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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VIDEO REPORT: Yoga: breathing in new life
PHUKET: Young Spanish filmmaker and inveterate traveller Josu Ozkaritz’s latest documentary project Breathing Ashtanga Yoga was largely filmed in Phuket and features teachers and students of the popular Ashtanga Yoga style talking about the profound effect the ancient discipline has had on their lives.Josu has worked on a number of self-funded film projects and stumbled across the idea to do…
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Tuk tuks go green, global – Phuket Tech
PHUKET: Dutch company Tuk Tuk Factory, which builds electric three-wheeled tuk tuks modelled on the classic Thai form of transportation, has developed a new webtool enabling customers to design their own customized, electric tuk tuk.When they began supplying electric e-Tuks all over the globe, from Greenland to the Caribbean, it became clear to the manufacturers that practically all three-wheelers produced…
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Dennis Rodman saves the world
PHUKET: Dennis Rodman, the bad boy of basketball, recently visited North Korea and became great pals with its youthful leader, Kim Jong-un, an ardent basketball fan. Rodman declared Kim to be an “awesome kid” and his “friend for life.” The two were photographed laughing and clapping at a basketball game and giving each other a series of warm hugs. Below…
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Blame it on the rain – Phuket Property Watch
PHUKET: I was channel surfing the other night when the Hollywood classic “Singin’ in the Rain” came up on screen. Settling deep into my comfy TV chair as my dog Koko lay nearby chasing dream rabbits across imaginary landscapes, things came to an all-too-sudden and conclusive end. Lightning struck near to the house and within seconds a torrential downpour ensued…
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How does your Phuket garden grow?
PHUKET: Oliver Wendell Holmes, an American lawyer, once wrote: “It is better to be seventy years young than forty years old”. I hope he’s right. What we do know from experience is that gardening is a rejuvenating activity that helps to keep one young. How? Simply by doing it. All that rich, oxygenated air filled with fragrance, every visual delight,…
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Thais’ time in the sun – Phuket Diving
PHUKET: The obsession with light colored skin in Phuket and Thailand among Thais has led to a boom in many industries, most notably cosmetics, where a variety of skin-whitening products, from deodorant to face cream, are readily available. In at least one industry, however, this aversion to the sun has created an incredible lack of local staff and entrepreneurs –…
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Singapore National Day – Phuket Lifestyle
PHUKET: It’s party time…again. And for Singapore it’s the 48th time – today the small Southeast Asian country celebrates its National Day marking the anniversary of independence from Malaysia. A speech by the Prime Minister, a colorful procession presenting the island’s multicultural character and naturally, fireworks, are all planned for this special day. Looking BackBefore Singapore got its current name,…
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Phuket In focus – Dreams do come true
PHUKET: Terminally sick nine-year-old, Pakjira “Aom” Jamlongpan had never seen Thailand’s Andaman coast before. Now her wish to swim in the sea was finally about to come true. “Life is precious, so do your best today as you don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow,” was the sentence echoing in my head as I waited for her at Chalong…
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A new lease on island life – Phuket Property
PHUKET: When is leasehold more valuable than freehold?: “In over 35 years in the property industry in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Thailand, and having worked in many Asian countries, I would have said until very recently, never. “However, I have to acknowledge that with the arrival of some excellent leasehold properties, the Thai property industry has recognized that a…
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Thai realtors prepare for Asean integration
PHUKET: The Real Estate Sales and Marketing Association of Thailand (RESAM) and the National Association of Realtors (NAR), a leading global real estate association, joined forces recently to host a networking event in Phuket. The international real estate business network event, called Thailand CIPS (certified international property specialist) 2013 was an education and work program held at Royal Phuket City…
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Born from the ashes of war – Phuket History
PHUKET: The Nine Armies’ War started in 1785 when the Burmese, taking advantage of internal strife and the overthrowing of King Taksin in Siam, invaded the country with forces numbering approximately 150,000 soldiers, divided into nine army groups. One of those armies marched straight for Thalang, then the largest town in Phuket, and laid siege to it. During that time,…
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C is for colorful palette – Phuket Gardening
PHUKET: Both cordylines and crotons have been considered fairly recently in these columns. Time only for a whistle-stop tour. Suffice to say that they are two of the first foliage plants most tropical gardeners would choose, both for their dramatic and permanent leaf color and their trim form, which means that they can be put in large groups, lined up…
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Phuket Books: The Canadian Chekhov
PHUKET: At the age of 82, Alice Munro is the grande dame of Canadian literature. In her 14 books of short stories, she has been compared to Anton Chekhov. If I were Chekhov, I’d take it as a compliment. Dear Life (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2013, 309pp) continues her Chekhovian obsession with time. Her narrative voice is as confident…
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Classical concert for an urgent cause
PHUKET: An ensemble of 10 top-flight classical musicians accompanied by 100 students performed a free concert in Phuket recently to raise funds for Myanmar refugee children living near the border town of Sangkhlaburi, in Kanchanaburi province.The two-hour concert was held at the Andaman Embrace Resort and Spa on Haad Patong Road. The ensemble of Korean musicians operates under an organization…
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Celebrate HM Queen Sirikit’s 81st birthday by donating blood
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center (PRBC) is celebrating Her Majesty Queen Sirikit’s 81st birthday with a special blood donations event. “This event will be held to show our respect to HM Queen Sirikit on her birthday and it will help us stock up more blood,” PRBC acting director Pornthip Rattajak said. “We will give young plants to the first…
