay nearby chasing dream rabbits across imaginary landscapes, things came to an all-too-sudden and conclusive end. Lightning struck near to the house and within seconds a torrential downpour ensued…
-
Welcome to Phuket, baby!
PHUKET: My daughter, now 7 months old, was born in Bangkok. And even though several months have passed since that life changing event, I clearly remember every minute of that day. But what lead to it I’d be happy to forget. The pain of choosing the right hospital, the perfect doctor we could trust. I was spoiled for choice. Bangkok…
-
How does your Phuket garden grow?
PHUKET: Oliver Wendell Holmes, an American lawyer, once wrote: “It is better to be seventy years young than forty years old”. I hope he’s right. What we do know from experience is that gardening is a rejuvenating activity that helps to keep one young. How? Simply by doing it. All that rich, oxygenated air filled with fragrance, every visual delight,…
-
Thais’ time in the sun – Phuket Diving
PHUKET: The obsession with light colored skin in Phuket and Thailand among Thais has led to a boom in many industries, most notably cosmetics, where a variety of skin-whitening products, from deodorant to face cream, are readily available. In at least one industry, however, this aversion to the sun has created an incredible lack of local staff and entrepreneurs –…
-
Phuket In focus – Dreams do come true
PHUKET: Terminally sick nine-year-old, Pakjira “Aom” Jamlongpan had never seen Thailand’s Andaman coast before. Now her wish to swim in the sea was finally about to come true. “Life is precious, so do your best today as you don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow,” was the sentence echoing in my head as I waited for her at Chalong…
-
Kamala to get Hyatt Regency
PHUKET: Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced last week that a Hyatt affiliate has entered into a management agreement with Kamala Bay Ventures Co Ltd for a Hyatt Regency branded resort in the Kamala area. The hotel will be the first Hyatt-branded resort to open in Phuket, one of Southeast Asia’s premier resort destinations. Expected to open later this year, Hyatt Regency…
-
A new lease on island life – Phuket Property
PHUKET: When is leasehold more valuable than freehold?: “In over 35 years in the property industry in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Thailand, and having worked in many Asian countries, I would have said until very recently, never. “However, I have to acknowledge that with the arrival of some excellent leasehold properties, the Thai property industry has recognized that a…
-
Thai realtors prepare for Asean integration
PHUKET: The Real Estate Sales and Marketing Association of Thailand (RESAM) and the National Association of Realtors (NAR), a leading global real estate association, joined forces recently to host a networking event in Phuket. The international real estate business network event, called Thailand CIPS (certified international property specialist) 2013 was an education and work program held at Royal Phuket City…
-
C is for colorful palette – Phuket Gardening
PHUKET: Both cordylines and crotons have been considered fairly recently in these columns. Time only for a whistle-stop tour. Suffice to say that they are two of the first foliage plants most tropical gardeners would choose, both for their dramatic and permanent leaf color and their trim form, which means that they can be put in large groups, lined up…
-
Phuket Health: Some like it hot!
PHUKET: Yoga Republic, Phuket’s most contemporary hot yoga studio, is launching in Bang Tao Place on Monday, August 12. Its mission is to provide Hot Yoga and Power Yoga in a green and clean contemporary environment, with state-of-the-art infrared heating and internationally certified teachers. Yoga Republic will be the only hot yoga studio in Phuket to have an infrared heating…
-
Phuket Books: The Canadian Chekhov
PHUKET: At the age of 82, Alice Munro is the grande dame of Canadian literature. In her 14 books of short stories, she has been compared to Anton Chekhov. If I were Chekhov, I’d take it as a compliment. Dear Life (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2013, 309pp) continues her Chekhovian obsession with time. Her narrative voice is as confident…
-
Classical concert for an urgent cause
PHUKET: An ensemble of 10 top-flight classical musicians accompanied by 100 students performed a free concert in Phuket recently to raise funds for Myanmar refugee children living near the border town of Sangkhlaburi, in Kanchanaburi province.The two-hour concert was held at the Andaman Embrace Resort and Spa on Haad Patong Road. The ensemble of Korean musicians operates under an organization…
-
Laguna Phuket conducts tsunami saftey drill for 700 staff
PHUKET: Laguna Resorts and Hotels management team yesterday launched a mass tsunami evacuation drill code-named “Safe Haven”, with approximately seven hundred associates from Laguna Phuket’s collection of deluxe hotels participating.After a series of mass briefings were given to associates and all hotel guests were notified, the precisely-choreographed, mass drill was rolled out at 2pm, starting with communication checks, followed by…
-
Phuket Property: To raise one’s roof or not to
PHUKET: I am often asked how much one should spend on a primary residence, and while this is an area open for debate, my answer usually surprises people. I have always been baffled by arguments about mortgage interest being tax deductible and many other reasons to sink way too much into one’s primary residence. This doesn’t mean I don’t think…
-
Phuket Property Watch: Things I hate about hotels
PHUKET: I have spent more nights in hotel rooms around the world than I could even start to remember. Barring a diary, an ankle-long list or a photographic memory, there are more than a few things that stick out, not unlike a Mohawk on a punk rocker or a toothpick out of a canape – small but deadly. Let’s start…
-
Phuket Property: Commercial real estate investment soars
