The Gazette is publishedin association with

IN THIS ISSUE

PLUS

NEWS: Ya bah bust; NewTesco store opens; Teddiesblessed. Pages 2 & 3

INSIDE STORY: Looking backat the year just gone.

Pages 4 - 6

AROUND THE NATION: NLApasses security bill. Page 7

AROUND THE REGION: Whenshophouses attack. Page 8

AROUND THE SOUTH: Bur-mese workers killed in boat-ing tragedy. Page 9

PEOPLE: Globetrotting coupleroll into Phuket.

Pages 14 & 15

LIFESTYLE: Local movers,shakers and a ladyboy lookforward to 2008.

Pages 18 & 19

MOTORING: Big car gets arelick. Page 22

SPORTS: Boxing; ProvincialGames; Darts season finale;Pétanque; Patong soccer.

Pages 38 & 39

PROPERTY: Construction:Peace and harmony in NaiHarn; Home of the Week: Afamily affair; Property Watch;Gardening: Bert proves he’snot clitorially challenged.

Pages 41-46

AROUND THE ISLAND 10; GOOD

LIVING 13; HAPPENINGS 16;AMBROSIA 20; GRAY AREA 21;WHAT’S ON 23; TAKE A BREAK

25 & 26; HOROSCOPES 29;EDITORIAL, LETTERS 30; FIRSTPERSON, ISSUES & ANSWERS 31;BOOKS, WORD COURT 32; HIS-TORY: LOOKING BACK 33; COM-PUTERS 34; BUSINESS ANDMONEY 36 & 37; CLASSIFIEDS

47-59.

AV

Front Eye

December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008Volume 14 Issue 52 News Desk - Tel: 076-236555 Daily news at www.phuketgazette.net 25 Baht

SECRET BALLOT: Phuket Provincial Administration Organization(OrBorJor) President and Democrat Party member Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutra was among the first to cast a ballot at the Phuket CityPolice polling station on December 23.

PHUKET: On a day when over74% of registered voters in theprovince made it to the polls, of-ficial results from the generalelection held on December 23saw Democrat Party candidatesRewat Areerob and TossapornThepabutr winning both ofPhuket’s two constituency MPseats by huge margins, despite asmear campaign.

K. Rewat told the Gazette,“I’m happy with the result be-cause I have a lot of votes frompeople, which means they believein me. I will do my best for them.Now, I can’t say a lot becauseI’m not yet in the new govern-ment, which must be confirmedwith the national election officefirst.”

Two-time constituency MPChalermlak Kebsup will likelyreturn to parliament as a partylist MP, as unconfirmed resultsin party-list voting indicate, shewill be one of eight party list MPsfrom the Democrat party to rep-resent the southern region underthe new proportional representa-tion [party list] system.

In district voting in Phuket,official results confirmed by thePhuket Election Committeeshowed K. Rewat as the topvote-getter with 93,004, followedby running-mate K. Tossapornwith 87,905 votes.

Somchart Somnam fromthe Chart Thai party came in adistant third with 17,252 votes.

Despite a vigorous cam-paign and support from theisland’s Thai-language dailynewspaper Siangtai, PalangPrachachon (“People Power”)candidates Dr Sriyada Shina-watra and Wisut Santikul were

only able to garner 15,220 and14,683 votes, respectively, tocome in fourth and fifth.

In constituency voting159,241 (74.3%) of Phuket’s214,329 eligible voters exercisedtheir right, although nearly 10%opted to tick the “No Vote” op-tion. There were also 4,066(2.6%) spoiled ballots.

In Phuket party-list voting,the Democrats also won in alandslide with 122,038 votes.They were followed by PeoplePower (14,376) and Puea Pandin(2,870).

Turnout for the party-listvoting was identical to that in theconstituency voting at 74.3%, butthere were fewer No Votes cast(6,035 cards or 3.8%) and morespoiled ballots (6,779 cards or4.3%).

There was a strong voter

turnout in advance polling, with25,956 voters from around thecountry making their way toPhuket Community Hall on De-cember 15 and 16 to cast absen-tee ballots in their home constitu-encies.

Phuket Election Commis-sion (PEC) Director SupapAkkam told the Gazette that theturnout exceeded 85% of the30,394 out-of-town voters whohad registered to cast absenteeballots in Phuket.

Advance voting took placeat three polling stations, one ineach district: the Kathu ArmyPetrol Depot in Kathu, the Tha-lang Pranangsang School in Tha-lang and Phuket MunicipalityMeeting Hall

A total of 6,546 voters, or3% of all eligible voters, took theopportunity to cast ballots in ad-

vance. Most were in Muang Dis-trict (4,717 voters), followed byThalang (1,068) and Kathu(761).

There were no reports ofspoiled ballots or illegal cam-paigning near polling stationswhile the voting was underway,said K. Supap.

Nationwide, an unprec-edented turnout of 2.9 millionabsentee and advance voteswere cast.

The turnout of absenteevoters exceeded 87.5%, amount-ing to 1.83 million ballots. Some1.12 million voters cast advanceballots, EC member PrapunNaigowit said.

On the eve of the election,K. Tossaporn and K. Rewathanded a petition to the PhuketElection Commission (PEC)complaining that leaflets attack-ing them had been distributedaround the island.

The pair handed the com-plaint and a copy of one of theleaflets to PEC Director Supapafter a visit to Phuket City Po-lice station, where they filed acriminal complaint earlier thatmorning.

K. Supap accepted thecomplaint, noting that the pairwould have to return later tocomplete more paperwork be-fore the complaint could be for-warded to the Election Commis-sion (EC) in Bangkok, which isauthorized to suspend or banfrom political activity politiciansdeemed to have violated elec-tion law.

K. Supap said that, if theidentities of those behind the leaf-lets could be revealed, the per-petrators could face punishmentunder election and criminal law,depending on the EC’s ruling.

Democrats cruise tovictory in Phuket

By Gazette Staff

N E W S2 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Phuket welcomes firstEstonia charter flightBy Janyaporn Morel

Ya bah bust near Heroine’s MonumentBy Natcha Yuttaworawit

COMING IN FROM THE COLD: Two passengers aboard the inauguralflight from Estonia pose with local beauties in traditional Thai dress.

MAI KHAO: The first charterflight from Tallinn in the Repub-lic of Estonia to Phuket toucheddown at Phuket International Air-port on December 19.

At 8 pm, a group of 220Finnish and Estonian tourists ar-rived in Phuket aboard a Boeing757-200 operated by Air Finland.

The tourists were wel-comed by members of the localpress, Phuket International Air-port Deputy Director YutthanaJitrob-aree and staff from Tour-ism Authority of Thailand South-ern Region 4 Office, including itsdirector, Suwalai Pinpradub.

Air Finland will operate sixTallinn-Phuket flights a week aspart of an initiative to promotePhuket and the Andaman regionas a holiday destination for Finnicpeople in the Baltic Sea region.

MAI KHAO: The post office at Phuket Interna-tional Airport has been relocated from the depar-tures terminal to the arrivals terminal on the groundfloor of the airport.

Kusol Yamyean, manager of Post Office Re-gion 8, told the Gazette that the post office wasclosed on December 22 so that furniture and equip-ment could be moved.

THALANG: During a sting operation nearthe Heroines’ Monument December 20,Phuket Provincial Police special investigationsunit arrested a Thalang man for possessionof 400 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills withintent to sell.

Lt Anukul Nukate, of Thalang PoliceStation, explained to the Gazette that under-cover police officers had arranged to meetSurachai Maimad, 29, at 3 pm on SrisoonthornRd [Route 4025] to buy the pills for 60,000baht.

After completing the sale, Surachai was

arrested and later confessed to the crime, LtAnukul said.

Police seized the 400 ya bah pills,243,900 baht in cash and Surachai’s NissanSunny sedan, Lt Anukul added.

Surachai was taken to Phuket Provin-cial Court, where he was charged with pos-session of a Class I narcotic with intent tosell.

Earlier on December 20, Thalang Po-lice acting on a tip-off arrested two suspectsin Phuket City for attempted murder in Kathuearlier this year.

Lt Anukul identified the pair as JittipornSritongkaew, 26, from Nakhon Sri Tham-

marat, and Pakamas Nakpeng, 33, fromPrachuap Khiri Khan.

Although unfamiliar with the details ofthe attempted murder case, Lt Anukul saidthe suspects had been arrested in Thalang onOctober 30 for possession and use of ya bah,two pills of which were seized as evidence atthe time.

The arrests in Phuket City followed thesuspects being identified by an informant whoknew there was a warrant for their arrest, hesaid.

Although they denied any wrongdoing,the pair were sent to Phuket Provincial Courtto answer the warrant, he said.

Airport post office relocates within terminalThe post office keeps the same opening hours

at its new location: Monday through Sunday, 9 amto 8 pm, including public holidays.

In addition to serving local residents, the postoffice at the airport offers tourists heading home alast chance to send postcards or souvenirs to friendsand family abroad. Last year, nearly 5 million tour-ists passed through the airport.

Cherng TalayTesco-Lotusopens amidcontroversy

CHERNG TALAY: While localresidents continue their fightagainst the opening of the “La-guna Tesco-Lotus MarketCherng Talay”, the store openedjust in time for last-minute Christ-mas shopping.

The opening of the store ismired with controversy, with lo-cal residents and shopowners, ledby Samarn Krohlek and ApisitNgarnpresertkit, having filed com-plaints with Thalang DistrictChief Chaiwat Tapee and PhuketGovernor Niran Kalayanamit.

K. Samarn and K. Apisit inSeptember led a protest of some50 locals outside the officesCherng Talay Municipality, claim-ing that the new store will destroythe livelihood of locals while in-creasing their cost of living.

The protest followed an or-der – signed on July 27 by SamartSagae, then-president of CherngTalay Tambon AdministrationOrganization (OrBorTor) – forconstruction of the store to stop.

On November 26, K. Sa-marn and K. Apisit on behalf ofthe protesters filed a complaintwith Thalang District ChiefChaiwat, claiming that the storeviolated a 2004 Ministry of Inte-rior regulation stipulating that in-dividual supermarkets must covera space between 300 squaremeters and 1,000sqm.

On November 30, DistrictChief Chaiwat called on PhuketGovernor Niran Kalayanamit torule whether the construction vio-lates the ministerial regulation.

At that time, Gov Niran hadyet to issue a statement and hadyet to clarify whether the issuefalls under the jurisdiction ofCherng Talay Municipality orCherng Talay OrBorTor.

Since the meeting with Gov-ernor Niran, K. Apisit has con-firmed to the Gazette that a com-plaint has been filed with the Ad-ministrative Court.

PHUKET CITY: The Phuketchapter of the Red Cross Foun-dation is in need of donations tobe sold during its annual fair, thisyear to be held at Saphan Hinfrom December 27 to January 7.

All money raised from saleof donated items will go to the Ju-venile Observation and ProtectionCenter (JOPC) in Phuket to payfor various activities and projects.

Donations of items for thesale can be taken to the JOPCon Rattanakosin 200 Pi Rd untilthe final day of the fair.

The JOPC is joining forceswith the Phuket Home for theAged, the Kusoldharm Founda-tion and Rotary Club of Phuketto organize the fair, which hasbeen named Pan Rak Soo DekKao Plad (“Share love with thechild who is missed”).

The center was establishedto give children a better life byassisting the development of theirsocial skills.

For more information call076-250352-3. Alternatively, con-tact the Kusoldharm Foundation,which can collect any items forthe sale, by calling 076-246301.

Red Crossseeks

donationsfor annualcharity fair

December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 N E W S P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 3

Luang Phu Supa, 114,blesses ‘safe teddies’By Semacote Suganya

Revered monk Luang Phu Supha, 114, blesses the teddy bears thatwill be handed out to motorists as part of the government’s newyear road-safety campaign.

CHALONG: Phuket Vice-Gov-ernor Tri Augkaradacha traveledto Wat Luang Phu Supha on De-cember 22 to present 2,000“Nong Prodpai” (“safe sisterbear”) teddy bears for blessingby revered monk Luang PhuSupha.

The teddy bears are to bedistributed to motorists at policecheckpoints during the “sevendays of danger” period, fromDecember 28 to January 3.

Luang Phu Supha, who isreputed to be 114 years old, useda blessing popular during the reignof King Rama IV for the cer-emony.

As in previous years, theprovince has also been set withthreshold numbers of accidents(41), injuries (32) and deaths (3)for the seven-day period.

If actual numbers fall belowthese figures, the provincial ef-fort will be deemed a success.

PHUKET CITY: Two peoplehave died after a high-speed col-lision between a motorbike and apickup truck at the Tesco-Lotusintersection on the bypass roadon December 25.

Patthama Jiewluan, a high-school student at Phuket Witta-yalai School in Phuket City, diedat the scene.

Jirapan Chanchaivej, thedriver of the pickup, died later athospital.

Lt Theeradet Jiraksa ofPhuket City Police Station, whois leading the investigation into theaccident, told the Gazette that thecollision, which happened about7 am, was between Patthama,who was riding her motorcyclefrom Kathu to Phuket City, and apickup truck driven by Jirapanwith his friend Jirasak Samut-thikarn as passenger.

The pair were headingsouthbound through the junction

By Sompratch Saowakhon

Two die inbypass roadhorror smash

on their way from Koh Kaew toChalong.

“I received a call fromVachira Phuket Hospital this af-ternoon informing me that K.Jirapan has died,” Lt Theeradetsaid.

“K. Jirasak is still in acoma,” he added.

Lt Theeradet said that po-lice have yet to press charges asthey are still investigating the ac-cident.

“We need to check theCCTV camera recording takenat the scene at that time beforewe can draw any conclusions,”he said.

However, he said, “It looksas if one of the drivers failed tostop for a red light. It seems bothof them might have been drivingthrough the intersection at highspeed.

“I will have to wait forJirasak to regain consciousnessbefore I can proceed with the in-vestigation.” he added.

KAMALA: Police are investigat-ing the murder of a security guardfound beaten and shot to deathoutside a room at an apartmentbuilding in Kamala on the after-noon of December 22.

Duty Officer Pol LtChaiyapong Thamasurin of theKamala Police identified the vic-tim as 26-year-old JirasakKhundamri, who was employedas a security guard by a privatefirm in Cherng Talay.

He was found outsideapartment A1 at an unnamedapartment block on Soi OrBorTorin Bangwan village, tambon Ka-mala.

The victim died from asingle .38-caliber bullet to the leftside of his lower ribcage, LtChaiyapong said.

Several of the victim’s teethwere found on the ground nearthe body, which together with

By Natcha Yuttaworawit

Security guard, 26,murdered in Kamala

other injuries indicated that hehad been badly beaten before hewas shot.

Although the murderweapon was not found, policecollected at the scene the .38-caliber bullet which passedthrough the victim’s body andexited through his back, he said.

Police have already ques-tioned several witnesses in thecase, including the owner of theapartment block, 61-year-oldKosol Korkaew, and his daugh-ter Supak, 36.

Lt Chaiyapong declined tosay if they had any suspects inthe case, although he said a rela-tionship between the victim andK. Supak was thought be a fac-tor in the motive for the killing.

The victim’s family, who areMuslims, were required by theirfaith to bury K. Supak as soon aspossible and thus have not yetbeen questioned, said LtChaiyapong.

Alms-givingfor the

New YearPHUKET CITY: Phuket CityMunicipality invites all membersof the public to offer alms to Bud-dhist monks and nuns in a cer-emony on January 1 to celebratethe new year and make merit foran auspicious 2008.

The ceremony will be atQueen Sirikit Park on Thalang Rd.

A total of 199 monks andnuns have been invited fromtemples around Phuket to receivefood in the ceremony, which willbegin at 7 am. People are advisedto assemble at the park from 6am to allow ample time for ev-eryone to be seated before theceremony begins.

Dried or canned foods aresuggested as appropriate fooddonations.

WICHIT: Amid rumors that anew shopping mall is under con-struction opposite Central Festi-val Phuket on the bypass road,the Gazette has learned that anew branch of homeWorks, acomplete home-decoration andbuilding-supplies subsidiary of re-tailing giant Central, is slated forthe site.

Work began recently on thelarge plot behind DarasamuthSchool, with trucks working dayand night to clear the land.

Wiset Sabaijit, Chief Admin-istrative Officer (Palad) ofWichit Municipality, told the Ga-zette that permission to build theretail center was granted severalmonths ago.

However, he added thatthey were currently awaiting ap-

Work begins on home suppliesretail center on bypass road

proval of an environmental-im-pact assessment for an enclosedpedestrian bridge to be built toconnect the homeWorks buildingwith Central Festival.

Such permission involvedmany government agencies, hesaid, including the ProvincialHighways Office.

Palad Wiset said he couldnot disclose more informationabout the project, though he addedthat construction of the shoppingcenter was expected to be com-plete within 2008.

The new retail center willbring the total number of home-Works outlets in the country tonine, including the store on thelower level at Central FestivalPhuket.

– Sangkhae Leelanapaporn

4 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008I N S I D E S T O R Y

Ad- Phuket Cement

3x4

K. Able

2007: the yearPhuket is a special place; a place that has a habit ofmaking headline news. Not a year passes withoutsome major incident taking its toll, but each year

local residents and even the tourists, who visit but onceand take Phuket to their hearts, stride forward for a betterfuture.

Here Gazette News Editor Stephen Fein looks backat the stories over the past year that have made their markin Phuket history.

Less than three years af-ter the 2004 Asian tsu-nami disaster, Phuketonce again found itself

making international news head-lines in 2007 with the crash ofOne-Two-Go Flight OG269 atPhuket International Airport onSeptember 16 – by far Phuket’sbiggest news story in 2007.

The cause of the crash,which claimed the lives of 90people including five crew mem-bers, is still under investigation.However, initial indications arethat adverse weather conditions,including wind shear, were a ma-jor factor. A review of the flightdata and eyewitness accounts in-dicated that Indonesian pilotAreef Mulyadi attempted to landthe McDonnell-Douglas MD-82aircraft and then unsuccessfullytried to abort at the last minute.

Most of the those on boardperished after the plane’s wing hitan embankment, causing the fu-selage to crash into the groundand break in two. Some 40people managed to scramble tosafety after two passengerswere able to force open an emer-gency door, but the majority diedin the ensuing fire that left manyburned beyond recognition.

One survivor was long-termPhuket resident Robert Borlandfrom Australia, who was pulledfrom the burning wreckage by aThai man wearing a yellow shirt.The hero was later identified asPaiboon Phaphan, an air-condi-tioning mechanic from Pa Khlokwho was also seriously injured inthe crash.

Like many of the survivors,Mr Borland was treated atBangkok Hospital Phuket, wherehe underwent 10 skin-graft sur-geries before his release on De-cember 23, just in time for Christ-mas.

On Christmas Day, he toldthe Gazette that he was satisfiedwith the support of One-Two-Goin covering all his medical billsand expenses for his motherMuriel to come and be with himthroughout his recovery.

Mr Borland said he held nogrudge toward the airline. “Itcould have happened to any air-line,” he said.

He added that he wastouched to have received aChristmas card signed by theOne-Two-Go chairman and all itsPhuket staff, together with anoptical computer mouse in theshape of a One-Two-Go aircraft– to replace one lost in the disas-ter.

2007 was also a year with ahigh rate of violent attackson innocent people, among

them some foreigners. Perhapsthe most horrific of these tookplace at Loma Park along PatongBeach on February 13, whenSombun Kaewkhaaw, a 43-year-old vagrant and glue addict,doused 21-year-old beach mas-seuse Saijai Phromdaen withthinner and set her alight.

K. Saijai, who was criticallyinjured and spent months in hos-pital for treatment of first degreeburns to her face and body, willremain scarred for life.

The attack appears to havefollowed an argument that ensuedwhen the victim’s two-year-olddaughter “Ice” began crying,which outraged the drug-addledsensibilities of Sombun.

Onlookers who witnessedthe attack pounced on Sombunand beat him to a pulp beforeeventually handing him over toauthorities. He was later sent toa psychiatric hospital in SuratThani.

Another high-profile case,one which remains unsolved, wasthe fatal stabbing of Norwegiansea captain Simen SparreKnudsen, who was stabbed andleft for dead at about 1 am onSeptember 23 near the KataViewpoint as he was returning bymotorbike to his home in Rawaifrom a night out in Kata.

As Knudsen was a highly-respected expat resident with aThai wife and teenage son, hismurder sent shockwaves throug-hout the expat community andraised fears about the safety ofvisiting Phuket, especially in thevictim’s home country, where themurder became headline news.

Four young suspects,thought by some to have beenscapegoats, were rounded up byChalong Police. Although the firsttwo reportedly confessed to thekilling, they were later cleared andreleased. The case, later turnedover to the Phuket City Police,remains unsolved as 2007 passesinto 2008.

The Knudsen murder wasone of many violent crimes thatput the Chalong Police, whoseambit covers the entire south ofthe island, in the spotlight in thelatter half of 2007. Many casesinvolved armed attacks on motor-cyclists late at night. Another no-table crime in the district was therobbery of Don’s Mall in Rawaiby a gang of teenagers on No-vember 2.

Some hope for better secu-rity in the area came on Novem-ber 8, when Pol Col SamarnChainarong took over as super-

intendent from Col Chalit Kaew-yarat, who was transferred toTakuapa District Police Station inPhang Nga.

The Gazette notes that theproblems in Chalong are only partof an island-wide problem in lawenforcement, much of it due tolack of funding. Phuket’s regis-tered population of just over300,000, on which central govern-ment budgets are largely based,remains about half the actualpopulation – not even countingthe number of visiting tourists,expat residents and migrant la-borers from neighboring countriesthat continue to move here.

Phuket’s actual high-seasonpopulation at any one time isthought to be around one million,with the Tourism Authority ofThailand predicting the number ofvisiting tourists to surpass thefive-million mark for the first timeby year’s end.

Recognizing the severity ofthe “hidden population” problemwhen he took over as PhuketGovernor in late 2005, NiranKalayanamit promised to launcha registration drive to counter theproblem. That initiative took a step

forward with the launch ofThailand’s first “mobile registra-tion van” on November 8.

But while the number ofThais being added to the provin-cial rolls continues to increase,thanks to the registration effort,so does the number of peopleflocking to the island – continu-ing to fuel growth in almost ev-ery sector, including the real-es-tate market, which continues toboom.

Under these circumstances,it came as little surprise whenRoyal Thai Police Police Region8 Commander Lt Gen ThaneeTavitcha told the media in Sep-tember that some 10% ofPhuket’s current police forcehave requested transfers out ofthe province for easier postingselsewhere.

Phuket Provincial PoliceCommander Maj Gen DechaBudnampeth confirmed this, say-ing at the time that Phuket hadonly about 1,050 officers, farfewer than the 1,600 officersneeded to provide high-seasonsecurity. Regardless, Royal ThaiPolice headquarters, citing inad-equate funds, has continued to

Burn victim Saijai Phromdaen, 21, in her bed at Vachira PhuketHospital, where she was treated for first-degree burns after beingdoused with thinner and set alight by a vagrant glue-addict at LomaPark in Patong on February 13. She said her biggest sadness wasthat that her two-year-old daughter was afraid to look at her.

December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 5I N S I D E S T O R Y

deny his requests for reinforce-ments and the establishment of anew, independent police stationsfor both Tah Chat Chai andKaron.

However, it was announcedin early October that the PoliceRegion 8 command headquarters,currently in Surat Thani, will bemoving to Mai Khao, where 150rai of Treasury Department landhad been put aside for the project.

Construction of the newheadquarters is scheduled forcompletion by the end of Septem-ber 2008 under a 170-million-bahtbudget from police headquartersin Bangkok. The new headquar-ters will have training facilitiesincluding a shooting range.

Meanwhile, violent crimehas continued. Another violentmurder, this one apparently trig-

gered by inhalant abuse, was themurder of 31-year-old trans-sexual Keittirat Longnawa, foundbeaten and with her throatslashed on January 31 inRassada. At least six membersof a glue-sniffing gang, all but oneof them minors, were arrested.

Another unsolved murderinvolving a transsexual was thatof 19-year-old Thanawoot Wiriy-ananon, whose strangled andbeaten body was found near theroad to Tri Trang Beach in Patonglast month.

Police said the victim had acriminal background includingarrests related to ya bah (meth-amphetamine) and had beenknown to scout other transsexu-als to work for an Internet por-nographer who was arrested ear-lier in November in a hotel near

Soi Bangla.On June 22, two youths

were arrested for the grisly mur-der of two-year-old NitchanartPhueng-rang and her nanny DangPanthip, 40, during a botched rob-bery attempt at the victims’ homein Rassada the same day. Thepair slit the throats of the victimsafter they broke into the homeand the child began crying.

The two teenagers, a 15-year-old student at Phuket Tech-nical College and his 17-year-oldfriend, were caught at SaphanHin a few hours later and con-fessed. They were back on thestreets by mid-September aftertheir relatives posted bail. Thefather of the two-year-old, Nari-sorn Phueng-rang, is a teacher atPhuket Technical College.

There were numerous

other murders in Phuket in 2007,many involving jealousy, businessdisputes or teenage gang rivalry.

In one case, a Phuket CityPolice officer shot and killed ayouth who evaded a police searchon the bypass road in Koh Kaewin the early morning hours onApril 18.

This led to a four-hourblockade of Thepkrasattri Rdlater the same day by the victim’srelatives that paralyzed trafficand caused many tourists to misstheir departure flights.

The roadblock ended whenPhuket City Police Chief Super-intendent Col Nos Sawetalekagreed in writing to numerous de-mands ensuring that a fair inves-tigation be carried and justiceserved to the responsible officer,Sgt Prasarn Chuayman.

Although one of the de-mands was that the officer besuspended while the investigationwas underway, by June the Ga-zette learned that the officer hadbeen transferred to Krabi – andgiven a promotion.

While this year-end review could easily befilled with reports of

murder and violent assaults, therewere also several cases of theftthat deserve mentioning.

The most notable robberywas the successful one-manstick-up of the Siam Commer-cial Bank branch on Patak Rdin Karon in the late afternoon ofJune 29 by a Caucasian manwho managed to get away with420,000 baht in cash.

in review

One-Two-Go flight OG269 dominated headlines in Phuket and around the globe after it crashed andburned at Phuket International Airport on September 16. Only 40 passengers survived the disaster.Survivor Robert Borland (inset) is seen here with his mother Muriel and staff of Bangkok HospitalPhuket, from which he was released just before Christmas after 10 skin-graft surgeries.

Continued on page 6

The fatal stabbing of Norwegian sea captain Simen Sparre Knudsenin Rawai on September 23 sent shockwaves through the expatcommunity and raised fears about the safety of visiting Phuket,especially in the victim’s home country, where the murder becameheadline news.

6 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008I N S I D E S T O R Y

Despite an intensive manhunt us-ing footage obtained fromKaron’s new 16-camera CCTVsurveillance system, the maskedman escaped on a Suzuki Stepmotorbike and his identity andwhereabouts remain unknown.

The most profitable heist ofthe year, however, came on Janu-ary 27, when a lone gunman en-tered the Thongroj gold shop onChao Fa East Rd and emergedthree minutes later with gold jew-elry valued at more than one mil-lion baht.

Police be-lieve the robberymight have beencarried out by thesame man whopulled off a simi-lar heist in thesame area in2006, but despiteoffers of rewardmoney totaling500,000 baht, thebandit is still at-large.

Less suc-cessful at armedrobbery wasdown-on-his-luckDutchman Jeroen De Valk, 35,who walked into the managementoffice at the Phuket Villa Califor-nia residential development onJune 15 armed with a replica gunand walked out with 74,000 bahtin cash – but not before CCTV

cameras recorded his motorcyclelicense plate number.

After his arrest on June 22,he told police he had lived inThailand for six months, boughta house on credit, and set up aclothing store with a Thai woman– but the store was not makingmoney. The gun used in the hold-up turned out to be of the typeused for lighting cigarettes, not forshooting bullets.

Despite being a yearmarked by tragedy,needless violence and

acts of desperation, hope seemsto spring eternal inPhuket, as wit-nessed by the ongo-ing property boomand unprecedentednumber of touristsvisiting.

Although theentire year wasspent under a mili-tarily-installed gov-ernment with parsi-monious fundingoutlays, 2007 wasdefinitely the yearof the megaprojectin Phuket.

Among theideas put forward to the mediathis year were:

A pop-up tsunami barrier toprotect Patong from future dev-astation; a cable car project towhisk tourists up the rapidly erod-ing Patong hillsides; Gulu

Lalvani’s idea to build a man-made island off the coast of hisRoyal Phuket Marina in KohKaew as a marina for mega-yachts; and Asia’s largestaquarium, the exact location ofwhich has yet to be announced,to be developed jointly by Ripley’sBelieve it or Not and Minor In-ternational Plc.

Other megaprojects that re-main in the conceptual realm af-ter years include the decades-olddream of building an internationalconvention and exhibition centersomewhere on the island.

This project got a shovecloser to reality when INGFunds (Thailand) showed inter-est in investing and GovernorNiran ran with the idea, gettingapproval from the Ministry orTourism and Sports and havingplans drawn up.

Also approved was the useof a seaside plot of 350 rai of gov-ernment land at Tah Chat Chai inMai Khao.

The year in reviewContinued from page 5

However, the decision touse the government land raisednumerous legal and bureaucraticobstacles that will take about twoyears to resolve, during whichtime the next government couldeasily move to change or ax it al-together.

Two other big projects ofnote for Mai Khao include a 1.4-billion-baht

sports complex, to be developedon 238 rai of government land bythe Phuket Office of Sports andRecreation Development.

The other project, the 50-million-baht Welcome Gateway,was finally finished three yearsafter it was conceived by PhuketAdministration Organization(OrBorJor) President AnchaleeVanich-Thepabutra.

The rest stop and informa-tion center, which covers 25 raiabout 300 meters from the Sara-sin Bridge, was officially openedon September 9.

It features 29 seven-meter-tall concrete pillars, each en-graved with passages explainingPhuket’s history in Thai and En-glish, and a 21.8-meter tall gran-ite sculpture.

Another large project near-ing completion further south is the45-meter-high Mingmongkol Bud-dha image, an icon-in-the-makingthat is already visible across muchof the southern half of the islandfrom its perch high in the NakkerdHills in Karon.

Nine monks have taken upresidence at the site, where thecool sea breezes and spectacu-lar views are already drawing asteady stream of visitors – manyof whom make merit by makingdonations for further expansion ofthe project.

On a more practical note,work on several important infra-structure projects moved forwardin 2007, with the 7.2-million-cu-bic-meter Bang Neaw Dum res-ervoir project in Srisoonthorn,Thalang, scheduled to open andprovide water by September2008, at the earliest.

