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 Do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?
Thailand’s healthcare system is well-regarded across Southeast Asia, with options ranging from public hospitals to world-class private facilities. But when it comes to foreign residents or tourists, healthcare access isn’t as straightforward. So, do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?...
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Phuket Lifestyle – wreck diving in Khao Lak
PHUKET: The descent line disappeared below us after we splashed in above the Sea Charter, one of the few diveable wrecks off the coast of Khao Lak. There is a long moment between leaving the sunny surface of the Andaman Sea and the first hint of the ship’s shadow blackening the blue water below us. In that moment I found…
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Mixed messages: Phuket short on teachers, or schools short on job ads?
PHUKET: Last month the Gazette ran a headline that read, “Phuket schools relax rules for hiring English teachers“. The opening sentence of that story read, “The Phuket Primary Education Area Office has relaxed the requirements for foreigners to be hired as English-language teachers at government schools in Phuket.” Almost immediately after publishing the story, optimistic job seekers flooded the Gazette‘s…
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Phuket Gardening – beautiful bauhinias
PHUKET: I was recently asked to offer my advice about landscaping the entrance area to an up-scale estate. After studying photographs of the site area and making a long list of possible plants, I paid a visit to my favorite nursery to discuss tactics, availability and prices with the Thai owner. She knows what she is talking about as her…
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Phuket Lifestyle – Executive Chef Puwin has heart
PHUKET: Mr Puwin Chunesiri, new executive chef of the Sawaddi Patong Resort on Phuket’s west coast, has traveled the globe gaining experience in the culinary arts. Chef Puwin’s career started at age 16 with no experience in cooking but plenty of passion. “I always found the art of cooking fascinating. I was born and raised in a Chinese-Hainanese family, and…
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Phuket lifestyle – organic fashion is cool
PHUKET: Most people know that organic food is good for our health and great for the environment. This idea is spreading quickly from our pantries to our closets as more consumers become aware of the benefits of organic fashion. Major labels are now offering organic lines and top designers are hitting the runways with eco-friendly fibers. By participating in this…
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Phuket cinema – purrfect family fun
PHUKET: From the Shrek movies comes the popular Puss in Boots character voiced by Antonio Banderas with the addition of Kitty Softpaws (Selma Hayek) and Humpty Alexander Dumpty (Zack Galifianakis) who are trying to avoid Jack (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jill (Amy Sedaris). The usual funny scenes and lines with cat references are there, but there are also many dramatic,…
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Phuket Books – Tortured Hemingway
PHUKET: Paul Hendrickson, a veteran journalist at the Washington Post, has written books on people involved in the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement. His first book, Seminarian, is a favorite of mine because I was a Catholic seminarian too and empathize with his insights about the long-term effects such rigorous training has on character. His latest book is…
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Phuket Lifestyle – the legend of Dark Fiber
PHUKET: Dark Fiber is every telecom executive’s nightmare. “When the internet works, fiber optic cables light up but when it is down or is unused it is known as ‘dark fiber’ and that’s not good news.” says Gary Crause. He’s an ex- telecoms expert whose office, at the entrance of Boat Lagoon, is next to Telecom company 3BB where rolls…
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Phuket Gardening – Wattle it be, mate?
PHUKET: Ask any Australian gardener about the Acacia and they will either look puzzled, or reply: “Aw, you mean a wattle, mate”. And they should know, because these ornamental trees come mostly from Oz. To confuse things further, the Acacia used to be classified in the genus of Mimosa, and in Mediterranean regions is still referred to by this name.…
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Phuket Decor – Blume blurs living lines
PHUKET: When Ralph Lauren began his distressed fashion concept, Grace Carrey was part of the research and development team based in Hong Kong that sourced materials and processes for the American fashion icon. Years later, having built up considerable R&D knowledge of Asian textile and manufacturing industries, Grace struck out on her own to bring Phuket a range of furniture…
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Phuket’s Eden Oasis is now complete
PHUKET: Developers of the Eden Thailand property development near Karon Beach recently announced that the 11 newly completed units of Phase Two of their Eden Oasis project are now for sale. Eden Oasis includes seven one-bedroom condominiums and four two-bedroom, two-level duplexes ranging in price from 4.9 million baht to 8.2mn baht. Eden Oasis is nestled on the hillside with…
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Taming Phuket’s savage condohotel beast
PHUKET: Nearly two decades ago, in 1993, Laguna Phuket started residential sales for their Allamanda condominium. Asia was a rising star, the baht surged in appreciation and foreign investment into Thailand property was still in its early days. Though residential-led hospitality, or condo-hotels, was hardly new on the scene, here the book was blank on how, why or what the…
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Phuket investors to pour B2bn into Phang Nga hotels
PHUKET: KHAO Lak’s room count may double within two years. Phang Nga Tourist Association Vice President Prapruet Korphet said “We now have about 5,000 rooms in Khao Lak, the same number before the tsunami hit us. We expect to have another 1,000 rooms by the end of this year, and will have 10,000 rooms within two years.” “We continuously have…
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Phuket Technology: Gulliver’s guide to Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket pocket guides abound but occasionally one stands out from the crowd. Released last month, Gulliver’s guide to Phuket is a free iPhone / iPad app that is very user friendly. Simplified to include just enough information for a weekend break or a short trip, it includes more than 150 attractions, venues and topics, each with up-to-date (2011/2012 season)…
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Phuket Lifestyle – Bang Pae secret revealed
PHUKET: The Bang Pae Seafood restaurant has been a favourite among Phuket’s locals for sixteen years. This charming seaside place is run by a small family, headed by Mrs Prakorb Tiranon, who oversees daily culinary operations. A beautiful twenty-minute drive in the direction of Ao Por from the Heroines Monument through shady rubber tree plantations takes you to a small…
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Phuket Dog Whisperer – His master’s voice?
