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 Is private health insurance in Thailand worth it? Real costs vs risks explained
Thailand has a strong healthcare system with both public and private options. Public hospitals offer affordable care, but many people, including expats, choose private health insurance for faster service, modern facilities, and more treatment choices. To decide if private health...
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Law and Order: Seeking asylum in Thailand
PHUKET: Last week, I met with an American who wanted to apply for a tourist visa for his Thai wife. The American has lived in Thailand for about four years. I asked him why he was living in Thailand instead of the United States with his wife. What he told me was a bit jarring. He said, “I am an…
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Diving: PADI dives in with freediving courses
PHUKET: PADI is taking the plunge as it dives into an entire new world with its recently-launched set of freediving courses. Freediving is a small niche in the diving industry that PADI has, up to now, not tapped into. For more than a decade there has been the PADI Skin Diver course, which “teaches you how to enjoy watching life…
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Property Watch: Domestic market goes international
PHUKET: Part of Phuket’s expanding economy is its strong attraction as a regional hub for expatriates to live and work, and a key attraction for them is the high quality of educational offerings. Over the past decade, ten of the current thirteen international schools were established. The most evident surge was in the period of 2005-2010, when seven schools, most…
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Up in the air: THAI not banned from European airspace
PHUKET: After a slew of bad news for Thai commercial aviation abroad, the industry finally got a much needed piece of good news with the December 10 announcement by the European Commission (EC) that no Thai airlines were included on the updated Air Safety List drawn up by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Some industry analysts had mistakenly feared…
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On Deck: Sailing through high season blues
PHUKET: Phuket’s high season is underway. It traditionally starts in November, running through to 30th April, with the peak consisting of Christmas, New Year and the January period. Confused? The reality is Phuket has visitors all year round and the Low Season of old is not quite as ‘low’ as it used to be, at least in terms of visitor…
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Property Watch: Real estate agents: good, bad or ugly?
PHUKET: Has anybody noticed that the same properties can be listed on different websites with different descriptions and in some cases feel like completely different properties? Well, one of our readers did, and has brought to notice two listings about the same property. Is it fair for a buyer or seller to be subjected to this type of behavior, assuming…
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Gardening: Fashions and fads for gardeners
PHUKET: While horticulture is not an exact science, neither is it an unchanging one. Hence research sometimes arrives at new ways of tackling old problems. Take tree planting, for instance. Conventional wisdom decrees that you dig a round hole a bit bigger than the root ball and fill it with a combination of compost and loam or top soil. But…
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Superyacht Rendezvous returns with vigor
PHUKET: The Asia Superyacht Rendezvous will once again celebrate Luxury Yachting at the award-winning Kata Rocks Resort Phuket on December 16 through 18. “We are proud to be a part of such an amazing event. Sitting pool-side at Kata Rocks, overlooking the magnificent superyachts that attend the event each year is a beautiful sight,” said Scot Toon, general manager of…
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Join AMCHAM’s “A Family Christmas’ event
PHUKET: Get into the holiday spirit at the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) ‘A Family Christmas’ event at Angsana on December 9. Enjoy various activities in the Angsana Ballroom for the whole family to enjoy, including a music corner, an arts and crafts corner, face painting, as well as the chance to make bookmarks, cookies and Christmas cards. Santa Claus…
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Profile: The Wizard of Oil
PHUKET: I first met the artist Watcharin Rodnit in 2007 when I went to prison in Phuket Town. Perhaps I should explain that a little. In fact, I visited the Phuket Youth and Child Penitentiary for an afternoon to write a story about a couple of artists who dedicated their time to teaching painting to young offenders behind bars, using…
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Blazing Saddles: Cycling against cancer
PHUKET: Last year, as I was grinding out the kilometers from Bangkok to Phuket with Siam Bike Tours’ eight-day group trip, I was inspired by the robust figure of Rudy Pospisil, a Canadian firefighter and cancer survivor who was also cycling this trip as a small part of his around-the-world epic ride to raise funds for cancer research. I started…
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Keep it Green: The need to invest in our trees
PHUKET: The recent decision by Rawai’s mayor to uproot 27 casuarina trees next to Nai Harn Beach caused such an outcry that the project had to be suspended and the project to build a Hollywood style movie museum, at least for the time-being, put on hold. This disturbing and short-sighted initiative is symptomatic of Phuket’s disregard for one of its…
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Excuse Buster: Weight loss without the pain
PHUKET: Ah, cheat meals! You know what I am talking about? Pizza, ice-cream, popcorn, chocolate – not good for the body in the short term, but they can help your psychology and motivate you to stay on track in the long term. We all need a break from routine and harsh discipline. I often say what you resist persists, but…
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On Deck: Preparing to set sail with AEC
PHUKET: As we near the end of the year there’s more and more talk about the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Set to be implemented in December 2015, the details are sketchy at best, but don’t let that dampen your optimism. The AEC is a work in progress. I’m going to gaze into my marine industry crystal ball in a moment…
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Property Watch: Phuket tourism must innovate or die
PHUKET: As Phuket takes the sharp left turn into yet another high season, one constant source of chatter on line, in bars and in the media, is the meteoric rise of the cult of the doomsayers. Call it bling, or just plain nonsense, but our island telegraph remains ripe with tales of rampant chronic failure. Yes, the once maligned Russian…
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By the Book: Lowdown on holiday villa rentals
