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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Land of smiles: An interview with Higgs Boson
PHUKET: The wonderful world of particle physics is agog at the recent discovery of the ‘Higgs boson’. This is not to be confused with the ‘Higgs bosom’, a stunning anatomical configuration possessed by Miss Fanny Higgs, an exotic dancer in Las Vegas. No. A Higgs boson is a subatomic particle. Through my extensive mafia connections I managed to score an…
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Phuket Lifestyle: The island’s own daredevil
PHUKET: Sometimes Phuket is compared to the Wild West, and, although a bit dramatic, it can be true. You never know what can happen here, or who you might find doing it. The island has a tendency to draw extraordinary individuals. Quiet neighborhoods overlooking the ocean that house the secretly rich and famous. You might meet the person who invented…
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Phuket Tech: Travel apps; Tech tips on start-up
PHUKET: We all take our mobile phones with us when we travel to far away destinations like Phuket, be it for business or relaxation. The costs of international roaming can become truly exorbitant; however, the explosion in phone apps, either free or with nominal download charges, could provide the solution. Most will require an internet connection, though “free WiFi” is…
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Phuket’s divers speak, the world listens
PHUKET: PADI dive professionals, from dive master to instructor examiner, united and made Phuket’s reefs their number one priority by taking part in Go Eco Phuket’s record breaking reef cleanup. Tasked with bringing up the bigger debris and the 4.5 ton net in Banana Bay those on board Khao Lak Scuba Adventures Manta Queen III were obviously excited about the…
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Phuket Property: Thai property investors facing AEC land ownership hurdles, local competition issues
PHUKET: Although the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will open up opportunities for Thai investors in other countries in the region, the investors will have to be concerned about barriers to entering the property sector in those nations, experts have said.They voiced this view at a seminar titled “AEC: Pros and Cons for the Property Sector”, conducted by the Real Estate…
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Phuket Environment: Jellyfish are back in the spotlight
PHUKET: A piece published recently in a London daily newspaper may have created some unnecessary alarm in Phuket. The story concerned a British tourist who apparently fell overboard while on a boat in Thailand. She was so severely stung by jellyfish that she ended up in hospital with the equivalent of third degree burns, not only excruciatingly painful but which…
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Phuket Books: Peace Corps Redux
PHUKET: What to make of Paul Theroux? He has written 19 novels and 15 travel books. His traveling persona and fictional characters both share a certain mean-spirited crustiness. But, his latest novel The Lower River (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, New York, 2012, 323pp) is written close to the heart. Like Paul Theroux, the narrator Ellis Hock had been a Peace…
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Phuket Gardening: Having it both ways
PHUKET: I am aware that it may sound heinous, but having given the matter some thought, I don’t believe the tropical gardener should be too preoccupied with the hazards of poisonous plants. After all, only a few, such as the lantana, have toxic berries or fruit.Take the allamanda cathartica or ban burii. One of the best of all tropical climbing…
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Phuket History: Look back at the island’s changing climate
PHUKET: Climate change is becoming a big issue in our modern world. Changing temperatures are causing extreme weather conditions, and such changes are being noticed throughout the world. The Arctic ice caps are melting at an alarming rate and sea levels are predicted to rise even faster in coming years. Not only is the climate changing throughout the world, but…
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Land of smiles: Recapping the conventions
PHUKET: Here are some highlights of the recent US political conventions for readers who may have missed them on TV: The main thrust of the Republican convention was to emphasize Mitt Romney’s warm humanity. Mitt reminds people of one of those wooden statues of American Indians that used to stand outside cigar stores. To humanize him, they brought out his…
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Phuket Property: Condominium law since 2008
PHUKET: In a move to address numerous complaints from condominium buyers, the Thai government enacted the Condominium Act No 4 (2008), which significantly expanded the scope of consumer protection by amending several provisions of the original Condominium Act made thirty years previously. The original Act has been amended three times in attempts to keep the law up to date with…
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Phuket Business: Tune in, turn on, pass out
PHUKET: Complementing the recent opening of the Tune Hotel Asoke in Bangkok, Phuket is looking to welcome its own premium yet low-cost, frills-optional hotel, to open in Patong in December. Owned and operated under a franchise agreement by Red Planet Hotels, the growing Tune brand presence in Thailand expands on existing branches in Haad Yai and Pattaya. Tune Hotels is…
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Phuket History: Remembering an art master
PHUKET: Thai art students and enthusiasts recently celebrated Silpa Bhirasri Day, a Thai holiday, which is designated to commemorate the legacy of the late ‘Father of Modern Thai Art’. “Life is short … art is longer”, was the motto of Professor Silpa Bhirasri, an Italian sculptor who was born Corrado Feroci in 1892. Feroci came to Thailand at the age…
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Go-Eco Phuket takes on the ocean’s silent killer
PHUKET: Rubbish. It is ugly; it costs local communities and economies; and it destroys wildlife. Every year tens of thousands of marine creatures, mammals and birds die because of the litter we drop or the fishing nets we abandon and lose at sea. If you are fed up with seeing your local dive site trashed, or rubbish left on Phuket…
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Phuket Gardening: Red for danger
PHUKET: Today’s piece was intended to focus on shrubs, beautiful and not armored, but still unlikely to find a place in a garden frequented by children due to their poisonous qualities. But, another small tree has temporarily upstaged them. I was on a trip around Phuket, and ended up, literally, in a small soi which, as they often do, terminated…
