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 Do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?
Thailand’s healthcare system is well-regarded across Southeast Asia, with options ranging from public hospitals to world-class private facilities. But when it comes to foreign residents or tourists, healthcare access isn’t as straightforward. So, do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?...
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Phuket Health – Reality check of New Year’s resolutions
PHUKET: So January 1 has quickly passed and I wonder how many of you are still on track with your new year’s resolutions? The good news is you still have time to create lasting goals and redeem yourself if you’ve all ready fallen off the wagon! First, a ‘Reality Check’: Staying motivated and committed toward accomplishing your dreams is often…
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Construction law practice in Thailand
PHUKET: Seeking a perfect home may be an arduous process but the complexities of building a property in Thailand are multiplied without a solid construction contract, as many homeowners and property developers will attest. A crucial part of any good contract is cost assessment and management. Many problems in construction projects occur because there is no written contract recorded between…
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Phuket Property: “Student life” at dcondo Kuku
PHUKET: Sansiri’s latest dcondo development in Phuket – a campus-style resort in Kuku – is selling out fast with pre-sales for the project having reached 50% and continuing to rise, as of the beginning of February. The development’s design concept is inspired by dormitories at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in the UK. Sansiri has previously launched one other…
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Phuket Books: Another man for all seasons
PHUKET: Hilary Mantel was a 56-year-old English novelist of indifferent success, when she sat down to write a novel about Thomas Cromwell, the chief adviser to Henry VIII. As she recounts in a recent profile in The New Yorker: “I was filled with glee and a sense of power, a sense that I knew how to do this… I knew…
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Chinese New Year: the year of the snake nears
PHUKET: As billions of Chinese around the world bid farewell to the year of the dragon tonight, they prepare to welcome tomorrow’s ‘invisible moon’, which marks the official start of a new year – the year of the snake. That’s right, the Chinese New Year officially begins tomorrow, February 10. The most important festival in the Chinese calendar, Chinese New…
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Xenophobia strikes out in Phuket
PHUKET: Welcome to the brand new year of twenty thirteen. So far the twenties have been pretty disappointing. Music seems to have taken on an alter personality with televised ‘talent shows’ now taking us dangerously close to a purgatory known as ‘karaoke-land’. There are the movies, but sequels to mega-blockbusters seem to be rolling out faster than one of those…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Go with the flow… riding
PHUKET: Before a band of bronzed onlookers – clad in board shorts and tiny black dresses, sipping their drinks and dancing to Phuket House Mafia – professional indoor surfers from Singapore christened Phuket’s first wave pool at Surf House. That’s right. Never again do surfers have to stow their boards for the high season, now you can have it all.…
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Phuket Books – The grand old farce writer: Tom Sharpe
PHUKET: Tom Sharpe can be described as the heir of PG Wodehouse, the master of English farce. His first satirical novels, Riotous Assembly and Indecent Exposure, were written about South Africa to where he had moved, after attending Cambridge University, to work as a teacher and social worker in 1951. A decade later, he was deported for “sedition”. In 1976,…
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Phuket Property Watch: Khao Lak’s Ramada wins top award
PHUKET: The Ramada Resort Khao Lak achieved the honor of being a first-time two-time winner of the Top and Luxury Hotel categories by TripAdvisor in its 2013 travelers’ Choice awards, announced last week. Now in its eleventh year, the annual TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice awards honor the world’s best hotels, earning their distinction from those who know them best – real…
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Phuket Property: Dewa Karon changes name, management
PHUKET: MAI-BS (Thailand) has taken over management of what used to be known as the Dewa Karon Resort Phuket.The resort is currently going through a re-branding and repositioning period and will now be known as Karon Sovereign All Suites Resort. The high-potential All Suites Resort offers 49 luxurious one and two-bedroom suites and penthouses sized between 63 and 140 square…
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Phuket Property: New development targets beginners
PHUKET: Relieving much anticipation of the property market just north of Phuket Town, lifestyle home developer LH Muang Mai Limited (LH), the local subsidiary of trusted property giant Land & Houses, recently unveiled its third housing development on the island: Inizio – Koh Kaew. Pre-sales for the 590.8 million baht development were launched at the project’s site behind Phuket’s main…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Full cycle
PHUKET: While a certain Mr Armstrong may have brought shame to the world of cycling following recent revelations to a certain Ms Oprah, a certain Mr Mason will be doing just the opposite by using his bicycle to help raise funds for needy children. Tomorrow James Mason will leave Tiger Muay Thai camp in Chalong (one of his main sponsors)…
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Phuket Books: Hell in Latvia
PHUKET: Dr Gwendolyn Chabrier’s novel Behind the Barbed Wire (Orchid Press, Hong Kong, 2011, 203pp) is about the Holocaust. It is not true to say that bookshelves groan under the weight of books written about the Holocaust – whole libraries do. Amazon lists more than 5,000 titles on the subject. In comparison, the many more millions of Russians and Chinese…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Food, games, music and fun, and all for charity
PHUKET: This weekend Royal Phuket Marina (click here for map: RPM) will be thronged with an extravaganza of fabulous food, fun and games for the kids and then later in the evening, superb music from The Legends of Siam, Moderndog and the internationally famous bluesmen from Australia Vdelli. As if all this wasn’t enough to make this one of Phuket’s…
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Phuket Environment: A slow boat to China – The loris pet trade
PHUKET: A recent Phuket Gazette article offered some encouraging news for environmentalists. The Deputy Mayor of Patong has acted to stop touts from charging tourists. For what? For having their photographs taken with slow lorises. He is on record as stating that ten arrests have been made, adding: “The crackdown will continue because such activities are upsetting and annoying to…
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Phuket Property: Singaporeans looking abroad
PHUKET: THE number of Singaporeans buying overseas property is likely to increase because of significant property cooling measures introduced by the government of Singapore, according to PropertyGuru, a leading Asian property website.The measures, which came into effect on January 12, include an immediate increase in stamp duties payable across the board between three and eight per cent. The government said…
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Phuket Lifestyle: The boat that rocks!
