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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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Man shot dead during Phuket drinking session
PHUKET: Phuket police are investigating what happened between two “cousins” last seen sitting together drinking in front of a house in Patong yesterday morning. One man was found still at the scene, shot in the head and grasping a 9mm handgun. The other man is missing. Lt Col Chaowalit Neamwadee, duty officer at Patong Police Station, said police received a…
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Phuket Opinion: Pink buses delivering people, promises and dreams
PHUKET: The recent expansion of the poh thong (pink bus) public transport service to the people of Koh Sireh is not only great news for some of the poorest residents of Phuket Town, but also gives long-suffering tourists an overdue, low-cost travel option. The latest route’s eastern terminus at Laem Tukkae will be a blessing for many, from the poor…
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Tonight: FC Phuket vs Saraburi FC
PHUKET: After last Sunday’s 2-2 draw on the road at Samut Prakarn, FC Phuket are thirsty for three points in tonight’s home fixture with Saraburi FC. Phuket currently sits seventh in the 18-team Division 1, one place ahead of the Saraburi “Warlords”. Highly anticipating tonight’s 6pm kickoff at Sarakul Stadium, both squads are hoping to prevail and climb up the…
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Election Thailand: Phuket voters face postal vote farce
PHUKET: All Thais who cast ballots by post in the general election four years ago will have to return to their home provinces to cast regular ballots in the general election on July 3. Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha announced the voting conundrum on Wednesday after a closed-door meeting with the Phuket Provincial Election Commission. “People who submitted a request to…
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Old Phuket Town to be “wireless’ by November
PHUKET: Municipal workers will start pulling down power poles along Thalang, Dibuk and Theprasattri Roads in the Old Town by November if all goes according to plan, the Phuket City Mayor has announced. Speaking at a meeting at Provincial Hall last week, Mayor Somjai Suwansupapana said that stage two of the project to install all power and telecommunication cables underground…
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Governor expects 70% turnout for Phuket polls
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha expects about 70 per cent of all eligible voters in Phuket to cast their ballots in the upcoming July 3 national election. “The candidates contesting seats in Phuket are all from different parties. This choice will encourage more people to cast their votes,” he said yesterday after a closed-door meeting with the Phuket Provincial Election…
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Schools re-open: Phuket parents feel the pinch
PHUKET: The new school term will generate more than 40 billion baht, including B5bn in “tea money”, a poll conducted in Phuket and 11 other provinces has revealed. The survey, by Assumption University’s Abac Poll Center, canvassed the opinion of 2,453 respondents aged 15-60 from 12 sample provinces from all regions of the country. It found that 37.9 per cent…
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Correction: Dead American found by partner, not wife
PHUKET: The woman who discovered the body of Albert Alletzhauser on Tuesday was the mother of his daughter but not his wife, the Gazette has learned. The woman, Mikki Ferreira, wrote the following to the Gazette this morning: Dear Editor, “I would appreciate it if you set the record straight about the details of Mr Alletzhauser’s death. He was indeed…
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Body of Phuket artist found floating off Phromthep Cape
PHUKET: Delayed nearly five hours by large waves and blustery winds, rescue workers finally recovered the body of a well-known local artist from Laem Phromthep yesterday evening. The corpse of Chalad Thongdee, 54, was spotted near a rocky crop off Phuket’s iconic tourist attraction at about 12:45pm. Mr Chalad, who lived in Phuket Town, had been missing since Saturday night.…
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30,000 pills seized in Phuket meth “delivery man’ arrest
PHUKET: A Phuket hotel worker out on bail from a previous drugs arrest was nabbed this morning with 30,000 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills stuffed into a Thai Post cardboard box, police said. The capture of 32-year-old Phakphum “Aod” Ply-ngam from Rassada represents by far the largest bust of a ya bah mule in a string of recent arrests. The estimated…
