QUEER NEWS 6; AROUND THE NA-TION 7; HAPPENINGS 14; WINE,CHEAP EATS 16; MOTORING 17;THAILAND TRAVELER 18; BOOKS,OUTSIDE IN 21; HOROSCOPES, THETIME MACHINE, DOVEN 22;TSOWNDINGS, PHUKET DIARY 23,EDITORIAL, LETTERS 24; ISSUES &ANSWERS 25; COMPUTERS 26;CLASSIFIEDS 34-43.

PLUS

NEWS: Island gets two newvice-governors; Bird ’flu pre-cautions stepped up.

Pages 2 & 3

INSIDE STORY: Behind the Bur-mese massacre.

Pages 4 & 5

AROUND THE REGION: Assur-ance for OK coral. Page 8

AROUND THE ISLAND: A posi-tive wrist action. Page 9

PEOPLE: Working toward abetter deal for women.

Pages 10 & 11

LIFESTYLE: A flask affair; Mu-sic: Brit-rock hits the top.

Pages 12 & 13

SPA MAGIC: Baray bar none.Page 15

TAKE A BREAK: Crosswords,quizzes and Sudoku.

Pages 19 & 20

FIRST PERSON: Bypassconstruction gets a blast.

Page 25

BUSINESS: Souvenir shops getset for high season.Page 27

SPORT & LEISURE: Inauguralmarathon; ACYC Phi PhiRally; Darts. Pages 28 & 29

PROPERTY: Gardening: Berttakes the Mickey; Construc-tion: New digs at Nai Yang;Home of the Week: Patong;Decor: A blinding idea.

Pages 30-33

October 29 - November 4, 2005Volume 12 Issue 44 News Desk - Tel: 076-236555 Daily news at www.phuketgazette.net 20 Baht

The Gazette is publishedin association with

IN THIS ISSUE

Ambitious PhuketBay plans revealedPHUKET CITY (Gazette, Na-tion): After a lull of 10 months,the Ao Phuket development pro-ject – a plan to build a mini-cityon reclaimed land in the bay offSaphan Hin – is once again gath-ering momentum. Plans includea convention and exhibition cen-ter, and a casino.

At an October 20 meetingat Phuket Provincial Hall, chairedby the Interior Ministry DeputyChief Administrative OfficerRajatin Syamananda, GovernorUdomsak Uswarangkura saidthat three main investors areworking on plans for largeprojects in Ao Phuket.

At some 130 billion baht,the most spectacular proposal hascome from Japanese urban de-veloper and shoreline construc-

tion specialist Umezawa Tadao,with Thai partner Architect Co,who have announced plans tobuild what they are callingPhuket Bay International City.

The project’s backers en-visage five phases: a spaceship-shaped structure called Anaba-sis, which will contain a 2,000-room hotel and a convention cen-ter; a lotus-shaped resort calledMarina City; The Tower, whichwill include hotel rooms and of-fice space; Sport World, featur-ing international-level sports fa-cilities; and Good Luck Island –the casino. All of these would bebuilt with protection against tsu-namis in mind.

The second-largest plan,weighing in at 70 billion baht, hascome from Bangkok-based con-glomerate Ital-Thai, which pro-poses a 2,000-rai island develop-ment designed as a village with

a marina, condominiums and agolf course.

Tongkah Harbour Pcl alsohas plans for a project, mostlyrevolving around yachts andcruising. Details and budget haveyet to be revealed.

Gov Udomsak added thatinterest in joining in the AoPhuket frenzy has been ex-pressed by companies in China.

The positive point of all this,he said, is that Phuket as a wholewill reap the benefits but 95% to100% of the investment willcome from the private sector.

Asked whether he felt acasino would be of benefit, GovUdomsak told the Gazette, “Wewould need to wait for the gov-ernment policy to go through thepublic hearing process, and forlaws to be revised before [thiscould be built].”

Continued on page 2

By Alasdair Forbes& Anongnat Sartpisut

The B130-billion Umezawa proposal includes The Tower, with offices and hotel (foreground in thiscomputer-generated image) and four other islands, each with a specific use.

PHUKET CITY: The Jungcey-lon complex in Patong could openby April next year, if negotiationsbetween the two battling Man-aging Directors of Phuket SquareCo Ltd – the project operatingcompany – continue at their cur-rent rate of progress.

Phuket Provincial CourtChief Justice Samrarn Yothayaitold the Gazette last week thatThanit Rattana-Kamchai andManit Udomkunnatum have beeninvolved in mediation through thecourt since early last year.

“The mediation process isabout 90% complete,” he said,though he added that the pairhave yet to resolve all their dif-ferences.

K. Thanit, the landowner ofthe Jungceylon site, and K. Man-it, who owns 53% of PhuketSquare Co Ltd, have refused tocountersign each other’s checksto pay Jungceylon contractorPowerline Co Ltd, which hasconsequently halted constructionon the site.

“The original projected costof the Jungceylon project blewout from 1.7 billion baht to 3 bil-lion baht, so K. Manit was look-ing for new investors to join theproject, but K. Thanit disagreed,saying that the new cost wasunacceptable and he did notagree to changing PhuketSquare’s management commit-tee,” said Judge Samrarn.

