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.
-
Sponsored Limited-time deal: Save 20% on Cigna's expat health plans forever
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...
-
Phuket Books: A short but happy life
PHUKET: The Spanish novelist Susana Fortes has won many literary awards and her latest novel entitled Waiting for Robert Capa (HarperCollins, New York, 2011, 201pp) is set to be made into a film by director Michael Mann. On the book cover is a photograph of a slender blond woman in beret and military fatigues crouched asleep upon a road marker…
-
Phuket Movies: Leaving a lasting impression
PHUKET: The Millennium Trilogy has been a publishing sensation, selling millions of books and was adapted into film in its native Sweden in 2009. The original film adaptation was one of the most successful Swedish films ever made. Now Hollywood has made its own English-language adaptation with David Fincher (Fight Club, Seven, The Social Network) directing. Based on the Swedish…
-
Phuket Property: Drilling for a response
PHUKET: Groundwater drilling operators have not received any response from the government to help solve the conflict with Natural Resources and Environment (NRE)’s. Udomsak Naddasena, managing director of Surat Badaal, a groundwater drilling service company, said, “We have not received anything back since I handed the official letters to Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha and the senate Pol Gen Sunthorn Saikwan,…
-
Phuket property market is strong despite floods
PHUKET: Samma Kitsin, director-general of the Real Estate Information Centre (REIC), said recently “The floods last year are having a lingering effect on home-buyers’ decision-making this year.” But demand for homes in tourist destinations, especially Phuket, is still strong, according to a survey by the Agency for Real Estate Affairs (AREA). Samma said most home-buyers who are considering projects in…
-
Hotel industry keeps growing in Phuket
PHUKET: The hotel and retail businesses in Phuket grew significantly and most property firms expanded their investments in the province, according to Knight Frank Phuket. Among the new projects are Patong Promenade, developed by Baan Sukhothai at Patong Beach Co Ltd, on Bangla Road. It will be a shopping, dining and entertainment complex, with room for 150 retail shops over…
-
Phuket Gardening: Enter the Dragon’s Eye
PHUKET: From blocked canals to poor flood management, the debate rages as to why Thailand suffered the floods of 2011. And while the arguments continue, the plight of many fruit farmers has attracted little attention, even though their livelihood has disappeared with the receding waters. Fruit trees, like most plants, suffocate through lack of oxygen if submerged for any length…
-
Phuket Media Watch: Will Phuketians eschew meat?; Supalai eyes Phuket
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Phuket Lifestyle: Turning away from meat? Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: More and more meat eaters are turning their backs on steaks and even fish in favor of healthy vegetarian fare as part of their personal healthcare regime. However, many complain there are not many…
-
Phuket Gardening: Stating the bleedin’ obvious
PHUKET: How often do we overlook the obvious? How many times have you gone shopping in Phuket City, or even to Bangkok, for an essential purchase, then discovered that you could have found exactly what you wanted just down the road? Maybe it’s just me.I’ve even found myself deciding to take holidays outside my adopted home country of Thailand and…
-
Phuket Property Watch: For better or for worse
PHUKET: I remember sitting in a restaurant quite a few years ago with a brief flame who was knock-out-dead gorgeous. Without a doubt she was out of my league. Chit chat conversation was the rule of engagement here, but suddenly I found myself surrounded by a wall of silence as this was a decade before the iPhone and the age…
-
Phuket Property: Scribing the way to a clear handover
PHUKET: Once your dream home has been built, the builder or seller may require a swift inspection of the property and acceptance that all construction work has been completed. This is often the case as the acceptance of the construction works is typically the last hurdle making the final payment due. However, Phuket buyers normally want a physical due diligence…
-
Phuket Lifestyle: Genesis turns out a revelation
PHUKET: When I was asked to review a new production on Soi Bangla, I was a little nervous as I have yet to learn how to gracefully fend off the many invitations from very lovely and much younger Thai ladies (or ladyboys) who suggest I spend a few hours in their company. What a surprise then when I approached the…
-
Phuket Lifestyle: No reservations – the life of a hotel English teacher
PHUKET: Tucked away on the idyllic white sand beach of Kata Noi, a very chilled out and softly-spoken Jacob Ritter works as a communications specialist and English teacher for the Katathani Beach Resort. Flanked by palm trees and with an ocean sunset behind him, Ritter sat down with the Gazette to share his insights into the luxurious life of a…
-
Phuket Books: The Boy Wonder’s sad decline
PHUKET: The 1960s were Tom Wolfe’s decade, the stage upon which the founder of the New Journalism strutted with The Electric Kool Aid Test. The 1970s belonged to Hunter Thompson and the Gonzo journalism of Fear and Loathing in Los Angeles. Wolfe eventually turned to turgid meta-fiction and Thompson to shameless potboilers. But the 1980s saw the rise of P.J.…
-
Phuket Lifestyle: Hogan’s hues of a brighter future
PHUKET: Having enjoyed a tour of the newly refurbished Angsana Laguna Phuket resort it was suggested to me by General Manager Jerry John, with a certain degree of pride, that the Kids Club was worthy of particular attention. While on holidays, every parent appreciates facilities for their children that provide entertainment, and are secure and well attended. Angsana’s Kids Club…
-
Phuket Lifestyle: Take the art – leave the real antiques here
PHUKET: A dispute about the export of art and religious objects between the Thalang National Museum and a Phuket shop was tentatively set to rest after a meeting on December 15. The museum’s concerns that there was a risk of valuable national treasures being illegally exported from Thailand was looked into during the meeting headed by Vice Phuket Governor Somkiet…