It will be be the island’s sec-ond reservoir. Final funding for allland acquisition for a third reser-voir, a 5.7-million-cubic-meterbasin at Klong Krata in Chalong,was finally made available andconstruction work is expected tobegin soon after all the land pur-chases go through.

Finally, despite several studies and a memorandum ofunderstanding signed by all

of Phuket’s local administrativebodies this year to improve theisland’s waste management, thereis still no funding for a second in-cinerator at Saphan Hin.

A second incinerator is badlyneeded because the island al-ready generates well over 520tonnes of waste daily, about twicethe amount the current incinera-tor can burn.

Storing of the excess inlandfill around the incinerator hasalready resulted in one environ-mental catastrophe.

In mid-June, all of the fishin the 396 fish-farm baskets werefound dead after heavy rainscaused a toxic plume to flow fromwaste lagoons around the incin-erator into nearby waterway.

A sketch of the farang bank robber who walked into the SiamCommercial Bank branch in Karon near closing time and walked outwith 420,000 baht in cash.

The most profitableheist of the year

came on January27 when a lonegunman enteredthe Thongroj gold

shop andemerged with goldjewelry valued atmore than one

million baht.

Loss of freedom feared assecurity bill sails through

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The controversial InternalSecurity Bill was over-whelmingly endorsed bythe National Legislative

Assembly on December 20 withno lawmaker opposing it duringtwo hours of deliberation.

The assembly voted 105-8in favor, with two abstentions.

Chotechuang Chutinatorn,one of the 200 or so protestersoutside the parliament while theNLA was in session, said Thai-land now had its own “Gestapo”that could curb people’s rights,such as freedom of movementand the right to use electronicdevices and access the Internet.

The protesters have vowedto gather 10,000 signatures tostart a constitutional motion torepeal the law.

At its heart is Article 17,which grants the Internal Secu-rity Operations Command(ISOC) the authority to ordercurfews, restrict citizens’ free-dom of movement and access toand use of any electronic equip-ment, place anyone under housearrest, stop vehicles and closedown roads or transportationroutes, and order any govern-ment official to carry out or stopcarrying out any duty.

ISOC, headed by the primeminister with the Army chief ashis deputy, will have regional andprovincial branches. Its upperechelons are filled mostly by gen-erals and senior bureaucrats.

Wildlife corridors planned. Thegovernment plans to expand wild-life forest areas for the animalsin them by using corridors to con-nect 19 protected forests.

Samart Sumanochitraporn,director of the National Parks,Wildlife and Plant ConservationDepartment’s Wildlife Conserva-tion Office, said the intention isto boost the size of wildlife habi-tats by joining adjacent forestswith a safe way for the wild ani-mals to come and go between theareas by building tunnels for them,so they can go under the roadsrather than across them.

Officials are now surveyinganimals’ movements in order toplace the tunnels in appropriatelocations, he said.

Director-General Chalerm-sak Wanichsombat told a press

conference on December 19 thatthe department also plans to raisewild animals for profit by build-ing tree-houses, from which tour-ists will be able to pay to observeanimals in the wild.

Clean cafes. In a bid to curtailalcohol sales and other vices atInternet cafes, authorities areencouraging entrepreneurs to jointheir “safe and constructiveInternet cafes” project.

The project requires partici-pating Internet cafes to strictlyban access to pornographic or il-legal websites, ban smoking andthe drinking of alcohol, and notallow anyone younger than 18years old to stay after 10 pm.

Social Development andHuman Security Minister PaiboonWattanasiritham said that cafes

joining the project would receivebenefits that include low-costsoftware.

The project was launchedby the Ministry of Social Devel-opment and Human Security,Culture Ministry, Interior Minis-try, Education Ministry and RoyalThai Police.

The government alreadyprohibits youths aged under 18years old from staying in Internetcafes after 10 pm, but many haveflouted this law, K. Paiboon said.

Some cafes sell alcohol andcigarettes to minors, he added.

Stoned cars. Following a reportthat a car waiting at an intersec-tion in the capital had stonesthrown at it on December 19,Bankok Metropolitan PoliceChief Pol Lt Gen Assawin

Kwanmuang instructed 88 policestations across the city to be vigi-lant in the search for stonethrowers and said such criminalsshould be dealt with strictly.

Several rock-throwing inci-dents have been reported recentlyin central Thailand, some ofwhich have resulted in deaths.

A truck driver is under thecare of HM The Queen after hewas blinded in a stone-throwingattack in Ayudhaya in Octoberwhile driving his six-wheeledtruck.

Earlier this month, a cafesinger was killed by a 1.5-kilo-

gram rock thrown at her by twoyoung men on a motorbike afteran abusive exchange in Kam-phaeng Phet.

In October 2004, Thai co-median “Jo Mokjok” was killedin a stone attack on the AsiaHighway in Ayudhaya’s BangPa-in district by a group of young-sters during an attempted rob-bery.

Two visas in one. Thailand andCambodia will sign a single visaagreement that will enable visi-tors to use only one visa for bothcountries, the Foreign Ministryhas announced.

Foreign Minister NityaPibulsonggram was expected tosign the agreement with his Cam-bodian counterpart Hor Namhongduring an official visit to PhnomPenh recently.

The pact is a pilot projectunder the Ayeyawady-ChaoPhya-Mekong Economic Coop-eration Strategy (ACMECS).

Set up since 2003,ACMECS is a joint developmentscheme that includes Cambodia,Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

Under the slogan of “fourcountries, one destination”, theSingle Visa pact is aimed at fa-cilitating tourism in the region.

Foreign ministers of thefour countries in August 2005agreed to allow Thailand andCambodia to implement thescheme first, the remaining mem-bers joining later if the schemeproves successful.

RICE DELIVERY: Fortunately, no deaths or injuries were reported when a trailer filled with 29 tons ofunprocessed rice decoupled from the truck that was transporting it and crashed into this downtownhome in Nakhon Ratchasima.

Truck-driver Boontham Semarum, 34, was transporting the rice from Buri Ram to a mill inNakhon Ratchasima when the trailer parted from the truck and careered into the building.

A NEAR MISS

Around the Nation news round-up is sourced from the pages ofThe Nation and Kom Chad Lueknewspapers.

A R O U N D T H E N A T I O NDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 7

A R O U N D T H E R E G I O N8 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Attack of the omnipresent shophousesAs Ao Nang becomes

more Westernized,with fast-food restaurants and the like, the

“Thai-ness” of the area is slowlydisappearing, especially in termsof the architecture.

Thai-style wooden struc-tures are being replaced by omni-present three- and four-storyshophouses.

One example highlightingthis change was the recent saleof the Krabi Seaview Resort.

This resort, one of the firstin Ao Nang, boasted Thai-stylebungalows, the Roof Restaurant(named after its traditional Thai-style roof) and a small lagoon.

This has all been torn downto be replaced with… guesswhat? Four-story shophouses.

This will certainly changethe environment of the beach areaas the resort is just a few hun-dred meters from the beachfront.

From an economic point ofview, this high-density style ofconstruction is one of the few al-ternatives available to recoup thelarge investment made with landprices at recordhighs.

But there aremore projects likethis underway, andthe oft-cited aimsof the TourismAuthority of Thai-land to keep Krabia green, naturaldestination areprobably out thewindow.

Give it ahandful of years atthis rate and youwon’t know if youare in Ao Nang orMiami Beach.

Krabi needs you. Pol Maj GenPhuwadol Vudduccanok, com-mander of Krabi Provincial Po-

lice, has asked the local expatcommunity to help the TouristPolice during this high season.

As we all know, Krabi’stourist industry has boomed inrecent years, with tourist arrivalsapproaching two million visitorsa year.

Gen Phuwadol pointed outthat the police forcein Krabi is of com-parable size to ruralareas in Isarn withfew tourists.

His answer tothe increasing strainon his manpower isto enlist the aid ofexpats to help in thetourist areas.

This ap-proach has beenused elsewhere inThailand with vary-ing degrees of ef-fectiveness, but itis a program thatshould provide

some utility for local police andtourists.

The major tourist destina-tions in Krabi are filled with thou-

sands of tourists speaking a mul-titude of languages.

When tourists have prob-lems and English is not their na-tive language, the local policehave difficulty communicatingwith them.

The expat volunteers willnot be volunteer “police” as inother tourist cities, but a less for-mal group of language special-ists.

All the volunteers are busi-ness owners, residents and manyhave families here and have al-ready helped many of their homenationality over the years.

Currently, more than 10 vol-unteers have stepped forward tooffer to translate in Dutch, Swed-ish, Finnish, Norwegian, Japa-nese, Korean, French, German,Italian and Flemish.

If you live in Krabi and havesome language skills other thanthose listed and you would like tovolunteer, email me at ltr@loxinfo.co.th.

Fare’s fair. My previous columncrying for more diversity in cui-sine and questioning the number

of tailor shops evoked a large re-sponse in the expat community.

Among them, the local Ital-ian population serving genuineItalian fare have always had theopinion that the cheap pizza res-taurants run by non-Italians re-flect poorly on their efforts to pro-vide an authentic Italian diningexperience.

Nearly all expats – andThais too – said that the largenumber of tailor shops added littlevalue to the attractiveness of thearea as a quality tourist destina-tion.

However, free marketforces are at work and those whocan pay their rents have the rightto open their businesses and op-erate freely.

As long as no laws are bro-ken, one can conduct his businessas he sees fit. As it has been saidmany times, it is impossible to leg-islate against bad taste.

ACROSSTHE BAYBy Gus Reynolds

Thai-style wooden structures are being replaced by theomnipresent three- and four-story shophouses. One examplehighlighting this change was the recent sale of the KrabiSeaview Resort. This resort has all been torn down to bereplaced with four-story shophouses.

Give and take. The anniversaryof the tsunami is upon us and it’sa time of reflection.

Sadly, however, I urgepeople to be alert to groups solic-iting donations on behalf of tsu-nami victims.

If you are approached bypeople asking for money, askthem for identification, their Thaifoundation registration number,foundation address and phonenumber.

Foreign-based foundationsare not registered in Thailand andanyone can print letterhead stat-ing they are helping poor orphanson some island.

Verifying that the money hasgone to the espoused cause is al-most impossible.

It is a shame that peopletake advantage of such a situa-tion, as there are still far too manychildren who have lost their fami-lies and genuinely need some formof help.

If you want to make a do-nation, it is best to give to a regis-tered Thai foundation that is re-quired to provide audited finan-cial statements upon request.

A R O U N D T H E S O U T HDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 9

Fifty Burmese feared lost at sea

Around 3,000 Thai Muslims pray to mark Eid al-Adha at Benjamarachuthit School in Pattani December 19. The festival marks thewillingness of Ibrahim, known as Abraham in the Jewish tradition, to sacrifice his son to God.

CELEBRATING ABRAHAM

At least 22 Burmeseworkers were killedwhen a boat takingthem from Kaw-

thaung on the southern-most tipof Myanmar to Ranong capsizedDecember 20.

The remainder of the 50 pas-sengers on the boat are still un-accounted for.

On the morning of Decem-ber 22, a fisherman reported to2nd Lt Suwit Jiateuapheua of BakNam Police Station in Ranong’sMuang district that he had seenbodies floating in the water to thewest of Koh Chang.

A Ranong Marine Policepatrol boat was sent to investi-gate and found the bodies of 11men, seven women and four boysfloating in the water.

All the victims were dressedin warm clothing for the journeyand had Burmese passports andidentification cards.

From their investigations,police discovered that the boathad left Kawthaung in the eveningof December 20 carrying 50 pas-sengers.

The boat was overloadedand is thought to have capsizedafter being hit by a large wave.

A source in the securitysources said that Burmese policeare hunting for a person namedPo Saw, 38, who had brought theworkers to a hotel in Kawthaungbefore taking them to the boat’scaptain, Kla Mao Mao, 40, whowas to deliver them to anotheragent in Ranong Province.

The fate of Kla Mao Maois still unknown.

Old junk. Fisherman in PhangNga have discovered a sunkenjunk containing five cannons es-timated to be hundreds of yearsold about three miles off shorefrom Ban Nam Khem in Takuapadistrict.

Nui Rawee, 52, was fishingfor shrimp with seven relativeswhen he noticed the wreck of aboat at a depth of about sixmeters.

K. Nui and his relativesdived to examine the wreck andfound long strips of metal onboard.

The divers hammered at themetal to release them from thewreck and found that they werein fact cannons. The men sal-vaged the guns and found two 1.3-meter-long, six-inch-diametercannons and three one-meter-long, four-inch-diameter gun. K.Nui took the cannons back to hishouse.

Word of the find soonspread and crowds gathered tosee the guns. Local officials werenotified and on December 20Phang Nga Governor WichaiPhraisangop visited the house.

Gov Wichai said that hecould not be certain which era thecannons were from, but esti-mated that they were hundredsof years old.

Cultural authorities will ex-amine the weapons to determinetheir age and officials have been

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K. Anna

sent to the site of the wreck toprevent it being damaged bypeople hunting for antiques beforeit can be salvaged.

School feud stabbing. A 19-year-old man was found stabbedto death outside a karaoke bar inNakhon Sri Thammarat’s Phibundistrict December 21.

Somphon Klaeow had beenstabbed multiple times in the headand chest. Friends of the victimtold police that the killer waslikely to be Jarakrit Lamai, also19, who had been a known en-emy of K. Somphon since theywere in school together.

Somphon’s friends told po-lice that the previous evening,

Somphon and about four friendshad gone to an unnamed karaokebar in Tambon Khao Phra.Jarakrit was also drinking in thebar with a group of his friends.

After some time hadpassed, Somphon’s friends al-leged, Jarakrit called Somphonover and said that the two shouldgo outside to discuss their dispute.A short time later, Jarakrit alleg-edly returned to his bar saying thathe had killed Somphon and askedfor his friends to dispose of thebody. He then fled the scene.

Jarakrit’s friends allegedlysearched for the body, but couldnot find it so went home, policesaid.Second Thai-Malaysia Bridge

Around The South news round-up is sourced from the pages ofThe Nation and Kom Chad Lueknewspapers.

opens. Thai Prime MinisterSurayud Chulanont and his Ma-laysian counterpart AbdullahBadawi on December 21 jointlyopened the second Thai-Malay-sia bridge linking Narathiwat withNarathiwat’s Buketa and Malay-sian Kelantan’s Bukit Bunga.

The US$2 million cost bridgeconnecting Narathiwat’s Buketaand Malaysian Kelantan’s BukitBunga is a part of joint economiccooperation scheme Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Tri-angle (IMTGT) to boost eco-nomic growth in Thailand southand Malaysia’s northern state.

Cambodians caught. Police inSongkhla arrested 230 illegal im-

migrants from Cambodia on De-cember 17 as they were prepar-ing to return to their motherland.

The arrest was made inMuang district 6 pm December 17,when the Cambodians were wait-ing for buses to take them home.

Police said the Cambodianshad just been laid off by opera-tors of fishing boats, transportboats and tour boats during thehigh sea season so they weregoing home. They were handedover to the Sadao ImmigrationOffice pending deportation.

10 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008A R O U N D T H E I S L A N D

Ditch the clichés: it’s D Gallery

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K. Ann

DGallery doesn’t deal inclichés. They aren’thawking souvenir sun-set scenes or acrylic

Scarfaces. This new contempo-rary art gallery at Royal PhuketMarina offers unique works fromhigh-profile Vietnamese and Thaiartists, placing sophisticated tasteover the commonplace.

The gallery juxtaposes pol-ished concrete floors and ex-posed ceiling ducts with fine arton titanium white walls, creatinga post-modern feel. The workranges from abstract forms inwatercolors on handmade paperto highly detailed oil portraits.

After working at a galleryin Bangkok for more than fiveyears , Managing DirectorPornthip “Dashy” Raksapiksudecided to open D Gallery. Whilevisiting Phuket over the past threeyears, she noticed a lack of whatshe calls “proper art galleries”.

“By ‘proper art gallery’, Imean we don’t mix art with otherthings, such as furniture and an-tiques. A proper art gallery sup-ports the artists by holding exhi-bitions, doing advertising and pro-

By Skyler Swezy moting them,” K. Dashy said.She believes that Phuket

expats and residents are open tocontemporary art and the abun-dance of million-dollar homesmeans there are plenty of blankwalls.

“The people here, locals andforeigners, are sophisticated andthere are more million-dollarhouses in Phuket than in Bangkok.So, I think people here need artfor their nice homes, not justbeautiful things but somethingmore collectible,” K. Dashyadded.

The gallery exhibits work bysix Thai artists and eight Vietnam-ese artists, many of whom arewell established in Asia and in-ternationally.

The majority are young, up-and-coming artists in their thirties.They are second-generation art-ists who have the potential to be-come masters in the future. Of-ten, the artists produce a limitedamount of work per year, insur-ing their work is quality and en-hancing the market value. TheVietnamese artists are differentfrom Thai artists because theyhave a higher profile and are in-ternationally known, explained K.

Dashy.Vietnamese artist Nguyen

Xuan Tiep uses watercolors onhandmade paper to create ab-stracted faces and figures withghostly aesthetic. Tiep, who isdirector of the Vietnam Fine ArtsMuseum, has had works featured

in the Singapore Art Museum andthe National Art Gallery of Ma-laysia.

Although equally gifted, thefeatured Thai artists often lackthe same recognition from Asianand global art communities. Thisleaves K. Dashy with a sense ofresponsibility to be more than anart vendor – she wants to raiseher Thai artists into the art world’sspotlight using D Gallery and itsstylish website.

“Many people go to Viet-nam or China looking to buy apiece of art. In Thailand, peoplewant to go to the beach,” shesaid.

She believes that the smallnumber of Thai art collectors alsostunts the growth of Thailand’sart scene. “In Thailand, there arenot many Thai people who like tobuy art and support artists, that’swhy the art scene is going veryslow.

“Thais tend to want or be-lieve in objects. For instance, theJatukhams they hang around theirnecks. They will pay a millionbaht for that because they believein that object,” K. Dashy said.

Another challenge is thesubject matter of contemporaryartwork, which focuses on thecommunication of a idea or emo-tion rather than beauty. Pointingto a portrait of a face, paintedwith thick brush strokes and

eerie hues of blue, K. Dashy said,“Like that portrait, some peopledon’t want to put that in theirhome because it’s not aboutbeauty and it’s not an easy sub-ject.

“But I think people can trustwhat I’m trying to present and aresophisticated enough to under-stand what I’m doing. I’m not try-ing to make a hot sale, I’m doingit because it’s my passion,” sheadded.

The gallery’s grand openingis slated for late January. Through-out the coming year, the gallerywill hold exhibitions for individualartists, who will be flown toPhuket from around Thailand andVietnam to promote their worksand give patrons a chance to meetthe artists.

The gallery welcomes theserious and the curious.

“You don’t have to want tobuy art to walk in the gallery. Ijust want people to come in, sitdown, read a book or ask somequestions. I want people to knowmore about these types of art-ists,” K. Dashy said.

D Gallery is located at RoyalPhuket Marina. 63/501 Moo2, Thepkrasattri Rd, KohKaew, Muang, Phuket 83200.Tel: 076-360897. Email:info@ dgalllery.co.th Website:www.dgallery.co.th

Above: D Gallery features acollection of contemporaryartwork for the serious orcurious.

Left: The works by Thai andVietnamese artists range fromphotorealism portraits topolitical commentary, such asthis piece by Le Quang Ha titledSoldier.

December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 11

Ad- Royal Phuket Marina

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K. Anna

12 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

G O O D L I V I N GDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 13

Noodling some freshtwists on fusion fare

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K. Ann

New to Phuket is ChefSanya Thotong, origi-nally from Buri Ram,to head the kitchen at

Thai Brasserie at Jungceylon,which opened last month.

The latest Blue Elephanteatery to open, Thai Brasserieoffers a variety of Thai and Asiandishes, but is better known for itsinternational fusion and vegetar-ian selections.

Chef Sanya was chosen toopen the venue because of hisnatural flair and creativity. Butwhat sets Chef Sanya apart frommost chefs on Phuket is that hehas never studied culinary arts ata college. All his education andtraining has been gleaned fromworking in kitchens – the rest isjust natural flair.

He started work as a chefrelatively late, compared with hiscontemporaries. Chef Sanya be-gan cooking when he was 28 ata small restaurant in Bangkok.

However, after some sup-portive comments from friends,he soon joined Bussarakam res-taurant on Silom Rd, Bangkok,where his passion for cookingbegan to take hold.

He then moved to Sol Twinrestaurant on Rama VI Rd, wherehe worked as a chef for twoyears, preparing banquets. Aftera recommendation from a friend,he joined Blue Elephant onSathorn Rd in Bangkok in 2002.He then joined Orangery Restau-rant, another Blue Elephant af-filiate, at Siam Paragon, beforemoving on to the Blue Elephant’sLemon Cherry noodle cafe atCentral World.

However, it was the BlueElephant at Sathorn where hecreated some of his first fusiondishes, introducing flavors fromhis native Isarnto the menuthrough his cre-ations cho-muang (sweetand salty dessertmade from flourand cassava), pla krung (spicyminced shrimp dish similar to larb)and kangkao puak (deep-friedstarter of pork and mushroomsealed in mashed taro).

“When I was young, I didn’tlike cooking much, but I was look-ing for a job in Bangkok when Iwas 25. I started working at asmall restaurant. Soon after, afriend told me that I was good atit and suggested that I apply fora job at Blue Elephant,” ChefSanya explains.

“I have adapted my favor-ite dishes to the Blue Elephant’sstyle. Before, authentic Thai foodwas most popular, but now theworld has changed and Thai foodis evolving to suit the changingtastes of diners,” he adds.

“Here, Blue Elephant givesme the freedom to create newdishes and adapt dishes to BlueElephant-style fusion food. A per-sonal favorite is fried shrimpgreen curry. This method is usednowhere else – it’s our uniquestyle.

“We always create newdishes. You can even see that

with the greencurry noodles –we use sobanoodles becauseit’s different andchanges thetaste of the

dish,” he says.Even the Chef’s salad be-

ing served at Thai Brasserie wasdeveloped especially for therestaurant’s opening in Patongin November.

Chef Sanya explains thatthe salad is loaded with sweet ba-sil and the dressing’s creamy tex-ture is its main attraction. Anymeats, including fish and shrimp,can be substituted for the saladinstead of using chicken, salmonor pork.

Similarly, he says that thesofter soba noodles gives thegreen curry noodles dish a differ-ent texture and more of an eggflavor.

Chef’s SaladServes 2

Ingredients

40g sliced smoked salmon40g sliced grilled chicken40g sliced grilled red pork2 slices cheddar or parmesancheese10 pieces red oak leaves10 pieces green oak leaves40 Japanese goldenmushrooms4 sliced tomatoes2 sliced red and green bellpeppersAny other vegetables to taste

For the salad dressing:3 tablespoons sweet basil2g peppermint leaves1g coriander2 tablespoons olive oil80g vinegar1 teaspoon sugar1 teaspoon salt2 tablespoons mayonnaise

Method

Using a blender, blend the sweetbasil, peppermint and olive oil

until it has a smooth texture, andseason with the vinegar, salt andsugar to taste. Then mix in themayonnaise until it is a smooth,creamy dressing.

Green Curry NoodlesServes 2

Ingredients

1 piece large shrimp (about150g)100g shredded steamed chicken200g soba noodles100g concentrated coconut milk300g plain coconut milk50g bread crumbs

For the green curry paste:10g green chilis10g galangal10g lemongrass5g coriander5g sweet basil

2g garlic1 teaspoon salt1 tablespoon fish sauce2 tablespoons sugar

Method

Create a curry paste by blendingthe galangal, lemon grass, cori-ander, garlic, sweet basil and chiliuntil it becomes a smooth paste.Save some of the curry paste tobaste the shrimp.

To prepare the soup, fry thecurry paste in a pan on mediumheat until the aroma of the pasteemanates from the pan, then addthe concentrate coconut milk, stir-ring it until the oil rises to the sur-face – then add the plain coco-nut milk.

Baste or soak the shrimpwith the green curry paste for 10minutes, then cover with shrimpwith bread crumbs and pan frywith medium heat.

Boil the soba noodles untilits strands can be broken easilywith a pinch (just like spaghetti)and place in the curry soup.Sprinkle the shredded chicken ontop then place the shrimp on topas a finishing touch.

Thai Brasserie at Jungceylon,Patong. Open daily 11 am to 11pm. Tel: 076-600172. Website:www.orangery.co.th For moreinformation email SirimaRojprasitporn at sirima.roj@orangery.co.th

Chef Sanya, now at ThaiBrasserie in Jungceylon,shows off his two new fusioncreations: Chef’s Saladfeaturing oak leaves andsweet basil, and green currynoodles featuring Japanesesoba noodles.

chefGuest

By Semacote Suganya

P H U K E T P E O P L E14 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Geared to go around

Gundeger and Helga Herberstein in Phuket with their trusty Land Rover, in which they have traveledacross six continents.

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K. Anna

Married for nearlyhalf a century,French South Afri-can, Gundeger

Herberstein, 71, and his wifeHelga, 66, enjoy a mutual passionfor travel and new experiences,which has meant a far-from-tran-quil retirement with their faithful110 Land Rover that has takenthem across six continents.

Both Helga and Gundegerwere born in Austria, wherethey met and married before

moving to Paris. There,Gundeger worked in the

automotive industry beforerunning his own advertising

company.They lived in Paris for 22

years and became French citi-zens, then in 1984 they moved toSouth Africa and started a newcompany manufacturing advertis-ing materials. Gundeger eventu-ally sold the company to his em-ployees in 2001 before retiringand embarking on the couple’sglobal trek by Land Rover.

“We have always enjoyedtravel, but never really went far,”said Gundeger.

The couple began their in-tercontinental safari in April 2002.“We started from Johannesburgand then drove to Mozambique,Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda,Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan,Chad, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria

and then Chad again. We wentto Burkina Faso, Togo, Ghana,Mali, Mauritania, Morocco andthen took a ferry to Spain,”Gundeger recalled.

Angola and the Congo werenot on the itinerary because ofcivil strife. A few other smallcountries were also off the listdue to concerns with possibletraveling difficulties. They alsowanted to make sure they saw alot of Europe as well.

After arriving in Spain byferry, they drove through Portu-gal, France, Switzerland, Lichten-stein and Austria. By that time,the couple’s passion for travelwas in their blood and they soonbegan planning their next trip andpreparing the car.

“We prepared for aboutthree months before starting oursecond long journey. We traveledaround Europe again for aboutthree months, then in June 2004we went from France to BuenosAires by container ship. We werethe only passengers traveling onthe boat, which took three weeks

to get to Buenos Aires,” saidGundeger.

Over the next three monthsGundeger, Helga and their LandRover covered 6,000 kilometersthrough Argentina, Paraguay,Bolivia and Peru, up to Lima andthen to the very south of Chileand back to Buenos Aires beforeheading back to South Africa.

“We came back throughBuenos Aires and traveled up toUruguay and Brazil. We wentthrough Rio de Janeiro, Sao Pauloand we all through the Amazonon a small trail, always in theLand Rover. We went on toManaus then to Venezuela, on toColombia and on a boat again toPanama,” said Gundeger.

“Then we traveled to all theSouth American countries; Pan-ama, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica,Guatemala and up to Mexico.Then we went to the US, fromthe west coast [San Diego] acrossto New York. From there wewent north to Canada, crossingfrom the east to west coast be-

fore going to Alaska,” he added.From Alaska, they traveled

south to the US, stopping off inSan Francisco, then onto a cargoship heading for Malaysian PortKlang before coming to Phuket.

Phuket was a destination ofchoice, not just because of theisland is en route to Bangkok:Gundeger had heard that Phuketwas an ideal destination for amedical stopover.

“I was told that the doctorsin Thailand are very good and thatBangkok Hospital Phuket wouldbe able to operate on my knee,plus Phuket was a much nicerplace to recover after the opera-tion than Bangkok,” he said.

“From Bangkok, we wenton to Cambodia, visiting SiemReap and Phnom Penh. Then wewent to Vietnam, but we had toleave our car at the border andtake a taxi to Ho Chi Minh. Thenwe came back to Thailandthrough Cambodia and then toLaos. We saw much of southernLaos with the car before going

to Myanmar and then back toBangkok,” he said.

The couple don’t have plansfor Australia. “It’s not really sodifferent from South Africa andit’s expensive to get there andtravel once you’re there,” thecouple agreed.

“Now we are planning toleave from Port Klang so we cango on to Indonesia. We want tosee Bali. Then we will have toput our car on a cargo ship fromPort Klang again so that we canget to Bangladesh or India. Oncethere, we want to visit Nepal andBhutan and travel across Asiaback to Vienna then Paris, wherewe will catch up with the familyagain,” Gundeger said.

“Once we are back in Pariswe will make plans for the nexttrip,” he added.

Asked what they enjoyedbest about their travels, Gunde-ger replied, “I couldn’t really saywhat I love the most about thesetravels. We have seen so muchdiversity in the countries we’ve

By Janyaporn Morel

P H U K E T P E O P L EDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 15

the worldpassed through. The African,American and Asian people andcultures are so vastly different toour way of life,” he said.

“In Africa we experiencedthe wildlife and deserts. In SouthAmerica the lakes and land-scapes were spectacular, while inAsia we have met lovely peopleand enjoyed a wonderful climate.

“We also love discoveringthese countries’ histories. Phuketis fantastic and we love Cambo-dia. Angkor Wat is lovely andPhnom Penh, too. It is very in-teresting to see Vietnam after theIndochina war that I heard somuch about when I was young.The same goes for Laos, too.

“We didn’t really knowmuch about Thailand before com-ing here, but it is an amazing placeand it’s good to find out aboutThailand’s history,” he added.

Although cross-country isnot always the easiest way totravel, they feel that the experi-ence is more worthwhile thantraveling as package tourists.

“From Bangkok to Phukettook us four days and we haveseen a lot of interesting thingsalong the way which we wouldn’thave seen if we just took a plane.Of course, traveling like this is notwithout its difficulties, but it’s wellworth it.

“We have discovered somelovely places between here andBangkok. We had a lovely quiethotel beside the beach all to our-selves and many of the people wehave met have been very kind tous,” Gundeger said.

“We have been very luckynot to face any really difficult situ-ations during our travels. When-ever we have had a problem, therehave always been very nicepeople to help us.

“We have not really had anyproblems with the people, cul-tures, food or language. In SouthAmerica, we used Spanish tocommunicate. Africa was noproblem because we could com-municate in English or French.Asia isn’t so easy but sign lan-guage and good will is alwayseasily understood,” Gundegersaid.

