Thai Life
Discover the latest regional stories and happenings in Thailand with The Thaiger, your source of credible, informative, and reliable updates. Stay informed about important local events, political happenings, social issues, cultural highlights, and entertainment stories, all curated to ensure you never miss out on what’s happening in the Land of Smiles. Our journalists will keep you informed with all the essential Thai life updates and allows you to connect with the community and experience Thailand like a local.
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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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Property Watch: Not everything can be ‘unique’
PHUKET: No other word suffers as much abuse in the Phuket property market as the word ‘unique’, to the extent that the misuse itself is almost unique. The word is important for property investors, because the ‘Unique Selling Point’ is a factor that ought to be addressed at an early stage of investment. However, items that are not unique could…
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Laguna Phuket bags AMCHAM CSR award
PHUKET: The American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) in Thailand has awarded Laguna Phuket with the 2016 US Ambassador’s Award for CSR Excellence, in recognition of the resort’s long-term community development projects. The resort got a triple nod at the 2016 AMCHAM CSR Excellence (ACE) awards ceremony in Bangkok for its ‘Seedlings Internship Program’ along with its community development and environmental…
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Blazing Saddles: All for the love of cycling
PHUKET: Born in the mountains of Switzerland and with the strength and resilience of a wiry mountain goat, it may have been Martin Brot’s destiny to become a champion cyclist. However, his journey to Thailand and his subsequent launch and management of Siam Bike Tours, now based at Canal Village in Phuket, is the stuff of adventurous legend. Martin was…
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Excuse Buster: Alternatives to the ‘white devil’
PHUKET: “This may seem exaggerated and far-fetched, but sugar is the most dangerous drug of the times and can still be easily acquired everywhere,” says Paul van der Velpen, the head of Amsterdam’s health service. This is the same Amsterdam where the sale of cannabis is legalized. Research that refined sugar is one of the main reasons for our current…
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Across the Land: Proposed 10-year visa for over-50s
PHUKET: Finally, after years and years of consideration and watching other neighboring countries benefit from attracting foreign residents for long-term resident stays, the Thai government has announced a long term (ten-year) visa for foreigners over the age of 50. The intention is to promote Thailand as an international hub for medical services. As Thailand plans to develop itself into a…
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First ‘Superyacht Winner’s Cup’ up for grabs at 2016 rendezvous
PHUKET: Elite sail and motor superyachts are meeting at the prestigious 16th annual Asia Superyacht Rendezvous (ASR) at SALA Resort & Spa on December 16-18. ASR 2016 co-sponsor Benetti Yachts, along with Asia Pacific Superyachts, Lux Media Group and a range of high-end sponsors, as well as global and national media partners, join organizers in announcing the first ever ‘Rendezvous…
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Diving: Curate diving with kind words
PHUKET: You’re going to be hard pressed to find an easily accessible, warm water dive site anywhere in the world that wasn’t more glorious ten, twenty years ago. However, shallow tropical water sites, which have been most heavily transformed from global warming and other human impacts, are still capable of inspiring, mesmerizing and filling a diver’s heart and mind with…
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On Deck: Ready for a wet ‘n’ wild year end?
PHUKET: Are you ready for the busiest time of the year? Not Christmas and New Year, but the six or so weeks of marine industry madness that is upon us. Kicking things off is the Ocean Marina Pattaya Boat Show. From 24th to 27th November, eyes are on the Gulf of Thailand as boat brands from around the world join…
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Athletes, organizers prepare for Ironman 70.3
PHUKET: Some of the world’s fittest human beings are preparing to put their endurance to the test and compete for the US$15,000 professional prize purse at the upcoming inaugural Foremost Ironman 70.3 Thailand and Foremost Ironkids event to be held in Phuket on November 27 and 26, respectively. The Ironman athletes are to set off from Bangtao Beach for the…
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M/Y Narvalo wins superyacht design award
PHUKET: The International Superyacht Society (ISS) has awarded Cantiere delle Marche’s explorer yacht M/Y Narvalo the ‘ISS Leadership and Design Award 2016’ in the category ‘Best Interior Design’. Designed by Nauta Yachts and built at the Ancona shipyard in Italy, the 108-foot steel and aluminum vessel was given the prestigious award after a “highly selective” voting process, according to the…
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On Deck: Pattaya jumps aboard marine tourism trend
PHUKET: Yachting in the Gulf of Thailand is nothing new but it is fair to say that the Andaman Sea region has grown much more quickly and has a much larger marine leisure industry than the Gulf of Thailand. Think Phuket and Pattaya; some would say they are chalk and cheese on so many levels. While Phuket’s abundance of nearby…
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Property Watch: How to lose a property sale
PHUKET: Some of you will have had the feeling of seeing the bus you are waiting for gliding by just seconds before you reach the bus stop. Others will only be able to empathize, perhaps comparing their experience of their Mercedes breaking down and a mechanic not being immediately available to fix the issue. Whatever part of the wealth spectrum…
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Gardening: Putting annuals on display
PHUKET: All gardeners know about annuals, biennials and perennials: annuals bloom only once, and will need to be re-planted or re-sown the following year. Biennials, on the other hand, generally flower the year after they have been planted and then give up the ghost, while perennials, in the right conditions, will come back year after year. If the distinction is…
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Kata Group hosts its 18th Phuket King’s Cup Regatta
PHUKET: The Phuket King’s Cup Regatta Under Royal Patronage will once again be hosted at Kata Beach Resort & Spa, one of six properties owned and managed by the Kata Group. The resort is the long-established home of the King’s Cup, with a partnership that stretches back to 1998. With its beachfront location on one of Phuket’s most scenic bays,…
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Blazing saddles: Cycling to Sunday brunch