“After Powerline stoppedconstruction, Krung Thai Bankdeclared its loan to K. Manit tobe in default and filed a complaintwith the Bankruptcy Court inBangkok, asking for him to bedeclared bankrupt.

“Negotiations so far haveresulted in K. Manit wanting tosell his 53% share in Phuket

Continued on page 2

Jungceyloncould nowopen inApril 2006By Anongnat Sartpsiut

N E W S2 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

From page 1He added, “A casino is the

last priority of the Ao Phuketproject. My suggestion is that webuild other entertainment venuesbefore looking at the possibility ofa casino.”

In the past, proposals by thecentral government for an inter-national convention and exhibitioncenter (ICEC) in the Saphan Hinor Ao Phuket areas have raisedthe ire of Phuket City politicians.

The politicians have pointedout that all traffic between theairport and the ICEC would haveto find its way through the city’snarrow streets, causing serioustraffic problems.

However, Deputy MayorKawee Tansukatanon was re-strained, saying only, “The Mu-nicipality will need to look at thebasics of these projects, such aswater treatment systems, watersupply, a bridge across the man-grove forest to the island and thecapacity of our garbage incinera-tor.

“All of those issues must beexamined to ensure that infra-structure and services will be ableto handle these projects.”

Ambitious plansfor Ao Phuket

TEEN DREAMINGForty-two competitors in the annual Miss Teen Thailand pag-eant were in Phuket from October 20 to 25 to make a videoto be shown at the finals, due to take place October 28 inBangkok. This group is pictured in Wat Chalong, one of theplaces the contenders visited during their stay.

PATONG: Rape charges againsttwo Thai singers have beendropped at the request of the al-leged victim, 18-year-old “Anna”(not her real name), a tourist fromHolland.

Pol Lt Weerapong Rakhitoof Kathu Police Station told theGazette, “The case was closedbecause the victim came to uswith her lawyers to ask to havethe charges dismissed. I did notask why.”

“Anna” was taken to hos-pital on September 9 after a re-ported incident at the home of oneof the singers. She has since leftPhuket.

Rape charges dropped

PHUKET: The provincial gov-ernment has moved forward withits plans to introduce surveillancecameras in tourist areas to in-crease security and boost theisland’s image as a safe holidaydestination.

Governor Udomsak Uswa-rangkura said that the estimatedbudget of 50.7 million baht willcover constructing, equipping,maintaining and staffing a singlecontrol room.

Although the number ofcameras has not yet been de-cided, the budget for each will be147,000 baht, covering purchase,installation and operation. This

B50m security cameraplan gets a boost

sum includes an annual mainte-nance budget of 13,000 baht.

Gov Udomsak said the bud-get should be approved by Bang-kok by the end of this year, “butmost of the budget will come fromthe provincial government”.

He suggested that financialsupport for the project should alsobe sought from the private sec-tor, “because this project will ben-efit their businesses, too”.

“In addition to Phuket’s tsu-nami warning system, surveil-lance cameras will bolster theisland’s image as a safe place,”Gov Udomsak said.

– Athiga Jundee

WICHIT: Police say they expecta quick arrest in the case of twoteenage thugs who assaulted a73-year-old woman and stole her3-bahtweight gold necklace.

Pol Maj Yongyuth Krong-malai, an Inspector at the PhuketCity Police Station, told the Ga-zette that he was notified of thetheft by the victim, Aree Piew-gnam, on October 22.

K. Aree, who lives in SoiPaisarn, off Chao Fa West Rd,told police that about two hoursearlier she was standing in frontof her home when two teenagedmales pulled up on a motorcycle.

She said the boy riding pil-lion, approached her brandishinga knife. The feisty K. Aree re-sisted his attempts to take hergold chain and amulet, punchingthe youth in the face.

The thief struck back,knocking her to the pavement. Hethen ripped the necklace from herneck and sped away with his ac-complice.

Police told the Gazette theyalready know the identity of thetwo youths, both of whom hadlived in the area and who wererecently released from an un-specified correctional facility.

Thugs assault, rob old lady

PHUKET: As Vice-GovernorSupachai Yuvaboon prepared tomove on to a new post in Bang-kok, two new vice-governorswere preparing to replace himand Winai Buapradit, who waspromoted to Governor of PhangNga on October 1.

The two new Vice-Gover-nors are Vorapoj Rattasima, whowill arrive on November 15, andPongsak Plaiwech, who is al-ready her. They were previouslyVice-Governors of Samut Song-kram and Samut Sakorn respec-tively.

K. Supachai, who arrived inPhuket to start work on the dayof the tsunami, on October 25moved on to Prince Damrong

Island gets two newVice-GovernorsBy Sangkhae Leelanapaporn Rajanuphab Institute of Research

and Development as a specialistin policy and planning formation.

He told the Gazette, “I’veworked here [in Phuket] about 10months and I have to say thatI’ve had some memorable expe-riences, what with the tsunami,water shortages and maintainingstability.

“What worries me mostabout Phuket is the environmen-tal problems the island faces. Itresembles Singapore in that itmay be healthy enough economi-cally speaking but all the moneyin the world cannot buy back anatural, healthy environment.