“Not so many people speakEnglish in Thailand so it’s been alittle more difficult but there isalways someone in a group who

can speak some English,” headded.

Apart from a bout of ma-laria in Malawi, Africa, wherethey were sick for about threedays but treated with quinine, thecouple said that they experiencedno other major problems in thevast continent.

“Friends and family wereconcerned about how we wouldcope with traveling in Africa, butwe didn’t have any negative ex-periences. We slept in the openwith no problems.

“We didn’t have any prob-lems at the African borders ei-ther, although people warned usthat immigration and border po-lice in some places would ask usfor money or treat us badly. Somewere worried that we might berobbed along the way but that hasnever happened.

“Whenever we got to a bor-der or a road block, we would sim-ply get out of the car and greetofficials in a friendly way. I thinkit depends a lot on how you treatpeople, although we were stillvigilant and wary of what or whowe may come across next,”Gundeger said.

“We have seen the differ-ence between developed and de-veloping countries; it’s so diverse,but wherever you go, there arealways nice people.

“Many people stay inplaces such as Phuket for onlyone or two weeks, which isn’tenough time to experience or re-ally know anything about the wayof life here.

“One thing we have learnedis that people often have thewrong impression about some-where we intend to visit and theywill sometimes give us mislead-ing advice or information. Sometold us that we wouldn’t find ac-commodation in Phuket at thistime of year, but we were fine.

“Others said that Sudanwould be very dangerous but wedidn’t experience any problemsthere either,” Gundeger said.

“I think everyone should trytraveling like this. There are somany interesting things to see.Some of the young people wehave met along the way are sur-prised at our ages but they saythat it’s good to know that life isnot over after 30,” he added.

H A P P E N I N G S16 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

T his week

SUPER SPINNER: A true master at work, ‘Little’ Louie Vega spins house musicclassics at Seduction with his eclectic beats in Patong on December 11. Louieplayed into the early hours of the morning as revelers danced relentlessly to hissignature US sound.

DECK THE MALL: Phuket Gazette publisher John Magee joins the Central Festival Phuket(CFP) Christmas tree lighting ceremony with (from left) The Metropole Hotel General ManagerPeerapong Supaorus; Tangmo Group CEO Chanok Kaewsinuan; CFP GM KankanokChanprasartporn and Marketing Manager Songpon Pongrapeeporn; Phuket Tourist AssociationConsultant Pattanapong Akewanich; Siangtai Daily newspaper publisher ChaowapongMekarakkul; Clinic Dent Central owner Kamonwan Rojanajinda; and Lt Col KositKanjanakomon, deputy superintendent Crime Suppression at Thalang Police Station.

BEAUTY AND THE BULL: Chef Pablo introduced the delights of Spanish tapasand desserts to Phuket, with the opening of his El Toro Steakhouse & Tapas inBoat Lagoon on November 23. Pictured are some of the gastro-satisfied guests.

HEART HELP: Emergency Asia recently completed a community defibrillationeducation program at The Racha resort, making it the first hotel in the Phuketarea to have an automated external defibrillator for certified resort staff to usein cardiac emergencies. Pictured is Peter Davison (4th from left), managingdirector of Emergency Asia, with The Racha staff after their training session.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: The Holiday Inn Resort Phuket’s team and guests celebrate theresort’s 20th anniversary with a Thank You party on November 30.

CULTURE FEST: Students of Phuket Technology College welcome 229 students and 37teachers and staff from Asahi High School, Japan, for a cultural exchange extravaganza ofdancing, games, food demonstrations and other activities.

December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 17

Find more Recruitment Classified ads at

www.phuketgazette.net!

L I F E S T Y L E18 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Phummisak Hongsyok, memberof National Legislative Assembly,former mayor of Phuket City andex-president of the Phuket RealEstate Club, said, “I would loveto see Thai politics change forthe better. I want to see Phuketchange for the better too. Icannot give a specific point as towhat should change, just thatThailand and Phuket shouldchange for the better.”

The New Year is once again upon us with no moredry weekends forecast at the hands of general elec-tions, so it’s time to pop some champagne and

change the calendar.For many, the new year is an opportunity to make

some positive changes in their lives. Slimming shakes,nicotine gum and gym memberships are popular pur-chases to go with the new year’s resolutions, which inreality, rarely outlast the hangovers.

The Gazette asked members of the Phuket com-munity, from Bangla denizens to Phuket politicians howthey planned to make 2008 great (once they’ve recov-ered from New Year celebrations).

Talking ’bout

Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit: “I want to see a big, positivechange for Thailand, especially after the election. I would love tosee people living in more harmony. I want to see the new centralgovernment settle and develop our country to be better. I want themto give people a good quality of life and help the country walk into agood future.”

Pim, a ‘new’ lady in Patong: “Iwant to set up a bar for privatebusiness. Now I’m looking for agood location in Patong.”

Phuket ProvincialAdministrationOrganization (OrBorJor)

President AnchaleeVanich-Thepabutra:“I’d like to see thedevelopment of humanresources. Children andyouth are very importantin our country’sdevelopment and future. Ithink if we focus on theirdevelopment and givethem a good education, itwill help the country inthe future.”

Panu Maswongsa, deputy presidentof the Phuket Tourist Association,

said, “I would love to see theconstruction of a big footpath for

tourists walking along the beach, sothey don’t have to walk in the

street, as they presently do. I wouldlove to see a big change in Phuket’s

traffic because it is so bad now. Iwant to see the land law problems

solved because Phuket has so manyrules from different officials it has

become very fuzzy and complicated.Lastly I wish to see Phuket’s people

live together with love.”

Mike Wood, of Mike Tailor on Soi Bangla: “No more drinking all thetime. Each time I drink I have a big accident, so no more beers forme. I’ve had too many accidents and I have no license so the hospitaldoesn’t cover me for insurance.”

L I F E S T Y L EDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 19

a RESOLUTION

South Africantourists (from left)Megan, Shari andSarah threw in a

range of standardresolutions. “I want

to learn to surf!” saidMegan. “I hope to

lose weight,” addedShari. Sarah chipped

in, “I need to stopswearing.”

Pol Col Grissak Songmoonnark,Kathu Police Superintendent: “Iwould like people to recognizetheir own responsibility and tounify. Our country’s situationnow needs unity and help fromevery side to improve. I’d likeeveryone to think good thoughtsand do good things.”

Patong tuk-tuk driver Seri Praipun: “In 2008, I will thinkgood and do good for His Majesty The King.”

Serm Pudyod, a street performer whowows tourists at Soi Bangla: “I want to

be great and famous magician.Anyway, Happy New Year everybody!”

Ad- The White Box

Half Page

K. Ann

F E A T U R E S20 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Right, that’s it for yet an-other year. Christmas isover. Just the New Yearto go and then we can

relax. Oh yeah? Not if you havekids whose birthdays tend to fallat the most inconvenient time ofthe year –on New Year’s eve, tocite a prime example.

Four years ago, I made theheroic decision to organize a kids’bash at the end of the year tocoincide, sort of, with my young-est son’s birthday. It was a mis-take at an extremely busy timeof year.

There were four messageswaiting for me when I came outof the meeting. The first three in-volved weighty matters from thefashion industry, including one in-triguing message about somemisfitting hot-pants.

But the fourth was in capi-tal letters and color-coded brightred, the tell-tale symbol for maxi-mum priority: DANNY DONUTIS OK FOR STEPH’S PARTY.WILL BRING HECTOR, THE20FT INFLATABLE SNAKE.

Danny Donut is a rathertragic old showbiz trouper whonever made it in London andended up in Cyprus, specializingin the expat offspring party cir-cuit. Hector, as the leaflet said, isindeed a 20ft inflatable snake – areptile still terrorizing some ofthose offspring in their dreams.

At the time, Steph, my son,was six years old – the cutest kidin the world. Well, I am his mum.

There used to be a problemin the whole “me and Steph” set-up until recently. I used to see himfor precisely two hours a day, fivedays a week. By the time theweekend came, I was tooknackered to do much more thansit next to him and stare into themiddle distance – not the favor-ite leisure pursuit of your aver-age hyperactive ankle-biter.

Work was the problem, afour-letter word coming betweenme and my son. But work waswhat paid for people like DannyDonut and a whole lot more. Try-ing to strike a balance betweenbeing a top mum at home and atop cat at work was an odd mix-ture of serious soul-searching andpure comedy.

There can be few things asunsettling as finding yourselfhalfway through intense worknegotiations and suddenly notic-ing that the other party is staringat your shoulder. Is she takingtime to admire the elegant cut ofyour Armani jacket? Or is she,in fact, wondering just how re-cently the vomit was depositedthere?

Still, at least in this case itwas only sick. Pity my work col-league who used to head the“Best Excuses For Being Late”list. I remember her being obligedto spend an extra half-hour get-ting out of the house after herdaughter performed a rather closeNumber Two during an early

morning mother-and-daughterbonding session in the bath.

Sales meetings do havetheir own peculiar way of throw-ing the mum-work thing intosharp relief. Within 45 minutes offinishing a bor-ing sales meet-ing I would findmyself down onall fours, singing“The Wheelson the Bus GoRound andRound...”

T h emeeting may ormay not havegone to plan,but I yield to noman on thesheer gustowith which Ican kick in thatextra verse inwhich “the wipers on the bus gosquish-squish-squish”.

At the peak of my career, Iwondered what would have hap-pened if those two very separate

roles were to become mixed upin my already frazzled brain. Howwould it go down at head officeif a query about monthly saleswere met with an inane grin andthe observation that “Yes, there

is a worm atthe bottom ofmy garden andhis name is Wig-gly-Woo? Andwhile we’rehere, everyone,would anybodylike me to liedown besidethem until theBig Bear turnsout the light?”

T h a n k -fully there wasa major upsideto having a splitp e r s o n a l i t y.Being an ex-

ecutive mum used to have thepositive aspect of being the singlefinest business ice-breakerknown to man. Can’t think ofanything to say to that desperately

dull client? Simply whip out a pic-ture of Steph at play and he whipsout his wallet before you can say,“And this is Jessica – she’s justturned three.”

Stuck for an opening gam-bit at an important drinks party?Just tell the assembled party aboutthe first time your kids called youmummy and watch grownwomen (however bitchy at work)melt – or make a sneering remarkabout not being ready to give uptheir careers yet. Who gave upher career? I certainly didn’t. Iwas able to juggle both.

People’s reactions can be atad cynical, but becoming amother soon eliminates that hard-nosed reaction when it comes toall things “kid”. I never used tohave a problem making somefairly tough decisions at work.Once I was home, though, Iwould become mush when I hadto decide whether to put on Fire-man Sam or Bob the Builder.

Danny Donut, as it turnedout, was one of the best decisionsI made that year. And all for theequivalent of 4,000 baht and a fewbottles of beer.

Throughout the party, I worea little stick-on label on my top tolet the other children know who Iwas. For once, my little name-tagdid not say “Ambrosia, manag-ing director”. What it did saymade me insanely proud, andbrought a distinct lump to mythroat as I stood in the hallwayand waited for our little guests toarrive. It said two words:“Stephanos’ Mum”.

Ambrosia Sakkadas, a UK-born Greek Cypriot and gradu-ate of Central St Martins Col-lege of Art & Design in Lon-don, is an artist, designer andnewspaper columnist. Her firstnovel, Greek Girls Don’t Cry,is available from amazon.com.

AMBROSIA’S

SECRETSamb

rosi

a@p

hu

ketg

azet

te.n

et

No rest for non-stop mums

F E A T U R E SDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 21

Paddling our way out ofa two-cycle eco-shock

Kayaking under KohPenak’s stunning tidalnape at slack tide ona calm day, I weaved

between stalactites while collect-ing marine rubbish. Suddenly, Ideveloped a headache.

Inhaling the vapors andsmell of petrol, I looked down.Sure enough, I was paddling in atwo-cycle petrol slick – in one ofthe planet’s most beautifulplaces. Oblivious of their envi-ronmental impact, speedboat cap-tains pass within meters of therocks to let passengers poundmother nature’s jewels. They dropthis pollution every day, whichusually dissipates with the tides.

I paddled away, mutteringthat chimpanzees are smarterthan speedboat operators – atleast chimps don’t destroy theirhomes. But what about thesponges, oysters, green shorecrabs and monitor lizards thatcould not escape the slick?

Clearly an environmentalcrime, a fair penalty for opera-tors and their agents would be tospray their homes with two-cyclemix, close all the windows, turnoff the aircon and lock them infor the night.

After 18 years of environ-mental protection work in Phuket,a Koh Penak oil slick was anotherlifetime eco-shock. Fortunately,I’m learning how to handle de-spair. The bigquestion is, “Canwe act immedi-ately to avoid theextinction of ourspecies, and thethousands ofothers we willtake with us?”I’m hopeful, butwhile humansare intelligentenough to de-stroy the planet,we do not seemsmart enough tosave it.

I first feltdespair in 1953.The Los Ange-les Basin was sosmoggy I couldsee the haze between housesacross the street. Breathing deepmeant choking.

Twelve years later, an eld-

The big question now is, “Can we act immediately to avoid the extinction of our species, and thethousands of others we will take with us?” Can we protect what Nature has created?

erly Native American shared anafternoon with me explaining howthe Earth became hot in just his

lifetime. Hetook globalwarming backto 1900. I lis-tened and took itback to the in-dustrial revolu-tion.

I felt sostrongly that in1961 I decidednot to have kids.I didn’t want toadd to the popu-lation problem,put my childrenthrough an obvi-ously ugly fu-ture or havegrandchildrenangry at me fordestroying their

world. Giving up parenthood is agreat sacrifice that most peopledidn’t make.

In the past 46 years, the

world’s population more thandoubled – from 3 billion to 6.5 bil-lion.

Until last month, my mostshattering eco-event was pad-dling Fiji’s Vanua Balavu – a reefso remote it literally has no hu-man contact except with kayaks.I remember giant lobsters didn’tmove from their coral headswhen I snorkeled by. But on themillennium, my kayak floated overa dead, algae-covered reef. Thereef was fried for kilometers, thedamage irreversible.

Twenty years earlier, Ipicked up the paddle as a symbolof non-motorized conservation. InFiji, my kayak was drifting overa dead planet. I cried, knowingthat humans won’t start defend-ing our planet until it’s too late.

Back in Phang Nga, I even-tually re-joined our trip – to mysecond headache. Our guestswere buzzing about other com-panies using the stalactites asbongo drums, laughing and sing-ing as they battered them. A

teary-eyed guest claimed herguide said, “100,000 years to buildthat stalactite – and one minuteto destroy it.’ Thank you for edu-cating your staff.”

A decade ago, I asked aspeedboat operator why he wasin my industry. “We just go to thehongs to have a good time.”Right, let’s take Patong intomother nature’s most sacred sites– and bust them up for good fun.

These folks promote them-selves as two-activities-in-onecompanies. Cutting costs to thebone, increasing retail prices tosuggest quality and then sacrific-ing quality to offer outrageouscommissions. Travel agents suckit up – making windfall productswithout leaving their aircon of-fices. Maybe that’s good businessfor city bus tours, but nature al-ways suffers when mainstreamtravel kidnaps eco-tourism.

Sea kayaking symbolizesnon-motorized alternatives and itspopularity has exploded world-wide in the past two decades. It’s

much more than motor versuspaddle; sea kayaking is about en-vironmental awareness.

I’m frustrated that we usemotorboats to access PhangNga’s scattered islands – andeven more frustrated by speed-boat operators who exploit theenvironmentally enlightenedsea-kayaking industry. With ir-responsible behavior at the mi-cro level, our species doesn’thave a chance on the macrolevel.

We are already in the fast-est mass extinction since dino-saurs – but many basic organismswill survive.

Following the Nobel PeacePrize announcements, CNN’sJonathan Mann asked Al Gore ifhe still felt “unsuccessful”. Big Alsaid that creating awareness isgreat, but that one cannot claim“success” when we still increasegreenhouse-gas emissions fasterthan we cut them back.

Gore’s co-winner, Dr Rajen-dra Pachauri, chairman of the UNIntergovernmental Panel on Cli-mate Change, drove the pointhome. “We won’t stop globalwarming until we really want to.”

How many energy-efficientlight bulbs does Phuket need tooffset one two-cycle speedboattour? Do we even care?

There are a few brightspots. Last week at Koh Hong, Ilearned that Phuket Adventureslead guide “Woody” also hatesmonkey feeding and advises hisguests not to participate.

Recently, I also found four-cycle speedboats at Phuket Trop-ical Marine. They discouragesnorkelers from feeding monkeysand breaking coral with their fins.They are small, but when it comesto nature tours, small is beautiful.For details, please see http://phuketdir.com/pkttropicalmarine/index.htm

THEGRAY AREA

By John ‘Caveman’ Gray

M O T O R I N G22 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Big, brutish and bold, butcertainly not beautiful,the Land Cruiser hasseemingly been around

for decades, but for 2008, it willreceive a number of refinementsthat will see it through to at leastthe end of this decade and prob-ably well into the next.

Built on a revised platformwith a body-on-frame design, thelength of the new model has in-creased while the wheelbase re-mains the same.

The biggest difference withthe new Land Cruiser is the avail-ability of a 5.7-liter V8 fromToyota’s US Tundra pickup, re-placing the old 4.7 version. TheTundra engine produces a hefty381bhp (280kW) and 545Nm oftorque, although in some marketsthe “old” 4.7 is still available.

As well as the Tundra V8,there is a rather more environ-mentally-responsible 4.5-liter V8diesel that develops peak torqueof 650Nm between 1,600 and2,800rpm and a maximum poweroutput of 286bhp.

Fuel consumption for thediesel is claimed to be 10.2 litersper kilometer – a 4% improve-ment versus the outgoing 4.2, in-line diesel. Five- or six-speed au-tomatic transmissions are avail-able, depending on the engine.

Advanced technology al-lows the Land Cruiser to go vir-tually anywhere, with the world’sfirst “crawl-control” system,which automatically controls theengine and the brakes to main-tain a low speed, avoiding spin-ning or locking.

The driver needs only tosteer the vehicle when driving inextreme off-road conditions.

Land Cruiser rolls on into 2008

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K. Na

There is also hill-descentcontrol, pioneered by Land Roveron its Freelander.

The Land Cruiser featuresfour-wheel active height controland adaptive variable suspension,which links all four wheels andprovides a new spring-rate con-trol system.

Additionally, front and rearstabilizer bars are operated by hy-draulic control cylinders.

Safety features include thenewly developed multi-terrainABS, vehicle-stability control and14 airbags.

Of these airbags, the driverand front passenger get activefront bags, knee bags and thoraxside airbags, while in the secondrow, the outer passengers are pro-tected by side bags and all threerows of seats have roll-sensingside curtain bags.

Although equipment in dif-ferent markets may vary, stan-dard features include automaticclimate control with an indepen-dent rear system, leather uphol-stery, a full-length moon roof,garage-door opener, cruise con-trol, rear wiper, defogger and anout-of-this-world 605-watt, 14-speaker audio system with a six-disc auto-changer.

The latest Land Cruiser isan eighth-generation model fromToyota and, says the Japanese

giant, “Retains all the world-beat-ing, off-road capability of its pre-decessors, but adds more refine-ment, comfort and superior driv-ing quality”.

Land Cruiser chief engineerSadayoshi Koyari summed it up,

saying, “For more than 50 yearsnow, three key words have beenthe basis of each generation ofLand Cruiser: strength, durabilityand reliability.

“Therefore, rather than opt-ing for revolutionary change, wedecided to carry on the sense oftrust in the new Land Cruiser asthe basic concept.

“With the latest generation,we had to recognize the loyaltyof Land Cruiser customers byproviding a vehicle that will notbetray that trust.”

The Land Cruiser is far frombeing a luxury four-by-four, butif off-roading is your intention,there are few peers.

The original Land Rover isprobably the master of rough ter-rain, but the Toyota offers a de-gree of comfort lacking in theBritish model.

Disadvantages include itssheer bulk – parking at Tesco-Lotus might present a problem.Despite this, it is a vehicle thathas been proved time and timeagain.

Sales begin in Europe ini-tially, with the rest of the worldfollowing early next year.

This Land Cruiser will un-doubtedly be as successful as itsforebears.

Jeff Heselwood can be con-tacted at jhc@netvigator.com

Renowned for being a rugged workhorse, the Land Cruiser is setto receive a face-lift for 2008 to keep it ahead in the 4x4 market.

W H A T ’ S O NDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 23

EVENTS CALENDAR Upcoming events on the island

Saphan Jai CommunityFestival and Live Concerts.

December 30, 2007

Saphan Jai is an exciting cultural event with live concerts andpresentations of beautiful photographs taken by children in theInsight Out! Creative Workshop and Exchange Project.

The Phuket Aquarium partners with Insight Out! to raiseawareness about the marine environment through creativetechniques promoting youth leadership.

Come and join the most exciting end-of-year event in KhaoLak from 5 pm to 9 pm, at Khao Lak Youth Club (Book Tree).

Entrance free.Saphan Jai continues on January 12 with the opening of the

photo exhibition at the Phuket Aquarium.Contact K. Pim for details. Tel: 081-4919983. Email: snseak

@yahoo.com Website: www. phuketaquarium.org

December 31. New Year’s EveWine Dinner at Wine Connec-tion Chalong.

See off 2007 with a NewYear’s Eve six-course set dinner,with six glasses of wine and a liveband. From 7:30 pm until 12:30am; 3,960 baht net per person.

Contact Pascal for moredetails. Tel: 087-8896074. Email:fb.phuket@wineconnection.co.th

January 3-30, 2008. MyAwakening.

January 3 marks the date forK. Map’s latest solo exhibitiontitled My Awakening “P” at theWatermark bar and restaurant.Join us for a glass of wine andsome exotic color combinations.

Opening cocktail reception7 pm. Exhibition open January 3to 30.

Strong, powerful paintingsthat stir emotions and appeal tothe passions are Varaporn Pon-rit’s trademark.

Contact Stuart. Tel: 081-7376184, 076-239730. Email:stuart@watermarkphuket.comWebsite: www.watermarkphuket.com

January 12, 2008. Saphan JaiPhoto Exhibition at PhuketAquarium.

On this year’s Children’sDay, Phuket Aquarium presentsthe outstanding photography andartwork of the InsightOut! Cre-ative Children’s Workshop andExchange Project.

Besides the opening of atwo-month photo exhibition, thechildren will share their work andexperiences. Come and have funwith your whole family and learnhow to take great pictures. Orjoin in with one of the other spe-cial activities, like face paintingand action games.

The event will take place9:30 am until 5 pm.

For further information con-tact K. Tu. Tel: 076-391126-15,087-6933965. Email: prom_natt@yahoo.com Website: www.phuketaquarium.org

And best of all: entrance tothe aquarium is free for children.

January 12, 2008. MalaiwanaTriBallistic Relaunch Party2008.

From 6 pm to 11 pm at Skip-pers Sports Bar at Royal Phuket

Marina. Live music by IndigoPearl house band The Boom, fea-turing May Palmer and the “SaxBomb” DJ and saxophonistGerard Cornielje.

Also includes pre-race reg-istration for February 3 Triballisticrace and a new range of Tri-Bal-listic merchandise on sale.

Adults: 1,000 baht, inclusiveof buffet, one beer or glass ofwine (only first alcoholic drinksincluded) and raffle ticket. Chil-dren: 750 baht, inclusive of buf-fet, three soft drinks and raffleticket.

Tickets are available fromShaun at 089-5902015 or atinfo@triballisticclub.com; fromSkipper’s Bar at 076-360890; andfrom Helle Kirstein at the BritishInternational School – Phuket li-brary.

January 12-27, 2008. FrenchCuisine Festival at Mom Tri’sBoathouse.

Mom Tri’s Boathouse willhost the annual “Quinzaine de laGastronomie Français”, an ex-travaganza of French cuisine eachnight from 7 pm to 11:30 pm, fromJanuary 12 to 27, 2008.

Guest Chef Maître-Cuisinier de France Jean NoëlLumineau, in collaboration withMom Tri’s Boathouse ExecutiveChef Tummanoon Punchun, willpresent a four-course dégustationmenu every evening.

Each course will be accom-panied by a superb French wine,chosen by the Boathouse’s WineDirector, Georges Ciret.

The Boathouse Wine & Grillà la carte menu will remain avail-able throughout the entire festi-val.

For more information con-tact: Pinyo Thippimas. Tel: 076-330015. Email: fb@boathousephuket.com Website: www.boathousephuket.com

January 16-19. PuravarnaWindsurfing Rally for HisMajesty the King.

The Puravarna WindsurfingRally for His Majesty The King,in celebration of the auspiciousoccasion of His Majesty KingBhumibol Adulyadej’s 80th Birth-day, is a rally with a course thatwill take contestants, for the firsttime in Thailand, around the is-land of Phuket.

The rally course will guide

contestants past the famousbeaches of the island provinceand cover a distance of more than100 kilometers.

The route will start at NaiYang Beach and pass by SurinBeach, Patong Beach and KataBeach before ending at Nai HarnBeach. From noon until 4 pmdaily.

For more information con-tact Thanit Raksanaves. Tel: 081-6997700. Email: ewc@loxinfo.co.th Website: www.startline.org

February 3. Malaiwana Tri-Ballistic Race at Indigo PearlResort.

The new Triballistic serieswill get underway at Indigo PearlResort at Nai Yang Beach, from6 am to 11 am.

- Senior Sprint: 750m swim,20km bike, 5km run.

- Junior Race: 200m swim,6km bike, 1.5km run

- Splash & Dash: 50m swim,3km bike, 750m run.

Registration available atwww.triballisticclub.com, BIS li-brary and at the Skippers BarTriBallistic Party on January 12.

Registration can also bedone by email to info@triballisticclub.com or by calling

089-5902014. Races start 7:30am.

For more information con-tact Shaun Boulter at Tel: 089-5902014, Email: info@triballisticclub.com or visit thewebsite at www.triballisticclub.com

February 7-9. Chinese NewYear.

Chinese New Year startswith the New Moon on the firstday of the Chinese new year andis the biggest social occasion onthe Chinese calendar. It is cel-ebrated with gusto among Thai-land’s sizable Chinese communityand legions of Chinese touristsfrom neighboring nations chooseto enjoy the holiday in Phuket.

February 21. Makha BuchaDay – Public Holiday.

Makha Bucha Day, whichfalls on the full moon of the thirdlunar month of the Thai calendar,commemorates the Buddha’s or-daining of 1,250 monks who ar-rived unannounced from afaronly seven months after the Bud-dha began his teachings. It is alsothe date the Buddha delivered hisFundamental Teachings – justmonths before his death.

February 22-23. Phuket Inter-national Blues Rock Festival.

Presented by HotelTravel.com, the third year of Phuket’sbiggest international blues rockfestival will be huge – expandedto 12 bands – showcasing 10 ofSoutheast Asia’s finest acts andtopping it off with an Americanheadliner each night at the HiltonPhuket Arcadia Resort & Spa.

The event will have one ofAustralia’s top blues bands aswell. Returning is guitar phenom-enon Rich Harper and his bandfrom California and another topUS act will close the show Sat-urday night.

World musicians The Durgas (pictured) and popular Thai band TheCaravan will provide the frame for presentations of Saphan Jaistories and artwork.

24 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Ad- The Point (New Artwork)

Half page

K. Anna

T A K E A B R E A KDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 25

The BIG CrosswordPPPPPUZZLESUZZLESUZZLESUZZLESUZZLES

Hidden in the grid below are at least 25 words orphrases related to the holiday season. The words mayread vertically, horizontally or diagonally. They may

also read right-to-left or down-to-up. Score: 15 ormore, good; 20 or more, very good; 25 or more,

excellent. Solution on the next page.

Hidden Words

Solution, tips andcomputer program

at www.sudoku.com

Sudoku is very simple: each row, each column and each “box” ofnine squares within the puzzle must contain all the numbersfrom 1 to 9 with, naturally, no repetitions. Beware: there is onlyone solution to this puzzle, which is on the next page.

Across

1. Soft Italian cheese4. Tennis ace, …Becker8. Astute11. Prospect16. Not talked about18. Female executive19. Non-fighting soldiers21. Generosity23. Most miserly26. Documentary script

reader28. Type of ulcer30. Gets faster, …up32. Amusement (park)34. Insane36. Grey38. Christmas

decoration39. Actor, Nick…42. Comic pantomime

women45. Inundate47. …box recorder49. Macho person (2-3)50. Terminate53. Chatter55. Fanatic56. Succumbs57. Jamaican music59. Singer, …Horne60. Epic tale61. Large gourd63. Actor, …Cleef (3,3)66. Cabs68. Designer, …Laurent

(4,2)70. Aye71. Use book72. South Korean

capital73. Risqué76. Karate, …kwon do

© Lovatts Puzzles – www.lovatts.com.au

V T B W T H K G R T H B L Y L

B D I V B Q P E I Z C Q F Y N

B U R S S S O N Y Q W M C Q S

O A C H D A S I O X M Z S F K

W Q B E R E N V S B J E Q T F

Y H S Y L R W T O U R U X B W

Y V F C J F V X A S E L A V U

J E A S U E I P W L G T H N B

U U K M H N S X B E N O N C D

X U V R G O K U O I A W D A K

F Y P D U E L Z S G M T X N P

Q X A F K T I I E H P L E D T

S Y U E Y U V P D L I M R Y Y

G O N G G E K B E A M H A C T

M I S T L E T O E C Y G H A I

C A N D L E Z A Q C N T X N V

S T O C K I N G S I A I M E I

W O N S S G Z D F E R C M H T

E D B E E B W F R Y U L E O A

I E N L F R U W X T M G C L N

M I R I S T N E S E R P U L O

W D L T S M V Y T T L X R Y W

W M K J O H V A E Z H Z G U Y

G C S C D R P Z H C X Q V D C

G Q C E K E U K Y E B G Y X B

77. University treasurer78. Whipped dessert79. Olympic Games

body (1,1,1)81. Small island83. Indian prince85. Hearth fuel86. Date of birth (1,1,1)88. Deposits eggs

(of fish)90. Shelled gastropod91. Beach bonnet92. Polite93. Plastic money,

credit…95. Involved in96. Lopes97. Casts out100. Nursing boss102. Undid103. Sharpens105. Actress, …Barkin106. Excavated (3,2)108. Whine110. Prostitute112. Minimum amount114. Untruths, …of lies117. Debatable matter119. Money roll121. Rot124. Enrol127. Recite (prayer)129. Knitted garments130. Paper retailer131. Climbing plants132. Sober134. Elizabethtown ac-

tress (5,8)135. Shouts, rants &…136. Pancake day,

Shrove…137. Sightless138. From Wales139. Utmost

Down

1. German measles2. Tills (4,9)3. Lines touching

curves5. Woodwind musician6. Sloping (typeface)7. Capital of Costa

Rica, …Jose8. Male offspring9. Horse feet10. Present (poem)12. Teaching13. Bird-watcher14. Small falcon15. Admiration17. Alters (text)20. Taj Mahal city22. Make clear, …out24. Plough (soil)25. Luncheon meat27. Fire remains29. Shillings &…31. Simplified33. Jewish language34. Encounter35. June 6, 1944 (1-3)37. Force40. Endorsed41. Inventor, …Edison43. …, vegetable or

mineral44. Choux pastry46. Foe48. Flowering shrubs51. Donkey52. Well-done pasta, al…54. Persuasive speech58. Listen furtively62. Greek fable teller64. High-ranking lords65. Everest is there66. Brass instruments

67. Pacific nation69. Hairdressing shop71. Typist’s complaint

(1,1,1)74. Covering (with paint)75. Actor, …Brynner79. Muslim religion80. Common gas (6,7)82. Embroil83. Violent demonstra-

tor84. Compassionate85. Groups of musical

notes86. Sock-mending tool

(7,6)87. Necklace balls89. Dress ribbons92. Perfect society94. Study98. Gem99. Killed100. Fuse101. Surpass104. TV twins, Mary-

Kate & Ashley…107. Mouth sore109. Infringed (law)111. Unseat from power113. Pimply condition115. Restrict to role116. Sawmill powder118. Unspoken120. Related122. Sheathe123. Lack125. Tel Aviv is there126. Inn127. Instil128. Test runs133. Father134. Embroider

Solution on next page

T A K E A B R E A K26 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Hidden WordsSOLUTION

Across1. Sea movement4. Terrible8. Object words9. Open11. For writing12. Beatle larva13. Dislike15. Save us17. Wallowing animals18. Flower20. Teacher21. Rot

Get your brainGet your brainGet your brainGet your brainGet your brainin gear within gear within gear within gear within gear with

The Monster QuizThe Monster QuizThe Monster QuizThe Monster QuizThe Monster QuizKids! Ask Mum and Dad to help you find the answers to these ques-

tions. They’re not easy but, if you do some research, you should be ableto find the answers to all of them.

