PHUKET: Island tour boat operators met in Phuket on Friday to discuss forming a club to help combat what they say is customer-poaching by illegally operated, foreign-owned companies. The group’s ire is focused mainly on Chinese and Russian companies that they claim are set up using a Thai nominee
PHUKET: Deposed Patong Mayor Pian Keesin yesterday was found guilty of electoral fraud in the September 2012 council election, but is free to run for re-election to head Phuket’s key resort town. Also found guilty for their roles in importing voters specifically to cast votes in the election were Jaroern Khwanyeun, Prasarn Noochet, Prasit Phatkor, Mana Phanchalad and Narong Cheuayuan.
PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Hall did not re-open yesterday as anticipated after People’s Democratic for Reform Committee (PDRC) leader Suthep Thaugsuban announced the end of the Bangkok Shutdown. “As I told you on Saturday, the stage in front of Provincial Hall will remain standing until I receive word from Bangkok to dismantle it,” said Phuket protest co-ordinator Amnuay Kumban (story
PHUKET: Two tourist vans collided last night near the main Tesco Lotus in Samkong, injuring six.
PHUKET: My car has been filthy for weeks, covered in the dust that is everywhere now, due to the lack of rain. When the light hits it just right in the morning, I have trouble seeing out the back window. I don’t want to wash it at home because I have no outside source of water, and I haven’t taken it anywhere to be cleaned.
PHUKET: Construction on Phuket’s Big Buddha was halted yesterday after villagers filed a complaint alleging that it had caused landslides last year, and could potential do so again when the rainy season returns. Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosuttirak led 20 officers in an inspection of the construction site yesterday morning
PHUKET: The Airport Express Bus lost 800,000 baht in its first seven months of service due to taxi drivers poaching customers and lack of support from the Airports of Thailand (AoT), the owner of the transport business told the Phuket Gazette yesterday. The much-heralded inaugural run of the service, which offers rides between the airport and Patong for 120 baht, was on July 19 last year. By early October, a lack of customers led the owner, Prakob Panyawai, to report a loss of 400,000 baht for the same reasons he stated yesterday (story
PHUKET: All 37 tourists made it to shore yesterday after two speedboats collided at sea about 1km from Krabi. Krabi City Police were informed of the incident at 3:30pm and immediately contacted the Krabi Marine Office to scramble a rescue team. Six were injured when the Chainartnumchork 8, owned by Barracudas Tour, and the The Pimmasa 5, owned by Centara Grand Beach Resort and Villas Krabi, crashed near the popular tourist destination of Ao Nang.
PHUKET: I openly admit that I had no idea what I was walking into when I decided to move to Phuket last August. Not only had I never been to Thailand, but I had never even left my vacuum-sealed bubble of a home country: America.
Chollada Chokdeesrijun, 23, graduated from the Royal Police Cadet Academy last year and started working at the Chalong Police Station on November 1. Originally from Bangkok, she and her family moved to Phang Nga when she was 13 years old. Here Lt Chollada talks about why it is important to have women on the police force, and the challenges she has faced as one of the first Thai female officers.