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.
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Phuket Food: Discover the delights of durian
PHUKET: The ineffable flavor of the durian has been a source of intense debate among locals and visitors to Southeast Asia for centuries. There have been countless attempts at describing the fruit’s pungent smell and unique taste; it has been likened to roast almonds, rotten onions, old gym socks and even turpentine. While everyone has a different way of describing…
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Airborne Virus spreads science across the globe
While many visitors arrived at Phuket International Airport in the run-up to last month’s Songkran Festival, a French couple, whose microlight aircraft landed there on April 11 for safety reasons, raised more than a few eyebrows at the busy facility. Stephen Fein reports:PHUKET: The couple, 31-year-old Adrien Normier and his fiancée Clementine Bacri, 28, are on an around-the-world journey of…
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A meal among Phuket’s mangroves
PHUKET: THE location of Chaiyo Seafood Riverside Restaurant is simply breathtaking. Situated in Bor Rae district of Phuket, beside Mudong Canal at the point where it meets the sea of Ao Yon Bay, Chaiyo is where diners come to enjoy local dishes and fresh seafood while watching the water ebb and flow. On the other side of the canal, the…
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Phuket Gardening: Alpha shrubs start with ‘A’
PHUKET: Last week we considered annuals, but today it is the turn of their big brothers – the shrubs and ornamental trees that form the backbone of any tropical garden (click here for last week’s article). Acalypha hispida, also known as the chenille plant or red cat’s tail, is alphabetically the first to come under scrutiny. Unlike its cousin, A.…
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Phuket Diving: Seahorse lovers asked to saddle up
PHUKET: Project Seahorse calls on all divers and marine enthusiasts to help with the recently launched three-year project aimed at studying the seahorses of Thailand. Seahorses were one of the first fish species to be added, in 2004, to Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which demands that countries…
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Phuket Education: Middle years program excels
PHUKET: In a recent edition of the British newspaper, the Weekly Telegraph (February 12-19, 2013), Suzi Dixon examines the lot of internationally mobile parents seeking an appropriate education for their children. Essentially, she compares International Baccalaureate (IB) programs with the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE). Ms Dixon begins her article by noting that many schools use curricula specially…
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The future of Phuket’s residential market
PHUKET: According to leading real estate consultant, CBRE Thailand, Phuket’s residential market is experiencing a significant change in direction, which started late last year. The change is likely to be the most significant since the Asian crisis in 1997 and is driven by a number of factors – the entry of Bangkok-based and Thai public listed developers; the move towards…
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Phuket Property Watch: How same-same drove me insane
PHUKET: It was a rainy Tuesday night, just last week, when I rolled over in bed and casually glanced at my wife, enveloped in the dark shadows of sleep. Suddenly, my heartbeat turned staccato, as it dawned on me that the woman next to me had not the familiar face of my wife, but, shockingly, turned out to be my…
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Phuket Pets: As sweet as sugar
PHUKET: When browsing through markets in Thailand, it is always fascinating to come across a pet store and see which exotic animals they have on offer. Snakes, lizards, turtles, hedgehogs and even African cennec foxes can be found among the more usual cats and dogs. Walking through the Phuket Town weekend market recently, I discovered a pet shop selling sugar…
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Phuket Dog of the Week: Chico
PHUKET: Chico is a cream male poodle mix, so if you are looking for a low shedding dog that’s intelligent, sociable with other dogs and affectionate towards children then this is your dog! Chico is about eight years old, and is a wise old dude, with a very relaxed temperament. He doesn’t bark a lot and is trained to stay…
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Phuket On The Menu: The Art of food
PHUKET: When checking in on Facebook one often comes across photographs of food; meals about to be consumed at restaurants and in homes. With the advent of ‘smart phones’ it seems everyone now has a camera ready to snap a shot of their dinner or their cat, or even their cat’s dinner. Among my Facebook friends is local artist Jayda…
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Phuket Gardening: Running the gamut from A to A
PHUKET: When I hit upon the not so original idea of listing an ABC of tropical plants suitable for Phuket’s gardens, I accepted the fact that there would inevitably be some overlap with previous articles. Just a different kind of taxonomy. But what I hadn’t bargained for was the sheer volume of relevant plants. Uamporn Veesommia’s cryptically named “Plant Materials…
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Blazing Saddles: Pedaling with pasta
PHUKET: Silvano Amolini of the Dusit Thani Laguna Resort is one of Phuket’s preeminent chefs and is also a keen cyclist. Baz Daniel recently caught up with him for a ride around his Bang Tao Beach backyard, followed by some serious pasta-loading at La Trattoria Restaurant. One of the great unsolved mysteries of the universe is the seemingly irrevocable link…
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A festival of fitness for Phuket
PHUKET: The second Phuket Health and Fitness Festival, on May 18-19, will feature various events and activities, including yoga classes, lectures on well-being, raw food cooking classes, Zumba, a boot camp and the ultimate stand up paddle board (SUP) challenge. The event aims to give the local community a fun, informative weekend that appeals to all ages, and it is…
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Pirates of the Andaman
PHUKET: In the 1930s, the Thai government used the Andaman island of Tarutao as a prison to incarcerate the country’s most undesirable criminals. When the Japanese Imperial Army brought the Second World War to the footsteps of the kingdom in December of 1941, the Thai government under Field Marshall Phibun Songkram sided with the invaders against the allied forces (click…
