Thai Life
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Rainmakers berth
PHUKET: The wet weather in Singapore shouldn’t have damped the spirits of Phuket’s leading brokers and charter companies who joined the Singapore Yacht Show (SYS) last week. Many leading marine-industry operators in Phuket attended the show in hopes of tapping into the lucrative Chinese and Southeast Asian markets. “The presence and enthusiasm of serious buyers and HNWIs [high net worth…
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Phuket’s Hideaway breaks ground
PHUKET: Despite a nationwide slow-down in the property market, a new residential estate construction project is on track, according to the scion of a local tycoon family. Boon Yongsakul, deputy managing director of Boat Development Company, said Hideaway@Bypass is up and running as transfers of the company’s first project near Bypass Road, Bypass Biz Town, are underway. “We have about…
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Gardening: Dog days, damp plants
PHUKET: As the poet W.H. Auden once observed, “Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.” That adage is equally applicable to the plants in your garden, though loving your charges and watering them are part and parcel of the same impulse. Now, after three months without rain, Phuket’s gardeners are all prioritizing their use of the world’s most…
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On your mind: Message plays second fiddle to messenger
PHUKET: I first became skeptical about the print media 20 years ago when my family (wife, son, and daughter) were returning to the United States from a trip to Peru. We flew out of Lima and arrived in Houston, Texas, where I picked up a copy of that day’s New York Times, which included a story about political unrest in…
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Across the Land: Phuket expat community living
PHUKET: If you are living in a foreign country where there is already a well-organized expatriate community, there can be many benefits. Having catered to an expatriate society for many years, Phuket is one such destination that is popular among foreigners – and for many reasons – including, of course, the tropical climate, beautiful beaches and the warm and friendly…
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Books: Four of five ain’t bad
PHUKET: I have long wanted to read the five Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St Aubyn. Many critics have compared him to the early Evelyn Waugh, which is nonsense. While Waugh and St Aubyn share a common public school, Oxford University background and a fascination with landed gentry, their literary styles are quite different. Waugh was a terse and detached…
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Property Watch: Post-purchase pitfalls
PHUKET: There has always been a lot of talk about the safest way to invest in property in Thailand. We know there is a lot of very nice property out there. A less-talked-about issue is that of what happens after you make an investment – what are the common issues property owners face on our beautiful island? What can you…
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Looking Back: Elephants’ role in Thailand
PHUKET: Elephants have always held an important place in Thai history and culture. In an age that predated bulldozers and cranes, Siamese builders and loggers tamed mighty elephants and used their incredible strength to clear forests, transport heavy loads and even build cities. In war, Siamese kings and generals rode elephants into battle. Sitting atop elephants not only gave Siamese…
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Gardening: Second foray into peas
PHUKET: WHEN I was a boy, my mother always reminded me before I left home to ‘mind my Ps and Qs’. The meaning was clear enough: Literally, it meant ‘look after the detail’, but the general sense as I understood it was ‘mind your manners’, or more positively, ‘be on your best behavior’. But why Ps and Qs? The likeliest…
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Blazing Saddles: Rudy rides against cancer in global cycling tour
PHUKET: ‘INSPIRATIONAL’ is the word I would use to describe many of my fellow cyclists who I met when I cycled Bangkok to Phuket last December with Siam Bike Tours. However, one individual stood out above all others for his sheer bravery, tenacity and individualism – a 55-year-old Canadian Fire Department Captain named Rudy Pospisil. Fifteen years ago, Rudy was…
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Island Fever: Lost and found in Eden
PHUKET: As many jaded expats living in Thailand for any length of time know, the search for enduring values in a littered landscape is often a bottomless pit. Perhaps it was that herd of stampeding elephants which obliterated those rose-colored glasses. In the heat of a sunny tropical landscape, blindness is inevitable. In some ways, it might even be comforting…
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Environment- University students head Down Under for inspiration
PHUKET: Prince of Songkla University (PSU) continues its campaign to build a strong foundation in sustainability on the island through well-educated environmental leaders. The youth environment leadership project ‘Our Common Backyard’ was an initiative to do just that through the new International College of Arts and Sciences Phuket, with the help of funding from the Australian government. The students were…
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Nai Harn Beach Condos on top
PHUKET: In the highly competitive condominium arena it takes a lot to get ahead, and among those that have done so is the stunning Nai Harn Beach Condominium, which recently won applause for its low-density structures. The development is nestled into a prime location on the island, cheek by jowl to Nai Harn Beach, which was recently rated among the…
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Gardening: Splashing out on plants
PHUKET: Some time ago I encountered a stranger in a bar – as one does in Phuket – who was engaged in a project crafting massive, textured, handmade ceramic pots in his Chiang Mai atelier. Encouraged by his enthusiasm, I responded by writing two pieces about suitable big plants for big pots. One, about aquatic plants, featured water lilies (nymphaeas)…
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Phuket Pads: Winter birds looking to cash in on Phuket property market
PHUKET: More and more resorts and hotels in Phuket are offering excellent guaranteed rental returns for properties that buyers are looking to use themselves for only a short period each year. The rest of the year, the property is expected to generate rental income for its owners. This week’s property offers exactly that. Priced at 52 million baht, this one…
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Fresh food, antique decor at Phuket’s Chicroom Cafe
