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.

  • Sansiri unveils resort-style condominium Dcondo Creek | Thaiger

    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…

  • The Amazing Spider Man 2 left hanging in Columbia’s web of indifference | Thaiger

    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…

  • Video Report: Fight for your rights – Don’t drink more, drink better | Thaiger

    Video Report: Fight for your rights – Don’t drink more, drink better

    PHUKET: Two critical issues plague the Phuket drinking scene: terrible drinks, and terrible service. The number of watered-down something-or-other and cokes served on this island that take 20 minutes to get, and are delivered with anything but a smile, is abysmal. “Just because you’re on a beach in Phuket doesn’t mean you should be satisfied with a [expletive] drink,” says…

  • H&M fashions arrive at Central Festival Phuket | Thaiger

    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…

  • Last Gasp of a humorist | Thaiger

    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.…

  • Live simple, consume less | Thaiger

    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.…

  • Hoping to heal from Heartbleed | Thaiger

    Hoping to heal from Heartbleed

    PHUKET: On April 1, 2014 one of Google’s security team members reported a disturbing discovery. Don’t be misled, what was found to be a very serious security breach affecting half-a-million websites across cyberspace was, in fact, not a computer virus. It was a simple programming code mistake which turned out to have far-reaching implications for, what was thought to be,…

  • Feel-good football | Thaiger

    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…

  • Putting the ‘I’ in your Phuket garden | Thaiger

    Putting the ‘I’ in your Phuket garden

    PHUKET: You probably hadn’t noticed that I was plowing my way through the botanical alphabet before getting distracted by more alluring prospects, or the pressing horticultural needs of a four-month- long drought. Well, anyway, most of the tropical plants listed under the letter “I” are in the index by virtue of an Indian designation: Indian banyan, Indian cork tree, Indian…

  • Laguna Phuket to launch “Fully Booked!’ mobile learning center | Thaiger

    Laguna Phuket to launch “Fully Booked!’ mobile learning center

    Laguna Phuket has announced that it will be launching a new community project, “Fully Booked!”, which will see the opening of a new mobile learning center for schoolchildren. The project is one of many initiatives set up by Laguna Phuket to support its wider strategic goal on social and educational development, which aims to build the capacities of local communities…

  • Emerald pools and more just across the bay from Phuket | Thaiger

    Emerald pools and more just across the bay from Phuket

    PHUKET: Typically, upon hearing any reference of Krabi, the first thing that springs to mind is the stalactite-studded Railay, party-island Phi Phi or any one of the other 154 awe-inspiring islands that draw millions of visitors a year to this quiet province on the Andaman Sea. Without a doubt, visitors who come to this little corner of the world would…

  • SY Silolona confirmed host of the 2014 Asia Superyacht Rendezvous opening party [Video] | Thaiger

    SY Silolona confirmed host of the 2014 Asia Superyacht Rendezvous opening party [Video]

    PHUKET: Asia Superyacht Rendezvous 2014 organizers have confirmed that the event’s opening cocktail party will be hosted aboard a luxury superyacht. “As the Asia Superyacht Rendezvous starts preparations for another spectacular event in 2014, we are happy to announce that the opening night cocktail party will be held aboard the stunning superyacht SY Silolona,” said Lucy Powell, Asia Superyacht Rendezvous…

  • Seacon Group plans three new villa projects in Phuket worth Bt1 billion | Thaiger

    Seacon Group plans three new villa projects in Phuket worth Bt1 billion

    PHUKET: Seacon Group plans to launch three new villa projects worth 1-billion baht in Phuket, aiming for sales growth of about 5 per cent this year as the property market in Bangkok has declined. The group’s executive director Piya Sosothikul said the company predicted that demand for homes in Phuket would grow by 15-20 per cent annually over the next…

  • Huge line up of events for Phuket Pride Week 2014 | Thaiger

    Huge line up of events for Phuket Pride Week 2014

    PHUKET: The Phuket Loves You Club (PLU) has just announced its line up of events for Phuket Pride Week 2014 with eight days of fun and celebrations planned. The theme for this year’s Pride Week is “Celebrating Who We Are”. All through the week there will be parties and events which will offer the opportunity for all people – gay,…

  • Central Festival holds Songkran fair | Thaiger

    Central Festival holds Songkran fair

    PHUKET: Central Festival Phuket has transformed the ground floor of the mall into a traditional temple fair for the Thai New Year holidays. At the main entrance shoppers can have a splashing good time enjoying traditional fun and games including greasy pole boxing, dunking damsels and building s sand Chedi at the Table Spoon Cafe. Songkran shoppers at Central Festival…

  • Phuket Bike Week rolls into town | Thaiger

    Phuket Bike Week rolls into town

    PHUKET: On April 11, Patong Beach welcomed thousands of motorcyclists and enthusiasts to Phuket Bike Week. With two decades of successful Bike Week’s under their belts, Phuket’s party-central has pulled it off again with a full schedule of activities amid a sea of bikes, babes and brews. Hawker stalls lined the boardwalk north of the stage, offering everything from alligator…

  • Bicycling for barflies | Thaiger

    Bicycling for barflies

    PHUKET: Bicycling Baz is only too aware that his is not the only opinion when it comes to cycling in Phuket. With this in mind, he asked his erstwhile drinking associate, Hugo Barfly, to write an alternative viewpoint from the perspective of a well-padded bar stool in Rawai. Here’s Hugo’s take on cycling in Phuket. So, I was sitting there…

