22-01-2016

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

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GOING DOWN

BUSINESSES ON BANGLA RD SLAMMED AS TRADITIONAL CLIENTELE DRIES UP CHINESE TOUR PACKAGES BLAMED Tanyaluk Sakoot reporter2@classactmedia.co.th

P

huket’s main party street and the island’s top nightlife drawcard Bangla Rd in Patong is taking a battering in business this tourism high season despite officials reporting record numbers of tourist arrivals.

Sompoch Sukkaew, chief legal counsel of the Patong Entertainment Business Association (PEBA), says

that entertainment businesses in the area are suffering hard.

“Over the past three years, most bars were averaging about B90,000 revenue per day at this time of year,” he said. “Now they’re making just B40,000.

“Small bars in small streets off Bangla Rd used to average B40,000 to B50,000 a day, now they’re down to just B10,000 a day.”

Live music venues were suffering worse. “They used to average about

B360,000 as day during the peak season, but now they’re making just B60,000 to B90,0000 per day,” Mr Somphot said.

“In total, PEBA members generated about B1.5 million per day during the peak season. Now it’s down to about B540,000 per day,” he added.

Mr Somphot noted that PEBA members account for 500 businesses in Patong, with at least 200 businesses in the Bangla Rd entertainment zone.

“Small businesses are suffering

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the worst,” said PEBA President Weerawit Kuresombat. “Bigger businesses are doing okay, but many businesses elsewhere in the entertainment zone, including in the usually busy sidestreets – such as Soi Tiger, Soi Freedom, Soi Sea Dragon and Soi Crocodile – are hurting.

“Many of these will close down soon,” he foretold.

Mr Somphot also painted a grim picture for the immediate future of…

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Tourism businesses told to get legal by month’s end or face the law > page 5

Paradise Beach raid nets arms Saroj Kueprasertkij reporter3@classactmedia.co.th

A CCT V image of Tulumbadzhiev as he withdrew money from an ATM.

Bulgarian skimmer caught at Karon ATM

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rmed with search warrants, a police task force of at least 27 law-enforcement officers on Wednesday (Jan 20) arrested a man after an arsenal of firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were found at his home near Paradise Beach, on the headland south of Patong.

Officers led by Lt Col Sutthichai Tienpo of the Kathu Police placed Sompong Sakultab under arrest at a home on Meun-ngern Rd, near the entrance to Paradise Beach.

At the home, police seized two M16 assault rifles; one .357 calibre rifle; a shotgun; a Sig Sauer 9mm handgun; one long and two short suppressors (“silencers”); two bulletproof vests and over 900 rounds of ammunition.

Col Sutthichai explained to The Phuket News that the raid followed reports of heavy gunfire near the entrance of Paradise Beach at about 9pm on December 25.

“During our ensuing investigation, we found that on that same afternoon (before the gunfire) a man had filed a complaint to the Kathu Police reporting that he had some problem with Mr Sompong over ownership of a plot of land at the entrance of Paradise Beach,” Col Sut-

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

Col Sutthichai (centre) said that the raid followed reports of heavy gunfire in the area close to Paradise Beach on Christmas Day (Dec 25). thichai said.

“We also found that Mr Sompong had been involved in a previous land encroachment case and was considered an ‘influential man’ in the area,” Col Sutthichai said, but declined to name the man who had filed the complaint.

“We believed that the sound of the gunfire (on Dec 25) came from Mr Sompong’s house, and hence we applied

for warrants to search the property,” Col Sutthichai said.

“We also believe that the heavy gunfire was intended to threaten or intimidate the man who filed the complaint,” he added.

Col Sutthichai said that Mr Sompong, aged in his “mid-40s”, was a “businessman”, known for dealing in real estate.

“He also is a restaurant

owner and operates water supply truck in the Patong area,” Col Sutthichai added.

Sompong has been charged with illegal possession of weapons of war and other firearms and illegal possession of ammunition.

“We are also looking into charges for firing the weapons and we will investigate the possible land dispute,” Col Sutthichai said.

A MAN FROM BULGARIA was arrested for fraud on Monday (Jan 18) when he was caught using a cloned credit card to withdraw cash from an ATM outside of a 7-Eleven store in Karon.

Police seized from the man a total of 130 cloned cards.

Phuket Provincial Police Chief Col Teeraphol Thipjareon announced the arrest of 31-year-old Boris Krasimirov Tulumbadzhiev at a press conference on Wednesday (Jan 20).

Tulumbadzhiev was presented along with the 130 cloned cards, B10,000 cash, a skimmer machine, a transaction receipt from a Kasikornbank ATM and other seized items.

“Phuket City Police’s Lt Col Prawit Engchuwn and a team from Kasikornbank helped to make the arrest,” Col Teeraphol explained.

“A money laundering and fraud investigation started after the bank suspected a foreign man had been using cloned credit cards to withdraw cash from their ATMs in Patong, Kamala and Cherng Talay on Sunday (Jan 17),” he said.

“Tulumbadzhiev was arrested at 12:30pm on Mon-

day at an ATM at a 7-Eleven in Karon after withdrawing B10,000 using one of the cloned cards.

“He had been followed to Karon by officers after he had also withdrawn money from an ATM at a Family Mart on Sirirat Rd in Patong. He then went back to his hotel room on Soi Nanai before going to Karon,” Col Teeraphol added.

He went on to say that police found that this is the second time Tulumbadzhiev had entered Thailand, the first being on Nov 5 via Suwannabhumi Airport. He left Nov 11 but returned again on Jan 11 via Phuket.

“We know that he committed fraud several times on Jan 17 and twice on Jan 18,” Col Teeraphol said.

“Officers were able to apprehend Tulumbadzhiev within 24 hours of hearing from Kasikornbank, which is very quick.

“Phuket is a tourist destination and 90 per cent of foreigners use cards to pay for their expenses, so security is a priority,” he said.

Tulumbadzhiev is to be charged with fraud and possession of cloned cards for criminal purposes.

Eakkapop Thongtub

Bangla bars hit by tourism shift Continued from page 1 …small nightlife businesses in the entertainment district.

“More than 40 bars in the entertainment zone will close down after this high season,” he said.

The plunge in Bangla trade is being felt elsewhere throughout the resort town as the knock-on effect spreads, affecting many other touristdependent businesses, Mr Weerawit added.

“All businesses are affected by this, like a network.

It is also affecting motorbike rentals, small shops, restaurants and even hotels,” he said.

The huge shift in recent years for Phuket’s tourism industry to rely on Chinese tourists played a critical role in the current situation, Mr Weerawit noted.

“Chinese tourists are the top tourist arrival market in Phuket, and although we have huge numbers of Chinese coming here, most of them come on complete tour pack-

ages,” he said.

“This means they spend very little on extras beyond the package they bought.

They rarely venture out for the nightlife or even visit independent restaurants.

They just don’t spend much.

“Also, it is much more competitive for Phuket to attract international arrivals.

There are many options for tourists to choose from, not just Phuket,” he added. thephuketnews

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Taxi driver charged for ‘un-fare’ punch Eakkapop Thongtub editor@classactmedia.co.th

Rawi Suksomran was treated for his wounds at the scene of the shooting. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Police hunt suspects after street shooting POLICE ARE CURRENTly hunting for one of more people believed to have been involved in the shooting of a man in Srisoonthorn, central Phuket, Monday night (Jan 18). The man is still in hospital recovering from gunshot wounds.

Pol Capt Santichai Srimai from Thalang Police received a call at 11:50pm to investigate the shooting, opposite the Srisoonthorn Municipality office on Thepkrasattri Rd northbound.

On arrival, police found the wounded man, 34-year-old Rawi Suksomran from Thalang, with gunshot wounds to his chest, leg and buttocks.

Rescue workers initially took Mr Rawi to Thalang

American man dies after 17th floor fall

A N A M ER ICA N M A N died after falling from the 17th floor of a Patong hotel last Saturday morning (Jan 16).

Lt Col Weerapong Rakkhito from Kathu Police was called to investigate the death at 4:45am. Col Weerapong arrived at the hotel, on Rat Uthit 200 Pi Rd, and was led to the hotel’s loading and storage area where the 40-year-old man’s body was lying face up on the ground.

Officers checked the victim’s room on the 17th floor and confirmed that there were no signs of robbery.

“The man checked into the hotel alone several days ago,” Col Weerapong said. “It is possible that he was stressed or dealing with issues that he could not handle, and he might have decided to jump.

“We don’t know for sure what happened…We are contacting the US embassy so they can notify his family while we investigate what happened to him,” Col Weerapong added.

Eakkapop Thongtub @thephuketnews

Hospital for treatment. However, he began having breathing difficulties so was transferred to Mission Hospital.

“We found the victim’s motorbike lying on the road and there was a 9mm bullet case nearby,” Capt Santichai said.

“Witnesses said they heard three gunshots and then saw the man fall from his motorbike onto the road, so they called us,” he said.

“At this time we are still investigating and looking at CCTV for any evidence of the suspect/s. We have to wait for the victim to recover from his injuries before we can question him about the shooting,” Capt Santichai added.

Eakkapop Thongtub

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taxi driver has been charged with assault after he was caught on video punching the Human Resource Director of the Holiday Inn Patong in the face on Jan 12.

The video clip went viral after it was posted on a Thailanguage Facebook (translated: Phuket Community page) by user Petch Dimond.

The video was posted with the message: “Staff call tuk tuk to take tourists to the shopping mall for B200, Taxi driver upset and slap Holiday Inn staff... this is outrageous.”

The clip shows the hotel staffer leading a group of foreigners to a tuk-tuk in front of the taxi driver. The driver then approaches the hotel worker and, after a few moments, begins to assault him.

Lt Col Suthichai Tienpo of the Kathu Police said the incident happened at 12:40pm

The man’s body was found in the hotel’s loading and storage area.

Patong taxi driver Chamni Khaidam’s punch was caught on hotel CCTV. on Jan 12 in front of the Holiday Inn Hotel on Taweewong Rd. The victim, Tawatchai Khawnchum, 38, Human Resource Director at the hotel, later filed a complaint.

Col Suthichai said, “We were able to identify the sus-

pect as 50-year-old Chamni Khaidam, a taxi driver who is frequently stationed in front of the hotel. Chamni turned himself in to police the next day (Jan 13) to face assault charges.

“Mr Tawaichai said that

the tourists wanted the tuktuk so he called it for them, which made Chamni angry and he punched him. Chamni said he was upset when he saw hotel staff chose to call a tuk-tuk when a taxi was right there,” Col Suthichai said.

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welve men, including two Thalang riot suspects, were arrested early last Sunday (Jan 17) when they were found in possession of drugs, guns and ammunition as police continue their anti-drug and -crime campaign.

As part of an increased effort to eradicate drugs in the Thalang area, led by Phuket Governor, the Thalang district chief and the Thalang police, a massive anti-drug and -crime campaign was launched early last Sunday morning with more than 120 police, navy and defense volunteers involved.

Police arrested 10 men found in possession of drugs, guns and ammunition and two suspects believed to have been involved in the Thalang riots.

The 12 were named as follow: Samai Baochai with a pistol and two magazines.

Sommai Kongnam with one litre of kratom juice, one pistol and five bullets.

Gov Chamroen Tipayapongtada (front, 4th from left) speaks at a press conference held to announce the arrest of the 12 men. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Worachart Ratso in connection with the Thalang riots.

Tanongsak Tanapetch in connection with the Thalang riots.

Kitipong Kaewkong with two pistols and nine bullets.

Rungroj Surin with an unregistered rifle and 53 bullets.

Pornsak Wanthong with 33 bundles of kratom leaves and a Thai pradit gun.

Pramoth Heepkaew with 117 methamphetamine (ya bah) pills, marijuana, a unregistered gun and seven bullets.

Nattapong Rodthapak with one pistol, one home-made

gun (Thai Pradit) and eleven bullets.

Paiboon Rattanpak with drugs and previously wanted in connection with an assault charge.

Wisut Rattanapak wanted on an assault charge.

Somsak Wantong with 320 grams of kratom leaves and kratom juice.

In total, officials seized eight guns, 88 bullets, 117 ya bah pills, 18.4 grams of marijuana, 1.16 kilos of kratom leaves and 1.35 litres of kratom juice.

Nattapong, Paiboon and

Wisut, who were taken to Tha Chatchai Police Station to face charges, and Kittipong was taken to Cherng Talay Police Station to face their charges.

All other suspects were taken to Thalang Police Station.

On Monday (Jan 18), under the command of the Phuket Governor, 270 officers again swooped the streets to check on further suspicious activity in the area, but no arrests were made.

“The anti-drug and -crime campaign we carried out today (Monday) is part of the central government’s policy on drug use,” Gov Chamroen Tipayapongtada said.

“The problem we are facing today is that those involved with drugs have not previously been arrested or were arrested but released on bail.

This means they are still free to roam the streets and carry on as they did before.

“These people are not put in a system to help them stop using drugs and this just becomes an ongoing problem in society and we want it to stop,” he said.

‘Forgetful’ bus driver slams into hotel SALES REPRESENTATIVE Somsong (Chompu) Radabut 088 765 5883 sales1@classactmedia.co.th

A PHUKET BUS DRIVER has been charged with reckless driving after crashing his bus into a hotel and injuring three Chinese tourists.

TR Bamboo Travel employee Phuchong Bunlopaphinan, 40, walked into Phuket City Police Station at 10am on January 13 and reported an incident to Lt Ronnaphum Permpoon that happened the day before.

Phuchong told police that after dropping off 22 Chinese tourist at Saruda Hotel in Rassada he shifted the bus’ gears because he afraid the bus would roll.

The following day when he returned to the bus, he started the bus but had forgotten to shift the gears back.

This caused the vehicle to accelerate and run over flower pots, a bench and slam into a hotel building – and injure three Chinese tourists who

Bus driver Phuchong was charged with reckless driving causing damaged to property and other persons. Photo: Darawan Naknakhon were sitting waiting for the bus.

The three injured tourists were named as: 1) Mr Yuan Zhanao, 70, with leg injuries; 2) Mr Ding Zhenguo, 58, with minor injuries; and 3) Mr Zhao Fuzhu, 62, also with minor injuries.

All three were taken to Mission Hospital where Mr Ding and Mr Zhao were released after treatment, while Mr Yuan remained in hospital recovering from his leg injuries.

Phuchong told police the incident happened because

of his own recklessness, and he was therefore charged with reckless driving causing damaged to property and other persons.

The Chinese tourists were due to return home last Saturday (Jan 16).

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Phuket Highways Office Director Samak Luedwonghad (right). Photo: PR Dept

New road to ease traffic jams A NEW FIVE-KILOMETRE road is to be constructed between Baan Manik and Baan Don in attempt to ease traffic congestion in the area. The road will run along the same route as new high-voltage power lines which are to put in place in the near future.

Phuket Highways Office director, Samak Luedwonghad, who was attending a ‘Governor Meets the Press’ meeting on January 12, confirmed that the new road construction project is now under way following an agreement between officials as to where the new road should be constructed.

“The Phuket Governor is pushing for plans to be put in place to solve traffic congestion on the island, especially in the Koh Kaew, Srisoothorn and Thepkrasattri sub-districts in Thalang [sic] and the route from Muang District to Phuket International Airport,” Mr Samsak said.

“The initial budget for this new road is said to be about B30 million. The island has high potential to attract more travellers in the future and we need more and better roads to promote tourism now to inject income into the local economy,” he explained.

Governor Chamroen had assigned local municipalities and the Rural Roads Department Phuket office to oversee the project and after discussing it with provincial and local officials, village headmen and other officials from the affected area it was agreed that the new road should be built.

“We decided to go ahead with the new road, starting in the area between Baan Manik and Baan Don. The road will be five kilometres long. With regards to other new roads, officials are surveying areas and discussing various projects, but many of these will affect land owners,” Mr Samsak said.

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

PHUKET NEWS

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Get legal, or face action Eakkapop Thongtub editor@classactmedia.co.th

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fficials have warned Phuket tourism businesses: be legal by the end of January or pay hefty fines with possible jail time.

The sentiment was echoed by officials of all levels of Phuket government during a meeting at Provincial Hall on Jan 14, which was set for lawmakers to follow-up on policy concerning safety issues at tourist operations across the island.

Officials say that about 45 tourism businesses operate illegally out of the roughly 80 man-made adventure businesses in Phuket – which

include elephant farms/trekking, ATV attractions, animal shows, shooting ranges, go-kart racing and other adventure parks – that still need to be inspected.

Phuket Vice Governor Dr Prajiad Aksornthammakul told The Phuket News that more than 10 of those business operators include animals in their shows and that they will get a visit from officials from the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office to ensure that they follow international safety standards.

After January, officials will inspect all businesses to check if they follow the law. Penalties for all tour businesses that fail to register will be jail time for up to two years or a fine of B500,000,

said Santi Pawai, Director of Ministry of Tourism and Sports Phuket Office.

Meanwhile, tourism businesses that include animals will be fined up to B200,000 if they fail to obtain the proper permits, said Phuket City Police Deputy Superintendent Lt Col Saman Chainarong.

The announcements came just days after a Chinese tourist was bitten on the nose by a reticulated python during what was later revealed to be an illegal “snake show” on January 9. The tourist – who received stitches on her nose – was compensated B135,000 before heading back to her home country days later. Local officials have since shut down the “snake show” on Soi Palai in Chalong.

V/Gov Prajiad explained, “Our goal is to provide security to all because it is the heart and soul of tourism.

The island is still a tourist destination and these attractions need to ensure safety standards.

“Business operators across the island were invited to join the meeting and were informed to follow the tourism laws and regulations closely, from registration to obtaining other permits related to their business venue, and all must be done within this month,” he said.

In addition, officials want to make sure that guided tour companies are prohibited from selling options to tourists outside of programmes advertised in their own brochures.

Elephant farms are on the officials’ watchlist.

“If tourists are injured while on tour with any company, that company will be held

responsible for all medical expenses and compensation to the tourist,” said Mr Pawai.

Elderly woman killed, girl, 5, hospitalised in crash A 68-YEAR-OLD WOMAN was killed and a 5-year-old girl hospitalised last Friday morning (Jan 15) when a car slammed into the back of the motorbike they were riding.

The accident happened shortly before 9:45am near the

Pa Khlok Tambon Administration Organisation (OrBorTor) office on the Heroines Monument-Pa Khlok Rd in Thalang, police said.

When police arrived, they were told that the woman and 5-year-old were hit from be-

The Sam Kong underpass is hoped to open by Songkran’, despite millions in fines.

Sam Kong underpass opening hoped to see light by Songkran THE CONTRACTORS OF the Sam Kong underpass have admitted that they will not make their Jan 22 deadline, despite facing B2 million a day in fines after that.

The news follows the contractor, Wiwat Construction Co Ltd, previously assuring that it would finish by February after it was given an extension until January 22.

Project Engineer Chalermpol Wongkiattikun from the Department of Highways said that the construction company will be fined at a rate of B2 million per day after January 22, when the contract (extension) expires. @thephuketnews

Initially, the company was given 720 days to complete the underpass project, which should have seen the under pass operational in June of last year, but due to various excuses and delays, the company finally got their extension, without fine, until January 22, 2016.

“I don’t think they will finish everything by the due date, but they are working on it. Right now the underpass project is only 60 per cent complete and they are 40% behind schedule,” Mr Chalermpol said.

All construction includes installing the drains along the

section of road in front of Index Living Mall being carried out by Wiwat Construction Co Ltd and the total costs for this project is about B834 million, he added.

Phuket Highways Office Director Samak Lueduanghad hopes that the tunnel will soon open and the roads above and the surrounding area cleaned up by April.

If they manage to complete

by Songkran – the Thai New Year holiday from April 1315 – then the company would face fines of up to B150 million baht, about a fifth of the initial project value.

Suthicha Sirirat

hind by a car travelling at high speed while the motorbike was switching lanes.

“According to local residents, the victim was on her way to drop off her niece at school,” Lt Kraisorn Boonprasop said.

“When she neared the school, she moved from the left to the right lane. The car came from behind at high speed and slammed into the back of her motorbike.

“The woman, who was not wearing a helmet, bounced and

landed head first on the road while the 5-year-old suffered minor injuries to her head and body,” Lt Kraisorn said.

Police have yet to charge the driver pending an investigation, he added.

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bout 1,200 rai of land has been detached from Phuket’s Sirinath National Park and sold for about B50 billion by unscrupulous officials for use by investors, National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) member Damrong Phidet has claimed.

Mr Damrong, a former director-general of the National Parks, Wildlife and Plants Conservation Department who was given the a on park land, said he had obtained this information from officials who took part in a project to prepare a 1:4,000 map to re-define state land under the supervision of the Ministry of Natural

Mr Damrong said about 1,200 rai of land had been excluded from the Sirinat National Park.

