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Sponsored Digital nomading in Chiang Mai? What US$1,000 a month really gets you
Chiang Mai has become a popular destination for digital nomads due to its low living costs, rich culture, and active remote work community. The city offers affordable housing, tasty food, reliable internet, and many co-working spaces, making it a great...
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Quiksilver surf competition underway in Phuket
PHUKET: The Quiksilver Surf Phuket Thailand Competition 2011 started today, with famous surfers from around the region taking part in the first round of the men’s long board event. There were 24 men taking part in the first round, which got underway off Loma Park in Patong at 2pm. Tomorrow will see both men and women take to the gnarly,…
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Phuket update: ‘Kru Kiew’ denies torture charge
PHUKET: A daycare center worker caught on tape hitting her students has confessed to assault, but denies the more serious charge of torture under the Child Protection Action, the Phuket Gazette has learned. Phuket City Police Officer Wirat Tenthong said the teacher, Pranee “Kru Kiew” Jantalert, confessed to harming the children, but denied the abuse constituted a violation of Article…
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Paiboon calls for “dam healthy Phuket’
PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Administration Organization President Paiboon Upatising has called for plans to redevelop Bang Wad Dam and Bang Neaw Dam – Phuket’s two main water reservoirs – to include jogging tracks and bike lanes as key recreational features at the sites. Mr Paiboon called for the healthy additions yesterday at a public hearing at Kathu Municipality offices to announce…
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Health checks reveal Phuket police getting heavy
PHUKET: Police officers stationed in Phuket are increasingly becoming overweight and suffering high cholesterol, the Phuket Gazette was told today. The news came on the first day of the annual police health checkup at Chalong Police Station, where 160 officers will undergo health checks today and tomorrow. “The preliminary results of the checks conducted so far show that many of…
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Street shooting leaves Phuket mother of two in disbelief
PHUKET: A young mother is contemplating her future after her partner and the father of her two children was gunned down outside their rented room in Phuket on Sunday night. “I was watching television with our two children at about 10pm when I heard two loud blasts. I rushed outside and saw my husband lying on the cement, covered with…
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Phuket Live Wire: Getting connected
PHUKET: WHEN it comes to Internet connections in Phuket, there are three major considerations: reliability, speed and price. In that order. It’s almost impossible to measure reliability. Why? Because glitches in Internet connections these days tend to be one-off. It’s rare to see the whole island go down. Most reliability problems I’ve seen have to do with poorly strung wires,…
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More wet weather for Phuket: TMD
PHUKET: The Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) has issued a “heavy rain” warning for Phuket and almost all of Thailand. The warning, simply entitled “Heavy Rain over Thailand”, was issued at 5am today by the TMD’s Weather Forecast Bureau in Bangkok. The source of all the precipitation over the central plains region is a monsoon trough slowly moving across central Thailand,…
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Phuket-bound yacht crew rescued from southern Thailand storm
PHUKET: Two foreigners sailing to Phuket from Langkawi in Malaysia are safe after being rescued from turbulent seas by the Royal Thai Navy off the coast of Satun early this morning. Vice Admiral Choomnoom Ardwong of the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command at Cape Panwa, Phuket, was notified of a distress call from the sailing yacht Aqua at 1:45am.…
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Boy, 15, stabbed at Phuket’s Chalong Pier
PHUKET: A 15-year-old boy was stabbed in the back last night while sitting with friends on Chalong Pier, a main departure point for tourists and divers heading out to the islands and reefs off Phuket. One of the security guards at the scene told the Phuket Gazette that the incident happened at about midnight. “Taweechai [Jansamud] probably had a fight…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: DNA tests proposed for migrant workers; Rubber farmers fight on; Mahouts fear losing elephants