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Officials raid illegal logging site near Phuket Town
PHUKET: Officials raided an illegal logging site in the Nang Panturat hills in Rassada yesterday morning only to find the site abandoned. Acting on a tip from concerned local residents, Muang District Chief Supachai Pochanukul and Phuket City Police Superintendent Chote Chidchai led a team of Forestry Department officials into the hills near Toh Sae Hill in Phuket Town at…
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Call for blood donors for Phuket Boathouse GM Louis Bronner
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette has received an urgent call for Type A-negative blood to help Louis Bronner, General Manager of the renowned Boathouse restaurant in Kata. “Our GM, Louis Bronner, is in Chulalongkorn Hospital in Bangkok. He needs surgery to correct an aneurysm of the aorta but Chula is still lacking blood of his type. “They need two more donors,”…
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American man found dead in Phuket
PHUKET: An American man was found dead in his rented home in Phuket’s Paklok subdistrict late yesterday afternoon. Thalang Police duty officer Pratiwat Yodkhwan identified the deceased as 51-year-old Albert Alletzhauser, originally from New York. Mr Alletzhauser’s body was discovered by his wife after someone at his daughter’s school called to ask why nobody had come to pick up their…
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Phuket light rail investors push for Surat Thani, Phang Nga links
PHUKET: The latest joint-venture to approach Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha with ideas for Phuket’s light-rail project yesterday highlighted the need for developing transport links with other provinces. “If the routes in Phuket are linked with routes in other provinces, rather than only focusing on light rail within Phuket, it can be a profitable investment,” said independent investor liaison Pranom Phuangkanok.…
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Get the Phuket “Governor’s eggs’ and watch ‘talented’ ladyboys
PHUKET: Fairgoers will be able to get their hands on the “Governor’s eggs” at only 1.50 baht each and enjoy a “Miss Ladyboy Got Talent” show at this year’s Phuket OTOP (One Tambon, One Product) fair, which kicks off at Saphan Hin on Friday. Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha revealed the fair’s theme “Phuket Governor’s eggs – 1.50 baht each” at…
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Phuket to endure more blackouts this month
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) has announced scheduled blackouts to carry out maintenance on high-voltage power lines, install new lines and move power poles. The dates and locations of the operations, which will be carried out from 9am to 4pm, are: May 12 – Chalong Along Chao Fa West Road, from the entrance to Ananda Garden Hill Villa…
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Phuket Live Wire: How Twitter is changing the way news breaks
PHUKET: News of Osama bin Laden’s death came to international attention when, around 11:40pm Washington time on May 1, US President Barack Obama announced that American forces had entered bin Laden’s compound and killed him. But if you’d been following Twitter starting more than two hours earlier – from about 10:30am in Phuket – you would’ve already known the whole…
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Phuket roads undergoing B140mn overhaul
PHUKET: New road projects planned for Phuket and Phang Nga are budgeted at more than 140 million baht, the Highways Department has revealed. Scheduled for major upgrades are the road to the airport, the road on the north side of the Sarasin Bridge and the bypass road. Sathaporn Sornchana, deputy general manager of the regional Highways Department office, said work…
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Phuket Housing Bank overwhelmed by first home buyers
PHUKET CITY: Island residents hoping to get their first home loan queued up at the Phuket branch of the Government Housing Bank as early as 6am yesterday – the first day of receiving applications under the government mortgage scheme for first time homeowners. Welcomed by lower and middle-income earners, the scheme promises zero interest during the first two years of…
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Phuket football: Kamala, Wichit host tournaments
PHUKET: Phuket football enthusiasts are welcome to enter teams in the third annual Kamala Cup, a seven-a-side football tournament with 120,000 baht in prize money up for grabs. All are welcome to take part in the event, including foreigners. Competition will be divided into three groups: Open (entry 3,000 baht per team), Over -35s (2,000 baht) and Under-13s (1,000 baht).…