Quick Crossword

Solution to this week’s BIG Crossword

Puzzle

Solutions

Solution to this

week’s Sudoku

puzzle

Solution to

this week’s

Quick

Crossword

Solution below

Monster Quiz Answers

1. Bacteria; 2. Mars; 3. Blackbeard;4. Dave Brubeck; 5. No eye contact;6. The North Pole; 7. Great-uncle; 8.Crossed eyes; 9. Malaysia; 10. Ani-mals; 11. A photon; 12. A mule; 13.The French Revolution and WorldWar I; 14. Palermo; 15. An emu; 16.Stamps; 17. Fuel; 18. Tennis; 19. Aspectrum; 20. Moors.

1. The oldest signs of lifeon Earth are fossilizedancestors of which one-celled organisms?

2. Phobos is a moon ofwhich planet?

3. Edward Teach waswhich “dark” pirate ofthe Caribbean?

4. Whose quartet put outan LP in 1959 titledTime Out?

5. Referring to animals youshouldn’t challenge, whatdoes NEC stand for?

6. What moves in a“Chandler circle”?

7. Your grandma’s brotheris what to your brother? Answers below

+ + B + + + + + + T + + + + ++ + I + + + + + I + + + + + +B + R + S + + N + + + + + + ++ A C + + A S + + + + + + + ++ + B + + E N + + B + + + + ++ + + Y L + + T O + R + + + +Y + + + J + + X A S E + + + ++ E + + + E I + + L G + + + ++ + K + H N S + + E N + + C ++ + + R G O + U + I A + + A ++ + + D U E L + S G M + + N ++ + A + + T I I + H + + + D ++ Y + + + + + P D + + + + Y YG O N G G E + + E A + + + C TM I S T L E T O E C Y G H A IC A N D L E + A + + N T + N VS T O C K I N G + I A I + E IW O N S + G + + F E + + M H TE + + E E + + F R Y U L E O A+ E N L + + U W + + + + + L N+ I R + S T N E S E R P + L +W + + T S + + + + + + + + Y ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Down2. Vehicle3. Rubbish4. Vandalism by fire5. Death ceremony6. Pick up7. Do at karaoke10. Help14. Repeated sound15. Not drunk16. Bladed weapon17. Hot energy19. Computer

8. The Maya found whatocular condition a markof beauty?

9. Which is a monarchy:Singapore, Indonesia orMalaysia?

10. Which Pink Floyd albumwas inspired by a GeorgeOrwell novel?

11. When an atom undergoesa quantum leap, whattype of light particle isemitted or absorbed?

12. When a jackass and amare mate, the hybridoffspring is called a what?

13. Historians refer to “thelong 19th century” as the125-year span betweenwhich two events?

9. What is Sicily’s largestcity?

14. What is the largest birdafter the ostrich?

16. If your hobby is philately,you collect what?

17. Steve Fossett flewaround the world with18,000 pounds of what?

18. White and yellow arethe only colors of ballsused in which sport’spro tournaments?

19. A prism rearrangeswhite light into what?

20. Which peopleconquered Spain in the8th century?

December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 27

Ad- Soul of Asia

Full page

K. Ann

28 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Ad- Delice Thai

Full page

K. Anna

H O R O S C O P E SDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 29

Ad- ...........

5x6

K. Ann

In The Stars by Isla Star

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 20): This year willpresent a series of challenges foryou, but you will have the sup-port of the stars and be able torise to the occasion.

After May, the pressure willease and more focus will be onenjoyment and finding newsources of plea-sure.

You shouldbeware of so-calledhealers who are in-terested only inparting you fromyour cash. Moneyflows towards youfreely until April,after which, flexibil-ity is advised. Romance looks tobe more promising during the fi-nal few months of 2008.

AQUARIUS (January 21-Febru-ary 19): A positive year is fore-cast. Hard work and struggles ofthe past few years will finally bearthe fruit you want to harvest.There will be a rise in income thatwill lead to relocation.

Personal relationships willbecome better balanced andthose of you who have beensingle for longer than you’vewanted to be are likely to meetyour soulmate early in the year.

Later in the year, mixingbusiness with pleasure could haveuntoward effects on long-stand-ing friendships. The coast is clearfor those wishing for a radicalchange of career.

PISCES (February 20-March20): Those of you who are lazywill be faced with the truth thisyear. Your lack of productivityduring 2007 will ensure that oth-ers are favored regarding promo-tion.

A late chance to prove yourworth is due to occur by the endof February, so putting workabove pleasure is recommendedin order to get 2008 off to a posi-tive start. Dissatisfaction withpersonal relationships is forecastto become an issue after May anddifficult decisions will have to bemade.

By the end of the year, har-mony at home will compensatefor this tricky time. During themiddle months, a financial burdenis certain to be lifted.

ARIES (March 21-April 20): Thefocus is firmly on foreign travelfor most of you this year. Last-minute departures could meanthat family relationships are af-fected and you should make apoint of helping those close to youto feel more secure.

Although there will be acloud hanging over your careerduring June and July, this shoulddisperse in August when you geta lucky break. It will be tempt-ing to spend freely, but savingis recommended and a goldeninvestment opportunity will ap-pear in September for you.

Those of you with childrenwill be forced to consider educa-tion and discipline matters moreseriously.

TAURUS (April 21-May 21): Yourexperience in leaping over hurdlesduring the past few years willmean that problems are more

easily overcomethis year.

Others arelikely to come seek-ing your advicemore frequentlythan you are com-fortable with and itwill be important toput your own needsfirst. The chance to

boost your income that arrives inMarch or April could be confus-ing and you should not dive intodeep waters without examiningthe situation.

Property investment is notrecommended until later in theyear. Your domestic security re-mains all-important, but an un-settled period is forecast duringthe middle of the year.

GEMINI (May 22-June 21): Theyear ahead promises to be abumper one. Your career will ex-pand after a rocky patch duringJanuary and February.

In these months, your trustsensors should be on high alertas false commitments from oth-ers are likely.

Due to a busy period untilApril, you will look forward to alazy hot season, but family com-mitments will be demanding untilthe middle of 2008.

Those of you who are singlewill meet an enticing new part-ner while traveling and commit-ment is forecast.

CANCER (June 22-July 23): Youshould be able to call the shots in2008. The year ahead can be asactive as you wish to make it anddramatic career advancement isavailable for those of you who areprepared to make sacrifices.

Where money is con-cerned, the emphasis is mostlyon gain, but unexpected familyexpenses towards the middle ofthe year will call for an economicreview.

A mild romantic attachmentis forecast to become a seriouscommitment just when you leastexpect it to. Travel will not hap-pen the way you plan for, butoverseas trips will lead to excit-ing discoveries.

LEO (July 24-August 22): A cre-ative path is waiting for you. Dur-ing 2008, your talents will be putto more productive uses than thisyear.

You may be forced to takeout a loan during May or June,but with your sensible attitudetowards money, this will not be aburden for long. Harmony in per-sonal relationships will be put tothe test at the start of the new

year, but don’t worry too much.Your diplomatic skills should

help overcome this period of un-rest. Later in the year, a way tocombine travel with work willcome from a surprise source.

VIRGO (August 23-September23): Disappointment in romanceduring 2007 has left many of youcautious about revealing youremotions, but an encounter withsomeone born under a water signshould restore confidence by themiddle of the year.

Those of you with a part-ner are advised to allow that per-son sufficient space to spreadtheir wings. An unstable periodregarding housing is forecast tooccur in August.

Money matters will remaintight for the first few months of2008, but the spiritual side of lifeis more important.

LIBRA (September 24-October23): The year ahead should proveto be a more stable one than thepast 12 months.

Where work and materialmatters are concerned, hurdlesthat you have successfully navi-

gated during 2007 will not be metagain. In the area of romance,however, you might be temptedto give an ex-partner a second orthird chance. This is not recom-mended.

A new love affair in Sep-tember should cheer up those ofyou who are single. Atthe same time, thoseof you in a committedrelationship are likelyto receive more sup-port than you expectwhen different workcircumstances shakefamily life.

SCORPIO (October24-November 22):Imminent family reunions shouldensure that you start the new yearin a happier frame of mind.Health problems will ease as longas you remember to focus onbalancing work and free time.

Even if you’re not consid-ering a change of career, newpossibilities could be too good toturn down in the middle of theyear. At this time, however, a le-gal matter will be like a game ofcat and mouse.

During October, those ofyou who are single should main-tain a practical outlook to avoidbeing swept off your feet by anunsuitable romantic interest.

SAGITTARIUS (November 23-December 21): Intellectual

growth is forecast tobe the main focus forthe year ahead. Takeadvantage of this en-couraging astral at-mosphere to studynew subjects and tra-vel to previously un-seen places.

Romance is setto occur in a learningsituation for those of

you who are single. Wheremoney is concerned, a much bet-ter source of income shouldpresent itself during June or July.Until then, it will be necessary topractice financial juggling andresist temptation to splurge.

Relocation is indicated thisyear, but avoid committing to anynew housing situations beforeMay as the chance of encoun-tering unscrupulous behavior ishigh.

Searching the stars for favor in 2008

Fame, fortune,romance –what do thestars hold in

store for you in2008?

E D I T O R I A L & L E T T E R S30 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

- Since 1994 -

367/2 Yaowarat Rd, AmphurMuang, Phuket 83000Tel: 076-236555Fax: 076-213971Email: info@phuketgazette.net

The Gazette is pleased to receive mail from read-ers. Please write to us at 367/2 Yaowarat Rd,Amphur Muang, Phuket 83000, fax to 076-213971or send an email to editor@phuketgazette.net

with your views for publication in our next issue.We reserve the right to edit all letters. Pseud-onyms are acceptable only if your full name andaddress are supplied.

Letters

Letters conveying views and suggestions are published here. Those seeking comment from governmentofficials or business owners are published as Issues & Answers on the facing page.

Editor: Parichat UtintuManaging Editor: Chris Husted

News Editor: Stephen FeinChief Reporter: Sangkhae Leelanapaporn

Editorial Team: Natcha Yuttaworawit, Janyaporn Morel,Sompratch Saowakhon, Semacote Suganya, PathompornKaenkrachang, Nick Davies, Matt Crook, Skyler Swezy

Managing Director: Oranee PienprasertkulGeneral Manager: Niladaa Mastanawattanakul

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The views expressed in the Phuket Gazette are those of the writers and contributorsand do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher, the editor, the shareholders, or thedirectors of The Phuket Gazette Co Ltd.

– The Editor

Driving in the wrong direction

Do you have an opinion you want to share?Email editor@phuketgazette.net

Lost and found

At the risk of sounding like a holiday-season Scrooge, the Gazettenotes that the distribution of free teddy bears – even ones blessed bya monk believed to be 114 years old – is unlikely have any real im-pact on the holiday-season road toll in Phuket.

If anything, the Nong Prodpai campaign [see News] only high-lights the continuing lack of any effective strategy on the the part ofPhuket’s traffic police to deal seriously with dangerous drivers.

Over the years, Phuket has been chosen as a site for numerouspilot projects, ranging from the installment of CCTV surveillance tech-nology in public places to high-tech disaster warning systems. Yetthe single greatest threat to the safety of island residents and touristscomes not from terrorists or tsunamis, but those among us who areunwilling or unable to drive responsibly.

Apart from the initiative a few years ago encouraging motor-cyclists to turn on their headlights during daytime, there have been noserious efforts in Phuket to deal with this lethal issue.

For numerous reasons, Phuket is a particularly dangerous placeto drive. One factor is the large and ever-increasing number of out-of-towners who take to the roads in rented vehicles. Many of thesepeople are foreigners with no driving experience in Thailand who areunwilling to fall prey to the avarice of the transport syndicates.

Able to rent vehicles by presenting almost any form of identifi-cation along with their passports, they take to the unfamiliar roads onthe island with almost no knowledge of Thai traffic laws or customs– many quickly concluding from what takes place on our roads thatthere are none.

Second is Phuket’s poor road network, which has failed to keeppace with the ever-rising number of vehicles competing for space onthem.

Third is a lack of common sense and civility among many Phuketdrivers that manifests itself in a callous disregard for the rights ofothers they share the roads with.

Throw in a little holiday boozing and the recipe for disaster iscomplete.

What is needed to improve safety on Phuket’s roads is lesscarrot and more stick. Teddy bears simply will not do the trick, norwill the establishment of easy-to-avoid traffic checkpoints in the sameold places, year after year.

Phuket needs is a year-round surge in arresting motorists whocommit moving violations, such as running red lights. CCTV technol-ogy is now in place at many dangerous intersections around the is-land, but there are no indications it is being applied to arrest and finedangerous drivers.

Recently, while visiting Phuket,my wife Sharon and I becamedisoriented (lost) around Samkongon our way back to Bang TaoBay. A European gentleman on amotor scooter went out of his wayto help direct us back to the cor-rect road.

If you hear of a kindly manwho helped out two farang on aNuovo near Tesco Lotus duringearly December 2007, please

It is obvious to all that dive sitesin the Similan and Surin nationalparks are over-crowded. Riche-lieu Rock is now a place wherethe fish come to look at the divers,as the local dive guides joke.

No doubt there must besome urgent restriction of diversand boats on those dive sites toavoid further environmental de-struction or a complete loss in thefuture.

The most practical way toimplement restrictions of diversand an equally important restric-tion of dive boats would be a sea-sonal permit auction.

At the beginning of eachseason, the authorities could auc-tion off 20 or 30 boat permits tothe highest bidders, who wouldthen be allowed to visit Similanor Surin national park dive sitesfor one season.

This would not only createsubstantial revenue, but effec-tively limit both boats and diversand so better preserve the envi-ronment.

To wait any longer is sim-ply not an option.

OritaPhuket

We need boatbidding at the parks

pass on our thanks and gratitude.Please also thank all your

staff for the production of theGazette. It’s brilliant!

All the very best for the fu-ture.

Garry and Sharon EldridgeCanberra, Australia

I write to you to see if you wouldrun an article about the tuk-tuksand motorbike taxis trying to robforeigners by over-pricing theirfares.

I have been coming toPatong at least twice a year forthe past five years. Until last year,I could go anywhere in Patong

Thai Banks have another prob-lem along with the ripples sent thisway from US bank failures in thetroubled mortgage industry.When the first Thai bank closesits doors because of non-per-forming loans, just like in the US,resident foreigners will withdrawtheir assets.

So what happens when Im-migration demands the deposit inthe bank for three months to ob-tain a Non-Immigrant visa? For-eigners will decide to either makethe deposit of 400,000 baht andrisk losing it or leave Thailandwith all of their assets.

If Thailand wants to retainthe support of retired and residentforeigners during the lean timescoming, then Immigration shouldreconsider the three-month,money-in-the-bank regulation orrisk losing the expats’ money.

Andrew DownieTaiwan

I recently wrote to the Gazettecomplaining about the trees be-ing pulled up in front of the Hondagarage on the bypass road.

It seems my grumbling wasa little premature and the garageforecourt now looks wonderfullylandscaped with more trees andgreenery than there was beforethe garage was built.

My New Year’s resolution:not to jump the gun. Have a great2008!

Green Dreamer

for 100 baht, but since Novem-ber the tuk-tuks have been ask-ing for 200 to 300 baht.

Until last year, you could geta tuk-tuk from Patong to PhuketCity for about 300 baht, but nowsome tuk-tuk drivers have at-tempted to charge 1,000 baht forthe trip.

It appears that no govern-ment officials are attempting tostop this. Maybe the Traffic Po-lice should stop tuk-tuks withfarang in them and ask what thedriver is charging them.

If it is a price gouge, thenthe Traffic Police office shouldissue a large fine for doing so –this goes for motorbike taxis aswell.

Maybe a solution is that allthe tuk-tuks be required to install– and use – a fare meter. If themeter is not a good option, thenfare-pricing signs for tuk-tuks andmotorbikes should be placed inpopulated areas such as Patong,as well as other tourist spots, sothat tourists know what the properprice is.

James AdairPhuket

Banks beware

Tuk-tuk tyrannymust stop

New Year’sResolution

P E R S P E C T I V E SDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 31

Violence among teenagers:who are the true offenders?

Iam happy to be back working in my hometown, but itis sad to return to see analarming increase in crimes

committed by juveniles, with 607cases reported from January tothe beginning of December thisyear. This is also an unusually highfigure considering that Phuket hasjust three districts.

In December alone, 49youths between 13 and 17 yearsold were arrested in Phuket, fourof them females.

The most common crimesthat juveniles here are arrestedfor are theft, robbery and drugabuse, especially sniffing glue andother inhalants. About half ofthese are repeat offenders.

The statistics show that badbehavior among juveniles canoften be attributed to them livingin a dysfunctional home environ-ment. 70% of the juvenilesarrested for crimes come frombroken homes where parentshave separated or are havingadulterous relationships.

My own policy in dealingwith juvenile crime is looking atways of changing their behaviorso they are not getting into troublein the first place, which will makePhuket a safer place, especiallyfor the tourists who come hereand on whom so many people inPhuket rely on for an income.

If we don’t make an effortto deal with these issues at theirroot causes then the crimes willcontinue and Phuket will becomean undesirable holiday destinationand we will all lose out.

To achieve this, it is impor-tant that parents and adult familymembers take responsibility foryounger family members and pay

FIRST PERSON

Sukporn Odomsin, the new director of thePhuket Juvenile Observation and ProtectionCenter, has returned to find a dramatic rise in

violent teenage crime in her native Phuket.She agrees with the provincial government

policy that violent teenagers not be granted bail, butsays the rule must apply whether the victim foreignor not.

Here she explains why, and why she believesthe teenagers themselves are victims of today’s so-ciety.

Permits-to-stay for Thais

attention to the kind of care theyare giving to children.

Family finances are also acontributing factor. Many of thejuveniles arrested for crimes haverelatively poor parents who haveto work very hard to make endsmeet, but they are subsequentlynot able to spend much timeteaching and guiding their chil-dren.

These children often entera life of crime when they feelunloved or that family and soci-ety has turned its back on them.They feel worthless and criminalacts can often be a way for themto get some kind of recognitionor attention from their peers.

Many of them have neverknown the warmth of a lovingfamily as some may have beenorphaned and homeless from anearly age, having to take care of

themselves. Kids in this situationwill have had to fight for theirown survival for most of theirlives, making them fiercely inde-pendent, while stealing is the onlyway they know how to surviveor get by when they have no sup-port from anyone else.

In the Juvenile Observationand Protection unit, we try toteach the children to change theiroutlooks on life and their way ofthinking. We give them creativeand constructive outlets with op-portunities to do somethingworthwhile and constructive, suchas receiving more schooling orlearning new job skills, such aslearning to fix motorcycles, wash-ing cars or batik-painting; skillsthat they can apply once theyleave the shelter.

Juveniles who commit seri-ous crimes or are repeat offend-

ers are treated by the law in thesame way as adult offenders, sothey will often end up in adultprisons. We try to prevent this byencouraging their parents to be-come more involved in theirchildren’s lives.

If we can see that the par-ents are willing to take on a moreactive parenting role with theirwayward children, that the youthin question demonstrates remorsefor his or her crime, and that theyare prepared to make the effortto become a better person, thenwe can request the judge considerthis in his sentencing.

In these cases, the judgemay decide that the juvenileserves at least half of his or hersentence at the Surat Thani re-habilitation center for juveniles.

I agree with the provincialpolicy that juveniles who commit

serious crimes against foreignersshould not be granted bail as thiscould badly affect the number oftourists that come to Phuket. Ifthey are not punished properlythen it sets a bad example to otherpotential criminals.

However, regardless ofwhether a crime is committedagainst a local or a tourist, thepunishment or rehabilitation forthe juvenile offender should beequal.

Although there are provi-sions in the law for treating juve-niles less severely than adultcriminals, young criminals cantake advantage of the leniencythey know they will receive fromthe criminal justice system. So itis important that we teach themresponsibility for their actions inthe first place.

Children need time to de-velop into adults. At 12 to 14years old, children are testing theboundaries of society and they arevery headstrong, still needing a lotof life experience to know thedifference between right andwrong and discover how to fit intosociety.

Today, society is very dif-ferent from before. Todays youthare engaing in sexual activity ata younger age, which meansmore babies are born to young,unmarried parents.

Those parents may not haveplanned how they will cope withhaving children or how they willhave the time and resources toeducate them properly.

Many of the youths brandedcriminals by society are actuallyvictims of a society that is unpre-pared to help them become re-sponsible adults.

I am a Thai. I married a foreignerand left Thailand 20 years ago.Now I have returned to myhometown because my mother isill. I have to stay here and takegood care of her. I entered thecountry with my foreign passportwith a tourist visa valid for 90days.

I was told by staff at theThai Embassy that issued mytourist visa that because I am stilla Thai citizen and I still have myThai ID card and passport, that Idid not need to go to Immigrationand extend my visa. I was toldthat I am still Thai and I have aright to stay in my hometown.

But, when I went to theImmigration office in Phuket City,I was treated so bad and no-onethere could give me a clear ex-planation. I need to knowwhether I am allowed to stay ornot. I do not want to have anyproblems at the airport if one dayI want to return to my secondhome abroad.

Can anyone help me please?

All I am asking for is the correctinformation and please treat meas a human being. Although I ammarried to a foreigner, I am Thai.Please help me to be able to stayhere in my country with mymother until her last day.

Patty BamertPhuket

Pol Capt Krissarat Nuesen ofthe Phuket Provincial Immi-gration Office replies:

You should have enteredThailand using your Thai pass-port. Doing so would have meantthat you would not have requireda visa to come back to Thailand.

However, as you have al-

ready entered Thailand on a for-eign passport with a 90-day tour-ist visa, you can apply for a per-mit to stay.

As you are Thai, just bringyour Thai ID card and the tabienbaan (house registration docu-ment) that you are registered on,along with 1,900 baht for the ap-plication fee.

You will be issued a one-year permit to stay, but you mustreport to an Immigration officeevery 90 days.

When you come to our of-fice, please explain to the officerclearly what your situation is asit’s high season and hundreds ofpeople contact us each day.

I have recently spent three weeksin Karon and the litter on thebeach every day was unaccept-able – and the amount of hazard-ous litter was something else.There were fluorescent tubes,broken glass and more.

Many tourists commentedon these eyesores and it is only amatter of time before there is aserious injury.

Thailand has always posi-tioned itself as a tropical beachdestination, but the tourist mar-ket is a fickle one and those whoare in control need to do just that– take control.

They should employ full-time beach cleaners. Surely thereare many locals seeking employ-ment. Whatever you do, pleasedo something before its too late.

Peter LoganSouth Africa

Write to: The Phuket Gazette, 367/2 Yaowarat Rd, Muang,

Phuket 83000. Fax 076-213971, or submit your issue at

www.phuketgazette.net

ANSWERS&Issues&

Tawee Thongchaem, Mayorof Kata-Karon Municipality,replies:

The Kata-Karon Municipal-ity has workers who are respon-sible for cleaning Karon Beachand the roads in Karon.

In the high season, we askthe beach-chair operators to helpus keep the beach clean wherethey have their beach chairs.

In the low season, we hirea subcontractor to clean up all thegarbage that is washed ashore.

Sometimes our staff over-look some places or haven’t ar-rived before you see the garbage,but we ensure that we have re-sponsible persons for that.

Regardless, thank you verymuch for informing us of the prob-lem.

We intend to keep our areaas clean as possible.

Who keeps KaronBeach clean?

F E A T U R E S32 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

A walk on the baroque side

Off theSHELFBy James Eckardt

Welcome to Word Court, where Barbara Wallraffunravels some of the mystery that shrouds theEnglish language, debunking confusing usage

and clearing away the clutter that stops clear understand-ing – all by answering reader’s questions.

Barbara Wallraff is a weeklysyndicated columnist for KingFeatures and a contributingeditor and words columnist atThe Atlantic Monthly, where shehas worked since 1983.

One of the great unsungclassics of Americanliterature is NelsonAlgren’s 1956 novel A

Walk on the Wild Side, set in aNew Orleans red light districtduring the Great Depression. Ipicked up Frederick Turner’snovel Redemption (Harcourt,New York, 2006, 348pp) to seehow it compares.

This novel of gangsters andwhores take places at an earliertime, 1913, and while Algren’sbook is Depression-era slangy,funny and fast-paced, Turner’stone is Faulknerian, orotund andtotally lacking in humor.

At his worst, he shows atendency toward purple prose andmelodrama. But it’s still a goodread. Turner is amaster of descriptiveprose and his plotrushes to a sus-penseful climax.

The storyopens with Francis“Fast-Mail” Mul-doon smoking a ci-gar on the porch ofhis cottage to thesounds of his wid-owed sister Maur-een making dinner for her kids inthe cottage next door. Then hestraps on a shoulder-holster,boards a tram car and alights atthe cemetery that borders theStoryville district of brothels and

honky tonks that gave birth tojazz.

The reader is immediatelyplunged into the sights, soundsand smells of cribs, brothels, sa-loons, dance halls and gamblingjoints. Muldoon’s job is to be the“man about town” for TomAnderson, the unofficial “mayorof Storyville” and owner of muchof it.

Anderson is a big, florid-faced, genial Irishman who haslong acted as Muldoon’s mentor.“Fast-Mail” got his nickname asa record-breaking runner for the

local Catholic highschool.

An act of hero-ism while working asa night watchmanbrought him to the at-tention of Andersonwho pulled strings toget him into the po-lice. Then a high-pro-file act of cowardiceleft him with a gun-shot wound to the left

buttock and a perpetual limp.Again, Anderson intervened andset him up in his current job ofroaming factotum.

The two men are destinedto become two sides of a love tri-

As a retired teacher, I am both-ered by the use of “and” in num-bers – “We will now sing hymnnumber three hundred andtwenty-three.” I taught that “and”was used in numbers to mean adecimal point, as in money, or witha fraction, as in, “The cost is fivedollars and thirty-two cents.”

Jean HuffeyWaterville, Iowa, USA

Barbara responds:I ask myself about those

“and”s whenever I write a siz-able check or say the current yearaloud. Should I write “Five hun-dred five dollars” or “Five hun-dred and five”? Say “two thou-sand seven” or “two thousandand seven”? The rules you taughtare right – but they’re not thewhole story.

When there is a decimalpoint that’s going to be repre-sented by “and”, it’s awkwardand potentially confusing to throwin another “and”. For instance,“Five hundred and five and 32/

100 dollars.” But without a deci-mal point, the use of “and” be-comes a matter of personal pref-erence. It’s optional, but notwrong.

Hence my eternal indecisionwhen I write checks. At leastwith “2007” there’s a third, hard-to-find-fault-with way: Pronounceit “twenty-oh-seven” and theproblem is solved.

I would be forever grateful if youwould discuss which is correct:“me” or “I (am)” in “a grownwoman like me,” a phrase thatyou used in a recent column.

Jerry HodgeMichigan, USA

Why Marie Antoinette’sfate wasn’t a ‘deheading’

angle, set to the background of alooming gang war. The womanthey are both in love with is astraight-backed, proud-eyedbeauty named Adele who has justbegun singing at a beer garden.

This is part of a complexowned by the Parker brotherswho’ve just arrived from theWilliamsburg slum of Brooklynwith a gang of gunmen to toppleAnderson and take over his em-pire. The Parker brothers andtheir minions are textbook villainswho all but twirl their mustaches.

Muldoon literally bumps intoAdele in a dark hallway of theTuxedo Dancehall as she flees the

embrace of Harry Parker. An-derson’s history with Adele goesback to when she was 14, but I’llwithhold the details. He sees her10 years later on a New Orleansstreet and is smitten all overagain.

He dispatches Muldoon todeliver letters to her at TheFrenchman’s Place, an after-hours hangout where she repairsafter her singing stint.

Even the whores, madams,pimps, bartenders, cooks, singersand musicians of Storyville haveMondays off and ritually take atram car every Monday to nearlylakeside resort. Here the tongue-

Barbara replies:I doubt you can ever go

wrong using “me” after “like.”The same, by the way, applies tothe other objective pronouns“him,” “her,” “us” and “them”.That’s because in traditional us-age, “like” is a preposition.

Other examples of preposi-tions are “for” in “There’s a namefor us” and “from” in “Take itfrom me.”

You’d never think of saying“There’s a name for we” or“Take it from I,” I’m sure. There-fore, say “Write like me” or “agrown woman like me.”

Admittedly, people saythings like “Write like I do,” but itmakes traditionalists wince forthe reason just stated. If you wantto add a verb, like “do” (or “am”),you’re supposed to precede itwith something besides “like.”

