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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The Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) is a great option for digital nomads, remote workers, and freelancers who want to stay in Thailand for a long time. This multiple-entry visa is valid for five years, allowing stays of up to 180...
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Residing in the luxury of a steadfast market
PHUKET: While those involved in many segments of the Phuket property market are having to carefully navigate through times, those in the luxury residential market continue to enjoy smooth sailing. “Premium luxury residential markets across the world are not directly impacted by market fluctuations in domestic housing sectors,” explains Micah Tamthai, vice president – real estate, Minor International, ahead of…
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Books: Sally Mann’s treasure trove of memorabilia
PHUKET: Eloquent, exasperating, pretentious, earthy, fustian, laugh-out-loud funny, Sally Mann’s Hold Still (Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2015, 482pp) – billed as ‘A Memoir with Photographs’ – is very much a mixed bag. Unlike other photographers who roam the world, Sally Mann found her material at home in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Lugging around a 100-year-old rosewood box-camera mounted on…
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Looking Back: Understanding Bangkok blast point
PHUKET: The Erawan Shrine is a revered place of worship located in the heart of Bangkok. Flanked by some of the capital’s best malls and five-star hotels, the shrine is frequented by hundreds of Thai and foreign devotees every day. On a typical day, the shrine is crowded with people who come to offer their prayers. There is a thin…
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Gardening: Slippery slopes of landscaping
PHUKET: I was recently consulted about changes to a large, established garden of some four rai in Laguna. Nothing unusual about that, but here’s the catch. The villa, itself in the throes of major renovation at the behest of a new owner, is sited on a steep hillside and the front garden – mostly Malaysia grass – slopes steeply down…
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Twinpalms teams up with MontAzure for luxury project
PHUKET: Phuket’s MontAzure, a mixed-use community in the Kamala district, has teamed up with leading hospitality company Twinpalms to launch a branded residential project on one of the last direct beachfronts on the west coast of the island. Twinpalms Residences MontAzure will comprise 75 luxury condominiums, with 100 meters of beachfront located between Millionaire’s Mile and the Amanpuri headland. After…
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Expansion helps Amari Phuket bags “Best Beach Resort in Asia-Pacific’
PHUKET: Taking home the ‘Best Beach Resort in Asia-Pacific’ at the 26th annual Travel Trade Gazette (TTG) Awards 2015 in Bangkok was a clear sign to Pierre-Andre Pelletier, Onyx vice-president and south Thailand general manager, that the Amari Phuket was on the right path as it goes toe-to-toe with other high-end developments on the island. “This is an amazing recognition…
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Aussie navigates through haze to paddle against child abuse
PHUKET: As part of his battle against child abuse, Damien Rider successfully circumnavigated Phuket on his standup paddle board (SUP), despite the dense Indonesian haze leaving him lost at sea earlier this month. Mr Rider, a victim of child abuse, first caught the media’s attention with Paddle Against Child Abuse (PACA) when he completed an 800 kilometer prone paddle through…
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Across the Land: Going big while away from home
PHUKET: Recently we were invited to view a brand new luxury eight-bedroom villa solely for holiday rentals. I was thinking to myself before the viewing, now who would want to rent such a big villa and what purpose would it serve. Isn’t a villa with eight bedrooms just a little decadent? Well apparently I was mistaken and that villa is…
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Port Takola prepares to open phase one
PHUKET: The Port Takola yacht marina and boatyard in Krabi will resume construction at the end of next month with the first phase of berths scheduled to open in May 2016. Owner Suriya na Nagara, a retired admiral of the Royal Thai Navy, along with his son Matthew na Nagara, are developing the marina within the family’s private estate. “After…
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Property Watch: Branding unlocks potential of hotel property
PHUKET: Thailand, and more specifically Phuket, is leading a strong Southeast Asia trend in hotel residences to the tune of US$3.5 billion in properties currently up for sale. Overall the SEA regional market inventory is valued at a whopping US$16 billion. Recently, we conducted research throughout the Southeast Asia markets and identified nearly 120 developments with over 28,000 units. Thailand…
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Up in the Air: Bangkok Airways spreads its wings
PHUKET: Bangkok Airways finally launched a daily flight service connecting Phuket and Hat Yai with an inaugural launch ceremony after touchdown at Hat Yai Airport on October 11. As previously reported by Up in the Air, the link between south Thailand’s two busiest airports is long overdue. There are thousands of people from Songkhla and surrounding provinces who have been…
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Up in the air: Strong demand anticipated for Phuket – Hat Yai flights
PHUKET: Bangkok Airways finally launched a daily flight service connecting Phuket and Hat Yai with an inaugural launch ceremony after touchdown at Hat Yai Airport on October 11. As previously reported by Up in the Air, the link between south Thailand’s two busiest airports is long overdue. There are thousands of people from Songkhla and surrounding provinces who have been…
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On Deck: Ocean Emerald first to receive superyacht licence
PHUKET: The visually stunning superyacht Ocean Emerald is the first superyacht to receive one of the recently launched 12-month superyacht licences. Currently based in Pattaya at Ocean Marina Yacht Club, Ocean Emerald is being heavily promoted in Phuket by numerous locally-based charter agents. Designed by Norman Foster and built in Italy, the 41meter Ocean Emerald is one of four built…
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Property Watch: Avoiding property fraud
PHUKET: Recently a video produced by a global news outlet about property and fraud in Phuket went ‘viral’. The video covered serious subject matter, involving people who had been injured and who had their rights violated. However, what many people I spoke to found, was that the presentation of the video and representation of Phuket was fundamentally unfair. It is…
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Gardening: Answer lies in top soil
