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 Why retirees in Thailand are choosing long-term health insurance over quick fixes
Retirees in Thailand are increasingly seeing the importance of health insurance in protecting their well-being during retirement. With insurance requirements for retirement visas and rising healthcare costs, many are moving away from short-term plans and choosing long-term coverage. Long-term health...
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Rotary awards a local hero
PHUKET: Jessada Janpen, a rescue worker with the Kusoldham Foundation was awarded the Rotary International’s Family and Community Service Award for his bravery and commitment in service to the community. On May 26 Mr Jessada was one of the first to arrive on the scene of a Phuket Town sewer accident which eventually claimed the lives of four workers. Wasting…
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Author Michael Chabon dishes up overripe Rococo
PHUKET: Michael Chabon’s third novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize. This exuberant romp about two young Jewish cartoonists during the golden age of American comic books in the 1930s and 1940s is one of the most enjoyable novels I’ve ever read. Now we have Chabon’s Telegraph Avenue (HarperCollins, New York, 2012, 468pp), and…
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History: One gun to rule them all
PHUKET: The Thai Ministry of Defence is located opposite the Grand Palace in the old part of Bangkok. What is interesting about this government building is its large collection of old cannons, which are exhibited within the courtyard parallel to the main road. The cannons date back to various periods in Thai history and range from small guns to intimidatingly…
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Flight of the Little Bumble Bee: Gyrocopter update
PHUKET: Flight training on the island’s one and only “gyrocopter” is going off without a hitch at Phuket AirPark in Pa Khlok. Phuket AirPark Flight Operations manager Pat James is among four trainees being instructed to operate the AutoGyro Cavalon by a factory-trained instructor from Sweden who is staying at Phuket AirPark for one month. “It’s looking really good. Everything…
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Hold on to your skirt!
PHUKET: Beware, fellow ladies of Phuket: skirts are not advised at the island’s newest tourist attraction, as you might feel compelled to strike some compromising poses once you walk into Baan Teelanka – otherwise known as the Upside Down House. So, be sure to plan ahead and throw on a pair of pants. Baan Teelanka is a place of dizzying…
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Fostering local attitude for Phuket’s property development
PHUKET: Phuket has seen many property developers go bust, some rise and fall and even fewer, rise, grow and keep growing. Attitude Club is a great example of the latter. Present on the island for 15 years, the company has undergone some major changes throughout its history, but always moving in one and only direction – forward. “When we started…
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Life savers: Media connects victim’s family with Aussie heroes
PHUKET: Two Australian heroes have revealed themselves to the media almost a month after they saved the life of a Canadian tourist on a day-trip to Phi Phi Island. When Mike Reynolds, 73, suffered a drowning-induced heart attack, it was Sophie Gollan, 18, and her father, Jason who performed the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) that kept him alive until he could…
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Phuket9’s tantalizing timeless style
PHUKET: Chalong-based developers Phuket9 have been busy. Established in 2004, they began life as Phuket Nature Home and re-branded themselves as Phuket9 in 2011. Over the past 10 years they have created an entire community of private lagoon villas, built the Kata Dome Plaza and have now launched into their most recent project – Rawai VIP Villas. Located 300 meters…
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Dog of the week: 5-year-old Fluffy looking for love
PHUKET: Fluffy is about five years old and was rescued from a local dog holding facility, where she might have ended up dying if she was left there any longer. Thank goodness the folks at Doggie Heaven rescue center, who saw the torment she was going through and rescued her. Since then, Fluffy has been recovering at Doggie Heaven and…
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Fast and forgetful: speed reading apps driven by hype
PHUKET: As readers plug into the insurmountable volume of information pouring in from the internet, the desire for knowledge consumption – though not new – abounds. We want to download expertise. (We’ve all seen the Matrix.) We want information; we want it all; and we want it fast. Enter: speed-reading applications. Now, the hype surrounding speed reading apps such as…
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Phuket Raceweek sails into greener waters
PHUKET: Asia’s award-winning regatta, Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek, has become the first regatta in Southeast Asia to be bestowed the official title of a “Clean Regatta”, as approved by Sailors for the Sea. Phuket Raceweek, to be held this year off Panwa Cape from July 16-20, showcases the island’s natural surrounds, the health of which are inherently linked to…
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PREA auction of 500 properties starts today
The Phuket Real Estate Association (PREA), in association with real estate agency Harrison, is set to hold a massive property auction in Phuket this weekend, May 17 and 18. The auction, to be held at the Boat Lagoon Hotel and Resort in Koh Kaew, will see 500 properties worth 10 billion baht go under the hammer, including condos, villas and…
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Dog of the Week: Chill
PHUKET: Chill is a medium-sized male dog, about 4-5 years old who got his name from being one very chilled-out dude. He is a real love bug, who enjoys nothing more than being cuddled. About seven months ago, he was rescued from the horrific conditions of the local dog holding facility, where he was locked up for a couple of…
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The Indian connection in your Phuket garden
PHUKET: Of All the tropical plants beginning with the letter “I”, the ixora (khem in Thai) is probably the most ubiquitous. Yet another shrub with Indian origins, there are few cared-for public spaces in Phuket that do not have a bed or border of orange or dwarf pink and white ixoras. Small specimens are invariably available in plant nurseries, growing…
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Snow White is coming to town!