Use “as” or “such as” if itpleases you to sound starchilycorrect: “Write as I do,” “a grownwoman such as I am.” A correct,

unstarchy alternative to “Write asI do” is “Write the way I do.” Theunstarchy alternative to “such asI am” is “like me.”

Why do we say “behead”?Shouldn’t it be “dehead”?

Frank S. RobinsonAlbany, New York, USA

Barbara replies:This is one of those weird

little artifacts we’ve inheritedfrom Middle English. “Be-” as aprefix having to do with remov-ing was apparently common untilabout 500 years ago. But the ver-sion of “be-” that has to do withbeing around or all over some-thing — as in “bedevil” and“bespeckle” — eventually wonout.

The only other current wordI know of that contains the samekind of “be-” as “behead” is “be-reave”, “reave” being an oldword for “rob, deprive of” and“bereave” meaning “be deprivedof”.

tied Muldoon meets up withAdele again.

He is terrified that she willfall into the depths of a whore’slife and tells her about Mamie, thewithered, twisted-back cronewho never speaks or looks at any-one as she plays the piano at ahonky tonk. He had come acrossa photograph of Mamie when shewas a young breathtaking beauty.All he knew was that Mamie, likeAdele, had once been a singer.

Muldoon had confrontedMamie one evening on her wayto work and asked what had hap-pened to her:

“And then there came overthe face a slow spread of a kindof smile so bleak that Muldoonfelt his heart shrivel in its pitilesspresence. Then the mouth openeda bit and continued to open wider,revealing blackened gums, threeworn molars, and a tiny stump ofa tongue that when he gaped inhorrified disbelief began to wagand pulse in soundless ululation…Here was the secret of Mamie’ssilence, of the transmogrificationof the singer into sibyl whose pro-phetic utterance was this si-lence.”

The book ends with a rous-ing Gunfight at the OK Corral.

‘And then therecame over the

face a slowspread of a kindof smile so bleakthat Muldoon felthis heart shrivel

in its pitilesspresence...’

F E A T U R E SDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 33

Ad- The Haven Lagoon

5x6

K. Ann

Nearly everyone onPhuket has comeacross the name“Junk Ceylon” in one

form or another. Apart from be-ing the name of a shopping mallin Patong, the term is also an an-cient reference to Phuket thatfirst appeared in European maps,although the origins of the nameare shrouded in mystery behindfrequent mispronunciations. Longbefore the term became synony-mous with boutique stores andcoffee shops, Junk Ceylon mighthave referred to sea grass andtrade ships.

The earliest known mentionof the island in European chron-icles dates back to ClaudiusPtolemy’s Geographia, a collec-tion of all the geographic data ofthe then-known world compiledin the 2nd century.

A Greek mathematician,astronomer and geographer,Ptolemy lived in the Egyptian cityof Alexandria, which at the timewas the academic sanctuary ofthe Roman Empire.

To gather his data, Ptolemyrelied upon sources from withinthe Roman Empire, includingrecords that had survived fromthe Persian Empire, as well astravelers’ accounts.

The Geographia containedgeographic informa-tion about China andthe Far East, includ-ing a mention of theisland of Junk Cey-lon, said to be lo-cated near theGolden Khersonese, known todayas the Malay Peninsula.

Junk Ceylon receives onlya brief mention in Geographia.It was written that in order toreach Malaya, ships must pass bythe “cape” of Junk Ceylon, whichis easily noticeable as it juts outinto the sea from the mainland,

Putting ‘Junk Ceylon’on the world map

LOOKINGBACK

By Anand Singh

at latitudes between 6ºN and 8ºN.Sea captains used this infor-

mation to calculate their bearingsin order to enter the Strait ofMalacca, past the so-called cape.Instructions based on landmarkswere essential at the time asmaps and charts were unreliablefor navigation.

In Ptolemy’srecords, Junk Ceylonwas described as acape. This led to thebelief that the strip ofsea dividing the is-land from the main-

land was previously solid land,which may have been true a long,long time ago.

But in the 2nd century, JunkCeylon was most likely an island.Passing ships were most likelyconfused by the narrow channeldividing the island from the main-land, causing sailors to mistake

Junk Ceylon for a cape.The name Junk Ceylon was

often used in European charts andmaps to refer to Phuket. Histori-cal records show several varia-tions of the name: Jonsala,Jonsalaon, Gunsalun and Jon-salam.

It’s difficult to pinpoint fromwhere Phuket derived its earlyname. It is possible that Europe-ans first coined the term whentrying to pronounce the Malayname used for the island. As forthe original Malay name, that’sequally a mystery.

Due to the a lack of refer-ences to the original Malay term,a number of interpretations of theorigins or Junk Ceylon have sur-faced. Historian and formerPhuket Governor Sunai Ratcha-phantharak wrote an extensivehistory about Phuket, published in1984. K. Sunai speculated that

“Junk Ceylon” may have origi-nated from the Malay term“Ujung Salang”, which translatesas “sea grass cape”.

K. Sunai explained that theisland may have been given thename “Salang” (“sea grass”) be-cause of the abundance of seagrass around the coast. “Ujung”,the Malay word for cape, mayhave come from the island beingmistaken for a cape.

When Europeans heard theMalay words, K. Sunai wrote,they mistook them for “JunkCeylon” and the name stuck inan attempt to pair it with Ceylon,known today as Sri Lanka.

British historian Sir JamesE Tennent, who wrote definitivehistorical accounts of life onCeylon in the mid-1800s, offeredanother explanation. He wrotethat during the 4th century, therewas considerable trade between

China and Ceylon in commoditiessuch as ivory, coconuts andsesame.

Phuket was in line with thedirection Chinese junks sailedthrough the Straits of Malacca toreach Ceylon. Chinese traderswould stop at Phuket because ofits natural harbors. They wouldwait for favorable wind conditionsbefore setting sail to Ceylon.

The fleets would also stopon their way back. The largenumber of junks calling in, Ten-nent wrote, caused the Malay lo-cals to name the island “AjungSelan” – ajung means “largeships” and Selan is the Malay pro-nunciation of “Ceylon”. AjungSelan, once again mispronouncedby Europeans, became JunkCeylon.

The various terms forPhuket have their roots in Malaylanguage. Thais were late to ar-rive on the island. Thai settlerswould often adapt foreign namesto make them more “Thai”. Oneexample of this, as K. Sunaiwrote, is the word chalong.Originally, the name may havecome from the Malay term“Salang”, which was changedbecause Chalong means “to cel-ebrate” in Thai.

The current name Phuket,believed to have derived from theMalay word bhukit, meaning hillor mountain, came much later.But that is another story.

So, the next time you wan-der around Jungceylon, remem-ber there’s more to the name thanStarbucks and SFX Cinema.

Anand Singh is an avid Phukethistorian. He lived on Phuketfrom the age of 3 to 21. He isfluent in Thai and is currentlycompleting his degree in eco-nomics at the University of Bir-mingham. Anand may be con-tacted at as.pkt@hotmail.com

A 16th century Ptolemaic mapof the world. Just below the

Latitude 9ºN from the eastside of the map, is an island

marked Junk Ceylon, what wetoday know as Phuket.

C O M P U T E R S34 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

The pros of Linux mini-distrosCleverness, on the face

of it, ought to connotesomething good. In-stead, it is often the op-

posite, associated with devilry –and nowhere is the associaationplainer than in cyberspace.Clever folk from every quarterare trying to fool, foil, track useof or hijack the computers of in-nocents such as we.

Principal avenue of attackis Microsoft’s Windows operat-ing system.

I admit, I used to be a more-or-less-satisfied Windows user,but after experiencing four fatalcrashes on my computers in twoyears, I saw it was time to thinkoutside the box – literally.

That was about one yearago. A number of problemsrankled. First, invading viruses,Trojans, spyware, malware andother strings of indigestible oraberrant computer code were adrag on my processing prowess.I hesitated even to turn the thingon. “What new beast, its hourcome at last, will hustle throughmy boot sectors to be born?” Iworried.

Then, too, my boxes (com-puterese for the CPU and asso-ciated hardware) never seemedto have enough oomph for Win-dows, which, like Catherine theGreat, grows fatter and fatterapace, requiring steadily fasterprocessors, more RAM and vasttracts of hard-disk space.

What to do? I wondered.What is Windows doing with allthose extra gigabytes?

Some say, and various ad-verse multi-billion-baht court de-cisions reinforce their suspicions,that the computer boffins inRedmond, Washington, have beenup to no good – writing extrastrings of code by the millions, theonly purpose of which is to pre-serve Windows proprietary char-acter; secretly updating or chang-

the Internet, eventually becomecorrupted.

Robert Shingledecker, one ofthe developers of Damn SmallLinux (DSL), a remarkably full-featured 50MB operating system,figures some corrupting occursabout once every 39 sessions.

That doesn’t mean youshould toss out your hard disk. It’s still a great place to save filesand applications.

“It seems everybody’s mind-set is to install to a hard drive,”Shingledecker writes. “That is theway it’s always been done.” Butthat cannot ensure a reliable sys-tem, which is what we want. Thesolution is to put the OS in read-only memory, that is, on a CD-ROM.

Experienced users will in-stantly respond witheringly that,CDs are slower than hard disks.But if the OS is small enough –as, for example, DSL, PuppyLinux and the Latvia-basedAstrumi are – it will boot entirelyinto RAM, which is much fasterthan reading from the hard disk.The operating system thereby re-mains, as Shingledecker says, in“a pristine state” with everyreboot.

Many of these so-called“mini-distros” are available onlinefree. Type “mini-distros” intoWikipedia’s search box for a com-plete list and links. The benchmarksize is 50MB.

They include all featuresyou’re used to – word processors,text editors, networking programs,consoles, desktop search func-

tions, graphics manipulation apps,CD rippers, music and movieplayers, telephone and Wi-Fi in-terfaces.

My version of Australiancomputer engineer BarryKauler’s brilliantly conceivedPuppy Linux, using a Pentium2.4GHz processor with 128MBof RAM, boots fully in 20 sec-onds and comes standard with170 applications and programs.It also shuts down fast, insidefive seconds.

Another useful feature ofthe minis is their tools – some-thing Windows can’t or won’tmatch. Most include programsallowing control of remote desk-tops, that is, of other computersto which you are linked over the’net, and most are ready for useas servers. Linux, I should add,is derived from Bell Laborato-ries UNIX OS, and thus de-signed for networks and parallelprogramming from the start. TheInternet always has been aUNIX-based environment.

Let’s say, as sometimeshappens, Windows won’t boot.You might use a rescue disk, butmaybe you don’t have one –maybe the maid bagged it or thekids used it to play Frisbee.Maybe even when you have arepair disk – as happened to anacquaintance last week – itdoesn’t work: Windows insists onerasing the whole disk and re-in-stalling. What then?

Grab Puppy or DSL, bootup and lo, all your Windows filesare at your command to be savedbefore you erase the disc andreinstall Windows. As you gainexperience, you’ll even be ableto use utilities available for restor-ing Windows without re-installing– that’s because Linux in “super-user” mode allows you to see andmodify every part of your harddisk.

Shops make money offfaulty Windows systems, off up-grades and replacements. But us-ers of three- to 10-year-old boxescan work quite happily withoutupgrades or replacements usingPuppy or DSL.

Earlier in the year it wasannounced that Windows 7, thenew OS scheduled for introduc-tion in 2010, will feature a 25MBkernel, the implication being thatWindows’ troublesome bloat willbe a thing of the past.

But you needn’t wait till2010 to find out. You can fight thebloat and get yourself a fast, full-featured, Internet-secure, flexibleand incorruptible system merelyby investing the time to downloada mini-distro.

Go ahead, Windows users.Do it. You’ve nothing to lose butyour chains.

A screenshot a desktop running Puppy Linux. A European IT expertin Kata said, “I haven’t touched Windows in 10 years. Staff in myshop are busy every day restoring Windows systems that fail. Peoplethink it’s normal for Windows to go down. Linux is much morestable.”

Marque Rome has been forced to use computersof varying quality for years just to earn a crust as awriter.

Here, he explains his newfound love - ‘mini-distros’,or entire operating systems that fit on a single thumb drive.Read it – you might learn something… Marque Rome did…

ing the operating systems in us-ers’ computers – and therebytrespassing IT administrators’security safeguards.

The latest version, Vista,was beset with adverse publicitybefore release and news since re-mains dubious. The program re-portedly runs 50% slower than thelatest version of Windows XP,requires at least 2GB of RAM torun smoothly, and has an embed-ded digital rights managementprogram causing untold problemswith even simple hardware itemssuch as speakers and monitorsthat do not have similar programs.

To top it all, Vista suddenlyplunges into “reduced functional-ity” mode should any activity orstray code trigger a programmeant to protect Microsoft’s in-tellectual property rights.

The point here may be ex-pressed as a question: Isn’t theresome alternative available to allthis snooping and hectoring anduseless code-bloating by the om-nipresent Big Brother?

The answer is “yes”.First, you need to under-

stand the problem: it’s the harddisk. Windows’ underlying prob-lem, indeed, that of any big oper-ating system, including Linux,UNIX and Mac OS (derivedfrom a UNIX-like system calledFreeBSD), is that it constantlyreads to and writes from the hard-disk unit.

This naturally leads to a cer-tain amount of fudging, so thateven systems of elegantly writ-ten code unexposed to attack via

December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 35

B U S I N E S S & M O N E Y36 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

TALKSMONEY

By Richard G. Watson

THE WHITE KNIGHTS SAVING BANKS

The problems in the creditmarkets continue.Switzerland’s largestbank, UBS, announced

on December 10 that it wouldhave to take a write down ofUS$10 billion due to losses in thecredit markets.

UBS is not just a bank withSwiss operations. It has becomea massive global operator bygrowth and acquisitions. It alsohas a substantial presence in theUS as a commercial bank, assetmanager and investment banker.

UBS’s trading and invest-ment-banking operations led tothe accumulation of these losses.The Singaporean government, viaone of its Sovereign InvestmentFunds, announced an injection of11.3 billion Swiss francs and anunnamed Middle Eastern inves-tor provided another 2 billion.These capital injections allowedinvestors more than a modestshareholding in UBS.

Two days later, America’scentral bank, the US Federal Re-serve, announced a 25-basis-point(0.25%) cut in its Federal FundsRate and Discount Rate. This dis-appointed markets. To quote ArtCashin, the chief floor trader forUBS operations in America,speaking in a televised interview

Ad- Triballitic

3x8

K. Jib

on CNBC, “Goldilocks had ex-pected a diamond from the Fedfor Christmas and instead, onopening her present, found it tobe costume jewelry and shethrew a fit.”

Markets were not im-pressed by the Fed cut and, moreimportantly, some strong lan-guage that accompanied the cut.The US Federal Reserve, watch-ing this negative reaction, hintedlater the same day that it hadsome interesting news to releaseshortly and that it was not goingto rely on interest-rate cuts tosolve the credit market’s prob-lems.

Early the next day, Decem-ber 12, major US investmentbanking group Morgan Stanleyannounced that its favorite“short” for 2008 was America’slargest bank Citigroup. When a“short” is used, it is with the ex-pectation that the share price isgoing to fall. Considering thatCitigroup shares had already beenthe subject of heavy losses in2007 and its new CEO had heldthe position for less than 24 hours,this was not good news.

Short selling is usuallyachieved by one financial institu-tion borrowing shares of the tar-get company from a long-term

holder, that is, a pension fund.The institution then sells theseshares and waits for the price tofall. Assuming that all goes to plan,it later buys back the sameamount of shares at a cheaperprice and returns them to the pen-sion fund, together with an inter-est payment.

On the same day, brokinghouse and investment bankinggroup Merrill Lynch announcedthe downgrading by one “notch”of the shares of JP MorganChase & Co, Bank of Americaand Wachovia Bank. All three areamong America’s largest banks.

Just to add more seasonalgood cheer, Office Depot an-nounced that a downturn in salesin Florida seemed to be spread-ing to other states.

Then, the US Federal Re-serve made an announcement. Inconjunction with the central banksof Canada (Bank of Canada), theUK (Bank of England), Switzer-land (Swiss National Bank) andthe European central bank, sub-stantial amounts of liquidity wereto be introduced to the moneymarkets.

The current credit squeezeis a threat to banking and eco-nomic stability, not just in NorthAmerica but in Europe and other

parts of the world. Australia’scentral bank (Reserve Bank ofAustralia) was also active withsubstantial cash injections into itsdomestic money market.

In a televised interview onCNBC US Squawk Box, theguest host was John Snow, whowas US Treasury Secretary until2006. He is currently chairmanof Cerberus Capital, a major pri-vate equity group. One of thecompany’s currentprojects is the own-ership and at-tempted “turn-around” of Chry-sler after its sepa-ration from Daim-ler.

The changein John Snowfrom a TreasurySecretary to abusinessman wasinteresting. Hebluntly said thatmost US banks needed to be re-capitalized. The source of thismoney is Sovereign WealthFunds, also called Sovereign In-vestment Funds.

Both terms are identical:these “funds” are owned bycountries. It is estimated that glo-bally they account for aroundUS$3 trillion in assets. That fig-ure is expected to rise to US$15trillion within the next decade.

Already mentioned is theinjection of capital to UBS, whileCitigroup received a US$7.5 bil-lion cash injection from the Sov-ereign Investment Fund of AbuDhabi. In every case, SovereignFunds are taking up equity stakesin the banks they assist.

They make for very good in-vestors. They do not want to takeover the banks they are investingin and they are also there as long-term, strategic investors. Theymake for a natural “fit”. Banks,who through what really amountsto enormous mismanagement,

need cash; Sovereign WealthFunds, which have cash, want tomake investments.

John Snow went on to saythat he believed that the US willavoid recession, although in hisestimation economic growth willfall to about 2%. He estimatesthat it will take around 18 monthsfor the situation to normalize.

Should his assessment beaccurate, then it is not a bad sce-

nario. He did saythat for the USeconomy to grow,u n e m p l o y m e n tmust not rise too sig-nificantly. However,if unemploymentrises rapidly, all betsare off. He is by nomeans alone in thisthinking.

A m e r i c a n sand Europeans aregoing to have tocome to terms with

the reality that their banks aregoing to have to accept billionsof dollars in investment capitalfrom Sovereign Wealth Funds.

Some 1.5 million Americanhouseholds will be seeing inter-est-rate increases in 2008, virtu-ally all linked to the London In-terbank offer rate (LIBOR). Forthis fate to fall, confidence andcapital need to be added. Banksmust return to normal interbanklending patterns, as the worldcannot live happily with a long-term credit crunch.

The alternative could besome major bank failures andeconomic panic.

Richard G Watson runs GlobalPortfolios Co Ltd, a Phuket-based personal financial-plan-ning service. He can be reachedat Tel: 076-381997, Fax: 076-383185, Mobile: 081-0814611.Email: imm@ loxinfo.co.thWebsite: www.global-portfolios.com

B U S I N E S S & M O N E YDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 37

Tourism operators struggleto keep pace with the boom

PHUKET: Although Phuket’scritical tourism-related businesseshave enjoyed rapid re-growth ofthe industry and the best fiscalyear since the 2004 tsunami,which saw a massive slump inincome from tourist dollars, somekey figures in the tourism indus-try have voiced concerns aboutthe region’s ability to manage andsustain the boom.

Maitree Narukatpichai,Phuket Tourist Association(PTA) President and owner rep-resentative of the Hilton ArcadiaPhuket Resort & Spa, said thatthe year has been good for tour-ism with the number of visitorsto Phuket reaching nearly 5 mil-lion.

“Hotel occupancy this yearis about 20% higher than lastyear, with average occupancy forfour- and five-star hotels averag-ing about 70% for the whole year,although occupancy in somethree-star and budget hotels hasaveraged out at about 60% forthe year,” K. Maitree said.

However, three-star hotelswith the support of big travel op-erators have also had an occu-pancy rate on a par with theluxury resorts, he added.

Although Phuket has be-come a choice destination fortourists from around the world, thePTA, tour operators and the re-lated government agencies arestill working hard to improve theindustry’s performance.

According to K. Maitree,the slogan “Smiling Phuket”, part

By Sangkhae Leelanapaporn& Janyaporn Morel

ON THE MOVE

David Roberts fromCanada has been appointedGroup Sports and LeisureManager of Centara Hotels& Resorts.

Mr Roberts gradu-ated with a bachelor’s de-gree in international busi-ness from Malaspina Uni-versity-College in Canada.

Mr Roberts will be re-sponsible for the sports andleisure programs of allCentara properties.

Joon K Park from Koreahas been appointed RoomDivision Manager of JWMarriott Phuket Resort &Spa after more than 10years in the hospitality in-dustry in leading hotels andresorts worldwide.

In his new role, MrJoon will be responsible fora dedicated team of 76 as-sociates and he will beoverseeing room-operationareas.

Luca Mancini from Italyhas been appointed ItalianChef at Cucina restaurant,JW Marriott Phuket Resort& Spa.

Chef Luca has morethan 10 years’ experience inkitchens with Italian cuisine.

Before joining JWMarriott Phuket Resort &Spa, Chef Luca was Ex-ecutive Chef at Rice Ital-ian Restaurant on KohSamui.

of the international branding cam-paign by the PTA and the Tour-ism Authority of Thailand used oninternational road shows, has en-ticed many visitors to Phuket.“The Phuket Provincial Admin-istration Organization [OrBor-Jor] has also continually rein-forced this branding,” he said.

“This year’s low season hasalso seen a rise in tourists fromthe Middle East and India, upabout 40% from last year. This isthe result of the internationalroadshows to the region, whichhave been running for three yearsnow,” he said.

“More Europeans, espe-cially Russians, are coming toPhuket during the high season,with more charter flights fromEurope directly to Phuket,” K.Maitree said.

“The political situation hashad little effect on tourism here.The property sector has sloweda bit but tourism still remainsstrong,” he added.

President of the TourismCouncil of Thailand, Wichit Na-Ranong, is also pleased with 2007.“Phuket is the most popular tour-ist destination in Thailand. We cansee that Bangkok has seen a dropin the number of tourists whilePhuket is receiving more visitorson the new chartered flights,

which have increased by about10%,” he said.

“Tourism in other parts ofThailand has been affected by thepolitical situation, violence andeconomic woes, but Phuket andthe neighboring provinces ofPhang Nga and Krabi havebounced back after the tsunami,”he added.

K. Wichit predicts the boomwill continue, with new hotels,marinas and more popular eventsplanned. “However, I am still con-cerned about maintaining goodmanagement of the environmentand conservation of Phuket’snatural resources. It’s importantto hold regular ecological activi-ties, such as beach cleanups andemploying a sufficient number ofthe qualified service personnel,”he said.

“Another concern is highprices. I don’t want business op-erators to put their prices toohigh, otherwise tourists will bedeterred by unreasonable costs.

“Also, all concerned sectorsneed to consider infrastructure,waste management and humanresources in order to cope effec-tively with the increase in visitorsso that Phuket remains a luxurydestination,” he added.

Eam Thavornwongwongse,President of the Phuket Cham-

ber of Commerce, saw the de-velopment the tourism industriesin nearby provinces as a boon.“Even if the number of touristscoming to Phuket drops off, theregion’s economy will not sufferas the tourists simply go to otherdestinations in Phang Nga andKrabi,” he said.

However, speaking aboutPhuket’s property industry, whichis deeply intertwined with tour-ism in Phuket, K. Eam said, “For-eign investors have been put offby the Thai company nomineelaws and the right of ownershipor partnership regarding landownership, which is still unclearas nothing official has been an-nounced.

“The government shouldsupport foreign investors. If theseinvestors are confident about theirinvestment, then the Thai peoplewill ultimately benefit. After all,foreigners can’t take the landback home with them.

“Neighboring countriesSingapore and Malaysia havebenefited from making it easier

for international investors withtax breaks,” he added.

Of the spa industry inPhuket, Chernporn Kanjana-saya, chair of the Phuket SpaAssociation, said that Phuket’sspa industry has grown signifi-cantly over the past two yearsin step with the tourism indus-try.

However, she voiced con-cerns about qualified therapistsleaving the industry to take upmore lucrative offers abroad.“Both European and Asian tour-ists are attracted to Thailand’sspas. The biggest problem forPhuket’s spas is the lack of thera-pists as many qualified therapistsleave to work in other countriesas Thai spa treatments becomemore popular abroad,” she said.

The day spa industry hasundergone a transformation sincethe tsunami, she added. “Before2005, the market was monopo-lized by large spa corporations,but recent years have seen moresmaller boutique spas competingin the market,” she said.

S P O R T S38 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

All-Thai bouts comeout swinging into 2008

Patongsoccer

tournamentunderway

PATONG: The 24th Patong Youthand People Football Tournamentbegan December 5. The annualtournament, which has a totalprize purse of 1.28 million baht,is being held until January 21.

Matches are being playedat the Patong beachfront footballfield and the prize purse comescourtesy of Patong Municipality,which is organizing the competi-tion.

The event is divided intothree leagues, with prizes goingto the top four teams in each di-vision, as well as for the best pay-ers of the tournament and the topscorers, who will each receive2,000 baht.

Twenty-four Thai teamsare battling it out in the Gor Gaiopen division, with a top prize of209,999 baht up for grabs. TheKhor Khai trophy, which is opento teams of players born inPatong, has a first prize of150,000 baht.

The under-17 Khor Kwaidivision features four teams ofPhuket youths who attend Patongschools.

First prize in this division is60,000 baht.

For the Ngor Ngoo trophy,there are again four teams, thistime 12 years old and under, alsostudying in Patong schools.

The winners will take home80,000 baht.

Eight teams of players 35years old and over, living inPhuket, are playing for an 80,000-baht top prize.

Matches are being playeddaily at the beachfront footballfield between 3 pm and 4:30 pm.

Saenghiran Lookbanyai (right) catches a left hook from Napapol Kittisakchokchai during their long-awaited bout in September.

Another year has comeand gone and onceagain, it is time toscrutinize Thailand’s

boxing scene. It would be easyto list all of the negatives, butthere were indeed a few posi-tives. Probably the best thing tohappen this year is the re-occur-rence of Thai-versus-Thai match-ups.

In the past, bouts betweenthe top Thai fighters were a regu-lar occurrence. Little by little, thenumber of bouts between Thaisdwindled, until finally, the onlyThais who did battle in the ringwere the greenest and leastskilled.

Thanks to the efforts of theAsian Boxing Council and itschairman, General Kovit Bhakdi-bhumi, Thai-versus-Thai boutsare on the rise once again. All ofthe bouts were highly competitiveand did what they were supposedto do; determine who are the bestThai boxers.

In May, former WBC superfeatherweight (130lbs) championSirimongkol Singwancha droppeddown from the junior lightweight(140lbs) division to challengeTong Por Chokchai for the AsianBoxing Council super feather-weight title.

The two fought toe-to-toefor the entirety with a weight-drained Sirimongkol using his vastring experience to come on strongat the end of the bout and lift thebelt from the champion.Sirimongkol immediately relin-quished the belt and go on to cap-ture the vacant PABA 140lb belt.

By Scott Mallon

The next battle betweenThais involved the WBC number-one ranked super bantamweightNapapol Kittisakchokchai andnumber-two rated SaenghiranLookbanyai. Originally scheduledto take place in March, the boutfinally came off in Septemberafter three cancellations.

For the first half of the fight,Saenghiran put on a boxing clinic,baffling Napapol and tallying upan early lead. By the eighth round,sensing his opponent was tiring,Napapol roared back into thefight. In the 10th, Saenghiran,looking more and more the spentfighter as the seconds ticked by,could do nothing to stave off therelentless attack of his opponent.

Napapol was declared thewinner when, with nothing left togive, an exhausted Saenghirancollapsed and was unable to beatthe 10-count.

When WBC minimum-weight champion Eagle Kyowareturned to Thailand to defend hisbelt after seven years of livingand fighting in Japan, it was in-tended to be his homecomingparty – but challenger OleydongSithsamerchai had differentideas.

The bout was back-and-forth for the first few rounds, withOleydong landing counter left andright hooks, then sliding to hisright.

Kyowa advanced, relent-

less in his attack, occasionallylanding his jab but missing often.By the fourth round, Oleydonglooked to be tiring, his face show-ing signs of wear from the stiffjab of the champion.

By the sixth, Oleydong waslanding combinations. He contin-ued with his side-to-side move-ment, sliding out of range ofKyowa’s errant punches, scoringpoints to pull ahead in the bout.

Realizing victory was withinhis grasp; Oleydong adhered tohis stick-and-move game plan. Inthe final rounds though, Kyowamanaged to bridge the gap andscore on the inside. It was toolittle, too late. Kyowa could donothing to save his title.

S P O R T SDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 39

PHUKET CITY: About 5,000students from 20 schools aroundPhuket took part in the PhuketProvincial Games between De-cember 15 and 18 at Surakul Sta-dium.

This inter-school sportsevent was organized by thePhuket Provincial AdministrationOrganization (OrBorJor) withthe goal to help develop the skillsof the next generation ofPhuket’s sports stars.

The sports events wereopen to all students across all agegroups, from primary levelthrough high school up to univer-sity.

Students, who were be-tween five and 18 years old, tookpart in a full program of track andfield competition, which involved484 separate events across allage groups.

Also on the bill were tour-naments of soccer, basketball,volleyball, tennis and table tennis.

Students who finished firstto third place in each event wereawarded gold, silver and bronzemedals for their efforts.

In the male basketball com-petition, open division, Prince ofSongkla University, Phuket cam-pus, took home the gold medals,beating Phuket Rajabhat Univer-sity in the final. In the final fe-male basketball competition,Satree Phuket School beat Princeof Songkla University.

Dowroong Wittaya Schoolwon the male under-14 soccercompetition.

Plookpanya School took thetitle in the under-12 division, whileBaan Bang Tao School were thevictors in the under-10 category.Muang Phuket Municipal Schooltook the under-8 title.

In male takraw, SamkongSchool won the under-10cateogry. PiboonsawaddeeSchool were victorious in the un-

Students took part in a full program of track and fieldcompetition, which involved a mammoth 484 separate eventsacross all age groups.

Students battle it outat provincial games

Parlez vous pétanque?

Pétanque is a sport that doesnot get a lot of coverage inThailand. Originating in the

south of France some 150 yearsago, it made its way to Thailandand has since grown so popularthat the 2007 World PétanqueChampionships were held inPattaya earlier this year.

On November 25, theChalong Pétanque Club hostedthe first of its weekly pétanquematches of the season, tuckedaway behind the main road, mid-way between Chalong Circle andWat Chalong.

Every other week, playersfrom Patong and Chalong com-pete. The host venues for theweekly competitions held everySunday alternate between theChalong Pétanque Club and theSai Rolign Residence in Patong.The season has already begunand will continue until April.