“We are facing water short-ages and the threat of landslidesand I feel people are getting awayfrom their roots and thinking too

much about money.“Look at it this way: if you

sell your land then spend all yourmoney, what will you do whenthere’s no land left to cultivateanymore? Phuket is growing fastand the property market is ex-ploding. Areas that used to berubber plantations are now prop-erty developments.

“I think that in the next threeto five years we will see the deathof agriculture in Phuket and Ibelieve that, therefore, the islandneeds some serious town plan-ning.”

Commenting on the new-comers, K. Supachai added,“Both of them have good experi-ence and they should be a posi-tive influence on the developmentof the province.”

From page 1

Square Co Ltd to K. Thanit, soK. Thanit can take on new in-vestors and complete the pro-ject.”

Judge Samrarn added thatthe parties are due to continuemediation at Phuket ProvincialCourt on November 14, andthat this could result in con-struction resuming as early asDecember.

“About four months of con-struction work are required tocomplete Jungceylon, so it mayopen as early as next April,” hesaid.

Phuket Square Co Ltd de-clined to comment at this time.

The Phuket ProvincialCourt’s involvement in mediatingthe Jungceylon dispute is just oneof many cases that has led to the

court receiving the MediationAward 2005, awarded by theSupreme Court of Thailand.

Another factor was thecourt boosting its number of vol-unteer mediators from five inApril to its current number of 47.

Judge Samrarn explainedthat the court resolved about 50cases a week during the twoweeks from December 6 to 16through mediation alone, and re-solved about 7,000 disputesthrough mediation last year.

“Most mediation cases arecivil cases, such as loans, land ti-tles and inheritances,” he said.

In September, he added, 211civil mediation cases involvingassets totaling 308 million baht, aswell as nine criminal mediationcases, were cleared through thecourt.

Jungceylon could open next April

October 29 - November 4, 2005 N E W S P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 3

KHAO LAK: The owner of an-other leading Khao Lak resort hasbacked the opinions of La Floraowner Sompong Daowpiset overthe lack of support the resort areahas received from the TourismAuthority of Thailand (TAT)since the tsunami.

Speaking just after the re-opening of his Le Meridien KhaoLak Beach & Spa Resort onOctober 21, ML Vitya Chakra-bandhu told the Gazette that hefelt the government and banks hadgenerally been supportive.

But he was critical of theTAT. “I hate to say this,” he said,“but I don’t think they have theproper people.

“I think they have tried todo a good job, but they need tofind a good advertising agency.They need to find an internationalfirm that understands the inter-national market and can [promoteThailand] tastefully,” he said.

Le Meridien Khao Lak wasseriously damaged by the tsu-nami, losing 100 of its 250 rooms,along with all back-of-house op-erations, restaurants, accountingand kitchens.

The reopenings of La Floraand Le Meridien bring the num-ber of operational guest rooms inthe Khao Lak area to about 1,700,compared with some 7,000 beforethe tsunami.

Chalawsak Vanicharoen,Chief Administrative Officer ofTakua Pa District, told the Ga-zette that morale is picking upwith the approaching high season.

“We have finished buildingabout 98% of tsunami victims’accommodation and the other 2%is minor renovation work. Yet partof the problem is that local peoplehave boats but they don’t havefishing equipment such as en-gines and nets. I believe that atthe end of the rainy season peoplewill be able to start working forthemselves,” he added.

“Tourists, especially fromEurope, are coming back to KhaoLak. A group of Germans hasbooked 100 rooms for 10 days.Yet most hotel owners here real-ize – and are resigned to the fact– that they won’t make a profitthis year. They expect next yearto improve slightly, and hope tostart turning a profit in threeyears’ time.

“I also believe that if busi-nessmen hurry up to renovatetheir hotels and open them fasterit will help them greatly, becausewe are expecting a number ofvisitors this year, especially nowthat the government is trying toattract tourists back for the me-morial service.”

A full tsunami warning sys-tem will be in place in eight loca-tions along Khao Lak’s beachesby December 26, he added.

–Alasdair Forbes &Sangkhae Leelanapaporn

MeridienKhao Lakowner raps

TAT

PHUKET: Following the deathof a farmer in Kanchanaburiprovince from bird ’flu and theinfection of his son with the dis-ease, Phuket Governor UdomsakUswarangkura has ordered offi-cials to step up measures to en-sure there is no outbreak of thedisease in Phuket.

No cases of avian ’flu haveever been recorded on the island.

“I’m very serious about this,because Phuket is just comingback after the tsunami. Touristsnow feel more confident aboutvisiting Phuket, and I don’t wantany crisis to affect our tourismagain,” Gov Udomsak said.

He said that he had orderedthe Provincial Health Office andthe Provincial Livestock Office

By Athiga Jundee

Avian ’fluprecautionsstepped up

to step up measures to block anyoutbreak of bird ’flu in Phuket,with particular attention beingpaid to cockfighting, which hasnow been banned.

“The Tah Chat Chai check-point will have more staff with theproper equipment and chemicalsto test for bird ’flu,” Gov Udom-sak added.

He noted that Prime Minis-ter Thaksin Shinawatra had an-nounced that Finland will sendsome 300 charter flights full oftourists to Phuket in the comingyear.

