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 life: Paintographer Gerard Garson
PHUKET: Gerard Garson is a French photographer, now based in Phuket, who always wanted to be a painter and through his use of High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging he has managed to do both. He calls himself a paintographer and signs his work ‘Gast Garger’. Gerard’s passion for photography started in1977, when he was a student working for the photographic…
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Phuket lifestyle: In a league of their own
PHUKET: There’s a restaurant experience in Kathu that is uncannily like dining in someone’s front room; largely because it is in someone’s front room. The restaurant in question is Royale Nam Tok (RNT) hosted by Corry Ringoet and Marc De Schriyver, (a Belgian partnership) who, after having enjoyed 20 years of success operating their Antwerp restaurant, De Tafeljoncker moved lock,…
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Phuket lifestyle: Branching out with colorful nudibranchs
PHUKET: Perhaps it’s embarrassing, but I first got involved in diving because of the lure of the unknown treasures, which I “knew” were lying at my feet, just below the surface. I wanted to discover statues, gold, porcelain, all those precious and valuable objects that were lost to humanity. However, a couple archaeological ethics classes and museum practicum courses managed…
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Phuket lifestyle: Saving Thailand’s mangroves
PHUKET: “Conserving the mangroves may not be as sexy as saving the rainforest, but it’s arguably even more important for the environment,” says Udo Gattenlöhner, Executive Director of the Global Nature Fund (GNF). The non-profit, independent foundation is facilitating an international project designed to rehabilitate lost mangrove forests in Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. Funded by the German government,…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Kata Reef’s beauty under threat
PHUKET: Geared up without letting a tank touch the pavement, four of us waddle across the hot sand of Kata Beach to take a peek at the beautiful and “at high risk” reef-system just offshore. Only a couple weeks ago Niphon Pongsuwan, a coral expert, warned Phuket that the amount of coastal development on the island would accelerate the sedimentation…
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Phuket Health: The doctor will see you now
PHUKET: With the Phuket Health and Fitness Festival set to kick off this weekend, keynote speaker Dr John Hinwood stopped by the Phuket Gazette’s TV studios for an interview with organizer Michael Massey, a driving force behind the Rawai – Nai Harn Group who are hosting the event. Dr Hinwood says that he will focus on the mindset necessary to…
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Blooming jellyfish stay for safety-stop
PHUKET: Directly in front of my mask, as we hang on the mooring line for our safety-stop, is a small jellyfish (jellies or sea jellies depending on your concern about the misnomer), not a box jellyfish or an infamous jelly-like Portuguese man-o-war washed up from Australia, just a little ambiguous jellyfish. Then through the bubbling of our regulators comes the…
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Phuket lifestyle: Heavy-duty gardening
PHUKET: If you think that the ‘Phuket Gazette’ is a parochial newspaper, then have a re-think. I recently received an email from Honolulu, no less, about a piece on palms. While the writer commended my observations about growing ferns and other epiphytes on palm trunks, he took me to task for writing about, “a very tired and overplanted group,” suitable…
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Phuket Lifestyle: This year’s top trends
PHUKET: The transformation of the tuxedo into women’s apparel is a bold new take on a classic look. Fortunately, you don’t actually have to wear a tuxedo just because you’re inspired by its sophistication. Instead, try taking bits and pieces of it to establish your own style. A structured jacket or waistcoat in black velvet or cream satin can add…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Top chefs to share a kitchen
PHUKET: The old adage of “too many cooks spoil the broth” receives a sound thrashing later this month and in fact will be given “Six of the Best” with an annual gastronomic fundraiser to help underprivileged children on Phuket. “Six of the Best” features half a dozen chefs from Phuket’s premier luxury resorts and restaurants, who will join culinary forces…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Traffic jams to peanut butter
PHUKET: Good news that big projects on Phuket are finally getting government attention. These include a light rail track from the airport and a mountain tunnel through to Patong with plans for overpasses and underpasses to move traffic along the Bypass Road. However, plans for solving traffic congestion at Chalong Circle where thousands of Thais and expats from Rawai and…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Into the Live and Present Moment
PHUKET: The latest addition to the coffee shop scene in Kamala Beach, north of Phuket, is Live Present Moment. It stands out from the crowd with its original and charming decor and menu offering healthy Thai food, snacks, and all-day breakfast. The proprietor Noppamas ‘Ae’ Mungwiriya explains that ‘Live’, which opened its doors a year ago, was created to serve…
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Phuket Property: Bluepoint Condos win at Asia Pacific awards
PHUKET: Organizers and the judging panel for the Asia Pacific Property Awards 2012 have announced that Bluepoint Condos is among the winning companies. The boutique condominiums in South Patong were entered into the competition under the categories ‘Architecture – Multiple Residence’ and ‘Development – Multiple Units’. The Asia Pacific Property Awards are part of the long established International Property Awards…
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Phuket Property: Community recycling center re-opens
PHUKET: We’ve all been there. The two small batteries in your television remote control have died and need replacing. On the way home you buy two new batteries and then replace the old. Now what? Having learned that you should never throw them in the bin as they will leak toxic elements into the environment, you’ll probably stick them in…
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Phuket Property: Checking into the big sleep; Phuket property briefs
PHUKET: I am a big fan of film noir and even more so those Raymond Chandler novels that became Hollywood classics, such as The Big Sleep. There are a million stories in the naked city, and these day’s Phuket is certainly taking on a noisy urban feel. When you scan the crowd of expatriated persons at any restaurant, bar or…
