18-08-2017

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People look on as a giant turtle lays eggs on Patong Beach 25 years ago. Photo: Werner Karasek

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT BLAMED FOR KILLING OFF TURTLE NESTING SITES ON THE ISLAND Tanyaluk Sakoot reporter2@classactmedia.co.th

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he rapid pace of development in Phuket over the past two decades has devastated the natural habitats where turtles once laid eggs on the island’s beaches, but marine life experts are holding out hope that the turtles will return – even if only to the last preserved beach areas where human activities are restricted.

The discovery last month of a clutch of turtle eggs in a nest on Racha Island, about 25 kilometres south of Phuket, raised hopes.

“Only once in the past 20 years has a turtle nest been found on Koh Racha,” said Hirun Kanghae, Acting Chief of the Marine Endangered Species Unit (MESU) at Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC).

Flipper tracks in the sand led to the nest, buried near The Racha Resort.

The nest contained 94 eggs in total,

but seven were already broken when resort staff discovered it.

“We moved the remaining 87 eggs to a safe place on the island.

The mother was not found; we believe it was a big turtle,” Mr Hirun explained.

Mr Hirun pointed out that historically turtles laying eggs in Phuket tend to nest on Kamala, Layan, Mai Khao and Bang Tao beaches and at Patok Beach on Racha Island.

However, of the hundreds of turtle

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nests found in Phuket and Koh Racha in 2008, only 0.7% of that number have been found so far this year.

Of note, another expert explained that turtles tended to nest in cycles, with some years passing with very few nests laid. “This is normal,” he said.

Yet Mr Hirun was plain in his point of view of what has forced turtles away from Phuket’s beaches: “Damn humans”.

“This is because of human activity at the beaches, most importantly...

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Boy, 7, resuscitated back to life at Nai Harn A YOUNG BOY RESCUED from a lagoon and resuscitated back to life at the southern end of Nai Harn Beach last Sunday (Aug 13) is on ventilator support but has yet to regain consciousness.

Lifeguards stationed near the lagoon were called to help the boy, 7-year-old Kietmondej Traiyuang, at about 4pm.

He was unconscious and unresponsive when he was pulled from the water, prompting lifeguards to perform CPR until the boy’s pulse returned and he began breathing unassisted, though still unconscious.

“He remains unconscious and is under care at the paediatric ward of Vachira Phuket Hospital,” Nai Harn chief lifeguard Jula Nontree told The Phuket News on Wednesday (Aug 16).

His parents are watching over him, Mr Jula added.

Mr Jula could not confirm

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Dodging disaster Phuket Town canal nearly bursts its banks Eakkapop Thongtub editor@classactmedia.co.th

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Phuket lifeguards performed CPR on the child until he regained his pulse and breathing. Photo: Phuket Lifeguard Service whether the boy’s condition could be medically called a coma. However, he said that young Kietmondej’s breathing was being mechanically assisted with a ventilator.

Staff at Vachira hospital have declined to reveal details about the boy’s condition.

The incident prompted lifeguards to call for parents to keep a close eye on children swimming at Phuket beaches.

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ater levels in Phuket began to decrease on Tuesday afternoon (Aug 15) after heavy rain across Phuket caused minor flooding across busy roads, and a minor landslip in Patong.

The relief came after Phuket Governor Norraphat Plodthong warned people about the possibility of flash floods and landslides due to heavy rain and strong winds expected to last until tomorrow (Aug 19). Small boats were advised to stay ashore.

According to the Thai Meteoroligical Department, a deluge of more than 85mm of rainfall fell on Phuket Town in nine hours, from 4am through to 1pm, on Tuesday.

Officials from the Depart-

Fears of flooding rose as the Bang Yai Canal in Phuket Town came dangerously close to bursting its banks. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub ment of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) removed garbage and debris clogging Bang Yai Canal near the bridge where the canal flows under Phang Nga Rd. The water level in the canal was dangerously close to causing the canal to breach its banks.

In Patong, police were dispatched to help direct traffic

and assist motorists as water levels reached up to 30 centimetres on Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd and in front of Patong Hospital.

In front of Patong Police Station water levels rose to 30cm, causing some policeseized motorbikes to be damaged by the water.

Also reported was a landslide on 50 Pi Rd, where some

parts of the road were blocked by trees. Officials used machines to cut through trees to re-open the route.

At the southern end of the island, officials of Rawai Municipality used water pumps to drain rising water in the sea gypsy village into the sea where a back road of the village had water levels of up to 50cm.

Nest sites devasted by development Continued from page 1 ...trash and pollution, but also the buildings along the coast,” he said.

Trash and pollution make turtles attempting to return sick and die, while increased fishing is also contributing to the problem, with many turtles caught up in fishing nets, even fishing nets that have been dumped into the sea.

“Beach erosion is another factor,” Mr Hirun said. “Turtles may not be able to climb over the erosion to lay their eggs on the beach,” he added.

Releasing thousands of baby turtles hatched in captivity may be helping to replenish the local turtle population, but it is very difficult to tell, Mr Hirun noted.

“As far as we can tell most baby turtles released never come back to Phuket beaches,” he said, noting that the DMCR began such mass-release projects as far back as 1979.

“We started implanting microchips in these turtles, but many DMCR officers trying to track these turtles over the years have not had microchip readers,” he added.

The DMCR records all reports of turtles found on beaches in the Andaman region, Mr Hirun explained,

A new project uses tags so biologists can tell which turtles released are returning. Photo: PMBC / DMCR with about 50 turtles found around Phuket so far this year, about 18 last year, but about 60 in 2015.

Although supporting the project to record sightings, Mr Hirun gave a moment of pause.

“We have no idea if these are baby turtles released here that have come back. We just don’t know,” he said.

However, of the microchipped turtles that do return to the Andaman region, most of them return to Trang and Krabi provinces, not Phuket, Mr Hirun noted.

The lack of a comprehensive and co-ordinated campaign to track turtles in Phuket has spurred the DMCR

Region 6 office to launch a new project.

“We released 100 baby turtles three years ago and this time, in addition to having them fitted with mircochips in the left shoulder, for the first time we added tags to the front right flippers so that if local residents and fishermen find one of the turtles, they can report to us the number on the tag,” Mr Hirun said.

“Currently, about 90% of these turtles are well and healthy in the ocean, but they have not come back to Phuket’s beaches yet. Maybe they will do in future. It takes time, about 10-15 years,” he added. thephuketnews

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‘Intelligent’ cameras outpace ticket budget Shela Riva reporter1@classactmedia.co.th

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he “intelligent” redlight traffic cameras installed at five key intersections in Phuket in February this year are functioning so efficiently that the budget for printing the tickets cannot keep up, reports the Phuket Provincial Police.

Consequently police have temporarily stopped printing traffic tickets for those caught by the intelligent cameras, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Teeraphol Thipjaroen told The Phuket News.

“Currently, we are facing budget issues as the cost of printing the tickets is expensive, and there are a lot of cases – tens of thousands per month,” Gen Teeraphol said.

“It costs B19 to print one ticket, and when people do not pay them, we have to send more. Altogether, printing tickets has already cost B4-5 million,” he said.

The B16 million cameras and integrated technology, provided by the Safer Roads Foundation, have the ability to automatically trigger fines to be issued against the registered owners of vehicles caught entering the intersections.

“The most common fine we send out is for motorcyclists not wearing helmets.

The second most common is vehicles running red lights and the third is speeding.”

The ‘intelligent’ traffic cameras are catching so many offenders that the police have run out of budget to print the tickets (above). Photo: Phuket Provincial Police Gen Teeraphol explained.

“Tens of thousands of instances of motorcyclists without helmets are captured each month,” he added.

Statistics from the cameras show March as the month with highest number of no-helmet offenders with nearly 80,000 instances captured by the technology.

April, May, June and July were lower, ranging from 45,000 to about 60,000 no-

helmet offences caught each month.

Offenders caught running a red light at all five intersections combined totalled 2,769 in February (the cameras were brought online on Feb 16) rising to 5,142 in May. Speeding cases range from under 100 monthly, to around 150 in May, and a 986 all-time maximum in June.

However, Gen Teeraphol admitted, “As there are so

many cases, we have been unable to obtain payment from all of the cases. Right now, authorities have temporarily stopped printing the tickets.”

Gen Teeraphol did not disclose how much revenue from tickets from the cameras has been collected or the total amount outstanding, though just on the lowest estimates for tickets issued for no helmet fines alone at B200 each would have seen B54mn in fines issued.

Fines issued for running a red light at B300 each should have seen a further B5.886mn in fines issued.

Also, although the printing of tickets has been temporarily suspended, Gen Teeraphol was very clear that the cameras were still operating and compiling images and data on those caught breaking the law, presumably for tickets to be issued at a later date.

Regarding making the payment of traffic fines simpler, Gen Teeraphol added, “One of the processes the project is undergoing is to set up an intermediate payment system so that people can pay via e-transfer instead of at the police station.

“This will be completed in about a month, in September,” he said.

“Also, there are plans to create a system in the future where the money paid by offenders may be used directly to fund the cost of making fines,” Gen Teeraphol concluded.

Deadly truck driver charged, released on bail THE DRIVER OF A CEment tr uck who f led the scene of an accident that left a 31-year-old woman dead and her 3-year-old son badly injured has been charged with reckless driving causing death after surrendering to police on the same day the accident took place.

Chattraporn Moonyai, 31, from Surat Thani, who is the wife of Capt Khitthiphon Phutthong of the Cherng Talay Police, was pronounced dead at the scene of the August 1 accident on the Khao Lan-Bangjo Rd (Baan Ya junction) in Moo 4, Srisoonthorn, Thalang.

“The driver of the cement truck, Weerachai Ngankaeng, was charged with reckless driving causing death after surrendering himself at Thalang Police Station later the day the accident took place,” Thalang Police Deputy Chief Lt Col @thephuketnews

The scene of the accident that left a 31-year-old mother of three dead. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Anukul Nooket confirmed to The Phuket News last Friday (Aug 11).

“He confessed to the charge while being questioned,” Col Anukul said.

“Weerachai was initially detained at the court but was later bailed.

“We have not yet been able to decide whether he will face additional charges as we are

still awaiting results of blood tests which I should receive by the end of August,” Col Anukul explained.

A report from Phuket Provincial Court revealed that Weerachai was bailed on Aug 2 after bail was posted by the Syn Mun Kong Insurance company. Weerachai must report to the court every 15 days until his case goes to trial.

Meanwhile, Col Anukul has also confirmed that the 3-year-old boy is making a good recovery at Vachira Phuket Hospital. It was first believed the boy had a 50% chance of surviving.

“The boy’s condition is improving, but he still needs to be in the care of Vachira Phuket Hospital,” Col Anukul said, declining to name the boy or give full details of his condition.

“I don’t want to give any more details to the public. The boy is still in hospital and I only know about his status from his father.”

Ms Chattraporn’s body was cremated on Aug 5. In addition to her son in hospital, she and her husband also have another young son and young daughter, who are now motherless.

Tanyaluk Sakoot

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Police interrogate the two suspects over the murder of 20-year-old ‘Ms Thida’. Photo: Chalong Police

Police arrest two for strangling of Myanmar woman P OL IC E A R R E ST E D two men from Myanmar in Chalong last Saturday (Aug 12) for the murder of a Myanmar woman last week.

Police say one of arrested men confessed to strangling the woman following a domestic argument.

The woman, a 20-yearold Myan mar national named by police only as “Ms Thida”, was found dead in her room in Rawai last Thursday (Aug 10).

Police arrested the suspects – Han Nuay Lane, 24, said to be the ex-boyfriend of Ms Thida, and Ung Stuay O, 32 – at a worker’s camp in Chalong at 12:30am.

Police seized two mobile phones, a golden ring,

B3,500 cash and an earring believed to have belonged to Ms Thida.

Pol i c e a l s o s e i z e d B9,000 cash which they believe the suspects were paid for a gold bracelet that belonged to Ms Thida.

Han Nuay Lane was charged with murder and theft while Ung Stuay O was charged with theft.

“Mr Han confessed that he used a belt strangle Ms Thida,” reported Lt Col Pongphop Prasopphichai of the Chalong Police.

“Mr Han said he tried to reconcile with Ms Thida but she refused, so they argued.

After killing Ms Thida he took her valuables and sold them,” Col Pongphop added.

Eakkapop Thongtub

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POLICE ARE INVESTIgating the death of a hotel staffer who was crushed by a lift counterweight in a hotel in Patong last Friday morning (Aug 11).

Staff at the hotel, located off Siriraj Rd at the southern end of Patong, notified police at 7:45am. Officers and rescue workers arrived to be shown the body of Suthep Lukyee, 32, from Krabi, crushed over a steel beam – still pinned under the lift’s counterweight – inside the elevator shaft.

“At this stage we believe that Ms Suthep died of an accident,” Col Jongserm Preecha of the Patong Police reported.

“Mr Suthep might have climbed into the shaft to collect keys that had fallen down in the gap between the lift and the floor,” he said.

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Arrival cards to remain mandatory for foreigners Tanyaluk Sakoot reporter2@classactmedia.co.th

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he move to reduce immigration queues at international airports by no longer having Thais fill out Arrivals Cards will be brought into effect at Phuket International Airport on October 1, the new Phuket Immigration Chief has confirmed to The Phuket News.

The news follows Thai Immigration Bureau Commissioner Nathathorn Prousoontorn announcing the policy shift in an notice issued last Wednesday (Aug 9).

However, that notice followed a command issued by Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha last month ordering immigration officials at each international airport in the country to improve their work practices to make them “more effective and faster to reduce passenger jams”.

That order, issued by Government House as the result of a Cabinet meeting, was

The new TM.6 immigration card will be introduced at Phuket Airport on October 1. Photo: Airports of Thailand signed off by PM Prayut and issued on July 18 – and marked “Urgent”.

“Regarding the notice issued by Lt Gen Nathathorn, Thai passengers will soon be exempt from filling in the time-consuming white cards with blue text, known as the TM.6,” Phuket Immigration Chief Col Kathathorn Kumthieng told The Phuket News last Thursday (Aug 10).

“T h is not ice w ill be brought into effect at Phuket International Airport on October 1, 2017,” he added.

All foreigners will still

be required to complete the TM.6 cards, though a new redesigned version of the Arrival/Departure Card will be introduced, also on October 1, Col Kathathorn noted.

Although redesigned, the new version of the TM.6 still requires foreigners to provide details such as name, age, home address and purpose of visit – and asks foreigners to state their income by selecting bracketed amounts.

The form must be completed by law, and in Thailand providing false information to a government official is

punishable by criminal law.

“The purpose of the new TM.6 form is to solve the problem of long queues. It makes it easier and faster for immigration officials to check foreigners’ information,” Col Kathathorn explained.

“Meanwhile, we have already requested four automatic passport screening terminals to be installed at Phuket Airport.

Once installed, these terminals will also help to speed up having Thais cleared through immigration, and speed up queues generally,” he added.

Of note, minutes of a Cabinet meeting held on January 17 this year noted that the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the Ministry of Interior, among other “relevant offices”, were reviewing the prospect of having automatic terminals clear foreigners arriving in Thailand.

If the panel reviewing the concept supported it, the two key ministries were to propose the idea to Cabinet, said the minutes.

Airport van driver hands Farewell to Chris Hill, a ‘true’ expat back B130k in lost cash A GATHERING OF PHUKET’S EXpat community will come together at Wat Chalong on Monday (Aug 21) for the funeral of Chris Hill, who passed away on August 6.

Mr Hill, who had lived in Phuket for nigh on two decades, was widely regarded as an “Old style English gentleman” and particularly well known for his wit and love of quizzes, pitting his broad education against others for fun.

