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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Author Michael Chabon dishes up overripe Rococo
PHUKET: Michael Chabon’s third novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize. This exuberant romp about two young Jewish cartoonists during the golden age of American comic books in the 1930s and 1940s is one of the most enjoyable novels I’ve ever read. Now we have Chabon’s Telegraph Avenue (HarperCollins, New York, 2012, 468pp), and…
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History: One gun to rule them all
PHUKET: The Thai Ministry of Defence is located opposite the Grand Palace in the old part of Bangkok. What is interesting about this government building is its large collection of old cannons, which are exhibited within the courtyard parallel to the main road. The cannons date back to various periods in Thai history and range from small guns to intimidatingly…
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Flight of the Little Bumble Bee: Gyrocopter update
PHUKET: Flight training on the island’s one and only “gyrocopter” is going off without a hitch at Phuket AirPark in Pa Khlok. Phuket AirPark Flight Operations manager Pat James is among four trainees being instructed to operate the AutoGyro Cavalon by a factory-trained instructor from Sweden who is staying at Phuket AirPark for one month. “It’s looking really good. Everything…
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Video report: BISP graduates ready to change the world
PHUKET: Hope and nostalgia, vivid memories and plans for a bright future, words of inspiration and inside jokes, bright smiles and rivers of tears – all this was present in abundance during the British International School Phuket (BISP) Graduation Ceremony for the Class of 2014 on Tuesday, May 27. Honored by the Governor of Phuket, Maitri Inthusut, British Honorary Consul…
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Fostering local attitude for Phuket’s property development
PHUKET: Phuket has seen many property developers go bust, some rise and fall and even fewer, rise, grow and keep growing. Attitude Club is a great example of the latter. Present on the island for 15 years, the company has undergone some major changes throughout its history, but always moving in one and only direction – forward. “When we started…
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Life savers: Media connects victim’s family with Aussie heroes
PHUKET: Two Australian heroes have revealed themselves to the media almost a month after they saved the life of a Canadian tourist on a day-trip to Phi Phi Island. When Mike Reynolds, 73, suffered a drowning-induced heart attack, it was Sophie Gollan, 18, and her father, Jason who performed the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) that kept him alive until he could…
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Phuket9’s tantalizing timeless style
PHUKET: Chalong-based developers Phuket9 have been busy. Established in 2004, they began life as Phuket Nature Home and re-branded themselves as Phuket9 in 2011. Over the past 10 years they have created an entire community of private lagoon villas, built the Kata Dome Plaza and have now launched into their most recent project – Rawai VIP Villas. Located 300 meters…
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Get married in the traditional Phuket Baba style (video)
PHUKET: Every wedding day is something special, but now, thanks to the Thai Peranakan Association, you can make yours even more unique by having a traditional Baba wedding ceremony right here in Phuket. The two-day wedding festival is held each year to honor and ensure the continuance of Baba Pernankan (“Straits Chinese”) traditions on the island. This unique event will…
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Fast and forgetful: speed reading apps driven by hype
PHUKET: As readers plug into the insurmountable volume of information pouring in from the internet, the desire for knowledge consumption – though not new – abounds. We want to download expertise. (We’ve all seen the Matrix.) We want information; we want it all; and we want it fast. Enter: speed-reading applications. Now, the hype surrounding speed reading apps such as…
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Phuket Raceweek sails into greener waters
PHUKET: Asia’s award-winning regatta, Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek, has become the first regatta in Southeast Asia to be bestowed the official title of a “Clean Regatta”, as approved by Sailors for the Sea. Phuket Raceweek, to be held this year off Panwa Cape from July 16-20, showcases the island’s natural surrounds, the health of which are inherently linked to…
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PREA auction of 500 properties starts today
The Phuket Real Estate Association (PREA), in association with real estate agency Harrison, is set to hold a massive property auction in Phuket this weekend, May 17 and 18. The auction, to be held at the Boat Lagoon Hotel and Resort in Koh Kaew, will see 500 properties worth 10 billion baht go under the hammer, including condos, villas and…
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The sky’s the limit at Phuket Airpark
PHUKET: There has been a great deal of action recently at Phuket Airpark, Southern Thailand’s only privately-run airstrip, among a diverse group of aviation enthusiasts and entrepreneurs. The Airpark, which opened in Pa Khlok with a single ultralight six years ago, is now home to 11 light aircraft in a wide variety of designs. None are more eye-catching than the…
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The Indian connection in your Phuket garden
PHUKET: Of All the tropical plants beginning with the letter “I”, the ixora (khem in Thai) is probably the most ubiquitous. Yet another shrub with Indian origins, there are few cared-for public spaces in Phuket that do not have a bed or border of orange or dwarf pink and white ixoras. Small specimens are invariably available in plant nurseries, growing…
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Snow White is coming to town!