PHUKET: PGTV, in association with party organizers Fistpump Phuket, has a very special offer for all our local readers and fans. The Fistpump Sunset Boat Party will set sail again next Sunday, January 27. Built specifically for party cruises, the boat is as much a floating dance floor as a motorized fun palace and features a unique “Jacuzzi net” that…
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Phuket Books: Indulging in OJ Simpson
PHUKET: The author of a dozen books, mostly about crime in high places, Dominick Dunne was a compulsive name-dropper. Ah, but what names! Princess Diana, Elizabeth Taylor, Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas, Nancy Reagan, Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and a whole slew of Hollywood and Euro-trash royalty. He died three years ago at the age…
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Phuket Gardening: Pottering with giant plants
PHUKET: I was recently asked about suitable terrestrial plants for large, even giant-sized pots. These glazed pots are hand-crafted by traditional methods, and are objets d’art in their own right. Not to be upstaged by mere plants. So what principles apply? First, preserve the integrity of the container by ensuring it is not camouflaged, or covered up by untidy festoons…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Life in the extreme – David Martin
PHUKET: NO SMELL, no life, no sound – except the booming of ice cracking and the wind – the South Pole is one of the most hostile environments in the world, but even here in this frozen abyss dreams manage to materialize. Few search for answers in so bleak a landscape, a place where one meter of snow is no…
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Phuket Property Legal: Collective Leasehold Structures – Overview
PHUKET: PHUKET and neighboring provinces contain some of the finest villa developments in Thailand. However, under Thai law, foreigners are generally prohibited from owning land. However, they are, as many are aware, allowed to own buildings. Therefore, a common method for foreigners to purchase a villa is to lease a land plot (or plots) from a Thai landowner, and purchase…
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Phuket Property: Bold predictions for 2013
PHUKET: I believe Chinese zodiac signs went out sometime in the 1970s, though clearly citizens of Sedona and Byron Bay didn’t get the memo. We are about to enter the twelve year cycle of the Snake. From a quick look around the zodiac, the slimy reptile is still trumped by the Dragon, but nonetheless, words like mysterious, cattiness (love that…
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Phuket Property: A touch of class and comfort
PHUKET: Founded back in 1996, Euro Creations, through its exclusive brand name products, is a leading player in high-end home furnishings in Thailand. It started as a niche player in the classical furniture business; the home furnishing company has a number of high-end brands under their banner, including Natuzzi, which has a store in the Häfele building opposite Phuket International…
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Phuket Property: Thailand’s first container mall
PHUKET: Thailand’s first ‘container mall’, the colorful new Boat Avenue Shopping Street, is taking shape as part of a Phuket’s cosmopolitan community in Cherng Talay, and is set to be finished by the end of the year. The mixed-use retail, commercial and residential development covering 25 rai is the latest community-style project by Phuket-based developer Boat Development. Director Mr Boon…
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Phuket People: Somchai Yimpat
PHUKET: Photographer and retired lecturer Somchai Yimpat believes that in photography the argument over whether film is superior to digital has become moot. “People focus too much on mediums,” he says. “The concern should be about what the final presentation will be. If it’s for exhibition prints, then film is definitely superior to digital. For sharing on the internet, digital…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Impiana’s Swasana Spa
PHUKET: If ever there was a true boutique spa, then this is it. It doesn’t make pretentious claims to be the biggest, or even the best spa in Phuket. Nor does it boast of having the widest choice of treatments. But what Swasana Spa is proud of is that it offers top-notch spa services fusing the very best techniques of…
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Phuket Property Watch: 2013 property ponderings
PHUKET: When I lived and worked in the corporate rule, one of the true signs of executive prowess was the ability to read upside down. Now I’m not talking about taking up Japanese. Clearly that’s a country in decline. You can see it in the first installment of Die Hard. That’s where the trouble started. But look at me, an…
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Phuket Property: Land and Houses to explore new markets
PHUKET: Residential development will continue to be the core business for Land & Houses (L & H) while it invests in related businesses as well as others with future potential. “Our strategy is to manage our investment budget by balancing homes for sale and businesses that will generate a return in the long run,” said Naporn Sunthornchitcharoen, a senior executive…
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Phuket Lifestyle: Rolling the dice on Phuket’s roads
SPECIAL REPORT PHUKET: One lifestyle decision that anyone residing in Phuket (or even just on an extended holiday) will eventually come to consider, is whether or not to achieve transport independence – if not for the sake of convenience then certainly out of necessity.It’s no secret that getting around via public transport in other prime destinations of the Kingdom –…
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Phuket Pets: Heed the breed
PHUKET: With centuries of domestication safely behind us, it seems that more and more households now have at least one dog. But many of the problems owners end up having stem from choosing the wrong breed. Most of the time the choice is made because “The puppy looked cute” or because of “Daddy, daddy I want that one…” Either way,…
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