PHUKET: When planning a holiday, location is usually the first consideration. Having chosen your destination, the next decision is accommodation. Traditionally, holiday makers would look for hotels, with the idea that they will provide the best value for money and more facilities. However, these days, renting villas has become a popular and flexible option. A family of five with two…
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Asia Superyacht Rendezvous prepares to sail in to Phuket
PHUKET: The Asia Superyacht Rendezvous will shine bright again in Phuket from December 16-18, when guests can enjoy the many facets of this invitation-only event. This is Asia’s largest rendezvous of superyacht owners, guests, VIPs and crew as they gather together to have fun just before the hectic Christmas season. Latest superyachts to confirm their participation are M/Y Samax, M/Y…
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Boat Pattana chases middle-class segment
PHUKET: Boat Pattana Co Ltd has announced a new 400-million-baht residential development in Chalong that aims to target middle-class families. “We don’t think any other properties are really targeting this segment with a project concept like ours; they seem to have forgotten the importance of family space,” said Panupong Kritchanarat, chief executive officer (CEO) of Boat Pattana. The daring move…
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Up in the Air: South sees new direct flights and developments
PHUKET: Thomson Airways, the world’s largest charter carrier, is planning to add direct flights to Phuket using its fleet of fuel-efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The twice-weekly flights from Manchester to Phuket are scheduled to begin soon and Thomson is already accepting bookings as part of its holiday package deals. Packages to Phuket currently on offer are typically about 1,500 GBP…
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Law and Order: Evicting a Tenant in Thailand
PHUKET: It’s a goal for many people to become a landlord. They purchase property for the purpose of renting it out for passive income. The property owner interviews prospective tenants and ensures that they sign a lease agreement and put down a deposit. However, all of this does not prevent bad tenants from revealing themselves after they have moved into…
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Sansiri Plc’s ‘The Deck’ said to be selling hot
PHUKET: Mega property developer Sansiri Plc’s latest project in Phuket, The Deck, is now 100 per cent complete, with only 30 per cent of the units still available for purchase. Of the 270 units in two seven-storey buildings, 60 per cent were sold by July, with 35 per cent taken by Thais and the remainder going to foreigners, including many…
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Blazing Saddles: Cycling to great heights
PHUKET: Since the Mingmongkol Buddha was completed on top of Phuket’s Nakkerd Hills in 2010, I’ve felt the spiritual presence of the Gautama watching over me. That may sound rather outlandish, but as I can look westward and see the Buddha from my back bedroom window, it also has some rational underpinning. I particularly feel the Buddha watching whenever I…
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Property Watch: Phuket reality versus hype
PHUKET: Phuketians and long-term expatriates will recall the days when moving between beaches and Phuket Town required a scrambler bike due to the lack of roads. Umbrellas were occasionally sighted in Patong near the sandy Bangla Road track. The property market in Phuket and the reasons for Thais and foreigners to invest in Phuket have radically changed, as has the…
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Marriott to buy Starwood to create world’s biggest hotel chain
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international communityMarriott to buy Starwood to create world’s biggest hotel chainPhuket Gazette / ReutersPHUKET: Marriott International Inc (MAR.O) will buy Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc (HOT.N) for $12.2 billion to create the world’s largest hotel chain with top brands including Sheraton, Ritz Carlton and the Autograph Collection. The…
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Books: Sally Mann’s treasure trove of memorabilia
PHUKET: Eloquent, exasperating, pretentious, earthy, fustian, laugh-out-loud funny, Sally Mann’s Hold Still (Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2015, 482pp) – billed as ‘A Memoir with Photographs’ – is very much a mixed bag. Unlike other photographers who roam the world, Sally Mann found her material at home in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Lugging around a 100-year-old rosewood box-camera mounted on…
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Looking Back: Understanding Bangkok blast point
PHUKET: The Erawan Shrine is a revered place of worship located in the heart of Bangkok. Flanked by some of the capital’s best malls and five-star hotels, the shrine is frequented by hundreds of Thai and foreign devotees every day. On a typical day, the shrine is crowded with people who come to offer their prayers. There is a thin…
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Gardening: Slippery slopes of landscaping
PHUKET: I was recently consulted about changes to a large, established garden of some four rai in Laguna. Nothing unusual about that, but here’s the catch. The villa, itself in the throes of major renovation at the behest of a new owner, is sited on a steep hillside and the front garden – mostly Malaysia grass – slopes steeply down…
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Excuse Buster: Treating sickness with water
PHUKET: “You’re not sick; you’re thirsty. Don’t treat thirst with medication,” says Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, author of the acclaimed book Your Body’s Many Cries for Water. We all know that water is essential to life and that in fact it makes up more than 70 per cent of most living things. We also know that although we can survive weeks…
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Expansion helps Amari Phuket bags “Best Beach Resort in Asia-Pacific’
PHUKET: Taking home the ‘Best Beach Resort in Asia-Pacific’ at the 26th annual Travel Trade Gazette (TTG) Awards 2015 in Bangkok was a clear sign to Pierre-Andre Pelletier, Onyx vice-president and south Thailand general manager, that the Amari Phuket was on the right path as it goes toe-to-toe with other high-end developments on the island. “This is an amazing recognition…
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Aussie navigates through haze to paddle against child abuse
PHUKET: As part of his battle against child abuse, Damien Rider successfully circumnavigated Phuket on his standup paddle board (SUP), despite the dense Indonesian haze leaving him lost at sea earlier this month. Mr Rider, a victim of child abuse, first caught the media’s attention with Paddle Against Child Abuse (PACA) when he completed an 800 kilometer prone paddle through…
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