PHUKET: Watch out for the apples you buy this June, and before you bite into the juicy fruit, make sure your Prince Charming is looking out for you. If you have no idea what we’re on about, it’s time to refresh your childhood memories. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, the latest Phuket Gazette Headline Event presented by Jagota in…
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14th Annual Superyacht Rendezvous to hit Kata [video]
PHUKET: The Asia Superyacht Rendezvous, which takes place in Phuket every December 16-18 is one of the most famous gatherings of motor and sailing superyachts in the world. This is the one hotspot event of the superyacht world where owners, captains and VIP guests can congregate around beautiful luxury superyachts, both sail and motor powered, for three days of fun…
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Thai property portal goes mobile
PHUKET: Thailand-Property.com, one of the biggest real estate portals in Thailand, has launched a new mobile site, shifting focus from growing on-site content to delivering more than 100,000 property listings to its user base in the palms of their hands. As the portal’s main site already receives nearly 50 per cent of its traffic through hand-held devices, the new mobile…
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Foreign directors: Not only power but also responsibility
PHUKET: MANY foreigners have chosen Thailand not only as their preferred location for retirement but also for doing business. Usually, such businesses are operated under the umbrella of a Thai company due to legal restrictions regulating the conditions under which foreign persons are allowed to carry out business in Thailand. Such a Thai company is required to have at least…
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The darling buds of May
PHUKET: I live a life which is all too often shrouded in deep confusion. It’s not unlike waking on a dark winter’s morning and having the option of resolutely pulling a massive down comforter over my head, thus shutting out any promise of the imminent menace of an all-too-soon sunrise. Sorry, George Harrison, the sun isn’t coming out today, best…
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BISP High Performance Swimmers learn and swim at the highest level
PHUKET: Struggling with time management? Not enough space in your weekly agenda for all that’s on your “to do” list? Tell that to these kids. Not only do they study hard but practice swimming twice a day, five days a week, aiming at the highest Olympic goals. Their solution for lack of time? Do more. “I feel that swimming actually…
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Cycling on coconuts
PHUKET: I FIND myself writing increasingly about the concept of “escape” from Phuket these days. Talking to fellow cyclists and other residents alike, the need to find a sanctuary away from the everyday hassles, stress, traffic and urbanization of Phuket keeps coming up. It seems that the work week is taking its toll on people living in Phuket and so…
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Moving away from the mass market
PHUKET: Founding member of the Phuket Real Estate Association (PREA) and president of Phuket-based developers The Onella, Sam Sethi, is a Phuket native and part of a successful family-run business on the island with a strong record in residential and hospitality development. Over the past 20 years, Sam has focused on developing mixed-use commercial and residential properties that are a…
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Sansiri unveils resort-style condominium Dcondo Creek
PHUKET: Sansiri PLC recently unveiled Dcondo Creek, their latest completed development in Phuket, which is described as a resort-style condominium situated in the heart of the island. “Dcondo Creek is the third Dcondo development in Phuket to be completed after Dcondo Kathu and Dcondo Kathu-Patong. Dcondo Creek’s resort-style concept is inspired by nature – a spacious design that provides comfortable…
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The Amazing Spider Man 2 left hanging in Columbia’s web of indifference
PHUKET: Marvel took quite a lot of stick from reviewers over the movies that they released prior to The Avengers, with Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger and Iron Man 2 all being condemned by a certain element of the online whinge brigade as blatant prequels to the mega-success that was to become The Avengers. While there may be a…
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Video Report: Fight for your rights – Don’t drink more, drink better
PHUKET: Two critical issues plague the Phuket drinking scene: terrible drinks, and terrible service. The number of watered-down something-or-other and cokes served on this island that take 20 minutes to get, and are delivered with anything but a smile, is abysmal. “Just because you’re on a beach in Phuket doesn’t mean you should be satisfied with a [expletive] drink,” says…
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Soap suds: A sidelong glance at Thai melodrama
PHUKET: Any “farang” who lives with a Thai partner will be familiar, possibly all too familiar, with the rarefied world of television soap opera. As I watch, I wonder what impact these soaps are having on the Thai psyche. That they are amazingly popular is beyond doubt. Viewing figures are massive; they are watched religiously in most households, and especially…
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Last Gasp of a humorist
I used to have high hopes for PJ O’Rourke as the Fresh Prince of American Journalism. If Tom Wolfe had invented the New Journalism in the 1960s, and Hunter S Thompson Gonzo Journalism in the 1970s, PJ O’Rourke broke new ground in the 1980s with Holidays in Hell, fiercely funny dispatches from chaotic hellholes and communist sumps around the world.…
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Live simple, consume less
PHUKET: Live simple, consume less. This philosophy is engrained in the business and life of custom surfboard maker David “Mousset” Sautebin. Originally from Bienne, Switzerland, the wiry 36-year-old stood in the entrance of his Nai Harn workshop clad only in Thai fisherman’s pants. A quiver of surfboards lined the doorway which emitted a tinny soundtrack of Bob Marley from within.…
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Hoping to heal from Heartbleed
PHUKET: On April 1, 2014 one of Google’s security team members reported a disturbing discovery. Don’t be misled, what was found to be a very serious security breach affecting half-a-million websites across cyberspace was, in fact, not a computer virus. It was a simple programming code mistake which turned out to have far-reaching implications for, what was thought to be,…
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All tied up: The art of cowboy rope tricks
PHUKET: With more people on the planet, nearly infinite methods of communication and a travel culture that sees people from all walks of life turning up in the most unsuspecting places, there is no telling where you might find influences from foreign cultures. For example, if Phuket entertainer Manoo Suwanmaneesilp hadn’t somehow gotten the chance to see old black-and-white westerns…
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Putting the ‘I’ in your Phuket garden
PHUKET: You probably hadn’t noticed that I was plowing my way through the botanical alphabet before getting distracted by more alluring prospects, or the pressing horticultural needs of a four-month- long drought. Well, anyway, most of the tropical plants listed under the letter “I” are in the index by virtue of an Indian designation: Indian banyan, Indian cork tree, Indian…
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