PHUKET: As a canine trainer, one of the key things I hear people talk about is that their dog won’t come back when they call. I’ll spare you the training psychology behind this for today and focus on another important aspect to a failed recall. It might not be that your dog is blowing you off, he just might not…
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Phuket property – Phanason aims high
PHUKET: Project developers Phanason Group are confident that the company’s first foray into the high-end market will deliver another success for the group, by targeting people with busy lifestyles looking to “get away from it all”. Phanason Resort is one of 11 developments created by Phanason Group, who has been among the leading housing developers in Phuket for more than…
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Phuket Book Briefs – Behavior Disorders and Harry’s War
PHUKET: Defiant disorder and conduct disorder create havoc in families and classrooms in our society today. In this book, Dr Marlow addresses these problems in a case study format, outlining therapy techniques and problem solutions for children, teachers and parents. The case studies are taken from real-life situations, though names and other identifying characteristics have been changed to protect the…
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Phuket’s urban style
PHUKET: Outside Central Festival Phuket last Saturday evening, a camera convention was winding up in an orgy of punters taking photos of other people taking photos of people posing for another group of people taking photos of people taking photos. It was like an Escher illustration; a digital dog chasing its own tail in a blur of camera flashes and…
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Phuket History – Kor Sim Bee’s new roads
PHUKET: Thalang Road has always been the pride of old Phuket Town because of its interesting history. Both sides of the narrow road, lined with old Sino-Portuguese shop-houses showcase the town’s unique architecture and cultural heritage. Thalang Road was one of the first roads in Phuket Town to be renovated when Phraya Ratsada-Nupradit (Kor Sim Bee) took charge as Phuket’s…
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Phuket Gardening – Chinese lanterns
PHUKET: Chinese Lantern is the common name for some varieties of abutilon. A member of the mallow family, this large shrub or small tree (here the distinction really is blurred), can reach ten feet in good conditions. Mostly South American in origin, the abutilon species are true tropicals, and do well in Phuket’s climate. Abutilon species will tolerate light shade…
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Phuket’s Tri Tim primed for LPT success
PHUKET: I’ve spent the last few issues telling you about what I’ve achieved so far in my personal odyssey of health and fitness leading me to my goal of completing the Laguna Phuket Triathlon on November 27. With only weeks to go before race day dawns, maybe now its time to talk about what actually goes into learning – from…
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Phuket Youth Acoustic contest
PHUKET: Life Home Project Foundation, the Phuket organization that cares for children and women affected by HIV, in association with Phuket Indy Market, Limelight Avenue and Phuket Provincial Public Health Office announced that they will be holding the AIDS Project – Acoustic Contest, a youth acoustic band contest, through November with the final to be held on World AIDS day,…
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Phuket Gardening – Thriving in stormy weather
PHUKET: Recently I enjoyed a visit to a Phuket spa with a South African couple who had come to live on the island. They pointed out that while many of the flowering shrubs are the same as in Cape Town or Johannesburg, they seem to be much less colorful in Phuket. There are reasons for this relative dearth of blooming.…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Sea creatures will soon have to swim for their lives
PHUKET: International marine scientists have warned that fish and other sea creatures will have to travel large distances to survive climate change or they will risk extinction.According to a new study by an international team of scientists, sea life, particularly in the Indian, Western and Eastern Pacific as well as the sub-arctic oceans are facing growing pressures to adapt or…
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Phuket Property: The Privilege Residences Patong
PHUKET: The Privilege Residences Patong is the sister project of successful luxury condominium project The Bay Cliff. After the first project sold out, Bay Cliff Development decided to launch another condominium development and take the definition of ‘luxury living’ to the next level.“Since we launched The Privilege Residences Patong in October last year, we have sold about 30 per cent…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Suey Restaurant, a beautiful fusion
PHUKET: Call me old-fashioned, but I have misgivings about so-called “fusion food”. I like my food the way it’s cooked traditionally: no added milk in my tom yum goong please, and I am very wary of mango sticky rice in the form of a shake. All that changes when a friend invites me to dine at Suey Restaurant in Phuket…
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Phuket Lifestyle – TEFL Courses: the good, the bad and the cowboys
PHUKET: Phuket has no shortage of expats who want to live and work here. Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) is a popular way to achieve this goal, which means that the competition for these jobs are fierce and wages are somewhat lower than those in other urban areas of Thailand. One way to improve the odds of finding…
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Phuket’s culinary arts festival
PHUKET: North Phuket Resorts will host its second Culinary Arts Festival of the year from December 2 to 4 on Mai Khao Beach to celebrate the culinary experiences and attractions of this unspoiled area of the island. Located just minutes away from Phuket International Airport on Mai Kao Beach, North Phuket Resorts hosts this festival twice each year, with the…
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Pearl of Thai reggae at Phuket’s Nai Yang Beach Club
PHUKET: Reggae fans can start preparing for a magical evening by the sea on November 25 when The Beach Club in association with Indigo Pearl launch the 2011 Nai Yang Beach Party Grand Opening Season. Headlining this event will be the hugely popular Job2Do. Indigo Pearl is the title sponsor of this initial collaboration between the award winning resort and…
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