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 Why is it important to get colorectal cancer screening?
The population of the United States above the age of 50 is about 125 million. Among them, approximately 40 million people, or about one-third of eligible individuals, are not getting screened for colorectal cancer. In Thailand, out of the 72.8...
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Gardening: Moving pageant in your garden
PHUKET: We all know how denuded of mammals Thailand is. Most have long since been hunted down for food. And while the same is not true of most insects or reptiles, it is still the case that anything remotely edible will probably end up fried or barbecued on someone’s dinner plate. Insects, such as water scorpions, crickets and locusts, tokay…
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Quality tourism trending
PHUKET: Last year was a favorable one for tourism in Phuket, boosting confidence throughout the hospitality and property sectors with a rise in ‘quality’ tourists and investors – a trend that appears set to continue in 2016. Arrivals at Phuket International Airport soared to 6.4 million – a record number of passengers passing through the province, according to the latest…
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Blazing Saddles: Dealing with the blazing heat
PHUKET: Whether we Phuket-based cyclists like it or not, the 2016 season is going to be one of the hottest on record with the El Nino effect continuing to bring the Andaman region all sorts of problems. To keep on enjoying your riding throughout 2016, there are a number of simple responses that local cyclists should make to the extreme…
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By the Book: What is property valuation?
PHUKET: Valuation is a process of estimation of the most probable price that would be paid for a property under typical market conditions applicable at the date of valuation. The value of a property is the present value of all future benefits expected to be obtained from possession of the property. The ability to provide a professional and accurate valuation…
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Profile: From penniless to priceless
PHUKET: Suriyan ‘Romadon’ Kos-anea, 41, originally from Phang Nga, is currently an art teacher at Phuket Vocational College. He also owns a tea shop and art gallery in Rawai. The special thing about him is the way he uses his body for painting. In 2012, he was chosen as one of the last six contestants in the show Thailand’s Got…
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Excuse Buster: Proper diet to battle cancer
PHUKET: In 2014 the British Journal of Cancer released a study that tested the relationship between a commonly used blood test for diabetics and pre-diabetics (HbA1c) and the development of several cancers. As has been widely published, diabetes increases the risks of developing several cancers, sotesting diabetes and pre-diabetes markers makes sense. The results concluded that high HbA1c did in…
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Looking Back: When two kings sat on the throne – Part II
PHUKET: In my last column, I spoke about Prince Mongkut’s journey before taking the throne. When Prince Mongkut was 47, he left the monkhood to reign as king. There was a problem, however, as Prince Chutamani had an equally legitimate claim to succeed to the throne. At the time of King Rama III’s death, some nobles claimed that Prince Chutamani…
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Ditching a brand for better marketing
PHUKET: Effective marketing is essential to securing occupancy numbers, both in high and low seasons, leading many resort and hotel owners to rely on established brands with loyal clientele. However, when those brands fall down on the marketing side, as one such international brand is perceived to have done for what is now known as the Amatara Resort and Wellness…
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Across the Land: The persistent growing pains of Phuket
PHUKET: Last month, MasterCard Asia Pacific Destinations Index 2015 announced that Thailand is the most popular regional travel destination for 2015, with three of its cities making the top ten list. Bangkok was the most popular, followed by Phuket in fifth place and Pattaya in eighth. The survey was based on 167 destinations from 22 countries across Asia Pacific and…
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Keeping our sharks out of the soup
PHUKET: Movies and fascinating documentaries depict fierce predators lurking beneath the surface of azure waters just waiting to rip unsuspecting swimmers into fleshy ribbons with their hideous teeth. Well, that image is just plain wrong, according to Brendon Sing, spokesperson for Shark Guardian, a registered conservation charity. Brendon visited Palm House International School in Rawai last week to deliver this…
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Property Watch: Twinning yachting and property
PHUKET: Twins in any language are a strange brew, whether actual biological pairs, or the symbiotic kind. Whether it is yin, or yang, or any manner of kinship, there remains an undeniable connection. As I travel often between Asia’s resort islands, I’m fortunate to have a clear perspective of what’s right and what’s wrong with Phuket. Connecting the dots between…
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On Deck: The case for in-water zones
PHUKET: Phuket’s ten per cent beach rule and the issue of beach and sea zoning has received a lot of attention recently and yet here we are mid high season and it’s easy to see the problems haven’t been fixed. Head down to Patong Beach any day of the week and you will see roped off swim areas. You might…
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Battle the dark side of gourmet toothfish dishes
PHUKET: There are a number of reasons that toothfish, more commonly known at the dinner table as Chilean Sea Bass, are coveted by chefs – on and off the fine china of word-class restaurants and superyachts. “Chilean Sea Bass has a fabulous taste and an almost sinful mouth-feel. Its high-fat content keeps it moist during cooking and gives it a…
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Marina across the bay
PHUKET: Krabi Boat Lagoon opened in late 2012 as one of the province’s first residential marinas, adding a new freehold option for foreign investors with The Cleat Condominium – a collection of 45 waterfront condominium units in three low-density buildings overlooking the marina’s 80 yacht berths. Built by Boat Development Co Ltd, the same developers who built the Phuket Boat…
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Island View: Beauty, boats and bays
PHUKET: Waking up on a boat in Phang Nga Bay fills a person with wonder. Looking out across the bay, a magical, surreal sensation consumes you. It is not waking up from a dream, but waking up into one; the calm azure sea weaves its way around countless limestone outcroppings, the karst topography almost an extension of the water’s flow.…
