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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Starting a new life abroad is exciting—new culture, new lifestyle, and new chances to grow. But living far from home also means taking steps to protect your health in unfamiliar surroundings. Without the right coverage, even small health issues can...
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Gardening: Growing healthy fan palms in Phuket
PHUKET: When I was a boy I had to endure long waits on sooty railway stations – yes, it was the age of steam – whose walls were plastered with gaudy and incongruous posters of seaside resorts with azure seas, golden sands, bronzed maidens and palm trees. Of course, no beach in the UK actually looked remotely like that, and…
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Video report: Volleyball’s dream girl gives back to community
PHUKET: If you have recently wandered along Karon Beach in the late afternoon, you will have seen a considerable number of volleyball courts stretched across the sandy lot between the road and beach. No, it’s not an international tournament coming to town – that was last month – this is the daily beach volleyball games instigated by one of Thailand’s…
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Blazing Saddles: Benefits of cross training
PHUKET: “The problem with cycling is it’s all legs and lungs boyo,” so said someone who really ought to know. I was cycling with a member of the Welsh national team some thirty years ago in the lung-bursting Brecon Beacons in Central Wales, and his comment has always reminded me of how important it is to balance pedal-pushing with other…
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Profile: Volleyball’s dream girl gives back to the community
PHUKET: If you have recently wandered along Karon Beach in the late afternoon, you will have seen a considerable number of volleyball courts stretched across the sandy lot between the road and beach. No, it’s not an international tournament coming to town – that was last month – this is the daily beach volleyball games instigated by one of Thailand’s…
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By the Book: Erecting a ‘For Sale’ sign when putting your property on the market
PHUKET: Let people know your home is on the market with a ‘For Sale’ Sign! In real estate markets all over the world, it is common practice for property sellers to erect a ‘For Sale’ sign when putting their property on the market, as it increases the chances of selling. The majority of the time the sign will be provided…
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Crossfit trainer heads to Australia for challenge
PHUKET: A Phuket-trained CrossFit beast, 28-year-old Elise Hoefsmit, took top honors in Thailand in the Reebok CrossFit Games 2016 Open, advancing her to the regional competition in Sydney next month. “I’m over the moon. I put in hours of work to get to this point and I’m just beginning. You can’t fake hard work and it certainly pays off,” Ms…
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Where’s the new generation of sailors?
PHUKET: It was amazing how the ‘good old days’ stories kept popping up as I enjoyed after-race drinks at the Phuket Yacht Club (PYC). I could overhear, again: “Wow, the old sailors are really into it (as always), but what about the new generation? Where are they?” Well, they’re right under our noses, but are hardly seen or heard of.…
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Profile: Redefining the path to success
PHUKET: Prachoom Tantiprasertsuk has made her mark as a female general manager in the largely male dominated Phuket hospitality industry, and has done it with an ease and elegance entirely her own. Her unassuming demeanor belies her very real, very lofty accomplishments – becoming one of the youngest female hotel directors in Thailand when she was less than 27 years…
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Keep it green: This sceptered isle – speedboats, sunloungers and jet-skis
PHUKET: I recently drove along Rawai Beach Road, and counted the number of speedboats hoovering up passengers for island day-trips to Ko Phi Phi and Racha. There were 27, mostly belonging to one company. Later that day, I took the ravishingly beautiful route round Prompthep Cape, down the twisting road to Nai Harn beach and on to secluded Ao Sane…
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Earth Day 2016 on the horizon
PHUKET: Next week, more than one billion people in 192 countries will take action to protect our shared environment. All across the globe, in big cities to small villages and everything in-between, people are organizing, demanding climate action, cleaning up their local communities, meeting with their elected officials, planting trees and teaching their children to protect our planet. This year,…
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Let’s not forget the younger expat sailors
PHUKET: There are plenty of young expats around that bring their own passion into the Southeast Asia regattas and races. Want a few names? Elizabeth Schoch, known as Liz to most, and her boyfriend, Alfie, who often crew on competing boats. They are true enthusiasts and communicate their passion for sailing with great vigor. How about Mig Wehrle and Meike…
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Appeal of traditional Songkran
PHUKET: For many visitors to Thailand in mid-April, Songkran festivities appear, on the surface, to be just a fun and boisterous way to keep cool, but the traditions of the Thai new year celebrations are rooted in a much gentler aspect of Thailand’s Buddhist culture. The four-day festival is a highly significant astrological event in the Buddhist calendar. It marks…
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Profile: Live to ride, ride to live
PHUKET: As CEO of Power Station Motorsport, Erik Svensson is responsible for the commercial operations of Harley-Davidson of Bangkok and the newly opened Harley-Davidson of Phuket. However, this 74-year-old man’s love affair with motorcycles started more than 60 years ago, when he was at boarding school in Canada. Mr Svensson had picked up boxing after moving from his hometown in…
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Cracking Phuket’s hotel industry with reliable mega-data
PHUKET: Surveys are often seen as one of the lowest forms of data collection for a variety of reasons. Often respondents may not provide accurate answers or be comfortable providing answers that are perceived as unfavorable. Nonetheless, as STR Global has shown with more than 30 years of data collection in the hotel industry, important and valuable data can be…
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Keep it green: Water usage and disposal during Songkran
PHUKET: “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink” would do nicely as a motto for Songkran. When my son and his partner paid a surprise visit from London a few years ago, they unwittingly chose to arrive on the day of the water festival. The motorbike trip from Phuket City to Rawai, a mere 16 kilometers, took three hours.…
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Looking Back: Understanding the origins of Thailand’s water-filled New Year
PHUKET: Songkran is Thailand’s traditional New Year festival. The word ‘Songkran’ is derived from Sanskrit, meaning to pass or move into, which is appropriate because according to Brahman astrology, the sun changes position from the Aries constellation to the Taurus constellation during this period, between the 10th to the 18th of April. The Songkran festival has its roots dating back…
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