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Laguna Phuket conducts tsunami saftey drill for 700 staff
PHUKET: Laguna Resorts and Hotels management team yesterday launched a mass tsunami evacuation drill code-named “Safe Haven”, with approximately seven hundred associates from Laguna Phuket’s collection of deluxe hotels participating.After a series of mass briefings were given to associates and all hotel guests were notified, the precisely-choreographed, mass drill was rolled out at 2pm, starting with communication checks, followed by…
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Phuket Property Watch: Things I hate about hotels
PHUKET: I have spent more nights in hotel rooms around the world than I could even start to remember. Barring a diary, an ankle-long list or a photographic memory, there are more than a few things that stick out, not unlike a Mohawk on a punk rocker or a toothpick out of a canape – small but deadly. Let’s start…
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Phuket Property: Commercial real estate investment soars
PHUKET: Direct commercial real estate investment in the Asia Pacific region has exceeded market expectations in the first half of 2013, reaching US$59.7 billion, 21% up on the first half of 2012. According to the latest Jones Lang LaSalle capital markets research, transaction volumes in the region have also increased quarter on quarter, topping US$32.6 billion in the second quarter…
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Phuket Property: Green living condo town
PHUKET: Rising demand for residential properties in Phuket is being driven by both locals and tourists, evidenced in the rapid growth in both Phuket Town and beach-side areas. Sam Kong is a popular residential neighborhood where there are a number of property projects under construction, including both houses and condominiums. One such project, the Green Place Condominium by local developer…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Party on for superyachts
PHUKET: One of the highlights of the 2013 Asia Superyacht Rendezvous, sponsored by FEADSHIP Royal Dutch Shipyards, Asia Pacific Superyachts and Kata Rocks, will be the special Crew Party for the participating Superyachts on the final evening, December 18. The event will be held at the Boathouse RE KA TA Beach Club and will be sponsored by Sevenstar Yacht Transport,…
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Screening out the world – Phuket Gardening
PHUKET: Can you reel off the Seven Wonders of the World without looking them up? The one we all remember is the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Nothing to do with hanging baskets. The Babylon one was hanging because it rose to a great height, and its main plants were substantial trees, not municipal petunias or busy lizzies. It was described…
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The wonderful world of puffies
PHUKET: In World War I they called it shell shock. In World War II they called it battle fatigue. Nowadays they call it post-traumatic stress disorder (PST). Welcome to the wonderful world of puffies, where run-of-the mill words are puffed up into ornate phrases intended to impress, seduce, and deceive. I call them puffies; others call them euphemisms – or…
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Modern words maketh the man – Phuket Humor
PHUKET: Legendary US comedian George Carlin, who died in 2008, was famous for his love of words and hatred of euphemisms and politically correct language. In his classic 2006 HBO special Life is Worth Losing he opened the show with this piece entitled Ode to the Modern Man:“I’m a modern man, a man for the millennium. Digital and smoke free.…
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The secrets of DaVinci – Phuket People
PHUKET: What is the secret of great, Italian cuisine? It’s all in the quality ingredients. “In Italy they say that a good chef doesn’t need to use more than three or four ingredients. It’s about freshness,” says Jana Sasikova, co-owner and manager of the DaVinci restaurant. Jana is the wife of the restaurant’s supervising chef and deli manager Claudio Pivotto,…
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Phuket Property: Hideaway above Patong
PHUKET: A new luxury 5-star hotel concept by Avista, the Avista Hideaway Resort and Spa in Patong Bay is located on Patong Hill close to Tri Trang beach. The new hotel will build on the island’s reputation for high-end tourism and its strong economic base. The contemporary ultra-luxury property is set on a peaceful hill, and designed in a style…
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Phuket Property Legal: Ensuring land claims are legit
PHUKET: In the last three to four weeks, some changes occurred in the application process and consequently the approval of registration for companies to purchase land, long term land leases, usufruct, superficies and/or lifetime living rights for foreigners. Depending on which land office one is applying for registration of certain rights, the current handling of such registration is not the…
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Sea-view condo in the heart of Patong
PHUKET: Sansiri last week unveiled their latest Phuket medium-rise project – “THE DECK”, a brand-new condominium to be built in the heart of Patong, setting its sights on Phuket’s holiday home market.Speaking at the project’s media-launch event, Mr Uthai Uthaisangsuk, Senior Vice President for Business and Condominium Project Development, Sansiri PCL, revealed that: “THE DECK Condominium has been created in…
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Blazing Saddles pedals through Provence – Phuket Explore
PHUKET: The delights of Soi Bangla in Phuket’s party town of Patong are of course a source of continual distraction, yet even the most hardened acolyte must occasionally take a break from the pleasures of the amber nectar and recharge his batteries in quieter, more bucolic locales. So it was that I recently found myself on a cycling trip down…
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Brighten up your rainy day – Phuket Fashion
PHUKET: Fashion is full of fleeting trends and new fads. So as the seasons change, it’s time to pick up the clothes that are “in” this season and toss out those that are not. On a tropical island like Phuket, the rainy season can be a gloomy time of year and somewhat depressing. The best antidote to the bad weather…
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Raising a rooftop garden – Phuket Gardening
PHUKET: The chances are you probably have a roof garden of sorts. As Phuket is increasingly dominated by blocks of concrete pretentiously known as condominiums, which necessitate the annihilation of all existing vegetation in the area, the chances are that your balcony or roof is the only repository of greenery you are likely to possess. So why not make the…
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