“That is good news forPhuket. I don’t want bird ’flu toaffect tourists’ decisions aboutwhether to come to Phuket – andnot just in the case of the Finnsbut in the case of all tourists fromaround the world,” he said.

David and Cindy Ratcliffe (center) took advantage of the masswedding held recently in Phuket City to renew their vows of 38years. They are pictured with Asst Professor Pranee Sakulpipatanaand her daughter Dr Piyanat Sakulpipatana. The mass ceremony, atwhich 47 other couples were married or remarried, was held as partof the Phuket Old City Rejuvenation activities organized over thepast few weeks.

Do it to me one more time

PHUKET: The Superintendent ofPhuket City Police, Pol ColPaween Pongsirin, is one of anumber of senior police who arebeing promoted or transferred aspart of the annual national policereshuffle.

Col Paween has been pro-moted to Deputy Commander ofSurat Thani Provincial Police. Hisreplacement is Lt Col Natta Sa-waetalaek, formerly Deputy Su-perintendent of Thalang Police.

Also leaving Phuket are: LtCol Narongyos Unhabandit,Deputy Superintendent, Thalang,to become Superintendent, Ban-naderm District, Surat Thani;

Lt Col Jirasak Liamsak, In-spector (Traffic) Phuket City, tobecome Deputy Superintendent(Suppression), Takuapa, PhangNga;

Lt Col Narong Laksanawi-mol, Inspector (Suppression)

Kathu, to become Deputy Super-intendent, Khok Kloy, PhangNga;

Lt Col Worapong Wongjom,Inspector (Suppression), Chalong,to become Inspector (Investiga-tion), Takuapa;

Lt Col Wirawat Raktham,Inquiry Officer (Level 2), Tha-lang, to the equivalent post inRanong Muang District and;

Maj Cherdpong Chiewpree-cha, Inspector (Suppression),Phuket City, to the equivalent postin Sawee District, Nakhon SriThammarat.

Moving to Phuket are: LtCol Jakkrit Tewanna, Inspector(Investigation), Takuapa, to be-come Inspector (Suppression),Kathu;

Lt Col Chaowlida Pachar-sripia, Inquiry Officer (Level 2),Ranong Muang District, to theequivalent post in Phuket City.

Phuket City police chief promoted

PHUKET CITY: A freelancephotographer was gunned downon October 21 while watching TVin his house behind Suan Luangpark.

Pol Sub Lt Aumporn Musi-kapan of the Phuket City PoliceStation named the victim asThavil Laksanavimol, 36, fromNakorn Sri Thammarat Province.

He was watching TV atabout 10:15 pm with the 14-year-old daughter of a neighbor whenhis assailant, who must have beenhiding outside the doorway, ap-peared and fired one shotgun blastfrom a range of about twometers, hitting K. Thavil in theneck and right shoulder.

He was taken to VachiraPhuket Hospital but was pro-nounced dead just after midnight.

The girl was unable to iden-

Mystery over murderof photographer

tify the murderer because herback was turned to the doorway.

Police are working on theassumption that the murderer wasnot a professional hitman becausehe left behind a pair of sandalsthat he had apparently removedin order to hasten his retreat fromthe victim’s home, which wasmuddy and slippery outside, headded.

“We don’t yet know howlong K. Thavil lived in Phuket orwhether he owned the home orrented it. We do know that he wasa freelance photographer, but thathe didn’t take photos for thepress.

“His wife told us she didn’tbelieve the killing was work-re-lated because K. Thavil had nevermentioned any problems with hiswork,” Lt Aumporn said.

I N S I D E S T O R Y4 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

It was about 3am and LanThonghao and his sevenshipmates were fast asleepaboard the Issaraporn 1

when they came.Someone rapped on the

door and Lan pulled himself fromhis bunk to open it.

“I got a glimpse of manypeople outside the door, thensomeone slashed my face and Ifell to the floor unconscious.”

What happened after that,Lan does not know. He woke uphours later and was taken by thecrew boss to Vachira PhuketHospital for treatment.

“I didn’t know that othermembers of the crew had beenkilled until someone told me later,”the 20-year-old Burmese told theGazette from his hospital bed.

The horror of that night wasrevealed over the next 24 hoursas bodies were found floating inthe water near the Rassada fish-ing port – first two, then twomore.

The whereabouts of theother three men on the boat were,at the time of going to press, un-known. Perhaps they were killedor perhaps they escaped and fled,possibly with injuries.

Lan said that he did notknow why the boat had been at-tacked, and that he could notidentify those who carried out themassacre.

“It was very dark that night,

and I had never seen their facesbefore. Everything happenedvery fast.”

Each of the victims in theslaughter had been stabbed atleast five times about the headand face before being thrown intothe water. Police said the injurieswere horrific.

The killings are by no meansthe first in the area, which hascome to be known as the “Bur-mese Cemetery” because of thenumber of murders that havebeen committed there in recentyears, almost all of the dead be-ing Burmese.

But what happened in the

Thai labor law protectsThais and foreignersalike, so Burmese mi-grant workers are en-

titled to the minimum wage of 178baht a day – a great deal morethan most can earn in their homecountry.

Most work as unskilled la-borers in the fishing industry, onconstruction sites, as domesticservants or as rubber tappers.