For the uninitiated, pétanqueis a form of boules where the goalis to throw metal balls as closeas possible to a small wooden ballcalled a cochonnet, or jack. Thegame is normally played on hard

By James Goyder dirt or gravel, but can also beplayed on grass or other surfaces.The aim of the game is to throwthe boule, which normally weighsbetween 650 grams and 800g, toend up as close to the jack aspossible.

Pétanque is normally playedin teams, although the number ofplayers per team can vary. Any-one who is capable of throwing aball should be able to enjoypétanque. It is also worth notingthat, because in pétanque thethrowers’ feet have to remainfixed together within a smallcircle, people in wheelchairs cancompete without any disadvan-tage.

The Chalong Pétanque Clubis run by Philippe Caron and hiswife Nantaporn Caron.

“Everyone is welcome andwe are always looking for newplayers. Anyone can come andplay pétanque here,” he said.

The Chalong Pétanque Club islocated at 55/34 Soi Klumyangin Chalong Village 7. For fur-ther information contactPhilippe Caron. at Tel: 087-0828195.

By Sompratch Saowakhon

PATONG: The Patong Darts League August-December 2007 sea-son ended with Queen Mary clinching the title victory with a massive9-0, 3-point win over Valhalla.

Queen Mary went undefeated throughout the season, but some-how managed to drop six beer legs. Runners up Dogs Bollocks lostonly two matches, both to Queen Mary.

The league party will be at Queen Mary on January 8. Any barinterested in joining the league should contact league secretary Steenat Queen Mary as soon as possible.

At the recent captains’ meeting it was agreed that the rule re-garding guest players would stand from November 1 through April30. The rule regarding a team with only five players stands, but withtwo important changes:

• The player playing twice must act as 2 separate players whentaking part in high score in both his singles and doubles. If not, only ahigh score in his first match will count.

• The team having only 5 players will throw 5 times only in thebeer leg, against 6 for the opposing team.

December 18 results: Offshore 4 Piccadilly* 5; Dogs Bollocks* 6Shakers 3; Queen Mary* 9 Valhalla 0; Simply Red* 4 Beach House5; Market Bar bye.

Final standings: 1. Queen Mary (42 points); 2. Dogs Bollocks (39);3. Piccadilly (33); 4. Offshore (27); 5. Shakers (24); 6. Market Bar(20); 7. Simply Red (18); 8. Valhalla (9); 9. Beach House (6).

Beer legs won: 1.= Dogs Bollocks, Piccadilly (11); 3.= Queen Mary,Simply Red (10); 5. Offshore (9); 6.= Shakers, Market Bar (8); 8.Valhalla (3); 9. Beach House (2).

PATONG DARTS LEAGUE

der-12 division and Hongyok-bumrung School were the topunder-16 team. PiboonsawaddeeSchool won the female under-16category.

Dowroong Wittaya Schoolwere the top female under-10players.

Samkong School took hon-ors in the under-12 division, withSamkong School also winning inthe under-14 and under-16 cat-egories.

In petanque, Phuket Tech-nology College won the under-18title, while Satree Phuket Schoolwon the female title.

Table tennis saw Kraisorn

Sirinthorn from Satree PhuketSchool take the open singles title.Tikamporn Duwa from SatreePhuket School was the topwomen’s open singles player.

Phuket Wittayalai Schoolwere the top male tennis team inthe open division, fending off op-position from Satree PhuketSchool.

In the female division,Satree Phuket School beatPhuket Wittayalai School in thefinal.

The top under-18 trackteam, both male and female, dur-ing the competition was fromKathuwittaya School.

40 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Ad- Phuket Thai House

2x5

P H U K E T P R O P E R T YDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 41

NAI HARN: Work on the sec-ond Villa Suksan development, onSoi Naya, by developer AyudhyaReal Estate Brokers, is now 30%complete. The project is expectedto be complete by October nextyear.

The Soi Naya project fol-lows the sell-out of the initial VillaSuksan project of four privatepool villas in Soi Suksan, Rawai,which was started two years agoand completed last month.

The new development willcomprise six private pool villas inThai-Balinese style.

Construction of a third VillaSuksan project, also comprisingfour villas, is slated for SoiSuksan 2 in Rawai, with work tobegin in the new year.

Simon Murray of AyudhyaReal Estate Brokers told the Ga-zette that of the Soi Naya project,three units have been sold, andthat of the three villas still avail-able, one has been reserved.

“Our emphasis is on gooddesign. The homes are in Thai-Balinese style and are open plan.They have been designed to letthe breeze through and the natu-ral light in. It’s very important tohave as much natural light as pos-sible as the whole design is basedaround that.

“Each villa is set on en-closed land and all the landscapedgardens and the pool itself are setin the center of the home. Thereare large expanded glass doorsfrom the master bedroom over-looking the pool,” explained MrMurray.

“The master bedroom fea-tures an en-suite bathroom withshower area and full Westernshower and bath. The living areais designed to make use of a lot

Tranquil living in Nai Harn Construction Update by Janyaporn Morel

of natural light, giving a spaciousliving feeling to the home,” headded.

Of two designs available,one is a three-bedroom villa on a577-square-meter plot with a28sqm swimming pool and theother is a two-bedroom villa on a452sqm plot. The three-bedroomunits cost 12.5 million baht eachand the two-bedroom 9.8 millionbaht a piece.

“Villa Suksan is a small com-munity. We provide residents pri-vate facilities, such as a swim-ming pool, parking space and land-scaped gardens. The homes havebeen designed for privacy so theresidents can enjoy private livingwith the full security services weoffer,” Mr Murray said.

“We have attracted interestfrom a range of different typesof buyers. We have had a lot ofyoung couples looking for a fu-ture investment, Most querieshave come from foreigners, but

we have had some Thai peopleshowing interest as well,” said MrMurray.

“Everybody who has had alook at the villas said that they likethe surroundings and the tranquil-ity they have – and the design isbased around luxury but is avail-able at reasonable prices.

The finishing of the villas

themselves is high quality and wealso an interior-furniture package,so the homes can come fullydecorated at additional reason-able price,” he said.

“We are very proud of thisproject. It’s a beautiful develop-ment highlighting tranquil living.You have privacy but also the el-ements of a community. It’s only

Of two designs available, one is a three-bedroom villa on a 577-square-meter plotwith a 28sqm swimming pool and the otheris a two-bedroom villa on a 452sqm plot.

For more information contact Ayudhya Real Estate Brokers at110/141 Patong Tower, Thaweewong Rd, Patong, Kathu, Phuket83150 (Tel: 076-292265. Fax: 076-341372) or at FishermanWay Business Center, Chao Fa East Rd, Chalong, Muang, Phuket83100 (Tel: 076-282394, Fax: 076-282395). Email: murray@ayudhya.net Website: www. ayudhya.net or www.villasuksan.com

around 50 minutes to the airport,and around 20 minutes to theshopping malls and Phuket City.

The Nai Harn and RawaiBeaches are also close by,” MrMurray added.

The villas are available free-hold or leasehold, with re-rentalmanagement available.

42 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Ad- Lersuang

Half page

P H U K E T P R O P E R T YDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 43

Keeping it in the family

With fourbedrooms, this

property in Rawaiwould suit a familylooking to live in apeaceful area. Thehouse comes with

a Western-stylekitchen and

designer bathroomfittings.

Built on a half-rai of landnext to a private park,this four-bedroomhome in Rawai is per-

fect for safe and comfortablefamily living.

For security, the two-storyhome is surrounded by a two-meter-high wall with a remotely-controlled gate providing accessto a car port large enough for twocars.

Attractive granite tiles arevisible upon entering the home’sground-floor living area, whichcomprises an open-plan diningroom and living room as well asone bathroom.

The living room is slightlylower than the adjacent rooms,while the generously proportioneddining room is large enough tohost a dinner for eight.

In a separate structure is aWestern-style kitchen and utilityarea comprising a maid’s quar-ters complete with bathroom,laundry room and small diningarea.

Upstairs, there are four bed-rooms and two bathrooms. Oneof the bedrooms could easily beconverted into an office.

Much of the second story

Home of the Week Rawai

affords impressive views of theNakkerd Hills, including the enor-mous Mingmongkol Buddha im-age perched above.

From its balcony, the mas-ter bedroom suite has clear viewsof the hillside as well as a bath-room en suite with whirlpool. Theupstairs is decked out with par-quet flooring and each room isdesigned to allow natural light toflood in through large, wood-framed windows. The fourth bed-room has large built-in woodenclosets with frosted-glass doors.

The bathrooms featuremarble sinks and flooring, as wellas designer fittings from Europe.

Insulated ceilings have beendesigned to regulate temperaturesand there are six air-conditioningunits.

The home has three-phaseelectricity and is wired with twoTrue Visions cable connectionsand phone lines. The primarywater supply is from a well and3,500-liter storage tank, thoughthe home is also connected to theprovincial waterworks system.

The home includes sturdyand attractive fixtures such aswall coverings, but is for sale un-furnished.

Located on Chanote-titledland near Chalong Circle, thishome is available freehold for12.5 million baht.

For further information contactRichard Lusted at Siam RealEstate. Tel: 076-288908. Email:i n fo@s iamrea le s ta t e . comWebsite: www.siamrealestate.com

44 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Find more Recruitment Classified ads at

www.phuketgazette.net!

Ad- Land for Sale

2x5

K. Anna

P H U K E T P R O P E R T YDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 45

RENTAL MARKETCOMES OF AGE

The proliferation of private-pool-villa rentals in Phuket is expanding the range of accommodation choicesfor both long- and short-stay visitors. Pictured is Phuket Pavilions, a villa complex in the Bang Tao areacomprising 21 one-bedroom and nine three-bedroom villas.

Afew years ago, youcould count on twohands the number ofrental villas and resort

condominiums-cum-resorts inPhuket. Coming into 2008, themarket has developed into a sig-nificant market force and guestsare benefiting from the variety ofoptions. The expectation for theshort- to medium-term future isthat this type of accommodationwill eat into the market share oftraditional hotels.

The Phuket market has his-torically lagged behind Bali, its keycompetitor, for a number of yearsin terms of product offerings forshort- and long-term villa rentals.While the emergence of alterna-tive accommodation has been ashot heard around the world inmost markets, only now in Asiais this type of product becominga force to be reckoned with.

Looking at the Bangkokhotel market, there has been ahuge shift in serviced-apartmentprojects in the past few years.Properties that were once cater-ing mainly to long-term travelersare now competing with hotelsfor leisure and business guests.

International chains such asAscott (along with its Citadinesbrand), Oakwood and Marriotthave multiple properties in thecity. Local products includingCentrepoint, Emporium Suitesand Lebua have created strongfollowings in an increasinglycrowded playing field.

The trend towards lifestyleinvestment, along with real-estatespeculators looking for ongoingrental yields and usage rights, hasdriven the movement towards thevilla and resort-apartment rentalmarket.

Branded residences at theBanyan Tree, Sheraton andMövenpick, together with newproducts including The Yamu,Jumeirah, Shangri-La and Taj of-fer villas and resort apartments

WATCHPROPERTY

By Bill Barnett

for sale which will in turn berented out to guests.

This trend does not stop athotel projects. The successes ofBYD Lofts, Aspasia, LersuangClub, Baan Chai Nam, Sri Panwaand Katamanda provide a strongcase for this type of product shift.

A number of local agentsare focusing on this trend withPIP’s Phuketvillarentals.com oneof the pioneers. NewcomersPhuket Villas & Homes, PhuketMarbella and Shibumi offer nicherental operations for rentals ofprivate villas and condos.

As a selling point for holi-daymakers, in many cases it’s agreat value proposition trading upto a private pool villa or servicedcondo, which has greater facili-ties and amenities, as well asspace versus the relative confine-ment of a single hotel room. Inan age of customization in all con-sumer segments, this is certainlygoing to be one that will continueto refine and grow in the comingyears.

In terms of long-term rent-als, the resale and rental marketshave not displaced new productsin the past but, given the devel-opment of critical mass in themarketplace, this is bound tochange. The increased supply ofrental products will make rentalrates more standardized in themarket and easier to for poten-tial occupants to compare.

The same can be said forthe resale market, which up untilnow has not had a large marketpresence because buyers havetended to favor new properties.As more products enter the fray,this will no doubt change. In thefuture, long-term rentals will ac-count for a sizable presence ofhousing consumers.

Freedom of choice is agreat thing and a more developedmarket means greater options formore people. It will be interest-ing to see how the holiday rent-als affect the hotel products outthere in the coming year and ifthey enhance or displace exist-ing business.

Bill Barnnett is managing direc-tor of C9 Hotelworks (c9hotelworks.com), a Phuket-basedhotel and residentaial propertyconsulting firm. With more than20 years’ experience in the re-gion, he has played an activerole in some of the island’s big-gest developments.

46 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Get the name right, guys – it’s a clitoriaLadies are a curious lot.

We gentlemen will neverquite understand them.Any bloke who thinks

he’s got his head around the fe-male psyche is either deluded ordrunk. The male of the species cannever win – the rules are as simpleas that. They should be really, be-cause women wrote them.

Picture the scene: Your wifehas whittled down her dress se-lection to just two. She has decidedthat you’re about to be given themassive responsibility of makingthe final choice.

“So which one, then?” sheasks. You know that you’redoomed from this point on. With aresigned sigh, you suggest that thered dress would look gorgeous onher.

“So you hate the blue dressthen, do you?” she responds. Youthen foolishly come back withsomething like, “No, actually,love…” and realize that trying todefend your criticism of what younow realize is her favorite bluedress is futile.

Try not to call her by thewrong name, too. That neverseems to go down particularly well,

Ad- Andavana club resort

2x5

K. Na

Gardening by Bloomin’ Bert

for some reason.I’m not known for my tact

with ladies or anybody else forthat matter, which has turned meinto a bit of a coward. Garden-ing types tend not to write aboutanything that really matters. Iwish I had the gumption to saysomething that made people lis-

ten or that was in some way con-tentious or controversial.

Gardeners have been thisway for centuries. They’re con-tent to sit back and watch theworld go by, gratified with thefact that little they say is evergoing to make a difference.

Gardeners usually give

plants predictable names. Muchrespect, then, to an 18th-centurybotanist named Linnaeus. Hetook one look at a new type oftropical pea plant and named itclitoria. He obviously wasn’tbothered in any way at thethought of ruffling a few feath-ers in the gardening world – theshape of the plant’s flower leaveslittle to the imagination.

There are about 70 speciesof clitoria in total, the most com-mon in Thailand being the clitoriaternatea, or butterfly pea. Thaisknow it as the anchan. Somecunning linguists may argue thatthe ternatea part of the namecomes from the ternate leavesthat are sometimes in groups ofthree, as the term is often usedto describe a compound leaf thatis divided into three more or lessequal parts, but no, it actuallycomes from the fact that it wasfirst discovered on the Indonesianisland of Ternate.

The closest thing we haveto the butterfly pea in the West isthe sweet pea. This one behavesin a similar way – it’s an amazingclimber. I have one of those di-viding walls with a kind of con-crete lattice near the top. Mynext-door neighbor decided to puta few butterfly peas in pots onhis side, with bamboo poles forthem to climb.

Over one of several beersone night, he asked me if hepushed the tops of the plantsthrough the trellis towards myside of the wall, if I’d be willingto poke them back towards him.As it was his turn to go to thefridge, I agreed. That was a fewmonths ago. Now I can’t redirectthem towards him quickly

enough. The former concretewall is now peppered with vividpurple flowers on both sides.

They climb by clinging towhatever they can get hold of andwrap their tendrils around any-thing in their reach, thickeningtheir stems until they’re strongenough to climb a little further.

The petals are a kind ofdeep purple and the flowers areabout three centimeters acrosswith yellow stripes in the middle.

Unlike most flowers, thepart of the butterfly pea flowerthat dusts insects with pollen is inthe top, rather than underneath.Once the flowers have done theirjob of attracting insects to fertil-ize them, they wither away to bereplaced a few days later by aseed container – the peas in thepod.

The seeds aren’t the mostcomplicated things to grow. Youneed to wait until the pods haveturned a gray-brown color, thencrack them open as you woulddo with regular pea pods and re-move the seeds inside. Soak theseeds in water for about fourhours before sowing them about10cm apart in some moist pottingcompost. The resulting plants willbe blooming in as little as sixweeks.

The butterfly pea needs fullsun to partial shade. In theory, itlikes to be shaded from the hotafternoon sun. The plants tend toget leggy quickly, so pinching offover-adventurous tendrils helpskeep them bushy.

Linnaeus has a lot to answerfor. You really have to admire agardener who is also a cunninglinguist. Oh, and gents – try to getyour wife’s name right.

Want to know more about a plant in your garden?Email Bloomin’ Bert at: bert@bloominbert.com

The clitoria is known for its stunning blue flowers and its relentlessability to climb on anything it can wrap itself around.

C L A S S I F I E D SDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 47

Property Gazette

PropertiesFor Sale

LUXURY IN

NAI HARN

Immaculately finished villafrom a renowned Phuketdeveloper. Class, quality,style. 3 bedrooms, all ensuite, garden, pool, sundeck, auto gate and secu-rity. 42" wall-mountedLCD, home theater fixtures,fittings, linen, etc. TrueUBC cable, Internet. Fullyfurnished, professionallymanaged, ready to move in.All you need is the key! 14million baht. Email for morephotos. Tel: 087-2982028.Email: timothy.ross@financialadvice.com.sg

PATONG OCEAN

VIEW CONDOMINIUMS

Contemporary exclusiveapartments with the bestview over Patong from 76 to275 sqm. Starting at 4.8 mil-lion baht, up to 20 millionbaht for the Penthouse. Tel:083-1736521. www.patong-view-talay.com

COCONUT ISLAND

LAND

for sale. 4.5 rai, Chanote,hillside, panoramic seaview, close to beach. 14million baht. Please call K.Bouddha for more informa-tion. Tel: 089-2900484.

RIVER CITY

GUESTHOUSE

by Andaman Sea, PhangNga. 7 rooms, 3 bathrooms,kitchen, 5 aircons, restau-rant, car park, sat TV, Inter-net. Private boat slip in frontof your door! Sale: 680,000baht. Tel: 081-9796011.Email: stefanmariaschmitz@yahoo.com

LUXURY VILLAS

Close to Laguna. Best ne-gotiable price. Brand-new.1,100sqm land, 4 bed-rooms, pool, lotus pond &garden. Contact K. Gai.Tel: 081-7344324. Formore info, please visit ourwebsite: www.phuketgreenlandvillas.com

AMAZING

BEACHFRONT LAND

2 rai, Naka Yai island, 42mof beachfront, amazingwhite sand beach, clearwater, next to Six Senses’new resort and theJumeriah Island project.Facing west, great sunsets.15 million baht per rai. Tel:086-2788300. Fax: 076-383978. Email: izzy_shifale@hotmail.com

GREAT

OPPORTUNITY

Due to health problems, Iam offering two houses forquick sale - one on half a raiof land and another on 1 rai.Both located in a good resi-dential area 5 mins from theLaguna resort. Buy bothfor 15 million baht. CallBepy for more information.Tel: 081-8930692. Email:toto@phuket.ksc.co.th

HILL LAND FOR SALE

12 rai overlooking LochPalm golf course, lake andentire valley with 180ºview. 1.9 million baht per rai.Contact K. Noi. Tel: 087-2698492.

CONDO FOR SALE

In Patong Tower, mountainview. There are 2 units avail-able now. One corner unit,75sqm, fully furnished at 5million baht. And, middle unit,62sqm, unfurnished, at 3.5million baht. Also there aremore unfurnished mountain-view units available for sale.For more information, pleaseemail sales@phuketislandrealestate.com

BANG TAO

BEACHFRONT

Want a new apartment?Why not consider a rare,genuine, tried and testedseven-year-old duplex apart-ment at Baan Chai Nam, oneof the best positions inPhuket. Beautiful 4km beach,close to many excellent res-taurants, 20m beach- frontpool, covered car parking, in-timate setting with beautifulgrounds. Leased to long-term tenant. Excellent value.19 million baht. Negotiable.Tel: 852-28651013, 085-64383379, 076-338758.Fax: 852-28653966. Email:cmcgee @netvigator.comMISSION HILLS

LAND

3 rai of land for sale in theheart of Mission Hills GolfCourse. An ideal locationfor villas or small resort.Tel: 081-8912926, 081-8911826. Email: info@baanboosakorn.com

NOW OR NEVER

Land and house in Chalong, ex-clusive residence, 2-storyhouse, 780sqm big garden withpool. 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms,Western kitchen. Includes all ap-pliances, aircon and muchmore. 11.6 million baht (nego-tiable). Urgent sale, owner re-turning to homeland. Contactat Tel: 076-282542, 089-7244246. Email: pattochan007@hotmail.com

PATONG SEAVIEW

CONDO

Freehold studio with pool.2.3 million baht or lease.Tel: 081-7823231. Email:guntmit@aol.com

HOUSE IN RAWAI

3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms,8x4 swimming pool. 6.2 mil-lion. Photos available. Tel:089-6666726. Email:lasonth@ksc.th.com

OCEANVIEW PLOTS

IN BANG TAO

Beautiful view, ready to build.Large plots in a quiet location.Starting at 3 million baht. CallTel: 086-2670157. Email:bannuaton@yahoo.com

SEAVIEW, FLAT

LAND – RAWAI

Access from main road.20 x 80m (1 rai). Companyavailable, no transfer fee.Only 15 million baht. Tel:081-7888280. Email:mauram7@hotmail.com

SEA VIEW

2-BEDROOM

apartment on top floor,north Patong. 20 steps tobeach. Freehold for 9.7 mil-lion. Contact for photos. Tel:086-2765117. Email:jihshand@gmail.com

RAWAI BAYVIEW

CONDO STUDIO

27sqm or 54sqm. 360,000baht and upward. In front of abank and 300m from the sea.Tel: 086-9408914.

KHAO LAK LAND

for sale. 4 rai in prime loca-tion on main road to Ranong,on corner of public road, ac-cess to Pak Wib Beach. 8million baht for quick sale.Tel: 081-6065772.

TOWNHOUSES

AT LOCH PALM

3 townhouses for sale: 2-bedroom, part-furnished; 2-bedroom, fully furnished; and4-bedroom part-furnishedwith swimming pool. Tel:081-9390176. Email:beaver@tstf.net

BANG TAO HOUSE

for sale. 2-story, 3 bedrooms,2 bathrooms, big pool, auto-matic gate, 5 aircons, sat TV,Internet. Tel: 084-8516121.Email: phuketmat@yahoo.comwww.phukethome.ws

AFFORDABLE

LUXURY

Immaculate villa. Privatearea, big lush garden, pool,4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms,big living room, Scandikitchen, huge patio, fullyfurnished, contemporaryBali-Thai style. Living area:450sqm. Land: 1,400sqm.Near Heroines’ Monumentwith scenic hill view.Chanote. 14 million baht.Tel: 084-6907057.

LAND AND HOUSE

Lakeside pool villa in Land &Houses Park. 3 bedrooms,3 bathrooms, aircon andWestern kitchen with appli-ances. Tel: 081-8921715.

C L A S S I F I E D S48 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Property Gazette

HOUSE FOR SALE

Nanai villa, Patong. Exclusivevilla, Thai-style, high stan-dard, fully furnished, swim-ming pool, 200sqm living area,2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms.Address: 154/13 Nanai Rd.16 million baht. Tel: 083-1767676.

NEW LUXURY

PENTHOUSE

Beautiful panoramic

ocean and sunset viewsover Patong Bay.

Large living room

and balcony.

2 bedrooms, 2 en-suitebathrooms. Fitted

kitchen, aircon, celling

fans. Includes private

roof terrace.

Total area: 245sqm.

Also includes lift, pool andprivate covered parking.

Perpetual lease.

Price: 12.9 million baht.

Tel: 087-8879070

Email:ianscondo@yahoo.com

KAMALA HOUSE:

ITS A MINX!

1,100sq ft, 3 bedrooms, 2bathrooms (1 en suite), fit-ted kitchen, huge terraceand carport on 4,300sq ftof private land in gatedcommunity with clubhouse& pool. 10-minute walk tobeach, 9km to Patong, 30minutes to airport. 7.9 mil-lion baht, freehold. Tel:852-98169116. Email:szivhk@yahoo.com

AO POR LAND

URGENT SALE

150 rai, Chanote, panoramicsea view. From 2.3 millionbaht per rai. Contact formore information. Tel: 089-7727012. Email: se_rim@hotmail.com

BOTAN VILLAGE

Located 10 minutes fromPatong, close to the BritishInternational School, gatedcommunity bordering a golfcourse. 350sqm. Villas onlarge land plot. Starting at16 million baht. Tel: 076-209143, 089-7247211.For further details, pleasesee our website at www.botanvillage.com

FAMILY HOUSE

Thai-contemporary, 3bedrooms, 3 bathrooms,study, swimming pool,3x6m small garden, fullaircon, Western kitchen.Ideal location, 1.2km fromBang Tao Beach and closeto the new Tesco-Lotus inBang Tao. 6.9 million baht.Tel: 087-3863388. Email:shanya.arman@gmail.com

RAWAI HOMES

WITH POOL

93sqm or 186sqm. 1.5 mil-lion baht and up. 250m fromthe sea. Tel: 086-9408914.Email: chotip07@yahoo.com

MODERN UNIQUE

RESIDENCE

An unusual modern prop-erty with a variety of uses.Includes 3 suites and swim-ming pool. 9.5 million baht.Tel: 081-7888280. Email:mauram7@hotmail.com

BIG TOWNHOUSE

in Rawai. 9 Rooms: 180sqm.Garden: 70 sqm. Balcony: 50sqm. Aircon. 2.5 million bahtTel: 084-4454614.

RAWAI POOL VILLA

400sqm land, 3 bedrooms, 3bathrooms, 400m to thebeach. Price: 7 million baht.Tel: 084-0579266. Email:chotip07@yahoo.com

POOL VILLA

IN NAI HARN

3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, fullaircon. 4.9 million baht. Tel:076-288047, 081-8941660.Email: cottrell@loxinfo.co.th

EXCLUSIVE RESIDENCE

A beautiful 3-bedroom villain an exclusive area on KataHill. Sea view, pool, etc. Allset in a beautiful landscapedgarden. Includes all furniture.18 million baht. Tel: 081-7888280. Email: mauram7@hotmail.com

CHEAP PLOT

Good size at 340sqm.15m frontage road, easyaccess to airport, PhuketCity and beaches. Only1.2 million baht. Call Tel:087-3863388. Email:lebijouvillas@yahoo.com

PHUKET COUNTRY

CLUB

3-story duplex renovationproject directly on the 15th fair-way. Tel: 081-8941994.Email: tomkat@phuket.ksc.co.th Visit http://www.fairway15.com for full details.

INVESTMENT

PROPERTY

Patong Beach, run as 5-starhotel, 100m to the beach.Income guarantee from thedeveloper. Sales contract at300,000 baht. For more infoplease contact K. Oi. Tel:045-30272542. Email:oi1@rocketmail.com

SURIN LAND

PLOTS FOR SALE

1,016sqm: 6 million baht.996sqm: 5 million baht. 5-minute walk to Surin Beach.Tel: 081-8687676.

RAWAI LAND SALE

172sqm in high-end locationnear Villa Suksan. Chanote.4.6 million baht. Tel: 085-7827551.

YAMU CONDO

2-bedroom condo withpool in Alanna Yamu devel-opment. Highest qualityfinish. Leasehold pur-chase. 7.5 million baht.Tel: 081-8941530. Email:andrew@leemarine.net

KATA HOUSE,

TERMS AVAILABLE

Two-bedroom house.Terms of 6 years availableat 490,000 baht per year, orcash of 2.6 million baht.Aircon, ADSL, cable TV.Tel: 66-801170144. Email:svein@byggeguiden.no

HOUSE IN PATONG

B4.7 MILLION

23sq wah, furnished, 3 bed-rooms - aircon, 1 bathroom,living room, kitchennette,washing machine, etc. Pleasecontact for more information.Tel: 081-5690664. Fax 076-344485. Email: sunsetap@ji-net.com

FOR SALE

Large family house on onerai, beautiful and quiet landon hillside, lots of trees, nearRawai and Nai Harn. 6.5million baht. Contact forinfo. Tel: 081-2525665.

BEAUTIFUL NAI

YANG LAND

5 mins to Phuket Airport,close to the beach. 10 rai,120 million baht. Must see.Tel: 089-7727012. Email:gyb_giff@hotmail.com

KARON LAND

FOR SALE

15 million baht per rai,Chanote, hillside, pan-oramic sea view, quietarea. Tel: 089-7727012.Email: se_rim@hotmail.com

C L A S S I F I E D SDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 49

Property Gazette

PHUKET CITY HOME

PROJECT

* Detached house for sale* 105sq wah, 2-story* Upstairs has 3 bedrooms,2 bathrooms* Downstairs has maid’sroom* Living room, 1 bathroom* Laundry room* Dining room with onedining table* Remote control door* 3 aircons* BathtubPrice 5.95 million baht.Contact K. Nathnarin at Tel:089-9739873.

BIGGEST BARGAIN

IN PHUKET

Spacious, detached houseon 260sqm of land in quietestate with swimming pooland 24hr security. Cen-trally located in Chalong,within minutes of PhuketCity, shopping centers andbeaches. 2-3 bedrooms, 2bathrooms, Western-stylekitchen, large living room, allfully furnished. Quick sale,price only 2.95 million baht!You will not find anythingbetter under 4 million. Con-tact K. Harry. Tel: 089-6639669. Email: andrekant@hotmail.com

BEST BUY

New townhouses: 2-story, 3 bedrooms, 105sqm living space, built toWestern standards andnow available at a localprice. Starting from 1.75million baht. Not far fromLaguna area. Please con-tact for more information.Tel: 087-3863388. Emaillebijouvillas@yahoo.com

HOUSE FOR SALE

Situated in desirable ChoafaThani, this 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom (2 en suite) housewith living room, kitchen/din-ing, study, garage and laun-dry room is in a secure com-pound. Backs onto waterand has mature garden.ADSL and UBC installed.Price: 7 million baht, nego-tiable. Tel: 084-8439579.Email: bimvool@aol.com

HOUSE FOR SALE

2-story, 4-bedroom house inChalong. Western kitchen,aircon, quiet area. 3.4 millionbaht. Tel: 081-9795755.