Resources and Environment.

Mr Damrong said about 1,200 rai of land had been excluded from the Sirinath National Park. The land had then been divided into

several hundred small plots for which NorSor 3 Kor land documents had been illegally issued.

The plots with illegally issued documents were now

valued at about B40 million per rai, or about B50 billion in total.

“The land had been detached from the national park so investors could build

resorts and several wellknown hotels, which are now fighting court cases for alleged encroachment of forest reserves,” Mr Damrong said.

Mr Damrong said while the government was trying to reclaim encroached forest land for poor people to make a living, a group of government officials had gone in the opposite direction.

He said the officials preparing the map would present re-defined state land boundaries to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

The newly defined map would then be forwarded to a meeting, to chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, for consideration at Government House, he added.

Thai poachers nabbed for illegal fishing off Phuket R O YA L T H A I N AV Y personnel last week seized a Thai fishing boat carrying 27 crew for Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in a protected marine area between Koh Lon and Koh Hae. Vice Admiral Sayan Prasongsomrit, Commander of the Royal Thai Navy Third Area, dispatched a unit to investigate on the night of Jan 14 after

learning that a fishing boat was using light luring purse seine nets near Koh Lon and Koh Hae in Rawai sub-district.

Boat 220 from the Marine Natural Coastal Resources was sent to the area, which is classed

by Department of Coastal Marine and Natural Resources as a conservation area, and found the boat fishing for anchovies.

Navy officers seized the

Thepsiripron 1 fishing boat along with its captain and crew, who were taken to Chalong Police Station to be charged with illegal fishing.

The Third Area Thailand Maritime Enforcement Coordinating Centre urges people to report any IUU fishing by calling their 24-hour hotline 076- 391598, or 076-393584.

Eakkapop Thongtub

The ‘Thepsiripron 1’ was found to be fishing in a conservation area.

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AUTHORITIES ARE INvestigating what to do after learning that beachgoers were charged B20 for access to Laem Sing, a public beach.

Officials from the Royal Thai Navy 3rd Command learned about the issue while removing over 100 sunbeds and beach chairs from Laem Sing Beach last Saturday morning (Jan 16).

Acting on a tip-off, authorities removed the sunbeds and beach chairs because Laem Sing is not part of the 10 per cent zoning beach management plan.

Still, the issue of access to Laem Sing Beach remains complicated since the only known pathway to it sits on private land, according to Lt Sompop Kamkana.

Lt Sompop also confirmed that certain beachgoers were charged B20 for access to Laem Sing, though it is unkown to what extent.

The issue remains under investigation and authorities hope to have it resolved by the end of the week.

Tanyaluk Sakoot

Evidence surfaces of dirty park land deals

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Beach chairs under probe at Laem Sing

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

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The beach chairs and sunbeds (since removed) on Laem Sing Beach. Photo: Thanyaluk Sakoot

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

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Lantern Festival to shine across Phuket The Phuket News editor@classactmedia.co.th

P A whale of a time The whale was spotted by expat Madeleine Tisell while out on a longtail boat on Jan 18. Photo: Madeleine Tisell

AN OMURA’S WHALE, or dwarf fin whale, believed to be between 18-20 metres long was spotted off Freedom Beach last Sunday (Jan 17).

The whale was spotted by expat Madeleine Tisell while out on a longtail boat. Ms Tisell is also one of the people who spotted a killer whale off the same beach on Jan 8.

“We had been out fishing and suddenly heard a noise coming from the water, we looked and just a few metres from the boat was a whale. At first we thought it was another killer whale, but it was a lot bigger, about 18-20metres long,” Ms Tisell said.

“We are often out on a boat, but we have never seen anything like this before. In the space of 10 days we have seen a killer whale and then

this whale,” she added.

Omura’s whales appear to be restricted to the shelf and deep waters of tropical and subtropical regions, with recorded sightings from the eastern Indian Ocean, which includes Thai waters.

Kongkiet Kittiwattanawong of the Marine Endangered Species Unit confirmed, “This whale is an omura’s whale. One was seen previously off Koh Racha, but (from the photo) I am not sure whether it’s the same one,” he said.

“This species can be seen in the Andaman Sea and South China Sea, and there has been 33 recorded sightings of omura’s whales in the Andaman and Gulf of Thailand. However, some of those sightings have sadly been of dead whales,” he added. Tanyaluk Sakoot

huket is to welcome a new festival next month, the Phuket Lantern Festival, which will be held from February 2-22 and is aimed at welcoming tourists from all over the world to the island says Phuket Governor.

Gov Chamreon Tipayapongthada held a meeting last Friday (Jan 15) where he announced the up-coming event together with V/Gov Khajornkiet Rakpanichmanee, Phuket Shrine Club President Prasert Phagthongphol and Uthit Limsakul from the Thailand Tourism Phuket Office.

Gov Chamroen explained, “The Lantern Festival will run from February 2-22 and is aimed at reintroducing Phuket’s culture and heritage to the world.

“Every government department is helping to make this event possible as we are all aware that the beginning of February is Chinese New Year.

It is also the month of love as

Fake beauty product den raided A HEALTH AND BEAUTY store south of Phuket Town has been banned from selling a number of products after it was found that some were counterfeit.

The store, Siam Herbal Co, is located on the unnamed road that joins Chao Fa East and West roads to the south of Wirat Hongyok Rd. “We raided the business after Phuket Vice Governor Prajiad Aksornthammakul ordered officials to investigate the store because of the number of complaints received by the Damrongdhama Centre,”

@thephuketnews

Officials inspect the goods . explained Phuket Health Chief Dr Bancha Kakhong.

“These complaints related to the business smuggling and selling unregistered medicines and counterfeit beauty products,” he said.

“As soon as we entered the

store we discovered a number of counterfeit brand-name cosmetic products. We also found that the store has been selling unregistered products and does not have a permit to sell items such as balms, herbal medicines, tea leaves and health foods,” he added.

The store owner now faces charges of selling and producing counterfeit products, selling and producing unregistered traditional/herbal medicines without a permit, and selling unregistered health food products without a permit.

Eakkapop Thongtub

Every year, Thai-Chinese residents in Phuket Town decorate their houses with lanterns during the Chinese New Year.

Photo Tanyaluk Sakoot many will celebrate Valentine’s Day, and on February 22, the nation will celebrate Makha Bucha Day. The whole month of February is considered to be a holy and happy month,” he said.

“Every year, Thai-Chinese residents in Phuket Town decorate their houses with lanterns during the Chinese New Year, but this year we will have the biggest festival to light up the island.

“During the Lantern Festival we will take the opportunity to cerebrate our accomplishments in the recent City of Gastronomy Award we received from Unesco where Phuket was named one of 18 cities around the world to have a creative culinary dish,” he continued.

“We will reveal to residents and tourists what we received from Unesco besides the recognition, and we will introduce people to more than

300 Phuket dishes in the Phuket Food Festival.

“We want to bring happiness to residents and tourists alike during the month of the festival,” said Gov Chamroen.

TAT official Mr Uthit added, “February 2016 is packed with festivals including Chinese New Year. TAT Phuket and the city will help light up the island with the new Lantern Festival.

And this will be in addition to the annual Wat Chalong Fair and Phuket Food Festival.

“February 13-15 will be Chinese New Year and the Phuket Old Town Festival and February 22 is a Buddhist holiday – Makha Bucha,” he said.

“It is a special month for many who come to Phuket to celebrate, receive blessings and enjoy the festivals.

“Chinese New Year in Phuket is unique, especially on the last day of the festival which is on February 15, where believers will hold a ceremony to pay respect to the gods. It is one of many spectacular and memorable scenes Phuket has to offer,” he said.

Opinion 8

OPINION

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

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084 307 7408 execeditor@classactmedia.co.th Fifteen years working in news and covering local issues and events in Phuket, with 18-month hiatus spent working for the Brunei Times on Borneo. From Queensland, Australia; 10 years living in the UK before moving to Phuket in 2000. Degree in business management. Spare time spent sailing or with family.

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EDITORIAL

Bad news can be good for you

I

n last week’s editorial, we dared to assert that Phuket is no more dangerous than most other popular international tourism destinations – that the biggest threat to visitors and residents in “paradise”, is themselves, particularly those who forget or fail to apply “common sense” and “street smarts”.

Though wide agreement was expressed through social media, a few readers disagreed and even took offense to our assertion. Notably, one reader accused us of “white-washing” reality, and another went as far to infer that we were paid to write the article, which they claimed was not based on any facts or statistics.

Firstly, we don’t deny that traffic-specific dangers pose dire safety concerns in Phuket, which we continue to cover extensively. However, last week’s editorial was spe-

cifically focused on violent crimes – homicide, assault, muggings and rape.

Furthermore, we never claimed that Phuket is free of violent crime, and in fact the headline ‘Phuket is no safe haven for the vulnerable’ itself implies that the island can be very dangerous, but for certain types of people. Moreover, we were not paid or pressured by the Thai government or anybody else to write the editorial.

Finally, we do have statistics to back up our assertion that Phuket is a relatively safe international destination when it comes to violent crime.

According to the Royal Thai Police, in 2014 there were 28 cases of homicide reported in Phuket (20 murders + eight manslaughter cases).

And based on estimates from available waste and immigration data that there are about one million people residing in

Phuket at any given time, we can extrapolate that Phuket’s homicide rate in 2014 was 2.8 per 100,000.

The rates for attempted murder, rape and assault are 4.8, 2.6 and 17.2, respectively.

Based on this, one could argue that you are statistically 10 times more likely to be murdered on a holiday to the Bahamas, Mexico or Brazil, or three times more likely to be killed in the Philippines.

Likewise, one might also assert that a woman is 20 times more likely to be raped in Stockholm than Phuket.

But, there are potential pitfalls when making such statistical inferences, and our aim is not to tell readers to let their guard down in Phuket, but the opposite. In sum, by taking the time to read local news, and understanding the nature of violence and victims, you will automatically be safer.

TOP 10 STORIES ON thephuketnews.com

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

American man dies after falling from 17th floor of Phuket hotel [VIDEO] Taxi driver punches Patong hotel staff for calling a tuk tuk instead Two men found hanged in Phuket Phuket officials probe beach entry fee payments EDITORIAL: Phuket is no safe haven for the vulnerable Motorbikes to be seized from Phuket’s helmet-less drivers Prawit orders island mafia crackdown Officials meet to enforce license requirement for motorbike renters in Phuket Omura’s whale sighted off Phuket Two Phuket teens arrested for rob and assault of Finnish tourist

Visit thephuketnews.com for all the latest news

HAVE YOUR SAY Not convinced, Phuket is unsafe Re: Phuket is no safe haven for the vulnerable There is a problem with this analysis. Most crime is based around the tourist areas, a small part of Phuket island, no where else, that I have visted, is there so much violence in such a small area, this article seems to compare a small island, with countries. Where else are tourists terrorized, threatened with knives, machetes, guns, and gangs, eg, taxi, tuk tuk and jet ski mafias, and it seems these violent criminals are backed by the local police. Where else do so many tourists, and expats die from “suicide”, falls, from apartments, “heart failure”?

One thinks that people seem to come to Phuket to die. Yes, people die all over the world, but remember, I am only talking about a very small area of a very small island. Contrary to what the writer espouses, Phuket is in fact NOT safe.

Rorii

Not so rich, gov Re: Phuket named Thailand’s richest province Give me five minutes and I

can show you poverty here.

I’m guessing that the government doesn’t count Burmese as people, that is why they assume there is no poverty.

There is plenty of Thai poverty as well. And only 6.1% of households indebted? Nonsense. I personally deal with four Thai landowners, and all of them are in debt up to their ears, because they are on a constant drive to jam as many houses onto their property so they can make more and more money. Never seem happy with being comfortable...just want more and more. None of the people I’m referring to pay any taxes on their land. They lie and cheat and don’t pay their fair share. Maybe that is partly why the entire island is drowning and gagging with its sewage, trash management is a joke, and the air is fouled on a daily basis by the incessant burning of green waste, plastic, and anything else they can throw in the fire for fun.

Richard Vickers

What to expect in Chalong?

Re: Sam Kong underpass ‘hoped to be ready by Songkran’, despite millions in pending fines

Ok, so far, in 2.5 years (about 930 days) just 60% of the Sam Kong underpass has been done.

Is it realistic to expect the remaining 40% will be done

by Songkran 2016 (mid April), just three months from now? I must see or the contractors are willing to pay the enormous daily fines. Who wants to work and pay to work instead of earning? If a simple Sam Kong underpass, with a lot of space around it to execute the job is already going as it goes, what can the Phuket people expect of Chalong underpass project?

Kurt

ago. I personally complained about it and got no response.

This is about HUGE payoffs which surely go all the way up the chain of government. This encroachment issue has been going on for the 10 years I’ve been in Phuket, and nothing has changed except a rubber farmer or two were arrested.

I think the point of these sporadic “investigations” is to just make a show for foreign investors that the environment is protected. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Christy Sweet

When the cat’s Crackdown theatre away...

Re: Crooked officials sold Phuket forest reserve land Look on an older park map, the entire area north of Laguna and along route 4018 is, or was, Nat’l Forest Reserve. Now it’s $100s of millions worth of US dollars of property between nine or so condo and villa developments with several more recently cleared forest lots of 30 or so rai just waiting to be built, (some even have billboards already up.) There’s a worker’s camp on upper Layan Soi 7 that cleared about three rai of old growth trees just a few years

Re: Phuket officials probe beach entry fee payments All Phuket Beaches need to be supervised. They set up rules and then expect the vendors to follow. This is why sunchairs cover Laem Sing and no one is following the 10% rules at Surin. One of the vendors decides to set up a restaurant and soon there are restaurants all over the beach. There have to be constant inspections or vendors do whatever they feel like. No supervision means no rules. Why is this an issue?

Oh yeah, money.

Pinot

Have an opinion? Comment on stories at thephuketnews.com thephuketnews

10 THAILAND NEWS

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

Russian faces deportation SURAT THANI

A

uthorities will deport a Russian national who was arrested last weekend following a gun attack at a resort on Koh Phangan if he is found guilty of breaking Thai laws.

Sergei Milentie, 31, was apprehended last Saturday (Jan 16) in connection with the pre-dawn attack at the Palita Lodge Bungalow which caused panic but no casualties.

Pol Maj Gen Surachet Hakpan, commander of the Tourism Police Division, said foreigners found to have violated the laws will not be allowed to stay. The Russian suspect faces deportation if he is proved guilty.

The Russian is one of the first to feel the effects of new policies currently being adopted by the Immigration Bureau.

They include the catchy slogan featured on the bureau’s new web page at immigration.go.th: “Good guys in, Bad guys out”.

Immigration police announced Monday (Jan 18) the opening of a centralised mechanism to oversee and control the comings and goings

The latest image from the revamped home page of the Immigration Bureau at www.immigration.go.th of foreigner visitors.

The newly established Thai Immigration 24/7 Centre, located at Immigration Bureau headquarters, is divided into three working rooms where officers can monitor real-time CCTV footage at airports, ports and border checkpoints.

An advance passenger processing system installed at the centre will allow officers to know personal details of visitors before they arrive, with more than 50 airlines cooperating.

“In the past, Thai police didn’t have an official command operation centre like this to oversee the travel of foreigners, Pol Gen Wuthi Lipthapal-

lop, deputy commissioner-general of the Royal Thai Police, told reporters.

“But from now on, commanders can quickly and concisely see every movement in each airport, port and border checkpoint nationwide.

“This centre will be able to entirely control the foreigners in order to let the good guys in and keep the bad guys out,” Pol Gen Wuthi said.

That has become the Immigration Bureau’s new slogan and can be seen on its revamped web page launched at the New Year: Good guys in, Bad guys out.

The new centre opened after the deadly bomb attack at the Erawan

shrine killed 20 people and injured more than 100 last August. The blast prompted Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to order an immediate reform of the country’s security and border control systems.

Mr Milentie’s arrest also underlined concerns by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon who has instructed local authorities in Surat Thani to stamp out foreign mafia groups on the resort islands of Koh Phangan and Koh Samui in the wake of the attack.

Gen Prawit is concerned about influential figures who have frightened tourists and hurt the tourism industry, especially foreign business operators. “Be they foreigners or Thais, authorities will make a concerted effort to stamp out mafia groups,” said Pol Maj Gen Surachet.

Mr Milentie appeared at a police press conference Monday (Jan 18), where he was told through an interpreter that his alleged offence could result in deportation from Thailand.

The Russian suspect denied being a member of any mafia groups and said he had nothing to do with the shooting incident.

He faces initial charges of violat-

ing the immigration law and the night entertainment business law.

His arrest followed those of three Thai nationals including 54-year-old Chanin Petchsri, mayor of Tha Khanom municipality in Surat Thani’s Khiri Ratthanikhom district. The two others are Sihanath Chaipinij, 62, and Jarong Hongthong, 38, while a fourth suspect, Jirat Khwatkaeo, 38, is still on the run.

The court on Monday (Jan 18) denied bail to the three Thai suspects out of concern they would interfere with the police probe.

Mr Chanin is accused of hiring two men to open fire on Palita Lodge, a resort next door to Chang Phuek Bungalows and Similan Bar, the property he owns on Koh Phangan’s Hat Rin beach.

He leased the bar to the Russian businessman.

Meanwhile, Surat Thani police chief Maj Gen Apichart Bunsriroj has told officials to scrutinise all foreign nationals doing business in tourist areas and draw up a list of Thai nationals partnering with them.

The database will be used in the campaign against both Thai and foreign mafia groups. Bangkok Post

Thaksin sends photo book to Thailand foreign press corps BANGKOK

Former premier Thaksin Shinawatra sent his self-published Life & Times photo book to foreign media in Thailand last week. This copy was received by Agence France-Presse’s Bangkok correspondent Jerome Taylor, who tweeted the picture. Photo: Jerome Taylor/AFP

FUGITIVE FORMER PRIME Minister Thaksin Shinawatra sent a photo book to foreign media in the country last week, expressing his hope of ending his exile abroad and returning to Thailand.

A thousand copies of the 279-page Life & Times hardcover book were published in December in Thailand, detailing his private life and career

in photographs, speeches and memoirs and highlighting some of the successes of the five years he spent in office before being ousted by a military coup in 2006.

“Thaksin intentionally published and delivered the commemorative photo book to foreign media as a New Year’s gift. The special memoir publication is not for sale,” a source close to Thaksin told Kyodo News.

The former prime minis-

ter’s intended aim in sending the publication, however, is unclear. Enclosed with the book was a New Year’s greeting letter signed by “Dr Thaksin Shinawatra – 23rd Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand.”

Thaksin faced allegations of corruption following the coup on Sept 19, 2006, and now lives in self-imposed exile in Dubai, avoiding a jail sentence in Thailand following a conviction for abuse of

power while prime minister.

The book describes the coup as “ the end of the people’s democracy” which “dragged Thai society back towards darkness – into the spiral of conflicts where solutions remain impossible to find.”

It also says Thaksin’s most important moments in life came with the death of his sister, his daughter’s wedding, and the birth of his twin granddaughters. Bangkok Post

Pair arrested on sleeper train, B50m drugs seized BANGKOK A COUPLE WERE ARRESTed and more than 150,000 methamphetamine pills (ya bah) and 6kg of crystal meth (ya ice) with a street value of about B50 million seized from them while travelling in a sleeper carriage of an express train heading to the South.

Arthit Thipwasri, 32, a native of Songkhla and his 17-year-old female companion were present at a media conference at the Railway Police Division on Tuesday (Jan 19), along with the drugs.

The pair were travelling on Express Train No37 from Bangkok to Sungai Kolok on Sunday night (Jan 17) when they came to the attention of railway police. The train was approaching Thung Song railway station in Nakhon Sri Thammarat at the time.

This team of police seized additional ya ice from the Songkhla home of a couple caught on a sleeper carriage of an express way train heading to the South. Photo: Narcotics Suppression Information Centre Facebook page The officers became suspicious of the pair, who were on the 10th sleeper carriage, and asked to search their travelling bag, which was closed with three padlocks, Pol Maj Gen Sommai Kongwisaisuk, deputy commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, said.

The couple were unwilling to let the police search the bag. While the officers were

questioning them, someone phoned Mr Arthit and through him offered a B500,000 bribe in exchange for their release, said Pol Maj Gen Sommai.

The phone caller had said he would first transfer B200,000 into a bank account held by the 17-year-old suspect, and the remaining B300,000 after the pair were released.

The police pretended to

accept the offer, then took the suspects to their house in tambon Khohong in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district and searched it.

They found one bag containing 710 grammes of ya ice, and one digital scale in their bedroom.

Neighbours told police that the pair sold somtam and roast chicken in Hat Yai before disappearing from their house for more than two months.

