Thai Life
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Sponsored Planning to extend your Thai visa? Why health insurance is more important than ever
If you plan to stay longer in Thailand, having health insurance is now more important than ever. Thai immigration often asks for proof of medical coverage when you apply to extend your visa. This applies to many types of visas,...
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By the book: Not all doom and gloom on Phuket
PHUKET: People who spend time on Phuket or reside here will surely have heard expats grumbling about the island’s property market. Of course there are some nagging issues: there is a lack of easily accessible information for buyers, similarly and most certainly a lack of regulation and there is no Multiple Listing Service [MLS]. However, while the market here is…
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Keep it green: So much water, so little to drink
PHUKET: “And not a drop to drink”, bemoan the parched and stricken seaman drifting to oblivion on a windless sea in Coleridge’s ‘The Ancient Mariner.’ It is an irony not lost on any of us that, though most of the earth’s surface is covered by water, it is largely saline and undrinkable. However, even on so-called dry land, criss-crossed by…
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Diving: Enforcing professional diving ethics
PHUKET: Almost every diver remembers his or her first dive instructor, as well as probably every instructor or dive master trained under since. Learning underwater skills is a bonding process; it requires a great deal of trust – but what about trusting the dive professional’s environmental-impact philosophy? There is no doubt that diving puts stress on the marine environment through…
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RPM awarded for excellence
PHUKET: Another much-welcomed boost for Phuket’s tourism industry has come with Royal Phuket Marina being the first marina in Thailand to receive the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence for 2015. Aside from winning the certificate, Royal Phuket Marina is also the first and only 5 Gold Anchor-awarded marina in Thailand. “We’re very proud to receive the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence. Honoring…
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Phuket Business: Old money with new visions
PHUKET: Born to one of Phuket’s wealthiest families, yet successfully cruising ahead in new business directions, is none other than Boon Yongsakul, the brains and muscle behind the success of the Boat Avenue Community Mall, along with some very well-received housing projects. His grandfather, a Hokkien Chinese migrant who came to Phuket, laid the foundation for the Yongsakul family’s business…
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Up in the air: Bangkok Airways flies to Hat Yai
PHUKET: Bangkok Airways will launch a new service between Phuket International Airport (HKT) and Hat Yai International Airport (HDY) starting in late October. Tasara Taksinapan, the carrier’s media relations manager, recently confirmed the new route with the Gazette’s ‘Up in the Air’, but said that the carrier had yet to issue an official press statement about the service, which will…
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Chinese funds trickle down to Phuket
PHUKET: The expected rush of Chinese money to overseas safe-haven properties after the recent crash of Shanghai’s stock market is an unlikely surge for this popular resort island, which will continue attracting some of the outflow, but less than what people might expect, Robert Collins, managing director of Savills (Thailand), says. It is clear that Thailand is not the preferred…
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Excuse Buster: Shaping up gluteus maximus
PHUKET: I Swore I’d never write an article with topics as generic and common as ‘bigger biceps’, ‘five fat-burning secrets’ or ‘get quads of thunder’. I hate these types of articles. They are often 2,000 words and harp on about exercises that have been around for years, but are renamed and tweaked so that they are perceived as a brand…
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Property watch: All about crunching numbers
PHUKET: Part of the buzz of the property market in Phuket is that Phuketians, foreign and Thai, have land and property in their blood and love discussing values. However, there are other numbers and number-crunching functions involved in the property game. The functions of property have transformed radically over the last few decades and the basis on which people invest…
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Profile: Wild ride on hippocampus [video]
PHUKET: Etymological failures rarely re-direct a person’s life as drastically as a simple false assumption did for topflight seahorse expert and marine biologist Lindsay Aylesworth. Lindsay was ushered into the upper echelons of seahorse research while working on her doctorate with her adviser Amanda Vincent – recognized as the leading expert in the field – and Project Seahorse at the…
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Books: Falling in love with killer birds
PHUKET: Helen Macdonald writes prose of fearsome intensity. H is for Hawk (Grove Press, New York, 2015, 300pp) is her intimate account of training a goshawk named Mabel and then running after her through the hedges and fens of the British countryside to retrieve the many rabbits and pheasants she kills. Outwardly a mild-mannered academic from Cambridge University, the author…
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The Deck condo zooms ahead
PHUKET: Major property developer Sansiri Plc’s new condominium, The Deck, is attracting interest from both Thai and international buyers. The draw is likely a result of the condo’s prime location in the heart of Patong and the fact that construction is now 100 per cent complete, with just the final stages of architectural and interior work left to be done.…
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In Focus: Chalong art evolution
PHUKET: Believe it or not, chaotic Chalong is slowly evolving into a destination where people want to live and tourists want to visit. Thanks to entrepreneurs like Oliver Schibli, who has opened his own art gallery, Bubu Collection, next to Wine Connection, people now have somewhere to go to look at beautiful creations. Oliver first arrived in Phuket from his…
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Blazing Saddles: Cycling: Not just for a healthy body
PHUKET: As if burning calories and improving cardiovascular fitness and body strength weren’t enough, a new study shows the brain-boosting benefits of biking, which begs the question: does cycling improve your sanity? I was recently out cycling in the south of Phuket with my usual riding buddies: four enthusiasts who regularly pound the pedals together, followed by just the occasional…
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Phuket Pads: Nai Harn condo goes big