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Thunderstorms, wind and rain prompt Phuket weather alert
PHUKET: The Thai Meteorological Department (MET) today issued a thundershower and flash flood alert for Phuket effective through Wednesday. Other provinces named in the warning as potential disaster areas were Ranong, Phang Nga, Chanthaburi and Trat. Prevailing southwest monsoon winds, expected to reach up to 40kph, will cause wave heights of up to three meters along Southern Thailand’s west coast…
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ASEAN 2015 prompts Kajonkiet to open “International School’
PHUKET: The Kajonkiet group of schools is preparing for a major shift in island demographics and greater demand for English-language education by opening its first international school this month. Permkiat Ketkul, manager of Kajonkietsuksa School and Chairman of the Phuket Private School Association, said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plan to lift cross-border travel restrictions and become a…
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Phuket population “only’ 525,000: Census
PHUKET: Preliminary figures from the nationwide census conducted last year report 525,018 people living in Phuket: 409,137 Thai (77.9%) and 115,881 foreigners (21.1%). Of those, 261,957 are male (49.9%) and 263,061 are female (50.1%), said Prapai Pukngarm, of the Statistical Techniques and Planning Branch at Phuket Provincial Statistical Office. The tally gives Phuket a population density of 967 persons per…
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Phuket woman found hanged in Pa Khlok
PHUKET: Police are treating as suicide the death of a Phuket woman found hanged by the neck in her Thalang home on Sunday morning. Thalang Duty Officer Pratueng Polmana identified the deceased as 58-year-old Thitima Boonrueng, a resident of the Baan Suan Neramit 1 housing estate off Route 4027 in Pa Khlok. Relatives discovered Ms Thitima’s body hanged by the…
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FC Phuket 2 – 2 Samut Prakan
PHUKET: FC Phuket pulled back from down two-nil to salvage a point on the road at Samut Prakan in the Thai League’s Division 1 yesterday. The Southern Sea Kirin appeared to be on yet another hard-luck road trip when Samut Prakan’s Lee Tuck scored early in the second half and then set up teammate Weerasak Kiatsoong-nern put his side up…
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Phuket Opinion: Has the Convention Center project become a farce?
PHUKET: The latest turn in the decades-old saga of Phuket’s fruitless efforts to build a world-class convention and exhibition center taxes the nation’s credibility. It recently came to the attention of the Department of Public Works and Town and Country Planning that the140 rai of coastal land slated for the project lies in a “tsunami risk” zone, necessitating the need…
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War of the Wires: Phuket cable TV providers suspect sabotage
PHUKET: Following a spate of cable-cutting incidents over the past few months, local cable providers around the island are fed up. Suspecting sabotage, Atsadakorn Sidokbuap of KPP Cable TV and Kampanat Thantiwat, managing director of PA Business Phuket, filed a formal request for action to Phuket Electricity Authority (PEA) chief Somchai Krueapat on Tuesday. Mr Kampanat said he was acting…
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Phuket coral gets its groove back
PHUKET: Recent shallow-water surveys conducted off Phuket have documented significant regrowth of coral, marine biologists say. Researchers headed by divers from the Marine and Coastal Biology and Ecology Unit of Phuket Marine Biology Center (PMBC) reveal the island’s coral reefs are starting to show signs of recovery from last year’s devastating coral bleaching episode. Initial post-bleaching damage assessments showed that…
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Bin Laden killing: Phuket reacts
PHUKET: The announcement by the US government that its military force had assassinated Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden on May 2 was greeted with celebrations in the US and Europe. But what was the reaction of the man in the street half the world away in Phuket? The Phuket Gazette set out earlier this week to see what Phuketians…
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Phuket Crime: A special report on teen gang violence in paradise
PHUKET: Amid the scenic farms and hills of northern Phuket, beneath the ebb and flow of idyllic rural life, boils a rage – the rotten by-product of changing times. In Thalang, the body count continues to rise as neglected youth while away their days with a lethal cocktail of drugs and petty territorial disputes, while their parents work full-time just…
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