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All systems go, Phuket
PHUKET: The Navy League Phuket (NLP) is pulling out all the stops in preparation for this year’s American Independence Day weekend celebrations, with a family picnic, live music and the grandest of air-shows on the cards. To celebrate the USA’s 237th birthday, the NLP will stage an unprecedented extravaganza in a carnival-like format on July 6 and 7 at the…
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Tune Hotel rocks Patong
PHUKET: THE Tune Hotel Patong has taken the main stage of one the world’s most renowned resort islands by storm, with a new focus on real value and more choices for savvy travellers. Tune Hotel Patong is perfectly situated for guests to kick off their stay in the heart of Phuket’s vibrant local dining and shopping precinct. It is located…
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Outrigger gets new Executive Vice President
PHUKET: Global marketing expert Sean Dee has joined the Outrigger executive team as executive vice president and chief marketing officer. The new appointment was recently announced by David Carey, president and CEO of Outrigger Enterprises Group. As the company’s new global brand steward, Dee is responsible for developing and deploying the global marketing and brand strategies for Outrigger Enterprises Group,…
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Khao Lak finds its way forward
PHUKET: These days, everywhere you turn, the news is focused on Phuket fever. From soaring airport arrival numbers and surging hotel occupancy rates to, of course, the sordid underbelly of mass tourism. But the resort destination known as ‘Greater Phuket’ is no ‘one trick pony’. Nearby Khao Lak has certainly been kicking up its heels lately as Fortuna’s wheel of…
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Brave diving leads to wondrous discoveries in sands off Phuket
PHUKET: Turn your back on the reef. This isn’t an orientation dive to test your ability to get back to the corals. Turn your back on the safety of the gorgonian sea fans, staghorn corals and saffron-colored clam, and start kicking – be brave. Following the lead of Vince Moy from Kiwidiver, we stomp across the sand of Kata Beach…
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Phuket Gardening: Nursery education
PHUKET: With the wet season looming, now is a good time to put the spotlight on Phuket’s plant nurseries, or what North Americans refer to as garden centers. After all, we will doubtless be paying them a visit or two in the near future, so let’s suspend our A to Z of plants for a moment. First the good points:…
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Phuket International Boat Show will be in January
PHUKET: The Phuket International Boat Show (PIMEX), ‘Asia’s favorite boat show’, which has been held in March for the last two years, will now return to its previous date slot and will next be held from January 9-12, 2014 at Royal Phuket Marina said Andy Dowden, show director. “Following feedback from the 10th anniversary show earlier this year, we have…
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The stork and the snail
PHUKET: As we all know to our cost, snails are the gardener’s bane. Today’s subject, however, is not about the common or garden variety creature that hides in the day and slides and slithers around at night to devour your seedlings, but another, more exotic species. Perhaps it merits a less disparaging mention in dispatches. The species in question is…
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Phuket Property: Asking for a second opinion
PHUKET: Many times prospective buyers of property in Thailand search online for legal information in regards to their purchase. They soon discover that online legal advice varies depending on the law office, lawyer or advisor providing the information. In some cases advice is given which recommends that to secure an investment in property a Thai company should be incorporated to…
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Indian tycoon eyes Thailand
PHUKET: Asgar Patel, group chairman of India-based multinational House of Patels, and one of the wealthiest people in India and the United Arab Emirates, earlier this week expressed an interest in investing in Phuket’s property market. “We are interested in investing in the Thai property sector not only in Bangkok, but also in other locations such as Hua Hin and…
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Phuket People: Prapa Hemmin
PHUKET: At the photo session prior to our interview, Prapa Hemmin looks dazzling in an electric blue dress and matching necklace. Still, she apologizes, “Sorry if I don’t look my best today. I am in the middle of an important project, the nature of which keeps me awake at night and the fatigue is ruining my complexion.” As Director of…
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Fine dining at Phuket’s NINE
PHUKET: In the three months since it opened, the NINE Wine Bar and Bistro, tucked away in a cozy corner at the Royal Place, has brought a fresh new dining treat to Phuket. For those of you who fly past the Tesco Lotus intersection to enter the bypass road speedway, try and slow down a bit and you’ll see the…
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Phuket Books: The new wave general
PHUKET: General David Petraeus is justly famous for introducing a sophisticated counter-insurgency strategy in Iraq that averted a catastrophic civil war and led to an orderly American withdrawal. Previously, American troops had been stationed in huge forts from which they would venture forth in under-armored vehicles, which fell prey again and again to roadside bombs. Petraeus introduced a badly needed…
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Phuket Tech: Cyber-crime law being revised
PHUKET: The Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) has launched the process of reforming the country’s computer crime law and expects new legislation to be announced within the next three years. Surangkana Wayuparb, chief executive officer of the ETDA, said the law, which was implemented five years ago, still leaves problems about cyber-crime and the cyber-environment, and people are concerned about…
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Phuket Explore: Low-tech heaven
PHUKET: It is perhaps a little known fact that residents of Phuket, the island renowned for its sandy beaches and crystal clear water, are always on the lookout for a holiday getaway somewhere else. The reasons? Increasingly crowded beaches and expensive hotels that offer little value for money. So when a friend told us about a tent-hotel on an isolated…
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