When they returned home, they had purchased some land and built a new two-storey house, according to Thairath Online.

The couple told police that they had been hired by a friend for B100,000 to pick up the locked bag at Sam Sen railway station and deliver it to a customer in Songkhla, Pol Maj Gen Jirasant said.

The suspects claimed they did not know what was inside the bag. Bangkok Post thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

ASIA NEWS 11

Fear and freedom What driving a car brings for Afghan women AFGHANISTAN

S

ince Rokhsar Azamee began driving the streets of Kabul last year, she has endured condescension, ridicule, and even threats to her life with some men deliberately causing “accidents” to harass her. But she is not deterred.

The 23-year-old journalist learned to drive to avoid aggravation from men in the street as she waited each morning for a taxi with a driver who would not hassle her going work.

But even the purchase of her own car has not shielded her from condemnation in the male-dominated, ultraconservative society of Afghanistan.

“For many men,” she says, “it is a new thing to see a woman drive a car, they will harass you. One way to do so is by causing an accident.”

Once as she was heading home in her white 1997 Toyota Corolla, she was followed by a group of four or five men driving an SUV. Her anxiety growing, she kept driving until they blocked her in a semi-deserted street in downtown Kabul, forcing her to pull over.

But as the men began to clamber

Afghan woman, Rokhsar Azamee, 23, drives her car as Afghan youths stare at her in the streets of Kabul. Photo: Wakil Kohsar/AFP out of their vehicle, she saw her chance to escape – reversing quickly then hitting the accelerator.

“It was very horrible experience for me,” she says.

It was not always like this. Up until the 1990s Afghan women were commonly found behind the wheel – even driving buses, in the big cities at least.

But in 1992, when the communist

regime in Kabul collapsed and civil war broke out, women drivers were slowly discouraged.

And as the extremist Taliban group swept to power in 1996, women were banned not only from driving, but from even leaving their homes without a burqa or a male chaperone.

Change did not come again until the US invasion toppled the Taliban from power in late 2001 and a

Pensioners keep their historic opera alive CHINA

WHITE MAKE-UP COVERing their aged faces, Chinese performers – all aged over 50 – don richly-coloured robes and false beards to belt out tunes passed down for more than two centuries.

The “Flower Lantern” Yunnan Opera troupe performs each day on a run-down stage, their droning instruments and melismatic singing mingling with sounds from a vegetable market next door.

But just a few elderly spectators sit watching, a sign of waning interest in the art despite their efforts.

“The situation is getting worse each year, our stage has moved seven times and each time it gets smaller,” said He Zhengcai, the group’s 72-year-old director.

Backstage with half-done make-up, he briefed each performer about the characters and plots for the afternoon’s two hour show.

He has six decades of experience, and many of the seven other actors, who looked in @thephuketnews

Zhong Huifangi of the ‘Flower Lantern’ troupe posing for a picture after a show. Photo: AFP rusty mirrors to daub their faces with powder, are also veterans.

“I normally inform everyone his or her role half an hour before the show. They prepare their lines while doing their make-up,. he said.

The performances in Yunnan date back more than 200 years, with government officials declaring it part of the nation’s Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008.

But Mr He said the troupe generally only attracts audiences of around 30 people and makes little money.

“Nowadays there are so many kinds of entertainment, young people are no longer

interested in this art, and our audiences are old fellows in general.”

Zhong Huifang, 66, has performed the operas since she was a young girl.

But she smiled about the company’s small box office takings. “No one here is coming for money, I just enjoy performing,” she declared.

The mostly ageing audience seated on makeshift wooden benches was sparse, with some more interested in playing mahjong on tables beside the stage.

Others watched for only a few minutes, snapping pictures on their smartphones before leaving.

AFP

government backed by Washington took over.

Gender equality was enshrined in the Afghan constitution, and millions of women came out from the shadows to attend schools and universities and work in offices again.

Fourteen years on, however, the idea of a woman driver is still seen as controversial, provocative and even immoral.

Islam does not prohibit women from driving, but laws and cultural norms vary throughout the Islamic world, from Saudi Arabia – where women are banned from driving entirely – to Iran and Pakistan, where women drivers are more common.

In Afghanistan, woman drivers are seen as a Western imposition and a rejection of Muslim values, Babrak, an Afghan man in his fifties said in a recent interview.

“Women, especially young girls, driving can increase immorality and even lead to prostitution in Islamic societies,” he says.

“These women driving encourage our devout Muslim sisters towards immorality. It is becoming intolerable.”

His view is not uncommon in Afghanistan where ultra-conservative

men fear such freedoms increase women’s independence and the lack of a male chaperone will result in increasingly liberal behaviour.

But in big cities like Kabul women are attempting to shift change into high gear. The increase in the number of women drivers has been growing at a steady rate: Kabul’s traffic department estimates show that up to 1,000 women each year now apply to join driving schools in the Afghan capital alone.

In the early years after the end of Taliban rule that figure hovered around 50, Kabul’s traffic police chief General Asadullah said.

“The women have the right to learn, they have the right to drive, and we encourage that,” he says.

Social activist Sohaila Sama, 25, looks forward to driving her own car to the green plains of northern Afghanistan without persecution.

“I have felt better, more confident since I learned how to drive,” she says.

“When I see other women drive their vehicles, I feel like our country is moving forward towards a better future, a more civilised one.”

The progress is promising, but will it be enough?

AFP

12 WORLD NEWS

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

The promised land?

The struggle for Rastafarians in Ethiopia ETHIOPIA

T

hey came from across the world to Ethiopia in search of their “promised land”, but for many Rastafarians, struggling to win even basic rights, the dream never materialised.

“How did we survive so far? I wonder,” said Reuben Kush, the grey-bearded president of the Ethiopian World Federation, a branch of Rastafarianism.

Mr Kush left his home in Birmingham in Britain a decade ago to join a Rastafarian community based in the southern Ethiopian town of Shashamane, 250 kilometres south of Addis Ababa.

But in decades of existence, the settlement’s around 500 members have failed to win legal rights to property, education or work.

Recently celebrating the 85th anniversary of the 1930 crowning of their messiah, Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, the dreadlocked group sway in a circle chanting to a drum beat “Emperor Selassie I, Jah Rastafari”.

Rastafarianism – which jettisoned to worldwide notice in the 1960s and 70s with the music of reggae stars and committed Rastafaris Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff – first emerged as a spiritual movement in the 1930s among

A 500-hectare (1,200-acre) plot of land in the Ethiopian town of Shashamene, was offered to descendents of slaves who wanted to return “home”. Photo: Justine Boulo/AFP descendants of African slaves in Jamaica, who adopted Haile Selassie as their leader at a time when he stood out as the only independent black monarch in Africa.

They even took their name from his pre-coronation title, “Ras” for “head” and his birth name “Tafari Makonnen”. The “King of Kings” was deposed then killed by a military junta in 1974.

A supporter of decolonisation and cooperation among African states then largely under European control, Selassie in the 1950s set aside 500 hectares in Shashamane to welcome back descendants of slaves returning “home”.

“Ethiopia is our land, for we blacks in the West,” said Mr Kush.

Rastafarians say it was the “divinity” of the land that drew them to Ethiopia, mentioned in the Bible more than 30 times and believed to be the birthplace of the Queen of Sheba, who visited the wise King Solomon.

In the late 1970s, Mengistu Haile Mariam’s MarxistLeninist regime confiscated the Shashamane plot, prompting most Rastas to flee its authoritarian rule.

When Mengistu was toppled in 1991, some returned.

But life in the promised land remains a struggle, with exile

followed by exclusion.

“The Emperor had given us 500 hectares - today we live on six or seven hectares,” said Mr Kush. “Today, we have no control over our property.”

Though many turned their backs on their country of origin by not renewing their passports, they have not been granted Ethiopian nationality, leaving them effectively stateless.

In tightly controlled Ethiopia, still run by Communistinspired ex-rebels, land is a sensitive issue with Rastas neither allowed to file building permits or own property.

Nor can they work, pay

taxes or send their children to university.

“What’s disappointing is that I have to confess to my relatives back home that we aren’t integrated here either,” Mr Kush said.

On the recent anniversary of the emperor’s coronation, Rastafarians gathered as reggae music played and psalms were sung in a church painted red, yellow and green – the colours of both the Ethiopian and Rastafarian flags.

The smell of marijuana hung in air.

“We want to be identified as natural Ethiopians now – not as Jamaican, nor American!” said Paul Phang,

a Rastafari leader, without fully clarifying what he meant.

The Rastas’ political wing, the Ethiopian World Federation, started in the 1930s but is still lobbying for their rights.

“We’re here to stay. We haven’t been kicked out of Ethiopia after all these years, that means we are accepted,” Mr Kush said.

But they remain in legal limbo.

“Our needs are basic human rights needs,” Mr Kush added. “We need to be able to tell our children that they have a state. Children are being born here and being classed as stateless – not able to get identification here and not able to get IDs from the countries where their parents come from. So we’re in a limbo.”

But with each Rastafarian church celebrating its own way, there are political divisions within the movement too.

“If every one of us was in accord, then these natural rights would have been granted to us already,” said Mr Phang, a priest from the Bobo Ashanti Rastafari group.

“So because of this different ideology, different thinking, it’s like we cannot approach the government in our oneness.”

AFP

Lone Arab woman takes the reins to tame horses on the Golan ISRAEL THE GREY HORSE REARS its head, rocking left and right, kicking its legs wildly.

Sensing danger, Raja Kheir throws herself off and rolls on the ground.

The slender, brown-haired 32-year-old in white jacket and jeans tames horses – not in itself unusual on the picturesque plains of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

What makes Ms Kheir different is that she is an Arab woman, among the few, or perhaps even the only one from the area taking the reins.

Born into a conservative family of Druze – an offshoot of Shiite Islam – in the Israeli village of Beit Jann in the Upper Galilee, she now lives and works in Majdal Shams near Syria.

Horses are an important part of the culture in the region’s ranches and cattle farms spread among the rugged hills and plains.

Since dawn, Ms Kheir has been in a battle with threeyear-old Qamar – the moon in Arabic – and eventually succeeds in getting a saddle on her.

When she rides Qamar for the first time, she focuses all her concentration but the horse bucks, causing her to throw herself to the ground.

Hours later, Ms Kheir is making progress. She places her feet in the stirrups and digs her feet gently into the horse’s side, repeating this several times while at the same time tapping the animal’s stomach.

“It is not enough to put a saddle on a horse to tame it.

The important step is to ride

it,” she says.

Qamar still isn’t ready to listen fully, and many attempts end with another roll on the ground.

But Kheir, who has been riding since she was six, is not discouraged. When she was a child, “everyone called me a tomboy because I wasn’t afraid of anything,” she says.

She used to spend days in the wilderness near her grandfather’s home in Beit Jann, where horses roamed.

There, she says, “my relationship with riding began”.

Her journey into taming horses started eight years ago, when she took a course in the town of Pardes Hanna near Haifa in northern Israel.

Since then she has earned multiple diplomas: she can ride horses, train them and teach them dressage.

Along with a partner, she

Horsewoman and trainer Rajaa Kheir battles to saddle on a stray horse at her ranch in the Druze town of Majdal Shams, in the southern foothills of Mount Hermon, north of the Golan Heights. Photo: AFP decided to set up a taming and training centre. Most of her clients are families who have bought horses and need someone to train them.

She also trains stray horses found in the Golan.

With Qamar, a stray who

arrived only a few days ago, Ms Kheir is in the initial stages – convincing the horse to accept her presence and to enter the stable.

Horses “like to be free.

They don’t like to have anything on their backs,” she says.

“So when I ride her for the first time she is afraid of me and I am also afraid of her.

She doesn’t know my reaction and I don’t know hers.

“When I feel she is going to hurt me, I throw myself off.”

Once this hurdle is overcome, the slow process begins of teaching them to be ridden.

“After you place the saddle on a horse it takes two to three weeks to tame them, though not to be able to ride them,” she says.

It can take many more weeks for a former stray to get used to everyday things such as the sound of cars.

For Ms Kheir, the most important asset in a trainer is courage.

“If a horse feels your fear it will not accept you,” she says. “But if he feels you love him, he will protect you.” AFP thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

BUSINESS NEWS 13

Being social: The road ahead MARKETING

B

y identifying its weaknesses and drawing up and rolling out its strategy to build web presence, the team at Thanyapura doubled their web traffic in six months.

Here, in this third and final installment of Thanyapura’s case study in successfully rebuilding its online market, the team explain in their own words what lies ahead in continuing the drive for more, and more engaging, marketing that directly affects the business’s bottom line: D u r i ng t he nex t si x months, our core focus will be these five things: #1 – Partnership and content exchange ambassadors/ teams – Along with building ambassadors from our core audience we want to find the top influencers.

For Thanyapura, our target influencers are the athletes who really shine above the rest and are the leaders of the pack.

We will be building teams with these influencers to compete in events around the world. But also we will be expanding the content available on our site with the addition of

Thanyapura will expand the content available on their site with new contributors and health and wellness enthusiasts. new contributors and fellow health and wellness enthusiasts. We want to empower them by allowing them to reach out to our audience with their insights about health, fitness and wellness. #2 – Monetisation/Conversions – It’s not all about traffic. There is no sense in sending a bunch of people to a website if there is nothing

to monetise.

The natural progression of any sales funnel includes: awareness (we have doubled that in last six months), consideration (our audience has become fans naturally from coming to our site, but naturally we want to help these fans become customers), conversion (this is where the monetisation factors in), loyalty (we want

to then reward our customers for continuing to choose our service), referral (and then lastly we want our customers to love our brand so much that they become ambassadors). #3 – Video blogging – Visual content is on the rise. As digital gurus, we have all been guilty of scrolling through videos to try find a short but engaging video to watch. Well

we want to offer those videos for everything from yoga poses, running tips, fitness, wellness and everything else Thanyapura offers. #4 – Improved Engagement – We want to improve engagement by focusing more on going deep rather than wide.

Building our social media audience was the first phase but to dig deeper we plan to really

engage with our core audience.

By doing this, we will interact with them and ask them what they find interesting about our content. The greatest insight we can gain into the minds and hearts of our customers is awaiting us right on social media. We are going to pick up that line of communication and learn about what makes our customers passionate about our brand and what we can do to better serve them. #5 – Graphics/Visuals – We want to grab YOUR attention! This can be done in a number of ways, but one of our focuses will be to design better graphics and visual media. We have all seen how visual images merged with text have become attention grabbers through many platforms.

We plan to use this method to increase our click through for content, especially on social media. For example, we will be creating Facebook albums that will use our graphics to catch the attention of the audience. We will then put a click through link to a piece of content that relates to this graphic. This is to reduce the natural feed decay found through most social media platforms.

Condominium market AirAsia launches

pulling off supply growth Phuket-Wuhan flights PROPERTY PROPERTY COMPANY Knight Frank Thailand reveals that the Phuket condominium market has managed to grow in terms of supply by the end of a 9-month period in 2015 with a total existing supply of 11,177 units, up 15% from the previous year.

However, demand dropped slightly by 1.88%.

Miss Risinee Sarikaputra, Director, Head of Research and Consultancy, Knight Frank Chartered (Thailand) Co., Ltd., pointed out that approximately 1,654 units from 10 projects have been added to the supply in 2015.

However,four condominium projects, totalling 225 units, were removed from the total current supply, namely the Massaluna project (184 units) at Naiyang Beach, which had been purchased and converted into a hotel, while another three projects, totalling 41 units, have been halted.

Ms Risinee added that @thephuketnews

Patong Beach area had the highest number of new supply, contributing 41%, thanks to its popularity among tourists and property developers.

Kamala and Rawai equally represented 27% while Bang Tao contributed the least, with only 5%.

According to Ms Risinee, most of the condominiums launched prior 2009 were spacious units with sizes of over 100 square metres and the price was over B7 million a unit; however, after 2010, condos have been scaled down to a compact size of 30 to 40 square metres with one bedroom, priced at B3 to B5 million per unit.

De m a nd du r i ng t he 9-month period in 2015 dropped to 64.89% with approximately 7,393 units sold, said Ms Risinee, adding that today, most buyers are expatriates based in Asia, particularly from Singapore and Shanghai, who have lived and worked in the region for a number of years.

Also, they tend to know Phuket well and buy a con-

dominium in Phuket for investment-led reasons rather than for a vacation home.

Ms Risinee also pointed out that as of Q3 2015, condominiums with sea views in Phuket have reached B124,185 from B121,750 per sqm in 2014, or up 2%.

Meanwhile, prices of partial sea-view and non sea-view units have remained relatively unchanged, slightly increasing from B91,658 per sqm in 2014 to B91,874 per sqm in 2015, and from B67,850 in 2014 to B67,859 in 2015, respectively.

Phuket attracts property buyers from all over the world due to its worldwide reputation as the world’s top tourist destination.

It is also a politically stable city that offers worldclass shopping malls, international medical centres and schools as well as high-end marinas. Phuket is also home to an international airport that serves direct f lights between the island and Asia, Middle East and Russia.

AVIATION AIRASIA KICKS OFF THE year with a new route, with direct daily flights between “Phuket-Wuhan”, just in time for Chinese travellers to visit during the upcoming Chinese New Year Festival.

The route also allows Phuket residents to travel to Wuhan, the land of three kingdoms and home of the

Tiger Spirit Shrine.

Mr Santisuk Klongchaiya, Director of Commercial for Thai AirAsia, explained that Phuket is one of the leading destinations for Chinese travelers to Thailand due to its charms. Phuket holds many beliefs and traditions from China and the province shares much of its history with the nation.

Moreover, Phuket is a destination with natural at-

tractions, lifestyle activities and unique nightlife, which makes it a popular choice.

For residents of Phuket, the new route is a great travel option as the city of Wuhan in central China is home to many tourist sites that should be familiar to Thai people such as the Yellow Crane Tower, Butung Mountain, Tiger Spirit Shrine, the Red Cliff and the Shrine of Kuan Yu.

14 BUSINESS NEWS

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

Building burdens

Ministerial regulations, bye-laws could affect your plans’ legitamacy Duensing Kippen duensingkippen.com

O

ne of the most significant land use laws in Thailand is the Building Control Act (1979) (the “Act”). The Act regulates what and where can build in Thailand. To that end it empowers the Minister of the Interior to issue ministerial regulations (“MR”).

These MR dictate: what the shape, size, and site of building can be; how far apart buildings must be; how much space can be built on; how close a building can be to a public road, the seaside, or other public place; and many others.

Each MR is generally effective within a specific geographic location, commonly within one of Thailand’s 77 provinces. But what if the MR that is effective where you want to build is either unclear as to whether you can build what you would like to or clearly prohibits it? Are you just out of luck and should forget such plans? Not necessarily.

Let’s look at the first situation. Say you want to build your dream house on your seaside plot of land but the relevant MR says: “Nothing may be built within 25 meters of the sea.” But the MR does not define where the “sea” begins. Your problem is you

The Building Control Act (1979) is one of the most significant land use laws in Thailand. Photo: Ian Fukker do not know exactly where the “sea” is. Is it the low tide line, the high tide line, perhaps the middle line between the two, or something else? You could just choose one of those and even get your building permit issued on the basis of your plans showing that your house will be “25 meters from the sea”.

But if it turns out later you chose the wrong sea location, your house would be illegal (again even with the building permit issued) and could face demolition. However, in such a case you could seek assistance from your relevant local government administration (“Local Administration”).

Section 10(1) of the Act allows a Local Administration to issue a Consistent Bye-Law which further details any applicable MR as long as such bye-law is not contrary to the MR. A Consistent Bye-Law is effective once it is published in the Government Gazette. It

can only be revoked or revised if the Minister, with advice from the Building Control Committee, later determines that in fact it is contrary to the relevant MR. Thus, if a building permit is issued under the Consistent Bye-Law while it is in effect, that building will be considered legally constructed.

Thus, returning to our hypothetical situation, say your Local Administration issued a Consistent Bye-Law, which defined “sea” as “where the lowest tide line is”. You then applied for a building permit and built your dream house 25 meters from the lowest tide line. Later the Minister finds this Consistent Bye-Law to be contrary to the MR and orders it to be revoked. This would NOT affect the legality of your dream home.

Let’s look at the second situation, say your relevant MR clearly prohibits what you want to build. Staying

with our hypothetical, say this time “sea” is defined as “25 meters from the highest natural tide line”. You want to build within 25 meters of the highest tide line, but more than 25 meters from a permanent sea wall that was recently erected to prevent erosion in that locality including in front of your property. Suppose the permanent sea wall was built well after the relevant MR was issued and clearly the “highest natural high tide line” is well past this manmade obstruction.

Section 10(2) of the Act allows a Local Administration to issue an Inconsistent Bye-Law, which is contrary to an applicable MR “owing to special necessity or special reasons for such locality.”