PHUKET: Direct commercial real estate investment in the Asia Pacific region has exceeded market expectations in the first half of 2013, reaching US$59.7 billion, 21% up on the first half of 2012. According to the latest Jones Lang LaSalle capital markets research, transaction volumes in the region have also increased quarter on quarter, topping US$32.6 billion in the second quarter…
-
Phuket Lifestyle: Party on for superyachts
PHUKET: One of the highlights of the 2013 Asia Superyacht Rendezvous, sponsored by FEADSHIP Royal Dutch Shipyards, Asia Pacific Superyachts and Kata Rocks, will be the special Crew Party for the participating Superyachts on the final evening, December 18. The event will be held at the Boathouse RE KA TA Beach Club and will be sponsored by Sevenstar Yacht Transport,…
-
Phuket Raceweek: Racing with the wind – a wave of excitement
PHUKET: Winds gusting to 20 knots made for a perfect end to what has turned into one of the best Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek yet. The weather conditions delivered fast and exciting racing throughout and after four days, the sailors of more than 15 nationalities were left tired and happy. Two races for all except the Classic class made…
-
Screening out the world – Phuket Gardening
PHUKET: Can you reel off the Seven Wonders of the World without looking them up? The one we all remember is the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Nothing to do with hanging baskets. The Babylon one was hanging because it rose to a great height, and its main plants were substantial trees, not municipal petunias or busy lizzies. It was described…
-
The wonderful world of puffies
PHUKET: In World War I they called it shell shock. In World War II they called it battle fatigue. Nowadays they call it post-traumatic stress disorder (PST). Welcome to the wonderful world of puffies, where run-of-the mill words are puffed up into ornate phrases intended to impress, seduce, and deceive. I call them puffies; others call them euphemisms – or…
-
The secrets of DaVinci – Phuket People
PHUKET: What is the secret of great, Italian cuisine? It’s all in the quality ingredients. “In Italy they say that a good chef doesn’t need to use more than three or four ingredients. It’s about freshness,” says Jana Sasikova, co-owner and manager of the DaVinci restaurant. Jana is the wife of the restaurant’s supervising chef and deli manager Claudio Pivotto,…
-
Phuket People: Renaissance man
PHUKET: Goetz Bauer joined Renaissance Phuket Resort & Spa as general manager in April this year. The German national, who also speaks English, Italian and French, brings an energetic and youthful leadership style to Renaissance Phuket Resort & Spa. Goetz said his new role presents several challenges and he looks forward to taking them on.“The challenge is to learn how…
-
Phuket Property: Hideaway above Patong
PHUKET: A new luxury 5-star hotel concept by Avista, the Avista Hideaway Resort and Spa in Patong Bay is located on Patong Hill close to Tri Trang beach. The new hotel will build on the island’s reputation for high-end tourism and its strong economic base. The contemporary ultra-luxury property is set on a peaceful hill, and designed in a style…
-
Phuket Property Legal: Ensuring land claims are legit
PHUKET: In the last three to four weeks, some changes occurred in the application process and consequently the approval of registration for companies to purchase land, long term land leases, usufruct, superficies and/or lifetime living rights for foreigners. Depending on which land office one is applying for registration of certain rights, the current handling of such registration is not the…
-
Blazing Saddles pedals through Provence – Phuket Explore
PHUKET: The delights of Soi Bangla in Phuket’s party town of Patong are of course a source of continual distraction, yet even the most hardened acolyte must occasionally take a break from the pleasures of the amber nectar and recharge his batteries in quieter, more bucolic locales. So it was that I recently found myself on a cycling trip down…
-
Sabah: Journey to the land below the wind
PHUKET: When I was a child, the word Borneo would conjure up images of colonial explorers in pith helmets slashing their way through wild jungle teeming with exotic plants, ferocious animals and roaming tribes of headhunters. As I grew older, my mental picture was expanded by David Attenborough’s wonderful documentaries, which transported me to this remote island in the darkest…
-
Brighten up your rainy day – Phuket Fashion
PHUKET: Fashion is full of fleeting trends and new fads. So as the seasons change, it’s time to pick up the clothes that are “in” this season and toss out those that are not. On a tropical island like Phuket, the rainy season can be a gloomy time of year and somewhat depressing. The best antidote to the bad weather…
-
Raising a rooftop garden – Phuket Gardening
PHUKET: The chances are you probably have a roof garden of sorts. As Phuket is increasingly dominated by blocks of concrete pretentiously known as condominiums, which necessitate the annihilation of all existing vegetation in the area, the chances are that your balcony or roof is the only repository of greenery you are likely to possess. So why not make the…
-
Phuket People: Introducing Andaman Cruises’ new GM
PHUKET: German born Christian Schwind, a marketing professional with 14 years experience in business management, marketing and PR, has been appointed as general manager of Andaman Cruises, a luxury yacht charter company based in Phuket. Prior to taking on the role of GM, he was the Managing Director of Andaman Travel, an Asia based luxury travel company which helped him…
-
Phuket Explore: Lessons from Penang
PHUKET: Despite their many similarities – architectural and historical – in terms of modern-day tourism, old town Georgetown, Penang, beats the pants off the old quarter of Phuket Town. First of all, Georgetown got World Heritage status in 2008. You can’t get a better internationally recognized advertisement than that. Second, it knows what city tourists want and supplies it in…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.