Phuket Provincial LaborOffice (PPLO)Chief Decha Prek-pattanarak saidthat the influx ofBurmese has littleor no effect onemployment forThais, who aregenerally bettereducated and don’twant to do thesekinds of jobs – of-ten referred to as the “3D” jobs,for “dirty, difficult or dangerous”.

“The number of Burmeseimmigrants has grown becausethere is demand for them as la-borers. And when they come toPhuket, they don’t usually comealone; they bring their relativesand families to work here as well,so their population in the provinceis growing,” K. Decha said.

The phenomenon of illegalmigrant labor is by no meansunique to Thailand, he pointedout. “When a neighboring coun-try offers better prospects thantheir own, they want to move. TheUS has a similar problem and hasbeen unable to solve or limit it,”he noted.

The Burmese, he said, bringproblems with them – threats tothe security and stability of thecountry, and violence as in theIssarporn 1 massacre.

Illegal workers may alsobring health problems; they duckpast the health checks for foreignworkers, so any disease they maybe carrying is not detected until itenters the local population.

Controlling them is difficult,he added. Labor Ministry policyis that employers must register allalien workers. “It is not possiblefor Burmese to work and live hereillegally without the support ofemployers,” he stressed.

The laws onthis “are perfectlyadequate”, he said,but application ofthe law is not.Even when illegalBurmese are ar-rested, this canplace more strainon the system.

In any case,the Myanmar gov-

ernment may not want them, maybe glad to see the back of them,and may refuse to take themback if they are deported.

“The Myanmar governmentwill often not accept the returnof minorities [from the borderareas] so do we imprison themall? Where? It’s a problem.”

Such is the demand for 3Dlaborers that the problems areunlikely to go away anytime soon.

This year 23,068 Burmesewere registered with the PhuketProvincial Employment Office(PPEO). In August, 3,522 em-ployers sent their requirementsfor alien labor to the PPEO.

The number of laborersneeded by these employers to-taled 62,918. Simple arithmeticsuggests, therefore, that there areprobably almost 40,000 Burmesecurrently working illegally inPhuket.

THEBURMESEEQUATION

Simple arithmeticsuggests … that

there are probablyalmost 40,000

Burmese currentlyworking illegally in

Phuket.

The Murder in the ‘BurmeseCemetery’ – the areaaround the Rassadafishing port – is by nomeans unknown, butthe massacre of four

Burmese aboard fishingboat Issaraporn 1 on

October 17 wasunprecedented in its

ferocity.The Gazette’s

SangkhaeLeelanapaporn andAnongnat Sartpisut

look at the story behindthe headlines.

WEAPON OF CHOICE:An essential tool for fishing

boat crew members is alength of reinforcing bar,sharpened at one end. Itcan also be used – and

frequently is – as a deadlyweapon.

WEAPON OF CHOICE:An essential tool for fishing

boat crew members is alength of reinforcing bar,sharpened at one end. Itcan also be used – and

frequently is – as a deadlyweapon.

I N S I D E S T O R YOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 5

early hours of October 17 wasunparalleled in its ferocity.

Pol Maj Yongyuth Krong-malai, Inspector of Phuket CityPolice Station, related what onewitness told police.

The witness, a Thai em-ployed to guard the Issaraporn1, was not harmed by the assail-ants, who told him to get lost.

“He said that the attackersnumbered about 20, all carryingknives, pieces of wood or lengthsof sharpened reinforcing bar[rebar – used as tools aboard fish-ing boats]. Some of them swamout to the boat.

“The massacre lasted about

Issaraporn massacre

10 or 15 minutes. The victims,after being stabbed, were thrownoverboard. Some of the attack-ers jumped into the water and at-tacked the victims again.

“Then finally they swamaway into the darkness,” MajYoungyuth said.

“Our understanding is thattwo groups of Burmese got intoan argument the previous night.Then one side used their mobilephones to call their friends to helpthem kill the others.”

The Deputy Superintendentof Crime Suppression of PhuketCity Police, Pol Lt Col ChatchaiNicrodhanon, said that investiga-

tions suggested that the massa-cre was possibly part of an on-going war between the crew ofthe Issaraporn 1 and anothervessel, one of whose crew hadbeen stabbed earlier that nightby a crewman from the Issara-porn.

“That night, at about 9 pm,a Burmese was stabbed and in-jured. I am concerned that therewill be more fighting because,now, [the Issaraporn] side havelost four friends.

“I have ordered police pa-trols, both in uniform and under-cover, to be stepped up. We alsoneed more organized help frotmlocal people who should let usknow what is going on,” ColChatchai added.

“The Burmese are scaredof the police, but when they gettogether as a group it boosts their

courage and they are more diffi-cult to control. The favoredweapon is the sharpened rebar,which can simply be thrown in thesea after it has been used to stabsomeone,” he added.

Another difficulty lies inidentifying corpses, Col Chatchaisaid. “They may have friends orrelatives in Phuket, but thesepeople never come forward. Weget no co-operation or informa-tion [from Burmese].”

NO ID PAPERS

Usually there are no identifyingdocuments because the crew-men’s bosses hang onto their IDsas a way of preventing employ-ees from running away. In anycase, many of the Burmese haveno papers at all. They are inPhuket illegally.