An Inconsistent Bye-Law must first be submitted to the Building Control Committee, which has 60 days to approve or reject it. If the Building Control Commit-

tee does not act with 60 days the Inconsistent Bye-Law is considered approved and must then be sent to the Minister for consideration. If the Minister does not approve or reject it within 30 days, the Inconsistent Bye-Law is deemed approved by the Minister as well and will be effective upon publication in the Government Gazette. However, if the Minister, with advice from the Building Control Committee, later determines that the Inconsistent Bye-Law causes an excessive burden on the public or is a public health risk, the Minister may order the revocation or revision of the Inconsistent Bye-Law. But if a building permit is issued under and Inconsistent ByeLaw while it is effect, that building will be considered legally constructed.

Thus, in our second hypothetical situation, say your Local Administration were to

have an Inconsistent Bye-Law approved perhaps due to the “special reason” in your locality that the permanent sea wall was there for the public good and since it is permanent its location was the highest point the tide would ever reach.

You then obtain a building permit and build as planned less than 25 meters from the highest natural tide line but more than 25 meters from the manmade permanent sea wall.

Your dream home would be legal regardless of whether or not that Inconsistent Bye-Law remains effective thereafter.

In closing it should be noted that the Act is not the only land use law to be considered in Thailand when deciding what and where to build. There are other laws to consider particularly those related to environmental protection and town and city planning. And, in fact, the Act itself stipulates that any bye-law whether “consistent” or “inconsistent”, as we have termed them, contrary to the law governing town and city planning, will be superseded by the latter.

DUENSING KIPPEN is an international law firm specialising in business transaction and dispute resolution matters, with offices in Bangkok and Phuket, Thailand and affiliated offices in 45 other countries. Visit them at: duensingkippen.com

Waterfront crew services at Phuket Yacht Haven LUXURY YACHTING REcruitment firm, AYC Superyacht Recruitment, announces expansion of business and new office location opening at the exclusive Phuket Yacht Haven Marina.

AYC is a leading marina recruitment agency that specialises in placing highly skilled superyacht personnel, vetting only top tiered talent for the superyacht industries. The opening of the new superyacht recruitment office in Phuket Yacht Haven Marina ensures that owners have access to qualified staff on their multimillion-dollar vessels throughout the region.

Thailand’s recent announcement to invest $150 million dollars to expand Phuket’s yachting marinas and its new charter licenses for foreign superyachts increases the number of international inbound

Stewardess ‘Loredana’, recently placed into a fresh career opportunity by the team at AYC Superyacht Recruitment. fleets for the already luxury travel destination, thus providing the need for trained and professional superyacht crew members.

“Thailand is a buzz word heard amongst global superyacht owners seeking fresh destinations to explore, it’s exciting to observe the growth of the local industry in preparation for this increased demand and we’ll be ready to deliver quality, professional crew to the region from our new office

location.” said Stephen Crone, Director of AYC Superyacht Recruitment.

AYC’s new recruitment office is in the heart of Phuket’s yachting community, giving yacht managers, owners and captains direct access to experienced crewmembers for part-time and full-time positions. With over 10 years operating in the marina industry throughout Asia-Pacific, AYC has an extensive database of professionals and local crew

available for placement into professional yachting careers.

AYC manages the entire recruitment process on behalf of the employer, advertising, sourcing, pre-screening and reference checks are carried out to ensure suggested personnel are properly vetted and experienced for assignments aboard vessels. Superyacht owners and hiring managers are able to acquire outstanding talent at a moment’s notice to AYC through their database of international crew and global reach between Europe, the Caribbean and Asia-Pacific.

Superyacht owners, managers and brokers can inquire about recruiting highly skilled crew talent with AYC by logging on to AYC’s website at www.ayc. com.au , calling the Phuket office at +66 898 734 044 or emailing AYC directly at sc@ ayc.com.au thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

Going full throttle with the 2016 Harley

18

Sumptuous tapas at Patong Beach Club

20

HEAPS OF TREASURE Phuket ‘Eco Artist’ constructs art sculpture from beach rubbish > Page 16

@thephuketnews

16 ART

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

Trash to treasure ‘Flip-flop Princess’ art sculpture constructed from beach clean-up rubbish

P

huket ‘Eco Artist’, Ms Prasopsuk Leadviriyapititwo, or “Pom” as she is known throughout the island’s art and environment circles, is an inspiration to artists and conservationists alike. A native of Lopburi who has called Phuket home for two decades now, regularly channels her creative juices to design and build fantastic treasures from trash, inspiring the island’s aspiring young artists to take an active role in conserving the environment, while at the same time expressing themselves and creating proactive messages through art.

Her latest masterpiece, “Flip-flop Princess” is a gigantic mermaid sculpture constructed entirely from rubbish gathered from Phuket’s beaches – mostly discarded flip flops, which were collected during a number of routine beach clean-ups by Thai and international students as well as members of Patong Rotary Club and the various Green Clubs along the west coast.

The sculpture, which took Pom the better part of two and half months to complete, was featured at a private beach festival held earlier this month on Banana Beach of Coral island off Phuket’s south coast. From about 1,000 flip-flops collected, Pom selected and used 800, mostly to form the mermaid’s beautiful dress.

Asked about her inspiration in creating her latest masterpiece, Pom wrote to The Phuket News: “It’s been 19 years since I’ve taken

The dress was made from old flip-flops found on Phuket’s beaches. Photo: Prapsuk Leadviriyapititwo a keen interest in ‘art and the environment’. Surprisingly, I don’t recall finding any flip-flops on Phuket beaches prior to 1997. But what I noticed following the 2004 tsunami catastrophe was the amount of flip-flops left behind on Phuket beaches, which seem to have increased over time, more and more.

“For me, those flip-flops are similar to a mermaid princess in fairy tales who has taken a long journey from under the ocean before ending up on the coast waiting for someone to find her. As someone who love to do creative art, I felt that all of the flip-flops carry

their own unique story.

“At one point in time, they were ‘a new pair on the shelf’ in some shop somewhere in the world. Someone found them, bought them, begun their journey. Now we find them on Phuket’s beach, without an owner, all sizes and all kinds, which come from different places, nationalities and religions, but today, only a part of them remains, as a discarded flip-flop, while its original owner may still rest within the deepest parts of the sea, if not alive somewhere in the world. What matters is that no one really wants them anymore.

“My ‘Flip-flop Princess’ symbolizes a society without bias. The whole model was put together from different pieces of flip-flops from around the world, to form a sculpture. It’s the hope that all people who have taken a journey in the world could join together like those flip-flops to create unity and peace, to be aware of our life, having realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present.

That is my inspiration from the beginning.”

Pom noted that of all the flip-flops she used, there was only one “perfect pair”.

“It’s amazing that only one perfect pair popped up, so it shows it must have come straight from the shop. That makes me believe it was related to the tsunami, because no one just throws away or forgets a new pair [of flip-flops] on the beach,” she concluded.

The “Flip-flop Princess” is currently in storage and looking for new temporary homes to raise awareness around the island. If you have a space you’d like to host her in, please contact Nick Anthony on 089 873 2042, or email:nick@indigore.com Ecological Artist, Miss Prasopsuk Leadviriyapiti runs the Prasopsuk Gallery, located in the Phuket art village at 28/68 soi Naya 2 in Rawai. She can be contacted by mobile : +66(0)950266100; email : prasopsuk@yahoo.com; website: www.remains-of-the-day.com or Facebook: Eco Artist Pom.

thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

Too much of a good thing?

Bangkok Post

Even without minerals from drinking water a healthy person usually receives an adequate daily mineral intake from other sources, especially food.

T

here are always doubts and ambiguity around bottled mineral water. While some say drinking it every day is a boon, others warn there are some health risks in the nutrient-rich liquid.

The latter claim is in line with the recent warning from the Department of Groundwater Resources under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The department cautioned the public that drinking too much mineral water is likely to lead to a mineral imbalance in the body.

According to anti-ageing medicine specialist Assistant Professor Dr Pansak Sugkraroek, what comes with the high price of bottled mineral water is definitely its health benefits. Yet drinking mineral water every day might not be necessary.

“Medically speaking, a person should drink around two litres of water a day.

But it does not necessarily have to be mineral water. Ordinary drinking water is fine,” explained Dr Pansak, who is also a hormone and sexual health specialist. Even without minerals from drinking water, Dr Pansak added, a healthy person usually receives an adequate daily mineral intake from other sources, especially food.

Although there is nothing wrong with drinking mineral water, consumers need to understand the choices on the market. A healthy choice is spring wa-

ter, a natural mineral water that originates from underground water deposits, the doctor said. Not only does natural mineral water suggest nutrient richness but also cleanliness.

“When it rains, rainwater goes underneath the surface,” said the specialist, explaining the origin of spring water.

“The rainwater then passes through the layers of slate and limestone and this way the water accumulates many mineral elements and so becomes rich in nutrients. And when the water goes through the layers of the Earth, it is filtered and naturally cleansed.”

Spring water from different locations contains different types and various levels of minerals, each with its own health benefits. Bicarbonate-rich mineral water, for example, is good for those suffering from too much acid in the stomach.

Sulfates in mineral water can help the body’s digestive system, alleviating constipation and enhancing the function of the intestines.

But too much of something is definitely not good. Drinking too much mineral water, especially in one go, means the body suddenly receives an almost overwhelming mineral intake, said Dr Pansak, which results in mineral overdose and, subsequently, adverse health impacts.

“Taking in too much calcium, for example, can cause muscle spasms while too much magnesium is responsible for muscle weakness,” the doctor warned.

Health Ministry warns of leptospriosis outbreak

T

he Ministry of Public Health has warned people about the outbreak of leptospirosis, advising them to keep their homes clean.

Deputy Permanent Secretary of Public Health Suwanchai Wattanayingcharoenchai revealed that the warning came after 12 people across nine provinces were infected with the disease from January 1-11.

People can contract leptospirosis through open wounds, especially when they come into contact with contaminated water or soil. They are strongly advised to wear boots if wading through a flooded area is unavoidable.

The public is advised to wash their feet after returning home. Garbage should be discarded as often as possible to prevent rats, carriers of the disease, from taking up residence. Food and drinking water should be kept in a sealed container.

Public health officials are trying to raise awareness about the outbreak in a bid to reduce the number of new infections. People are urged to report any related deaths to the authorities, in order to contain the spread of disease. @thephuketnews

The disease can be contracted through open wounds exposed to contaminated soil. Photo: CDC Glboal There have been 2,176 cases of leptospirosis reported nationwide and 33 related deaths across 67 provinces. Most of the infections occurred in Yala, Sisaket, Ranong, Kalasin and Loei provinces. The majority of patients were farmers and freelancers. – NNT

HEALTH 17

Imbibing too much water can also cause dilutional hyponatremia or water intoxication, be it mineral water or normal water. Drinking too much water in one sitting not only deconcentrates gastric acids essential for digestion, it also leads to an electrolyte imbalance and affects the nervous system.

Also, some unhealthy elements are sometimes hard to avoid with underground water.

“Arsenic, mercury, lead and cadmium can be found in mineral water but in a very small amounts _ so small that they are not harmful to health. Arsenic, for instance, is not toxic if one litre of mineral water contains no more than 0.005mg of it. The same applies to mercury, lead and cadmium. One litre of mineral water must not contain over 0.001mg, 0.01mg and 0.003mg of mercury, lead and cadmium, respectively.”

And serving temperature has nothing to do with the benefits of mineral water. To be more precise, one can drink mineral water either cold, hot or at room temperature.

But if the bottle is to be frozen or stored at a very low temperature, Dr Pansak recommends mineral water in glass bottles.

“Plastic is made from hydrocarbon which can release toxic substances in extreme temperatures,’’ explained the specialist. “So if you put the plastic bottle in the freezer, it releases chemicals that, in the long run, can lead to cancer.’’

And if you feel like drinking a bottle of mineral water but are dazzled by the myriad of choices in the supermarket, Dr Pansak offers some simple advice: Choose any brand that you find affordable, but just watch the amount you drink.

“You can drink mineral water after each meal. That is okay as long as you can afford it. But do not drink too much at one go,’’ he repeated.

18 MOTORING

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

Urban assault, torque and street cred HARLEY-DAVIDSON SPORTSTER 48 Price: B869,000 Engine: 1,202cc V-twin Torque: 96 Nm Top Speed: 200 kph Seat height: 710 mm Kerb weight: 255 kg Fuel consumption: Combined 20 km-per-liter

TEST DRIVE John Lindgren john@carsanook.com

T

his week in Test Drive, we take the Harley-Davidson Sportster Forty-Eight for a spin. The Forty-Eight Roadster architecture boasts classic Harley Sportster style elements. The fat tires, cast aluminum 16-inch wired wheels and the emblematic, puny, steel peanut tank, chopped front fender and a retro circular speedometer.

Short black handlebars with underbar mounted mirrors and a black, low, single seat.

The naked rear end, where the sweep of the guard is unbroken. Tail and brake lights are enclosed within the indicators. This motorbike is a tight looking, low-slung urban brawler. The Forty-Eight has always been the epitome of Harley-Davidson minimalism.

Sans clutter, dechromed. This is pure motorcycle design, not decoration.

Engine: Power is supplied by the tried-and-tested, fuel-injected 5-speed, V-Twin 1.2-liter air-cooled and belt drive Harley Evolution engine built with aluminum heads and cylinders for weight reduction. Rubber-mounted power train to lessen engine vibrations

Forty-Eight refers to the 7.9-liter tank, the emblematic all-steel “peanut” gas tank first introduced by Harley-Davidson in 1948, the year the Sportster range was launched. and shorty dual exhaust with slashcut mufflers. Fuel efficiency is circa 20 kilometer per liter comparable to my wife’s dinky Nissan March 1.2-liter eco car.

The Ride: Impressions by Peter Thygesen, the rider: “First full face helmet and gloves on for safety”, says Peter and fires up the 1.2-liter engine. Rumble. Final adjustments and off he rides direction RCA and Makkasan old railway depot.

Two days later back at Power Station Peter elaborates: “This is Sportster Forty-Eight. Call it entry-level Harley.

But there’s still enough vibration and rumble to reassure you that you’re rid-

ing the real deal. Lowered rear suspension and the saddle height, combined with the forward pegs and controls gives an upright, aggressive riding position, which I found commanding, however not comfortable for more than an hour’s ride due to the seating position with no option to shift weight from the foot pegs located at the front.”

“However, find an open stretch of tarmac open the throttle, let that big torque kick in and the Forty-Eight really takes off,” Peter continues. “The power is impressive and delivery is reassuringly smooth. And there’s tons of torque or pulling power. Enough to

ensure a grin across the face every time you drop the clutch at the traffic lights”.

“My verdict after a weekend on the Forty-Eight down to Hua Hin, Prachuap Khiri Khan province. Totally 550 kilometers. The Harley-Davidson FortyEight feels, looks, and sounds like an American classic. Plus a cool feature: the option to open valve (max sound level). Not recommended in your condominium or townhouse parking area!

“Although I’m now more of an adventure touring motorcyclist I had great fun on the Forty-Eight and I understand the younger, urban less experienced, the wannabe big Harley-Davidson riders will not be disappointed,” Peter concludes. John K. Lindgren John Lindgren is Editor-in-chief of carsanook.com and a regular contributor for Pattaya Today and pattayatoday.net

US pledges $4bn for self-driving cars

T

he US administration pledged last week to help clear the way for autonomous vehicles with an investment of US$4 billion to fund research and testing projects.

US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx made the announcement in Detroit, flanked by executives from Google and auto manufacturers General Motors, Ford Motor Co., Volvo, Fiat Chrysler and Honda.

“Much needs to be done to create the transportation system of the 21st century,” Foxx said at the North American International Auto Show.

He said the Obama administration plans to ask for funding to speed up the introduction and use of autonomous vehicles, saying it would help reduce the congestion and improve road safety.

The initiative also aims to improve the US transportation system and vehicle-to-vehicle

US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx (right) and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt get out of a Google self-driving car at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. communications technology which helps cars avoid obstacles and accidents through better awareness of the surrounding environment.

Foxx said that because most accidents are caused by human error, autonomous vehicles can eliminate many road fatalities.

GM, Ford Motor Co, Honda, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW, Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai have and all said they are actively working on autonomous driving, and have unveiled features such as automatic braking

and automated steering that allow the driver to let go of the steering wheel.

The Mercedes-Benz E Class introduced earlier this week is capable of driving by itself, although it still requires attention a driver’s attention.

Carlos Ghosn, Nissan’s chief executive officer, told the Automotive News World Congress that Nissan has been a pioneer in autonomous vehicles and expects to have a fully autonomous vehicle on the road by 2020. AFP thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

TRAVEL 19

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

Heavenly Hokkaido

Volcanoes, typhoons, sushi and hot springs

Hansruedi Frutiger editor@classactmedia.co.th

R

etired Phuket GM Hansruedi Frutiger is enjoying his retirement life though much travel and blogging. Hans’ recent 10 days, eight nights tour in Hokkaido, was organised through Prime Travel in Singapore. Here is Part 2 of Hans’ Hokkaido travels. You can check out Part 1 in the January 8, 2016 issue of The Phuket News or at ThePhuketNews.com.

The beginning of day 4 of our 10-day tour began with a great breakfast at the Hokuten No Oka Lake resort and then a drive to Mount Iwo, which is one of the mountains formed by the crater of an eruption years ago. The mountain was being mined for sulfur, still active as the photo shows. We could only stand at the foot of this active volcano.

We later drove to Sunayu. a unique place among the hot springs. You can paddle on the lake, go jogging or simply chill for the day We did not have much time to visit our next spot, the Oshinkoshin waterfalls, since sunset was near and there was the threat of a typohoon in the region. We decided to visit the Shiretoko Five Lakes instead, which were filled by underground springs after the eruption of Mount Iwo nearby. The area offered stunning views during this autumn season. We saw small foxes, deers, and a beautiful sunset over the Pacific Ocean during our mountain drive.

Accommodation for that night was in the hotel Shiretoko Daichi. It was massive and reminded me of the Genting Highlands outside Kuala Lumpur but without a casino.

The typhoon set in at 10:30pm and rain was pounding against the hotel window all night. At about 5:30am in the morning, I went for the hot spring and enjoyed the outdoor hot bath (34ºC)

Hokkaido is colourful in the Autumn season. @thephuketnews

A plate of delicious meats, veggies and fruits! while staring at the heavy downpour.

Hours later, as our group was checking out of the hotel, we learned that many roads as well as the airport in Sapporo were closed due to the typhoon.

We drove slowly along the coast line to Lake Agan the third largest of Japan’s national parks. Unfortunately the rain did not stop so we had to enjoy the hotel facilities instead.

I must say, the experience at the small, boutique Tsuruga Akan Hotel was very good. We enjoyed the afternoon in the hot spring bath and in the evening a sumptuous exclusive Japanese dinner. The day was long so I decided to hit the sack at 10pm in order to be fresh for an early walk the next day around the lake.

The following day, we drove around the lake. It was still drizzling but soon after the clouds gave way and we enjoyed driving through beautiful landscapes.

For lunch we drove to a small town for a delicious bowl of sliced pork on

Lake Agan, one of the biggest in Japan.

Mount Iwo is still being mined for sulfur.

top of rice and then later visited three pastry shops in the afternoon, one with Gelato specialist Hirose Bokujo The next day we headed to Hokkaido’s main port, Otaru, where we enjoyed the freshest sushi lunch.

Otaru was once a busy canal with many barges though today we see beautiful stoneware houses which have been turned into shops for tourists. Our group visited some of the glass shops which had some similarity to Italian Murano glass.

The various gas lamps around the canal give off a romantic feel in this picturesque town.

The drive from back to Sapporo took three hours and that evening we checked into the Sapporo Grand Hotel – located in the center of the city – for a two-night stay.

Sapporo is known for having hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics (the first ever in Asia) and for the annual Yuki Matsuri, internationally referred to as the Sapporo Snow Festival, which draws

millions of tourists from around the world.

The city is also home to Sapporo Brewery and white chocolate biscuits called shiroi koibito!

The entire trip was enjoyable except I put on weight with all the special lunches, eight course dinners and the many sweets in between our travels. I also need to cure a severe back ache pain because of the Tatami rooms which I am not used to.

Sayonara Japan!

By Micha L. Rieser

Sleeping beauty Another uniquely Japanese experience is sleeping in a Tatami bed room.

Traditional Japanese bedding is always laid out directly on the floor mats. There is no slatted frame or bedstead. Shoes are taboo in many places in the hotel, be prepared to take off and on your shoes at appropriate places. Thank you to Voltarene to help me overcome anching back.

20 DINING

Curry River Prawn.

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

Massaman Curry Risotto, Soft Shell Blue Crab and Spinach and Cheese Sauce.