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Phuket Property: Land art made from the heart
PHUKET: Phuket has participated in a project entitled ‘The King’s Land Art Project’ using Niwet Silpa, or ‘Land Art’ inspired by nine different national artists and erected in nine provinces around Thailand. Each of the nine designs across the Kingdom represent His Majesty’s talents and projects and range in size from four to 20 rai. The Phuket project was taken…
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Phuket Environment: Fishing till the seas run dry
PHUKET: There are certain indisputable facts about fish. With very few exceptions, they look good, taste good and they do you good. Dietitians recommend at least two fishy portions a week. So-called “oily fish” – herring, mackerel, salmon, tuna and sardines – are especially good for you since they contain omega 3 fatty acids that help keep immune systems healthy…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Authentic Kopi
PHUKET: If you happen to be in downtown Phuket and want a respite from the heat and a quick bite with refreshing drinks, you’d do no better than dropping at Kopi de Phuket on Phuket Road. Kopi, a Hokkien Chinese term derived from the English word “coffee,” is used up and down the Malay Peninsular to mean either coffee or…
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Land of smiles: Ye olde Curmudgeon’s imaginary interview
PHUKET: In the wake of the recent Republican convention, I thought I’d do an imaginary interview with US presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Imaginary interviews are always more fun than real ones, because you can make your interviewee say anything you want. This one would go like this:Me: Our readers want to know what experience you have in foreign affairs.Mitt: Well,…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Come fly with me
PHUKET: Suchard ‘Robert’ Raksangob wants to share his enthusiasm for flying airplanes with visitors and residents of Phuket. On Saturday, September 15 from 3pm, he’s inviting anyone with an interest in aviation to join him at the Phuket Airpark in Pa Klok where they can join the Phuket Flying Club.“I flew for more than 25 years with the Thai Flying…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Expecting moms rejoice
PHUKET: Expats preparing to give birth in their domiciled home-away-from-home, will be happy to know of a new website recently launched. ExpectingExpats.com provides a forum for pregnant expat women and new mothers living in Thailand and adjoining countries to share their experiences, learn from one another, ask questions and seek advice. The first website of its kind in Thailand, ExpectingExpats.com…
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Phuket Property: Drifting along the right track
PHUKET: Drift Interiors is an up and coming design company based out of a stylish Sino-Portuguese town house on Krabi Road in Phuket Town. Creative Director Craig Paterson and his Creative Partner Khun Yoo have worked their artistic flair on a number of projects ranging from resorts to residential villas on Phuket. Craig spoke to the Phuket Gazette.Phuket Gazette: What…
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Phuket Diving: Out of the shadows ye self-reliant scuba diver
PHUKET: Ten years, five years, even two years ago, any conversations approaching the idea of “solo” diving were held in hushed voices in the back of small bars between experienced divers, or in the depths of online cave-diving forums. ‘Buddy diving’ was a philosophy heralded by Jacques Cousteau and the crew of the Calypso as early as the writing of…
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Phuket Gardening: A holy trinity of jasmines
PHUKET: What do the following tropical plants have in common? Jasminum, buddleia paniculata, gardenia, murraya, plumeria, wrightia, fiddlewood, alstonia, michelia alba, cestrum nocturnum. Well, actually they have two points of similarity. One, they are all white flowering shrubs or trees; two, they are all sweet-smelling. I have placed the jasmine first in the above list because, along with the lotus,…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Hanging out at the Monkeypod
PHUKET: We’ve been hearing about an exciting new dining experience out in the newly fashionable eastern zone of the island, past the Heroine’s Monument, but we were surprised to find such an elegant white designer restaurant as Monkeypod Coffeehouse sitting at the side of the road in Pa Klok.Monkeypod is the creation of Chaiyos Pinpradab, a local Phuketian who studied…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Secret dinners keep guests guessing
PHUKET: Picture Phuket in 1785 (called Thalang then) when most of the island was still covered in virgin rain forest. Local people lived off the bounty of the nearby forests – roots, vines, leaves, barks, fruits, and seeds – and fresh seafood from the Andaman sea. At the time, when synthetic medicine was unheard off, people believed in the healing…
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Phuket Lifestyle: A place for old bones
PHUKET: Dinosaurs are taking a holiday in Phuket, along with all the other old bones on the island, in a travelling museum exhibition which opened on August 28. The free-entry exhibition, about paleontological and geological discoveries in Thailand, will be open daily at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) between 8:30am and 4:30pm until September 16. “Our aim is to…
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Phuket Lifestyle: On the road to Mandalay
PHUKET: Thailand’s western neighbor, Myanmar (Burma), is now one of the hottest destination for a holiday. After decades of international boycotts and sanctions, the April elections in Myanmar brought not just hopes of democracy and investment, but also a surge in travellers once reluctant to journey to this amazing land. If you want to see Myanmar at its best, don’t…
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Phuket Property: Baan Bua brings Nai Harn Luxury
PHUKET: Nai Harn has long been a popular area of Phuket among expats and holiday makers. The sense of being on Phuket, but in an area that feels a bit isolated from the rest of the island is one of the draws, along with the beautiful beach and lush landscape. Nai Harn Baan Bua was launched in 1999 and now…
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Phuket Property: Zcape condos
PHUKET: Local property investors are confident that Tri Property’s affordable new Zcape Condominium, currently under construction near Laguna, is just what Phuket’s residential property market needs. More than 70 per cent of Zcape’s smartly-designed compact units were reserved within days of the sales office opening at the site of the new, low-density development on Baandon Cherng-Talay Rd. Conceived by Bangkok-based…
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