PATONG FREEHOLD

Studio room in condo 40 sqm.Totally renovated, fully fur-nished, sea view, center Patongnear Jungceylon. 2.7 millionbaht. Tel: 084-8485450. Email:enzoarturo@yahoo.it

2 SEA VIEWS

4 rai spectacular roadsidehighland with views of PhangNga Bay and Phuket Bay, 5mins Mission Hills, Ao Po.Perfect for large privatehouse, hotel or condos. NorSor 3 Gor. 20 million baht.Tel: 087-2675376. Email:anitawhooley@gmail.com

HOUSE FOR SALE

in Soi Naya, Nai Harn. 2bedrooms, 2 bathrooms,hot water, living room,kitchen, 3 aircons, 2 tele-phones, cable TV, furni-ture, garden, 60sq wah.Price: 2.7 million baht.Call Tel: 089-4716904,085-7864509.

RAWAI-NAI HARN

Spacious new pool villa, 3bedrooms, 3 bathrooms,hi-spec, good road, pri-vate. 10.5 million baht.Tel: 081-4751404. Email:chris_carlier@yahoo.com

SEA VIEW LUXURY

freehold condominium, 2bedrooms, 167sqm. 14thfloor, corner apartmentwith panoramic sea viewsof Karon Beach from allrooms. 14.5 million baht.Call Jeremy at PhuketLandsearch. Tel: 081-8916174.

BUILDING FOR SALE

About 5, 500sq ft, located onmain road to Kamala Beach.Exellent shape, apartment ontop floor. Contact K. Pen. Tel:081-8111067.

INEXPENSIVE LAND

1.5 rai house lots near air-port and Mission Hills golfcourse. Chanote, under-ground electric. 1.06 millionbaht, full price! Only 2 left!Contact Chris Fisher at Tel:086-9421930.

VILLA WITH POOL

Land and House park, 4 bed-rooms, 3 bathrooms, Euro-pean kitchen. 6.9 million baht.Tel: 081-0918908. Email:stein_dokset@hotmail.com

SEAVIEW POOL HOUSE

in Rawai, 3 bedrooms. 12.5million baht. Contact for pic-tures and info. Call Tel: 085-7839062. Email: docucolumns@hotmail.com

THAMAPRAO LAND

LOTS

7, 500 baht/sq wah. 100sqwah, ready to build on. 1kmfrom mission hills. Tel: 084-0526400, 081-4669597.Email: narin@phuketvillage.se

BAN SAKHO LANDLOTS

10, 000 baht/sq wah. 100sqwah, ready to build. 2 km fromNai Thon Beach. Tel: 084-0526400, 081-4669597.Email: narin@phuketvillage.se

PRIVATE ISLAND

Nine-rai private island for sale.Ten-minute boat ride fromPhuket/Koh Siray. White sandbeach, lush, perfect little get-away! 15 million baht. Tel: 085-8807954. Email: lukeremmers@yahoo.com

RAWAI

2-STORY HOUSE

160sqm, 2 bedrooms, 2 bath-rooms. Sell for 1.6 million. 350meters from sea. Call Tel: 086-9408914. Email: chotip07@yahoo.com

LAND FOR SALE

Near Laguna Phuket - good forresidential projects 22 Rais(Nor Sor Sam Kor) close tomainroad, water & electricityaccess. THB 7 ML per rai andcan buy half plot. No need to fillsoil! Tel: 081-5399269. Email:talayjan@yahoo.com

LAND FOR SALE

22 rai (Nor Sor Sam Kor) nearMission Hills Golf Club andhotels / residential area road& utilities access. Owner hasdone project lay out easy tostart. THB 2.5 ML per rai. Tel:081-5399269. Email:talayjan@yahoo.com

BALI BEACHFRONT

or mountain house, 4, 990 eu-ros, 10 year/freehold 29, 990euros. Krystal Court Penang,158sqm townhouse, 99, 990euros.

LAND FOR SALE

Kathu, next to Loch Palm golfcourse. Chanote, 3 plots-1,260,1,335,1,557sqm.Each plot sold with companyif required. Tel: 080-1435178.Email: kathulang@gmail.com

A BIGGER SPLASH

This new mountain-viewBali-style home has it all, 3beds en suite, big living roomwith open-plan westernkitchen, central aircon,separate guest suite, doubleparking. All surrounding ahuge 62sqm sculptured ce-ramic pool. The 200sqm plotis set within a small gated re-sort. Lots of extra land avail-able at only 3,250 baht/sqm.Mountain side location nearWat Chalong. A Bangkokcompany is included in the6.5 million baht. Contact atTel: 086-5930986 for moreinformation.

4.2-MILLION BAHT

BARGAIN RAWAI

2 bedrooms, 2 bath-rooms, open-plan livingroom, large garden. Tel:084-8446476. Email:dildalarge@yahoo.co.uk

SEAVIEW VILLA

– RAWAI

Super-modern, 2-story withpool. Ready to move in. 12 mil-lion baht. Tel: 085-7839062.

ELEGANT VILLA

Hillside, 15m pool, shady gar-den. Unique! Private! Nice!Call Tel: 076-388236, 089-7275407. Email: cosmocampbell@yahoo.com Forfurther details, please see ourwebsite at www.villa-sale-phuket.com

C L A S S I F I E D S50 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Property Gazette

Properties For Rent

HOUSE FOR RENT

IN CHALONG

2 bedrooms, kitchen, livingroom, dining room, laundryroom, fully furnished, airconin every room, carpark,swimming pool (shared),tropical garden. High-speedInternet and UBC satelliteTV included. 25,000 baht permonth, minimum 6 months.Tel: 087-1057320. Email:stefan@phuketit.co.th Fordetails, see our website atwww.chalongparadise.com

NEW FURNISHED

VILLA

Close to Laguna. 300sqm.Fully furnished, 3 bed-rooms, living room, dining,kitchen and pool. 2 mins toLaguna. Long or short-termrent. Please contact K. GaiTel: 081-7344324 or visitour website at: www.phuketgreenlandvillas.com

NICE, MODERN

HOUSE FOR RENT

Furnished and excellent loca-tion, 5 mins to Rawai & NaiHarn Beaches. 162sqm. 2bedrooms with private bath-rooms. 1 guest toilet. 3aircons. Large living-diningroom. Telephone line withADSL. Free water supplyand garbage service. 22,000baht per month. Pleasecontact K. Nui at Tel:087-3830936.

RAWAI

BEACHFRONT

3 bedrooms, aircon, tele-phone, UBC, 1-year con-tract. Contact Gina. Tel:089-6499939.

BUNGALOW

FOR RENT

2-bedroom bungalow for rentin Cherng Talay, short or long-term with maid service avail-able. Tel: 081-8912926,081-8911826. Email: info@baanboosakorn.com

SEMI-DETACHED

HOUSE

Living room, 2 bedrooms, 2kitchens, 2 bathrooms, roof,terrace, 2 aircons, little gar-den, ADSL, telephone. LochPalm Club. Long-term: 20,000 baht per month. Tel: 076-202725, 081-8916632.

TOP VILLA, TOP VIEW

FOR RENT

Thai-style villa with pool, ontop of a private hill. 4 bed-rooms, 5 bathrooms. 4kmto BIS. View of golf course,lake and valley. Quiet, secu-rity guard, maid, furnished,Wi-Fi and UBC. Yearly leaseat 65,000 baht per month.Tel: 087-2698492.

CONDOS FOR RENT

in Rawai, renovated, aircon,TV. Call Tel: 086-9456650.Or Email: phuketcomfortcondos@hotmail.com

HOME OFFICE

BYPASS ROAD

Great location near Lotus. 3½ stories, 10mx15m, 8 park-ing spaces in front. Show-room, 4 offices, 4 bedrooms,3 toilets, 5 aircons. 70,000baht per month. Tel: 089-1951394, 081-9583135.Email: astec99@yahoo.com

EXCLUSIVE RENTAL

Close to BIS school, 24hrsecurity, 5 bedrooms, 2parking spaces, pool, maid’sroom, family and childfriendly. Available now. Tel:081-4077403.

RAWAI HOME

WITH POOL

2 bedrooms, UBC, parking, gar-den 20, 000 baht/month. Tel:084-0579266. Email: chotip07@yahoo.com

RAWAI BEACH VILLA

4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms,UBC, ADSL, private pool.Rent: 45,000 per month.Tel: 084-0579266. Email:chotip07@yahoo.com

KAMALA

BEACHFRONT VILLAS

Fully furnished to a high stan-dard. Western kitchen. 3 bed-rooms, 2 bathrooms, loungeand dining areas. Large balconyoverlooking swimming pooland landscaped garden. Stun-ning sea views, only metersfrom the beach. Private, gated,parking with storage. UBC &ADSL. Includes daily cleaningand washing. Pool & gardenerservice. Daily rental offered;weekly: 40,000 baht; monthly:140,000 baht. Contact K.Suchada. Tel: 084-8436837.For futher details, please seeour website at: www.phuket-island-homes.com

RAWAI SEAVIEW

CONDO

Furnished studio for rent.Aircon, TV, UBC and ADSL.5,500 baht per month.Please contact for more infor-mation. Tel: 084-0579266.Email: chotip07@yahoo.com

HOUSE FOR RENT

New house for rent: 25,000baht per month; or for sale at4 million baht. Tel: 087-264-6808, 083-1743880.

MINI RESORT – POOL

Luxury 3-bedroom homes andspa near Laguna. Reasonableweekly or monthly rates.Tel: 089-5944067.

SEAVIEW VILLA

FOR RENT

A stunning, 5-bedroom villawith infinity-edge pool, vastdeck, BBQ area and full house-keeping services. Perfect fora big family or a group offriends. Tel: 076-260468.Email: ops@theestategroup.com

COMFORTABLE HOUSE

in secure environment, 3 bed-rooms, 3 bathrooms (2 ensuite), living room, study, ga-rage, kitchen/dining room,fenced garden, furnished,UBC, ADSL. 35,000 baht permonth. Near Wat Chalong.Tel: 084-8439579. Email:somlerdee@yahoo.com

FOR RENT AND SALE

in Kamala. Hotel room 1.3million baht. condo (2 bed-rooms), rent 15, 000 baht permonth. Tel: 085-7945411.

KAMALA BEACH

New apartments and housesfor rent, 2 to 4 bedrooms, fullyfurnished, close to beach,quiet. 15, 000 to 30,000baht, short- or long-term con-tact. Call Larry. Tel: 085-7978270.

QUIET GUESTHOUSE

Near Bangla. Rooms for rent.Pool, sauna, gym, short- orlong-term. Tel: 081-0843415.

THAI-STYLE VILLA

Tropical villa in Rawai, long-term rental. 3 bedrooms, 3bathrooms, 5 aircons, 42"cable TV, fully-furnished,lovely garden and large pool.60,000 baht per month. Tel:087-8916438.

DREAMHOUSE

For high-standard living, di-rectly on beach, 260sqm,pool, sala, 3 bedrooms, 3bathrooms, Jacuzzi, ADSL,cable TV. Long-term: 95,000/month; short-term: 5,000baht/day. Available from 20Jan 2008. Tel: 081-2596052.Email: surapong@gmx.de

MODERN HOUSE

IN CHALONG

Fully-furnished home with 2bedrooms and garden. Tel:668-19561202. Email: poo@rnrdecor.com For further de-tails, please see our website.www.rentthaihome.com/product.detail.php?lang=en&id=1055284

PRIVATE HOUSE

FOR RENT

Soi Ruam Nanachart Saiyuan,2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, biggarden, aircon, furnished, tele-phone, ADSL. 5 mins to NaiHarn Beach, long-term only.35,000 baht per month. Tel:076-215367, 081-5351570.

2- & 3-BEDROOM

HOUSES FOR RENT

Two-bedroom furnishedhouse in Kathu, and 3-bed-room unfurnished house inPatong. Please contact mefor details. Tel: 076-296301.Fax: 076-296301. Email:ampm_net@hotmail.com

BOAT LAGOON

TOWNHOUSE

for rent. 2 bedrooms, 2 bath-rooms, fully furnished, includeswasher and dryer. Large ter-race and canal. Only minutesfrom shopping centers and in-ternational school. Long-termrent, 1 year minimum, 30, 000baht per month. Tel: 086-2820567. Email: crystaleva1@hotmail.com

BEST VILLAS

IN NAI YANG

Ultra luxurious, furnished,pool and sala. Superb moun-tain views. One, large 2-bedroom villa for 25,000baht/month. And one 3-bed-room villa at 45,000 baht/month. Close to beach, air-port and Blue Canyon coun-try club. Contact Paul at Tel:085-7811182 Email: paulk@afriedlander.co.za

PHUKET RENTALS

House villas, condos andapartments. Get booking,pay, no commissions.www.phuket-rentals.com

SEAVIEW

APARTMENT

For 4 people on 9th floor inPatong Sky Inn, new andbeautiful apartment. Hotwater, aircon, cable TV,DVD, near restaurants,bars, laundry and beach.Has swimming pool.40,000 baht per month or2, 000 baht per day. Tel:086-2773817. Email:myprojob@hotmail.fr

HOUSE FOR RENT

SRISUCHRAT 2

Brand-new. 8,000 baht. Tel:086-6903639.

2-BEDROOM VILLA

3 mins to Mai Khao Beach.European standards, bigsala, Internet, very charmingantique furniture. 20,000baht per week. Tel: 089-4708926, 081-7197015.Email: eanfievet@voila.fr

WICHIT VILLA

FOR RENT

3 bedrooms, 3 aircons, brand-new furniture, TV, DVD, CD,ADSL Internet, dishwasher,washing machine, etc. 13,000baht per month. Tel: 076-526597, 084-48494882.Email: brickyjon@yahoo.com

PALAI GREEN

HOUSE

with big garden. Fully fur-nished, 2 aircons, 2 bed-rooms, hot shower, ADSL,and cable TV. 12,000 bahtper month. Chalong area.Tel: 081-8924311.

HOUSE FOR RENT

IN CHALONG

New single house in Land &Houses Park for long-termrent. 3 bedrooms, 2 bath-rooms, 240sqm, 2 aircons.17,000 baht per month. Tel:081-5697068. Email:sirio@tisco.co.th

C L A S S I F I E D SDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 51

Property Gazette

Classified ads are charged per line. Each line is 95 baht,

with a minimum of 4 lines (heading included) per ad.

All advertising must be paid for in advance.

Deadline for Property Gazette page: Friday 3 pm.

Deadline for all other ads: Saturday 12 noon.

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Classified Advertisements

Please use this form to write your classified advertisement.

Then hand it to any of our agents.

Looking for land to buy?See more classified ads at www.phuketgazette.net

PropertyWanted

BuildingProducts

& Services

HouseholdItems

HouseholdServices

AccommodationAvailable

PropertyServices

HOME WITH LAND,1-10 RAI

Any size or style of homewith 3- to 10-year lease onmonthly payments. Dry landsuitable for horses, prefernear a beach, but not on abusy road. Phuket, Krabi,etc. Tel: 084-8424581.Email: ChristyKSweet@gmail.com

WHEN YOU WANTLAND…

for commercial buildingor residential homes inPhuket, we have qualitychoices from a variety oflocations for you. Pleasecontact for details. Tel:085-2575711. Email:ppsr.property@gmail.com

LAND FOR PROJECTOur VIP client wants to buyland – seafront or good view– on which to build a resortand residential project. Needat least 20 rai. Please sendfull details and photos byemail. Urgent. Tel: 076-524000, 081-8912333.Fax: 076-223237. Email:surin123@csloxinfo.com

PATONG TOWER

condo with a sea view.Keen buyer ready to pur-chase. Please contact withdetails if you have one avail-able for sale. Tel: 084-447-1978. Email: diggerresort@hotmail.com

LONG-TERM RENTALwanted for family. Location:Patong, Kata or Karon. Tel:084-8989274.

1-MONTH HOLIDAYRENTAL

Looking to rent a 3- to 4-bedroom house for onemonth from Jan 15. Patong,Karon or Kata. Email:mdamkvist@yahoo.com

HOUSE ORSHOWROOM

WANTED

Showroom wanted for rentfor old furniture and decora-tive items. A house, town-house or commercial build-ing, with easy access for bigtruck would be of interest.Tel: 02-3813891, 086-7553734. Email: oak_y50@yahoo.com

WOULD YOU LIKETO RENT LONG-

TERM?

Nice condominium or housewith access to communualswimming pool. Minimum 2bedrooms. Rent up to30,000 baht per month.Needed from February 1 forDanish person. Email:jfridberg@hotmail.com

WE HAVE WHATYOU WANT

in real estate. Tel: 085-783-9062. Take a look at www.phuketmarbella.com

PATONG BEACHCONDO FOR RENT

Absolute top-end luxury 2-bedroom, 3 bathroom fully-loaded condo with spectacularsea views, Wi-Fi, UBC andwhirlpool in Patong Tower.Available from March until Jan2009. Contact Greg. Tel: 087-0548115. Email: showbus1@msn.com

PATONGAPARTMENTS

Modern studios or 1 bedroomwith cable TV, DVD, ADSL.Close to beach. Please call084-8473304 for more infor-mation.

NAI HARN BEACHBeautiful apartment for rent atThe Sands Nai Harn. 2 bed-rooms, 2 bathrooms, fully-fur-nished and equipped. Lovelyviews of Lagoon. Please con-tact for more information atTel: 089-7317699. Email:nengrich@ gmail.com

SEAVIEW VILLA FOR RENT

A stunning, 5-bedroom villawith infinity pool, vast deck,BBQ area and full housekeep-ing services. Perfect for a bigfamily or a group of friends.Tel: 076-260468. Email:ops@theestategroup.com

MOVING SALEQuality household goods atCHEAP PRICE! For photosand prices see our website atwww. picasaweb.google.com/k ingkongs imon/simonfurniture

Specialist in European stone-care products and services:

Prevent: rust, stains, mildew,algae, scratches

Remove: builders’ residue,incorrect sealants, rust, stains,

mildew, etc. Daily care &cleaning products also available.

Tel: 087-2824930, 076-271217Fax: 076-271218

Email:info@thestonedoctor-asia.com

• Restoration• Sealing/Protection• Maintenance

All your maintenance,protection & cleaning needsfor natural and manufactured

• Marble • Sandwash• Granite • Terracotta• Slate • Terrazzo

The Stone Doctor

TOTAL POOLSERVICES

Tried the rest? Then it’s time totry the best, from as little as2,500 baht per month. Call fora free quotation. Tel: 076-281327, 081-8954480. Email:security@mail2michael.com

PATONGAPARTMENT&ROOMLong- and short-term rent,room from 800 baht a night.For more information, pleasecall 076-512151 or 089-290-9567, or visit our website at:www.brommathaihouse .com

APARTMENTS

Albar property manage-ment service for your per-sonal requirements.Email: APMS_2007@hotmail.com

PATONG LUXURYAPARTMENT

Located in central Patong,182 bedrooms. Pleasecontact for more informa-tion. Tel: 076-341827.Email: suites247@yahoo.com

PHUKET HOMEMAINTENANCE

Construction, renovations,electricians, plumbers, car-penters, painters, tilers,gardeners, aircon servicing,sandwash and cleaner.Contact K. Rin at Tel: 084-1935124.

QUALITY BUILDINGSERVICES

Renovations, construction,electrical, plumbing, carpen-try, painting, tile. Fair pricesand free estimates given.Contact K. Pueng at Tel: 087-2709093 (English) or K. Pit at089-8677069 (Thai) Email:allservice29@gmail.com

SEAHORSEINTERIORS

Probably the best selectionof top-quality outdoor furni-ture available in SouthernThailand. Please pop intoour new showroom! 300mwest of the Heroines’Monument. Tel: 076-527-542, 089-7294083. Email:info@seahorse-interiors.com www.seahorse-interiors.com

C L A S S I F I E D S52 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Boats & Marine

SAILING TRIPS

Fishing, snorkeling and kayaking.Australian captain, reasonablerates. Tel: 081-6771641.

ALUMINIUM BOAT

for sale: "Sessa", 3.9L Italianmotor with 25hp Johnson.Includes trailer. Sale by for-eigner. Tel: 089-7309608.

PERFECT FIBERGLASS

fishing boat. Tri-hull, nearly-new 55 Yamaha and trailer.Free storage for 3 months ifyou buy for 195,000 baht.Tel: 085-4734619. Email:piratespizza@gmail.com

JET DINGY

4.7 x 2.2m with 120hp ForceInboard Jet. New electric andtrailer. 400,000 baht. Tel:076-242091, 081-7370557.Email: dive_block@web.de

50-METER

luxury yacht. Licensed for 60pax and can take 12 guestsovernight. A perfect yacht fora luxury resort or hotel. Speed16 knots and a 5,500kmrange. An extremely economi-cal yacht at only 49 liters perhour.Tel: 080-1462877. Forfurther information emailinfo@asiasuperyachts.comand see our website at:www.asiasuperyachts.com

C L A S S I F I E D SDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 53

Island Job Mart

Looking for a job? Still haven’t found the perfect candidate?

Find more Recruitment Classifieds at www.phuketgazette.net!

IMPORT TRI HULL

V8 Volvo 18ft, fiberglass tri-hull. Seats 8. Ski, fish, fun andfast. Very stable trailer. Freemooring or safe storage, 3months for 350,000 baht(trades ok). Tel: 085-4734619.Email: piratespizza@gmail.com

WELL BELOW

VALUE, MUST SELL

63ft power cruiser, 4double cabins, full aircon,water maker, GPS, radar,radio and much more.Must be seen and will givespecial price. Leaving coun-try. Tel: 081-9390176.Email: beaver@tstf.net

IMPORT/FIBERGLASS/

DIESEL

Beautiful 36ft, deep V, twinVolvo turbo, long-range cruis-ing, 28kts, bar, cabin, head,shower. Free mooring or safestorage with trailer for 6months if you buy for 3.6 mil-lion baht. Tel: 085-4734619.Email: piratespizza@gmail.com

ENGLISH PROGRAM

Satree Phuket school re-quires native speakers toteach science or mathemat-ics. Salary starts at 30,000baht plus 8,000 addendum(under the conditions). Inter-ested persons please callTel: 076-211034 ext 144 orsend a resumé to email:a_pupatanun@hotmail.com

JOB VACANCIES

* General Manager* Assistant to General Manager* Sales Manager* Sales OfficerThais or foreigners invited toapply. English skills required.Contact at Sinthavee HotelPhuket.Tel: 076-211186Fax: 076-211400Email: sinthavee@hotmail.comwww.sinthaveehotel.com

RESERVATION STAFF

Diethelm Travel is lookingfor highly qualified and ser-vice-minded operation staff.Good command of Englishand computer skills are re-quired; experience in tour-ism is a plus. Tel: 076-209163, 081-8927714.Fax: 076-209174. Email:max.t@th.diethelmtravel.com

SIMPSON MARINE

Asia’s leading yacht brokersand new yacht sales companyrequire the services of a pro-fessional receptionist. Candi-date must be young, dynamicand outgoing with a service-oriented mind. Highly profi-cient in English and computerskills is a must. Interestedcandidates, please send CVand photo to: phuket@simpsonmarine.com

RENTAL SALES

Siam Real Estate urgently re-quires a Thai national with ex-cellent English and sales ex-perience to sell holiday andlong-term rentals. Must drivecar, know the island and havegood adminstrative skills.Good salary and commis-sion. Please contact for moreinformation at Tel: 076-288908. Email: patrick@siamrealestate.com

PHAETHON CO LTD

needs 2 female staff withgood spoken English andcomputer skills for our of-fice near Lotus. For detailsplease contact at Tel: 087-5278532, 084-8989274.

PC JOB: DATA ENTRY

Work in office, Nai Harn. Ba-sic knowledge of English andPC-Internet required.12,000 baht per month. Ur-gent! Tel: 085-4737812.Email: vankets@gmail.com

PURCHASING

AGENT WANTED

to buy construction stock.3 years experience and En-glish required. Thai national.Tel: 087-0778454. Email:solitude001@aol.com

EVENTS EXECUTIVE

WANTED

English/Thai speaking EventsExecutive with own carwanted in Phuket. Tel: 603-78802502, 019-2379447.Fax: 603-78801154. Email:jeffreysoh@yahoo.com orvisit our website at http://conceptualevent.com/job_opportunity

SPA THERAPHIST

Hotel in Patong area requiresa spa therapist. Immediatestart. Please contact at Tel:081-8920038.

HOUSESITTER

needed to look after a 3-bed-room house and dog in Ka-mala, also do shopping. Mustbe able to drive. Hours: 10 amto 6 pm, Mon to Sat. Pleasecontact for more informationat Tel: 086-5932722. Email:jamesreanet@hotmail.com

FLUENT ENGLISH

SPEAKER

required for email tasks, re-search, writing and generaladministrative duties.Email: admin@languagesinaction.com

24-METER WOODEN

sailboat built of ironwood 9years ago. Yanmar diesel En-gine and Geny 7 sails. 55,000US dollars. Tel: 086-2762626.

C L A S S I F I E D S54 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Island Job Mart

Looking for a job?Looking for a better quality candidate?

Find more Recruitment Classifieds at www.phuketgazette.net!

BUNGALOW

IN RAWAI

Beach 11/22 Soi Suksan 2,needs Thai lady or man forcooking and bar work 4 or 8hours per day. Must speakEnglish. Good salary. Pleasecontact Laide (located inPhuket). Tel: 086-2773817.Email: villas@hotmail.fr

URGENTLY NEEDED

Communications: 1 position

Supervisor: 1 position.

Qualifications:

- female, age 25-30

- bachelor’s degree in businessadministration or related fields

- excellent in English commu-nication, both written and spo-ken

- good, logical thinking

- at least 2-3 years’ experiencein the area of customer ser-vice management, preferablyin shipment, hotel or relatedfields

- good computer literacy inMicrosoft Office and Internetprograms (Photoshop or Illus-trator software would be aplus)

- ability to learn quickly aboutchange initiatives

- open to delivering training

- proven ability to drive peopleto change, influence outcomesand demonstrate benefits

- ability to work as part of ateam

- strong leadership skills andself-motivated

- problem-solving skills

- able to keep strong companydiscipline

- pro-active and quick re-sponse on quality issues androutine work

- ability to work in shifts andwork well under pressure.

Interested candidates are in-vited to write with full resume,stating present and expectedsalaries and enclosing a recentphotograph, to: PersonnelDepartment, Digital MediaTechnology Co Ltd

9/17 Thepkasattree Rd

T. Rasada, A. Muang

Phuket, 83000.Tel: 076-219310. Fax: 076-219 309.

Email: siriporn@digital-media-tech.comFULL-TIME MAID

AND GARDNER

Full-time maid and gardner/handyman wanted to takecare of house and gardens inChalong, live in. Ideally an es-tablished married Thai couplewith no children, who will livein a fully furnished maid's bun-galow alongside the mainhouse. Duties include cook-ing, cleaning, maintaining aswimming pool and grounds,and looking after cars, mo-torbikes and a speedboat.Basic English and a clean driv-ing license an advantage.Salary for each: 9,000 to10,000 baht per month, de-pending on experience. Ref-erences required. Tel: 086-2829182 (for English), 081-5545665 (for Thai) Email:eduardo@exchequer.com

LIFE DRAWING

MODEL WANTED

Female required to sit foryear-12 students to draw,preferably unclothed or withswimming costume. On a Mon1:20 - 3:20 and a Wed 11:15to 1:15. To start Jan 14 for 5weeks. Reasonable rates ofpay. Professional and friendlyatmosphere. No time wasters,Tel: 084-8491323. Email:sfruin@bcis.ac.th

RESTAURANT,

HOTEL & TOURS

Guesthouse in Patong withrestaurant and tour busi-ness is searching for acook, receptionists (dayand night) and tour staff.Tel: 089-9325175. Email:wojidkowbengt@hotmail.com

MEXICAN

RESTAURANT

One cook and two wait-resses wanted for newMexican restaurant inChalong. Must speak En-glish. Please contact formore information at Tel:089-1638166. Email:vjnong@gmail.com

DELIVERY MAN

OR LADY

Thai company in Kamala wantsa man or lady for delivery ofproducts in Phuket. Age not aproblem, young or old accepted.Must have motorbike. Job is forThai national only. 7,000 bahtper month, plus gasoline. Pleasecontact for more details, callTel: 076-385221.Fax:076-2 7 9 3 4 0 . E m a i l :giovannifrova@libero.it

DRAFTSMAN

WANTED

Electrical design and engineer-ing firm needs a draftsmanwith experience in AutoCAD.Electrical or architectural ex-perience a plus. English notnecessary. Good salary plusbenefits, Fax: 076-270662.Please send CV to email:wally@avcphuket.com

RESERVATION STAFF

REQUIRED

Diethelm Travel is looking forhighly qualified and service-minded operations staff. goodcommand of English and com-puter skills required; experi-ence in tourism is a plus. Formore details contact at Tel:076-209163, 081-8927714.Fax: 076-209174.Email:max.t@th.diethelmtravel.com

C L A S S I F I E D SDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 55

Tout, Trader & Trumpet

ArticlesFor Sale

RESORT

UMBRELLAS

Cancelled order!Wholesale prices.

Custom made fromdurable shade cloth, 5-

year guarantee.Be quick!

Tel: Shades 084-6898844.

25% Discount on Classifieds for Shopper Card Holders

IF YOU...Place your ad in these pages;Present your Shopper Card; andPay for the ad at our offices,

you’ll enjoy a 25% discount* AND have your ad appear free ofcharge in the Phuket Gazette Online.

With more than 10,000 visitors a day, the Island Trader Online isThailand’s most active classified marketplace.

*Ads may be submitted in person or online (phuketgazette.net/classifieds), butmust be paid for at the Gazette offices. The discount is not available whenpayment is made at our agents.

The Phuket Gazette Co Ltd367/2 Yaowarat Road, Phuket CityTel: 076-236555 Fax: 076-213971

CHEERING SOFT ICE

machine, 2 flavors andswirl. Brand-new, war-ranty! Only 45,000 baht,Sushi/cake cooling counterdisplay, 150 cm. Newwarranty, only 16,500baht. Tel: 086-5413629.

TWO JBL SPEAKERS

New, 1000 WATTs. Twostands. Price value: 40,000baht. I will sell for 33,000 baht.Please contact for more info.Tel: 081-0815996.

