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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  • Phuket Books: The big picture of global horror

    PHUKET: In libraries and book stores, not shelves but entire bookcases are devoted to World War II and the American Civil War. Therefore, a one volume history of each fills a crying need. The American Civil War has Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson. Now World War II has Inferno (Alfred A Knopf, New York, 2011, 729pp) by…

  • Phuket Gardening: Location is everything

    PHUKET: One of the first things to consider when creating a new garden or re-vamping an old one, is to work out which plants do well in your locale. There are more micro-climates around than we realize – even in Phuket. So it’s a good idea to do some homework in your area and discover which garden plants are successful…

  • Phuket celebrates St Patrick’s Day

    PHUKET: Let the celebrations begin! It’s that time of year again when the shy and solemn Irish expats around the world awake from obscurity to throw off the shackles of sobriety and enjoy a pint or two.Yes, it’s Saint Patrick’s Day on March 17, and not only a day, but a whole weekend is available to indulge in all things…

  • Irish Ambassador delivers Phuket St Patrick’s Day message

    Greetings on St Patrick’s Day from His Excellency Declan Kelly, Ambassador of Ireland to Thailand. Best wishes to the Irish Community in Thailand and all friends of Ireland on the occasion of St Patrick’s Day 2012.PHUKET: I am repeatedly impressed by the pride and enthusiasm with which Irish communities around the world celebrate our national day and heritage. As St…

  • Phuket Books: Fact, fiction and historical novels

    PHUKET: If you describe anything as “the worst thing that can happen,” it probably isn’t. But one of the worst things that can happen to an historical novelist is to have someone creep up with a smirk on his face, and say that you got a fact wrong. For me, it’s worse than being told the novel is useless. I’ve…

  • Phuket Lifestyle: Extraordinary Vset

    PHUKET: Ask any smattering of food lovers what the great world cuisines are and the same old raspberries will turn up time after time: French, Italian, Japanese and even Thai, but generally speaking, the National Cuisine that more than often ends up in the culinary equivalent of the odd-sock drawer will be that of the Philippines. Okay, the Philippines do…

  • Phuket lifestyle: Lions Club of Phuket Pearl to present ‘A Ray of Hope’

    PHUKET: The Lions Club of Phuket Pearl probably support a wider number of local charities than anyone else. Founded in 1991, the original members were women who called themselves the Lionesses of Phuket until they received permission from the International Lions Club that they too could be Lions. Now they have invited men to join them. “We formed the Lions…

  • Phuket Lifestyle: Sansiri high on list of corporate Thailand’s good guys

    PHUKET: All profitable and respectable organizations will eventually need to consider giving back to the communities from which their financial prosperity derives. Implementing meaningful Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is one effective way for firms to initiate positive social changes and enrich the corporate-communal landscape for the greater good of business and society. With so many pressing issues in society, deciding…

  • Start your engines, the Phuket Invitational Car Rally is ready for road

    PHUKET: Automotive tune ups underway, participants in the Phuket Invitational Car Rally are revving up for Sunday’s tour of the island which at the checkered flag will determine a top team of navigators, timekeepers and drivers. On Sunday March 11, this unique treasure hunt will start out from Chalong Pier Beer Garden at 10am. However, registration will begin at 9am…

  • Phuket lifestyle: Keeping an ‘i’ on the prize

    PHUKET: The requirements for getting hired as a foreign teacher in Thailand are incredibly low. Degrees and TEFL certificates are bandied about but not truly required in many schools. With Thailand’s low standards come low salaries, lower expectations and the profession’s ugly stereotype: the backpacker teacher. Typically transient, the backpacker uses his or her classroom as a means to a…

  • Phuket property: The hotel owners’ great debate: Is it better to buy or to build?

    PHUKET: Decisions, decisions. Our lives often revolve around them like a lotus in a whirlpool. In through the ‘out’ door and out through the ‘in’. Or just ‘smash and grab’ like some random jewelry heist. But wait, we have a topic, and rolling into 2012 it has never been more relevant. Hotels coming into the market place in Phuket have…

  • Phuket property: Creating a Scene on Rawai’s coast; UK’s leading travel agent inspects Kata Group

    PHUKET: The Scene recently launched its new show house in Rawai with a concept based on functionality and modern design that compliment the attractive surroundings. The development is constructed and managed by The Fortress Real Estate group, who specialize in creating resorts and contemporary villas around Phuket island. The group, which has its own team of construction engineers and after…

  • Phuket lifestyle: Breaking the school barrier

    PHUKET: Seven intrepid stand-up paddlers will take to their boards on March 13 to navigate the 90 miles around Phuket over five days. The circumnavigation of Phuket is to raise funds to build a school for impoverished children in the Rassada Port area, on the east side of Phuket Town. The port area is well known as one of the…

  • Phuket lifestyle: Diving without water

    PHUKET: Divers take water for granted, be it mucky water, cold water, beautiful Phuket water or even pool water. We presume there will be water when we dive. So my last dive, a “dry” dive at 18 meters in a sub-aquatic safety services (SSS) recompression chamber, was a novelty. Recompression chambers, also known as hyperbaric chambers, have been used to…

  • The Absolut Mango House Festival 2012 kicks off today

    PHUKET: The Absolut Mango House Festival 2012 kicks off today at 3pm with the ‘Sushi Lounge Party’ hosted by DJ Colin Edwards. Colin is internationally known for his voice and immensely popular Funk It Up radio syndication show and his signature ‘soulful style’. Colin will be joined by DJ Nutrip and celebrity Japanese chef Massa, for a saucy afternoon of…