“On October 19 I called thefishing boat owners to a meetingto discuss ways to solve the prob-lem of Burmese being murderedin Rassada Port. I urged them toemploy only Burmese who havethe correct papers allowing them

to work in Thailand,” Col Chat-chai said.

But whether the employerswill comply is open to question.“They have to pay almost 5,000baht for each alien registrationcard. That’s not a small amount,because some businesses need toemploy hundreds of alien work-ers.”

After a Burmese has beenhired legally, he may walk off thejob after a few days – which is5,000 baht down the drain. “Thisis why there are so many illegalworkers here,” Col Chatchaisaid.

Meanwhile, Issaraporn 1crewman Lan counts himselflucky to be alive, but his dreamsof making a decent living in Thai-land have evaporated.

A fisherman before in My-anmar, he had been working onboats based in Phuket for eightmonths before the attack. Nowall he wants to do is go home.

“When my face is better Iwill go back to Burma,” he said.“I don’t know what I will do there,but it’s better that I go home.”

A section of the muddyKlong Tah Chin, where thefour bodies were found.

N E W S6 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

QueerNews

Prasith Boonsob being presented with his prize of a one-hourtreatment at the Aspara Spa at the Holiday Inn Resort Phuketfrom Jittraporn “Paulie” Saejew, of the Gazette ClassifiedAdvertising Department, for having a “We Love Phuket” stickeron his car.

‘WE LOVE PHUKET’ WINNERS

PHICHIT: Some people like toargue about which breed of dogmakes the best four-legged homesecurity system, but a coffee ven-dor in this province has found thathis 70-kilogram pet crocodile isjust as effective at keeping bur-glars at bay as any Rottweiler, PitBull or Doberman.

Prayoon “Khiat” Thongjorn, 43, bought the crocodile for3,000 baht as a hatchling from acrocodile farm in Phichit some sixyears ago.

Rather than raise the rep-tile for use as a future handbag,he lavished on it the same loveand affection usually reserved formore conventional pets.

The baby croc, named “AiKhaeng”, went with him every-where.

He even slipped the crea-ture in his shirt pocket when hewent out on his coffee-sellingrounds.

Croc makes good pillowand a snappy companion

Although Ai Khaeng is nowan impressive weight, Prayoonhasn’t let size come between himand his pet; the pair still sleep to-gether under the same mosquitonet, along with Prayoon’s son.

Prayoon, who sleeps in themiddle, even uses Ai Khaeng asa pillow, hugging the reptile dur-ing slumber.

Ai Khang is fed two kilosof meat every two days, which isapparently enough to keep himhealthy and satisfied.

When a neighbor once toldPrayoon that he had better becareful when Ai Khaeng is hun-

gry, K. Prayoon decided to do alittle experiment.

“I let him go for a full 20days without food to see whatwould happen, but he didn’t showany signs of annoyance or ag-gression.

“He just followed mearound all the time with his mouthwide open, hoping I would takethe hint and feed him,” he said.

Despite his apparent tame-ness, Ai Khaeng is an effective“watch-croc”. Prayoon’s neigh-bors do not dare venture into hishouse or bother K. Prayoon whenhis reptilian friend is with him –which is all the time.

News of Ai Khaeng andPrayoon has generated a gooddeal of interest; the pair have al-ready done roadshows and alsoperformed at the One TambonOne Product Fair in Phichit onOctober 20.

Source: Thai Rath

VITAL STATISTICS:

COMPANY REGISTRATIONS STABILIZE

Type September 2003 September 2004 September 2005

Limited company registrations 91 132 135

Limited partnership registrations 122 30 42

Limited companies changed 180 230 290

Limited partnerships changed 36 28 56

Companies deregistered 12 15 15

Source: Phuket Provincial Business Development Office

Darunee Kolsaman (left) collects her prize of a grill dinner fortwo, with wine, at Mom Tri’s Boat House from Athipa “Pam”Bunnak, Gazette Events & Public Relations Manager.

A R O U N D T H E N A T I O NOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 7

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

A monk inspects a statue damaged by militants who attacked Wat Promprasith in Pattani Province,killing an elderly monk and two temple boys. A ranking military officer posted in the regionrecently put the number of dead related to the ongoing insurgency in the Deep South as high as2,000 since the beginning of 2004.

Emergency decree extended in Deep South

The Cabinet extended thecontroversial state ofemergency for the DeepSouth by three months,

despite mounting insistence fromlawmakers and civic leaders thatthe sweeping powers granted tosecurity authorities have donelittle to pacify the troubled region.

“The government has nochoice but to extend the state ofemergency. The situation requiresus to do so,” Prime MinisterThaksin Shinawatra insisted.

The emergency law permitsthe government to declare a stateof emergency, renewable everythree months, that allows officialsto impose curfews, ban publicgatherings, limit travel, censornewspapers, ban publications,hold suspects without charge for30 days, confiscate property andwiretap telephones.

The legislation also grantsimmunity to officials from civil,criminal, and disciplinary actionfor acts carried out under thedecree’s provisions, including thekilling of suspects.

In defense of the measures,PM Thaksin pointed out thateven such liberal democracies asthe US and Britain, in their waron terrorism, permit suspects tobe detained for up to three andsix months, respectively.