PHUKET: As you are driving down Phuket Road toward the Surin Circle clock tower in town, you may have noticed on the right-hand side a beautiful, modern looking building called the Chicroom Cafe. This cafe doubles as a gallery of all things eccentric and antique. The decor resembles a fancy secondhand store with all the treasures that you always wanted…
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Books: At Last – Melrose finds his place
PHUKET: Edward St Aubyn’s At Last (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York, 2012, 266pp) is the highly satisfying finale to his Patrick Melrose series of five novels. This is a towering achievement in fiction, psychologically intense, philosophically deep, screamingly funny. Introduced at the age of five in the first novel, Patrick Melrose grows up to be a highly educated heroin-and-cocaine…
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Phuket Boating: A Haven in bloom
PHUKET: The recent completion of the new dedicated superyacht pier at Phuket’s Yacht Haven Marina in Mai Khao has delivered the region its first 100-meter superyacht berths marina-side. Yacht Haven welcomes boats of all sizes, but is widely regarded as a first port of choice for superyachts. With deep-water access and sited 15-minutes’ drive to the airport, it has become…
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On your mind: Ban on “underboob selfies’ will do little to deter youth culture
PHUKET: By now you’ve probably heard that the government has warned women against posting online ‘underboob selfies’ – selfie photos of the lower half of their breasts – saying their actions could violate the country’s computer crime laws. Offenders could face up to five years in jail. Internet responses have been predictable, generally suggesting that the government might better involve…
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Up in the air: DCA woes continue
PHUKET: Fallout from the miserable results of the recent audit of Thailand’s Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) by the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is having direct effects both on Phuket’s tourism and general aviation industries. Well-publicized action to ban any new Thai flights imposed by the governments of Japan, South Korea and China have already affected several Thai…
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Gardening: A garden “full of beans’
PHUKET: Language is chameleon-like. Expressions frequently change their meanings according to time or context. Take the phrase ‘full of beans’. I have always assumed it means full of energy and enthusiasm, but Americans use it as a derogatory term to signify full of hot air – or something less printable. Personally, I prefer the older connotation (I would, wouldn’t I?).…
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Excuse Buster: Sip the prized elixir – coconut water
PHUKET: In the past few columns, I have discussed one of my favorite fats, coconut oil, and its many benefits according to the most up-to-date research. This week, I want to share some information about my favorite elixir: coconut water. More than five years ago, when I first visited Phuket, an older Thai waiter at our hotel saw how much…
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Gardening: Aristocratic aquatics
PHUKET: Hydrophytes are plants that can grow only in water or in soil that is permanently saturated. Some simple souls merely float on the surface and dangle their roots below, but the majority are rooted to the bottom or to the muddy margins of lakes, marshes or rivers. A few can actually survive in brackish or saline conditions, but for…
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Sansiri says “Now or Never’ with latest Phuket campaign
PHUKET: Sansiri has launched a “Now or Never” sales campaign, which will see some of the best units available in six Phuket developments up for grabs at special prices through June. The property development company held an event launching the campaign at Central Festival Phuket that concluded on April 1. “We have a limited number of units available for the…
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Books: The Johnson factor
PHUKET: On the eve of the 50th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s death appears The Churchill Factor (Johnson, Riverhead Books, New York, 2014, 390pp). I picked it not for the subject matter, having read William Manchester’s trilogy, one of several multi-volume biographies of the great man, but for the author, Boris Johnson. Someday it is conceivable that two roommates at Eton,…
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Phuket Boating: Excellence is served
PHUKET has much to be proud of in terms of excellence provided in the island’s marine and yachting industry, but taking excellence to the personal service level is the Galileo Yachting Superyacht Training Academy in Thalang. At a secluded high-end villa hidden among rubber trees near Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club, trainees undergo courses specifically tailored for careers onboard superyachts,…
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Looking Back: Mahawangsa – Kedah’s legend is born
PHUKET: The Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa is an ancient book that chronicles the legend of how the Malay state of Kedah was founded. The book tells the story of Mahawangsa, a hero who was given command of a large fleet of ships by the Emperor of Rome. His task was to set sail to the east and bring back the princess…
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Property Watch: Evolution of property – Multi-pronged approach to cashing in on Phuket market
PHUKET: There is nothing wrong with short-term goals, striking while the iron is hot and being commercially opportunistic for a profit, if this is all balanced with a long- term view. This principle also applies to the property market in Phuket. I recently saw an adviser inform a client interested in property in Thailand, that the only investment a foreigner…
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Gardening: Horses for water courses
PHUKET: Each and every landscaper worth his salt should incorporate a water feature – if only a modest fish pond – in his garden designs. And even apartment dwellers, with only a concrete balcony to link them to the open air, can think of focal points such as waterproof ceramic pots on plinths, decorated with water lilies or lotuses. Such…
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Excuse Busters: Fight age with exercise
PHUKET: The female beauty industry in 2010, in America alone, was worth US$7 billion (227bn baht), with a further US$10bn (324bn baht) spent on cosmetic surgery. The desire to stay forever young dates at least as far back as the ancient Egyptians, many of whom used an ointment made from myrtle plants to avoid getting wrinkles, while Cleopatra bathed in…
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