Of note, the many expats who play in the Rawai Pool League, and those of The White Hart, have expressed their sorrows for losing one of their dearest members, and expressed their dearest condolences to all who knew Mr Hill.

Those attending his funeral at Wat Chalong on Monday are asked to gather at midday for the commencement of the Christian service at about 12:15pm-12:30pm.

It is anticipated that this will last about 20 to 25 minutes. There will be a five- to 10-minute recess prior to a short Buddhist service.

After the services those attending will be invited to attend Kan Eang 2 Chalong for the wake to celebrate Chris’s life.

If anyone would like to say a few words outlining their memories of Chris, they

The funeral for well-known Phuket expat Chris Hill will be held at Wat Chalong on Monday (Aug 21). Photo: Supplied will be given the opportunity during this celebration, said a notice announcement from friends.

As is befitting the man, the dress code for the service is casual.

People intending to attend the funeral and celebration of life are asked to register their attendance via the Facebook event page “Chris Hill Funeral” so organisers can make appropriate arrangements.

The Phuket News

A VAN DRIVER HAS REturned a bag containing 3,300 euros in cash (B130,000) to a Bangladeshi man who left it in a van at Phuket International Airport last Friday (Aug 11).

Lt Dusit Wannaboworn of the Phuket Tourist Police received report from a Phuket airport van driver Pornpong Klaythongkam, 39, from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, that he had found a black bag in the rear of his vehicle.

Tourist Police at the airport met with Mr Pronpong and discovered 3,300 euros in cash, a passport and other items.

T he bag belonged to Mohaiminur Reza, 31, from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Tourist Police found that Mr Mohaiminur was staying at a hotel in Patong and contacted Tourist Police in Patong to help locate Mr Mohaiminur.

Patong Tourist Police found Mr Mohaiminur and took him to the Phuket Tourist Police Station to collect the lost bag.

Mr Pornpong (left) receives 200 euros as a reward for returning Mr Mohaiminur’s lost cash and documents.

Mr Pornpong said, “I found the black bag on the seat while I was cleaning inside the van.

A tourist left it in my van after he got on by mistake and then got out to go to another van.”

Mr Mohaiminur said, “Thank you Mr Pornpong. I will tell my friends about the honesty and kindness of Thai people. I will come back to Phuket again.”

Maj Eakkachai Siri of the Phuket Tourist Police said, “Mr Mohaiminur gave Mr Pornpong 200 euros, which is about B7,500, as a reward for his honesty.”

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EDITORIAL

As good as it gets

he ongoing saga of huge delays in clearing foreigners through Bangkok’s two key airports this past week has been a delightful comedy of errors that has shone a bright light on Thailand’s inability to cope with a basic dilemma overcome by major airports around the world.

Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha ordering Air Force personnel to “support” struggling immigration officials in clearing huge queues of tourists could hardly be a surprise. It is an army general’s solution to a simple civil problem. Yet the call by the Immigration Bureau to no longer have Thais complete the now world-renowned TM.6 “Arrival/Departure Card” took the biscuit.

The only rationale possible for making Thais complete this form in the first place is if Immigration did not trust

that passports and identification cards issued by the Royal Thai Government itself were trustworthy. Can anyone hear the words “international hub for crime and trafficking”?

Maybe, and the recent case of dark net billionaire magnate Alexandre Cazes living a life of luxury in the Kingdom did nothing to help shed this slur.

Meanwhile, the immigration debacle in Bangkok has also highlighted a few key issues. First, it took only one post on social media to go viral for the highest-ranking officials in the country to order immediate action for a problem that took months for officials to even recognise in Phuket when our airport suffered similar delays last high season… as if Bangkok officials consider Phuket’s problems proportionally that unimportant.

Also, even the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)

has predicted that 35 million people will visit the Kingdom as tourists in 2018, which starts less than five months away.

That’s the equivalent of half of the country’s population passing through immigration in a 12-month period. Immigration is obviously far from ready for that onslaught.

Worse, the problem is nothing new. London Heathrow Airport last year welcomed 71 million international arrivals.

Why on Earth Thai authorities have not asked them how they manage to do it is beyond comprehension.

The simple fact that for the better part of the past year the Immigration Bureau has been unable to get even a website up and running for expats living in the country to register their 90-day reports says it all.

Thailand 4.0? Perhaps it is, as the Thais joke online, 0.4 instead.

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Myanmar woman, 20, found murdered in Phuket French man, 72, found dead from alleged suicide in Rawai Phuket Airport to waive TM6 for Thais to reduce long queues Phuket flooding, landslide warning Phuket’s ‘intelligent’ traffic cameras too efficient for tickets Phuket ‘700km’ tsunami sign under fire Snakes on the move in Phuket Boy, 7, resuscitated back to life at Phuket beach Patong police threaten Computer Crime Act against claim Two arrested for murder of Myanmar woman

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HAVE YOUR SAY Another life saved

Re: Boy, 7, resuscitated back to life at Phuket beach I was there when it happened!

Those lifeguards worked very very hard for 30 minutes. I pray the boy will recover... lifeguard funding should not be cut!

These heroes need all of the resources that they deserve!

Bobbi Chopp ...................................................

Too efficient

Re: Phuket’s ‘intelligent’ traffic cameras too efficient for printing tickets Comical. As with so many instances, why not put the police to work? The suggestion that this system can’t be used because it’s too successful is truly comical. TIT Foot ...................................................

The line is dead

Re: Prayut calls in air force to help immigration at major airports, including Phuket Try calling the Immigration hotline – it’s disconnected.

Try calling other numbers and asking for English speakers… “click”. Hung up on. Call back, “click” try again… “click”.

Charming.

Christy Sweet

’Tis the season Every high season, and some other times too, I see empty immigration booths at the same time as huge queues at Suvarnabhumi Airport and Phuket Airport and the tourists are fuming. Obviously, a staff shortage, the yearly empty promises of training new officers before the high season and all the waiting problems will be solved story has started again. Ho hum.

Unfortunately we as passengers are not allowed to use cameras inside the airport to report to the social media of the queues at Suvarnabhumi that stretch out to the common walkway and beyond.

Try outbound immigration at Phuket International Airport in high season, the flight hosts from the airlines have to venture out into the ticketing area looking for passengers who might miss their flight as the morning queue extends way into the check-in lounge.

Once again the tourists are stiffed, people missing flights, missing connections, miss hotel pick up taxis and sweat their butts off.

Chris 007

Wishful thinking

Re: Rawai Mayor waiting on ‘express instructions’ from court for Eva Beach As Mr Barnett suggests, it would not be unusual for this case to be appealed. However, it should be noted that this is not a case where a jury or even a judge listened to prosecutors and defendants and then made a ruling. This case was researched by the court for just over six years. The facts are not in dispute and apparently neither is the law. In fact, that was the defense the EVA developer tried using: “The law is not clear” defense and see where it got them.

I strongly disagree with Mr Barnett, there is nothing nebulous about the environmental laws that drove this ruling. It is wishful thinking on the part of developers, hotel operators and quite a few seafront property owners to think so.

J Cunningham ....................................................

Get with the times Re: Phuket Opinion: The folly of the fun police

Sadly Thailand has a number of antiquated laws that don’t

work well in the modern age, and as the article states, there is no incentive to change them as they work well for the pockets of the current authorities.

From beach management, bar closing times to taxi management… the world is changing rapidly. Countries need to keep up, most are managing well and Thailand needs to join the modern world.

Discover Thainess Bangla Rd is not a big area and in the interest of the bar owners to make money, they try to extend opening hours.

In Patong people are living: Thai, farang of all nationalities, have families, kids go to school, have jobs, spend normal lives. Expats live here, have a condo and enjoy the “natural” beaches. They go for dinner and maybe to bar.

But all want to sleep in the night and not be awaked by drunken, screaming people from Bangla. Tuk tuk drivers going in empty cars with full sound and loud motobike without mufflers. Thailand is not aware of that noise.

They have to think about it, to develop the city – for all.

Gourmet

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Watching for court ‘mobilisers’ Soldiers to keep close eye on gatherings at Yingluck ruling BANGKOK

Yingluck Shinawatra waves to supporters as she leaves the Supreme Court in Bangkok on August 1.

Photo: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP

Bangkok Post

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oldiers have been ordered to keep a close eye on local politicians, political canvassers and any potential efforts to mobilise people to gather at the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions on Aug 25, when the court will hand down a ruling in the rice-pledging case against former premier Yingluck Shinawatra.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has warned local administrative organisations (LAOs) and local politicians once again against sponsoring transport of supporters to the Supreme Court next week, saying they risk facing charges of misspending their budgets.

Gen Prayut said on Tuesday (Aug 15) that any LAOs that used state funds to ferry people to the court would run afoul of the law and have to demonstrate they had not misused their budgets.

The premier insisted he had never barred anyone from

showing up to give support to Ms Yingluck at the court, but said any attempts by a third party to organise the transport of supporters was illegal.

“To give moral support is normal, I don’t mind. But it should be done appropriately, not through mobilising a gathering,” said Gen Prayut.

The Office of the AuditorGeneral (OAG) earlier wrote to the Interior Ministry, asking it to instruct provincial

governors and district chiefs to notify LAOs to be cautious in how they use their budgets.

Auditor-General Pisit Leelavachiropas said some LAOs had organised activities for other purposes, but also taken people to give moral support to the former premier at the court, citing the relatives of those taken to past hearings in Ms Yingluck’s case.

Interior Minister Anu-

Mud baths and faceplants: Running of the bulls Thai style CHONBURI LANGUIDLY PLOUGHing flooded paddy-fields, Thailand’s buffaloes don’t usually strike people as the quickest of beasts. But farmers in eastern Thailand recently showed off their fastest bovines in a unique, muddy speed test.

The race is the highlight of an annual rice planting festival in Chonburi, two hours east of the capital Bangkok, where a small group of local farmers try to keep the tradition alive even if most of their fields are now ploughed by tractor.

Throughout the day pairs of buffaloes attached to a wooden plough thundered down a flooded field as human drivers attached by a rope desperately tried to keep up behind their charging beasts.

“To win, the buffalo and the racer need to pass the finishing line together,” explained Jai Indramaporn, a wizened 73-year-old buffalo owner. “If the racer falls, @thephuketnews

Farmers ride on the back of wooden ploughs tied to pairs of racing buffaloes during the annual rice planting festival in Chonburi. Photo: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP then he’s disqualified.”

Many racers found themselves faceplanting into the mud, sparking cheers and laughter from the crowds.

But for those who stayed attached and won, glory awaited.

For centuries Thais relied on water buffalo to plough their rice paddies, provide transportation and even defend villages during war, but with mechanised farming the animals have seen their importance diminish.

Local official Samart Suksawang said the festival was about reminding youngsters of the crucial role beloved bovines played for

farmers in what is one of the world’s great rice growing nations.

“I want to preserve it so that the new generation can see that in the old days, to do rice farming we used buffalo to plough and rake the rice fields,” he said.

Locals say the idea to race buffaloes began generations back as a way to blow off steam after the arduous ploughing season.

Now racing buffaloes are specifically bred for the sport, taught to obey the commands and whistles of their owners.

The most successful can sell for up to B300,000.

AFP

pong Paojinda said he had instructed provincial governors, district chiefs and LAOs executives across the country that budgetary spending must conform with the law.

No irregularities have been detected so far, he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, meanwhile, ordered that security for the judges hearing the rice-pledging case be ensured.

Gen Prawit said police

will be in charge of security at the court, while soldiers will not be deployed at the site. He urged Ms Yingluck’s supporters to stay at home, though he would not order officials to block people from coming to the court.

Ar my commander-inchief Chalermchai Sitthisad yesterday held a meeting with personnel from the regime’s peacekeeping force, army commands in each region, and the Internal Security Operations Command to assess the security situation prior to the ruling.

According to a source at the meeting, it was assessed that 1,000-2,000 people would gather at the court on Aug 25 to give moral support to Ms Yingluck. Most of them are expected to come from Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan and Ayutthaya provinces.

Security officials have been ordered to keep a close eye on local leaders and political canvassers in the North and Northeast, who may step up efforts to mobilise people to come to the court.

The authorities have been instructed to focus on the areas in which financial support is expected.

It is estimated that villagers could be ferried to Bangkok by vans at a cost of B100,000 per vehicle, the source said, noting that some groups would also come by train free-of-charge a couple of days ahead of the ruling.

Police will be deployed to provide security for the nine judges at their homes before and after the ruling, the source said, adding officers will adopt the “Korakot 52” crowd-control plan to maintain order at the court, the source said.

Gen Chalermchai will call another meeting next week to assess the situation.

Amnuay Khlangpha, a former Lop Buri MP from Pheu Thai, said he did not believe the LAOs would use their budgets to ferry people to the court, as claimed by the OAG. The spending must be in line with the law and come under observation by the OAG, he said.

Bangkok Post

8

THAILAND NEWS

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

Coming out of the woods

Thailand’s cave dwelling ‘hermits’ harness the web in bid to go global KHON KAEN

Sally Mairs

F

rom communing with forest spirits to whipping up love potions, Thailand’s cave-dwelling hermits once conducted their supernatural endeavours with just ancient magic and rituals as their guide.

But today’s sorcerers are more connected than ever: armed with smart phones, Facebook profiles and business-savvy, a new crop of mystics are harnessing tech to cultivate followings across Asia.

“Woah,” Toon says ominously as he peers down at an astrological chart on his smartphone, the tips of his scraggly grey beard dangling just above the screen.

“You will have some kind of accident by the end of the month,” he tells a reporter, offering to conduct a ceremony to counteract the bad karma.

Surrounded by a cornucopia of glittering Buddha

statues, eerie dolls and other spiritual trinkets, the 57-yearold uses sacred powders and ointments to conduct his ‘good luck’ ritual.

Several other hermits – known in Thai as “reusee” – are gathered in the teak-wood room in his spacious home in northeastern Thailand.

But hundreds of other disciples abroad are also hanging onto his every word, with a Taiwanese client broadcasting the ceremony on Facebook Live and translating for viewers back home.

“His customers and students want to see. They miss him,” the Taiwanese woman, Ann Liu, explains as Toon wraps protective string around her husband, a regular client.

“He has over 200 students there.”

A former bank employee, Toon is at the forefront of a growing number of ‘new age hermits’ to crop up in Thailand’s spiritual underworld – a densely populated scene of shamans, exorcists and astrologers.

Anthropologists say 'reusee,' or hermit, Toon and his 21st century peers, whose numbers are estimated to be around 200 in Thailand, are only the latest players to profit from a ‘supernatural boom’ in Asia.

Today’s Thai ‘hermits’ are more connected than ever: armed with smart phones, Facebook profiles and businesssavvy, a new crop of mystics are harnessing tech to cultivate followings across Asia. Photos: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP While the kingdom is overwhelmingly Buddhist, there is still widespread belief in animistic spirits and ghosts.

Toon was called to the spiritual practice 16 years ago, swapping his secular garb for white robes, growing out his beard and decorating his arms in hand-etched tattoos.

Using Facebook and LINE to advertise his services, he has tapped a deep well of overseas intrigue – especially among ethnic Chinese – for rituals and charms aimed at boosting business prospects and mending relationship woes.

He now has hundreds of followers in places such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Malaysia and Singapore, and travels far and wide to offer spiritual solace.

But his jet-setting is on his clients’ tab, in a luxury

lifestyle that could not be further from the solitary, forest-dwelling existence of his predecessors.

Thailand’s traditional hermits were ascetics who disavowed worldly excesses and spent most of their time alone in the jungle, engaged in deep mediation.

“Now hermits have to live in towns so they can help people easily,” Toon explained from outside his luxurious home – a decorated compound that merges a traditional Thai sala with a modern house, replete with a shiny black SUV in the driveway.

“Also, I have a wife and I’m worried she couldn’t live in the forest,” he added.

