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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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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Video Report: Upholding Phuket’s unique Baba culture
PHUKET: Few people in the world understand Phuket’s unique culture better than Assistant Professor Pranee Sakulpipatana, known to the general public simply as Ajarn Pranee. Though she is a historian, Ajarn Pranee doesn’t need to dig into other people’s past to understand the Baba culture that is quintessentially Phuket. Now 68 years old, Ajarn Pranee was born on Thalang Road…
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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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Video Report: Sensational results from Trapani, Librodo Bohemian workshop
PHUKET: Social media was flooded with stunning and mesmerizing images following the wrap up of the Bohemian photography workshop at the Banyan Tree in Phuket last month Big name co-host and Sony ambassador for the Philippines Manny Librodo helped to draw a large crowd of participants and added a new dimension to the workshop, explained Adriano Trapani, who developed the…
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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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Up in the air: Nok Air plans big push in Phuket
PHUKET: Low-cost carrier Nok Air hopes to better tap into the potential of Phuket’s large foreign market over the next high season, an executive told the Phuket Gazette recently. Pinyot Pibulsongkram, a Nok Air Vice President, told ‘Up in the Air’ that Nok currently has five daily flights between Bangkok and Phuket, with six flights on Fridays and Sundays. Nok…
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Island lunatics ready for Super Moon Super Blues
PHUKET: The super moon on Monday night is expected to draw out blues, jazz and rock lunatics for a night of music, drinks and soul food at Bliss Beach Club. The Super Blues Event will run from from 7pm to midnight, with Black & Blue, Pjae Stanley, K PJ and Bobby Blues all gracing the stage for the Rotary Club…
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On Deck: Multihulls here, there, everywhere
PHUKET: Looking around the marinas and anchorages of Phuket, it is apparent that there has been a significant shift in the type of boats that call Phuket home. It’s not an entirely new trend, but the move from single to multiple hulls has certainly gathered steam in recent years. A healthy local boat building industry with a predisposition to multihulls…
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Supply overload shakes budget condo sector
PHUKET: The budget condominium segment in Phuket and many other cities in Thailand is now suffering from the large supply that has inundated the market over the past 5 to 7 years, Phanom Kanjanathiemthao, Managing Director of Knight Frank Chartered Company, said this week. This low-end market, with units costing from about 1.1 to 1.8 million baht, has also very…
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Gardening: Turning over a new leaf
PHUKET: Tropical gardens, for a variety of reasons, need plenty of attention. Take the case of Patima’s garden in a local housing estate. Her busy life as a computer expert means that she has little time for horticultural activities, and her partner is more interested in compression ratios than common oleanders. Get the picture? A low-upkeep garden which, laudably, Patima…
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Books: New T. C. Boyle an emotional dud
PHUKET: Since 1982, T. Coraghessan Boyle has written 15 novels, of which I’ve read ten. The first two – Water Music and Budding Prospects – are among the funniest novels ever written. The latter is about marijuana growers in northern California; the former, improbably enough, about 18th Century explorer Mungo Park’s expeditions up the Niger River. Boyle’s tone has since…
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Blazing Saddles: Discovering pathways to better biking
PHUKET: Governor Nisit Jansomwong’s recent announcement that work on eagerly awaited bike lanes will start in October 2016 with an approved budget of over 50 million baht, is terrific news. The Governor said, “Over 30 million baht from the 2016 fiscal year budget has been approved for the development of the Bang Wad Reservoir, which will include the installation of…
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Supalai Lagoon a star performer
PHUKET: Making waves all the way to Bangkok is the recently launched Supalai Lagoon Condo because it has turned out to be one of this listed developer’s best performing condominium projects this year. Supalai Plc’s Chairman and CEO Prateep Tangmatitham said at an exclusive interview in the capital last week that it is this project’s good location, not only fronting…
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Looking Back: Seeds of turmoil in Rakhine State
PHUKET: Rakhine, formerly the Kingdom of Arakan, is a region in northwestern Myanmar. Today the region borders Bangladesh and is home to the heavily persecuted Rohingya Muslims. Historically, the Arakan Kingdom was an independent state. In the year 1406, however, Minyekyawswa, the crown prince of Ava, led a Burmese army to invade Arakan. Narameikhla Min Saw Mon, the Buddhist Arakan…
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Excuse Buster: Got milk? Need milk?