  • Walking the brand dogma: Hotel-branded residences | Thaiger

    Walking the brand dogma: Hotel-branded residences

    PHUKET: One of my recurring nightmares is that of a tropical island sunset framed by a sinking orange ball, and the erotically charged image of a scantily-clad, swimsuit-model type gently grasping onto the edge of a mega-villa infinity swimming pool, staring aimlessly onto an empty horizon. Please bear with me, I have not entirely lost my mind. Not yet anyway,…

  • Expat Business: Rocket Scientist and Phuket entrepreneur Don Battles tells his story tonight at RPM | Thaiger

    Expat Business: Rocket Scientist and Phuket entrepreneur Don Battles tells his story tonight at RPM

    PHUKET: NASA rocket scientist, farmer, entrepreneur, intellectual and whiskey-drinking former Phuket resident Don Battles will launch his autobiography ‘Merchant of the Orient’ tonight, 6:30pm, at the Speakeasy bar in Royal Phuket Marina. Now living in Chiang Rai in his 30th year of Thai residence, Don will also tell us what he thinks a foreigner needs to do – and not…

  • At the mercy of the sea | Thaiger

    At the mercy of the sea

    There are two crazy Frenchmen sailing around the world on a tiny boat and they are here in Phuket but leaving in one hour. That was the first word we heard at the Gazette of the adventurers who were in Phuket on a brief hiatus from their voyage in Poseidon’s watery world. Scenes from great ocean-faring tales were instantly resurrected…

  • Don Battles: Author of the Orient | Thaiger

    Don Battles: Author of the Orient

    PHUKET: From growing up in a poor family after the great depression, to rocket engineer during the Cold War missile and space-race era, to entrepreneur in Thailand during the turbulent 1997 financial crisis, and to successful chili farmer in China and Northern Thailand – Don Battles’ life could fill many books, but for now, one will have to suffice. The…

  • Experts gather in Phuket to discuss scientific advancements in AEC economy | Thaiger

    Experts gather in Phuket to discuss scientific advancements in AEC economy

    PHUKET: The National Science Technology and Innovation Policy Office (STI) last week called a meeting in Phuket of the 10 Asean countries to discuss scientific advancement and flow of manpower as the inception of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) looms. “The objective of this workshop is to provide a forum in which experts can exchange their views and ideas about…

  • Soi Dog Foundation completes Phuket stray dog sterilization program | Thaiger

    Soi Dog Foundation completes Phuket stray dog sterilization program

    PHUKET: The Soi Dog Foundation has completed a campaign to sterilize stray dogs in every area of Phuket with the aim of creating a healthy, sustainable canine population on the island. The program was completed last week, the foundation said. With cooperation from the province’s local authorities, the Soi Dog Foundation has sterilized and vaccinated more than 15,000 dogs and…

  • ‘Music is My Life’ party kicks off tomorrow night at Diamond Beach Club [Video] | Thaiger

    ‘Music is My Life’ party kicks off tomorrow night at Diamond Beach Club [Video]

    The ‘Music is My Life’ party kicks off tomorrow night at Diamond Beach Club in Surin. Well known local club DJs Taz (Phuket House Mafia), Nemo (resident of Catch), James Dougall (Evil Twins) and an international DJ (former music director at Bed Supperclub in Bangkok) are set to perform some killer sets in tribute to DJ Josh Ezelle, a former…

  • Wine evolution or wine revolution? – Dinner at the Boathouse Bar & Grill | Thaiger

    Wine evolution or wine revolution? – Dinner at the Boathouse Bar & Grill

    PHUKET: There is more to question about the glass of wine on your dining table than the usual “Is it half full or half empty?” The world’s thirst for wine has turned fermented grape juice into a precious commodity, and what used to be, and luckily in many places still is, considered art, has been turned by the forces of…

  • Phuket Arts: Young artists on show at BIS | Thaiger

    Phuket Arts: Young artists on show at BIS

    PHUKET: Phuket has been showing the signs recently of a burgeoning art scene that is maturing rapidly. Many resorts offer art displays in their gift shops or lobbies and Phuket Town has a number of galleries that host various media covering a wide range of genres. Keeping art alive and passing on the visual expression of culture to younger generations…

  • Phuket Music: Celebrating a life in music | Thaiger

    Phuket Music: Celebrating a life in music

    PHUKET: The recent tragic death of well-known and respected club DJ Josh Ezelle in a motorcycle accident, which left his four-month-old son Christian fatherless, has inspired fellow DJs and performers who worked alongside him to organize an event to celebrate Josh’s life and gather support for the young family he left behind. The event titled “Music is my Life” will…

  • Phuket Events: Phuket Bike Week 2014 | Thaiger

    Phuket Events: Phuket Bike Week 2014

    PHUKET: Just in time for Songkran comes this year’s Phuket Bike Week 2014. Celebrating its 20th year, the event is expected to attract huge crowds of “rolling thunder” for the six days of festivities in Patong and Phuket Town. The first four days of the event will be hosted at Loma Park in Patong, from April 11-14. Activities will include…

  • Phuket Property: When you’re expecting | Thaiger

    Phuket Property: When you’re expecting

    PHUKET: Life is odd. When you are young the future has no limits, time-frame or even, for the most part, a firm direction. Sadly, we get older, not wiser, and the time-line gets shorter by the day. Some nights, I lay awake and instead of counting sheep, start doing the math. This is not a happy place to be and…

  • Phuket Gardening: More vinous virtuosos | Thaiger

    Phuket Gardening: More vinous virtuosos

    PHUKET: Asked what “vinous” means, most people would opt for something to do with grape vines or wine. But in fact the epithet can be applied to any kind of vine or climbing plant, of which there are literally hundreds, ranging from creeping figs and ivies to towering tropical lianas. For the gardener, the important distinction is between tendrilous or…