Anthropologists say Toon and his 21st century peers, whose numbers are estimated to be around 200 in Thailand, are only the latest players to profit from a “supernatural

boom” in Asia.

Free-market forces and technology have abetted, rather than diluted, superstitions that can dictate everything from daily routines and business moves to high-level political decisions.

Thailand is renowned for its coterie of occult figures and spiritual fads.

Unlike other governments in neighbouring countries like China and Vietnam that have suppressed folk religions, Thai authorities have given fringe practices a free reign to flourish.

From life-like ‘angel dolls’ to limited edition protective amulets, superstitious crazes routinely sweep the kingdom, fuelled by celebrity endorsements and media coverage.

Many of the must-have charms are aimed at promoting wealth and other modern aspirations.

“The reusees (hermits) fit into the recently emerging popularity of this kind of practice,” said Thai anthropologist Visisya Pinthongvijayakul.

“A lot of customers, especially business owners, now come to Thailand to seek auspicious power from alternative people other than monks,” he added.

It is undoubtedly a lucrative business for people like Toon, whose clients pay hundreds of dollars for the ceremonies.

Thanks to the power of the web, he now has more foreign customers than Thais.

But he claims his practice hasn’t changed at all.

“All of my followers are human... and so their thoughts are the same: they want love, they want good luck, and they want to be rich.”

AFP

thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

ASIA NEWS

9

Ancient city ready for rebirth

Bombed and looted, Sambor Prei Kuk poised for renaissance CAMBODIA Suy Se / Sally Mairs

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t has survived centuries of monsoon rains, a US bombing campaign and rampant looting.

Now the ancient temple city of Sambor Prei Kuk in Cambodia is finally ready for a renaissance – and is teasing tourists to its forestcocooned ruins.

Cloistered by trees and linked by winding dirt trails, the site has played second fiddle to its much bigger cousin to the west – Angkor Wat – Cambodia’s top tourist destination.

But in July it gained a listing by the Unesco World Heritage, a move promising a tourist bonanza that could breathe new life into a oncethriving 6th and 7th century metropolis.

“We have already seen more and more local and foreign tourists flocking to visit our site,” said Hang Than, an official who manages the compound, as he strolled towards one of several tem-

@thephuketnews

A Cambodian man looking at a temple within the ancient Sambor Prei Kuk complex in the Kampong Thom province of Cambodia. Photo: AFP ples spectacularly wrapped in tree roots.

For now the tourist infrastructure is basic.

The ancient city in central Kampong Thom province lies down a pot-holed road

where a few food hawkers cluster beneath umbrellas in the dusty parking lot.

Several tour guides lounge around a small booth servicing a growing fleet of tour buses that arrive, for now,

mainly on weekends.

“We are very happy and we were so surprised that this site has been listed,” said 45-year-old Mao Sambath, who has been making the hour-long motorcycle ride to

sell a spread of tropical fruits to backpackers and Chinese tour groups.

“Today we have even more vendors than yesterday.”

Sambor Prei Kuk, which means “the temple in the richness of the forest”, boasts nearly 300 brick temples and heaps of ruins across a 25-squarekilometre compound.

The city, some 200 kilometres nor th of Phnom Penh, was once the seat of the Chenla kingdom that flourished in the 6th and 7th centuries before the height of the Khmer Empire that raised the mega-city of Angkor.

The temples were rediscovered by French scholars in the 1880s when Cambodia was part of France’s Indochina empire.

It took decades to pare back tree roots and lumps of earth that had consumed the monuments over the centuries.

“At first they only found 16 temples, but then they started to clean the sites,” explained Hang Than, an archaeologist by training.

But the excavation halted

as Cambodia fell into war, with a hailstorm of US bombs hitting the area during the Vietnam War in the 1970s, leaving behind hundreds of craters.

Destruction continued under Cambodia’s ruthless Khmer Rouge regime, whose soldiers still held the area into the 1980s as looters ransacked heirlooms from the site.

After the violence subsided in the late 1990s, restoration efforts were rebooted.

With help of Japanese partners, conservationists spent decades hacking back trees and stabilising the structures.

The painstaking work was rewarded with the Unesco listing, which carries fresh funds to preserve the temples and manage the impact of tourism.

“It was very different when I first started to work in this area,” said Lay Alex, a babyfaced 24-year-old who began leading tours a decade ago.

“I don’t think seven guides is going to be enough any more,” he said with a smile.

AFP

10 WORLD NEWS

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

Dusting off ‘painful’ bunkers World War II shelters attract tourists, help heal lingering scars NETHERLANDS Jan Hennop

J

ust behind The Hague’s sandy beaches under the dunes lie dozens of Nazi bunkers built during World War II which the Dutch are now dusting off to attract tourists and to help heal lingering scars.

Once buried under heaps of sand and rubble, this network of bunkers and tunnels is a remnant of Hitler’s “Atlantikwall”, a coastal defence stretching 5,000 kilometres from northern Norway to southern France.

The Hague in particular was seen as a strategic point to be heavily fortified, and the German Nazi dictator ordered the Atlantic Wall defences to be built in 1942 seeking to keep an Allied invasion of Europe at bay.

More than 870 bunkers of different shapes and sizes were constructed of reinforced concrete. Today around 470 of them can still be found in the Dutch capital’s dunes and forests, said Jacques Hogendoorn, a volunteer at the Atlantikwall Museum based in the seaside suburb of Scheveningen.

“Some have been opened to the public, others are used as a shelter for bats during wintertime,” Hogendoorn said.

“Some bunkers are still

The bunkers and tunnels are a remnant of Hitler’s ‘Atlantikwall’, a coastal defence stretching 5,000km from northern Norway to southern France. Photo: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP being discovered,” added Guido Blaauw, a businessman who has bought a bunker at the Clingendael estate where Austrian Nazi boss Arthur Seyss-Inquart – later executed for war crimes – once had his own massive underground shelter.

After the war, shortages led to the bunkers being plundered for materials such as wire and wood until the angry Dutch sealed them off.

Since 2008, Hogendoorn

and his foundation, with the agreement of local authorities, have carefully restored one 10-room bunker complex in the Scheveningen woods.

Here visitors can experience the damp, cool claustrophobic atmosphere where generators constantly ran in the past to ventilate the underground maze.

It is a step back in time with vestiges of an old telephone system and signs that say in German: “Beware, the

enemy is listening”.

But the bunkers are a dark reminder of the bitter German occupation of The Netherlands between 1940-45, said Deirdre Schoemaker, spokeswoman of the European Atlantikwall Heritage Foundation.

More than 100,000 Hague residents were forcibly removed to make space for the Atlantikwall, which saw thousands of homes, seven schools, three churches and two hospitals flattened.

The bunkers were often built using Dutch slave labour and with the collaboration of Dutch companies hoping to profit from the war.

No wonder that when The Hague was finally liberated in early May 1945, its residents buried the bunkers under sand and rubble to put the war behind them.

“We have a Dutch expression... which literally means ‘buried it under the ground’,” Schoemaker said.

“That was really the case after the war and for many years, for decades you saw that. It was a painful history,” she said.

“People just did not talk about it.”

For decades the bunkers mostly lay dormant, an intriguing playground for local children, while others were used by the Dutch government as high-security command posts during the Cold War. Slowly, however, in the last decade people’s views have changed, Schoemaker said.

“There’s more and more openness. People are becoming more comfortable about talking about them, even with German tourists,” she said.

Growing curiosity combined with an understanding of their historic significance led to The Hague’s first official “Bunker Day” in 2014.

“It’s German history, not the best history, but history

you have to see in order for it not to happen again,” said German tourist Sebastian Frank, 31, a geriatric nurse from Dresden.

The annual June event has now grown to incorporate bunker visits along the entire Dutch coast as well as Belgium for the first time this year, Schoemaker said.

“There is huge interest. At our latest Bunker Day we had more than 10,000 visitors and each of them visited at least three to four bunkers,” she said, at an entrance price of six euros (B226) for adults and three euros (B113) for children.

For many Dutch people who lived through the war, a visit to the bunkers may be the first time they can confront an often repressed past and it “brings back the memories,” said Schoemaker.

“I think it can be very therapeutic ... It’s often a part of their history that’s been hidden inside them. In this way they can let it out and put it behind them.”

Bunker owner Blaauw added that “elderly people who witnessed the war and had problems with the bunkers right after the war are now more interested in them”.

But still many hesitate to be reminded of that time as the “war has defined their whole lives up until today,” he said.

AFP

London’s Big Ben to fall silent for four years UNITED KINGDOM BRITAIN’S MUCH-LOVED Big Ben will fall silent for four years from next week as conservation work is carried

out on the famous 19th century bell in a clock tower next to the Houses of Parliament.

“Big Ben falling silent is a significant milestone in this crucial conservation project,” Steve Jaggs, whose official title is “Keeper of the Great

Clock”, said in a parliament statement on Monday (Aug 14).

“This essential programme of works will safeguard the clock on a long term basis, as well as protecting and preserving its home – the Elizabeth

Tower,” he said.

It will be the longest period that Big Ben, whose bongs are familiar to many people around the world because of their use in BBC radio and television broadcasts, has been silent in its 157-year history.

The Great Bell, popularly called Big Ben, weighs 13.7 tons and strikes every hour to the note of E. Four smaller bells also chime every 15 minutes.

The last bong before the refurbishment will be at midday (6pm Thai time) on Monday (Aug 21), the statement said.

The clock will still tell the time silently until 2021 and the chimes will continue to be rung on important occasions such as New Year’s Eve. The Elizabeth Tower, which is 96 metres high, is the most photographed building in Britain.

The tower itself is commonly referred to as Big Ben

London’s Big Ben will fall silent for several months next year as it undergoes ‘desperately needed’ repairs. Photo: AFP even though the name applies only to the bell.

The clock’s cogs and hands as well as the four dials will be removed, cleaned up and repaired as part of the work.

The project’s cost was estimated last year at £29 million (B1.25 billion).

Because the clock mechanism will be temporarily out of action, a modern electric motor will drive the clock hands

until the clock is reinstated.

Parliament also said that the clock’s faces would have to be covered up while they are being repaired.

“However, to ensure that the public are still able to set their watches by this most important of time pieces, one working clock face will remain visible at all times throughout the works,” it said.

AFP thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

Hearts and minds

BUSINESS NEWS 11

Tesco CEO reveals a culture revolution RETAIL Chris Husted execeditor@classactmedia.co.th

A

n excellent ensemble of Phuket business figures turned out at the Outrigger Laguna Phuket Beach Resort in Cherng Talay last Thursday night (Aug 10) to hear guest speaker John Christie, who heads Tesco Lotus operations throughout Thailand.

Mr Christie explained to the guests not just what Tesco has achieved since its arrival in Thailand 20 years ago, but more importantly how it has achieved its ever-deepening connection with its customers and communities throughout the country.

Specifically, Mr Christie revealed how Tesco Lotus expanded their footprint across Thailand and more importantly how they engage with local partners. To the latter, Mr Christie highlighted the critical aspect of “earning trust for the social licence to operate”.

“In the West, we have ‘functional loyalty’. It’s a

simple matter of product and price,” Mr Christie explained.

“In Asia, that is not enough,” he said blankly.

Over the past five years Tesco has undergone a fundamental change from a UKbased global business to a local business originating from the UK, he explained. “The key factor is emotional loyalty...

Trust…” he said.

Tesco is currently in 10 countries with 6,800 stores staffed and supported by 460,000 employees worldwide. “In Asia, Thailand is at the centre of where Tesco global wants to invest,” Mr Christie noted, highlighting the Kingdom’s role for Tesco’s overseas operations.

However, he cautioned, “Size does matter, and can play a detrimental role in a company’s growth in a region very different than the company’s originating home country. There is a danger of arrogance, that you don’t have to listen.”

Realising this culture trap, Mr Christie began re-strategising the company’s operations five years ago.

“We must work harder on our emotional connection with partners. There must be a relationship of sustainable growth,” he said.

To this Tesco defined its core purpose as: “Serving Thailand’s shoppers a little better every day”.

In this, in every thing the company does, every decision considered, the underlying question of what good thing does this do for customers, communities must be answered, Mr Christie noted.

“Previously we had too much focus on product and price,” he said, later adding during a very candid Question & Answer session, “The investment landscape was quite different just a handful of years ago. At that time there was a big risk of legislation retail outlets in plan to prevent opportunities of foreign businesses. A lot has changed since then.”

To bring forth the core shift, first key stakeholders were identified: customers, colleagues, communities, suppliers and the government.

“The issue of customers

Image: C9 Hotelworks

Sports events help drive tourism MICE SPORTING EVENTS ARE a key catalyst for Phuket’s MICE demand, with the industry valued at B5.74 billion reports C9 Hotelworks in their latest report “Phuket MICE Tourism Market Update” for August 2017.

With T hailand bei ng ranked as the top MICE destination among Asean countries in 2016, Phuket is one of the major contributors with a total of 202,555 visitors, noted Bill Barnett, C9 Hotelworks Managing Director and Founder, “Last year, the domestic @thephuketnews

sector was the key feeder of MICE travellers, which accounted for 70% of total demand on the island. However, overseas source markets were the main revenue generator for the industry, as they had higher average daily spending compared to the domestic market,” he said.

“Currently, there is an emerging trend towards sporting events and competitions, which include Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, Laguna Phuket Marathon, and Phuket International Boat Show.

“These events have imparted a domino effect on hotel operators, whereby increasing

business trading during the low season to reflect better year-round yields. Weddings are also on the rise with business coming from overseas source markets,” Mr Barnett explained.

“Additionally, existing supply of meeting venues and hotel room nights indicate that the island has sufficient infrastructure to support larger MICE demand.

“However, the province currently needs to diverge from being considered as a resort leisure destination to a multi-faceted tourism hub,” he cautioned.

The Phuket News

was already well addressed – Tesco already had a very good culture and practices in place to gather feedback from customers, and to review and act where necessary in response,” Mr Christie noted.

“But there is always more,” he said. Underway is a drive to bring more value to Tesco Club Card members. “We must make it valuable to a person’s life not just their shopping,” Mr Chritie added.

As for colleagues, in Thailand that one took a little more work. “You have to offer more than pay. Thais like to have fun, go out eating together, they like being rewarded for good work they do – there has to more than just the compensation package,” Mr Christie said.

“This is very important,” he stressed.

And it must come from the top. Leading by example, Mr Christie himself leads a staff get-together every month where awards recognising contributions and achievements are bestowed.

Regarding communities, Mr Christie explained how the company is perceived by

Tesco chief John Christie speaks at the multi-Chambers of Commerce Phuket Business Dinner at Outrigger last week. local communities is critical.

He highlighted how Tesco employees are empowered to “do the right thing” in times of crisis without waiting for management approval, as exemplified by staff making the decision to immediately dispatch bottled water to stranded victims hard hit by the recent floods up north.

To this, management must be willing to accept mistakes, he added. “They must know they will not get into trouble if they make a poor decision.

As soon as you criticise an action, it (the goodwill and all that comes with it) is gone,” he

explained.

Asked later how to encourage a Thai employee beyond the cultural reluctance to take ownership of a decision, Mr Christie noted, “Getting one employee anywhere in the world – here in Thailand, in Europe or back home – to take ownership of such a decision is not easy…

“One person will not make a decision, but a team – a team – will make a decision,” he sagely pointed out.

The Phuket Business Dinner Series is proudly sponsored

by The Phuket News.

12 BUSINESS NEWS

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

Shifts in medical tourism TOURISM

The drop in medical tourists from the Middle East should be compensated by international patients from other regions, in particular Asia such as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Japan. Photo: AFP

TTR Weekly

K

asikorn Research Centre estimates income from international patients at private hospitals will generate about B48 billion this year, an increase of 3% to 4% year-on-year.