PHUKET: When steam radio was in its heyday, an English comedy show called ‘Beyond Our Ken’ had a ‘joke’ gardening expert called Arthur Fallowfield. His answer to every query, couched in a ripe west country accent, was: “The answer lies in the soil.” Hardly earth-shattering (if you’ll pardon the pun), but true as well as trite. After all, soil is…
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Books: New Western novel a Wild West of cliches
PHUKET: There was a time, for about three decades in the middle of the last century, when Westerns were the predominant form of American entertainment. Books, magazines, movies and television shows were all devoted to tales of the Old West. Cowboy writer Louis L’Amour was the country’s bestselling author, and even the great Elmore Leonard got his start writing pulp…
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Phuket Pads: Mediterranean style in Rawai
PHUKET: While other real estate markets on the island seem to be struggling, the luxury villa sector remains steady, making room for those looking for unique, stylish villas jumping to buy. Such is the case with a five-bedroom Mediterranean inspired villa with stunning views from its rooftop. Located in Rawai Beach’s Saiyuan Med Village, this three-year-old split level, five-bedroom, three-bathroom…
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Life of a ma song
PHUKET: One of the most famous ceremonies that is synonymous with Phuket’s Vegetarian Festival, or Jia Chai, is the soul-stirring parade of ‘ma song’ (‘spirit mediums), who are often seen stabbing objects through their cheeks or slashing their tongues with knives, as they believe this sacrifice will take away bad fortune, sickness and danger from those who take part in…
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Phuket real estate shrugs off Bangkok slowdown
PHUKET: In terms of property, Phuket seems to be worlds away from Bangkok, where the market has experienced a slowdown, mostly because the island is more affected by events outside of Thailand than inside the Kingdom, Robert Collins, managing director of Savills (Thailand), said earlier this week. Because the Bangkok market has dipped, three real-estate associations recently urged the government…
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Castlewood Group to open Phuket flagship, luxury hotel
PHUKET: Singapore commercial real estate developer Castlewood Group has announced the launch of their flagship luxury hotel development in Phuket, the Dream Phuket Hotel & Spa. This is the first project cementing the recently established strategic partnership with Début Hotel Group – a part of the New York-based Hampshire Brand, Hotel and Asset Management – for the development and operation…
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Excuse Buster: Digging into intermittent fasting
PHUKET: Intermittent fasting is all the rage at the moment with diets such as the 5:2 Diet going mainstream and becoming a big hit. Could temporarily abstaining from food be healthy, or is this practice potentially setting a person up for trouble? As a nutritionist, it goes against one of the original rules we were taught to preach such as:…
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Temptations galore at Baba Iki
PHUKET: Iki is best described as an expression of simplicity, sophistication, spontaneity, and originality. The phrase iki is generally used in Japanese culture to describe qualities that are aesthetically appealing, and when applied to a person, what they do or have, constitutes a high compliment. It is a broad term that encompasses various characteristics related to refinement with flair. The…
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Video Report: Amazing fun at food festival
PHUKET: Food was aplenty when the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s (TAT) ‘Amazing Tastes of Thailand’ rolled through Phuket and onto Thalang Road in Phuket Town late last month. The fair, part of the TAT’s ‘Discover Thainess 2015’ campaign and an effort to bring locals and tourists together, panned out well as the streets were packed full of excited and hungry…
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On Deck: New name and new horizons
PHUKET: Phuket’s Ao Chalong Yacht Club has been at the heart of the island’s sailing scene since its inception 24 years ago. At a time when thatch roofs were all the rage, the original Ao Chalong Yacht Club (ACYC), known then as the Ao Chalong Cruising Yacht Club, was born and had its first official premises on the second floor…
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Dual expansion at Krabi Boat Lagoon
PHUKET: Two exciting projects will be unveiled by Krabi Boat Lagoon shortly, with one being a beach club near the marina and the other a third condominium building at the marina itself. Ms Sriya Yongsakul, Krabi Boat Lagoon’s deputy managing director, said at an exclusive interview with the Gazette last week that the long beachfront plot where the beach club…
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Keep it Green: Zoos save endangered species
PHUKET: Continuing my analysis of the value of zoos to man and beast, another important argument in favor of zoos is that they support the principle of conservation. Take an extreme example. There are about 2,300 tigers left in the whole of the Indian jungle, but in the state of Texas alone, there are some 2,000 tigers, all in zoos…
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By the Book: Tips on handling property transactions
PHUKET: With the island’s real estate market staying strong, some owners could be thinking of selling their property. If so, here are some tips for making this move. Establishing a Price Consider what you paid for the property, how long you have lived there, what similar properties have sold for, any improvements added, present condition of the property, ask the…
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On Your Mind: Look at China when weighing booze ban
PHUKET: China’s family planning policy, also known as the one-child policy, is a method to control population in that country. The policy was introduced in 1978 as a means of combating overpopulation, and while the policy has been somewhat successful in curbing China’s birthrate, it has fostered a host of other problems. Among these new issues are: leaving one adult…
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Getting a foreign divorce in Thailand
PHUKET: Recently our firm was hired to handle a divorce case. This case was different from the typical family law divorce. The Thai couple met in the United States while attending college. They fell in love and got married in the United States. They completed their university degrees, lived in the United States for a few years, and then returned…
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Property Watch: Hotel wars raging on Phuket
PHUKET: There is a war going on in Phuket. It’s not being fought on the street, or across the beaches, but in glittering hotel properties across the island. Both sides are squarely facing off against each other in trying to woo guests and conquer higher levels of occupancy and premium room rates. In this instance, the war is one between…
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