“So let’s not be more Catho-lic than the Pope,” he quipped.

Rape case: Police arrested mil-lionaire land developer SuthepPinjaroen at his home in PathumThani on charges of raping and/or molesting three girls under 13years of age and recording theacts on VCD.

Suthep denied the charges,saying that the VCD was distrib-uted by business rivals to tarnishhis image. The 66-year-old saidthe charges were unfeasiblegiven his age and relationship withthe three unidentified girls, aged11 and 12, who he says are alldaughters of his staff members.

Pol Maj General Khamron-wit Thoopkrajang, commander ofthe Division for Suppression ofCrimes Against Children, Juve-niles and Women, said police

were confident that it was Suthepin the VCD, copies of which arenow being sold on the black mar-ket in and around Bangkok.

Forensics experts collectedevidence from the room featuredin the VCD and will carry outtests to determine whether theycan identify DNA samples thatmatch those collected fromSuthep or any of the girls.

Double digs: In Suphan Buri,farmers in Nong Yasai Districtaccidentally unearthed ancientbones and artifacts includingaxes, stone bracelets, potterypieces and a three-legged pot.Fine Arts Department archeolo-gist Vasant Thepsuriyanont saidthat the items could be 4,000 years

old, dating back to the New StoneAge.

In Khon Kaen’s TambonPhon, a worker repairing an out-door toilet uncovered a pile ofbones that were reassembled bypolice investigators into a fullskeleton. Chanathip Chaiyanukij,a researcher from the Fine ArtsDepartment, said the skeletonresembled previous Ban Chiangcivilization finds and could be1,800 and 5,600 years old.

The skeleton will soon besent for scientific tests, she said.

Cell mates: Officials at thePhitsunaloke Provincial Prisoncharged 26-year-old inmateApichart Rodjaroern with com-mitting an indecent act for the

repeated raping of a 20-year-oldcell mate between September 26and October 16, 2004.

The officials noted that un-der the Thai Penal Code there isno provision dealing with the rapeof one man by another, and thatthe charges would make little dif-ference to Apichart’s record. Theformer gang member is alreadyfacing multiple charges that in-clude 10 counts of murder, at-tempted murder, 10 rapes and lar-ceny. His former cell mate wasimprisoned on drug charges.

Field trip: The headmaster at thecash-strapped Bo Kaew Schoolin Chiang Mai’s Samoeng Districtsuspended classes from Novem-ber to March and sent its hill-tribe

students out into the fields to workas laborers for the duration of thestrawberry-harvesting season.

Thavin Sutthiwanchampasaid his school had run out ofmoney because it had only re-ceived 400,000 baht this year –just 1,000 baht for each of theschool’s 400 pupils.

Working on the harvest, astudent has the potential to earnas much as 2,000 baht a day, andthat money will be directed intothe school’s budget, he said.

“We think it will be a goodexperience for them, and also agood way for our students to earnmoney,” said K. Thavin, addingthat the students would not haveproblems working hard becausethey were used to farm work.

Pandering charge: Bangkokpolice arrested a mother who al-legedly forced her 14-year-olddaughter into prostitution.

“My daughter just wantedto help pay the family’s debts. Idid not sell my own daughter,”said Somporn (last name with-held) who was arrested alongwith her daughter Noi (not herreal name) in a sting operation inBangkok’s Bang Phlat District.

Noi told police that she hadturned to prostitution to pay offher deceased father’s medical billand that her mother was not herprocurer. Her customers, whoallegedly included senior govern-ment officials, paid between 1,000baht and 5,000 baht, she said.

Somporn said that Noi’sbehavior degenerated after shewas raped by a gang of motor-cycle road racers. When her fa-ther fell ill she blamed herself forhis illness and offered to help thefamily to clear its debts, she said.

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 October 29 - November 4, 2005

F R O M T H EGULF OF

THAILAND

This article was provided cour-tesy of Koh Samui’s communitymagazine.

An exciting new projectto spur the growth ofcoral is under way atLamai and Chaweng

Beaches. The project uses asimple yet innovative technologycalled “Biorock” to build an un-derwater life support system forSamui’s ailing reefs.

The concept is the brainchildof marine scientist Dr TomGoreau, who on his last visit tothe island joined forces with TomSarkisian of the Global CoralReef Alliance.

Biorock can be introducedwherever coral reefs have dete-riorated and are no longer able torecover naturally. A structure isbuilt from ordinary constructionsteel welded together on thebeach. If there is no weldingequipment available, ready-madebuilding mesh can be used.

Once the structure has beenplaced on the seabed, batterychargers send a low-voltage cur-rent to the metal, and electrolysisthen causes the minerals naturallypresent in seawater to depositand build up. Young coral cangrow only on clean limestone, andthis is exactly what develops onBiorock’s substrate, stimulatingyoung coral to develop morequickly than they would naturally,and with greater resistance toenvironmental changes.

In 1998, for example, highwater temperatures in the IndianOcean caused a coral-bleachingcatastrophe that destroyed 60%-90% of the Maldives’ coral reefs.

A life support systemfor ailing coral reefs

In just two weeks the centuriesof coral growth had been wipedout. This was not the case aroundMale Atoll, however, whereBiorock structures installed twoyears previously resulted in a 50to 60 times better survival ratethan on other reefs.