The bank think-tank unit said the number of patients from the Middle East has declined steadily, mainly due to a change in healthcare policies in their home countries and an improvement in quality and standards of their public health systems.

However, the drop in medical tourists from the Middle East should be compensated by international patients from other regions, in particular Asia such as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Japan.

The centre estimates that international patients will help generate some B48bn to B49bn in income for the country’s private hospitals in 2017, increasing 3% to 4% year-on-year, against an 8% increase from last year.

The number of international medical tourism visits

this year should reach 2.4 million with another 900,000 hospital visits by expatriates in Thailand.

The centre said: “Despite the promising outlook, Thai medical-service related businesses may face heightened competition from new providers in the domestic market and Asian rivals such as Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea, which are all competing to

become the regional leader in medical services.”

To maintain competitiveness, Thai medical businesses will need to cement their strengths, especially service quality and medical standards, because these are important factors that boost the confidence of international patients.

But there is room for expansion.

“Thai medical service pro-

viders may consider venturing into the general health and wellness business category to capture more international tourists, or older foreign tourists taking long-stay vacations in Thailand.”

Medical tourism is a key factor that can boost Thailand’s income, but the Ministry of Tourism and Sports as well as Tourism Authority of Thailand must be more sup-

portive to reach out to new markets, the centre cautioned.

Deputy Prime Minister Thanasak Patimaprakorn said earlier this month that visitors to Thailand from China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam who are seeking medical treatment are now allowed to stay for up to 90 days visa-free. The same privilege is also offered to as many as four people ac-

companying them.

Visitors aged 50 years or older from 14 countries also can apply for long-stay visas valid for up to 10 years from the current tenure of one year.

Permission will initially be extended for five years and an additional five years can be added for people who meet the conditions. The same privilege is also offered to their spouse and children under 20.

The 14 eligible nationalities are the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, France, Australia, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, Finland, Denmark and Canada.

Both measures are designed to support Thailand to become a medical and wellness tourist destination and world-class medical hub which will help boost more revenue and build quality tourism for the kingdom.

Kasikorn Research Centre is a subsidiary company of Kasikorn Bank, which conducts tourism and business research mainly on Thailand’s economy including tourism with reliable recommendations and indicators on business prospects.

thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

Tesla’s Model 3 brings power to the people

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

15

Phuket’s jungle was once teeming with wildlife

16

Managing Director of Trisara Anthony Lark first arrived in Phuket 30 years ago to open one of Phuket’s pioneering luxury resorts.

THE LONG GAME

Trisara MD Anthony Lark says sustainable tourism is the future Baz Daniel

S

itting on the gorgeous outdoor terrace of the luxurious Trisara Resort overlooking the Andaman Sea and enjoying their wonderful Sunday brunch, I feel that this is exactly what all of Phuket would be like if it existed on some exalted celestial plane.

The surroundings are gorgeous, the environment is pristine and well cared for, the service is impeccable and the cuisine is delightful and healthy. There’s even a cool jazz quartet serenading your gormandising, and on our visit a happy guest got up to croon an old favourite number with the band, so relaxed and convivial is the atmosphere.

Somehow the languorous afternoon drifted serenely onwards in a haze of hedonism into the sun-downer hour, and then a perfect sunset erupted over little rocky island out in the bay.

A great deal of the credit for creating and maintaining this slice of that over-used Phuket cliché “Paradise” right here on the island’s north-west coast is owed to Trisara’s Managing Director Anthony Lark, with whom I had the inestimable pleasure of sharing just such a lazy Sunday afternoon brunch recently.

Born and raised in Chatswood in Sydney, Anthony’s first brush with the hospitality industry came when he travelled through Europe with his family after he left school, staying @thephuketnews

in small and mostly family run hotels, observing (subconsciously) true hospitality in its basic form. Upon returning to Australia he took a job as a busboy in a five-star Sydney hotel, while studying Architectural Drafting at college.

He enjoyed this work so much that he soon gave up his studies to become a full time staff member at Sydney’s Wentworth hotel, spending four years building his skills and knowledge in every area of hotel operations. In 1982 he joined Regent Hotels prior to the opening of the Regent Sydney (now the Four Seasons). In 1988 he made the move to Asia and at just 27 years old, Anthony was hired as a General Manager by the legendary luxury hotel developer Adrian Zecha to open Amanpuri in Phuket, the first Aman resort and the cornerstone of what would become an international boutique resort empire.

Anthony had found his perfect job as his love for Asian hospitality, design, landscaping and people all came together on Phuket, running Amanpuri and going on to open four other Aman resorts properties as GM in Bali and Myanmar over following 12 years.

In 2000, Anthony decided to leave Aman Resorts International to join the Montara Hospitality Group, where he helped co-design and open Trisara, as well as selling 30 of its luxurious villas to private owners from around the world.

Since opening in 2004, Trisara has

received many accolades and awards, including ‘Resort of the Year’ bestowed by the Robb Report, and Best Leisure Resort, Worldwide 2014 by the readers of the Gallivanter’s Guide, as well as Condé Nast Traveller’s Gold list for 2017. Trisara has also secured the top position on TripAdvisor. Yet despite such ringing success, the Trisara team are never ones to rest on their laurels, and have now embarked on a three-year plan to totally upgrade and remodel this superb resort. Anthony is part of the team overseeing this and has also taken on the initial design concepts and planning for a second Trisara, scheduled to open in 2019.

Anthony, now 56, is married to a local Phuket lass and has four sons who were born and raised on the island.

He has spent 30-plus years in resort management in Asia and he is also the recently-elected President of the Phuket Hotels Association. To say that Anthony is an authority on Phuket who is well worth listening to about its future, is a massive understatement.

So, taking a deep breath, I asked him where he thought Phuket was heading. In answer, he pointed me to the 52-member Phuket Hotel Association (PHA) – a non-profit organisation dedicated to three key aspects of Phuket’s sustainable evolution.

Firstly, a concerted effort to clean up the environment and reduce the negative impacts of tourism and resort development, as well as educating its members and employees about

world’s best environmental practice.

For example, Trisara curtails the use of plastics, glass bottles, aluminium and re-cycles wherever possible. They have also installed a reverse osmosis water filtration plant which now provides all its drinking water without recourse to plastic and glass, a huge win-win for the environment and the resort’s bottom line.

Secondly, the PHA is mounting an educational program for present and future hotel staff members in order to upgrade their skills and indeed provide jobs and scholarships to aspiring employees in the thriving hospitality sector.

Finally, the PHA is working with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and other government branches in a major effort to redress the negative aspects of Phuket’s international image through a major Brand Phuket marketing and communications campaign. The excellent PHA website itself (phukethotelsassociation.com) is a superb example of their approach.

Anthony admits that the actual substance of Phuket’s environment and administration is beyond the capability and remit of the PHA to address. Yet, one has to applaud all the positive endeavours of the PHA aimed at helping Phuket meet its myriad challenges.

In conclusion Anthony says, “Far too much money has been invested in Phuket for the powerful private sector elite to allow it to decline, so I remain optimistic about our island’s future.

14 CULTURE

Thou shalt not bend the rules

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017 Buddha’s five precepts are the very core of his teaching.

Playing fast and loose with commandments ALL ABOUT BUDDHISM Jason A. Jellison mitnoy@live.com

N

o, Buddhism does not have 10 commandments, in case you were wondering. I actually chose a Christian reference to open this month’s All About Buddhism column because I knew that it would be more familiar for many people.

Almost every Westerner knows that the Christian Bible has 10 famous commandments. “Thou shalt not kill”, “Thou shalt not commit adultery”, and so forth.

Well, Buddhism has some very famous rules, too, but it appears that some purveyors of Buddhism seem to be playing rather fast and loose with those rules.

In order to understand this, we have to talk about the very basics of the re-

ligion. Thai Buddhism, when taught traditionally, works on something of a formula. The religion has three great treasures which lead to the five precepts of Buddha and those precepts are achieved through chanting and meditation.

The three treasures are also known as the triple gems. You see, the three most important aspects of Buddhism are Buddha, the teachings of Buddha and the monkhood.

The teachings of Buddha are called the Dharma in Thai, but you do not need to remember that word. Buddha’s teachings are considered the second great treasure because they guide our lives, perpetuate the religion and provide the path to escape suffering. Finally, the Buddhist monkhood is considered the third great treasure for a number of reasons. Monks do all of the hard work at temples, and most importantly, they teach Buddha’s message.

This is the core architecture that underpins the religion. Buddhists in Thailand not only respect these great treasures but also take shelter in them.

That shelter is literal in terms of temples and psychological in terms of Buddha and his teachings. When a Thai Buddhist takes an oath under the three treasures, they are promising to live by Buddha’s five precepts. These precepts are rather similar to the 10 commandments of the Christian Bible and this is where things get interesting.

Traditionally, the five great rules of Buddhism have been; do not kill, do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not lie and don’t use intoxicants. The last great rule is the one of interest to us today.

I have known for some time that the fifth precept, don’t use intoxicants, had been mistranslated when Buddhism was exported to America. What I did not know until recently, however, was that this was no accident. I recently happened upon a report from Contemporary Buddhism about this. The article explained the issue very well and I am going to boil it down so it is more understandable to non-Buddhists.

The five great precepts of Buddha came from an ancient ledger in the Buddhist canon, but the controversy is that there are actually two versions of the same list with slight variations. One list is a little older than the other. Thai Buddhism is the most conservative form of Buddhism and it follows the original list.

But other forms of Buddhism follow the other list. Buddhism was introduced to the West in the early 20th century and, as the article explains, the early Monks who moved to the west quickly became aware that alcohol consumption is rather inherent to the culture.

In other words, their converts were struggling to follow the fifth precept because they were accustomed to alcohol for cultural reasons. So, the literature goes on to highlight one particular Monk as being aware of the two lists. He simply decided to move to the newer list and essentially erased the fifth precept and picked a new precept.

That is a rather awesome and phenomenal concept. More or less, that would be kind of like junking one of the Christian 10 commandments because you found it to be a little pesky.

I ran this controversy past some friends and family in the West and everyone found it particularly interesting that it was intoxicants that were deleted from the list. Everyone basically said the same thing. To paraphrase their reactions (and eliminate some choice words), the general reaction was “that’s a biggie!”

While I hate to turn my articles into a daytime talk show, let’s talk about this for a moment. Those of us who live in Thailand know that the penalties for recreational drug use are severe.

Lines can get blurred on the prohibition of intoxicants.

Alcohol is restricted in the Kingdom on a number of holy days each year.

Marijuana use is strictly forbidden and pedalling drugs can even risk the death penalty.

Meanwhile, Westerners in Colorado and many European locales are allowed to light up marijuana in public. There are no restrictions besides age on alcohol in America, even fewer restrictions in much of Europe, and an increasing number of drugs are becoming legal in the Western hemisphere.

These are indeed two diametrically opposing worlds. In America, I am thought of as rather conservative because I only drink one beer and don’t use anything besides what my doctor orders. In fact, I was able to quaff a lot more until I cut it to one, which for me is essentially none.

So, I could be chided for being just a little loose on the fifth precept but, then again, one drink has no intoxicating effect on me. Is that still wrong?

That’s the real crux of the issue.

Where do we draw the line? Does just one count as none? Am I a heretic for maintaining a social tradition that does not really cloud my mind? Should we condemn this foreign monk for playing fast with one of Buddha’s most sacred rules or rather celebrate him for bringing Buddhism to a totally new audience?

The answers all depend upon who you talk to. More liberal forms of Buddhism say no problem, conversely, Thai Buddhism says just: No! This is a fascinating debate. It’s practically like freshman ethics class all over again. The debate is so interesting that I actually struggled to think of how to close out this article. My thought process is, let’s close by going back to the beginning.

The three treasures and the five precepts are navigated by chanting and meditation. The goal is to eventually have a mind that is completely unclouded, as well as to have a sense of empathy for every living thing, great or small. We really can’t make a final judgement on this raging debate in one article but one thing is for certain: Now that we know about this, each one of us will have to make our own judgement and, hopefully, we won’t pass that judgement onto anyone other than ourselves. thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

MOTORING 15

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

Analysts say that Tesla could do for the car industry what the iPhone did for mobile computing. Photos: Tesla

Tesla’s model for the masses

The mass-produced ‘Model 3’ could revolutionise the automotive industry Julie Charpentrat

T

esla began delivering on a dream to make an electric car for the masses, rolling out the first of its keenly-awaited “Model 3” cars, aiming to disrupt a world accustomed to automobiles powered by pollution-spewing fossil fuel. An initial batch of the “Model 3” cars that rolled out of the Tesla plant in Fremont, California on July 28 were given to customers, most of whom were employees of the company.

Tesla founder and chief Elon Musk proclaimed it a great day for the company, saying the goal was to make a terrific electric car “that everyone can buy.” Musk starred in a ceremony at the plant delivering the first batch to their owners.

“It’s the best car for its cost, either electric or gasoline,” he said.

Production of the electric car aimed at the broader market – with a starting price of US$35,000 (B1.16 million) – will ramp up quickly, according to Musk, with 100 in August and 1,500 or more in September.

Tesla aims to produce 5,000 units of the Model 3 a week this year, and 10,000 units a week in 2018.

Tesla already sells “S” and “X” model electric cars, but with a starting price of US$80,000 (B2.6mn) they have been seen as wheels for the wealthy.

The Model 3 silhouette resembles that of the Model S, but the new electric ride is smaller with a simpler design.

The vehicle’s battery was designed to keep it going for “at least 215 miles” (345 kilometres) before needing to be recharged, according to Tesla. A battery with a longer range is available for more money.

Musk has mentioned in Tesla earnings calls that while early models were packed with innovative engineering, they caused vexation on the assembly line. The Model 3, he said, was designed from the outset with mass production in mind to push down cost and crank cars out quickly.

More than a half-million customers have placed deposits to get on the waiting list for the Model 3, and anyone wanting one will have to wait at least until 2018.

“Demand is not a challenge there,” Musk said, noting that most of the or@thephuketnews

ders have been in the US. A big question for Tesla is whether it can ramp up production to meet demand and whether rivals will cut into the electric vehicle market. There is no word yet when the Model 3 might be available in Thailand, but in the foreseeable future it’s likely that the only way to get one would through a costly private import process.

Like its predecessors, the Model 3 is fully electric and on-board computers can handle some driving tasks. Tesla referred to the arrival of the Model 3 as a “crucial step” in the company’s mission to speed the transition to renewable energy.

Not long after Tesla was founded in 2003, Musk said the plan was to use money from high-end electric vehicles to create more affordable offerings to make the technology the new automotive norm. Cars powered by green energy are consistent with a concern for the environment seen in Musk’s other enterprises. Musk runs solar energy firm SolarCity, and is building rechargeable batteries to power homes as well as cars. His Boring Company is part of a vision for near-supersonic rail travel through low-pressure tubes that he laid out in a Hyperloop white paper he made open to other entrepreneurs.

Combined sales of Model S and Model X vehicles in the first half of this year were estimated to tally from 47,000 to 50,000. With the Model 3, Tesla hopes to start cranking out hundreds of thousands of cars annually.

Success of the Model 3 could put in the rear-view mirror concerns about Tesla’s prospects for growth.

So far, Musk’s strategy has paid off.

Even though most major car makers sell electric vehicles, Tesla practically defines the category. The rush of preorders allowed Tesla to recently become the biggest US car company in terms of market capitalization, despite the fact that General Motors (GM) and Ford produce millions of cars per year and Tesla has yet to make a profit.

While Tesla is scrambling to meet Model 3 demand, GM has temporarily halted production of its ‘Bolt’ electric car to ease inventories. Some analysts say that with the launch, Tesla may be reshaping the future of the auto industry.

