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 Do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?
Thailand’s healthcare system is well-regarded across Southeast Asia, with options ranging from public hospitals to world-class private facilities. But when it comes to foreign residents or tourists, healthcare access isn’t as straightforward. So, do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?...
-
Phuket Lifestyle – Bang Pae secret revealed
PHUKET: The Bang Pae Seafood restaurant has been a favourite among Phuket’s locals for sixteen years. This charming seaside place is run by a small family, headed by Mrs Prakorb Tiranon, who oversees daily culinary operations. A beautiful twenty-minute drive in the direction of Ao Por from the Heroines Monument through shady rubber tree plantations takes you to a small…
-
Phuket Dog Whisperer – His master’s voice?
PHUKET: As a canine trainer, one of the key things I hear people talk about is that their dog won’t come back when they call. I’ll spare you the training psychology behind this for today and focus on another important aspect to a failed recall. It might not be that your dog is blowing you off, he just might not…
-
Phuket horoscopes – November 26 to December 2, 2011
PHUKET: SAGITTARIUS (November 23-December 21): The world of work holds some unseen challenges for those born under the sign of Sagittarius this week. Tuesday and Wednesday are days when you could be faced with having to make immediate decisions, but the stars suggest that an earth sign colleague will provide useful insight. Those celebrating a birthday this week can look…
-
Phuket property – Phanason aims high
PHUKET: Project developers Phanason Group are confident that the company’s first foray into the high-end market will deliver another success for the group, by targeting people with busy lifestyles looking to “get away from it all”. Phanason Resort is one of 11 developments created by Phanason Group, who has been among the leading housing developers in Phuket for more than…
-
Phuket’s urban style
PHUKET: Outside Central Festival Phuket last Saturday evening, a camera convention was winding up in an orgy of punters taking photos of other people taking photos of people posing for another group of people taking photos of people taking photos. It was like an Escher illustration; a digital dog chasing its own tail in a blur of camera flashes and…
-
Phuket History – Kor Sim Bee’s new roads
PHUKET: Thalang Road has always been the pride of old Phuket Town because of its interesting history. Both sides of the narrow road, lined with old Sino-Portuguese shop-houses showcase the town’s unique architecture and cultural heritage. Thalang Road was one of the first roads in Phuket Town to be renovated when Phraya Ratsada-Nupradit (Kor Sim Bee) took charge as Phuket’s…
-
Phuket Lifestyle – Helping children to help themselves
PHUKET: The Yaowawit Boarding School was founded five years ago, post tsunami, to support those affected by the disaster. Today, the school continues to provide home and education to children from families who are unable to provide emotional and educational care. Located approximately two hours north of Phuket just outside the small village of Kapong, one of the more remote…
-
Phuket Gardening – Chinese lanterns
PHUKET: Chinese Lantern is the common name for some varieties of abutilon. A member of the mallow family, this large shrub or small tree (here the distinction really is blurred), can reach ten feet in good conditions. Mostly South American in origin, the abutilon species are true tropicals, and do well in Phuket’s climate. Abutilon species will tolerate light shade…
-
Phuket Youth Acoustic contest
PHUKET: Life Home Project Foundation, the Phuket organization that cares for children and women affected by HIV, in association with Phuket Indy Market, Limelight Avenue and Phuket Provincial Public Health Office announced that they will be holding the AIDS Project – Acoustic Contest, a youth acoustic band contest, through November with the final to be held on World AIDS day,…
-
Phuket Gardening – Thriving in stormy weather
PHUKET: Recently I enjoyed a visit to a Phuket spa with a South African couple who had come to live on the island. They pointed out that while many of the flowering shrubs are the same as in Cape Town or Johannesburg, they seem to be much less colorful in Phuket. There are reasons for this relative dearth of blooming.…
-
Phuket’s corals and conscience now cleaner
PHUKET: The sandy seafloor suddenly gave way to the wall of wrecked coral skirting Coral Island. The forest of dead branching corals, which should have been a Mecca of sea life, was a ghost town. The site was haunting, but further along the reef, the barren coral landscape gave way to signs of life as a volunteer dive team carefully…
-
Phuket Lifestyle: Sea creatures will soon have to swim for their lives
PHUKET: International marine scientists have warned that fish and other sea creatures will have to travel large distances to survive climate change or they will risk extinction.According to a new study by an international team of scientists, sea life, particularly in the Indian, Western and Eastern Pacific as well as the sub-arctic oceans are facing growing pressures to adapt or…
-
Phuket Lifestyle: Suey Restaurant, a beautiful fusion
PHUKET: Call me old-fashioned, but I have misgivings about so-called “fusion food”. I like my food the way it’s cooked traditionally: no added milk in my tom yum goong please, and I am very wary of mango sticky rice in the form of a shake. All that changes when a friend invites me to dine at Suey Restaurant in Phuket…
-
Phuket Lifestyle – TEFL Courses: the good, the bad and the cowboys
PHUKET: Phuket has no shortage of expats who want to live and work here. Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) is a popular way to achieve this goal, which means that the competition for these jobs are fierce and wages are somewhat lower than those in other urban areas of Thailand. One way to improve the odds of finding…
-
Phuket Books – I am woman, hear me laugh
PHUKET: Those eminent contemporary philosophers Jerry Lewis and Christopher Hitchens have advanced the proposition that women lack a sense of humor. This notion can be shot down in two words: Tina Fey. The former Second City improp trouper, head writer for Saturday Night Live and creator and star of her own sitcom 30 Rock, has now produced her first book,…