-
Phuket Gardening: Growing plants indoors and outdoors in water
PHUKET: When I first came to Thailand, I was, like everyone else from colder climes, astounded by the sheer range of plant life. Even more amazing was the way nature not only coped, but actually thrives in these hot, humid conditions, some of which seemed downright alien: smoggy air, poor soil, periods with either burning sun or bucketing rain. The…
-
Phuket Lifestyle: Ingenious forms of jeans
PHUKET: Everyone has their favorite go-to pair of jeans, great for weekends and perfect for an array of casual events always held in Phuket. Denim is a classic material that is versatile and flattering for every age, figure, gender or style. It’s always changing and giving us new reasons to fall in love with it again and again. No matter…
-
Phuket Lifestyle: Where the seafood’s @
PHUKET: Kan Eang @ Pier is a Phuket institution and has been so for more than 30 years. Originally called ‘Kan Eang 1’, this famous Phuket seafood restaurant underwent a major renovation and name change in 2007. The sprawling grounds stretch more than 200 meters along Chalong Bay just south of the pier and here you’ll find several al-fresco and…
-
Phuket international airport expansion set to bring 12.5mn visitors
PHUKET International Airport (PIA) will be able to receive 12.5 million visitors per year by 2014 following a planned 5.7 billion-baht expansion, Thailand’s deputy transport minister told reporters during a recent visit to the island. Kittisakdi Hathasongkorh said the airport’s runway would be lengthened by 700 meters to allow the new generation of “superjumbos”, the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8,…
-
Phuket Lifestyle: Tapping into a new year resolution
PHUKET: My eyelids are pinched together as the man taps repeatedly on my throat with his fingers. There’s no pain. The tapping stops, there’s a shift in the room and I can feel him now sitting across from me, a few feet away, staring at me, studying my expression. He says nothing, just sits silently and waits for me to…
-
Phuket Property Watch: Rocking or rolling this season?
PHUKET: Whenever anyone mentions ‘The Rock’ I am always inclined to think of that other island just off the dock by the bay – Alcatraz. Certainly there is little resemblance between that former maximum security prison island and our own destination resort of Phuket. Getting off this rock is invariably easier than swimming in shark infested waters, though the proliferation…
-
Phuket Gardening: Drying the seeds of success
PHUKET: A recent email from Clive in Karon poses a question about seeds. “Why do seeds need to be dried before planting?” he inquires and adds that he has seen lots of them drying in the sun here in Phuket. The answer is more complex than you might expect. Seeds are produced by most plants and they vary in size…
-
Painting a brighter future for Thai kids
PHUKET: Guests and visitors of Angsana Laguna Phuket have been summoned to paint their way into posterity on a mural designed by acclaimed Australian artist, Christopher Hogan, as money is raised for local Thai kids with artistic promise. In celebration of its recent opening, the 350 tile mural will take pride of place in the resort’s newly refurbished lobby. The…
-
Phuket Movies: Review of 2011 film releases
PHUKET: Expect a barrage of year end reviews and lists in coming days. Newspapers love them. They close a chapter, let us remember if we should remember a year at all, and remind us of what, if anything, we should hold onto from these past 12 months. Was the Tree Of Life a defining moment in cinema history, or a…
-
Floods won’t harm Phuket construction sector: P-REA
PHUKET: Following a seminar held recently, Phuket real estate developers are less worried about the impacts of the flooding in central Thailand on the construction industry supply chain. Tanan Tanphaibul, President of the Phuket Real Estate Association, said members had worried that massive government-funded reconstruction of parts of Bangkok and the Central Plains region might have a negative impact on…
-
Istana Phuket design claims global award
PHUKET: Prism Estates have won the Best International Architecture Award (Multiple Residence) as developers of the Istana Phuket residential estate at Naithon Beach. The International Property Awards (IPA) ceremony was held on December 12 at the Savoy Hotel in London, England and produced in association with Bloomberg TV and Google . The award validates the architectural vision of Richard Shearer,…
-
Phuket Lifestyle: Decor – thinking inside the box
PHUKET: Being an interior designer often involves “thinking outside of the box” yet sometimes the opposite is true. Heading up such a team of designers and artists is Irish-born Brian Woulfe who, after two years in Phuket, recently held the lavish opening of his “Designed by Woulfe” offices at Baan Wana Park in Thalang. On arrival at his plush, purple,…
-
Phuket Gardening: Rambutan – looks and tastes great
PHUKET: Of the glorious trees that grace our island gardens on Phuket, there are many small varieties that are considered ornamentals primarily on account of their decorative blossom. These include the flame bean (brownea or sok phuang), the erythrina (thong lang or coral tree), the abutilon or Chinese lantern, and the orchid tree (bauhinia or chong ko). Of course, a…
-
Phuket Movies: An impossible sequel
PHUKET: FOR lovers of a good action movie Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol hits all the right buttons. Directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles and Ratatouille), the film is about Russian terrorists who steal nuclear missile launch codes to try to start World War III. The IMF is shut down when it’s implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing…
-
Phuket Books: Teddy’s final adventure
PHUKET: There is a large and growing shelf of books about Theodore Roosevelt, most recently James Morris’s acclaimed biographical trilogy. National Geographic writer Candice Millard has taken a different tack, concentrating on his last great adventure in The River of Doubt (Anchor Books, New York, 2006, 416pp). Subtitled “Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey” this is the tale of his descent in…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.