Gene Munster, analyst with the research firm Loup Ventures, argues that

Tesla may do for the auto sector what Apple did for smartphones and electronics.

“We believe we will eventually look back at the launch of the Model 3 and compare it to the iPhone, which proved to be the catalyst for the shift to mobile computing,” Munster said in a recent research note.

Munster says Tesla will play a central role in “paradigm shifts” to electric and autonomous vehicles that could transform the sector.

AFP

The jam packed offcial launch of the ‘Model 3’.

16 HISTORY

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

Lost Wilderness

Just over a century ago Phuket was teeming with wild elephants, rhinos, leopards, buffalos and tigers

Wild water buffaloes once gathered in herds across the island.

Colin Mackay

U

ntil the late 19th century, a thick cloak of jungle, often quite impenetrable, almost universally covered Phuket and the whole region. It was teeming with wildlife – elephants, various deer, tigers, clouded leopards, black panthers, tapirs, black and sun bears, pangolins, banteng (huge buffaloes), rhinoceros, dugongs, water buffaloes, koupreys (wild oxen), huge hawksbill turtles, gazelles, binturongs (Asian bear cats), great monitor lizards, crocodiles, wild pigs, peafowl, porcupines, civet cats, martens, gibbons, antelopes, sea eagles, numerous breeds of monkeys and thousands of species of reptiles, snakes, birds and marine and insect life.

Pierre Poivre, the 18th century

Asian elephants once roamed freely in Phuket.

French horticulturist, noted that “there are very fine forests and hunters find all sorts of game there in abundance… harts, wild boar, gazelles, antelopes, porcupines and roe deer. But the hunt is often interrupted by frequent encounters with elephants, tigers and bears”.

Despite some forest clearing by locals for fruit farms, it was not until the onset of large-scale tin mining in the 1850s, and particularly the development of rubber plantations in the early 20th century, that most of Phuket’s forests were cut down and most of its previously abundant wildlife was killed and eaten.

Dr Jean Gerrard Koenig was a Danish botanist who spent three months on Phuket Island on a botanical expedition in 1779. He mentions his visit from Tharua town to a place called “Cockreau”. He went there by a road “which was very muddy … passing through a very dark wood often traversed by the rhinoceros”.

The locals killed the rhinos for their valuable horns and ate the meat.

Koenig mentions that one morning “at breakfast I was treated to some rhinoceros hide”. Elephants were also plentiful as Koenig mentions, “while botanising away from town … I met a wild elephant from which I had to escape… the bamboo and sugar cane which grows to almost a man’s height, make this island a favourite resort for elephants, therefore as soon as one comes into the jungle one finds many

Asian rhinoceros’ were also commonly found.

The clouded leopard used to stalk its prey in Phuket.

paths made by the elephants”.

These wild elephants were captured by the locals using a variety of methods, such as driving them into a large compound where they were then left for a while to starve and weaken. Then tame elephants were sent in to dominate them.

Elephants were one of Phuket’s main exports to India where they were used as work machines or in armies.

Sir Francis Light, a long-term Phuket resident in the 18th century, tells us that the main elephant loading pier was in Pak Pra (near Yacht Haven today). It consisted of a long jetty along which elephants could be led and loaded on to the boats.

He mentioned that each elephant required 60 or 70 banana trees per animal to eat on the trip to India. These elephants, which could easily smash apart the hull of a ship if they became excited or scared at sea, were usually drugged for the journey by being fed local marijuana bushes.

Tigers, leopards and black panthers also prowled the island. Thomas Bowrey, an English visitor to Phuket in the 1670s, tells us of one black panther caught near Baan Lipon in Thalang, “Once when I was up at Luppone, several of the natives went out and set a trap for a Tyger that often resorted to the place where the Radjahs Goats were kept. They took one of the smallest goats and placed him for baite to trap the Tyger and caught him by the leggs which done they seized fast his mouth as also his paws”.

They had in fact caught not a tiger but a black panther, as Bowrey explains, “his colour was cole [coal] black and although his body was but of an

ordinary size, much lesse than some Tygers I have seen in Bengala (Bengal), yet his teeth and claws were the largest that I ever saw, … the Radjah ordered one of his soldiers to knock out the teeth and claws and gave them to me which I thankfully received as a great rarity”.

Dr Koenig, the same visiting Danish botanist, tells us that even in the island’s main port town of Tharua at the time, “A tiger visited our house but was satisfied with only one goose for this time, which he carried away with him to his hiding place about 200 yards from our house in a dense… wood at the back of the house”.

We are also told of one man-eating tiger in the 18th century which attacked and ate four people in one village. When the villagers went to hunt and kill the tiger, the local monks advised them against this un-Buddhist act and persuaded them to leave it in peace. A few days later however, the ungrateful tiger attacked and ate one of the monks that had saved him, perhaps indicating that the Buddhist karmic wheel of fortune is not always completely round.

Phuket’s last recorded wild tiger was shot in Kamala in 1974. It lived in the forest in the high hills behind Kamala and had come down nine times and carried off goats from a pen very near the old Kamala school and the local parents were becoming nervous for their children’s safety so some local villagers hunted it down and shot it.

Adapted with kind permission from the book ‘A History of Phuket and the Surrounding Region’ by Colin Mackay.

Available from good bookshops and Amazon.com. Order the softcover 2nd edition directly at: www.historyofphuket.com thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

HEALTH 17

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

The simple beauty of life on the floor and take some time to relax your hips and contemplate the beauty in your life.

Kim White kim@mindbodyyogasystem.com

H The ‘Back Butterfly’ pose increases flexibility in your hips and reduces your risk of back injury.

shape.

This month’s asana will be no different, it is another great hip opener to add to the sequence. A very lovely yet simple quote inspired me for this month’s asana.

“Today is a perfect day for lying down and staring at the clouds and realising how beautiful life truly is.”

Although it is a simple quote, sometimes the simplest of things are the easiest to forget and are also usually the most important things to keep remembering. We can all often get caught up in the rush of life and running towards the “finish line”, and along the way we forget some of the simple things that help to keep us grounded.

This month’s Yin Yoga asana is called “Back Butterfly” and is also very simple but highly effective if you take the time to lie in it. So grab a cushion, find some space

Disease gene ‘edited’ in embryos

S

cientists in the United States have repaired a disease-causing mutation in the DNA of earlystage human embryos, they said last week, taking a step closer to engineering babies free of inherited disorders. The team’s successful use of the CRISPR “gene editing” tool in viable embryos was hailed as a technical feat by outside experts, who called at the same time for deeper debate on the ethics of altering human DNA. The lab-created, edited embryos were not allowed to develop beyond a few days, when they comprised a handful of cells. CRISPR is a revolutionary gene-editing technique which allows scientists to insert, remove and correct DNA within a cell with pinpoint precision. Just over 72% of the embryos – 42 out of 58 – ended up being free of a heart disease-causing mutation carried in the DNA of the sperm used to create them, a team reported in the journal Nature. This was an improvement on the 50% odds for embryos that result naturally from a couple in which one partner carries the coding error.

With further improvement, said study co-author Paula Amato of the Oregon Health & Science University, the method “can potentially be used to prevent transmission of genetic disease to future generations”. The alteration itself is heritable, meaning that the children and grandchildren of a person born @thephuketnews

ello and welcome to our August Yin Yoga asana. We have been doing so well so far and we are more than half way through the “Year of Yin”. If you have been keeping up each month, you will now have a great Yin Yoga sequence starting to take

CRISPR is a revolutionary gene-editing technique. with edited DNA will be safe from the same genetic disease. Further research is needed to determine the technique’s safety, and to boost its accuracy to as close to 100% as possible before it can be used to create embryos meant to develop into healthy babies.

“I am quite sure that there are tools that we could use to improve... this repair so that we could achieve say 90 to maybe 100% efficiency, then I would say we would be ready to move to clinical trials,” said Amato’s colleague Shoukhrat Mitalipov.

Gene editing is controversial because it evokes a future in which humans can order “designer” babies with specific features – blonde hair, athleticism and perhaps even intelligence. But there is also the prospect of avoiding heritable, genetic diseases that can handicap or kill.

AFP

Here are the benefits of “Back Butterfly”: • Stretch hips and inner thighs.

• Release lower back tension.

• Increase flexibility in your hip flexors.

• Reduce hip or Sacroiliac (SI) joint pain.

• Reduce risk of lower back injury.

• Improve your posture.

Let’s follow these steps below, to perform it safely and effectively: 1. Lie on your back, bend your knees and bring the soles of your feet together.

2. Curl your pelvic bones up into your belly button to ensure the lower back is sinking. If you find this position difficult, place a pillow or small rolled up towel at the very base of your seating bones to help tilt the hips.

3. Place your hands on your thighs for a bit more added downwards weight.

4. Close your eyes or look skyward and focus on relaxing the entire body into this shape. You may find that the stomach and the bottom might want to keep grabbing and creating tension. Keep breathing it away on exhale.

5. Remember to take longer out-breaths to your in-breaths in our Yin Yoga practice.

6. Hold this posture for two to five minutes.

Happy stretching.

Metta, Kim oxo

18 ISLAND SCENE

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

From left: Greg Watkins, Martin Eleveld, Chris Thatcher, John Christie, Desmond Hughes, Grenville Fordham and Jason Beavan.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

Director of Captain Hook’s Smokehouse Sirinya Nabandith.

TESCO CHIEF JOHN CHRISTIE SPEAKS AT JOINT COMMERCE CHAMBERS’ DINNER Prominent Phuket business figures turned out at the Outrigger Laguna Phuket Beach Resort on August 10 to hear guest speaker John Christie, who heads Tesco Lotus operations throughout Thailand. The event, organised in collaboration with the Netherlands (NTCC), the Australian (AustCham) and the Franco-Thai Chambers of Commerce, is part of the British Chamber of Commerce in Thailand (BCCT) Multi-Chambers Phuket Business Dinner series. The series is proudly sponsored by The Phuket News and Khao Phuket.

From left: Alex, Gigi, Robert and Paul.

From left: Martin Eleveld, Viyada ‘Sammy’ Chawala and Charles Kutner.

Oriol Montal, General Manager of the JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa.

Olivier Le Quinquis, Director of Room Operations, Marriott Phuket Beach Club.

From left: John Christie, Sirinya Nabandith, Martin Eleveld and Jason Beavan (back).

From Left: Viyada Chawala, Phapatsorn Lokakalin and Intira Piromthong.

JW Marriott staff prepare to plant beach cabbage seedlings at Mai Khao Beach.

JW MARRIOTT PHUKET RESORT & SPA COMMEMORATES QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa marked the auspicious occasion of Queen Sirikit’s 85th birthday on August 12 in collaboration with Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation and its business partners in the “Marine Turtle Declaration for Mai Khao”. The group joined Sirinath National Park officers to plant beach cabbage seedlings along Mai Khao Beach to mark both the Queen’s Birthday and Mother’s Day. A total of 1,700 hundred beach cabbage seedlings were planted. thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

Government officials and local residents donated alms to 86 monks from across Phuket.

Wichit Municipality held a marine animal release ceremony at Klong Mudong.

ISLAND SCENE 19

Phuket Governor Norraphat Plodthong led the alms-giving ceremony.

Residents and officials released scores of marine animals to mark the occasion.

PHUKET RESIDENTS, OFFICIALS MARK QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY AND MOTHER’S DAY Phuket residents and officials commemorated Queen Sirikit’s 85th birthday on August 12, which is also Mother’s Day in the Kingdom. Phuket Governor Norraphat Plodthong led an alms-giving ceremony at Saphan Hin which saw participants offer food to 86 monks from several Phuket temples. The ceremony was conducted to commemorate the late King Rama IX and honour Queen Sirikit. Local residents who joined the ceremony were wearing blue shirts, the colour associated with Queen Sirikit. Wichit Municipality also held a marine animal release ceremony at Klong Mudong on August 10 in anticipation of Queen Sirikit’s birthday and Mother’s Day.

Rotary members enjoyed a fascinating talk on the possibility of extraterrestrial life.

The Rotary Club of Patong Beach meets at the Days Inn every week.

DR RAYMOND RITCHIE TALKS EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE AT WEEKLY ROTARY CLUB MEETING IN PATONG The Rotary Club of Patong Beach held its weekly meeting at the Days Inn Patong on Friday August 11. A few new faces joined the regulars and all enjoyed a fascinating presentation from Dr Raymond Ritchie, Associate Professor at PSU Phuket, on the possibility of life on other planets.

The PIWC Ladies catch up with all the latest news from around the island.

PIWC GATHER FOR MONTHLY ‘SIP AND CHAT’ AT STARBUCKS CENTRAL Members of the Phuket International Women’s Club (PIWC) gather at Starbucks at Central Festival shopping centre last week for their regular social “Sip and Chat” meeting.

Prospective members are always welcome to attend and any questions can be sent to info@piwc-phuket.com and will be directed to the appropriate committee member. Visit piwc-phuket.com for more information. @thephuketnews

Old and new members alike enjoyed the talk by Dr Raymond Christie from PSU.

20 EVENTS

FRI

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

18 AUG

mushroom sauce, mint sauce. Reservation recommended 350 baht P.P., shakersphuket@gmail.com 081 891 4381.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

with BBQ sauce, red wine sauce and Bearnaise sauce, Caesar salad and herb-sauteed potatoes.

Only 495 baht. Two Chefs Live Band on stage from 8 pm until late. www.twochefs.com Karon 076-286479, Patong 076-344-914, Kata Beach 076-333370, Kata Center 076-330-065 COME FOR THE FOOD | STAY FOR THE FUN!

Sunday Brunch Kids Summer Bash Kids eat free when order any entree. Face painting and Balloon making. Reservations, Hard Rock Cafe Phuket. sales1@phuket-hrc.com 076 366 381

Pool Competition at Expat Sports Bar

It’s Sunday, Enjoy the most family friendly brunch of the island !! Wide selection of Thai & international dishes - Foam party for the kids – All sports events covered at Champions and more for the parents!

Only 499 THB! Served From 12.00 until 15.00 Booking strongly advised. Tel: (0) 76 303 300. Reservations, Novotel Phuket Surin Beach Resort.

MON

The competition at 9pm - Expat Sports Bar at the Expat Hotel Soi Taipan Patong. See map at www.expathotel.com

21 AUG

7 Soccer Charity

Mussels night @ Shakers 1.2kg mussels served with French fries, your choice, your style: nature, marnière, Provençale, garlic & cream or Thai style. Reservations recommended 295 baht P.P., shakersphuket@gmail.com 081 891 4381.

SAT

19 AUG

Thanyapura is helping to raise money for Yaowawit School Kapong, a school built for underprivileged children in the province of Phang Nga, Thailand. If you work in a hotel and love football, don’t miss out on this event. All proceeds are donated to the school, the first location in Southeast Asia to pioneer “PreVocational Education” concepts with Marriott International’s Thailand Business Council. The event starts on Saturday August 19 and runs from 9am-8pm on Saturday and Sunday. From Monday to Friday August 25 the event runs from 4-8pm. This event is proudly sponsored by The Phuket News and Khao Phuket.

SUN

20 AUG

Steak Night Delicious special cuts of beef are offered especially for meat lovers. Reservations, HYATT REGENCY PHUKET RESORT, fnb.phuhr@hyatt.com, 076 231 234 # 5106.

Lunch or dinner served from 2pm. Your choice of either roast beef, chicken, loin of pork or leg of lamb served with roast and boiled potatoes, three fresh vegetables, Yorkshire pudding and gravy. Only B350 per person which includes a free glass of house red or white. Opposite Centara Karon Resort. See: otools-phuket.com

THU

24 AUG

All you can eat BBQ night 6PM – 11PM: Beef, Pork, Chicken, Burgers, Sausages, Prawns & Squids, salad buffet, Choice of potatoes and sauces, bread, buns and garlic bread. Reservation recommended. 395 baht P.P. shakersphuket@gmail.com 081 891 4381.