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Phuket Gardening: Blooming plumerias
PHUKET: In an email both quirky and perceptive, a fellow contributor to the Phuket Gazette recently confessed to dealing with Phuket’s 35 degree heat by gardening at night, and thereby, and unsurprisingly, incurring the curiosity of his neighbors. Personally I haven’t tried it. But, I entirely concur with his subsequent reasoning that because the island’s soil is so difficult to…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Kids are doing it for themselves
PHUKET: As part of its philosophy to teach young Thai students the importance of self-sufficiency and respect for the environment, the Yaowawit Boarding School and Lodge has developed a model agricultural project which demonstrates the fundamentals of independence for small farmers. Located in the middle of a Phang Nga jungle, far away from the glamor of international tourism or even…
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Phuket History: The slow road to Bangkok
PHUKET: Towards the end of the 18th century, trade and logistics was tough business. Phuket, or Junk Ceylon, during that time was rich in tin, a semi-precious metal that was highly sought after by European and Indian traders. Tin mining was therefore an important source of revenue for the island. Because tin mines in Junk Ceylon were considered government property,…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Shark Point diving
PHUKET: There was a sinking feeling in my stomach as Raya’s dive boat approached Hin Musang, better known as Shark Point. Casually floating not more than a kilometer away from our splash-in point were two ragged-looking commercial fishing boats. Rumors and grumbles that Shark Point’s namesake sighting, leopard sharks, were becoming a rarity began to take on some merit. Because…
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Phuket Bike Week has come of age
PHUKET: There are places in the world where the roar of big bikes coming towards town spells trouble, but here in Phuket that sound heralds good news as it means that Big Bike Week is here again and that business is as booming as the engines. Heading into its 18th year, the event will take place between April 6 to…
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Phuket Gardening: Location is everything
PHUKET: One of the first things to consider when creating a new garden or re-vamping an old one, is to work out which plants do well in your locale. There are more micro-climates around than we realize – even in Phuket. So it’s a good idea to do some homework in your area and discover which garden plants are successful…
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Phuket celebrates St Patrick’s Day
PHUKET: Let the celebrations begin! It’s that time of year again when the shy and solemn Irish expats around the world awake from obscurity to throw off the shackles of sobriety and enjoy a pint or two.Yes, it’s Saint Patrick’s Day on March 17, and not only a day, but a whole weekend is available to indulge in all things…
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Irish Ambassador delivers Phuket St Patrick’s Day message
Greetings on St Patrick’s Day from His Excellency Declan Kelly, Ambassador of Ireland to Thailand. Best wishes to the Irish Community in Thailand and all friends of Ireland on the occasion of St Patrick’s Day 2012.PHUKET: I am repeatedly impressed by the pride and enthusiasm with which Irish communities around the world celebrate our national day and heritage. As St…
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Phuket Gardening: What’s in a potted palm?
PHUKET: A few weeks ago I had occasion to visit a friend staying at the Evason Resort in Rawai. There is an impressive drive to be negotiated before you reach your destination, a route dominated by over-arching palms that have obviously been there for some time probably installed at the same time as the hotel itself. What made this roadside…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Extraordinary Vset
PHUKET: Ask any smattering of food lovers what the great world cuisines are and the same old raspberries will turn up time after time: French, Italian, Japanese and even Thai, but generally speaking, the National Cuisine that more than often ends up in the culinary equivalent of the odd-sock drawer will be that of the Philippines. Okay, the Philippines do…
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Phuket lifestyle: Lions Club of Phuket Pearl to present ‘A Ray of Hope’
PHUKET: The Lions Club of Phuket Pearl probably support a wider number of local charities than anyone else. Founded in 1991, the original members were women who called themselves the Lionesses of Phuket until they received permission from the International Lions Club that they too could be Lions. Now they have invited men to join them. “We formed the Lions…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Sansiri high on list of corporate Thailand’s good guys
PHUKET: All profitable and respectable organizations will eventually need to consider giving back to the communities from which their financial prosperity derives. Implementing meaningful Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is one effective way for firms to initiate positive social changes and enrich the corporate-communal landscape for the greater good of business and society. With so many pressing issues in society, deciding…
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Phuket Reminder: Family Rally to aid marine life conservation
PHUKET: Kriengsak Jarunonwiwai at Phuket Butterfly Garden & Insect World on Saturday, reminded everyone that the Family Rally to save the marine environment is still on for April 1. The Family Rally is a joint project supported by local government and private organizations that aims to return clownfish, seahorses and sea turtles to Phuket’s coastal waters. For more details and…
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Phuket lifestyle: Keeping an ‘i’ on the prize
PHUKET: The requirements for getting hired as a foreign teacher in Thailand are incredibly low. Degrees and TEFL certificates are bandied about but not truly required in many schools. With Thailand’s low standards come low salaries, lower expectations and the profession’s ugly stereotype: the backpacker teacher. Typically transient, the backpacker uses his or her classroom as a means to a…
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Phuket property: The hotel owners’ great debate: Is it better to buy or to build?
PHUKET: Decisions, decisions. Our lives often revolve around them like a lotus in a whirlpool. In through the ‘out’ door and out through the ‘in’. Or just ‘smash and grab’ like some random jewelry heist. But wait, we have a topic, and rolling into 2012 it has never been more relevant. Hotels coming into the market place in Phuket have…
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