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Proposal to DNA-test migrant workers panned The Nation/Phuket GazettePHUKET: Prompted by concerns over the ease with which foreigners will be able to travel in and out of Thailand once the Asean Economic Community (AEC) commences in 2015, the Institute for Forensic Medicine (IFM) is calling on the…
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Hotel supply cap “pointless’ for Phuket
PHUKET: Hotel operators are lukewarm to an effort by the Thai Hotels Association to lobby the government to limit the number of new hotel licenses it issues, saying the real problem is the number of accommodation establishments that operate illegally. Following reports that the association planned to lobby returning Tourism and Sports Minister Chumpol Silpa-archa to help develop the industry…
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Phuket rubber tapper injured by falling tree
PHUKET: A Phuket rubber tapper was left unconscious and unable to move yesterday when a para rubber tree he was cutting down fell on him. The rubber-tapper, 29-year-old Seree Thongampol, went out to fell mature rubber trees in a plantation in Paklok Village 8 yesterday afternoon.Working alone, he used a chainsaw to cut the tree at its base. To his…
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Beach Volleyball: Phuket Thailand Open ready to decide World Number One
PHUKET: Seventeen of the world’s top 20-ranked teams have confirmed their participation in the PTT Phuket Thailand Open, the final round of the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour, which will take place on Phuket’s Karon Beach from November 1 to 6. The Phuket tournament is the world’s largest women’s beach volleyball event and will see the teams competing this…
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Phuket Tourism: Miracle Years for ‘Amazing Phuket’?
PHUKET: The latest obstacle in Phuket’s never-ending effort to build a world-class International Conference and Exhibition Center came with the rejection of the project’s Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) by the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONR). Given all the work and money spent on planning and drawing up the design for the Center, to be built…
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Phuket ‘security guard’ confesses to stabbing murder
PHUKET: A security guard has confessed to the murder of a maid at a workers’ guesthouse in Phuket last night. Patong Police duty officer Weerapong Rakkito identified the deceased as 39-year-old Nuanchawee Sarating, until the time of her death the maid at a workers’ guesthouse in Kalim. At about 9:45pm, her body was found face-up outside her room under the…
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Worldwide Photo Walk: Phuket event to focus on Vegetarian Festival
PHUKET: Shutterbugs should move quickly to sign up for the Phuket event of the Fourth Annual Worldwide Photo Walk on October 2, when local and visiting photographers will capture images of the colorful spectacle that is the annual Phuket Vegetarian Festival. Part of what is described as “the largest global social event for photographers”, the Photo Walk in Phuket will…
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Clarification sought over car tax rebate plan: Phuket Excise Office
PHUKET: First-time car buyers should wait until rules regarding the much-publicized tax rebate are clarified before signing off on purchases, Phuket’s Excise Office has advised. Thanongsak Booncluab, Acting Director of the Phuket Excise Office, told the Phuket Gazette yesterday that a senior specialist will be arriving on Phuket on Monday to explain the populist program. “Ministry of Finance Inspector General…
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Luang Pu Supha marks 115th birthday
PHUKET: Phuket’s best-known monk Luang Pu Supha marked the grand old age of 115 years yesterday and received an honorary doctorate in Buddhist theology from Chulalongkorn University. Representatives from the Buddhist clergy were joined by Phuket Governor Tri Augkadachara in presiding over the merit-making ceremony at the temple in Chalong that bears Luang Pu Supha’s name. Also in attendance were…
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Road work clogs Phuket’s main artery
PHUKET: Motorists commuting along Phuket’s Thepkrasattri Road northbound should try to avoid rush hour as resurfacing work is causing long tailbacks and dirty conditions. The work is part of a three-month, 42-million-baht contract to improve the road from in front of the Seventh Day Adventist Church near Super Cheap to Srisoonthorn Temple, which is 12 kilometers to the north. The…
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Phuket’s Windsor big in Japan