PHUKET: Watch out for the apples you buy this June, and before you bite into the juicy fruit, make sure your Prince Charming is looking out for you. If you have no idea what we’re on about, it’s time to refresh your childhood memories. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, the latest Phuket Gazette Headline Event presented by Jagota in…
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14th Annual Superyacht Rendezvous to hit Kata [video]
PHUKET: The Asia Superyacht Rendezvous, which takes place in Phuket every December 16-18 is one of the most famous gatherings of motor and sailing superyachts in the world. This is the one hotspot event of the superyacht world where owners, captains and VIP guests can congregate around beautiful luxury superyachts, both sail and motor powered, for three days of fun…
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Connecting the Myanmar-Phuket tourism dots
PHUKET: Myanmar is on my mind as I recall the famous line from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s classic poem Paul Revere’s Ride, “One if by land, and two if by sea”. The bard might very well have been speaking about Asia’s rising tourism dragon and Thailand’s neighbor Myanmar, though this slight annotation might also be apt: “Three if by low-cost airline…
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Foreign directors: Not only power but also responsibility
PHUKET: MANY foreigners have chosen Thailand not only as their preferred location for retirement but also for doing business. Usually, such businesses are operated under the umbrella of a Thai company due to legal restrictions regulating the conditions under which foreign persons are allowed to carry out business in Thailand. Such a Thai company is required to have at least…
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The darling buds of May
PHUKET: I live a life which is all too often shrouded in deep confusion. It’s not unlike waking on a dark winter’s morning and having the option of resolutely pulling a massive down comforter over my head, thus shutting out any promise of the imminent menace of an all-too-soon sunrise. Sorry, George Harrison, the sun isn’t coming out today, best…
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BISP High Performance Swimmers learn and swim at the highest level
PHUKET: Struggling with time management? Not enough space in your weekly agenda for all that’s on your “to do” list? Tell that to these kids. Not only do they study hard but practice swimming twice a day, five days a week, aiming at the highest Olympic goals. Their solution for lack of time? Do more. “I feel that swimming actually…
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Gone in the blink of an eye
PHUKET: Humans blink 10 to 15 times a minute. Start rolling out the time-line and you start edging up over 20,000 blinks a day or more harrowing yet, perhaps 40 million blinks in a lifetime. Ferris Bueller said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Proverbially, the things…
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Moving away from the mass market
PHUKET: Founding member of the Phuket Real Estate Association (PREA) and president of Phuket-based developers The Onella, Sam Sethi, is a Phuket native and part of a successful family-run business on the island with a strong record in residential and hospitality development. Over the past 20 years, Sam has focused on developing mixed-use commercial and residential properties that are a…
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Sansiri unveils resort-style condominium Dcondo Creek
PHUKET: Sansiri PLC recently unveiled Dcondo Creek, their latest completed development in Phuket, which is described as a resort-style condominium situated in the heart of the island. “Dcondo Creek is the third Dcondo development in Phuket to be completed after Dcondo Kathu and Dcondo Kathu-Patong. Dcondo Creek’s resort-style concept is inspired by nature – a spacious design that provides comfortable…
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The Amazing Spider Man 2 left hanging in Columbia’s web of indifference
PHUKET: Marvel took quite a lot of stick from reviewers over the movies that they released prior to The Avengers, with Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger and Iron Man 2 all being condemned by a certain element of the online whinge brigade as blatant prequels to the mega-success that was to become The Avengers. While there may be a…
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H&M fashions arrive at Central Festival Phuket
PHUKET: Hundreds of shoppers are expected to line up at Central Festival Phuket early this Saturday morning to be among the first to get their hands on the latest threads from global fashion house H&M as it launches its first store in southern Thailand on two floors of the shopping mall. H&M is giving away more than 80,000 baht worth…
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Soap suds: A sidelong glance at Thai melodrama
PHUKET: Any “farang” who lives with a Thai partner will be familiar, possibly all too familiar, with the rarefied world of television soap opera. As I watch, I wonder what impact these soaps are having on the Thai psyche. That they are amazingly popular is beyond doubt. Viewing figures are massive; they are watched religiously in most households, and especially…
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Last Gasp of a humorist
I used to have high hopes for PJ O’Rourke as the Fresh Prince of American Journalism. If Tom Wolfe had invented the New Journalism in the 1960s, and Hunter S Thompson Gonzo Journalism in the 1970s, PJ O’Rourke broke new ground in the 1980s with Holidays in Hell, fiercely funny dispatches from chaotic hellholes and communist sumps around the world.…
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Live simple, consume less
PHUKET: Live simple, consume less. This philosophy is engrained in the business and life of custom surfboard maker David “Mousset” Sautebin. Originally from Bienne, Switzerland, the wiry 36-year-old stood in the entrance of his Nai Harn workshop clad only in Thai fisherman’s pants. A quiver of surfboards lined the doorway which emitted a tinny soundtrack of Bob Marley from within.…
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Feel-good football
PHUKET: On April 24, about 40 students from the Good Shepherd Learning Center had the opportunity to visit Phuket FC’s recently completed Republic Phuket football training complex. The event was a cooperative effort between Phuket FC fan club the ‘Mushy Peas’, and the Grumpy Old Man’s Society (GOMS) in conjunction with the Good Shepherd Learning Center and Phuket FC. The…
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All tied up: The art of cowboy rope tricks
PHUKET: With more people on the planet, nearly infinite methods of communication and a travel culture that sees people from all walks of life turning up in the most unsuspecting places, there is no telling where you might find influences from foreign cultures. For example, if Phuket entertainer Manoo Suwanmaneesilp hadn’t somehow gotten the chance to see old black-and-white westerns…
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