PHUKET: ‘Milk is good for everyone’ is a common statement from all government bodies around the world. However, most humans have never tasted fresh milk from any source other than their mothers for almost all of human history. According to the United States National Institute of Health, more than 65 per cent of the human population has a reduced ability…
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RCoPB looking for new recruits
PHUKET: The Rotary Club of Patong Beach (RCoPB), Phuket’s only English speaking Rotary, is re-energizing its participation in the community and aiming to firmly debunk the image of Rotary as for older men only. We are doing this in two key ways: by actively aiming to increase the number of female members and by attracting younger members who can inject…
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Profile: Signs that real art still exists
PHUKET: Despite new technology and graphic design paving the way for creative printing reaching the masses, the art of hand-making signs is still alive and well. Pete Child, 59, from Atherstone, England, is a Phuket expat who has been keeping this art form alive since 1975. After moving to the island eight years ago with his sharp skills and handmade…
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Luxury real estate prospers
PHUKET: One thing that I love about Phuket is the ability for luxury to live side by side with abject casualness. You could be sitting next to a multi-millionaire or a packaged tourist on the bar stool, as the ties that bind are the flip-flops adorning your respective feet. Islands tend to have little social stratification, which can probably be…
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Keep it Green: Going to the zoo – part one
PHUKET: Today, I took the advice offered in the children’s nursery rhyme ‘Going to the zoo, zoo, zoo / How about you?’ It’s a long time since I did so. My last visit to Phuket Zoo some seven years ago resulted in my penning a piece which, while critical of some aspects of the place, made encouraging noises about others.…
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On your Mind: Phubbing phenomenon decoded
PHUKET: Ever had the unpleasant experience of seeing your dish of Pad Thai sitting at a pick-up window while your waiter spends time on his smartphone? How about lying barely clothed in a frosty room while your masseuse ‘preps’ for you by texting friends? Or maybe you’ve just gone to the local KFC with your buddies and are enthusiastically trying…
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Close encounter with the highly beautiful
PHUKET: In 1968, Jean-Claude Forest’s French comics were brought to the silver screen in the French-Italian science fiction film Barbarella: In the far future, a highly sexual woman is assigned to find and stop the evil Durand-Durand. Along the way, she encounters various unusual people. Nearly fifty years later, in Phuket, Thailand, Earth, a threesome of equally beautiful, futuristic space…
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Property Watch: Waking up the ever-looming giant
PHUKET: Technically there is no specific way to jump-start a snoozing behemoth. Sure, a stun gun might do the trick or a slap on the face, but look at poor little Jack who had to scamper down that beanstalk. In Thailand’s current property market there continues to be a strategic emphasis on fishing where the fish are. Look no further…
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Profile: Rendezvous with Ae Peerasak
PHUKET: There is little doubt that Phuket Town is in the throes of a revolution made manifest by a tidal wave of innovation and reinvention that is re-making it into a trendy, happening destination for the young, hip and cool. Walk down any of the ancient Sino-Portuguese streets of the Old Town that are renowned for confusing and losing the…
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Up in the air: Lucky Air launches Phuket service
PHUKET: Good news for Phuket’s tourism industry came with the July 16 launch of thrice-weekly services between Kunming and Phuket by Lucky Air, China’s fastest growing airline. Lucky Air, with its hub at Kunming Changshui International Airport (KMG), is 40 per cent owned by parent company Hainan Airlines Group. In operation since 2006, it has demonstrated phenomenal growth in recent…
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Well being: Male eating disorders on rise
PHUKET: Low-self esteem, poor body image and a perception of not meeting the modern ideal of masculinity are driving more men to consume over-the-counter body-building supplements, constituting what researchers believe is an emerging eating disorder. Supplements such as whey protein, creatine and L-cartinine are used to improve athletic performance and physique and are sold in grocery stores, vitamin shops and…
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Food: Benny’s: a bite of classic Americana
PHUKET: Tucked away between four and five-star hotels by the sea in Surin, you’lll find Benny’s Cocktails and Grill. This eight-table eatery, created by gutting an old Thai-style house, offers a wonderfully intimate, cozy and comfortable ambiance, enhanced (somewhat uniquely for Phuket) by diner-friendly noise levels that enable conversation. “All of my cocktails are original recipes” says Italian proprietor Benedikt…
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