PHUKET: Ahhhh! At last it’s Sunday and Phuketians can kick back, relax a little and start to enjoy all the glorious things that living in a tropical paradise is supposed to offer. The trouble is that in these febrile times of traffic hassles, construction, road works and economic and environmental decline, many Phuketians find themselves increasingly stressed and time-starved. Sundays…
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Excuse Buster: Obesity may be more complicated than we think
PHUKET: ‘The cause of obesity is eating too many calories and not exercising enough’. That’s still the current theory and what I was taught 20 years ago. It was the focus of my work with clients until I began to look beyond the physics and delve into other factors. These included the role of hormones such as thyroid, insulin, leptin…
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Looking back: Always there for his own people
PHUKET: Last month, on October 13, 2016, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej passed away. As the royal procession brought his body from Siriraj Hospital to the Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall in the Grand Palace, a surreal gloom blanketed the city of Bangkok as hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets to pay their respects. The most vibrant city…
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Across the land: Burial plots become prime real estate
PHUKET: The current world population is 7.3 billion, but it is expected to hit 8.5 billion by the year 2030 and 9.7 billion by 2050, according to a new United Nations DESA report, titled ‘World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision‘. Asia Pacific is also now home to half of the world’s population of elderly persons, defined as people aged 60…
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On Deck: His Majesty was an inspiration to sailors
PHUKET: In a recent column, I wrote about a sailing dinghy called “Vega 2”, which was built by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej and which in 1967 he raced to gold medal success at the 4th Southeast Asia Peninsular Games (now the SEA Games). Much has changed in Thailand since I wrote that column (story here). His Majesty King Bhumibol…
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Profile: The man who met the King
PHUKET: Ngeem Damrongkaset is a member of Rawai sea gypsy community. Now in his 70s, he had a chance to meet His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej when he first visited Phuket in 1959. “I was about 12 years old at the time,” says Mr Ngeem. “I can still picture it clearly. Every person in our community had gathered together and…
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Keep It Green: Mangroves – a vital eco-system component
PHUKET: Coral reefs attract far more publicity than mangrove swamps. After all, coral is spectacularly beautiful, and affords protection to some of the world’s most spectacular fishes – clown fish, parrot fish, wrasse and literally hundreds of other species. From the air, mangrove swamps also look appealing, but close up are muddy and turbid with unsightly roots and often have…
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Elite weigh anchor for Asia Superyacht Rendezvous
PHUKET: The Asia Superyacht Rendezvous (ASR) has welcomed many of the world’s finest uber-luxurious craft to Phuket over the past 15 years and this year’s event is no exception. The Phuket ASR 2016 is a custom-designed gathering specially for superyacht owners and captains, and the organizers are very exited about some of the new vessels streaming in for the show…
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Law, Life and Society: Beggars to get registered
PHUKET: The Thai government recently passed a law revising the country’s rules on begging in public areas. The law replaces the Beggar Control Act of 1941, which punished gangs and individuals for trafficking in people to work as beggars. People who wish to beg for money on the streets are now required to obtain licenses to do so. This not…
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Cycling to raise funds for tsunami victims
PHUKET: Charitable organizations all over the world receive thousands in aid to keep their operations running smoothly. However, advocates of one such organization, called the ‘Happy World Tour’, that represents an orphanage in Phuket, takes funding to the next level via projects across nations and continents. This year, three cyclists have decided to cycle around the world. The orphanage in…
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Phuket graced by four royal visits
PHUKET: Phuket was graced by four visits of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej during his 70-year reign; the first was 57 years ago, on Sunday, March 8, 1959, accompanied by Queen Sirikit. The royal couple took a car ferry across the Pak Pra channel from Phang Nga to Phuket, arriving at Tah Chat Chai at 4pm, where they rested for…
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On Deck: Sailing ignored as a mainstream sport
PHUKET: Bangkok was host to Asia’s Sports Industry Awards & Conference (SPIA Asia) at the beginning of this month. A two-day conference with presentations from leaders in the regional sports industry – IMG, Lagardere, GroupM, Media Pro, Total Sports Asia, TATA Consulting, and many more – discussing the best practices and latest developments within the sports industry, was followed by…
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Property Watch: Impact of weather on the property market
PHUKET: A lot is said about the negatives and positives of the business and economics of the Phuket property market, but it seems that less is said about the realities of the weather here on our green and often wet island, and how that impacts on property. What is said is often encapsulated in a sugar-coated cloud of positivity –…
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Profile: Rich Cramp – Keeping our beaches clean
PHUKET: Rich Cramp is the Phuket organizer of Trash Hero, an organization dedicated to solving the global garbage problem. He has a degree in English Literature and currently teaches at HeadStart International School in Phuket. He spent part of his childhood in Thailand, before moving to Hong Kong, then Taiwan and finally settling in England. “I moved back to Thailand…
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Blazing Saddles: The bias against e-bikes
PHUKET: Like many cycling enthusiasts, I have long held a prejudice against electric bicycles. Somehow the whole idea of adding a motor of any kind into the primal equation of man, muscle and machine seemed just plain wrong and indeed a bit akin to cheating. Surely the whole concept of the bicycle is of a wonderful enhancement of man’s ability…
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The billion dollar behemoth stirs
PHUKET: For the most part, the booming tourist high season at the start of 2016 was a challenge for the island’s luxury real estate sector, as there was no domino effect. Instead, the villa market went stone cold. As we edge towards yet another winter peak high season though, the question for the property market is, “what does the future…
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