  • PCs4Kids needs your help

    PHUKET: PCs4Kids is a voluntary organization which re-builds functioning computers from donated components. The computers are then given to under-privileged kids in Phuket. In this way, they can get a chance to learn skills which will support a future career, whether it’s in IT, business or academia. Since the launch of our charity group last year, we have re-built 26…

  • Twinpalms designer Martin Palleros to join Phuket American Chamber of Commerce workshop

    PHUKET: Noted designer of the Twinpalms resort, Martin Palleros, will be joining the panel of international designers speaking at the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) “Phuket Design Evolution” workshop at Royal Phuket Marina on Friday night (March 9). Mr Palleros is also renowned for his work on Baan Yamu and the ultra-residence Villa Mayavee on Kamala’s Millionaires’ Mile. Overseas, Mr…

  • Phuket lifestyle: The art of life

    PHUKET: A Frenchman who enjoys wine and rugby is nothing unusual, but a former international player launching his own award winning wines on Phuket is certainly worth our attention. Gérard Bertrand was born into wine and rugby and has excelled at both. Capped twice for France against Italy and Russia as a strapping loose forward, he also led the Paris-based…

  • Patong readies for the Phuket Punchline

    PHUKET: We’ve heard they’ve been scoffing our food, drinking our beer and eying up the women. Those dastardly comedians from the Whose Line Is It Anyway show have been seen floating around Phuket already, apparently “warming up” for their side-splitting show at the Holiday Inn tonight. That’s right folks, The Phuket Punchline Comedy Club’s exclusive and uncensored mirth-filled menagerie of…

  • Phuket books: Battle of the Eco-Warriors

    PHUKET: T.C. Boyle is the hardest working man in the literary business. Like the late Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, he writes seven days a week, and it shows. He has written 13 novels and nine collections of short stories. His first two novels – Water Music and Budding Prospects – are about the 18th century African explorations of Mungo Park and contemporary…

  • Phuket property: New residential market demand is generated by wealthy Asians

    PHUKET: Demand in Phuket’s residential and property markets is growing among wealthy Asian “tourists”, leading property consultancy Knight Frank Thailand has reported. Knight Frank’s latest research was conducted following the Airport Authority of Thailand report that Phuket International Airport had welcomed 20% more passengers in 2011.Statistics showed that 4.2 million arrivals had been counted at the airport last year, compared…

  • Phuket gardening: Brimming with bromeliads

    PHUKET: Most people in Europe encounter their first bromeliad, without ever realizing its collective name as a fruit that tastes deliciously different, and can be eaten fresh or canned. But the pineapple is only one member, and indeed the only edible member, of a family of plants that comprises more than 3,000 varieties. Among bromeliads grown solely for their good…

  • Phuket Lifestyle: Go with the flow

    PHUKET: One of the many perks of dressing in a sheer fabric, like silk chiffon, is the versatility of the material. This free-flowing style is destined to become a staple for every fashion-forward female in Phuket this year, as it can be dressed up or down depending on your wants and taste. Don a short version as a cover-up at…

  • Phuket comedy: Whose line is it, Steve?

    PHUKET: In the run up to The Phuket Punchline Comedy Club’s February 29 ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’ show, the Gazette asks each of the comedians about themselves. Phuket Gazette: Where and when were you born? Stephen Frost: Leeds, Yorkshire in 1955. Steve Steen: I was born at home, but I don’t remember too much about it, I was pretty…

  • Phuket development funds continue to pour in: Tanan Tanphaibul

    PHUKET: Bangkok based developers will pump as much as 30 billion baht into the local economy this year, the head of Phuket Real Estate Association (P-REA) has said. Demand for reasonably-priced homes and condominiums is luring many investors to Phuket, P-REA President Tanan Tanphaibul said at a recent press conference to announce the group’s “Phuket Life & Drive 2012” exhibition,…

  • Phuket property: A stress-free island lifestyle

    PHUKET: Nestled along a virgin island cape is the Jindarin Beach Club & Resort, a minimalistic and authentically eco-friendly tropical retreat on Coconut Island off Phuket’s east coast. With the rare offering of stress-filtered island bliss at highly competitive prices, the new development is attracting moderate income weekenders and high profile investors alike. Speaking with the Phuket Gazette, project owner…

  • Phuket Books: Yoknapatawpha on the Hudson

    PHUKET: William Faulkner’s novels take place in Yoknapatawpha County in Mississippi. William Kennedy’s novels take place in Albany, New York. His Albany Cycle of eight novels include two of the very best in American literature: Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game (1978) and Ironweed (1983) which was made into a movie for which both Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep received Oscar nominations.…

  • Phuket Lifestyle: QSI Tigers unveil new den; QSI fun run

    PHUKET: Quality Schools International (QSI) Phuket unveiled its new and improved sports den, with students rushing the field after the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The US$120,000 (just over 3.7 million baht) new facilities include a multipurpose basketball court, a football field enveloped by a 100-meter running track and a new garden and waterfall. Emotions ran high at the opening ceremony with large…

  • Phuket Lifestyle: Facetime with Dr Paul Ekman

    PHUKET: Dr Paul Ekman has built an impressive career around research on the human face and the many subtle micro-expressions which expose emotions. He believes that regardless of geography or culture, mankind has facial expressions in common that even reach to the world of primates. Recently he presented a lecture, Emotional Intelligence and Education: Reading Faces, Recognizing Feelings and Revealing…

  • Phuket Comedy club early bird special offer closing

    PHUKET: Phuket’s Punchline Comedy Club special February 29 show is only a week away and this is the last call for early bird tickets. The infamous “Whose Line Is It Anyway” crew will take to the stage at Patong’s Holiday Inn next Wednesday evening for a performance that would even bring a smile to the face of Tom Cruise, considering…