Patong Beach Club eager to please John Stentz editor@classactmedia.co.th

P

atong Beach Club is the latest addition to the Patong dining and nightlife scene, with drinks that keep you loose and a menu that screams “Royal Thai”. The convenience of its location – literally 15 steps from the sand – is enough to make it a requirement for anyone looking to make the most of their beach day.

The club, which opened in October, has gotten off to a rocking start thanks in large part to its location, cool vibes and food lineage as they

have a distinct connection to one of Bangkok’s foremost restaurants, the highly-regarded Buri Tara Riverside Restaurant.

Though Patong Beach Club has built up quite a reputation for its drinks and nightlife, I was lucky enough to check out their brand-new tapas menu, designed for those who crave Thai delights.

The biggest selling point of their tapas menu is how straight-forward and affordable it all is: B120 for a set of three choices (out of 14 dishes). It’s perfect for everyone in your group, including those picky eaters, deal makers, Thai food lovers, and everyone

The outdoor area is perfect to relax with friends whilst sipping and dining.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

Thai Green Curry.

in-between! The purpose of the menu is to give people options, to taste a bit of everything, and still allow room for drinks and dancing!

We started with the Massaman Curry Risotto, always a crowd-pleaser, and the spices were not overpowering.

It had a light, almost sweet after taste that was punctuated by the texture of the risotto – a nice alternative to rice.

The Soft Shell Crab Salad was perhaps an early favourite as it had the perfect taste and went well with the Spinach with Cheese Sauce.

If you find yourself at Patong Beach Club, don’t forget to try the Green Mussel with Garlic Butter. Not only is

it fresh, the flavours go well with the assortment on the menu. Perhaps what complemented best with the Green Mussel was the Seared Tuna Salad.

This dish tasted like a small steak, very rich, though it almost melted in my mouth since it was so tender!

One surprising item was the Seared Tuna Tar Tar, which had a unique twist: it was basically tuna laab! Yes, the same powerful flavours found in laab made its way to this dish with a mix of herbs and spices that brought a real kick to the evening. It was paired nicely with the Crispy Prawn Wonton since the latter cut the spice and gave us a new taste to savour.

We even got to try two dishes on their regular menu: the Thai Green Curry and Curry River Prawn, which were both magical. The Green Curry was chock full of chicken and was mild enough to savour while the prawns were prefectly cooked with a delicous herb, butter sauce.

It was at this time that the sun had set and the beach club came even more alive with the sound of house music.

The bar was lit up in graceful hues of blue, green, aqua marine, and reds that really made the space pop. Patong Beach Club is more than a place to sip and dine – it’s your next destination.

Patong Beach Club is located at 124/11 Taweewong Rd. (Patong Beach rd.). To book, call 076.344.41 or visit Facebook. com/PatongBeachClub

A great place to loosen up at sunset. thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

ENTERTAINMENT 21

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

The hitmakers of Thai pop rock

T

he melodic sounds of Thai pop rock band Potato have been gracing music channels across the Kingdom for over a decade. In fact, since their 2001 debut album, the band has steadily become one of the most loved in Thai pop rock, right up there with the likes of Clash, Big Ass and Bodyslam.

The band’s strong following among Thai millenials is a testament to their songwriting and ability to create rock ballads that also “kick out the jams” when needed. Interestingly, the band first came together during a commercial shoot for a Coca-Cola advert back in

2001. The boys of Potato took time out of their busy schedule to speak to The Phuket News about what makes them tick.

Could you describe the band’s music style and influence?

Positive, Happy and Funny. We are also mainly inspired by our families and the people around us.

How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?

It has evolved exponentially, as each member has brought something new and fresh to the table each time, helping to shape our perception and attitudes towards music.

What has been your biggest challenge as a band? Have you been able to overcome that challenge?

Finding ways to keep “Potato” has been one of our greatest challenges so far. However, as we have always been all about the sound, we hope to keep on improving and growing with an everchanging music and attitude.

What advice do you have for kids (and big kids) who want to

form their own bands?

Always take good care of what you love and what you love to do. Music needs learning and developing. So be happy and put your heart into the music so that you can share your feelings with the audience.

What are your future goals/dreams for the band going forward?

We hope to keep performing for our fans and playing music for as long as we possibly can. Maybe we’ll come to play in Phuket soon!

Couples to Mix it Up this Valentine’s at XANA

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his coming February, couples will have the chance to put a cool spin on their Valentine’s Day celebration with DJ classes at Phuket’s leading beach club, XANA Beach Club.

The right beat, the correct rhythm, a great song choice and a cool attitude makes a great DJ and sets the tone for an amazing evening.

This Valentine’s Day, XANA Beach Club at Angsana Laguna Phuket has created a unique idea for a special

Revenant leads Oscars with 12 nods Bangkok Post

T

he Revenant, a survival thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a 19th century fur trapper, topped the Academy Awards nominations list last week with 12 nods, including for best picture, actor and director.

In second place was dystopian action film Mad Max: Fury Road, with 10 nominations, followed by space blockbuster The Martian, about an astronaut stranded on the red planet, with seven.

The race is now on for the coveted Oscars, to be handed out on February 28 by the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences.

The Revenant was directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who also helmed last year’s big winner Birdman.

Should Inarritu win again this year, he will be joining just two other directors – Joseph Mankiewicz and John Ford – @thephuketnews

who won the award for two consecutive years.

There were no black actors nominated in any of the top categories, and the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite – used in the past to criticize the lack of diversity among the nominees – quickly trended on Twitter.

Boone Isaacs, the Academy president, said: “We have been actively bringing in more diversity into our membership (...) actions need to be taken to make sure the industry as a whole is more inclusive.”

Tim Gray, the awards editor for industry magazine Variety, said while he felt the nominations were “a good list,” he lamented some snubs, including for black actor Will Smith in the NFL drama Concussion.

“The Academy people don’t vote by race or gender but it’s the studios that need to fix this by better reflecting the populations,” Gray said. Bangkok Post

date: a two-hour introductory DJ course to set couples up with skills to become the life of their next party.

During the exclusive class, couples can learn to mix and scratch their favourite songs, guided by professional DJs who will explain the workings of a DJ console, teach how to make and mix music on turntables as well as recognise beats, aligning them with the right rhythm.

The course culminates with a practical session to test the couples’

skill and attitude. When the couple are ready to take to the stage, they, along with other guests can enjoy their newly created music, dancing to their own beats! To make the experience extra special, the “new” DJs will be given the opportunity to play together with XANA’s resident DJ for the evening!

The exclusive Valentine’s DJ classes at Angsana Laguna Phuket start at B 1,500++ (B 1,766 nett ) per couple.

Advance bookings recommended.

22 ISLAND SCENE

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

GRAND OPENING OF COCO SEA!

The opening of Coco Sea at Nai Harn Beach took place last Friday (Jan 15). During the course of the evening, guests were treated to a range of food and introduced to the magnificent property.

CHANNEL 7 CELEBS MEET FANS AT CENTRAL FESTIVAL PHUKET

Shoppers at Central Festival Phuket rushed to snap up free 2016 calendars handed out by trending celebrities Jeda Saranya and Aun Chaiyaphon on Wednesday (Jan 13).

The calendars feature glam shots of a variety of stars from Channel 7’s popular TV soaps, dramas and movies.

Jeda with a fan.

Aun and a fan pose for a selfie.

Aun and Jeda. thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

ISLAND SCENE 23

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

CONCERT TIME AT THE BAAN KATA ARTS FEST! A very special classical music concert took place during the Baan Kata Arts Fest last week!

The annual event has become a tradition during the Baan Kata Arts fest and took place at Mom Tri’s Villa Royale.

From left: Mom Tri’s M.L.Tri Devakul, Roland Baldini (viola), Worapon Kanweerayothin (flute), Tasana Nagavajara (violin), and Phuket Governor Mr. Chamroen Tipayapongtada

SUPERSPORTS 10 MILE INTERNATIONAL RUN

The press conference announcing the annual SuperSports 10Mile International run was a resounding success! It took place last Thursday (Jan 14) at Central Festival.

Thanyapura executives, SuperSports representatives and local officials were on-hand to speak about the event which will take place on March 13. The race will start at Thanyapura’s world-class facilities and will include four different distances for paticipants.

To register, visit http://www.supersports.co.th/10milerun2016phuket/

Chris McCormack, Thanyapura Executive Chairman and pro triathlete.

Wirat Patee, Chief of Sports Authority Phuket office.

Members of the Born Free To Run group with Thanyapura executives.

Local officials, SuperSports executives, Thanyapura representatives and several sponsors for the run, including Class Act Media GM Jason Beavan (second from right).

Nathaphat Asavathanachart, Tony Morton, Siraporn Wattana

LAUNCH OF NEW HIDEAWAY VALLEY CHALONG PROJECT Boat Pattana Development hosted a very special event where they launched their newest project, Hideaway Valley Chalong on Soi Yot-Sanae 2 in the southern part of Phuket.

The event saw people from all over the island and included activities for kids, special giveaways and delicious desserts for everyone in attendance! This latest project is aimed at middle-class families and includes several residential units and other amenities. @thephuketnews

Multihull Solutions Group held a VIP Party during PIMEX at the Royal Phuket Marina against the backdrop of beautiful luxury yachts!

Boon Yongsakul & Dexter Norville.

24 EVENTS

FRI

22 JAN

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

SAT

23 JAN

SUN

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

24 JAN Traditional Sunday Roast Angus O’Tool’s Karon Beach

Friday BBQ Buffet at SKYE Beach Club

Price at THB799++ RSVP, SKYE Beach Club at Naiyang Beach, 093 582 7700.

PIWC fundraising event - A Mediterranean Night

Indian Curry Night on Fridays

Come to Navrang Mahal in Karon Sea Sands Resort & Spa for an authentic Indian Feast every Friday in Karon Beach. Try out our delicious Aloo Tikki, Samosas, Chicken Tandoori, Aloo Gobi, Navrang Korma, Butter Chicken, Lamb Vindaloo, Naan, Rice, Salads, Chutneys / Achars, Pistachio Ice Cream, Gulah Jamun, Fruits. For only 499/- nett and special reduced prices on drinks. Contact: : 076 286 464 Ext 4.

Each of the 11 tables will be named after a country bordering the Mediterranean Sea. So get out your sewing machine, or trip the light fantastic to a costume shop and turn up on the night with a Bonjour (French), Holá (Spanish), Merhaba (Turkish) Ciao (Italian) or whatever “hello” you fancy to your friends. Proudly supported by The Phuket News, Mediterranean Night will take place @ The Plantation Club @ The Pavilions, Cherng Talay. Cost: B2,500 per person includes Mediterranean buffet and one beverage. Ticketing and information: info@ PIWC-Phuket.com. Carole Dux: 085 782 1332.

Light up your night with a full moon dinner

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 B320 per person which includes a free glass of house red or white. Opposite Centara Karon Resort. See otools-phuket.com.

Celebrate an evening of tropical passion and indulgence under the romantic light of a full moon. Feast on freshly caught seafood and choice meats, grilled to perfection at a lavish BBQ on the Beach Lawn overlooking the Anadaman Sea. Reserve your table beneath the beauty of the full moon. Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas, from 7pm, THB 2,500 ++ per person. Reservation call 076 336 100 Ext. 507. - See more at: http://www.thephuketnews. com/light-up-your-night-with-a-full-moon-dinner-55834.php#sthash.FGSQYGoD.dpuf

Sunday roast at Gallery Cafe By Pinky @ new Chalong branch

Every Sunday from 12pm and all-day brunch and dinner every day from 7am-10pm.

0891037000 FB : Gallerycafe by Pinky, thegallerycafe@yahoo.com, 089 103 7000.

Lazy Sunday Brunch

Fullmoon Party Phuket & Grand Opening Paradise Beach

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

Mussels night @ Shakers

1.2kg mussels served with french fries your choice, your style: nature, mariniere, provencale, garlic & cream or Thai style reservations recommended B295 baht P.P., shakersphuket@gmail.com, 081 891 4381.

Paradise Beach Phuket Present Full Moon Party Phuket & Grand Opening. Full Moon spin on paradise & spin twist records on tour & prog on syndicated record DJ Vanishiyas/DJ Bassforscher/Spin twist records-Germany/Tripical (Prog on syndicated-Berlin) Reservation, info@paradisebeachphuket.com, 076 609 609.

Indulge yourself in a culinary experience like no other at DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Phuket - Surin Beach; a wide selection of Thai delicacies alongside sushi platter, pasta, pizza, meat carving station and a variety of desserts you can’t miss! It also includes free flow of soft drinks! Only THB 399++ per person. Children aged 4-12 receive 50% discount off. This includes free access to our swimming pools, water slides and Kids Club.” RSVP 076 303 300.

All you can eat Sunday Roast Buffet

Beef, Pork & Lamb – Cauliflower, Broccoli, Peas, Carrots, Fried mushrooms, Grilled Tomatoes – Yorkshire pudding – Roasted Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes – Gravey, Mushroom sauce, Mint Sauce. Reservation Recommended 350 baht P.P., shakersphuket@gmail.com, 081 891 4381.

MON

25 JAN

BBQ at Expat Hotel

Time 8pm, Expat Sports Bar, Expat Hotel, Soi Taipan, Patong. www.expatsportsbar.com

All you can eat BBQ night

Japanese Sunday Brunch Every bite crafted with flair

Grill & Wine Romantic 3 Courses Set-Dinner

A Glass of Selected Beverage -Combo Starter: Tapas & Lobster Bisque Soup -Main course: a choice of Grilled Rib Eye, Grilled Salmon or BBQ Pork Ribs -Lovely Dessert: Warm Chocolate Volcano at only THB 399.- per set From 6pm-10:30pm – Res: 0954181161. (Showing this Add, get 10%Off beverages)

Bollywood Phuket’s Weekend Special Indian Lunch Set

Come and enjoy the authentic flavour of India by indulging in our weekend ‘s special lunch set for only B399++ per person between 11am-3pm.

Menu includes 3 staters, 4 main course and dessert served with Gulab Jamun/Phirni Vanilla Custard/Ice Cream (choose 1). All for just B399++ per person. For more info please call 076 304 034.

Phuket’s most elaborate and well-known weekly Japanese Sunday Brunch rolls back at the JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa. Kabuki Japanese Cuisine Theatre launched the event on Sunday the 13th of December. Enjoy artfully crafted Japanese cuisine and take advantage of JW Marriott’s facilities including swimming pools and Kid’s Pavilion. Priced at THB 2,000++ per person which includes food and free flow soft drinks, with 50% off for children aged 7-12.

6pm – 11pm: beef, pork, chicken, burgers, sausages, prawns & squids, salad buffet, choice of potatoes & sauces, bread, buns & garlic bread Reservation recommended 350 baht P.P., shakersphuket@gmail.com, 081 891 4381.

daily event updates on

thephuketnews

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TUE

EVENTS 25

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

26 JAN

FRI

29 JAN

+66 (0) 812704291 or Andy Bright +66 (0) 862739948, info@phuketgamefishingclub. com Proudly supported by The Phuket News.

FRI

29 APR

Pasta Lovers’ Parade “All you can Eat”

Unlimited Pasta offers @THB 195.- P.P. Including more than 12 options of sauces & Preparations From 6pm-10:30pm - Reservations: 0954181161 - www.facebook.com/skyzabviewpoint (Showing this Add, get free one selected beverage)

WED

27 JAN

Lighthouse Market 2016

Eat, Chill, Shop from 6-10pm at Phuket Boat Lagoon. Friday & Saturday, Jan 29 & 30, 2016.

Firework show each day. More info visit lighthousephuket.com or call 081 810 3328.

TUE

6 FEB

InterBike Hash #4

Phuket Mountain Bike Hash will be hosting the InterBike Hash #4 between 29 April & 1 May, drawing Hashers from all over SEA and beyond. Enjoy the lush tropics of the Andaman Sea, with 3 days of guided off-road rides for strong-willed and meeker hearts. Indulge in Phuket’s history, folklore, and hash festivities.

We promise COLD drinks, wet water, and hot weather….along with your favorite ‘forget-menot’ souvenirs. Registration required and limited to 200. Special lodging arrangements, find all details on our website - http://phuketinterbikehash.com.

EVERY DAY Great Mexican, Thai and Flamegrilled Burgers in a beautiful setting!

VNEA Pool Leagues Season 3

If you like playing pool, meeting new people and looking to sharpen your 8 ball skills. Then this is your opportunity to be a part of the biggest & most exciting pool league in the world. Winning team wins a trip to Vegas to play at the VNEA Las Vegas. All expenses paid. If you have any questions contact us on www.facebook.com/ vnea phuket, Tel : 085 797 0202 (Thai), 085 797 0002 (English). Email: info@thailandpooltables. com. Proundly supported by Live 89.5.

All you can eat BBQ Ribs night

6pm – 11pm: All you can eat BBQ ribs served with salad buffet, potato salad & choice of sauces. Reservations recommended THB295 P.P., shakersphuket@gmail.com, 081 891 4381.

Whose line? Improv Comedy Show

Featuring multi award-winning improviser Drew McCreadie and featuring the best of Bangkok’s improv comedy community. “It’s like making comedy gold right before your very eyes!” Just THB500 in advance or THB750 at the door.

ComedyClubBangkok.com and RoyalPhuketMarina.com Advance bookings email jayw@ royalphuketmarina.com or call 086 943 7840.

TUE

Don’t miss your time, unlimited BBQ Skewers Dinner at only THB 259.- P.P. Including soup, salad, spaghetti or fried rice and French fries. From 6pm-10:30pm - Reservations: 0954181161 - www.facebook.com/skyzabviewpoint (Showing this Add, get free one selected beverage)

@thephuketnews

88 Tasty restaurant and bar is offering promotion before the end of the year order a somtam tray, get FREE 1 bottle of Coke. More info Khun Lek, 097 047 7822. facebook.com/88tasty.

1 MAR

PGFC Thailand 2016 “Classic” Sport Fishing Tournament

BBQ Night “All you can Eat”

Order a somtam tray, get FREE 1 bottle of Coke

57 hours of non-stop sport fishing, held “offshore” around the Similan Islands. As always the prize monies offered are the largest in Asia. Prizes include fishing trips, tackle, limited edition prints, and much more. Many boats already confirmed, including teams from Australia, Canada, Germany, USA, Hong Kong, the UK and Singapore. For further details please contact Warren Crowe

If you have time this month get down to Sea Breeze located in Royal Phuket Marina. Open 9am to 10pm everyday serving home-made mexican specialties, flame grilled burgers and Thai specials! All sport available shown live, Contact: Reservations, info@seabreezerpm.com, 076 360 806.

Festive Season Beverages Promotion at TEXTURE Café and Restaurant

Celebrate the festive season together with the promotion of imported South African bottle at only THB 650 when spending a minimum of THB 1,000 per bill. Or enjoy our promotion on selected beverages everyday from 11:00 am to 10:30 pm, closed every Wednesday, info@texturephuket.com or 081 916 1430.

THE DECK restaurant

THE DECK restaurant embraces expansive views across the water spanning from the southern point of Kamala Beach to the Northern point of Kamala Beach let’s not forget also the mountain views. THE DECK Restaurant menu Thai Fusion is designed by Kevin B Jamieson as a range of dishes for individuals or as a shared selection. Mention Phuket News and receive 10% off on Food only!, info@taoshagroup.com, 094 490 3269.

26 TIME OUT

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

Crossword by Myles Mellor & Sally York Across

point 31. Early Judean king 1. TV monitor?

4. Annex 33. A donde ___?

1. What nationality was Carlos Caszely, who received the first ever FIFA (Spanish) 9. Gumption World Cup red card in 1974?

34.

Boot out 14.

“So that’s your 2. What does a crudivor eat? game!”

35. Consonant type 3. Which band led by an American singer won the 1997 Eurovision Song 15. Sierra ___ 36. Glorify Contest for Britain?

16. Saddle horse 38. Carpenter’s 4. What name is given to a Greek dip made of olive oil and fish roe with a 17. Conrad Hilton’s ex groove consistency similar to mayonnaise?

Down 20. “I swear!”

39. Tight 5. Which popular pet belongs to the biological family felidae?

21. Hold forth 42. Margaret Answers below, centre. 22 1987 Costner role 1. Warm, dry wind Thatcher ___ 2. Daphnis’s love 23. “That’s awful!”

Roberts 3. Invents 24. Alliance that 43. Doctrine 4. Wistful word includes Lat. 48. Appoint as agent 5. Balance sheet 27. Ark contents 50. Mozart’s “Il mio item 32. Affair tesoro,” e.g.

6. Kind of skin 34. Lady rapper 53.

Lungful 7. Aware of 37. Humans, e.g.

54.

Piano man?