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Proud Real Estate expanding presence
PHUKET: Proud Real Estate Co is launching more hotels and amusement attractions in Hua Hin and Phuket to cash in on the flood of tourists. Proudputh Liptapanlop, Proud Real Estate executive director, said yesterday that the company would also expand its flagship hotel, the InterContinental Hua Hin Resort, by adding the 40-room BluPort Wing in October. The company expects to…
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Serenity in the heart of Patong
PHUKET: Stress, lack of sleep, an unbalanced diet, air pollution, smoking – most of us are affected by one or more of these on a daily basis. So let the crew at Ryn Spa, Grand Mercure Phuket Patong Resort & Villas, melt them away for you. Every aspect of the service, from the soothing welcome drink to the lighting and…
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On Deck: At last, good news for our oceans
PHUKET: Ocean trash is growing. It’s an important issue that gets a lot of attention, at times, but little is actually done about it. Two Spain-based Aussie surfers, Pete Ceglinski and Andrew Turton, are about to change that. In a former life, Turton was a product designer who realized that the plastic products he was designing were sources of pollution.…
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Property Watch: Foreigners: beware of condo laws
PHUKET: Every year I learn a host of new rules and regulations which impact property investors in Thailand, sometimes positively but often detrimentally. This year I learned something new, which either by chance or good fortune, my clients over 13 plus years here have never experienced. Unfortunately, I view the situation as being severely detrimental and anti-foreign investment in nature.…
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Profiile: Legend of Phuket’s Green Man
PHUKET: Howard Digby-Johns presides over the most interesting estate on Phuket. His ‘Green Man Pub’ on the road between Chalong and Kata Hill looks like a gracious English manor from the outside. But upon exploring the extensive landscaped grounds, one finds a subterranean wine cellar, a temple to the Egyptian god Osiris, shrines to the Hindu god Ganesh, a parlor…
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Gardening: It’s really just a name, after all
PHUKET: Most tongue-twisting Latin names of plants are associated with so-called ‘discoveries’ by Western botanists/explorers. For example, the plumeria is named after Charles Plumier, the bougainvillea after a certain Monsieur Bougainville, the allamanda after Switzerland’s Frederich Allamanda, and so on. The original classifier of plants, Sweden’s Carolus Linnaeus, based his Systema Naturae (1735) on shared physical characteristics. Most of his…
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Sea Breeze Cafe brings a whole new level to buffet-chic
PHUKET: It is a common misconception that resort bars and restaurants are for in-house guests only. Among others, the Holiday Inn Resort’s dining venues are open to all comers. At the Sea Breeze Cafe, they offer their popular bi-weekly seafood buffet, and there is no place better suited for this delicious spread than the resort’s poolside with its view of…
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Blazing Saddles: Dreams of Bang Wad Dam mountain biking
PHUKET: Undoubtedly the Bang Wad Dam and its surrounding mountainous environs high above the Phuket Country Club and golf course could offer fabulous recreational and cycling potential if it is developed with foresight and care. I have written previously about the current plans to develop this area and why I think there needs to be a serious re-appraisal of the…
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Looking Back: When two kings sat on the throne
PHUKET: In July of 1824, King Buddha Loetla Nabhalai, Rama II, suddenly fell very ill. Not long after, he passed away. According to the palace’s succession law, the throne would have to pass on to the son of Queen Suriyendra, Prince Mongkut. Queen Suriyendra was King Rama II’s consort and according to Siamese royal tradition, only the sons of a…
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Excuse Buster: Thailand full of dieting fanatics
PHUKET: I was recently sent an article titled: ‘Consumer online searches reveal the most popular diets around the world’. The article highlighted the countries that searched the most for diet plans and for which ones. Surprisingly (for me) Thailand landed in the eighth spot. Globally, it seems that the three programs that attracted the most interest are the Atkins, Duran…
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On Deck: Best toys for seagoing girls and boys
PHUKET: For some, size is everything. Perhaps you’ve already got the superyacht and your crew are waiting on you 24/7; the question is ‘what’s next?’ Toys are where it’s at. The jetski is so 2000. The water Jetpacks and Flyboards are so yesterday. You need something better. Something newer. Here are three toys that should be on every sea-lover’s gift…
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Property Watch: Changing face of luxury villa rentals
PHUKET: Islands by nature change and evolve over time. Since the late 1980s, Phuket has witnessed sustained upward growth in luxury private pool villas and even today there are no signs of the sector slowing down. One important byline has been a growing emphasis on holiday rentals, and this has in fact shifted through the last two decades. In recent…
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Across the Land: Evolution of Phuket’s property scene
PHUKET: The property market in Phuket has seen an increasing amount of supply over the last five years with both Thai and foreign developers jumping on the bandwagon, building projects all over the island. The island continues to witness the growth in construction and some clients have commented that since the last time that they were in Phuket (which was…
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Diving: Go pro with PADI freediving courses
PHUKET: The branding and professional support provided by PADI, as it moves into the freediving industry with an entire set of courses specific to the sport, looks to create new opportunities for those wanting to become professional freediving instructors. PADI has a massive background in marketing and supporting businesses, which means that a sustainable career in freediving will likely become…
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Property Watch: Inside look at the hotel licencing crisis
PHUKET: Crisis? What Crisis? At long last the ticking time bomb of unlicenced accommodation establishments in Phuket has finally made headlines. The furor of action was capped as the Thai Hotels Association (THA) Southern Chapter issued a formal letter of complaint to the Governor’s Office asking for action, given an out-of-control spread of hotels operating without licences. To fully understand…
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