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.
-
Sponsored
Best types of properties to buy in Phuket 2024
Investing in Phuket Investing in Phuket provides a unique opportunity to capitalize on one of Southeast Asia's most sought-after destinations. Phuket offers a diverse range of investment options, from luxury condos, and beachfront villas to vacation rentals. With its well-developed...
-
Phuket Property: Jones Lang LaSalle to manage the new Pelican in Krabi
PHUKET: Jones Lang LaSalle (JLS) has announced that it has entered into an agreement to manage The Pelican Krabi, a prime resort development by Perry Group International. The agreement is JLS’s first property management contract in Krabi and marks the fast growth of the firm’s property management business in Thailand. The Pelican Krabi is situated on 33 rai of oceanfront…
-
Phuket Property Watch: Battle lines are drawn in Koh Samui brand quest
PHUKET: Samui and Phuket continue to be described as the Yin and Yang of resort island destinations. Characteristics that they both share are that both are islands in Thailand that champion tourism as the overall economic prosperity jackpot. But beyond the obvious, many questions remain about how much they differ. After recently completing a mid-year hotel market update for Samui,…
-
Phuket Lifestyle: Having a baby?
PHUKET: A friend of mine recently had a baby, which is a wonderful moment in his life, as it is in the lives of countless others. However, it can also be stressful, emotional and (if the rumors are true) quite tiring. But for those of you who also have dogs in the house, you need to think about them too.…
-
Go jump off a cliff – in Thailand
PHUKET: Deep water soloing is a pure form of climbing practiced on seaside cliffs at high tide. It relies solely upon water at the base of the climb to protect climbers from injury when free falling from the generally high, difficult routes. This exciting sport has been popular since the mid to late 1990s, but actually originated in the late…
-
Pinky’s Place in Phuket: Why it’s hip to be seen there
PHUKET: This place is so laid back the staff come here to hang out when they’re not working. The Gallery Café By Pinky is straightforwardly cool. Simple but delicious menu items, music to suit the hipster tone of the décor, and staff who know how to mix business with pleasure. It’s like ‘Cheers’, but with better looking, petite staff, and…
-
Phuket Life & Style: Cassie’s colorful cotton collection in Phuket
PHUKET: Island Bliss sits next to the upscale wonders of Surin Plaza and features the designs of Cassie McMillan, an Australian who has settled on Phuket for the wonderful island lifestyle. She is no stranger to Asia as she lived in Hong Kong as a child where her father worked in import/export. She set up her own clothing and interior…
-
Phuket Gardening: They’ve got it made in the shade
PHUKET: Planting some ground cover plants is a practical move that will add exceptional interest to your garden. For now, I’m going to pass on the most common ground cover plants in Thailand, such as the spider lily and the spiral ginger, both of which attain heights of over 50 centimeters and are practically employed in undercover environments all over…
-
Phuket Gardening – still waters run deep
PHUKET: Asians prize water features in their gardens – from the humble pot in the front yard with its mandatory water lily and darting swordtail fish, to the blue fiberglass fish pond with a row of pebbles embedded in its rim. If you’re lucky, you may have a natural pond or klong (canal) within the bounds of your property. Unarguably,…
-
Building a future in Phuket
PHUKET: Three young boys from a government school in Phuket Town will fly to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates to compete in the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) 2011 in November. Pakin “Paper” Boonlom, Tipok “Nueng” Kinkobsin, and Boonyarit “Tel” Pulsen – all 11 years old – won their age category in a national competition in Bangkok last month.…
-
“Going ape’ in the trees of Chalong
PHUKET: Phuket’s new Xtremadventures park offers a full-on arboreal experience. Zipping, climbing, crawling, balancing and swinging through the trees of Phuket is no longer left to the domain of the monkey. The island is now home to an adventure park unrivaled by others in size and an innovative first in all of Asia. Xtremadventures Phuket – owned by Frenchman Gilles…
-
Looking back: Prah Mongkol Visut of Phuket – a lifetime
PHUKET: Prah Mongkol Visut is one of Phuket’s most revered monks. Locals fondly refer to him as ‘Luang Pu Supha’. On September 17, Luang Pu Supha celebrated his 115th birthday, unofficially making him the oldest living man in the world. Luang Pu Supha was born in 1896. Since then, the revered monk has seen drastic and unimaginable change in his…
-
Phuket Property: Foreign currency exchange risks
PHUKET: Many foreigners who have decided to buy a residential property in Thailand are required to use funds held in foreign currency in their country of origin. Property transactions in Thailand utilize myriad ways in which a buyer pays the purchase price to the seller. For instance, a buyer may be required to make payments to the seller upon signing…
-
Brand Andara and investing in Phuket
PHUKET: The American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) Greater Phuket chapter held an event last week where record crowds turned out to hear Hong Kong billionaire Dr Allan Zeman give his thoughts on what it takes to make a business venture successful. Hundreds of Phuket developers, resort industry professionals and business people packed into the chic Silk restaurant at Andara Resort…
-
Phuket’s architects at the helm of development
PHUKET:Discussing the future of Phuket property is often left to analysts, investors and developers. Rarely do we receive insight from the professionals who turn these ideas into reality. The Phuket Gazette sat down with two successful architects, each at different points in their career, to talk about what makes Phuket unique and what the future holds. Pisit Aongskultong, design director…
-
Uniforms: fashion or ‘fitting in’ around Phuket?