40. Mythological ship 8. India’s first P.M. 56.

Overhangs 9. Bandage 41. “Love Happens” 57. Boxing venue 10. British tax star 58. Heat-resistant withholding 44. Otherwise glass system 45. Uris novel 59.

“My bad” 11.

Indisposed 46. Mud hole 12. Liberal leader? 60. Note 47. Crusted 13. Get it wrong 61. Bowled over 49. Words to live by 18. Gusto 62. Exceedingly 51. Crack 19. Children’s game 63. Dummy 52. Break bread 24. Popular mints 64. Swearing-in 55. Bring in 25. Fort Knox bar words 59 Kind of den 26. Kind of silence 65. Beetle juice?

61. It’s for the birds 28. Kimono sash 66. Churchyard tree 63. Three-time 29. Abundant Academy Award in Romeo and nominee 30. Culminating Juliet 67. Adjust 68. Arab leader 69. Hurricane heading: abbr.

70 Oater group 71. Obstreperous 72. Bleeding Gums Murphy’s instrument

SUDOKU

Solutions to last week’s puzzles:

Answers to this week’s Pop Quiz: 1) Chilean; 2) Raw food; 3) Katrina and the Waves; 4) Taramasalata; 5) Cats

GOT YOUR NUMBER

ISLAND VIEW

■■ January 22, 1555

2

The Ava Kingdom falls to the Taungoo Dynasty in what is now present-day Burma.

the number of times the average prisoner is visited during their entire incarceration.

■■ January 23, 1368

Zhu Yuanzhang ascends the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming dynasty rule over China that would last for three centuries.

25

■■ January 24, 1908

billionaires have been produced by University of Pennsylvania, the most of any college in the world.

The first Boy Scout troop is organised in England by Robert Baden-Powell.

146

■■ January 25, 1942

World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.

Tibetans have set themselves on fire in protest against Chinese rule since February 27, 2009.

235

■■ January 26, 1905

The world’s largest diamond ever, the Cullinan weighing 3,106.75 carats, is found at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa.

the amount of calories burned mowing the lawn with a hand mower in 30 minutes.

1.2-6 billion

Pounds will be lost from the British economy when Queeen Elizabeth II dies.

Source: Uberfacts

This week in history

■■ January 27, 1606

The trial of Guy Fawkes and other Gunpowder Plot conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31.

■■ January 28, 1986

Sunset over Lard Yai walking street market in Phuket Old Town. Photo by Ulli Schonart Got an unusual or particularly beautiful picture of Phuket?

Email it to execeditor@classactmedia.co.th

Space Shuttle program: STS-51-L mission – Space Shuttle Challenger explodes after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board.

Source: Wikipedia thephuketnews

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Class Act Media is southern Thailand's most comprehensive media company, incorporating Phuket’s leading English newspaper ‘The Phuket News’, Russian language newspaper 'Novosti Phuketa', Chinese language newspaper 'Puji Doa Xin Wen', Phuket’s leading English radio station ‘Live 89.5’, Phuket English TV 'Phuket News TV' and a a host of publications & services including ‘The Phuket Colouring book’ & ‘Phuket Ticket Master’.

Chinese Editor Responsibilities:

Class Act Media seeks a Chinese Editor to head up our new publication The Phuket News (Chinese), a Chinese-language newspaper for Southern Thailand. The position is based in Phuket.

Qualifications:

● Be a native Chinese speaker with strong English communication skills. ● This role would suit someone with a strong editing, writing, and manage ment background, preferably in newspapers though those with magazine experience will also be considered. ● Ideally, candidates will have first-hand knowledge of Thailand and its current affairs, culture and politics, but applicants with a strong connection to Asia are also welcome to apply.

We offer:

A friendly work environment, 5-day work week (8.30am-6pm), competitive salary, local health insurance, work-related travel expenses, time in lieu for overtime, and the chance to live and experience a great part of the world, while also furthering your career. The position is open to both foreign and Thai nationals, but you must be a native Chinese speaker. For foreigners, a work permit and visa will be provided.

Interested candidates are invited to send their applications, with full resume, in English indicating qualifications, experience, recent photo and expected salary.Apply online at thephuketnews.com/job.php

Class Act Media Co., Ltd.

99/7 Moo 1 T. Kathu A. Kathu Phuket 83120 Tel: 076 612 550-2 Fax: 076 612 553

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

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Class Act Media is southern Thailand's most comprehensive media company, incorporating Phuket’s leading English newspaper ‘The Phuket News’, Russian language newspaper 'Novosti Phuketa', Chinese language newspaper 'Puji Doa Xin Wen', Phuket’s leading English radio station ‘Live 89.5’, Phuket English TV 'Phuket News TV' and a a host of publications & services including ‘The Phuket Colouring book’ & ‘Phuket Ticket Master’.

PR & MARKETING ASSISTANT Responsibilities :

Class Act Media is southern Thailand's most comprehensive media company, incorporating Phuket’s leading English newspaper ‘The Phuket News’, Russian language newspaper 'Novosti Phuketa', Chinese language newspaper 'Puji Doa Xin Wen', Phuket’s leading English radio station ‘Live 89.5’, Phuket English TV 'Phuket News TV' and a a host of publications & services including ‘The Phuket Colouring book’ & ‘Phuket Ticket Master’.

SALES REPRESENTATIVES Qualifications:

● Assisting the PR manager with planning and implementing PR plans for the company ● Representing the company at events & exhibitions ● General Marketing and PR admin tasks

● Thai or Expat.

● Good communication skills both in Thai & English ● Degree qualified – recent graduate welcome to apply ● Have own transport (bike or car) ● Ability to work after normal work hours and/or weekends (time in lieu will be given)

● Highly motivated self-starter with a positive attitude.

Qualifications:

We offer:

● Competitive salary ● Social security (10%) paid by the company ● Excellent career progress opportunity ● Time in lieu for any overtime hours worked If you are professional & enthusiastic person, this is an excellent opportunity to advance in a growing & innovative media business in Phuket

Interested candidates are invited to send application with full resume, in English, indicating qualifications, experience, recent photo and expected salary.

Apply online at thephuketnews.com/job.php

Class Act Media Co., Ltd.

99/7 Moo 1 T. Kathu A. Kathu Phuket 83120 Tel: 076 612 550-2 Fax: 076 612 553

● Excellent communication and negotiation skills in Thai and English. ● Works well under pressure and has a will to succeed.

We offer:

● Competitive salary, bonuses and travel expenses. ● A friendly work environment. ● Social security paid by the company. ● Excellent career progress opportunities.

Interested candidates are invited to send application with full resume, in English, indicating qualifications, experience, recent photo and expected salary.

Apply online at thephuketnews.com/job.php

Class Act Media Co., Ltd.

99/7 Moo 1 T. Kathu A. Kathu Phuket 83120 Tel: 076 612 550-2 Fax: 076 612 553

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LEGAL SERVICES

MARINE SERVICES

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STORAGE

TRAVEL GUIDE

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

CONSTRUCTION SERVICES

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CONSTRUCTION SERVICES Building Renovation Engineering Maintenance

T: 094-546 0422 (Eng-Thai)

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Buy&Sell BOATS, YACHTS FOR SALE Yacht Chartering and Resort

Big A Swan 55 Yacht Chartering and Resort in Phuket Thailand Sailing : Big A Swan 55, Accommodation: Big A Resort 076-383080 Email: bigasail@samart.co.th

ACTIVITIES, GROUPS Roof top Patong Mini Golf

The best sea view 18 Holes, roof top Mini Golf. Located on the 4th floor of Banana Walk Plaza in Patong, 091 762 2628, http://patongminigolf.com

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES Commercial laundry in Patong

Already serve more than 400 hotel rooms. Income up to 10,000 baht/day during high season. 80 sqm.

Rent 25,000 baht inc. water supply plus a truck.

2 MB, Jeeppy, the_promenade@hotmail.com, 093 160 6566

Looking for Partners/Investors

Business requires added funding.5-7 million bht. Investment exchanged for company shares.

Company is state of the art with exceptional ROI. Investment repaid over 5 years and annual dividends. Active/Silent partner.Serious inquiries only. Full information to qualified investors. Eng 088 491 3857/Thai 088 753 6897. 2,000,000 THB.

Newly renovated hotel for rent

Newly renovated hotel/guest house in Patong’s heart for rent from owner. 12 rooms, 2 shops to busy street, many facilities. More details check thephuketnews.com, search Listing ID 55398 or call +66(0)81 538 1399.

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PETS

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES Business for sales

Fast food & Kebab shop for sale In the best location 50 meter from Bangla road. Patong Free rent until APR 2016. 1.5 MB, makryno@ gmail.com, 081 088 1451.

Restaurant on Main Street

Large, tastefully decorated restaurant in Cherngtalay. Fully fitted and equipped kitchen, 100 seats, bar. Walk in and start business. Now only B790,000, 089 400 5907.

Horse and Dog Vet Hospital

Open from 10am. – 8pm.*Service all types of animals. * Experienced professionals.Contact: 076 620 136 /084 210 6868 and contact@horsedogvet.com www.horsedogvet.com

Pets Magic Planet

German bakery & deli & snack

Open from 9am. - 7pm. *The best international brands. * The ultimate choice. * Luxury accessries & jewels.

Contact: 076 620 106 / 091 040 4000 and contact@petsmagicplanet.com

Main road, 8 years clientele, take over + incl. training complete equipment, staff room, 3 or 5 years leasing contract. Yearly volume 4 mio. hansibakery@gmail.com, Price: 3.5 million, Contact Mr. Stark, ansibakery@gmail.com

Best Deal

Rawai business for sale. Area approx 2Rai, can do restaurant or other business.Five mins from beach. Long term lease, yearly rent B200,000. 4 bedrooms house included. Reduce from B980,000 to B520,000. Contact Khun Asoke at 089 646 7176 / big_redchili@yahoo.com

CAR FOR SALE Chevy Captiva LT 2008

Chevrolet Captiva LT 2008, 550,000 Baht, 62.000 KM, 1 Owner, 2.0L Turbo Diesel, Full Chevy Service History, No Accidents, 1st Class Insurance. Tel. 082 804 1742.

I NEED A NEW OWNER

Immaculate 1997 GTO 3000 Auto.Genuine 39,000kms.18inch wheels,metallic black,class 1 alarm.Genuine Main Dealer import,red/black leather interior,8 speaker stereo,1 previous owner,factory sun roof. Stunning car and very hard to find in Thailand in such good condition. 1.25m/offers close to., Paul, 0817473000.

TOYOTA Fortuner 2009

7 seats, Silver, GPS video, Family car Diesel 2,694cc, Blue book Service history Toyota Pearl 78,000kms. AUTOMATIC transmission, golfguru2005@yahoo.co.uk, 076 615 827.

2012 Toyota Fortuner 24,000km

2012 Pearl white Toyota Fortuna For Sale.

3.0 D4D VN Turbo Great condition- Baht Black leather interior. Tax / insurance till 2016, 900,000, Loch Palm, Kathu, Phuket, glawre123@gmail.com, 0898668825.

Nissan Teana 2.5Lt

Model 2014 17,000km. New price 1.7Mln NOW 1,050,000Baht Eng: 081 788 8280 Thai: 090 163 2140, Contact Maurice, maurice.phuket@ gmail.com , 090 163 2140.

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Honda Jazz 2009 1500cc Auto

57,000kms. One owner since new. Regularly serviced by Honda. Tax and Insurance until the end of June and available now at right offer.Reduced by 40,000bht, Price : REDUCED to 330,000bht o.n.o, Andy +66846909144, andysmalster@gmail.com Price : REDUCED to 330,000bht o.n.o, Andy +66846909144, andysmalster@gmail.com.

Everest 4WD Quick Sale

10+yrs but mechanically drives and looks great. Manual. Only B450,000 or offers above 400k considered for fast sale, B450,000 THB, peterh@asianwind.biz, 081- 8926710.

CAR FOR RENT Long term car rental have a good car rental, Toyota Vios, Mazda 2 or similar with true full professional insurance and 24/7 support Monthly rates B14000, Soi Sukee 40/19 moo 9 Chao fa east rd 39 chalong muang, ninascars@gmail.com, 089 648 0499.

MOTORBIKES FOR SALE Sale Ducati Monster 796 ABS

2014 year 7500 km Perfect condition! Several extras. Same new Price 320,000. +6685 068 1133, 0681133@gmail.com

Stallion Mini Momo for sale

Year 2012. Good condition, one owner, well maintained. Price 18,000 baht. Pls call 082 732 4531.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

MOTORBIKES FOR SALE Kawasaki Versys 650 ABS 2012

Showroom condition, new from Kawasaki Phuket May 2012, 2,000km, Hepco & Becker Engine Bars & Rear-rack, Kawasaki Handguards and Pyramid Hugger., 220,000 THB, Paul, 084 1 303 234, Plongmore@hotmail.com

Motorbike for sale

R1200RT BMW 200kms 2 yrs warrant. From BMW Thailand as (new). Extras inc BMW GPS B28,000, Tourteck engine protectors B15,215, BMW bike cover B7,300, Gps B34,200. Valued at B1,334,465. Four months old with special color. Only B1,150,000. First to see will buy, kieranpmadden@hotmail.com , 096 924 4661.

CAR WASH DELIVERY Tired Of Waiting?

We clean your car at your place - at your time. No.1 car wash delivery in Phuket.

Call 076-355-042 or go to CleanCar.me for more details.

PERSONAL SERVICES Doctor on call

24 Hrs Medical Service,Home & Hotel Call Phuket life/ Phuket Health Health Care @ Home Medical Service Center Contact : Doctor Pisit 081 693 4816, 081 958 8891.

8/10 Moo 6, Kamala beach, Phuket 83150, pisit.doc@hotmail.com.

De Laguna By Dr.JaQ

International Clinic English Speaking Doctor By Appointment 095 0851188 FB: DrJaq Warnnissorn Providing Anti-Aging (Botox, Filler, Live Cell Therapy, Alternative Cancer Treatment, Chelation Medical, House Call).

Integrative and Advancement in Medicine for individualized treatment programs for patients of all ages and with various disorders, Email: tosawcute@gmail.com

COMMUNITY

MEMBERSHIPS Blue Canyon Membership

Blue Canyon Membership for sale. 1 corporate nominee for sale THB 630,000 inc transfer fee. grahamhaslam@hotmail.com

FURNITURE FOR SALE Swinging Sun Loungers For Sale

Swinging, sun loungers, brand new, excellent quality6,000 baht only, Contact: Eddy, eddyelan@yahoo. com, 0899710278.

MOVING SERVICES Looking for 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, 081-797-5377.

PETS FOR ADOPTION Two cute Poodles

We are 2 cute Poodles, both under 5kgs & the best of friends & wish to find a new loving home together, both of us are sterilized, vaccinated & healthy. Please contact Sherin.peace@gmail.com for adoption enquires.

OTHER RESORT FOR SALE/LEASE

Resort for sale lease any offer consider! I want go sailing again!!, Address : 67/18 Soi Sermsuk Rawai Phuket, bigasail@samart. co.th, Contact +66 (0)86 9401860.

Office Space Laguna

Office Space Laguna - Plaza del Mar Fully Furnished offices 4 Office Suite plus boardroom Rent entire unit or individual office 080 045 4474.

For Sale

Industrial over locker. Whitehouse Brand. 3 Thread. Brand new never used.

Full tool kit. Bargain at 12,000 Baht. Call Sandi 087 264 0778.

PROPERTY FOR SALE For Sale or Rent

4 bedroom 3 bath room excellent view Chalong bay 3 storage,Fully furnished all new swimming pool in quiet area Rawai beach. All inquires. Tidarat, 087 466 5635.

For Sale or Rent

4 bedroom 3 bath room excellent view Chalong bay 3 storage,Fully furnished all new swimming pool in quiet area Rawai beach. All inquires Contact Tidarat, 087 466 5635.

Alexander Kolesnikov

Land & 4 storey Commercial building for sell.Patong. Just 60 m from the beach. Guesthouse 6 luxury rooms + restaurant 40 seats. 17 MB, Contact Alexander, alexkolinz@gmail.com, 089 651 3250.

Alexander Kolesnikov

3 Bedroom Villa for sale. Building 320 s.m.

Land 900 s.m. Nice garden, 2 cars garage, study. Just 3 minutes from BIS. 15 MB, Contact Alexander, alexkolinz@gmail.com, 089 651 3250.

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Buy&Sell

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PROPERTY FOR SALE Fire sale

7 shop houses for sale, 20 meters from Chalong round about. On the way to pier for Sale. 25 Million, kieranpmadden@hotmail.com, 096 924 4661.

Phuket Beach Front Land

14 RAI Beach front Phuket,Phungnga Close 5-7*hote,Chanode title,90 meters of water frontage More than 100 m wide beach&small piece of land close to the beach 25MB/RAI, Ms.Pam, phuketmyhouse@gmail.com, 089 868 8668.

Chalong Villa for sale

Living area 450 sq.m, Land 800 sq.m. 1st floor: Living room, Master bdr with en-suite bth, Kitchen, Seaview terrace, Pool, Carpark. 2nd floor: 4 bdr with bth, 2nd living room, Office. 19.5M, oliver@thurmanngroup.com, 087 877 2320.

PROPERTY FOR SALE

Brand new 3 bed villa Onyx

Grand Boat Plaza – House for Sale/Rent

Living area 160 sq.m. Land 200 sq.m. Fully luxury furnished. Open plan living room with kitchen, Private & Peaceful area, Security gate estate, Gym. 8.9M, oliver@thurmanngroup. com, 087 877 2320.

New detached villa with modern style in Heart of Phuket Town with 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and 2 car parks. Spacious open living and dining areas with high ceilings. Quiet location surrounding with nature, secure with CCTV and 24hrs security service, large communal swimming pool and clubhouse. Closed to major department stores such as Central Festival‚ Tesco Lotus, Big C, International schools and hospitals.

Contact 095 2577 998, allabouthkt@gmail.com

House for sale

Good location in Chalong area 3 Bedroom 2 Bathroom, 200 sqm House on 800 sqm plot Including furniture, 084 745 5546.

The Base Downtown - Sale/ Rent

1 Bed (35sqm) & 2 Bed (60sqm), fully furnished, pool view. Near Central, BIS, Big C, Lotus, Siriroj hospital, Darasamut School, Thai Hua School (Close to new Central Embassy- good investment).

Swimming pool, fitness & library. Rent:15,000-25,000 THB/month and 35,000-45,000 THB/month. Panattaporn.c@gmail.com, 093 639 4654.

PROPERTY FOR SALE Land For Sale 3 Mil Baht

In Thalang area 2.5 Rai beautiful, flat land with access road, Chanote title, only 5 minutes from Thanyapura (PIA International school). sk.thanya@ gmail.com, 081 737 8624.

Villa for sale

Large Villa with Pool and Garden In Phuket, Rawai/Nai Harn, Land size: 1’700 m2, build up area 400m2. Private sale, no agents please. 36 MB, JasminConsulting@ gmx.net.

7 Rooms Villa for sale

5 Rai Nice sunset sea view Perfect for resort Hill side at Mai Khao beach, Julius_schuster2001@yahoo.de, 087 267 1192.

House For Sale

Located in Rawai soi Samaki3 2 bedroom 2 bathroom 1 Laundry room 1 storage room Living area 160 sq.m, Chanot title 280 sq.m. 3.2 MB., Rico9963@hotmail. com, 083 640 9041

Outstanding Villa for sale

3 bed/3 bath, Living area 370 sq.m, Land 600 sq.m. Located at the 4 Star Residence.

Spacious living quarters, open plan living, dining areas, gourmet kitchen, private pool. 14.9M, oliver@thurmanngroup.com, +66 (0)87 877 2320.

Sale. Semi detached house

Living room 2 double bedrooms 1 fitted furniture and en-suite fitted kitchen office bathroom carport garden Land 188sqm, house 75sqm. 2,000,000, Khun Peter, Baan Pleunjan 2, Paklok, Talang, lowprofile@mail.com, 086 905 1406.

Make money NOW - Kata Beach House for sale

West coast Phuket Great Location, Spa, 7 Bedroom, 7 Bathroom, all with kitchens.

Rent or live with good income. 5 minutes walk to Kata beach. ขายของได้ 9 MB or Offer, Khun Arreerat, kataari@yahoo.com, 086 595 8512, 081 970 4638.

Anuphas Golfville House- Kathu

Land 162 sqwa. Large Pool/Jacuzzi-3 Bed-4 Bath-Office-2 Storage Building-Alarm System and much more. Reduced 22MB to 18 MB for Quick Sale. mrgeoffcurry@ yahoo.com, Si +6681 970 8896 TH/ENG, Geoff+6681 854 0061 ENG.

OCEAN VIEW LAND HALF RAI 797 Sqm.

