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 What do you need before moving from the US to Thailand?
The Thaiger key takeaways The most common medical emergencies for expats in Thailand include motorcycle accidents, tropical diseases, and food or water-borne illnesses. Air pollution and heat-related conditions like heatstroke also pose serious seasonal health risks, especially in northern and...
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‘A Prayer Before Dawn’. About to HIT our screens.
‘A Prayer Before Dawn’ is a 2017 British-French drama film directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire. It was shown in the Midnight Screenings section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and stars Joe Cole as Billy Moore. Bar girls, drugs, a young farang in Thailand to have a good time… what could possibly go wrong?! The film’s screenplay has been adapted from…
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Residences on the rise
Bill Barnett from c9hotelworks.com reports on the rise and rise of the residential living properties with hotel branding and management…. Property developers across Thailand are experiencing a magnetic attraction for hotel branded residences in order to spur price premium points and buyer demand. Currently there are 29 new hotel residence projects countrywide with nearly 90% of these located in resort…
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Phuket’s Burasari Group Expands Into Hotel Management
Bursari Phuket. Photo courtesy agoda.com by Bill Barnett, c9hotelworks.com One fast emerging Phuket borne hotel chain that is stretching out into expansion is the Burasari Group. Starting out on the island in Patong the current Burasari Phuket now has 184 keys. In a bold move to Bangkok the Shanghai Mansion is in the now trendy Chinatown/Yaowarat area with 76 rooms and…
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Five tips for TEFL job seekers in Phuket
by Eric Haeg, Course Director of TEFL Campus TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) October is a fantastic month for finding a job teaching English in Thailand. The start of the second term is just around the corner and schools across Phuket need to fill dozens of vacancies. That may come as good news to job seekers, but the best…
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Renovating a property in Thailand? Read this first.
Life and Law in Thailand with Robert Virasin As land prices in prime locations in Thailand go up, condominiums are getting smaller and more expensive. Many people have chosen the option to purchase larger, less expensive properties with the goal of renovating the property. There is a risk to making this choice. There is a lot of misleading and inaccurate information…
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Hot hotel trends – Branded residences
by Bill Barnett of c9hotelworks.com Asia’s property developers are jumping into bed with hotel groups as branded residences flourish. Southeast Asia’s real estate love affair between property developers and hotel brands is morphing into a feeding frenzy. With nearly 100 mainstream hotel residence projects and over 21,000 units completed, the next three years is set to take the sector into…
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When can I get my hands on a new iPhone in Thailand?
We revelled in the hype, we read all the leaks, we watched the launch. So when can we actually get our hands on a new iPhone in Thailand? Apple has now confirmed the release dates for the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus in the Land of Smiles. Roll the drums…. November 3rd. So how much will the new iPhones…
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Vegetarian Festival, Phuket. By FAT MANGO
Watch Fat Mangos tribute to the most in-your-face festival on Phuket’s Annual Calendar. The annual Vegetarian Festival is celebrated throughout the Thailand, but the festivities are at their peak in Phuket, where about 35% of the population is Thai Chinese heritage. It attracts crowds of spectators because of many of the unusual religious rituals that are performed. Unusual and in…
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Ao Sane and Nakkerd Mountain under DSI investigation for encroachment
The DSI deputy director-general, Pol Lt Col Prawut Wongsinil, along with his DSI team, Forestry officers and local authorities, visited two alleged encroached land plots including at Ao Sane Beach (Baan Laem Krating) near Nai Harn beach and Nakkerd Mountain in Karon. The first spot visited was Nakkerd Mountain following complaints about an illegal land deed covering 20 rai of…
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Should you pay more for a sea view?
While Phuket is an island, most property buyers are led to believe that sea views or proximity to the ocean are a key driver of real estate value. Fact or fiction? According to data from leading online marketplace FazWaz.com the answer lays inside the numbers. Looking at Phuket’s primary and secondary condominium sector and analysing pricing points from the ocean…
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DSI checking alleged Phang Nga National Park encroachment
The DSI (Department of Special Investigations) are checking two luxury houses located on Pa Kuantohla and Pa Laemsam mountains alongside another 2,000 rai of land that is alleged to have an illegal land deed. After checking the land document at the local land office, DSI have found that the names of landlords are a famous millionaire and his children who…
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Hi So Hill in Chiang Mai ends up being an expensive scam
Story from Thai language ‘Manager Online‘ The enticing advertisement online promised a dream: quiet retirement in the beautiful hills of Chiang Mai. Many foreigners thought this was what they deserved after a life of saving so they eagerly signed up to buy houses in the luxurious, quality development. Now they are left with illegal properties that they can’t sell and their dreams are over.…
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Upcycling the Oceans – sustainable solutions for Thailand’s ocean plastic
Photo from Marca España Thailand says it will be the first Asian country to join a global initiative to clean up its oceans and waterways around Bangkok, Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Phuket. Lonely Planet reports that Upcycling the Oceans is an effort spearheaded by the Ecoalf Foundation. The projects gets local fishermen removing plastic from the waters. Once collected,…
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Laos – the ‘battery’ of South East Asia
LAOS POWER FACTS: Number of power plants soon to be completed by 2020: 53 hydropower plants under construction or in the planning stage, including those set to be completed this year; there will be more than 90 hydropower plants in Laos with a combined installed capacity of almost 14,000MW by 2020. Transmission lines that connect with neighbouring countries: 14 carry power to Thailand,…
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Sell now or sell later?