PHUKET: It’s not unusual to see people in starched uniforms all over Phuket or even Thailand – on the job, after work and during the weekend. For reasons of safety and convenience, certain professions or groups in every culture call for a uniform, whether it be police officers, fireman or school children. But in Thailand, it’s taken a step further,…
-
Phuket’s “Tri Tim’ has already beaten the odds
PHUKET: Tim Haddon, Director of Golf at Laguna Phuket Golf Club, is on a mission – a mission that will change his life, and hopefully the lives of others as well. In the six months between May and November 27, Tim, under the guidance of his trainer Darren Hancock, Club Manager of Royal Phuket Marina Health Club, has set out…
-
Phuket cinema: ‘Friends with Benefits’
PHUKET: Friends with Benefits will appeal especially to those who have lived or would like to live under the circumstances implied by its title. You can almost hear the echoes of Harry Burns from 1989’s When Harry Met Sally cautioning, “Men and women can’t be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.” Thankfully for showbiz, the young…
-
Riding works of art in Phuket
PHUKET: A thriving little business in Patong called “Metal Arts” produces metal sculptures for customers from Australia, Europe, America and more. Their most recent projects include painstakingly assembled rideable motorcycle sculptures. Currently, there is one at Jungceylon priced at 130,000 baht. Mr Sornthong Yimyai, owner of Metal Arts, has a vocational certificate in mechanics and has been creating metalwork projects…
-
Phuket’s time machines
PHUKET: Phuket moves forward into the 21st century, striving and struggling to maintain its name and reputation as a world-renowned destination, island and home. Along with progress have come problems. A sharp rise in population and increased traffic congestion are among the downsides of rapid urbanization. One of Phuket’s most pressing issues is public mass transport, or lack thereof. Indeed,…
-
Foreign teacher employability in Phuket
PHUKET: Soon Thai schools throughout Phuket will finish this year’s first term and break for a respite before the second term begins in late October. This being the case, prospective teachers will be hitting the pavement in search of a job and this is a perfect time to assess an applicant’s chances of employment. While certainly not scientific, the following…
-
Phuket Gardening: Take a leaf out of my book
PHUKET: As anyone who lives here in Phuket can testify, green leaves are as crucial to Thai cuisine as lettuce is to a western salad and mint to English roast lamb. Indeed, the edible leaves of at least three herbs – coriander, basil and mint – are present in many international dishes, both east and west of the Indian Ocean.…
-
Therapy giving hope to people battling fear and phobias in Phuket
PHUKET: Heavy rains are expected in all regions along the Andaman coast until tomorrow afternoon, an officer at the Thai Meteorological Department told the Phuket Gazette this morning.Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi, Trang and Satun will all be affected. Tourists should avoid swimming in the sea for the next two days, as the surf is likely to be particularly dangerous, the…
-
Phuket Lifestyle: Dream voyage with Silver Lining
PHUKET: A superyacht made in Thailand has left Phuket’s shores on a circumnavigation of the World. It has taken more than three years and 375 workers to build, but at last the superyacht Silver Lining has begun its round-the-world voyage. And for Canadian owner Chris Lenz, 45, it’s a dream come true. Formerly one of Hong Kong’s most successful food…
-
Teaching 9/11 in Phuket schools
PHUKET: A decade on from that fateful day, what are Phuket schoolchildren learning about 9/11? Teaching children too young to remember the events of 9/11 is difficult to imagine for adults who can recall the carnage of that day as if it were yesterday. For us adults, 9/11 will be an event that defines our time, but for children it…
-
Phuket gardening: Help with growing pains
PHUKET: Garden centers in Phuket like the curate’s egg; they are good in parts. Some suffer from neglect, others are overpriced, especially those nearest to the fashionable west coast resorts. The centers that supply plants to hotels are likely to offer the best value. This gardener recently acquired a calliandra, the botanical name meaning “beautiful stamens” and the common name…
-
Phuket gardening: Let them grow wild
PHUKET: WHEN enthusiastic gardeners who have lived in Europe or North America first come to Phuket, they need to understand the very different requirements that plants have in this habitat. Because it is much hotter and, during the monsoon, much wetter, few temperate plants can survive these conditions. They may be able to endure several degrees of frost but, on…
-
Phuket gardening: Going bananas
PHUKET: Bananas come in many shapes and sizes and grow readily in Phuket. Some readers may remember an old pop song that opens with the phrase “Yes! We have no bananas.” This is, however, not true of Thailand. The Kingdom has many kinds of banana (botanical name musa). Nobody knows for sure, but Southeast Asia may have been where the…
-
Phuket Gardening: Delving into the Dragon
PHUKET: ONLY a select few members of the cactus family produce edible fruit. In Thailand, you will only regularly encounter one that does – the dragon fruit (hylocerus undatus), known locally as the pitaya. It is one of those tropical oddities that make your mind boggle in astonishment when you first encounter it at fresh markets – a unique rose-pink…
-
Phuket’s Brush film fest a must
PHUKET: THE film and music festival being held this month at Brush on Kalim Beach may well be one of Phuket’s best kept secrets. The art restaurant is hosting screenings of films from Hollywood veterans and up-and-coming members of London’s art circles in addition to music performances from local talent, throughout August. This is good news for those who enjoyed…
-
Phuket’s Tin man with a heart of gold
PHUKET: THE Hongyok family have one of Phuket’s most prominent and prestigious names. They have made their mark as a successful business family and established a strong presence in local politics. The Hongsyoks are indeed a big part of Phuket’s inspirational history. Luang Anuphasphuketkarn is the member of the Hongyok family whose life story resonates the most. The local nobleman…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.