PHUKET: British International School (BIS) Phuket swimming sensation Raymond Windsor is making waves for his local swimming club in Japan. In July, during the BIS summer vacation period while at home in Japan, Raymond dived into Japan Prefectural (State) competitive swimming for the first time. At the Japan Junior pre-Olympic cup meet for Tochigi Prefecture (Honshu Island) on July 17,…
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Phuket Police help nab drug kingpin in Krabi
PHUKET: After a gunfight and a chase through a rubber plantation, police on Wednesday arrested two men in connection with a drug-trafficking network that allegedly spanned from Phuket to Malaysia. One of the men was a known kingpin already wanted by police in Bangkok. Police presented the suspects – Krabi resident Songchai “Aied” Chumpon, 51, and alleged associate Paechon Navadej,…
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Call for Phuket Vegetarian Festival “gods’ to carry ID
PHUKET: The organizers of the upcoming Phuket Vegetarian Festival are calling for Chinese shrines taking part in the annual rituals to issue identity cards to their spirit mediums. The move to issue the ID cards to the mediums, called mah song (literally “Horses of the Gods”), is to preserve the integrity of the spirit-medium community and to stop “fakes” from…
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Phuket drug haul: 4 suspects, 4 guns and B13.5mn in drugs seized
PHUKET: A small pier popular for tourists heading out to the islands in Phang Nga Bay was a major drug-trafficking portal, Phuket police revealed today. The news was announced by Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pekad Tantipong at a press conference to present to the media four suspects arrested for trafficking ya bah (methamphetamine) and ya ice (crystal methamphetamine). On show…
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Phuket Police recover fake bomb used in botched bank heist
PHUKET: Phuket City Police have recovered what they believe to be the fake bomb and clothing used by a man in a botched attempt to rob a Phuket Town bank on Monday. Phuket’s top police rushed to a remote rubber plantation in Rassada at about 11am today after they were informed that what appeared to be a bomb was discovered…
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Angels and Demons
PHUKET: “I ain’t going to say attack don’t let the media make u believe that was terrorist that did it. #OTIS.” Liverpool striker Nathan Eccleston apparently sent out a comment on Twitter indicating his belief that the September 11 attacks on the US were not those of terrorists. Allegedly OTIS is an abbreviation of “Only The Illuminati Succeed.” When not…
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Weird World News: Goody for Guinness 2012
PHUKET: It’s that time of year again, when the book dedicated to all things weird, tall, short, big and bizarre hits the shelves of bookstores around the world this week – it’s time for the next volume of Guinness World Records. Here a few of the 4,000 records – half are new – soon to be turning heads and dropping…
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Aussies, Chinese fuel Phuket’s “green season’: PTA
PHUKET: Tourist arrivals to Phuket during the current “low season” are up year-on-year thanks largely to the increased number of direct flights from Australia and China, according to the Phuket Tourist Association (PTA). PTA President Jirayus Somboon said current hotel occupancy rates in Phuket are higher than for the same period last year. The improved performance was in large part…
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Phuket green group “seeks’ NGO status
PHUKET: The “Coalition of Global Citizens” known as SEEK Phuket (Society, Environment, Economy, Knowledge) is currently compiling its application to become a fully-fledged non-governmental organization (NGO) in Thailand, one of their founders has told the Phuket Gazette. “We started informally about four months ago and our lawyers are currently in the process of attaining formal Thai NGO status,” said Nick…
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Phuket Live Wire: Finding your “True’ internet speed
PHUKET: I’ve received email from all over the world as a result of the ‘Bang for the Baht’ chart that Khun Roger and I put together for the August 27 Live Wire in the Phuket Gazette. The emails I received fall into three broad categories. Some people expect to be in Phuket shortly – either moving here or taking an…
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Korean tourist rescued from Phuket drainage ditch
PHUKET: Phuket rescue workers and local residents came to the aid of a Korean tourist whose leg became wedged between two cement drainage ditch covers on Tuesday night. Phuket Kusoldham Foundation rescue workers were alerted to the man’s plight at about 8:30pm on Tuesday. Racing to the scene, near the Bank of Ayudhya branch on Chao Fa East Road in…
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