Property insights from Bill Barnett of c9hotelworks.com One of the most common mistakes by property developers in hot markets or with premium properties is the misconception that a fast sell-out is good. It’s often hard for real estate sales people whose mantra follow’s the ABC’s (always be closing) to understand the big picture, or more importantly the bottom line. Property…
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Khao Phra Theao – Phuket’s new eco-tourism destination
Phuket’s Governor, Noraphat Plodthong, has announced today (September 13), that after surveying the non-hunting area of Khao Phra Theao, he has planned to make it a destination for eco-tourism and a nature study route. The 22.28 square kilometers of lush rainforest mountain features a long list of wildlife such as gibbons, mouse deer, wild boar, wild fowl, green pit viper…
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Urban push is on in Phuket’s Cherngtalay area
Phuket tourism is no longer just about the beach and the urban push is ‘game on’. One leading example is Cherngtalay which is near to the destination resort Laguna Phuket and Bangtao Beach. Upcoming in the fourth quarter of this year will be the X2 Vibe Bangtao that is set to usher in a rush of new ‘off beach’ properties. Within…
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Talking to your home, and other smart-home ideas
Starting with Apple’s Siri, released back in 2011, and followed by Google Now in 2013 on Android, smart phone users became accustomed to talking to smart devices with their voice. Sure, it feels a bit strange at first but once you got over the psychological hurdle of talking to your phone, instead of into it, we took it as granted…
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Everything you need to know about Phuket’s ferry services
There are Phuket Ferries that leave all day to all different islands and tourists areas. See the search box below for Timetables, Destinations and Prices. Phuket is the biggest island in Thailand. The island receives millions of tourists every year. Some people visit Phuket for its popular nightlife scene while other people just want to enjoy a couple of days…
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Ranong Visa Run – a few things you should know
From time to time we need to do those pesky visa runs. The nearest land border to Phuket is about a five hour drive north to the Thai fishing port of Ranong. Just a 30 minute long tail boat ride away is Myanmar, but more about that later. There is a boring way to do the trip on an air-conditioned…
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Is Bangkok’s property market cooling off? No, says Bloomberg.
An update on the Bangkok property market from Bloomberg. “We’re still undervalued as a country, compared to Singapore and Hong Kong. And China, in a lot of major cities.” Click the chart to watch the Bloomberg report on Thailand’s biggest property portfolio. PHOTO: fazwaz.com
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Defamation case against BBC’s Jonathan Head has been dropped
The Phuket lawyer, Pratuan Thanarak, who brought defamation charges against BBC broadcaster Jonathan Head, has dropped his criminal defamation suit. Head investigated foreigners being scammed of their retirement homes in Phuket in a 2015 BBC report. Jonathan faced up to five years in jail over the charges. His report detailed how two foreign retirees had their properties ‘stolen’ from them by…
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The Ripple Effect – becoming the hero of your own story
We all love a great story. The story that captures our imagination with; a tale of a hero, adversity or our hero triumphing over adversity. It sparks hope; that one day we can be courageous and heroic and become the hero of our own story. Hope is the spark for something better and a catalyst for a massive bleep on…
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Saphan Hin green upgrades and Old Phuket Town cabling goes underground
Phuket’s Mayor plans to make Saphan Hin Park the ‘lungs of Phuket’ and to put all the electric cables for the whole Phuket Old Town area underground. “Saphan Hin Park is a seaside public park that now needs renovation as it has been decayed because of the content exposure to salt water and the sea air damaging the stone retaining…
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Vaping could get you ten years in a Thai prison
Vaping, the popular alternative to smoking cigarettes, might be OK where you come from, but in Thailand sucking on your favourite ‘vape’, or even bringing them into the country, could put put you in a Thai prison for ten years. It’s not a new law, with the import of electronic cigarettes and shisha being banned back in October 2014, but…
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Ten year ‘Geeza Visa’ now available for Retirees in Thailand.
The 10-year visa for foreign retirees is now available at an Immigration office near you. Despite the top Immigration officer’s announcement today many offices are unaware of the change and new availability of the 10 year visa option. Lt. Gen. Natthathorn Prohsunthorn says the new visa comes in two installments, each lasting five years. Foreigners from 14 countries who meet…
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What makes a good rental villa?
Not everyone who has gone through the process of owning or building a villa will want to rent it out. Even if you don’t, rentability can have a significant impact on the asset and resale value so it’s well worth being aware of a given property’s potential appeal to the rental market. Here are a few things to consider: Location…
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From Russia with Love. Russian buyers on the rebound.
From Russia with Love might is a James Bond 007 thriller but it has also been a mantra for island developers as the past nine months has seen a strong uptick in demand in Phuket real estate by Russian buyers. According to the recently released Phuket Russian Tourism Market report, over 51% of Russian travelers to Thailand come to Phuket.…
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Phuket Report Card August 2017
Story from c9hotelworks.com Phuket’s Provincial government is undertaking a large-scale initiative to tackle the problem of unlicensed hotels. Since the campaign started, a total of 1,007 hotels have now applied for official operating licenses with just six approved to date. The main challenges for the process are the strict regulations associated with the Building Control and Hotel Acts. Provincial Hall…
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Charging ahead. Electric car charging stations coming to Thailand.
The Thailand chapters of four industrial companies are pooling their resources to work towards public charging stations for the next generation of electric cars in the country. Greenlots, BMW Group Thailand, Polytechnology and the Central Group are set to launch ‘Charge Now’ in Thailand which they claim is already the world’s largest network of charging stations for electric and hybrid…
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