TUE

22 AUG

Afraid of public speaking?

Toastmasters can help.

Traditional Sunday Roast Angus O’Tool’s Karon Beach

All you can eat BBQ Ribs night 6PM – 11PM: All you can eat BBQ ribs served with salad buffet, potato salad & choice of sauces.

Reservation recommended. 350 baht P.P. shakersphuket@gmail.com 081 891 4381.

Looking to develop your public speaking and leadership skills? Ignite your career? Join Toastmasters Phuket and start making yourself a leader today!

Meetings held the 2nd and 4th Tue of every month at Mövenpick Resort Bangtao Beach Phuket. Contact Jason on 086 479 7471 for more info. phuketprofessionals.toastmastersclubs.org

WED

23 AUG

RETRO NIGHT The Two Chefs band will take you back to the ’70s & ’80s with some old goodies and take requests! Every Thursday @ Two Chefs Karon – Patong – Kata Center.

Chef’s Retro Special: Flambeed Rib-eye Steak 300g Only 495 Baht. Banana Flambe - Only 95 Baht. www. twochefs.com Karon 076-286-479, Patong 076-344914, Kata Center 076-330-065 COME FOR THE FOOD | STAY FOR THE FUN!

Chalong Bay Experience by Marriott Resort Phuket Merlin 1,950 THB net price per person. 3 PM - 5 PM leaving at 2 PM. Including transportation, distillery tour, cocktail class and Thai pantry dinner with Chalong Bay. Reservation at 076 335 300.

FRI

25 AUG

Meeting - Rotary Club Patong Live Sports at Expat Hotel

All you can eat Sunday Roast Buffet

NRL, AFL, Soccer, Rugby Union. Any live sport, we will show it. Expat Hotel, Soi Taipan, Patong. www.expatsportsbar.com

Beef, Pork & Lamb – Cauliflower, Broccoli, Peas, Carrots, fried mushrooms, grilled tomatoes – Yorkshire pudding – roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes – gravy,

SURF & TURF NIGHT EVERY WEDNESDAY @ TWO CHEFS All you can eat! Grilled Australian rib-eye steak, teriyaki marinated chicken and grilled tiger prawns

The Rotary Club of Patong Beach cordially invites guests and prospective members to attend its regular meetings. The cost for non-members is THB 500 and includes lunch. The meeting begins at 12 p.m. at the Days Inn in Patong. Please visit www. rotarypatong.org for additional information.

thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

SUN

27 AUG

INSPIRED PHUKETIANS

Star crew of Asia’s best from 28 KongKong Street SING; Mandarin Oriental, BKK’s Bamboo Bar, legendary bartender Michele Montauti and Kata Rocks and Brand Connect. Tickets THB 2,500 Net p.p.

7pm until late with live performances (DJ & Sax) and Chef Laia’s canapés. Limited tickets dining@ katarocks.com

SUN

3 SEP

Held monthly, and open to the public, this event gives an opportunity for well-lived people to share their life experiences. Inspired by the famous TED Talks, it’s a great way for people to really connect with authentic ideas that will benefit their well-being and happiness in general. All of the speakers are chosen because of their ability to share an idea that connects with and inspires people. Limited to 55 seats only and priced at B350/pax/net including one drink and pass around canapé. Register now by email to sales@skyelakeclub.com. Skye Lake Club, Cherng TalaySponsored by The Phuket News and Live89.5. *The presentation will be in Thai with a Powerpoint in English.

ThrifTique @ Blue Siam Beach Club

Mountain Bike Classic 2017 A new mountain bike race through Khao Phra Thaeo nature reserve highlighting ecological tourist destinations comes to the island on September 3 2017, following the highly-popular King of the Mountain Trail Run on the same day. The Thanyapura Mountain Bike Classic features a new route through Northern Phuket’s 23 sq km rainforest. Bikers can test their endurance in four distances: the 4km fun race, the 9km, the 18-km (two loops of 9-km laps) or the 27 km (three loops of 9-km laps). Proudly sponsored by The Phuket News and Khao Phuket.

“HOT” WET SEASON BUDGET DINNER THREE-COURSE HOME COOKED DINNER FOR 300 BAHT! Free Flow Soup, Pie, Mash, Gravy and Peas, Apple Pie and Custard. Lady Pie cafe, 32 Srisoonthorn Road, Cherng Talay. 6.4km from Heroines Monument on the Right on Surin Road. www.ladypie.com Best to book. 076 271 049, 081 273 1740 or harry@ladypie.com (Reject Pies will be available at discounted prices).

SAT

Phuket’s most highly-anticipated event of the summer, Collective Series X ‘Best of Mixology’. An All-

@thephuketnews

King of the Mountain Trail Run 2017 King of the Mountain Phuket Trail Run, one of Thanyapura’s most popular races, returns on September 3 2017. Beginner and experienced trail runners can compete in three distances: the 4-kilometre fun run, the 8 kilometres and the 15 kilometres along steep hilly terrain amid beautiful waterfalls of Khao Phra Thaeo National Park. Proudly sponsored by The Phuket News and Khao Phuket.

TUE

19 SEP

FRI

Join us at our KATA CENTER location Saturday September 19 for our annual crayfish buffet. Only 995 THB per person includes an amazing variety of buffet dishes as well as ½ kg of crayfish. Our Chefs have prepared amazing dishes for you to enjoy including; dill prawns, cold smoked salmon, skagen, ceviche, grilled ribeye steak, pancetta wrapped chicken and more Two Chefs special dishes. Our famous band will be preforming for your entertainment throughout the night. We strongly recommend making reservations as this event is very popular. Two Chefs Kata Center Email: katacenter@ twochefs.com, mailto:katacenter@twochefs.com Phone: 076-330065. We look forward to seeing you!

EVERY DAY

15 SEP

you with the only authentic Mexican food on the island. Floor 2: provides a full spectrum of music in our bar & night lounge area, bringing a bit of Patong to Chalong. Floor 3: is a rooftop, where you can smoke, mingle, and take in the beautiful sights that is Phuket. Please Follow @thejointphuket & @fallenangel510 on Instagram & Facebook for all updates, parties, events, and weekly specials as we look to unify people through food, fun, and music by providing you what you asked for! 11/64 Moo 5, Chaofah road, Chalong, Phuket, Thailand.

096 858 4848.

Cooking Classes Every Day Do an afternoon cooking class with Nan and discover why the Halfway Inn has been rated in the Top 10 Thai restaurants in Patong on TripAdvisor for the last 4 years running. Classes can be booked any time between 2pm till 6pm any day of the week. Google Halfway Inn, Patong’ for more details or call Nan to arrange a very fun and unique Thai culinary experience. Line:+66(0)852533278. Khun Nan, Halfway Inn Patong, halfwayinnpatong@hotmail. co.uk, 085-2533278.

La Gritta’s Discovery Menu

SEE-FOOD Eat It! Seafood Promotion for THB 250 / dish: Seafood Basket, Fish Fillet “Parmigina”, Fish Kebab, Salmon Croquettes.

Mixed Drinks for THB 150 / drink with any of the dishes *from selected crafty beverages. The Drunken Leprechaun Irish Pub Phuket, Swissôtel Resort Phuket Patong Beach. For reservations: Priyagrn.Suwanphanya@swissotel.com, 076 337 000

2 SEP

Kata Rocks Collective Series 10

3rd ACCOR HOTELS Heartbreak Hill Mini Marathon’ 2017

TWO CHEFS FAMOUS CRAYFISH FEAST!

Phukets first community boutique/thrift fair (Expats and locals welcome). New and used items to buy, sell or exchange. Blue Siam Beach Club is a beautiful newly renovated venue sitting on the coast line of Bangtao Beach, next to Palm seafood. Food and beverages available on the day. Ample parking in the Blue Siam land opposite the Beach Club and also next door. Email: steve@bluesiamgroup.com

30 AUG

SUN

17 SEP

To create an annual fundraising event which supports the improving education and well-being of underprivileged children within the community we live and work. Our priority is to raise funds for local schools in Phuket and nearby provinces and support to Accor Yim Kids Project, which is a part of ACCOR HOTEL’S Corporate Social Responsibility.

More info: tel. 076602544 (T) 076602541 (E) or Facebook: HeartBreakHillPhuket. Venue : Khao Kad, Panwa Cape. Proudly sponsored by The Phuket News and Khao Phuket.

Jay Jay Yankomut: Confidence, Speech and Presentation = Success

WED

EVENTS 21

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

Take your taste buds on a culinary tour through some of the finest Italian flavours. Chef Patrizia has created a six-course discovery menu consisting of the appetiser, main course and dessert, priced at 1,590 THB++ per person. The terms and conditions are subject to change without prior notice. Reservations, lagritta@amari.com 076 292 697.

Thailand Property Awards 2017

7 Nights 7 Themed Dinners at Rim Talay

Returning for a landmark 12th year held at Plaza Athenee Bangkok. With a professionally run awards system supervised by BDO, the world’s fifth largest auditing and accountancy firm, the PropertyGuru Thailand Property Awards is the biggest and most prestigious real estate event in the Kingdom, with the top and emerging names in real estate celebrating the best developers, projects and designs. Proudly sponsored by The Phuket News.

Make each night unique! Enjoy our themed dinners with the cool sea breeze. World of Curries @790 THB++, Thai & International Buffet @790 THB++, Seafood Night @980 THB++, Ribs, Wings & Rings @770 THB++, Butchers Night @market price, Surf & Turf @950 THB++, Thai Seafood Gala @980 THB++. The terms and conditions are subject to change without prior notice. For reservations, rimtalay@amari. com or 076 340106-14 #8027.

The Joint Mexican Food Bar & Lounge Welcome to THE JOINT PHUKET! Floor 1: plays the latest in movies & TV shows while providing

22 TIME OUT

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

Crossword by Myles Mellor & Sally York 1. Which of New York City’s five boroughs is home to JFK International Airport and LaGuardia Airport?

2. In 1903 Mary Anderson was granted a 17-year patent for which useful device?

3. Who was the last Pharaoh of Egypt?

4. What is the main ingredient of Hummus?

5. What did RMS stand for in the ship’s name RMS Titanic?

Answers below, centre

SUDOKU

Medium

Across 1. No neatnik 5. Gaping hole 10. Erudition 14. Got there 15. Religious sayings 16. Thunderstruck 17. Life times 18. Server, last name 19. Data 20. Server 23. Raccoon relative 24. Easter preceder 25. Pops 28. Starfleet Academy grad.

29. Uncollectable bill 33. Astronomer’s sighting 35. Full of holes 37. Not walk straight 38. Server 41. Coal or broiled?

43. Look into again, as a cold case 44. Old Spanish currency 47. ____ right up 48. Vampire’s other form 51. Jessica’s sister 52. ‘’A Midsummer Night’s Dream’’ disguise

21. Free from 22. Before, once 25. Face-off 26. Stout 27. Lentil dish 30. Hurler’s stat.

31. Dutch colonist 32. Tall marsh plants 34. Whole grain part 35. Remove an outer layer 36. Bratty child (sl.)

38. Allergic reaction 39. Unoriginal one 40. Painting quality 41. Numbers pro Down 42. Cock and bull 1. Scant 45. Greek cross 2. Estuary 46. Estimate 3. Endings property value 4. Assail 48. Sobriquet 5. Staff symbol 49. Nitrogen 6. Changed the compounds direction 50. Unit user 7. Class of people 53. Task protected by 55. Macho type discrimination 56. Trashy bonds? laws 57. What comes to 8. Kind of call mind 9. Mrs. 58. Not e’en once 10. Nest 59. Screws up 11. Fess (up) 60. Collagen target 12. Game arbiter 61. Slow burn 13. ___ de Waart, Dutch conductor 62. Corn section 54. Stew seasoning 56. Server 60. “In ___ of flowers . . .”

63. Down source 64. Latino rock group 65. It’s south of Georgia 66. Curl one’s lip 67. “Right on!”

68. Fringe benefit 69. Celebrities 70. Cozy home

Solutions to last week’s puzzles:

Answers to this week’s Pop Quiz: 1) Queens; 2) Windshield wipers; 3) Cleopatra (in full, Cleopatra VII Philopator); 4) Chickpeas; 5) Royal Mail Ship

GOT YOUR NUMBER

ISLAND VIEW

Aug 18, 1783 A huge fireball meteor is seen across Great Britain as it passes over the east coast.

3.5

Aug 19, 1692 Salem witch trials: In Salem, Province of Massachusetts Bay, five people, one woman and four men, including a clergyman, are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.

months old is when babies first start to laugh.

25

Aug 20, 1858 Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Jour nal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace’s same theory.

per cent is how much slower people generally read on a computer screen compared with reading a printed page, according to a study.

59

Aug 21, 1770 James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.

per cent of Millennials describe the members of their generation as self-absorbed, 49% say they are wasteful and 43% describe them as greedy.

Aug 22, 1910 Korea is annexed by Japan with the signing of the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, beginning a period of Japanese rule of Korea that lasted until the end of World War II.

27,000

trees are chopped down every year to make toilet paper.

Aug 23, 1973 A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathise with their captors, leading to the term “Stockholm syndrome”.

83 billion dollars is lost in productivity in the US each year due to depression.

Source: Uberfacts

This week in history

Seconds before the sunset on the Andaman Sea. Photo by Gerry Cummings Got an unusual or particularly beautiful picture of Phuket?

Email it to execeditor@classactmedia.co.th

Aug 24, 79 AD Mount Vesuvius erupts. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae are buried in volcanic ash (note: this traditional date has been challenged, and many scholars believe that the event occurred on October 24).

Source: Wikipedia thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

Jobs

@thephuketnews

CLASSIFIEDS 23 The Phuket News @thephuketnews

24 CLASSIFIEDS

Jobs

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

The Phuket News @thephuketnews

thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

CLASSIFIEDS 25

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

Trades & Services

The Phuket News @thephuketnews

ADVERTISING SERVICES

CLEANING SERVICES

CONSTRUCTION SERVICES

CONSTRUCTION SERVICES

CONSTRUCTION SERVICES

FISHING CHARTERS

HOME IMPROVEMENT

HOME IMPROVEMENT

HOME IMPROVEMENT

HOME IMPROVEMENT

MARINE SERVICES

MOVING SERVICES

@thephuketnews

26 CLASSIFIEDS

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

Trades & Services

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

The Phuket News @thephuketnews

classifieds@thephuketnews.com

MARINE SERVICES

PERSONAL SERVICES

STORAGE Reserve Your Storage Space

Call 076 29 29 09

or visit mystorageasia.com

 Sizes to Suit all Budgets  Personal & Business Storage  Motorcycle Storage  Left Luggage Service  We Sell Boxes  Storage Insurance Inclusive

Secure, Clean & Cost Effective Self Storage Jungceylon Shopping Center, Patong, Phuket

TRAINING

HOME DECORATION

ADVERTISE HERE

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CLASSIFIEDS 27

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

Buy & Sell

The Phuket News @thephuketnews

BOATS, YACHTS FOR SALE Long Tail Boat For Sale

Ready to go “Long Tail Boat” with or Without Captain (Thai) Get special price, please call 085 781 9167 (English) Bangtao Beach, Phuket, B275,000, giorgionaef@aol.com 085 781 9167.

Boating deal of the year: 7.5m baht (reduced from 10m baht)

Due to serious health reasons, the owner must part with his beloved 80’ tour boat.

New wiring throughout, power outlets, transformer and voltage meters. New upholstery throughout bar and entertainment area. Engines & generator fully reconditioned & serviced. All maintained to European standards. Ideal boat for quality day trip business. beachsando1@gmail.com 080 695 3933.

