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 12Go introduces Japan Rail Passes to enhance travel accessibility for international travellers
For those who have travelled throughout Thailand, 12Go is a well-known provider of various trips, though the platform itself has a much wider reach. Ranging from buses to planes, 12Go is undoubtedly a leading booking platform for travel throughout the...
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Give me a virgin, please
PHUKET: Excessive drinking is a natural disaster waiting to happen. Where else will you run into earthquakes, mudslides, hurricanes and flaming volcanoes all in the same place except on a cocktail list? What else except booze causes otherwise stationary and benign items such as trees, power poles, telephone kiosks and the occasional parked police car to suddenly wrap around the…
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Excuse Busters: Drink cheats for New Year
PHUKET: I am mainly talking alcohol this week, because I honestly think that soft drinks are such a poor cheat option. By that I mean compared to alcohol, soft drinks give low rewards on a social level for high sacrifices of a physiological level because of the amount of sugar or artificial sweeteners which are in fact toxins. What about…
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Phuket Gardening: Egging you on… eggplants and aubergines
PHUKET: We expats think we are familiar with aubergines. You know, the large glossy purple ones which look for all the world as though they have been coated with varnish. But Thailand has so many more varieties, collectively called brinjal, all of them edible and all capable of being cultivated in your kitchen garden. But let’s start with what we…
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Food: A perfect square for meals
PHUKET: For some, a day without street food is a day wasted, but for others, a real meal is one served up by a celebrity chef in a posh restaurant. And then there are the rest of us – not extreme in our choices – who enjoy good food, drinks and company. For us moderates, Karon Beach Square offers a…
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Phuket Pads: Beverly Hills of Thailand hidden in Nai Harn
PHUKET: The exclusive, very private and tranquil Baan Bua estate of over 60 rai is one of the best-kept secrets in Phuket. It could be described as the Beverly Hills of Thailand – hidden in Nai Harn, in the very south of the island, sheltered and surrounded by the hills on three sides with lakes and its own water supply.…
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Regent Bangtao targets Phuket holiday rentals
PHUKET: Expats in Phuket live in a tropical paradise, yet many work full time. Holidaymakers surround them while they divide their time between home and the office. Phuket can be a strange place to live – not to call it schizophrenic – but this dual character of island life comes with a distinct benefit, and The Regent Bang Tao is…
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Island Fever: The Bumpy Road To Mandalay
PHUKET: It’s impossible to travel to Myanmar and not wax lyrically about days long past. Just think of the storied nostalgia of Rudyard Kipling, George Orwell, Norman Lewis and Pablo Neruda, who transport their readers magically through time and space. This piece is set firmly in the present, so let’s focus on the emerging free market of 2014. Hitting the…
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Gardening: Phuket’s tasty roselle
PHUKET: I recently launched a series intended to cover fruits, vegetables and herbs that, like the hoary old advertisement for a famous dark stout, “look good, taste good and do you good.” Thailand is a huge repository of such goodies. And since we are on the topic of liquid refreshment, I am kicking off today’s offering with a member of…
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Environment: Oceans plagued by 5.25tn pieces of plastic
PHUKET: If you have been to a Phuket beach or beneath the Andaman Sea’s surface, you’ll know that discarded plastics are constantly present. Hardly a month goes by without a dive company, resort or local “green” group calling on volunteers to bag beach rubbish. Some groups, such as Clean The Beach Boot Camp, have regular campaigns to rid the beach…
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Thinking Green: I’m dreaming of an environmental Christmas
PHUKET: Only a few weeks ago, I appreciated the message on the front doors of Jungceylon which promoted “Zero Bags, Zero Waste”. “How commendable that action was taking place to help reduce the amount of waste that we have in our community,” I thought. Yes, it was only a promotion, but at least it promoted a good cause. Now with…
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Phuket artist highlights the evolution of fusion
PHUKET: Kathy Manthei Coulson arrived to Phuket in 1999. She has built her life on the island as an art teacher and a volunteer organizer for the Life Home Project, and has produced a significant body of visual art during the past 15 years. Her show at Villa Royale Gallery, which will be on display until mid-February 2015 (click here),…
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On Your Mind: Tackling Phuket corruption
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette recently reported that the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) Phuket office called on resident expats to report cases of corruption involving local government officials. Tawichat Nillikan, an NACC representative, told the Gazette that many foreigners had been victims of corruption, and that by opening a Phuket office last year to investigate complaints, the government was “showing the…
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Phuket Renaissance, giving peace a chance
PHUKET: Situated in Mai Khao, the Renaissance Phuket Resort and Spa is surrounded on all sides by the pristine nature of northern Phuket, “the island’s hidden gem”, explains Goetz Bauer, who joined the resort as general manager in April 2013. Designed by P49 Deesign Associates, considered to be one of Thailand’s foremost interior design practices, the hotel has been carefully…
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Boating: Phuket inspires whole new breed of luxury RIBs
PHUKET: Phuket has inspired a new ride on the waves. It’s rigid, it’s inflatable… and it’s a boat. The new 13m tender by Acronautic is ready to ensure that every superyacht sojourn starts and finishes in luxury. The first of its kind is about to be built in the UK under the project name Thetis, with a design conceptualized by…
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Balance Matters: Phuket knows the many faces of infidelity
PHUKET: Over the past 42 years, I have listened to stories of infidelity, both from the victims’ and betrayers’ perspectives. Whether from clients, my own personal experience or those of family and close friends, infidelity frequently washes up on our shores. Most victims that I have worked with become plagued with self doubt and intense anger. They frequently question their…