SELLING SAMSUNG

29” TV

Electronics and furniture, all6 months old. Tel: 085-7888262. Website: http://users.actrix.co.nz/bvicker

GOING BACK TO

EUROPE

Set of furniture and manyother things. List on request.Tel: 087-8861513. Email:philippe.lehenaff@wanadoo.fr

FRAMED PAINTING

of Singapore riverboat Quayby Se Lee, 1981, width:95” X height: 75”. Price:20,000 baht ono. Pleasecontact via by Email:hhhg14@hotmail.com

SOFA – HIGH

QUALITY

Very comfortable, qualitysofa, paid 83,000 bahtnew in Bangkok. Wash-able pillow cover, qualitymaterial, with two match-ing foot stools on wheelsand many extra pillows.Email me for photo. Will sellfor 25,000 baht. Tel: 086-9507788. Email: simon@kingsimon.com

GLASS DINING

TABLE AND SOFA

Lovely, quality glass diningtable set with six Pascal-col-ored dining chairs. Paid morethan 100,000 baht newfrom Panache shop in Empo-rium Bangkok. Will sell for24,000 baht. Please con-tact for more information.Tel: 086-9507788. Emailme for lovely photos at:simon@kingsimon.com

OUTDOOR

FURNITURE

Two sets, each comprised of4 chairs, a bench seat and atable. Heavy duty. Ideal for abeer garden. 20,000 baht perset. Tel: 089-5915330. Email:absoluteautos@hotmail.com

GYM SET

Only 4,000 baht. Call for de-tails. Tel: 076-388478, 083-5207308. Email: gerrybfoster@hotmail.com

ArticlesWanted

PIE WARMER

I need a pie warmer. Tel: 087-8950620. Emai: mike7474@hotmail.com

Bulletins

A HORSE FOR

CHRISTMAS??

HORSE LOVERS WANTEDto join private English-stylelivery yard. Beautiful ridingfacilities will soon be avail-able for 6 horses. 4 x 4mstables, 40 x 20m sandmanege, 15m coveredschooling ring, 50 x 50mshow jumping paddock and20 x 50m turnout paddock.Experienced live-in grooms,qualified dressage/jumpinginstructors, secure on-siteriding and long beachhacks. Friendly, social at-mosphere, new friends,wine and BBQs await like-minded residents. Assis-tance offered to parties in-terested in purchasinghorses. Availability limited,members only, strictlyclosed to the public. Pleasecontact Elizabeth for fur-ther information. Email:elizabeth@luckytiger.org

SPONSOR

a needy child. The PhuketInternational Women’sClub is a volunteer organiza-tion raising funds for educa-tional scholarships. We relyon the goodwill of our do-nors and sponsors – smalland large. If you would liketo put something back intothe community in whichyou live, contact us to findout more about giving aprize or being a sponsor.

Contact K. Carol (Tel:087-4178860 or

carol.fryer@piwc.info) orK. Sue (Tel: 087-

2776948 orsue.arnulphy@piwc.info)

SEEKING MUSICIANS

to jam with singer BowieJagger-esque seeks musiciansto jam with. I have experienceof 25 years on and off. For fun.Tel: 085-7932275. Email:eunson101@yahoo.com

BusinessOpportunities

PATONG

SPA & SAUNA

for sale. Please contact K.Kevin. Tel: 084-7300190.

ONCE IN A LIFETIME

opportunity to partly-own arental hovercraft business onPhuket. This is not a failedbusiness just needs furtherinvestment. No time wast-ers. Please contact Steve atTel: 086-2769556. Email:Phukethovercraft@hotmail.com

OFFICE FOR RENT /

GOOD AREA

15.4 meters with aircon andcar park. 9,000 baht per month.Tel: 081-5372655. Email:kwan_1905@hotmail.com

RIVER CITY

GUESTHOUSE

Phang Nga on Andamansea. 7 rooms, 3 bath-rooms, kitchen, 5 aircons,restaurant, car park, SatTV, Internet. Private boatslip in front of your door!Sale: 680,000 baht. Tel:081-9796011. Email:stefanmariaschmitz@yahoo.com

DON'T MISS

OPPORTUNITY

Nice curtain shop for sale withequipment and staff ready tostart, located near Chalong.Tel: 081-8937068.

RESTAURANT

KARON

Includes bar, tour companyand 3-year lease. 10, 000baht per month rent and 1.4million baht key money. Bar-gain! Tel: 089-4731351.

WORK FROM HOME

Proven business, full traininggiven, machines, ingredients,everything you need to startearning money from Day One.150,000 baht. Tel: 054-451978, 084-8058815. Email:gntradingco@hotmail.co.uk

INTERNET AND

LAN GAMES

Internet and LAN-games inRawai. Please contact me fordetails. Tel: 076-288636,084-8516179. Email: franck2548@yahoo.com

BAR FOR SALE

Bangla Rd. Please contact K.Kevin. Tel: 084-7300190.

SOI TIGER BAR

For sale, in excellent location.For more info see www.janepropertyphuket.com

PRIME BANGLA

SPORTS BAR

Profitable sports bar with pooltable and 42” TV. Threefloors, lady’s room and fur-nished apartment. 4+ yearlease. For 3 million baht. Email:gv1970no@yahoo.no (in-quires only).

CONSTRUCTION

COMPANY

looking for a partner / inves-tor. We have contracts tobuild from Jan/08 over30,000sqm of buildings. Weneed to invest in a mobilecrane, truck, excavator, scaf-folds and steel formwork, etc.Please contact us in German,English or Thai. Email:phuketconstruction@hotmail.de

BAR / RESTAURANT

Large bar-restaurant with pooltable, couches, plunge pool,Wi-Fi and cable TV. Fully-equipped kitchen. 1.5 millionbaht. Please contract for moreinformation. Tel: 087-0628681. Email: mrbeanowilson@hotmail.com

ITALIAN

RESTAURANT

for sale near Laguna en-trance. Proven success, readyto move in. 4 million baht. Rentfor 30, 000 baht per month.Please contact for more infor-mation. Tel: 085-7839062.

C L A S S I F I E D S56 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Tout, Trader & Trumpet

Gazette Online Classifieds

10,000 readers every day!

Business

Products &

Services

BUSINESS PARTNERS

WANTED

All new 10-million-baht club/restaurant. 50m from beach.Excellent opportunity for theright people. Committed in-vestors only, from 1 to 5million baht. Grand openingDec 15-20 with tributeshows to Elton John, ABBA,Elvis. Dec deadline act now!Tel: 084-6644050. Email:aadams 007@yahoo.com

NIGHTCLUB

URGENT SALE

One partner leaving country,other moving to Chiang Mai.Hence urgent sale required fora nightclub just off Bangla Rd.180sqm, all new construc-tion. 3-year lease with 3-yearoption. Excellent opportunity.All reasonable offers consid-ered. Tel: 081-7520275.Email: comfortablynumb_18@hotmail.com

SEAVIEW APARTMENT

& RESTAURANT

4-room apartment withseaview balconies in Patong.For sale or lease, 6.2 millionbaht. Tel: 085-8885144.

CHALONG

APARTMENT

11 rooms, already rented.5.5 million baht. Tel: 085-8885144.

BANGLA BAR/CLUB

New, fit-out, seats 90, aircon,7 rooms. 4.9 million baht. Tel:089-8677940.

RETIRE ON ROCKET

SCIENCE

Online options trader of-fers private consultancy.Trade in the world’s biggestfinancial markets safely andprofitably from home, witha small account. You wil beamazed, it’s not rocket sci-ence. Zero experience re-quired. Have an income inthe tropics regardless ofother people. 100% seri-ous. Limited places. Tel:081-7373958. Email:info@optionwok.com

RESTAURANT

for sale in Karon area. In-cludes equipment and 2 bed-rooms upstairs. 180,000baht. Tel: 081-5375844.

BAR FOR SALE

The Chang Noi bar in Ka-mala. Fully operational withTV, Wi-Fi, etc. Seats 40.Rent paid until 2011. Asking1.8 million baht. Tel: 087-8987437.

CLOTHING SHOP,

URGENT

Lease on Nanai Rd, Ban Kajanawith furniture and bedroom.Owner moving overseas. Tel:087-3809951.

BAR/COFFEE SHOP

for lease on the main road inRawai. Key money of 650,000baht for 4 years; rental at10,000 baht per month. Tel:084-1964101. Email: richard_melen@hotmail.com

MASSAGE,

SALON & BAR

Main street near Central,modern design, many repeatcustomers. Must see! CallTel: 089-2553700. Email:markhigson497@msn.com

PRIME RETAIL SPACE

Center of Patong: 1,350sq ft.Can divide into office, store orrestaurant. Tel: 086-1588752.

CHIROPRACTIC

Dr. Richard CracknellTel: 076-330889.www.chiropractic-

phuket.com

VISA & LEGAL

SERVICES

Company registration 2,229baht; 1-year visa 7,900 baht;retirement visa 7,900 baht;work permit 7,900 baht; UK& US visa 19,999 baht. Nomore visa runs, get a 1-yearvisa for only 7,900 baht.Establish your Thai companytoday to buy land or startyour business for only 2,229baht. Property title search,sales contract and land reg-istration. Thailand's largestlegal service network. Al-ways low prices by our li-censed Thai lawyers.Please contact for more in-formation.

Tel: 076-290376, 076-290487.

Email: info@siam-legal.com

JEAB’S JUMPING

CASTLES

8 models.For children’s parties.

Please contact for moreinformation.

Tel: 081-8939742. www.

phuketjumpingcastles.com

BKK BUILDING

CONTRACTOR

with a full team will beavailable for work on yourvilla or condo in the newyear. Please contact K.Nuan. Tel: 076-261643.Email: asc_2008@hotmail.com

RESTAURANT

in Nai Harn with 48 seats,good contract, fully-equippedand prime location. Tel: 081-9580542.

GUESTHOUSE LEASE

For 2+3-years sale. 7 roomsand shop. All rooms furnished,3 large rooms with fridge TV,aircon, bathrooms, 4 smallrooms also with bathroomslounge kitchen. Room to build3 extra rooms. Tel: 087-3196458, 087-2670957.

C L A S S I F I E D SDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 57

Tout, Trader & Trumpet

Pets

Charity

Need help finding a lawyer? www.phuketgazette.net

OSTEOPATH (UK)

Please contact for more info.Tel: 076-388524, 081-6072343. www.garnettsymonds.com

APARTMENTS

Albar property managementservice for your personal re-quirements. Email: apms_2007@hotmail.com

ANDAMAN LEGAL

ADVISERS

26 Hongyok-Utit Rd, Talad Yai,Samkong, Phuket. Associatedwith Advocates and SolicitorsBangkok, Phuket and UK. Weprovide a wide range of high-quality and specialized legalservices to individual and cor-porate clients.- Legal consultations- Conveyancing and

commercial- Alien business

establishment- Tax planning; properties- Bookkeeping- Notarial services- Trademark and patent

licenses- Immigration

and work permits- Wills, marriage, divorce- Settlement agreement- Juristic contract- Translation

Please contact for moreinformation.

Tel: 076-236124, 02-5113264, 081-9377219.

Email: andamanlegal@gmail.com, or

solicitor40@aol.comWebsite:

www.haroldstock.com

WEBSITE DESIGN,

HOSTING

Tel: 089-2350969. Email:sales@lfr-asia.com See us at:www.lfr-asia.com

Soi Dog Foundation Tel: 081-7884222

Takeme

homewithyou!

SPORTS MASSAGE

and neuromuscular body work.15 years of experience and in-tegrity, treatments conductedat beautiful office in Kamala.Contact K. Stephen. Tel: 081-5906853. www.wovenhandstherapies.com

NIKON D80 +

TAMRON 17-50MM

- D80 only 6 months old. Newprice: 28,500 baht + ship-ping. Will sell for 20,000 baht- Tamron, also 6 months old.New price was 15,000 baht;will sell for 9,000 baht.Will sell the two items to-gether for only 28,000 baht.Tel: 076-263222, 085-4786476. Email: jonasradahl@gmail.com

Cameras &Equipment

NIKON N5000

DIGITAL

Great digital camera, bag,extra memory, charger, etc.As new condition. Easy to use.Takes very good photos,macro and more. 15,000 baht,offers considered. Tel: 084-8445868. Email: come_in2enjoy@hotmail.com

THANK YOU

To the anonymous donor of 15bags of top quality race horsefeed. It is much appreciated.Many, many, thanks from thestaff and horses at PhuketHorse Rescue. Tel: 084-8424581. Email: ChristyKSweet@gmail.com

ClubMemberships

Available

BANYAN TREE GOLF

Membership in Banyan TreeGolf - Laguna Phuket (16years left). Contact the adver-tiser for more information. Tel:852-21224601, 852-94889147. Email: itel@itel-international.com

ClubMembership

Wanted

MEMBERSHIP

WANTED

Membership for LagunaPhuket golf club wanted. In-terested in selling? Please callLilian. Tel: 087-3894680.Email: lilian.norin@resursbemanning.se

PHUKET

COUNTRY CLUB

Anybody out there want tosell their Phuket Country Clubmembership? Please call meif you do. Tel: 076-381260,087-9362514. Email: jimbeckett41@hotmail.com

Computers

BCD REGS

COMPUTER

Sed quest Pro QD DCD Lgsuunto cubra computer scubapro regs, 1st stage. 28,000baht obo. Tel: 085-7958743.

WEB SITE HOSTING

We are dedicated to providingreliable web hosting solutionsof the highest quality. All of ourplans come with a 99.9%uptime guarantee. Our focusis on reliability, uptime andcustomer support. Email:office@gasserweb.com Forfurther details, please see ourwebsite at: www.gasserweb.com

GERMAN NOTEBOOK

Medion Notebook with Ger-man keyboard layout, fastprocessor, 1GB RAM, verypowerfull, large bright 15.4"LCD screen, complete withTV Tuner card and remotecontrol. New: 50,000 baht;will sell for only 29,500 baht.Tel: 086-6900444. Email:rico@southernpartner.com

WIRELESS ADSL

3G AIRCARD

Sierra wireless high speedPCMCIA card for CATtelecom’s fastest wireless3G DSL B590/month ser-vice. Original software &packaging. Fully paid-up ser-vice contract. Easily trans-ferred. Asking 11,000 baht.Tel: 081-4961100. Email:sub@createlabs.com

DOMAIN SHE.INFO

FOR SALE

"The number of targeted visi-tors will double your sales!" Toplace the minimum bid atUS$1million, email: info@she.info For details, visit ourwebsite www.she.info

Dive Gear

SCUBA GEAR FOR

PADI SCHOOL

Cultri-Sub compressor withmotor, 15 Aqua Lung regula-tors with consols, 34 tanks,26 suits, 18 BCD, 33 fins, 22masks, 25 weight belts andlead. Desk, file cabinet, tablesand chairs, all spares, toolsand PADI materials to start ascuba school. Good conditionat a reasonable price. Call oremail for details. Tel: 074-442170, 089-4661130.F a x : 0 7 4 - 4 4 2 1 7 0 .Email: starfishscuba@starfishscuba.com Fordetails,see our website atwww.divingkohlipe.com

Miscellaneousfor Sale

RESTAURANT

FIRE SALE

Everything for sale. Pleasecontact for more informa-tion. Tel: 076-288295, 084-6997155. Email: mgbstuff@yahoo.com

HANDHELD VHF

MARINE RADIO

Handheld VHF Marine radioUniden Atlantis, as-new,4,000 baht. Hutchwilco,150N inflatable life jacketPFD type1, fits 60kg andover, as-new, 3,000 baht.MSR DragonFly ultralitecamping stove, uses anyfuel, 3,000 baht. PanasonicFAX copy/answer ma-chine, 1,000 baht. Pleasecontact for more informa-tion. Tel: 084-8445868.Email: come_in2enjoy@hotmail.com

Mobile Phones

MusicalInstruments

WANTED: BABY

GRAND PIANO

Please contact me if you have,or know of, one for sale. Tel:084-7040260. Email: lynne.daniel @mail.com

ALADIN SMART

TEC COMPUTER

Brand-new, with transmitter.Only 29,000 baht (½ price).Tel: 080-1416251. Email:cris_walimai@yahoo.co.uk

MOBILE PHONES

NOKIA 8800, stainlesssteel, perfect condition.14,000 baht ono. Pleasecontact for more informa-tion. Tel: 081-8054945.

PersonalServices

ENGLISH LESSONS

for your staff. Thai ladyteacher experienced in teach-ing staff & service personnel.English with specific applica-tion to their jobs and servingyour customers. Individual orgroup courses with your busi-ness requirements in mind.Please contact me for informa-tion. Tel: 081-7971497.Email: churee77@hotmail.com

THAI LADY

Thai -language lessons at yourhome or hers, Wat Chalongarea. Prepared text books andintroductory course of 10 les-sons. I can also give Englishcourses to your Thai staff orservice personnel. Tel: 081-7971497. Email: churee77@hotmail.com

VILLA RENT PHUKET

Are you looking for a villa torent? Then contact us withyour requirements and wewill offer you the best villadeal in Phuket. Email:info@phuketpersonal.comFor further details, pleasesee our website at www.phuket-holidays.info

CORPORATE

CONFERENCES

We can find a venue to suityour needs and budget, ar-range transport and logisticalsupport, and help you with on-site coordinators, secretariesand administrative staff. Mo-bile phone cards and IT solu-tions, team building events,competitive competitions andentertainment events. Email:info@phuketpersonal.comFor further details, please seeour website at http://phuketpersonal.com

Personals

REWARD:

MISSING DOG

Taken from the Chalong Bayarea 4 weeks ago, she is abulldog cross and is from aloving and caring familyhome. She is pregnant andneeds medication or she willdie. Substantial REWARDfor ANY information. Pleasecontact Tel: 083-3884410(Thai), 085-4732045 (Eng).

BACKGAMMON

Retired businessman lookingfor backgammon players inPhuket. Please contact formore information. Tel: 081-5778443.

MEN'S CARE

by man, professional mas-sage by certified masseuse,house calls. Khao lak area.Please contact K. Pon. Tel:087-8967911.

PATONG IVORY

ANTIQUE SHOP

Open daily from 10:30am-7:30pm. Location: 200Prabaramee Rd, Patong.Tel: 076-290026.

C L A S S I F I E D S58 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

Wheels & Motors

Saloon Cars

Need wheels? Check out www.phuketgazette.net

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Please use this form to write your classified advertisement.

Then hand it to any of our agents.

Classified ads are charged per line. Each line is 95 baht,with a minimum of 4 lines (heading included) per ad.

All advertising must be paid for in advance.

Wheelsheelsheelsheelsheels & MotorsotorsotorsotorsotorsAdvertisements

Pickups

HONDA CIVIC:150,000 BAHT

3-door, 1994 model, automatic,red. Contact K. Mon. Tel:076-288561, 089-8755477.Email: k_sripanya@yahoo.com

SKODA FABIA,DIESEL

5-door hatchback, 2002. Oneowner, silver, excellent condi-tion, garaged, service history.400,000 baht. Please contactmore infomation at Tel: 089-7280996.

TOYOTA MIGHTY XPICKUP

Four-door, 1995, power steer-ing. 140,000 baht. Call for de-tails. Tel: 089-2087205. Email:jaswilliamson2@yahoo.com

NISSAN NV PICKUPExcellent condition, 95,000kms. Manual transmission2,000km. Very clean and reli-able car. Asking 220,000 bahto.n.o. Tel: 081-8941530.Email: andrew@leemarine.net

PICKUP: 90,000BAHT

Mitsubishi, 1985, insuranceand registration paid for 1year. Contact me for furtherdetails at Tel: 076-288561,089-8755477. Email:k_sripanya@yahoo.com

MAZDA 3 SPORTUnder 2½ yrs old, only12,000km, manufacturer'swarranty, immaculate con-dition, full insurance, reducedfor quick sale. Offers invitedaround 830,000 baht.Tel:076-388465,086-7421780. Email: graham@thai-connexion.com

ISUZU D-MAX CAB 4

2003. 100,000km, perfectcondition, runs great, 3.0L,automatic, only one owner.Price: 510,000 baht. Con-tact for more information atTel: 087-2709093. Email:anutsamantamit@gmail.com

HONDA CITYFOR SALE

Great family car, only53,000km, manual, 1 femaleowner, serviced regularly.290,000 baht. Please con-tact for more infomation atTel: 089-8742942. Email:chantal.fernandes@gmail.com

NISSAN PICK-UP4-DOOR

Turbo, year 2007. 395,000baht. Please contact formore infomation at Tel: 084-4413633.

FORD RANGER

2005 with 13,000km. Diesel,open cab, first owner, TV,VCD and many extras for330,000 baht. For detailscontact Tel: 081-5395948.

TOYOTAHILUX TIGER

2000, low mileage, clean,perfect condition, very

reliable. Owner is relocating.Asking price:320,000 baht.

Please contact for moreinformation at

Tel: 076-281479,087-0190852.

Email:dj_chet10@hotmail.com

1996 MITSUBISHISTRADA

2.8L. Excellent condition.190,000 baht obo. Pleasecontact for more informa-tion at Tel: 086-9719776.

ISUZU DMAX4-DOOR

2.5L diesel, 58,000km, 2003,Carryboy sport lid, very goodcondition. 435,000 baht. Con-tact for more information atTel: 086-1588752.

PICKUP TRUCK149,900 BAHT

1993 Mitsubishi, new enginelast year, insurance paid 1 year,registration paid 1 year. Looksgood, runs good. Move forcessale. Email for photo and moredetails. Tel: 085-2212883,085-789-4482. Email:mrphiliplynch@gmail.com

MITSUBISHI TRITON2006

Blue, 2WD, mega-cab, CDplayer. Price: 400,000 baht.Please contact K. Barry formore information at Tel: 085-7959105.

NEW CAMRY 2007All options. 490,000 baht incash or 36 payments of29,700 baht. Please contactfor more infomation atTel: 081-0918908. Email:stein_dokset@hotmail.com

YARIS FOR SALE

S limited model, full options,2006, auto, black, with30,000km. Price: 575,000baht. Please contact formore infomation at Tel:081-1965212.

TOYOTA ESTIMA7-seater, first-class condition,automatic with new tires.Contact for more informationat Tel: 084-4413633.

HONDA CITYVTEC

Engine 2 years old, manualgearbox, 7,700 km. Excel-lent condition, service his-tory, still under warranty.475,000 baht. Please con-tact more info at Tel: 089-9703697. Email: cuth22@hotmail.com

1992 BMW 318I

Professionally maintained,only one registration, manualtransmission, aircon, centrallocking system, leather,152,000km. For more infor-mation contact at Tel: 084-4421957.

BEAUTIFUL MIRA

Green/blue, 1995, excellentcondition. Comes withaircon and lots of new parts.Reliable and cheap at82,000 baht. For more infor-mation contact at Tel: 089-7291099. Email: 1stlisa@gmail.com

DAIHATSU MIRA

Blue, 1995 model. Greatcondition, many new parts.Cheap to run, cheap partsand fun to drive. Only 90,000Mark at Tel: 084-8446028.Email: marksimonallen@gmail.com

NISSAN NVFOR SALE

99,000km. 1999, new paintand very clean car. Asking160,000 baht. Please contactLionel. Can be viewed in Rawai11/22 Soi Suksan 2, Phuket,Thailand. Please contactmore infomation at Tel: 087-2678389.

TOYOTA VIOSTURBO

Special limited edition Toyotaracing development. 143hp,inter-cooled turbo, black,sport leather, Alcantara seats.Reg 09/04, only 48,000km,new condition. Genuine rea-son for sale. I paid: 830,000baht; sell for 580,000 baht.For details contact at Tel: 084-0603477. Email: attivitaphuket@yahoo.co.uk

NISSAN NVAUTOMATIC

Year 2000. Price 320,000baht. Please contact formore infomation at Tel:084-413633.

VOLVO 960EXECUTIVE

3,000cc, unique in Thai-land. Excellent condition,fully maintained, perfectfamily luxury car or smallhotel limo. Asking 340, 000baht ono. Tel: 087-2982033.

C L A S S I F I E D SDecember 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 59

Wheels & Motors

4 x 4s RentalsMotorbikes

Others

VIGO 4WD, 4-DOOR

2005, 31,000km, auto-matic, black. Many extras.One owner. 650,000 baht.Tel: 086-6831964. Email :franklee200@hotmail.com

TOYATA HILUX

CAB 4, 4WD

2001, manual, 3,000cc die-sel, gray, 75,000km. ABS.Airbags. 3rd-party insur-ance. Excellent condition,runs great. Price: 470,000baht full payment or 70,000baht and take over themonthly payments. Formore info contact at Tel:087-2709093. Email:anutsamantamit@gmail.com

FORD RANGER

2005 with 13,000km. Die-sel, open cab, first owner, TV,VCD and many extras for330,000 baht. Tel: 081-5395948.

4WD JEEP

CHEROKEE

Leather seats, 4L, auto-matic, deep red, verygood, safe truck. New tires,brakes, suspension linkageetc. 200,000km. 300,000baht ono. Contact for moreinfomation at Tel: 086-0071505, 084-8514541.

TOYOTA VIGO G,

4X4, AUTO

2006 model, black, creamleather interior, 4-door, manyextras. 29,000km, must beseen. Only 725,000 baht.Tel: 087-8974541. Email:glk40@hotmail.co.uk

NOUVO FOR SALE

2.5 years old. Low kms.30,000 baht. Mio MX, 1 yearold, 6,000km, 33,000 baht.Also, car for rent. Tel: 089-5885692.

A1 CAR RENTALS

Cars and trucks that are allfully-insured for rent. Bestprices for long-term rental:12,000 to 22,000 baht permonth. For more informationon specific vehicles, contactTel: 089-8314703.Email:a1carrent@myway.com

CHEAP CAR RENTALS

10,000 to 14,000 baht permonth, full insurance. Tel:089-4727304.

VIOS FOR RENT

One year old, full options, fullinsurance. 6,500 baht/week;long term 17,000 baht/month.Tel: 089-5885692.

HONDA JAZZ

For long-term rent. Auto, 1.5cc, I-DSI engine. Please con-tact more for infomation atTel: 086-7432011.

P.M.P CAR RENTAL

New cars for rent: ToyotaVios, Yaris, Fortuner, Wishand Honda Jazz. For moreinfo contact at Tel: 083-1743880, 087-2646808.

Wanted

CARS FOR RENT

AT PHUKET

International Airport. Wehave many types of cars foryou. Please contact for moreinformation at Tel: 086-7432011.

SUZUKI DRZ 400

Four-stroke Suzuki DRZ400, 2004 model, in perfectcondition for sale. No acci-dents. Two uses (off-roadand street), 7,000km, reg-istered with green book.210,000 baht. Tel: 086-2734149.

CHEROKEE

FOR SALE

Jeep Cherokee, 1998, 4.0L,automatic, lady-owned, verygood condition. For sale at only390,000 baht obo. Tel: 081-3430777. Email: montha_phuket@yahoo.com

COMPETITION

GO-KART

Two-stroke Ital System go-kart in perfect condition forsale. Never been damaged.Garage available at Profes-sional Kart Phuket. 85, 000baht. Tel: 086-2734149.

TOYOTA VIGO 4WD

Automatic, 4-door, black. 2½years old, 1,000km. 680,000baht ono. Tel: 086-6831964.Email: franklee200@hotmail.com

TOYOTA TIGER

2002, low kms, one ladyowner, excellent condi-tion. 339,000 baht. Tel:089-7261617.Email:pippapippa@hotmail.com

2006 MAZDA

4X4 TRUCK

Excellent condition. 11,000km.Custom paint, 3.0L turbo die-sel, manual, extended cab,ABS, airbags. New: 720,000;Sell: 600,000 baht obo. Tel:084-6644050. Email: aadams007@yahoo.com

FORTUNER

EXCLUSIVE

White, 2006. Price: 1.15 mil-lion baht or can finance. Forinfo call James at Tel: 081-2722008.

TOYOTA FORTUNER

2.7 VVTI, auto, 2005, silver,47,000km. 850,000 baht.Please contact for moreinfomation at Tel: 089-5944017.

CUSTOM HARLEY

DAVIDSON

Soft Tail 2000, twin cam.1,450cc. Custom by EastCoast Choppers. Many pho-tos including build at http://petesharley.blogspot.com/Tel: 087-2650118. Email:ant_p_clark@yahoo.com

PM SUPER HARLEY

Twin Cam, 1450cc, 14,000km, 6-speed, Mikuni dualcarbs, Vance & Hince exhaustsystem, 240 rear tire. An ab-solute eye-catcher! Newly de-signed in Dec 2005 withbrand-new performance ma-chine parts and a lot of otherspecial accessories. Greenbook! 999 registration num-ber! Price: 1.7 million baht.Ask me for more details andphotos! Tel: 076-388633,086-6829709.Email:weidner@loxinfo.co.th

HONDA STEED 600CC

Original, good condition, reli-able, honest bike with greenbook. Including tax: 120,000baht ono. Tel: 086-1473890.Email: info@sabai.nl

HONDA STEED

400CC

Good condition, green book,only 90,000 baht. Call Ivan atTel: 089-8675976.

HONDA SONIC 125CC

2004, only 11,700km, goodcondition, one lady owner.Contact K. Noi at Tel: 087-2639637.

HONDA STEED

150,000 baht. Good conditionand green book. Please con-tact for more info at Tel: 076-527730, 084-8517692.Email: superoh@hotmail.com

2005 VTX 1800CC

Info at Honda.com, black,chrome. 590,000 baht. Tel:087-8950328. Email: giepp969@hotmail.com

PHANTOM AND

YAMAHA

Honda, 200cc, 44,000 baht.Yamaha spark 115cc, 15,000baht. Tel: 084-6449942, 084-8445868.

HONDA 400

SUPERSPORT

1994, one owner, 34,000km.For sale due to injury. Tel:081-6932759.Emai l :wunhung@gmail.com

HONDA CB400 VTEC

Series 3 model, 2006. Perfectcondition, comes with bookand tax. Only 4,500km. Fan-tastic bargain. Priced for quicksale, only 240,000 baht. Tel:087-8916438. Be quick.

YAMAHA VIRAGO

750CCc

Black, electric start. 75,000baht obo. Contact Lawrence.Urgent sale! Tel: 086-2691121.

JRD SCOOTER

2003 (Quest 125 model)only 10,500km. 16,000baht. 076-202725, 081-8916632.

SUZUKI CARIBIAN

10,000 baht per month. Fullyinsured. Please contact moreinformation at. Tel: 089-4727304.

CARS FOR RENT

Many types of cars forrent. Short- or long-termrentals at special rates.Tel: 081-6078567. Email:suksavat@hotmail.com

PICKUP WANTED

Nissan NV extra CAB, manual,in good condition. ContactJohn. Tel: 083-9672213.

RENT TOYOTA /

SPORTRIDER

Perfect, seats 8, loaded.14,000 baht per day. Tel:085-4734619. Email:piratespizza@gmail.com

NEW TOYOTA VIOS

FOR RENT

Daily, weekly or monthlywith first class insurance!Tel: 089-8829246. Email:sawasdeeka84@hotmail.com

60 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E December 29, 2007 - January 4, 2008

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