CABLE TV PULSE TV. ASIA’S No.1 EXPAT TV

140 channels (HD & SD) in English, French, German & Thai. All Premiership & Euro Leagues live plus all your favorite Soaps & Series from back home. ONDemand Movie/TV Series library with over 700 of the latest titles, more added daily & with our CATCH-UP Facility (Records all Channels for instant Playback) you’ll never miss a show. This is not kodi – Our high quality set-top boxes come pre-loaded with our own in-house developed App backed up by our own highspeed Asia based Servers & Online Support Network.

PULSE TV, sales@pulse-tv.net +66(0) 99 316 6212.

CAR FOR SALE Convertible

Mercedes CLK 200 Cabriolet W-209 Brabus Package - seat 4. Excellent condition and fun to drive. 37,400km. 1,199,000 Bht. Eng - Thai 094 695 3536 / 063 992 3226.

Toyota Corolla Altis 1.8G VVTI

2013 - 35,000km - Automatic White - CD Radio, Air-con, Alloys Excellent Condition, Only used for school runs. 525,000, Duang, Royal Phuket Marina, gavinmullins@hotmail.com 083 093 9724.

2014 Nissan Juke For Sale

2014 Nissan Juke, one owner, full history, leather interior, rear sensors, climate control. Perfect Phuket runabout, only 82000km. 530,000, soiana56030@gmail.com, 0950 924 729 n r ge

U

t sa

le

Honda Jazz 2009 1500cc Auto

57,000km. One owner since new.

Regularly serviced by Honda. Tax and Insurance until the end of June and available now at right offer. Reduced by 40,000 bht, REDUCED to 330,000bht o.n.o, Andy +6684 690 9144, andysmalster@gmail.com

FINANCIAL, LEGAL Bangkok law firm in Phuket

The Bangkok law firm PUGNATORIUS Ltd. provides its foreigner-focussed legal support and assistance through a trusted partner law firm in Phuket. For a protected corporate structure in full compliance with the law. For a comprehensive due diligence which truly lives up to its name. For a most efficient hotel business licensing process. For a more competitive design of the property development. The PUGNATORIUS advantage is badly needed at a place where foreign investments are typically built on sand. Protect your investment in paradise. phuket@pugnatorius.com, (00) +66 22 072 647 @thephuketnews

HOME IMPROVEMENT TechWorX Projects

TechWorX Projects now offer a full Electrical Contractor service. This complements our existing offerings of AV, IT, Home Automation, Home Cinema and Security systems. If you are planning a new build or renovation please contact us for a free consultation. Daragh, 393/8 moo 1 Srisoonthorn road, Cherngtalay, Thalang, Phuket 83110, daragh@techworx.asia, 084 443 9863.

MEMBERSHIPS Life Time Family Membership

Blue Canyon: 750,000 THB includes 140,000 transfer fee.

Loch Palms: 425,000 THB includes 72,000 transfer fee.

Tanita, 094 695 3536 / 063 992 3226.

Phuket Country Club Golf Membership

PERSONAL SERVICES Rawai Custom Tailor store

Rawai Tailor – Ladies and Gents custom Tailor Store. Serving local and international clients for the past 10 years, get a free shirt for each suit ordered, fully air conditioned, clean environment, friendly staff, parking space, quality materials, good workmanship and money back guarantee. Located within walking distance from major hotels in Rawai, opposite Sea Shell Museum on Viset road in Rawai. Visit us for free consultation, no obligation to buy. www.RawaiTailor.com Thomas Ghimiray, 158/2, Moo 2, Viset Road, Rawai, Phuket. info@RawaiTailor.com, +6681-415-4883.

PUBLIC NOTICES Relocation of Major Office

Lifetime Loch Palm Golf membership for sale. 400,000 baht, the Loch Palm transfer fee of 72,000 baht will be shared equally between the buyer and seller. sales@joydive.asia

Loch Palm Golf Membership

Phuket Plus Co.,Ltd, Corporate Registration Number 0105549008784 has relocated its head office, originally located at 580/123, Moo 2, Saimai Sub-district, Saimai District, Bangkok, Thailand. The company’s head office is now located at 45/11, Moo 4, Kamala Sub-district, Kathu District, Phuket, Thailand. This announcement is on behalf of Mr Manusanan of Phuket Plus Co., Ltd. 45/11 Moo 4 Kamala, Kathu, Phuket 83120. Contact: rattana65992@gmail.com, 076-525-848, 076-525-715.

MOVING SERVICES

REAL ESTATE SERVICES

Golf membership for sale, includes transfer fee of 60,000 THB. 450,000, David, dsgrabham@yahoo.co.uk 087 881 7545.

Looking for a Moving Company?

With over 15 years of experience Bigmove Phuket is the number 1 provider of moving and shipping in and out of Phuket Thailand. We provide storage in a state of the art clean, secure, storage facility located centrally in Phuket. www.bigmovephuket.com. Mr Joe: bigmovephuket@gmail.com 081-797-5377.

OFFICE MANAGER General Manager

Boutique hotel with 14 rooms and 26 apartments in Kathu is looking for full time manager. Must have experience with foreign guests. Excellent command of English speaking and writing, good organisation skills and able to lead a small team.

Interested candidates please forward your application to: brunohaag@yahoo.com Bruno, Kathu, Phuket, brunohaag@ yahoo.com, 062-019-1421.

Property in Phuket!

Looking to buy property in Phuket?

International Property Advisory (IPA) can help! Give us a call today on 098-064-4408/Email:info@ipa.black/Website:www. ipaphuket.comContact Khun Pat, International Property Advosory, utopia@ipa.black, 076-604-260, 080-886-9660.

Chatta Real Estate

REAL ESTATE & PROPERTY MANAGEMENT Chattha Real Estate and Professional Rental Management in Phuket. SELL-BUY-RENT-MANAGEMENT-MAINTENACE-GAURANTEED RENTAL. Inquire NOW! www.chattha.asia, 076-636-244, 090-179-6635.

Chanapa, Chattha Real Estate Co., Ltd., info@chattha. asia 076 636 244, 090 179 6635.

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THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

Buy & Sell

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

The Phuket News @thephuketnews

PROPERTY FOR SALE Land: 3 Rai close to Monument

Land for sale in Phuket. 3 Rai close to Monument Thepkrasattri Thalang.

Perfect for apartments. Contact Thai/English 093 619 2323.

12,000,000, supaku1013@hotmail.com, 093 619 2323.

House for Sale in Karon

House for sale the price is negotiable.

3 bedroom, 3 bathroom house in Karon with a salt water pool. Great opportunity to buy in a good location where houses rarely come up for sale.

Good as an investment or a place to call home. 16,000,000 Baht, ณริศรา โคทส์, g-a-coatesy@outlook.com, 063-541-5642.

Royal Place Condo For Sell

Royal Place Condo is located at the center of Phuket Town, opposite the Tesco Lotus, close to international school, 3 minutes to Big C and Phuket International Hospital, 4 Minutes to Central Festival. 45SQM, 5th floor, Corner Room, 2 balconies, 1 bedroom, 1 living room. Before price 2,800,000 Now Available for 2,250,000. Harry: h.jabary@ gmail.com, 084 249 0526.

1 BRM UNITS FOR SALE

Spacious, modern 90sqm luxury European style apartments in a Golf Resort for sale.

For further information please contact 062-019-1421. 4.9 Million THB, Bruno, Golf Resort, brunohaag@yahoo.com, 062-019-1421.

PROPERTY FOR SALE 4 bedroom house in Chalong

4 king bedrooms (one with ensuite, the others with dedicated bathrooms), 5 bathrooms (1 with a bath, the other showers), Living room, Morning room (lounge/diner), 2 studies, Home cinema, 7 seater, DVD/CD library, 2 carports, 3 separate entrances (+ 5 French windows, a total of 8 exits). Property is at the end of a quiet soi near Big Buddha, no passing traffic. It overlooks a stream and jungle. The garden is 12 years old with bananas, papayas, mulberry bushes, cherry bushes, flowering plants and shrubs and several palm trees. There are frequent bird visitors…2 birdbaths. Just a few minutes drive from Tesco and Villa/Home Pro on Chao Fa West. Only 12 min drive to Central or big Tesco/Big C/Makro. 16.9MB (negotiable). Area of the site: 137.9 square wah (approx 560 square metres). To view, call 081 415 5522 or email m.allen.phuket@gmail.com

COMMUNITY

PROPERTY FOR RENT Rawai Naiharn with spa pool

Unique Thai style home, open plan, close to beach and shops, AC, 3-bedroom 2-bathroom with spa pool, must see! Eng: 090 867 4849 Thai: 081 081 9875.

House for Sale/Rent

Locate Baan Saun Loch Palm Kathu. Fully furniture with swimming pool, 3 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms + maid room, 2 living rooms. Large entertainment area. Very convenient location. Close to BIS, Headstart School, shopping centre, Central, Tesco Lotus, 10 min to Patong beach. Easy access to the Airport. Long term lease 65,000/month including pool + garden service. Sale 13.5 millions baht (negotiable). Khun Bea, Loch Palm Kathu, I.thumwong@gmail.com 098 194 9351.

Long term luxury Villa

Luxury 2 bed villa available for long term rental 10 minutes from Patong with outstanding sea views from B95,000 per month. We have other villas available for shorter rentals. Contact Justin 084 242 6952 (Eng) or Tan 094 596 2558 (Thai).

To rent: 1800 m2

To rent: 1800 m2 of concrete slab with 5m high walls + 500 m2 of parking. Heroines Monument area. Roofing may be arranged, long term and serious interest only. Open to ideas, Leo: 081 821 4064. thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

SPORT 29

Hoping to rule the roost Thais set sights on 109 golds despite fears of biased officiating SEA GAMES Wanchai Rujawongsanti

T

here are 404 gold medals up for grabs in 38 sports at the 29th SEA Games in Malaysia which officially begin tomorrow (Aug 19) and end on Aug 30.

Thailand are sending 820 athletes and 353 officials to Kuala Lumpur and hope to retain the overall title they claimed with 95 golds at the 2015 tournament in Singapore.

According to estimates by the country’s sports associations, Thailand will win 109 gold medals in Malaysia.

However, Thai officials believe that the number may not be enough for Thailand to top the medal standings.

“I think we would have to win more than 120 gold medals to become overall champions,” said Thailand’s delegation chief Thana Chaiprasit.

Thai officials and critics say Malaysia have an advantage as they have included a number of sports they are good at and excluded disciplines they had slim chances of

@thephuketnews

HRH Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana and her horse Prince Charming compete at the 2014 Asian Games. Photo: Pattarapong Chatpattarasill winning gold medals in the programme for the KL Games.

“Malaysia are doing everything to win the overall title,” said Charouck Arirachakaran, secretary-general of the National Olympic Committee of Thailand.

The KL tournament even features winter sports – ice hockey (one gold medal), figure skating (two), and short

track speed skating (six).

These inclusions may raise eyebrows of those outside the region but for participating countries this is not a surprise as Malaysia are expected to enjoy a gold rush in the events.

Both field and indoor versions of hockey are also in the 2017 Games as the hosts are expected to make a clean sweep of four golds.

Malaysia should also get a lion’s share in squash, a sport they have some world-class players, with nine gold medals up for grabs.

On the other hand, there are only six weight classes in men’s boxing and no women’s boxing.

The hosts are not organising women’s weightlifting apparently because Thailand

boast a number of Olympic champions and medallists.

There are 10 divisions in the fighting discipline of taekwondo but Thailand are only allowed to take part in six of them.

There are four men’s sepak takraw events but visiting nations can only participate in three while the hosts can take part in all four.

Thailand are also afraid of biased officiating in several sports such as boxing and taekwondo.

“I have told the boxers to try to secure clear-cut wins to avoid dubious scoring,” said Somchai Poonsawat, technical chief of the Thailand Boxing Association.

Thailand are strong in athletics and aim to take home 16-17 gold medals in 45 events at the 2017 Games.

“At the SEA Games in Malaysia, we should win about the same number of gold medals [17] we won in the previous Games,” said Thailand’s athletics head coach Supavanat Ariyamongkol.

The Thai taekwondo team are sending three male and an

equal number of female fighters to the Games led by 2016 Olympic silver medallist Tawin Hanprab and bronze winner Panipak Wongpattanakit.

However, their three goldmedal target could be affected by their star exponents’ exhaustion as Tawin and Panipak will have to compete at the World University Games in Taiwan just ahead of the SEA Games.

Thailand also hope to take home three gold medals in boxing with Asian Games 64kg champion Wuttichai Masuk leading the six-man squad.

Meanwhile, it’s a huge honour for the Thai contingent that HRH Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana will be competing in equestrian with her horse Prince Charming.

The Princess was a member of the women’s badminton team who won the gold at the 2005 SEA Games and has since switched to equestrian.

She and Prince Charming have taken part in the 2013 SEA Games and 2014 Asian Games.

Bangkok Post

30 SPORT

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

Will you or the hill win?

Accorhotels gears up for third edition of ‘Heartbreak Hill’ Mini-Marathon More details • Fun Run – 6 kilometre, B300 registration fee with running shirt • Mini-Marathon - 13km, B400 registration fee with running shirt • VIP Run – eligible for both 6km and 13km, B800 registration fee with running shirt and medal

MINI-MARATHON The Phuket News editor3@thephuketnews.com

H

aving already hosted two previous editions of the race, Accorhotels Southern Thailand is once gain inviting you to the exciting and challenging third “Heartbreak Hill” Mini-Marathon 2017 to be held at Khao Khad, Cape Panwa on Sept 17.

Heartbreak Hill refers to the many steep ascents in the Khao Khad area which will be encountered during the race, each is considered difficult and challenging for the r unners. The heights of the hills range from 37 metres to 171m.

The hills around Khao Khad will challenge runner’s from the very start until the finish line with elevations varying for each climb. The course will test athletes and they will have the choice, either climb them or be beaten.

There is cur rently no other mini-marathon on the

Participants run in the first edition of the ‘Heartbreak Hill’ Mini-Marathon. island with this type of challenge and excitement.

To help encourage runner’s, entertainment will be provided on the hills including cheerleaders, DJs and more alongside at total of 11 much needed water stations.

All of this will take place in the natural scenery around Panwa Beach, Khao Khad View Point and Ao Yon. The race will start at 6am

from the Baan Ao Nam Bo School on Sunday, September 17.

Registration is now open and runners can register at all hotels in Phuket under the Accorhotels brand or via Facebook page, https://www. facebook.com/HeartBreakHillPhuket/ The objectives To create an annual fund-

raising event which supports the improving education and well-being of underprivileged children within the community we all live and work.

Their priority is to raise funds for local schools in Phuket and nearby provinces and support their Projects; AccorHotels Yim Kids and Planet 21 (sustainable development), which are part of Accor Hotels Corporate

Social Responsibility.

The second objective is to encourage everyone to strengthen their bodies with exercise and maintain a healthy lifestyle that provides a social connection between runners, hotel guests, associates, school children, university students, government officers and the local communities of Phuket and nearby provinces.

Others details • Trophy for 1st-5th placed male and female runners in each category • Prizes for 1st placed male and female • First 2,250 registered runners will receive a running shirt • First 1,500 runners to cross the finish line will receive a medal • Prizes for the most creative “Colorful Fancy” costume for male and female • Trophy for 1st-3rd group runners with the most participants • Luxury prize for MiniMarathon male and female winners • Luxury prize for Fun Run male and female winners • Lucky draw to win gift vouchers

‘Thanyapura 7 Soccer’ for charity FOOTBALL TO RAISE MONEY FOR a school for underprivileged children in Phuket’s neighbouring Phang Nga province, Thanyapura Health & Sports Resort is to host the “Thanyapura 7 Soccer” charity tournament which encourages Phuket hotels and companies to optimise their minds and bodies in football training and competitions.

