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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Sponsored How to reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses in Thailand?
Managing medical expenses in Thailand is important as healthcare costs continue to rise. The country’s healthcare system includes both public and private options, but even with the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) for citizens, many still face high out-of-pocket medical expenses....
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One night (and day) in Bkk
PHUKET: Last week I walked through the streets of Bangkok with Jesus. As we all know, the original J-Man could walk on water, but Thailand’s man of the moment, Suthep Tuangsuban was able to deftly part his way through the horde of followers along the city’s posh Sukhumvit commercial district with what appeared to be divine skill.How did I come…
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Laguna holds 20th Phuket sea turtle release
PHUKET: “Sea turtle with fish net wounds saved on Phuket beach”, “Phuket sea turtle on the hook – saved”, “Six injured sea turtles beach in Phuket, Phang Nga in one day” – these are just few of many Phuket Gazette headlines chronicling the plight of the region’s sea turtles in the last couple of years. No wonder that five of…
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Phuket Property Watch: A whole lotta lanta
PHUKET: As Phuket continues its geared up development drive towards an increasingly urban resort landscape, travellers are looking further afield in a move to get out of the box. One nearby set of island’s, Koh Lanta, has all the makings of a classic resort destination. West coast sunsets, white sand beaches and the international airport within close proximity. Lanta is…
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Phuket Book Review: The dystopia trilogy
PHUKET: Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood are the Ali and Frazier of Canada – the top two literary heavyweights. Munro is now champ, having recently scored the knockout punch of winning the Nobel Prize for Literature. The two writers could not be more different. The 82-year-old Munro writes only short stories, collected in 14 books. Eight years younger, Atwood is…
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Phuket Environment: Young sea turtles released on a lifelong journey
PHUKET: Laguna Phuket marked its 20th anniversary of supporting sea turtle conservation programs by releasing 90 juvenile sea turtles into the Andaman Sea yesterday afternoon.The turtles were released at sunset into the warm waters of the Andaman Sea, on the Angsana Laguna Phuket beachfront, to begin their lifetime ocean odysseys. Over 500 donors and spectators were all smiles as they…
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Phuket Humor: Introducing the Eezeewee
PHUKET: Some time ago, a company in South Africa invented a device designed to break down one of the last barriers between the sexes. The Eezeewee is billed as “a reusable device with a shaped plastic cup and a length of pipe” that enables women to urinate while standing. It is touted as “invaluable for women who are traveling, hiking,…
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Blazing Saddles: Cycling to happiness
PHUKET: In 2006 the United Nations announced that more than half the world’s population was now living in urban areas and that by 2030 almost five billion of us will be urbanized.Like most areas of rapid urbanization, Phuket has being deeply wounded by the rush to develop. Firstly, the island has become progressively reoriented around motorized traffic and secondly many…
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Phuket Travel: Camp like a champ
PHUKET: In high season everyone is attempting the paradise-island cliche of beating the crowds. So standing on the beach front of Khao Lampi-Hat Thai Mueang National Park it’s time for an umbrella count. Nothing on the right, nothing on the left – that was easy enough. But perhaps it’s unfair to compare a pristine national park beach area with the…
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February 14: Phuket’s an island alight
PHUKET: February 14 – it’s that time of year again: a time to laugh and love for many, but certainly a time to live for all. That’s a cue to power down your tablets and smartphones, and slap on your mojo suits. This year, it’s not just Valentine’s Day we have to look forward to tomorrow, but two more important,…
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Urban lifestyle options dominate Phuket Real Estate Expo
PHUKET: The latest condos, compact houses and home building supplies catering to Phuket’s urban living trend have launched their new year promotions at the Phuket Real Estate Show 2014 held at Central Festival Phuket, which ends tomorrow, February 12.City dwellings dominated the rows of properties and products at the expo featuring affordable accommodation options under 2 million baht for young…
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Knocked out by Beatles in the Boat Lagoon
PHUKET: “We all live in a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine”… There are songs that make your head rock, your fingers click and your feet stomp. There are days when you can’t get a tune out of your head; it follows you around, you keep whistling it, you catch yourself singing it out loud under the shower…
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Phuket Property Watch: Out of the room and into the fire
PHUKET: Did you get the memo? For god’s sake, why didn’t you just fall into line and do like everyone else does? Like it or not, hotel life can pretty much be summed up in these two sentences; Go to work, disconnect all logic and brainpower and just follow the leader like a xanaxed-out flock of sheep. A few days…
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Phuket Old Town Festival begins today
PHUKET: The annual three-day Phuket Old Town Festival kicks off this evening with a parade to celebrate the unique culture of Phuket’s residents. With Queen Sirikit Park the heart of the festivities, events will be held along Thalang Road, Soi Rommanee and Krabi Road – the heart of the Phuket Old Town area. Tonight’s opening parade starts at 5pm at…
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Beatle Mania: Phuket, are you ready for tonight?