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Blazing Saddles: The Grape Escape – Cycling from Phuket to Oz
PHUKET: At first blush you’d be hard pressed to find a link between Phuket’s Chalong area and the world-famous Australian wine-producing region of Hunter Valley, some three hours’ drive north of Sydney. But there’s certainly one strong link in the friendly form of Greg and Liz Johnson, the founders of Delish Cafe located in the Fisherman Way Business Gardens on…
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Island Fever: Phuket bows to smartphones
PHUKET: Heads bowed in silence have always seemed to elicit a tacit sense of reverence. Be it from religious fervor, or perhaps a strict upbringing, but some one-on-one time with God, the J-man or whatever icon takes your fancy remains a voice heard around the world. These days, though, tilted heads and quiet means only one thing: the invasion of…
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Gardening: Phuket, some call it “fuk thong’
PHUKET: Halloween, the eve of All Hallows Day, has come and gone. Long ago, my family spent a year in California, where the kids made lanterns with ghoulish faces and scary costumes for the evening house-to-house visitations. Here in Phuket, there has been no “trick-or-treating”, no Jack-o’-lanterns, no pumpkin pie, no monster pumpkins. Incidentally, the world record weight for a…
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Phuket artist steals famous faces
PHUKET: Monthian Yangthong is one of Phuket’s most talented artists, known for his ability to create art using a variety of mediums. Currently, one of his collections – a series of woodcuts of the faces of well-known Western artists – is on show at Boathouse by Montara. “I find working with wood-cuts very interesting, as it’s possible to create a…
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Titans line up for Phuket’s Asia Superyacht Rendezvous
PHUKET: The impressive 72m luxury cruiser MY Titania has announced it will be joining the 14th Asia Superyacht Rendezvous, which begins tomorrow off Phuket’s Kata Beach. Launched in 2006 by Lürssen Yachts, the Titania will join other greats at the three-day event, including MY Moonsand, which was fully completed in 2004 and was the flagship of the Royal New Zealand…
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Excuse Busters: Make goals, hit goals – stay beautiful Phuket
PHUKET: Have you ever started a fitness program and then quit? If you answered yes, you’re not alone. Many people start fitness programs and end up stopping when they get bored or if it takes too long to see results. Here are a few tips to keep you motivated and looking good for those beautiful beach days in Phuket. SET…
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History: Nakhon Sri Thammarat – The short-lived kingdom of the South
PHUKET: Nakhon Sri Thammarat was a powerful city in the south of Siam during the 18th century. Foreigners often called the city “Ligor”. The ancient city spread its influence over many of the smaller towns in the region. Although powerful, Nakhon Sri Thammarat was never truly independent. The city’s governor answered to the King of Ayutthaya. In the year 1765,…
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Phuket Pads: Southern properties on the rise
PHUKET: The northwest region of Phuket has been the most popular area on the island for residential properties over the past 15 years, due to the many west coast beaches, the Laguna complex encouraging further nearby construction and the convenient proximity to Phuket International Airport. This high demand has led to the average three-bedroom villa along this stretch of coast…
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Phuket Paramotoring: Para-normal skies above
PHUKET: Picture this. You are trapped in rush-hour traffic near Central Festival Phuket. It’s late afternoon, the skies are clear and the temperature perfect. But you are hardly enjoying these conditions as you slowly descend into Phuket’s first Bangkok-style highway underpass. Just before you go subterranean, however, you catch a glimpse of something soaring not too high in the sky…
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Video Report: Phuket children go far in Thanyapura’s Junior Challenge
PHUKET: Triathlon is up there with the most demanding, high-performance sports. The idea of combining an intense swim, a high-speed bicycle ride and a long run into one, exhausting race is not for the faint-hearted. Or is it? More than 200 children aged between 6 and 18 took part in the Thanyapura Junior Challenge on Saturday, proving that a triathlon…
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Evictions not imminent at Phuket luxury property, says developer
PHUKET: A report in the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) claiming that more than 40 owners of luxury homes at a residential resort property in Phuket face eviction* has been refuted by the developer as a distortion of the facts. In a statement to Bangok-based Property Report, Andy Street of Tawan Properties, the developer behind the luxury homes in Chom Tawan,…
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Phuket residents shift toward Thalang
PHUKET: Thalang is geographically the biggest of the three districts in Phuket – dominating 252 square kilometers of the island’s entire 576sq km land mass. Thalang begins at the bridges joining the mainland – the gateway to Phuket – and stretches to just past Heroines’ Monument in the Tah Reua subdistrict. This includes both the northwest and northeast sections of…
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Para-normal Phuket skies: Part II
PHUKET: Picking up from where we left off last with “Up in the Air” (story here), let’s jump into the effect the southwesterly monsoon-season weather has on paramotoring… “The weather isn’t perfect every day, but when the skies clear the visibility is amazing,” explained Sky Club Asia co-owner Paul Derstoff, adding that safety was of paramount importance and that weather…
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Diving: Manta rays, whale sharks call Andaman’s best-kept secret home
PHUKET: The world knows of the Similan Islands and the spectacular diving that can still be had there. However, deep in southern Thailand, Hin Daeng, Hin Muang and Koh Haa are perhaps the Andaman’s best-kept diving secrets. Located about 100 kilometers southeast of Phuket, out of reach for most day-trip operators, Hin Daeng and Hin Muang manage to avoid most…
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Phuket Health: Working out the best time of day to train
PHUKET: I’m not going to beat around the bush: the best time to train is in the morning. I wasn’t sure, at first, if I should even cover this topic, as I didn’t want to put people off who can only make time to train in the evenings. However, if at all possible, try switching some of your workouts to…
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