This beautiful block is ready to build on.It has a sealed entry on a sealed road.

It has power connected. Water available and a safe title.Kamala 6.75 million Baht. Call our rep on 093 578 2281 or contact owner direct via email yoty30@ hotmail.com.

Ocean Front Villa

Brand new, fully furnished, 3-4 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 10-meter infinity swimming pool, beautiful view. For quick sale only 19.5 million baht. Guaranteed rental 8% per year. Person : Montha , Phone : 081 343 0777.

Ocean Front Land

3.5 Rai with 90 meter of water frontage, opposite of Yacht Haven marina, 800 meter away on Phangnga side. Public road, electricity, water and ready to build. For sale direct from owner, only 19.5 mill Baht. Montha , 081 343 0777.

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PROPERTY FOR SALE SPACIOUS 4-BED RAWAI VILLA

Beautiful home in 1,038sqm gardens.Three en suite beds, guest house, 9x4m pool, maid’s room.

Living space 320sqm. Price 12,500,000THB. Private access. Email : alangath@gmail.com , Phone : 087 273 0141.

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PROPERTY FOR SALE Luxury 4 Bed Pool Villa Rawai

Beautiful 4 Bed Villa on large 800 SM land plot in Rawai/Nai Harn area. 260 SM of enclosed living space. Large sala with Pool Bar. Established tropical garden and 60 SM Pool. Private guest house.2 Car Park. Price : 11.8 Million Baht , Email : Keowee15@gmail.com.

House For Sale

Located in a quiet Soi near Kathu waterfall, is a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom house with court yard and car port. With a Chanote Title & 48 Talang Wah (approx 200 m2), Price : 3500000.

Steven Joyce. Kathu 086 120 6934. go2spoon@yahoo.com

Kata Seaview Condo For Sale

New 1 bedroom with great sea and sunset views! 44sqm. Leasehold with foriegn freehold available. Swimming pool, sauna and clubhouse. Flexible furniture options. Great management and rental program, 082 254 0760.

Land For Sale

Located in Kathu over looking the Cable Ski is a nice block 54 Talang Wah on a Chanote Title.

Soi Namtok Kathu, Price : 2400000. Steven.

Joyce. 086 120 6934 .go2spoon@yahoo.com

Townhouse for sale. Chalong.

Townhouse 150sq.m, 2 storey, 2 bedroom, living room, kitchen, 2 balcony, 2 bathroom, office, parking. Fully furnitured. Chalong circle, Price: 3700000, Contact: Mariya, mvs97@yandex.ru, 0822751146, Fax: 0918053725.

Beautifull Classy Villa

his very beautiful modern villa has it all – sparkling salt water pool, 3 huge bedrooms, 4 baths, maid quarters. Fully furnished, secure estate close to the beach. G4S alarm system. Relax and enjoy all the hard work that has been done.

A must see. Call 081 719 4688. Prima Villas.

House for sale heart of Patong

Two beautiful European style homes next to one another in private Soi Minutes from Jungceylon shopping center. First home 100 sq mt of living space with a double carport two bedrooms open living space Second home 80 sq mt one bedroom furnished Both homes will be sold together or separate First home 6,500,000 Bth Second home 5,500,000 Bth Both 11,500,000 Bth Grate value position investment, Price: 6,500,000, Contact: pino.ellul@ yahoo.com, +66 (0) 84 858 1917.

Land Cherngtalay Bangjo 530sqm

Close to Layan Hill Estate, great location, 4 km to Bangtao beach, laguna, Villa Market,Tesco Lotus, Ready to build 1 or 2 pool villas, Price: 3.3 ML, kwansucha@hotmail.com, 0944246142.

Relaxing place villa near PIA

Exceptional 4 Bed & 4 Bath (en suite) & 1 Rai land for sale only 10 MB. 1 Storey 300 sqm. pool 10X5, Sala, filters and automatic gates., Contact: Tanya, geta909@gmail.com, 083 506 8345.

1/2 RAI OCEANFRONT LAND

Fantastic 825 sqm. plot with 25 m. ocean frontage on Coconut Island in beach resort. Electricity/ Water available, ready to build. Super Views.

Just 200 meters from Phuket. 24/7 Free Boat Taxi Only 7.5 m. THB ! claudstrey@gmail.com, 0867479292.

PROPERTY FOR SALE 3 BR. GREAT SEAVIEW CONDO

BARGAIN HUNTERS ! 3 BR/3 BATH Condo,164 sqm.. New Renovated,Top Condition,Fully Furnished. Foreign Freehold Title. Best unit at Belair Panwa. ONLY 5.95 m. THB, claudstrey@gmail. com, 0867479292.

Villa for sale North Chalong area

Beautiful quiet location close to International schools and other amenities. Reduced from 7.9 m to 7.2 m. Price includes furniture. Call 089 868 5143.

PROPERTY FOR SALE Patong sea view land

Located in Patong with the size of 1200 sqm. Selling price at 10.5 Million THB, with a chanote certificate (allowed to construct any sort of project). Also, the land is devided in three parts of chanote, and can be sold separately with a negotiable price range from the selling price of 10.5 M THB, Mr. Fernando Parrella. Contact: parrella.fernando@ gmail.com or 092 949 9697.

Pool Villa Patong 7.6MB

Beautiful Freehold German built detached home. 3 bed, 3 bath, Euro Kitchen, open plan,+ garage. Full furn. Close beach & Shopping Ctre, Khun Oscar, Email: ozoskr@hotmail.com , Phone: 087-8931753.

Perfect Business in Karon

Shophouse 5 story with profitable, spa massage business and apartment. In perfect condition and very good location. Include Thai Company, Price: Reduced from 19 to 16 Mil., ghfsphuket@hotmail. com, 086 271 8254.

LAND FOR SALE CLOSE TO THE SEA

Land for sale close to the sea Bang Tao Marina Hotel 108 rooms. Land 1.5 Rais 28 MB. Contact: Mr. Choochart Ubolsak, 061-2613486.

Beachfront House

4-Bedroom house on semiprivate beach available for sale and rent. Can easily be divided into two separate and identical properties. The rental/sale can also include a self-contained 1-bedroom bungalow, Price: 18.2 MB, Rent 110,000 THB, Alex Seago, home@thaivillaboutique. com, 087-8923876.

House in Karon for Sale. Hard

to find 3 bed room , 3 bath room house for sale in the perfect location near Kata & Karon beach, well maintained with a salt water pool, Price : 16,000,000, Narrisara (Tic), 7/8 Patak Soi 10, Karon, g-a-coates@ hotmail.com, 0991642991.

Sea view land in Patong

gmail.com, 089 967 5373.

The Last Piece of Sea View Land on Prime Location in Patong, just 500 m. from Patong beach, 1.3 KM. to Jungceylon Shopping Mall, Contact: Karuna, kpattarawalee@

PROPERTY FOR RENT Chalong Villa for rent

Living area 450 sq.m, Land: 800 sq.m. 1st floor: Living room, Master bdr with en-suite bth, Kitchen, Sea view terrace, Pool, 2nd floor: 4 bdr with bth, 2nd living room, Office. 90,000/month/year., oliver@ thurmanngroup.com, 087 877 2320.

Amazing Sea view Penthouse in Rawai

FOR RENT Amazing Sea view Penthouse in Rawai.

360 p ํ anoramic breathtaking views of Chalong bay, mountain view and big Buddha. Two bedrooms, 310 sq.m of spacious living area and balconies. Please contact Izzy 086278 8300 or Danai 090 170 0429. propertysales@serenityphuket.com.

Spectacular sea view Penthouse

Located in Serenity Resort, Rawai. Fully furnished two bedrooms 318 sq.m of spacious living area & private roof top.Contact Danai, propertysales@serenityphuket. com, 090 170 0429.

Waterfront Condominium

The Cleat Condo, residence project in Krabi Boat Lagoon Marina. Price 3-9MB, size 37119 Sq.M., 1 or 2 bedroom, marina view. For rent/sale. marketing@phuketpropertytrip.com

Laguna - Luxury 1 Bedroom - Go

Renovated: new kitchen, wood floor and air conditioning. Surround sound system, semi furnished. Price includes Laguna Golf Membership and Privilege Card., Contact: Giulio Santoro, phuket3203@gmail.com, 084 247 1632.

Ocean View Land Kamala

Half rai 797sq.m. cleared and leveled, power connected, sealed road, MUST SELL 6.75million. For ENG 090 492 3101 THA 093 768 6694.

Laguna townhouse for sale

On Laguna golf course with 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths plus guest suite/maid’s quarters. 2 car garage, covered outdoor living area. Jacuzzi and pool. Golf memberships, walk to club house. Shuttle service to Laguna facilities. Fully or partially furnished – less than 20MB., phuketmusic@yahoo.com

Karon Hill - Super Deal

SEAVIEW CONDO at Karon Hill for sale at a real bargain price,only 6.95 m. THB. Foreign Freehold, 102 sqm.,great seaview,furnished,4th floor.Direct from owner, Price: 6950000, claudstrey@gmail.com, 086 747 9292.

Surin Andaman Apt - 2 beds

100 sqm w 2 beds, close to Surin & Bangtao beaches. Common Pool.

Fully furnished with AC, fans, internet, cable TV. Short term possible.

24,000 THB, 081 273 1740.

House for rent - Near Pah-klok

Long term, quality furnishings, near Heroines Monument, 3 bed, 2 baths plus office. Good garden. THB35,000 per month. Call 087 878 5804.

PATONG: 1 and 2 Bed Apartments

2-Bed/2-Bath & Studio for rent. Balcony. Full A/C. Western Kitchen. Modern furnished. All Extras. Fast WIFI free. Ouiet Location & well maintained.

Email : khunrei@gmail.com , Phone : 084 185 8536.

Patong Tower Condo

1 or 2 bedroom corner apartment 76 sqm. 270 degree beach & mountain views, 9th floor, kitchen, 2 balconies. Rent 39,000 baht per month, or buy for 9.5MB. Contact: John, Patong: jstuder@ loxinfo.co.th, 081 080 8831.

Office/Shop for Rent

Ground Floor space with excellent positioning on Chalong Pier Road. For more information, please call 081 416 4177 or 076 381 341.

CHALONG BEACH FRONT LAND

Direct beach front land for rent. Long and short term. Area 2400 sq meter with beach front of 40 meter, Contact: Mr. Narin, narinpga@gmail.com, 081 826 9390.

thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

SPORT 35

Unbeaten on tour

BISP Cruzeiro Football Academy U14 side return from Madrid FOOTBALL

T

he BISP Cr u zei ro Football Academy U14 team travelled to Madrid, Spain in December and despite the initial shock caused by the Spanish winter climate, the boys soon began implementing the Cruzeiro methodology in which they train with outstanding success.

Out of the 9 games played the BISP Cruzeiro record stood at 7 wins, two draws and no losses.

The team visited Spain primarily to learn from one of the world’s most successful footballing cultures. The trip was a unique opportunity to train with and play against some of the top sides in the Madrid area including Atletico and Real Madrid.

Amongst the travelling party were three talented Thai boys who were leaving their home country for the first time. Phuripat Wattano, Suttirak Taksin and Jirayuth

Out of the 9 games played, the BISP Cruzeiro Football Academy record stood at 7 wins, 2 draws and no losses.

Sutthikul are attending BISP on football scholarships and the Cruzeiro Academy was particularly excited for them to showcase their talents while in Spain.

Upon arrival, the team travelled to their hotel where they would be basing them-

Super

selves for the duration of the trip. As well as playing footbal,l the boys were treated to tours of the Santiago Bernabeu and Vicente Calderon stadiums, the Spanish national team training centre, Real Madrid’s training ground Valdebebas and attended

Se7en DIVISION 1

#

TEAM

PLD

W

T

L

GOALS DIFF

PTS

1 Kanchana Flying

7

6

0

1

20

7

18

2 Daohang FC

7

5

0

2

32

12

15

3 Naraya United

8

4

2

2

19

5

14

4 Pita Bar

5

3

1

1

25

16

10

5 Black Pearl FC

7

2

1

4

16

-8

7

6 Phuket Condos and Homes

5

1

1

3

9

-2

4

7 Dolphins Bay FC

6

1

1

4

11

-6

4

8 Blue Horizon

7

1

0

6

10

-24

3

DIVISION 2 #

TEAM

GOALS DIFF

PTS

Although down 1-3 at the break, Naraya United (blue) eventually came back against Blue Horizon (white) to win the game 5-3 in Division 01.

PLD

W

T

L

1 TEFL Campus

7

7

0

0

45

38

21

2 Jumbo United

7

7

0

0

40

31

21

3 The Hulks by Power En

8

6

0

2

39

21

18

4 Phuket Condos and Homes B

8

5

1

2

30

15

16

5 Thailand Weightloss

8

5

1

2

23

10

16

6 The Sky FC

8

3

3

2

12

5

12

7 Shambala United

6

3

1

2

16

4

10

8 PWK. 108

8

3

1

4

18

-8

10

9 KB FC

8

3

0

5

22

-20

9

Charoenchai Foods FC – Jumbo United

10 Samkong FC

7

2

2

3

19

2

8

PWK. 108 – The Routes FC

11 Almali FC

8

2

2

4

22

-14

8

TEFL Campus – Shambala United

12 The Routes FC

7

2

1

4

17

-5

7

KTEC FC – Thailand Weightloss

0–3

13 Charoenchai Foods FC

7

2

0

5

16

-13

6

Almali FC – RT Chalong Tower Condo

3–3 3–4

RESULT Division 1 Pita Bar – Kanchana Flying Blue Horizon – Naraya United

PP 3–5

Black Pearl FC – Phuket Condos and Homes

PP

Daohang FC – Dolphins Bay FC

3–0

Division 2 PP 4–3 PP

14 RT Chalong Tower Condo

8

1

2

5

24

-16

5

KB FC – Phuket Condos and Homes B

15 KTEC FC

8

1

0

7

19

-21

3

Friends FC – The Hulks by Power En

0 – 13

16 Friends FC

7

0

2

5

6

-29

2

The Sky FC – Samkong FC

1–1

@thephuketnews

Real Madrid’s La Liga clash against Getafe and Champions League tie against Malmo of Sweden. Both Real games were runaway victories for the home side and provided plenty of goals.

However, the focus of the tour was to provide high

level competition for the BISP Cruzeiro team. This was achieved with 9 games in 8 days. Competition included youth teams from Spanish professional clubs AD Alcorcon and Atletico Madrid as well as the Spanish national team academy and

various other teams from the very competitive local Madrid league, most notably Deportiva Moratalaz, a team which has achieved great success against Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Rayo Vallecano.

Despite playing strong opposition, the boys maintained their discipline and received glowing praise from all opposition coaches. A particular highlight was a training session held with Real Madrid youth team coaches at the Valdebebas training complex.

Here, the coaches were very impressed by the level of the BISP Cruzeiro team and were extremely complimentary. They especially praised the team’s understanding of footballing concepts and remarked that the team was of a much higher level than other touring sides.

For more information about the BISP Cruzeiro Football Academy, visit www. bisphuket.ac.th/bisp-cruzeirofootball-academy

36 SPORT

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

Laguna topple ICC CRICKET

L

ast Sunday’s (Jan 18) second game of the 40/40 season got off to a nice start when Laguna won the toss against the call and decided to bat.

Laguna, not always the most aggressive of scorers, were playing a safe supporting role game on one end with Manish Sadarangani holding up supporting the free flowing batting of Irfan Sanga who was playing a run a ball innings.

Laguna trotted away to a 83/1 start which most would have considered a big score.

However, some wickets fell as other Laguna batsmen failed to establish themselves in comparison to Irfan, and when clouds gathered, lightly at first, and then with a bang a storm

An ICC batsman is run out in their game against Thalang last Sunday (Jan 18). Photo: Michael Way rolled over from the south west and play was halted.

Laguna were still in a strong position with only a few down and in the 160s. More than 30 minutes passed and eventually lunch was called early and the teams went in

to wait out the break amid a continuing downpour and with a nervous Irfan stuck on 92.

Play resumed at just after 2pm with rain reducing the game to 38 overs for both teams, and the wet ground slowed play and bowling at-

tacks and the boundaries soon dried up.

However, Laguna were still able to post a respectable 250 with Irfan cracking his century in 99 balls before being bowled after one big shot attempt too many.

ICC had it all to play for and were well in range of a required run rate with 50 on the board in just a few overs.

But the change of bowling from the quicks bought immediate results and Manish S started his onslaught of 5

clean bowled wickets through a non-stop 8 over spell with Roly Cooper holding up the other end.

In the end, the 5 wicket haul on a tough wet pitch was the undoing for ICC and the equation became too much with 139 required off the final 18 overs.

On a different pitch most would have put ICC in with a chance , but it wasn’t to be their day and eventually reached a respectable 175, top scorer Ravi Naik at 31 was very good despite the conditions.

The game was played in good spirits from both sides and a great day was had by all players and spectators. Next week’s game looks to be good match up with Laguna taking on the home team Thalang at 10am at the ACGround.

See you all there !

Phuket VNEA Pool League Standings Name

Week Ten

Round wins

Score +

Wins

Games played

Losses

Score -

Differential

42 36 26 25 23 20 19 9

1376 1355 1265 1229 1174 1123 1241 935

117 106 79 83 66 67 84 38

160 160 160 160 160 160 160 160

43 54 81 77 94 93 76 122

1068 1020 1105 1239 1272 1312 1260 1422

308 335 160 -10 -98 -189 -19 -487

34 30 24 19 16 15 12 0

1207 1149 1106 965 836 809 1020 0

93 94 70 58 59 54 52 0

144 144 144 128 144 112 144 0

51 50 74 70 85 58 92 0

969 1035 1084 889 1149 769 1197 0

238 114 22 76 -313 40 -177 0

40 40 29 24 21 16 14 13 3 0

1284 1248 1194 997 883 1080 1008 966 418 0

113 103 93 69 65 70 49 63 15 0

144 144 144 144 144 144 144 128 144 0

31 41 51 75 79 74 95 65 129 0

773 715 819 1101 1042 1117 1125 1025 1361 0

511 533 375 -104 -159 -37 -117 -59 -943 0

TEAM STATS NORTH 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Orange Corner Judge & Jury Hangover Master Bankers Off Course Tan Khun Tor Khao LHM Asia

TEAM STATS SOUTH 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Reality The Genius Team The Dragons Millionaire Ocean Team White Sheep Bar Fly Spicy Girls

TEAM STATS TOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The Target Masters Hollywood Naimeung Team Black Sheep Team 198 The Kata Dragons WTF!!

Pen In Class Act Hustlers Genius B

Class Act Media is proud to be a sponsor of the Phuket VNEA Pool League

Rassada Mayor, Phudit Raksarat (center), speaks at a press conference to announce the international motorcross event. Photo: Phuket PR Department

Phuket revs up for 2016 Moto-X Int’l MOTOCROSS PHUKET IS TO HOST the Rassada Motocross 2016 international motocross competition in Koh Sirey from tomorrow (Jan 23) through to Tuesday (Jan 26).

Speaking at a press conference to announce the event, Rassada Mayor, Phudit Raksarat, said that the first day of the event will be a practice day to test the strength of the competitors and durability of the track.

He also said that over 300 participants are expected to turn out for the event includ-

ing entrants from Thailand and other countries, all competing to take home the new championship title.

Mr Phudit said, “This event is aimed at bringing people, especially youths, together to help keep them away from drugs which is an on going issue across the island.

“This sporting event also aims to help promote tourism on the island, generate more income and push Phuket to be the world class tourism destination.”

There will be 16 categories of competition for the event including:

MX-2 D jump hill, GPX110 + KLX110 + formula 65 for under 13s, MX-2 + Supercup 85+Supercup Enduro MX-2B MX-2 VIP , MX-2 VIP35 , 85CC+150F MX-2 VIP40 Enduro, MX-2 C MX-2 VIP40 MX-2A Competitions will start on Sunday (Jan 24) at 10am at the first field in Koh Sirey in Rassada. thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

SPORT 37

Let the party begin 19th Bay Regatta more than just a yachting event 2016 Regatta Programme

SAILING

Wednesday 17th February - Registration from noon till 5:30pm at Ao Po Marina followed by the Opening Party starting at 6pm.

T

he 19th year of The Bay Regatta is expected to be the biggest yet and will firmly stand out as one of South East Asia’s finest yachting events. Taking place in some of the most beautiful scenery the region has to offer, the four days racing and late night partying will bring a buzz of excitement to Phuket, Phang-nga and Krabi.

Taking place just two months after the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, The Bay Regatta 2016 will be the scene for the region’s yachting community in February. The action is spread over four days of exhilarating competition in the surrounding bays of Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi. This year’s Bay Regatta will be split into Seven classes, Racing A& B, Cruising A&B, Bareboat Charter, Racing & Cruising Multihulls.