-
Phuket’s culinary arts festival
PHUKET: North Phuket Resorts will host its second Culinary Arts Festival of the year from December 2 to 4 on Mai Khao Beach to celebrate the culinary experiences and attractions of this unspoiled area of the island. Located just minutes away from Phuket International Airport on Mai Kao Beach, North Phuket Resorts hosts this festival twice each year, with the…
-
Phuket’s sea gypsies gain ground
PHUKET: After decades of struggle, Phuket’s sea gypsies may soon be allowed back into their ancestral fishing waters.Sea gypsy communities for centuries lived freely off the abundant sea life in Andaman waters with an unyielding respect for the source of their nourishment and an innate commitment to environmental preservation. With industrial development, tourism growth, the creation of new technologies and…
-
Hats on for charity at Phuket’s Andara Resort
PHUKET: The Melbourne Cup, the horse race that stops a nation [Australia], was celebrated in style at Phuket’s Andara Resort & Villas, in Kamala, on November 1. Anticipation was high before the race, and once the gates opened guests cheered for their favorites with Dunaden winning the Melbourne Cup in a thrilling photo finish, one of the closest finishes in…
-
Phuket’s jet-skiers play good samaritans
PHUKET: In a humanitarian effort, 13 members of the Patong Jet Ski Club traveled from Phuket to the flooded regions in and near Bangkok where they used jet-skis to rescue more than 600 people and distribute emergency food rations to stranded victims who were unwilling to leave their homes. Somkid Kueanun, a 36-year-old Phuket native and head of both the…
-
Phuket Books – A mission of madness
PHUKET: Every grade school student is familiar with the epic voyage (1497-1499) of Vasco da Gama from Portugal around the Horn of Africa to India. What they are not so familiar with is the gruesome tale of naval bombardments, sea battles, siege, sack, piracy and mass mutilations that would follow. Launched only five years after the first voyage of Columbus…
-
Phuket film low-down: Just In Time for Timberlake
PHUKET: A sci-fi flick about immortality starring Justin Timberlake is out now. It’s not great; it’s not terrible – if you have time to spare, then give it a go.Tick, tick, tick – six years have passed since Andrew Niccol, writer of the Truman Show and director of Gattica, did a project of note so it’s about time he got…
-
Phuket Lifestyle – going it alone
PHUKET: Canine separation anxiety – part of the joy of having a dog is the tight bond we enjoy with them. However, separation or isolation anxiety in dogs can be a huge problem and, somewhat ironically, is a key reason that many dogs end up in animal shelters or abandoned on the streets. But one of the bigger problems is…
-
T minus five weeks for Royal Phuket Marina’s Tri Tim
PHUKET: Now in his 20th week of training for the Laguna Phuket Triathlon (which started off with just a walk around the block), Tim’s activity rate has built up slowly but surely to where he is now stronger, a lot fitter and 12kg lighter. Although he continues to improve, it has not always been smooth sailing. The last four weeks…
-
Phuket Lifestyle – Nail Art, fashion at your fingertips
PHUKET: Nothing completes a look like a great manicure. From subtle and chic to striking and bold, your nails say a lot about your style and character, and they can often make or break your look. As with any fashion accessory, the quality of the product should be the determining factor when making your decision. To ensure that you receive…
-
Phuket lifestyle – Around the world with solar power
PHUKET: The MS Turanor PlanetSolar, the first solar-powered boat to attempt a circumnavigation of the globe, arrived at Phuket’s Ao Po Marina, en route to the Indian Ocean and the final legs of its 57,000-kilometer expedition. The voyage began on September 27, 2010 in Monaco and has been mapped with stopovers along the equator, where the boat can exploit the…
-
Phuket’s Central Festival to expand food zone
PHUKET: Central Festival Phuket will open a number of new food and beverage outlets in its Dining and Bar Circle Zone in December, its management has announced. Central Festival Phuket General Manager Wilaiporn Pitimanaaree told the Phuket Gazette that several new outlets would join the successful Wine Connection restaurant in mid-December as part of a relaunch for the zone, which…
-
Phuket Gardening – don’t be bamboozled by big bamboo
PHUKET: Like the coconut, bamboo is an indispensable part of Thai life. Essentially a lover of hot, monsoon climates, most of the genus Bambusa, or giant bamboos, come from the Asian region. Giant bamboo is used as a building material, as scaffolding or ladders, as a source of mats, and as a key ingredient in Thai cuisine, especially the huge…
-
Female sleuth equal among Phuket police
PHUKET: Captain Nucharee Longkaew is the only female police detective in Phuket. The single, 27-year-old native of Nakhon Sri Thammarat has been working for the investigations department of Phuket City Police since May of this year and is also working on a master’s degree in law. Here she talks about the life lessons she has learned and what it is…
-
Phuket Lifestyle – Helping to save Phang Nga Bay
PHUKET: More than 200 men, women and children gathered recently at pristine Phang Nga Bay to release 200,000 baby shrimp into the sea to enhance the local ecosystem. Phang Nga Bay is a marine conservation zone that encompasses Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi territory. The Phang Nga Bay ecosystem includes mangroves, coral reefs, sea grass, shrimp, squid, molluscs, small fish…
-
Phuket Lifestyle – 3 legs, 2 heads,1 aim
PHUKET: Gazette columnist Russell Distance Russell (the Dog Whisperer) and his close friend DJ Jay “Le Shark” Walker are set to become even closer this December as they intend to spend 24 hours strapped together while walking 100.31 kilometers. The three legged charity walk aims to raise funds for the Phuket Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and achieve worldwide fame and…
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.