Players can hone their skills on the football pitch and foster team spirit, and strengthen their minds and bodies through exciting and friendly matches.

The tournament will take

Teams from Phuket hotels and companies will battle it out on Thanyapura’s Fifa Standard football pitch. place on Thanyapura’s Fifa Standard football pitch from tomorrow (Aug 19) until Aug 25 from 4pm-8pm.

A total of 24 teams comprised of Phuket businesses will compete in the event

which even before kicking off has raised B84,000, with all proceeds going to Yaowawit School, Kapong.

The organisations and hotels competing in the tournament are:

No.

Team

No.

Team

1

Thanyapura

13

The Surin Phuket

2

JW Marriott Phuket

14

Bangtao Chemical Limited

3

Marriott Maikhao Beach

15

Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket

4

Phuket Marriott Nai Yang

16

Grand West Sand Resort & Villa Phuket

5

Trisara

17

Akyra Beach Club Phuket

6

Point Yamu by Como

18

Rosewood Phuket

7

Mövenpick Bangtao

19

Holiday Inn Resort Phuket Maikhao Beach

8

Naka Island

20

Paresa Resort

9

Outrigger Laguna Phuket Beach Resort

21

Cassia Phuket

10

Andara Resort Villas

22

Yaowawit School

11

Amanpuri

23

Phuket Provincial Public Health Office

12

Angsana Laguna Phuket

24

UWC Thailand International School

thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

SPORT 31

PREMIER PREDICTIONS: ENTER NOW AT THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

Four things we learned in the Premier League T FOOTBALL

AFP

he Premier League returned with a bang last weekend as Arsenal staged a thrilling fightback to beat Leicester, champions Chelsea suffered a shock defeat against Burnley and Romelu Lukaku marked

Problems mount for Conte

Throughout a turbulent close-season, Antonio Conte had grown increasingly fraught as Chelsea failed to deliver his transfer targets, while allowing several players to leave. The Chelsea Antonio Conte gestures boss claimed defending the on the touchline during title would be the toughest Chelsea’s game against test of his career and Conte’s Burnley. Burnley won 3-2. worst fears were confirmed Photo: Ian Kington/AFP in last Saturday’s (Aug 12) stunning 3-2 home defeat against Burnley. Rocked by Gary Cahill’s early red card, Chelsea crumbled as Burnley scored three times in the first half with hardly any resistance from the lacklustre champions. Goals from Alvaro Morata and David Luiz put a flattering gloss on the score, but, with Cesc Fabregas also sent off, Conte’s already depleted squad will be even more under-manned due to suspensions. “We lost our composure. We have to improve a lot on this aspect because there was the rest of the game to try to do our best,” he grumbled.

Perfectionist Guardiola not satisfied

After Manchester City’s trophyless first season under boss Pep Guardiola, the Spaniard vowed to learn from his failed English exam. Guardiola’s main takeaway from City’s flop last term was his side must be more Pep Guardiola awaits ruthless in the penalty area, kick-off in the match while matching their rivals’ between Brighton and work rate. Last Saturday’s 2-0 Hove Albion and Manwin at Brighton was a step in the chester City last Satright direction, but the City boss urday (Aug 12). Photo: warned his players he still isn’t Chris J Ratcliffe/AFP satisfied. Sergio Aguero made the breakthrough after 70 minutes and Lewis Dunk’s own goal doubled City’s advantage five minutes later, yet Guardiola said: “We have to learn to attack better.

Last season we ran a lot but in the boxes we were not good. Hopefully in the future we can be more accurate.”

his Manchester United debut with a brace in their rout of West Ham.

Here we look at four things we learned from the opening weekend of the new season:

Man United look like title contenders

It is very early days, but Manchester United’s 4-0 victory over West Ham suggested they may mount a first serious title challenge since Alex Ferguson’s retirement.

Jose Mourinho’s side often dominated their opponents Romelu Lukaku cellast season without making ebrates scoring his it count, but it was a differ- team’s second goal ent story at Old Trafford as against West Ham Unita team spearheaded by new ed last Sunday (Aug 13). striker Romelu Lukaku put Photo: Oli Scarff/AFP West Ham to the sword. Lukaku scored twice, either side of half-time, before late goals from substitute Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba completed United’s most convincing opening-weekend win since a 5-1 demolition of Fulham in August 2006.

Arsenal’s defence is a mess

Goals from substitutes Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud earned Arsenal a 4-3 win over Leicester City, but there was no glossing over their defensive problems.

Leicester’s first and third Olivier Giroud celebrates goals came from simple scoring Arsenal’s fourth corners, while their second goal against Leicester stemmed from a loose pass City last Friday (Aug 11).

by Arsenal midfielder Granit Photo: Ian Kington/AFP Xhaka. Arsenal finished the game with midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain at right-back, right-back Hector Bellerin at left-back and two left-backs – Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac – in central defence. Laurent Koscielny remains suspended for this weekend’s trip to Stoke City and Gabriel is still sidelined, but Shkodran Mustafi and Per Mertesacker could return to give the defence a more conventional – and solid – appearance.

Run #1646: Saturday August 19 Run Start Time: 4PM Hares: Lucky Lek, Gorgeous you W*****, What-a-rat, Bandit (VH) Location: Chalong, Chao Fa West Rd - Soi Annussorn 200 Pee Rd - Top of the hill Directions: Travelling south on Chao Fa West Rd from the Honda dealership at Wichit, go 1.1 kilometres to the second set of traffic lights and make a U-turn, return 160 metres and turn left into Soi Annussorn 200 Pee Rd (HHH), continue up the hill for 2.2km until the end of the road and the Laager site. Travelling north from Chalong continue 300m past the “We Café Salad and Coffee” shop and turn left into Soi Annussorn 200 Pee Rd (HHH) and continue as above.

Bus pick-up: Kamala @ Black Cat’s Bar: 2:30pm Patong @ Expat Hotel: 3pm More info: phuket-hhh.com

@thephuketnews

MONTHLY SPONSOR

The overall competition winner will receive a 3 day/2 night stay in a Sri panwa one bedroom luxury private pool villa including daily breakfast plus a 120 minute spa treatment for two persons. Total prize value: B123,000 The monthly competition winner for August 2017 will receive a B3,000 voucher to spend at Islander Bar & Restaurant in Rawai.

EPL PREDICTIONS MONTHLY STANDINGS

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

OVERALL STANDINGS

Turnerg 8 CAFC 7 Gracie 7 ricky bobby 7 toptipster 7

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Turnerg 8 CAFC 7 Gracie 7 ricky bobby 7 toptipster 7

English Premier League 2017 - 2018 MP

W

D

L

F

A

GD

Pts

1

Team Manchester United

1

1

0

0

4

0

+4

3

2

Huddersfield Town

1

1

0

0

3

0

+3

3

3

Manchester City

1

1

0

0

2

0

+2

3

4

Tottenham Hotspur

1

1

0

0

2

0

+2

3

5

Arsenal

1

1

0

0

4

3

+1

3

6

Burnley

1

1

0

0

3

2

+1

3

7

Everton

1

1

0

0

1

0

+1

3

8

West Brom

1

1

0

0

1

0

+1

3

9

Liverpool

1

0

1

0

3

3

0

1

10

Watford

1

0

1

0

3

3

0

1

11

Southampton

1

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

12

Swansea City

1

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

13

Leicester City

1

0

0

1

3

4

-1

0

14

Chelsea

1

0

0

1

2

3

-1

0

15

Bournemouth

1

0

0

1

0

1

-1

0

16

Stoke City

1

0

0

1

0

1

-1

0

17

Brighton and Hove

1

0

0

1

0

2

-2

0

18

Newcastle United

1

0

0

1

0

2

-2

0

19

Crystal Palace

1

0

0

1

0

3

-3

0

20

West Ham United

1

0

0

1

0

4

-4

0

Premier League fixtures (Week 2) Saturday August 19 Match

Time in Thailand

Swansea

vs

Man Utd

6:30pm

Bournemouth

vs

Watford

9pm

Burnley

vs

West Brom

9pm

Leicester

vs

Brighton

9pm

Liverpool

vs

Crystal Palace

9pm

Southampton

vs

West Ham

9pm

Stoke

vs

Arsenal

Live Sports TV Schedule SPORT START STOP Friday August 18

Rugby Union 15:00 16:50 Rugby League 16:45 18:50 Aussie Rules 16:30 19:30 Cricket 20:00 02:00 Saturday August 19 Rugby Union 16:55 19:00 22:00 00:00 Rugby League 11:55 13:50 14:25 16:30 Rugby Union 19:00 21:00 Cricket 20:00 02:00 Soccer 18:30 20:30 Soccer 21:00 23:00 Soccer 23:30 01:30 Soccer 21:00 23:00 Soccer 21:00 23:00 Soccer 21:00 23:00 Motor Bikes 17:30 19:00 Aussie Rules 10:30 13:30 13:30 16:30 16:30 19:30 Sunday August 20 Aussie Rules 10:00 13:00 13:30 16:30 Rugby League 11:00 13:00 13:00 15:00 Rugby Union 19:25 21:30 Cricket 20:00 02:00 Soccer 19:30 21:30 22:00 00:00 Motor Bikes 16:15 21:00

EVENT

TEAMS / INFO

Mitre Cup NRL AFL Test 1, Day 2

Tasman v. Canterbury Broncos v. Dragons Adelaide Crows v. Sydney Swans England v. West Indies, Edgbaston

Rugby Championship Rugby Championship NRL NRL Currie Cup Test 1, Day 3 EPL EPL EPL EPL EPL EPL Motul Superbikes AFL AFL AFL

Australia v. New Zealand, Sydney South Africa v. Argentina, Jo’burg Knights v. Storm Roosters v. Tigers Blue Bulls v. Cheetahs England v. West Indies, Edgbaston Swansea v. Man United Liverpool v. Crystal Palace Stoke v. Arsenal Burnley v. West Bromwich Southampton v. West Ham Leicester v. Brighton Lausitzring, Germany Western Bulldogs v. Port Adelaide GWS Giants v. West Coast Eagles Gold Coast SUNS v. Essendon

AFL AFL NRL NRL Currie Cup Test 1, Day 4 EPL EPL Motul Superbikes

Melbourne v. Brisbane Lions Fremantle v. Richmond Raiders v. Panthers Bulldogs v. Sea Eagles Griquas v. Pumas England v. West Indies, Edgbaston Huddersfield v. Newcastle Tottenham v. Chelsea Lausitzring, Germany

11:30pm

Sunday August 20 Match

*Times may be subject to change

HASH HOUSE HARRIERS

MAIN SPONSOR

Time in Thailand

Huddersfield

vs

Newcastle

Spurs

vs

Chelsea

7:30pm 10pm

Tuesday August 22 Match Man City

vs

Time in Thailand Everton

2am

Sport

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

editor3@classactmedia.co.th

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017

Are you ready to take on the ‘Heartbreak’ challenge? > p30

‘SUPERHUMAN’ WANTED As Bolt leaves athletics stage there’s a huge vacuum to fill Jamaica’s Usain Bolt takes part in a lap of honour on the final day of the 2017 IAAF World Championships at the London Stadium last Sunday (Aug 13). Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP

ATHLETICS Pirate Irwin & Luke Phillips

U

sain Bolt’s retirement leaves a huge vacuum to fill but athletics is moving in the right direction in rebranding itself after scandals that seriously damaged its image, according to sports marketing experts.

At one point, following serious allegations about former athletics boss Lamine Diack as well as the Russian doping scandal, the sport resembled the Jamaican superstar in his last appearance in a championship final, last Saturday’s (Aug 12) 4x100 metres relay, lying prone down and out on the track.

Bolt brought down the curtain on his glittering career in dramatic fashion when he pulled up with a hamstring cramp halfway through his anchor leg in the relay.

However, under the leadership of Diack’s successor Sebastian Coe, president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the governing body say it is beginning to take the right steps in restoring its image.

“The authorities are making it more accessible and improving its presentation and taking it into an urban environment with street races,” Jon Tibbs, chairman of

leading sport public relations firm Jon Tibbs Associates (JTA), said.

“It is becoming more accessible and more cool but then it has to take into account that it is competing with sports such as parkour.”

Michael Payne, who as director of marketing at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is widely credited with transforming both its brand and finances through sponsorship, said that Coe has taken measures which has seen the sport “turn a corner” but from a “very low base”.

“There is an awful lot to do post the Diack era,” said Payne speaking by phone from Switzerland.

“The issues facing athletics go far beyond losing a superstar of Bolt’s stature. With no disrespect intended, superstars come and they go.”

Payne, who after leaving the IOC in 2004 performed a similar role with Formula One, said Coe had brought much needed dynamism on the back of his leading the winning bid for the 2012 Olympics and then staying on to deliver a successful London Games.

“They (the sport) have to ensure they are in robust health and clearly they were allowed to drift significantly off track,” said Payne.

“Coe has been instigating a drastic restructuring at grassroots level but you also need great events

and London (the world championships) seen from afar has been a huge success. So they are still capable of delivering a great championships.

“Bolt has shown he is willing to act as an ambassador and he can play an important role in bringing the sport back to a pre-eminent position.”

Tibbs, who has been honoured by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to international trade and sports, says the sport does need to find a “superhuman” replacement.

He equates the loss of Bolt to how golf has suffered since Tiger Woods went into meltdown.

“Golf has declined in many markets since Woods was in his pomp, although it is not in terminal decline.

“Jordan Spieth is a great player but not a lot of people would be racing to jump out of bed and say I want to be the next Jordan Spieth.

“Woods and Bolt had exactly the same unbeatable aura, broke records and had a maverick edge to them. They were true rock stars.

“Rory McIlroy has the maverick edge but is simply not winning enough to warrant being in the same camp.”

Payne, who says the awarding of medals several years after the event is not good for the “image of the sport” as it undermines spectators’ confidence that what they are watch-

ing in London is fair competition, believes one area the sport should address is modernising the way it presents itself.

“One of the challenges the sport is facing in 2017 is athletics shown on television isn’t as conducive to what it was 30 years ago.

“I am not sure athletics has moved with the times to a new media environment.”

Tibbs, whose company played a leading role in Sochi winning the 2014 Winter Olympics amongst other successes, says the sport is moving forwards after some very rough times.

“I would give them, for the moment, the benefit of the doubt that things are moving in the right direction.

“However, it is up to Coe, WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency), athletes entourages and event organisers to get together and enforce change.

“That is the challenge facing Coe.” Meanwhile, speaking of his retirement last Sunday, Jamaican Bolt said he was sad but also excited to bow out of athletics, adding that his disappointing world campaign in London would not change his career achievements.

“It’s been a rough couple of days,” admitted the 30-year-old.

“I always tried my best 100% all the time and put on a good show.

“I’m sad to be walking away now.

“I don’t think one championships is going to change what I’ve done in this sport.”

Often compared to American boxing great Muhammad Ali by Coe for not only his sporting prowess but also the charisma and larger-than-life personality he brought off-track, Bolt made the same link in a final press conference last Sunday.

“I remember after losing the 100m, someone said to me: ‘Usain, don’t worry, Muhammad Ali lost his last fight also so don’t be stressed about it’.

“I’ve proven myself year in, year out,” said the Jamaican, world record holder in the 100 and 200m, winner of eight Olympic golds and 14 world medals since making his debut in Helsinki in 2005 when he finished eighth and last in the 200m final.

Bolt insisted that there would be no comeback.

“No! I’ve seen too many people return and come back to sport and shame themselves,” he said with a wry smile.

“I won’t be one of those people.

“I am looking forward to being free. It’s exciting, I’m happy.

“My whole life has been track and field since I was 10. All I know is track. I need fun and to relax a little bit.”

AFP thephuketnews