PHUKET: Preparations are complete for what looks set to be a fantastic show tonight and tomorrow night when the curtains open on the fabulous Beatles tribute band at 7pm, in the grand marquee at the Phuket Boat Lagoon. The seated tickets (1,500 baht) are completely sold out for both nights, and the lounge tickets for this Gazette Headline Event are…
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Phuket Real Estate Show kicks off tomorrow
PHUKET: Looking to lease, buy and/or invest in Phuket or Phang Nga property? Don’t sign that contract just yet! The Phuket Real Estate Association (PREA) will launch the “Phuket Real Estate Show 2014” tomorrow, January 6, in the Grand Hall on the first floor of Central Festival Phuket.The week-long, annual exhibition gets underway at 3pm and will conclude on Wednesday,…
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Bangkok Hospital Phuket making strides towards specialized health care
PHUKET: The Bangkok Phuket Colorectal Disease Institute officially opened to the public on January 9. Located on the third floor at Phuket’s Bangkok Hospital in Samkong, the institute specializes in the diagnoses and advanced treatment of a multitude of colorectal diseases including colon and prostate cancer.Founded and directed by Dr Art Hiranyakas, the institute offers patients state-of-the-art medical care by…
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Centara signs three new Krabi properties
PHUKET: Centara Hotels & Resorts is set to greatly expand its presence in the Southern Thailand province of Krabi following the signing of management contracts for three new properties within the same master development in Klong Muang, Krabi.The properties are Centara Pelican Bay Resort & Spa Krabi, Centara Pelican Bay Residence & Suites Krabi, and Centara Pelican Bay Villas Krabi.Perry…
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Phuket Property Watch: The Medium is the Message
PHUKET: A crash back in time in our memory machine today takes us back to the 1960s and the groundbreaking work of Marshall McLuhan. His forward looking views on the effects of popular mass culture continue to be relevant to this day, over half a century later. Little did readers of The Medium is the Message realize, that the speed…
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Phuket could be the location for new reality TV show
PHUKET: International recording artist, TV host and world peace ambassador Charles Dupois arrived Phuket on January 15, along with One World Music Film & TV Managing Executive Producer Kerry Crinis, to scout for various locations and islands that may be suitable for the filming of what they say will be a controversial new reality TV Series: Bikini Island-Reality TV. If…
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Blazing Saddles: Khao Lak Attack
PHUKET: Gadabout pedal-philes living in Phuket are continually in search of more benign, cyclist-friendly venues in which to enjoy their passion. Naturally enough, many such cycling getaways tend to be found across the Sarasin Bridge, which a waggish friend recently described as being “where Thailand really starts”. Almost as soon as you do cycle across those 1,500 meters of turquoise…
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Phuket Property: Green Walls – It’s alive!
PHUKET: Last November, an energetic Chilean man came into the Phuket Gazette offices to pitch his vision and innovation – a simple yet potentially revolutionary solution for Phuket’s increasingly congested, polluted and unappealing urban spaces. Ignacio Espoz Babul, director of Santiago-based LatinGreen – a patent holder, innovator and installer of “Green” walls, roofs and buildings – passionately talked of his…
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Phuket Property: Building materials index “unrealistic’
PHUKET: Provincial authorities seek a revision to the central price index for construction materials, pointing to outdated and inaccurate value estimations for building supplies imported to the island. Meanwhile, the Revenue Department reported collecting 9.6 billion baht in tax revenue in Phuket in 2013, exceeding their target by 5%.The economic issues headlined the agenda at the latest Phuket meeting of…
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The year of the wood horse: Chinese New Year 2014
PHUKET: Tomorrow, January 31, some 1.3 billion Chinese in China and another 50 million ethnic-Chinese around the world will bid farewell to the year of the snake, and welcome the “invisible moon” that signals the official start of a new year – the year of the horse. Lunar New Year Starting today and tomorrow, festivities for the Chinese New Year…
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London’s Fab BEATLES ready to play in Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket isn’t exactly famous in the music world. The island doesn’t really boast any world-renowned acts and the occasional musical tour that does find its way here is usually electronic or just a “well-known” DJ. But music lovers in Phuket are in for a special treat. Following their enormously popular, sold-out ABBA Forever concert, promoter Events International has lined…
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Phuket Escape: Crowd dodging at Koh Racha
PHUKET: It’s almost a defining characteristic of an expat, not wanting to go where the tourists go. Hey, we know better. We know the best local restaurants, the shortcuts, the secret beaches. We refuse to be wedged among the throngs. And yet, in some cases the throngs have got it right. Not with the cashew-factory perhaps (at least, not more…
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Phuket Diving: Diving into the deep end
PHUKET: A woman stands at the edge of one of the enormous limestone cliffs of Etretat, the salty Dutch air whipping her blond hair across her face. She’s been in the banking industry for 10 years – and it’s come to this: make a down payment on a house back in the UK and pay the mortgage for years to…
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Phuket Books: Looking out from the inside
PHUKET: Piper Kerman’s memoir Orange is the New Black (Spiegel & Grau, New York, 2011, 327pp) is a charming and tender account of her year in prison. The focus is on her fellow inmates with whom she comes to share a hard-earned solidarity of love and respect.Now a popular TV mini-series in the US, Orange is the New Black takes…
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Phuket Education: On a Mission to sail
PHUKET: If you have been past the British International School Phuket (BISP) campus in recent weeks, chances are you’ve spotted the giant steel ship, Ixdos, that first appeared on December 4 and now occupies a prominent position on the school’s grounds. The arrival of the ship is a result of the collaboration between former BISP teacher and self-described “boat-person” Patrick…
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A perfect model of island life
PHUKET: Hailing from another tropical paradise on the opposite side of the globe, Jamaican-born Tracy Dawkins is no stranger to island life. She has achieved some fame in Phuket as a model, actress and erstwhile PR and marketing executive and now calls the island home. In an exclusive interview, we spoke with Tracy about island life, competing to be Miss…
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Phuket Humour: Is there anybody out there? Yes, apparently
PHUKET: There is a video on YouTube that shows Morgan Freeman explaining a new theory in quantum physics (click here to see). The universe might be conscious. In fact, scientists think it might be a sort of cosmic brain that is constantly expanding and evolving. I had lots of questions about this. But I couldn’t interview the universe because the…
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