PHUKET: Nai Harn Beach, which some say is one of the most popular on the island with the nearby lake attracting many tourists and locals who regularly walk or exercise around it, is getting the biggest condo development in the south of the island, due for completion in 2017. This is a much welcomed addition to Nai Harn and the…
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Health: Dodging bullets with agility
PHUKET: Agility ladders, a staple of sports training when victory can hang on the athlete’s ability to turn quickly, have moved into mainstream gyms where fitness experts say they are helping everyday exercisers be nimble and quick. Jumping, running, marching and hopscotching through the grids on the floor have become an added feature in personal training and group fitness classes.…
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Property: Middlemen scuttle many large property deals
PHUKET: After 12 years in Thailand helping international investment funds and property groups to buy big-ticket real estate, particularly hotels and resorts, the founder of ThaiEstate Asia Group knows too well that it is the middlemen who have ruined many a good transaction. Lars Lang chose his words carefully in voicing his frustration with middlemen and the way the market…
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Tank Returns: Phuket’s beloved DJ back on the scene
PHUKET: One of the island’s most beloved residents, Tom Saharut Somsanuk, perhaps more well known as ‘DJ Tank’, has been taking it easy after a health scare in April, but now he is all juiced up, ready to rock and raring to come back – harder, better, faster, stronger – to the Phuket party scene. With a larger-than-life personality and…
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On Deck: Economic benefits of regattas
PHUKET: Sailing: the sport of Kings. Or is that Polo? This famous resort island is challenging that old perception…at least the sailing one anyway. Purchasing a boat can be pricey, sure, but you do not have to be a boat owner to enjoy sailing. There are plenty of chances for residents and visitors to enjoy sailing in Phuket. The same…
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Across the Land: Designing creative domiciles
PHUKET: It is interesting every year to see the new season’s designer-wear on the runways of Milan, New York, London and other haute couture centers. Creative designers show off their very latest fashions to the world on those runways and instantaneously these new designs are considered the hottest fashion trends. Designing clothes is of course very different from designing a…
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Tread carefully in budget condo market
PHUKET: Regardless of whether the Thai gross domestic product expands at the lower target of 3 to 3.8 per cent, as earlier expected this year, it would not help the Phuket budget condominium market, or that of other major provincial cities, as they have already been affected, Phanom Kanjanathiemthao, managing director of Knight Frank Chartered Company, said in an exclusive…
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Phuket pads: Escape to Coconut Island paradise
PHUKET: A rare opportunity is presenting itself on Koh Maprao, or Coconut Island, in the form of a piece of private, pristine beach front featuring a luxury, tropical villa ready for the taking. The essence of Asian simplicity is captured by this Balinese style villa, isolated on the enchanting beach front on Coconut Island, which is off the east coast…
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Diving: Avoiding missed experiences
PHUKET: There is no substitute for the first time a diver sees – assuming they’re not having mask issues – the majestic wings of a giant manta ray as it sweeps in from the deep blue. A shadow at first that grows larger and larger until you realize that the manta has come to see what this funny bubble blower…
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Property Watch: Tourism’s disruptive behavior
PHUKET: As the island rains have drenched the collective spiritual well-being of Phuket’s hotels and property people, a little step into the reality zone could be needed. There is little doubt that the months of May and June – well, throw in September – remain agonizing for those in the trade. I came to live here in 2000 and year…
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Up in the air: Passion for aviation: Part I
This month, Up In The Air presents the first of a two-part series chronicling some of the aerial experiences of well-known Phuket-based aviator Pat James, an American who completed two tours as a combat helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. PHUKET: Most recreational flyers on the island know Pat James as the affable Texan in charge of flight and safety…
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Excuse Buster: Substituting never tasted sweeter
PHUKET: “Sweetness is the favorite taste for everyone. Eating too much sugar (sucrose) or artificial sweetener is not good for health. Nowadays, the natural sweetener from stevia is a good choice for sugar substitution because it is up to 300 times sweeter than sugar, non toxic and has no calories,” says Pisamai Kulkanjanatorn PhD, Pharmacist, Assoc. Prof, Department of Pharmaceutical…
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Sneak a peek: June 27 Cryptic Crossword answers
NOTATION:Abbreviations: UPPER CASE (if used as part of anagram, in brackets).Normal spelling: lower case. Anagrams: italic (indicated in clue by words ‘out’, ‘possibly’, ‘strangely’, ‘wild’, or similar). Letters left out: underlined. Across:9. PROVIDES: provedis 10. LOG: cut branch 11. IMAGES: games 12. BEARER: errbea 13. RAVIOLI: valori-1 14. TORN: to-R-N 15. STRAWBOARD: worstadrab 17. ORGANIZE: oringaze 18. QUARTER: traverse ground…
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Profile: Foundation of education
PHUKET: Standing alongside eager students, the Chief Executive of Phuket International Academy (PIA) has started demonstrating how to build a bamboo shelter. As he knots the rope around two bamboo sticks, Julian Whiteley explains to the children how the hut will provide protection from the elements. His 30-minute lesson on basic survival skills cannot be taught properly in a classroom.…
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Property Watch: Innocent until proven guilty
PHUKET: The global hypocrisy of societies, governments, parliaments, judicial bodies, law enforcement agencies and even friends and acquaintances can be a fascinating subject. Hypocrisy exists everywhere in the world, including the Phuket property market. In recent months, there has been a notable and worthy attempt to clean up many issues here. This work is ongoing, and will take many years.…
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Books: Lusitania: The other Titanic
PHUKET: Erik Larson is an accomplished writer of non-fiction. I greatly enjoyed the fourth of his seven books: The Devil in White City, which contrasted the glories of the 1893 Chicago World Columbian Exposition with the sordid dealings of a charming serial killer. The contrast in his new book, Dead Wake (Crown Publishers, New York, 2015, 430pp) is between the…
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