Kae Wattana, Managing Director of organisers Regattas Asia comments, “The Bay Regatta is now in its 19th year and is more popular than ever with competitors joining from all around the world and we are all looking forward to another great event.”

Racing and location The four days of racing are a mixture of “coastal passages” and “around the islands” encompassing the provinces of

Thursday 18th February - Race Day 1 Party and presentations at the Paradise Koh Yao. Starting at 6pm.

Friday 19th February - Race Day 2 Racing to Krabi Area (Free Night) Saturday 20th February - Race Day 3 Racing around the Ko Dam Group of Islands.

Party and presentations at Ao Nang Villa.

Sunday 21st February - Race Day 4 Party and presentations at O2 Beach Club, Ao Chalong. starting at 7pm.

This year’s Bay Regatta will be split into seven classes: Racing A & B, Cruising A & B, Bareboat Charter, Racing and Cruising Multihulls.

Phuket, Phang-nga and Krabi the day’s weather conditions. and includes some of ThaiTraditionally, yachts will land’s most beautiful islands. race from the start off Ao Po, Racing starts at 8:30am through Phang-nga Bay to Ko each day off the beach at each Yao Noi, heading East to Krabi of the overnight stops. and returning to Ao Chalong There are a number of dif- Bay on Phuket. ferent courses used during the The action can be viewed regatta. Courses are designed from the look out points at to offer competitive sailing the regatta venues: Thursday to all types of yachts and are 18th - Ao Po, Friday 19th selected on a daily basis by lo- Paradise Resort Ko Yao Noi, cal sailing personalities Andy Saturday 20th Ao Nang/Koh Dowden and Simon James, who Dam Group, Sunday 8th Ao will choose courses based on Nang/Cape Panwa.

HASH HOUSE HARRIERS

Run: #1564 Saturday 23 January, 2016 Run Start Time: 3:30pm Hares: No Hope & Singha & (??) (VH) Location: Ban Namuang Area Directions: Head North on Thepkasattri Road [4002] towards the Airport. Turn left at the Old Airport Road traffic lights [4031] and carry on 2.5km. At the second lefthand junction - Ban Namuang, turn left. After 1.1km turn right at the junction, then further 700m turn right. After 300m turn left and drive ap-

@thephuketnews

proximately 100m to where we have laagered before.

Please park to one side of the track or in the rubber plantation to enable others to pass. Cars take it slow (or park on the road) as part of the track is rough. HHH truck will be signed.

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

The Regatta is organised

by Regattas Asia under the auspices of the Phuket Yacht Club. The event is supported by the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand and the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Co-Sponsors: The Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thai Beverage Public Company Limited, 100 PLUS, Neil Pryde, O2 Beach Club.

Regatta Partners: Chandara Resort and Spa, Asia

Class Act Media is a proud media partner of the 19th Bay Regatta.

For further information contact: Kae Wattana Regatta Director, Regattas Asia Email: kae@regattas.asia Tel: 081 5388848 www.facebook.com/BayRegatta www.bayregatta.com Catamarans, Haadthip, Jungceylon, Mont Clair, Ao Nang Villa and The Mangosteen Resort.

Local Supporters: Electrical Marine, B&G, Canvas Creations, Octopus Marine,

SY Seraph, Krabi Boat Lagoon, Phuket Boat Lagoon, Quantum Sails.

Media Partners: Class Act Media, The Phuket News, Novostl Phuket, Phuket Magazine, SEA Yachting.

38 SPORT

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

North Korea end Thai Olympic dream

Organisers and players at Tuesday’s (Jan 19) press conference. Photo: Bangkok Post

FOOTBALL

Thailand to A host Fed Cup TENNIS

THAILAND WILL HOST the Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Group I tournament next month, organisers said on Tuesday (Jan 19).

The eight-team event will be held at True Arena Hua Hin from Feb 3-6, said Suwat Liptapanlop, president of the Lawn Tennis Association of Thailand.

Thailand are in Group A along with Japan, India and Uzbekistan, while Group B features Kazakhstan, China, South Korea and Taiwan.

After a round-robin firstround competition, the top two teams will meet in the final with the winners advancing to the World Group II play-offs.

The last team of each group will meet with the winners remaining in Asia/

Oceania Group I and the losers relegated.

Thailand will be led by world No.167 Luksika Kumkhum, who lost to Petra Kvitova in the Australian Open on Monday (Jan 18).

The other Thai players will be young stars including No.361 Peangthan Pliphuech, according to Suwat.

“We have decided to use young players for them to gain experience,” he said.

Suwat admitted that it was tough for Thailand to win the tournament but was confident that the Thais would remain in Asia/Oceania Group I. Thailand initially wanted veteran star Tamarine Tanasugarn to be captain but she is not available as she has to look after her mother who is ill.

Pacharapol Kamsaman has been appointed captain instead. Bangkok Post

spirited Thailand held North Korea to a 2-2 draw in their final Group B game of the AFC U23 Championship Tuesday night (Jan 19).

The stalemate was not enough for Thailand to advance to the quarter-finals of the tournament which offers three berths for the 2016 Olympics.

In the other Group B match, Japan beat Saudi Arabia 2-1 to maintain their perfect record.

Japan, with nine points, and North Korea (four) progress to the next round. Thailand and Saudi Arabia each finished with two points.

North Korea, who were held to a scoreless draw by the Thais in Bangkok in the qualifying stage for the Doha tournament, dominated for long periods against coach Kiatisak Senamuang’s men.

The North Koreans went on the attack from the start and squandered several chances in the opening minutes.

After forcing Thailand goalkeeper Somporn Yos to

Marathoners earn Rio Games tickets ATHLETICS T H A I L A N D’S JA N E Vongvrachoti and Natthaya Thanaronnawat both qualified for the 2016 Olympics after posting impressive results at last Sunday’s (Jan 17) Houston Marathon.

In the women’s event, which offered Rio Olympic spots to those finishing within the 2:45.00-hour mark, Jane and Natthaya (formerly Saifon Piawong) crossed the finish line in 2:42.09 and 2:44.43 respectively.

The 32-year-old Jane finished 13th while Natthaya, a gold medallist at last year’s SEA Games in Singapore, came in 24th.

The Houston event was won by 25-year-old Ethiopian Biruktayit Degefa, who overcame a slow start to clock 2:26.07.

Thai veteran Boonthueng Srisang failed to qualify for the Rio Games from the men’s event in which the cut was

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

Jane Vongvorachoti represented Thailand for 10 years as a national football player. made at 2:19.00.

The Thai timed 2:24.00 to end up in 27th place. However, he can still earn a ticket to Rio through other events. Ethiopia’s Gebo Burka, 28, won the race in 2:10.55 to claim the fifth major marathon title of his career. Jane and Natthaya are the first two Thais to qualify for the athletics events of the Rio Games.

They are also the first two Thai distance runners to compete at the Olympics.

Natthaya said it was like a dream come true because she is 37 years old and the weather in Houston was very cold.

She added, “I hurt my leg during the race and it was also hard to breathe in the tough weather. I am a bit surprised to have made it.” The Amateur Athletics Association of Thailand hopes to earn more Olympic places from Boonthueng, Subenrat Insaeng (women’s discus), Khunanon Sukkaew (women’s 400m), Jirapong Meenapra (men’s 200m), and the men’s and women’s relay teams.

The country has never won an Olympic medal in athletics.

Thailand’s authorities are aiming to have 37-57 athletes at the Rio Games. Bangkok Post

Thailand defender Tristan Do, centre, in action against North Korea. Photo: Bangkok Post make a couple of good saves, the North Koreans deservedly got their first goal after 17 minutes thanks to a Kim Yong-Il header.

North Korea kept piling the pressure on the Thais who surprisingly equalised after 30 minutes when Narubodin Weerawatnodom sent the ball into the back of the net from close range.

Shortly after the equaliser, Thailand suffered a setback when forward Nattawut Sombatyotha was injured and substituted by Tanasith Siripala.

North Korea’s attacking efforts were rewarded in the

final moments of the first half as Yun Il Gwang regained the lead for his team.

Thailand got off to a lively start in the second half but North Korea soon found their rhythm and were the better side again.

However, Thailand again stunned the North Koreans on the counter-attack after 78 minutes when Chanathip Songkrasin’s long-range drive made it 2-2.

North Korea came close to scoring in the dying moments but failed to get a winning goal.

Meanwhile, Thailand could

face consequences if it does not follow Fifa’s recommendations, Sports Authority of Thailand governor Sakol Wannapong said Tuesday.

Fifa has suspended Football Association of Thailand chief Worawi Makudi and appointed a ‘normalisation committee’ to oversee the FAT presidential election to succeed him.

The committee, chaired by Adm Surawut Maharom, has set Feb 11 as the election date.

There will be 72 voters in the election – 18 each from the TPL and League One (second tier), 30 from the Regional League (third tier), and six from minor competitions.

Teams in the Regional League selected their 30 voters last year, but Surawut’s committee has arranged a re-election of these voters on Jan 22 prompting protests from Worawi’s aides who say the move could be deemed illegal.

“To avoid further sanctions by Fifa, the SAT and the committee have been doing their best as recommended

by Fifa to make the election become smooth,” Sakol said.

“Unfortunately, certain parties are trying to derail the election.” Bangkok Post

Ratchanok set to face Nehwal BADMINTON THAI HOPEFUL RATCHAnok Intanon is slated to meet world No.2 Saina Nehwal in the final of the inaugural Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters next month following the draw made on Tuesday (Jan 19).

Second seed Ratchanok and the top-seeded Indian were drawn into opposite halves in the US$120,000 Grand Prix Gold tournament being held at Bangkok’s Nimibutr Building from Feb 8-13.

The tournament offers points for 2016 Olympic qualification.

Ratchanok seems to have an easy path in the women’s singles until the semi-finals when she could face world No.8 Sung Ji-Hyun of South Korea.

Ratchanok, who is likely to meet compatriot Nichaon Jindapol in the quarter-finals, will start her campaign against Lee Jang-Mi of South Korea in the opening round.

Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon. Photo: Bangkok Post Nehwal could meet Thailand’s Busanan Ongbumrungpan in the quarter-finals and China’s world No.11 Sun Yu in the last four.

Ratchanok has defeated Nehwal only four times in their 10 meetings. Her most recent win against the Indian came at the French Open last year.

In the men’s singles, Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana will begin his campaign against Luka Wraber of Austria.

If he manages to advance to the semi-finals, he is likely to face world No.13 and second seed Son Wan-Ho of South Korea.

Compatriot Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk could be up

against top seed Lee HyunIl from South Korea in the semi-finals.

In the women’s doubles, Thailand’s Puttita Supajirakul and Supsiree Taerattanachai were drawn to meet seventh seeds Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva of Bulgaria in the first round.

World No.5 and top seeds Chang Ye-Na and Lee So-Hee of South Korea got a bye in the first round.

In the men’s doubles, Indonesia’s Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan, two-time world champions and top seeds, will play Job Castillo and Lin Munoz of Mexico.

Bangkok Post thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

SPORT 39

PREMIER PREDICTIONS: ENTER NOW AT THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

‘The crazy man’

Claudio Ranieri wants to frighten Premier League FOOTBALL

L

eicester manager Claudio Ranieri may have been labelled the ‘Tinkerman’ when he was in charge of Chelsea but now he wants to be the “crazy man” who scares the Premier League’s established big clubs.

The Italian was mocked for constantly altering his line-up during his first spell in English football at Chelsea from 2000 to 2004.

But he has received praise rather than criticism this season for overseeing Leicester’s shock transformation from relegation candidates to title contenders.

The Midlands club are level on points with Premier League leaders Arsenal and seven ahead of Manchester United in one of the most open races for the English top-flight title in years.

Claudio Ranieri. Photo: Geoff Caddick/AFP “Now it is a crazy league and we want to frighten this crazy league,” said Ranieri, whose team hosted Tottenham Hotspur in an FA Cup third

Live Sports TV Schedule *Times may be subject to change

SPORT

START STOP

EVENT

TEAMS / INFO

Friday 22 January Cricket

15:20

23:00

Test Match 4 - Centurion

South Africa v. England, Day 1

Tennis

07:00

19:00

Australian Open

Melbourne – Day 5

Saturday 23 January Rugby Union 19:55

21:55

Champions Cup – R6

Ulster v. Oyannax

22:10

00:00

Champions Cup – R6

Bath v. Toulon

00:25

02:15

Champions Cup – R6

Scarlets v. Northampton

Cricket

09:30

19:00

ODI5 - Sydney

Australia v. India

15:20

23:00

Test Match 4 - Centurion

South Africa v. England, Day 2

Tennis

07:00

19:00

Australian Open

Melbourne – Day 6

Soccer

19:45

21:30

EPL

Norwich v. Liverpool

21:55

23:55

EPL

Crystal Palace v. Tottenham

21:55

23:55

EPL

Man United v. Southampton

21:55

23:55

EPL

Leicester v. Stoke

00:25

02:30

EPL

West Ham v. Man City

Sunday 24 January Cricket

15:20

23:00 Test Match 3 - Johannesburg

Tennis

07:00

19:00

Australian Open

Melbourne – Day 7

Soccer

20:25

22:30

EPL

Everton v. Swansea

23:00

01:00

EPL

Arsenal v. Chelsea

Rugby Union 19:55

21:55

Champions Cup

Stade Francais v. Leicester

22:10

01:00

Champions Cup

Exeter v. Ospreys

@thephuketnews

South Africa v. England, Day 3

round replay on Wednesday (Jan 20).

“I want to be the most crazy man and team in the Premier League,” he added. “It is a crazy league because if it was a normal league Leicester would not be at the top. The other bigger teams would be there.

“But there is an opportunity for us because the big teams don’t start yet. If they start then Leicester will fight but we would be in the middle [of the table].

“The big teams haven’t switched on turbo yet to go – and we hope they don’t switch on turbo,” he added on Tuesday (Jan 19).

Despite Leicester’s impressive start to the season, Ranieri was cautious when asked about the Foxes’ prospects of qualifying for Europe.

“I know what you want me to say, but also you know what I don’t want to say,” Ranieri said. “I would like too much to give a dream to the fans, but it is January. Wait a little longer.”

Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has insisted

he is in charge of the transfer policy at Anfield after sacked predecessor Brendan Rodgers revealed players were forced upon him.

Last weekend, Rogers gave an interview in which he said Mario Balotelli, now on loan at AC Milan after a poor debut season on Merseyside, was an example of a signing over whom he had no control.

Liverpool’s transfer committee, comprising the manager, representatives of the scouting department and senior management staff, has been widely criticised after several poor signings.

But Klopp was adamant he had the last word on signings, although he accepted there were limits to his authority.

“If I say, for example, we take Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is 35, and we would have to pay £100 million then maybe I should ask before I sign him,” Klopp said Tuesday.

“But it is as it is when I said on the first day I came here; it is like I used to work.

“Sometimes my staff and myself have an idea with a player we know or heard about and we collect some information about this.

“If I don’t want the player to come here he will not come and if the player I want does not fit our budget then he will not come too. That is absolutely normal.”

Klopp has, however, shown faith in his existing squad by giving goalkeeper Simon Mignolet a new long-term contract.

The Belgium international has come under fire for some high-profile mistakes this season, but Klopp has insisted he has full confidence in his keeper.

“We would not have offered him a contract if we had the same thinking [as his critics] – a lot of people who speak about this situation always

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1.

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3.

4.

5.

English Premier League 2015 - 2016 Team

MP W

D

L

F

A GD Pts

1

Arsenal

22

13

5

4

37

21

16

44

2

Leicester

22

12

8

2

39

26

13

44

3

Man City

22

13

4

5

43

21

22

43

4

Tottenham

22

10

9

3

38

18

20

39

5

Man Utd

22

10

7

5

28

20

8

37

6

West Ham

22

9

8

5

34

26

8

35

7

Stoke

22

9

6

7

24

22

2

33

8

Crystal Palace

22

9

4

9

23

24

-1

31

9

Liverpool

22

8

7

7

25

28

-3

31

10

Southampton

22

8

6

8

31

24

7

30

11

Everton

22

6

11

5

39

32

7

29

12

Watford

22

8

5

9

25

25

0

29

13

West Brom

22

7

6

9

22

30

-8

27

14

Chelsea

22

6

7

9

31

34

-3

25

15

Bournemouth

22

6

6

10

26

37 -11

24

16

Norwich

22

6

5

11

24

38 -14

23

17

Swansea

22

5

7

10

20

30 -10

22

18

Newcastle

22

5

6

11

24

39 -15

21

19

Sunderland

22

5

3

14

27

45 -18

18

20

Aston Villa

22

2

6

14

18

38 -20

12

talk about new goalkeepers,” said Klopp.

“But when I came here I heard nothing negative about Simon with all the people I spoke to. There was nothing to criticise,” the German added.

“There have been a lot of games since I have been here and he has been involved in one or the other goal we have conceded – as is normal with goalkeepers – but we thought

about the package and Simon Mignolet is perfect.

“He is a smart guy, young enough to develop in the things he has to develop and he gives the whole team a good feeling when he is in the starting line-up.

“The result was we were sure we wanted to work with him for the next few years. We are satisfied with this position.”

AFP

Sport

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

editor3@classactmedia.co.th

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016

Cruzeiro U14s undefeated in trip to Madrid > page 35

GAME ON After visiting a training session on Tuesday (Jan 19), Phuket FC President MaAnn Samran belives the team can regain their position in League-1.

PHUKET FC PRESIDENT CONFIDENT I am a big fan of pressing football. I will train my team to fight till the last whistle of the game and to entertain the fans as much as possible. My forward players will have to try their best to win the ball back after they lose the ball. We will try to defend from the front and that will make the rest of the team work easier.

FOOTBALL Saroj Kueprasertkij reporter3@classactmedia.co.th

P

huket FC is back, albeit with a new nickname, logo and roster, from hereon to be known as the “Andaman Dragon” and set to play their first official game tomorrow (Jan 23) at the Surakul Stadium at 7pm, a friendly against Malaysian Division 2 side Kedah FC. The local club is going through a major identity and front office change following their relegation from Yamaha League-1 at the end of last season. The Kata Group, which had previously owned and run the Phuket FC “Ronins” for the previous three years, relinquished control of the squad after relegation.

New team president MaAnn Samran changed the nickname of the club well as the squad’s logo, which shows a dragon on top of an outline of Phuket island and a football at the bottom of the crest (pictured top left). Details of the kit have yet to be announced.

Mr MaAnn believes the team – set to play in the Division 2 South regional league this upcoming season – can go back to Yamaha League-1 within a year after visiting a training session at Republic Phuket on Tuesday (Jan 19).

W hile speak ing with T he Phuket News, Mr MaAnn confirmed that the team will begin their season against Pattani FC at Surakul Stadium on Sunday,

Phuket FC’s Head Coach Pittaya “Odd” Phimarnman.

Feb 28.

Mr MaAnn was confident that his team will collect the first three points of the season.

“While meeting with the players, I saw their enthusiasm and it made me believe that we can come back to League 1 within a year. But we still need strong support from the fans,” MaAnn said.

He also mentioned that former president of Phuket FC, Pramukpisit Atchariyatchai, who stepped down after the team was relegated, is still a big supporter of the side. “[Mr Pramookpisit] is still a big

fan of the team but he will not be involved with team management anymore,” MaAnn added.

Andaman Dragon’s front office are now courting former sponsors from previous seasons, mainly Chang, Coca-Cola and AirAsia.

“We would like to keep our relationship with our former sponsors because they have supported us for such a long time. We do not want to terminate any good relationship that we already had with them,” MaAnn confirmed.

Meanwhile, during Phuket FC’s recent training session at Republic

Phuket, The Phuket News caught up with new Head Coach Pittaya “Odd” Phimarnman. Coach Odd sat down for his first interview and talked about a range of topics related to the team.

What is your biggest priority?

My priority for this mission is to bring Phuket FC back to League-1 as soon as possible and to bring entertaining football to Surakul Stadium for Phuket FC fans.

What kind of playing style will you bring to the team?

Where are you in terms of filling out the roster?

Right now I have enough players to compete in the coming season.

Around 28 – 30 players, of which about 30 per cent came from the former Satun team and the rest from new recruitment. About 10 players are from Phuket originally.

I am quite happy with my squad and I can see some potential for the team, which can be number one in the southern region. But it is still too early to say so we still have a long season and many factors that can effect the team. We will work together very carefully to bring the team to our goal at the end of the season.

Is there anything else you’d like to say?

In my opinion, Phuket is like the capital city of the South. A lot of people from other provinces come to set up their lives here in Phuket.

Along with Phuket locals, I would like to see Phuket FC be the team of everyone that lives in and loves Phuket. I want to see us having a good time together at Surakul Stadium every week. thephuketnews