When Dr Goreau saw thereefs around Koh Samui, he wasconvinced that something neededto be done quickly.

“The situation was not goodat all – reefs are disappearing ev-erywhere. High water tempera-tures are the main factor, but hereon Samui this is coupled with ex-cessive soil erosion and a lack ofsewage treatment,” he said.

“There used to be reefs allaround this island; now you find

dead corals all along the north andthe west coast. There may besome living reefs still out there,but you can’t see them for all themud. Samui sits on a natural mudbank, but deforestation and sub-sequent soil run-off has madethings a lot worse. There shouldbe a lot more coral around here.”

The professor decided firstto install a Biorock frame off KohTao first, close to the shore inChalok Baan Khao, to show howeffective this method is in restor-ing coral reefs – and the local div-ing community was impressed.

On Samui, coral falls foul toa myriad of destructive forces, buteven off Chaweng, the mostpopulated beach, Dr Goreau be-lieves the reef can still be reno-vated.

“There’s still coral to befound off Chaweng, but it isclearly a dying reef. Much of thecoral is covered with algae. Onlythe larger species have survived.Most of the damage probablyoccurred in 1998, but like on KohTao, high nutrient levels in thewater are preventing natural re-generation.

“We’d like to focus on re-plenishing the fish habitat off

Chaweng and on making the reefmore attractive. This reef couldbe a great resource for shoredivers, and it’s certainly the bestSamui has to offer in terms ofvisibility and access. We couldbuild a structure out in front ofthe existing reef on the sand, at adepth of about 30 feet,” he said.

Without such interventionthe reefs around Samui could welldie out completely, leaving no dive

sites, the need to import fish, andno protection for beaches.

Dr Goreau thinks the key toturning around the situation ispublic awareness.

“It’s difficult to convincepeople that natural resources areworth restoring because we arestill locked into the mentality thatnature is an infant that willbounce back.

“Global warming haschanged all that. If Samui doesn’tstart to address these issues as awhole, the island will soon facesome serious environmentalproblems,” he warned.

Help is needed from allsides to make the project work,particularly the dive communityand the local fishing industry, bothof which will benefit from reefrestoration.

The Samui authorities haveasked Tom Sarkisian to carry outsurveys of five potential sites forBiorock coral regeneration – apositive sign, perhaps, that theyare finally getting serious aboutdealing with the problem.

Preparing a Biorock mesh.

A R O U N D T H E I S L A N DOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 9

Looking like larger, morecolorful versions of therubber bands used to tieup the bag containing

your kuaytieo, silicone wrist-bands first took on social signifi-cance in the US last year, whenthey were used to raise moneyfor cancer research.

The craze for wearing themspread swiftly to Europe, andnow to Thailand.

Unlike many crazes, thewristbands have become a pow-erful force for raising money orawareness for a multitude ofcauses, from cancer research tothe fights against racism, povertyand domestic violence, to supportfor US troops in Iraq – camou-flage-colored, of course.

Wristbands were first soldsuccessfully as a fundraising de-vice by the Lance ArmstrongFoundation, founded in 1997 bythe champion cyclist who hadsurvived cancer and went on towin the Tour de France seventimes in a row.

To date the foundation hasraised nearly US$10 million (400million baht) for cancer research.

FASHION

In Thailand, the bands first ap-peared as imports, in a variety ofcolors, and quickly caught on asa fashion accessory among Thaiteens. They were cheap, durableand, thanks to the different col-ors available, could be mixed andmatched to go with the wearer’sclothes.

Wristbands achieved thepinnacle of popularity in Thailandin recent weeks when the KingPower Foundation issued a mil-lion of them, imprinted with “Welove HM the King” in Thai andEnglish. These went on sale at100 baht apiece to raise moneyfor His Majesty’s charities. Saleshave been astounding.

In Phuket, a different slanthas been taken on wristbands byLaguna Resorts & Hotels (LRH),which has launched a campaignto raise worldwide awareness thatPhuket is back in business afterlast year’s tsunami.

James Batt, the company’sJoint Managing Director, ex-plained, “I saw the Lance Arm-strong armbands when I was inTexas. They were everywhere.We [at Laguna] saw a need tosupplement the work of the[Tourism Authority of Thailand]and decided to have a go on ourown.”

Thus was born the “PhuketIs Back” campaign. Those wordswere chosen carefully, Mr Batt,said, “to get away from tsunamilanguage”.

Monika and Johannes Lappe, from Germany, show off their ‘Phuket Is Back’ wristbands after checking into the Dusit Laguna Resort.

Arming Phuket with prideBy Alasdair Forbes

The words now appear onall of LRH’s marketing materi-als, on its billboards, its emails, itswebsite and even blazonedacross the back of its buses andon its shuttle boats. The messagewill soon be seen, too, on bill-boards in Bangkok and Singa-pore.

Mr Batt says, however, thathe expects the biggest impact tocome from “Phuket Is Back”wristbands, which will be offi-cially launched at a gala party atthe Dusit Laguna Resort on No-vember 25, expected to be at-tended by HRH Princess UbolRatana Rajakanya.

The Phuket Is Back wrist-bands are in fact already circu-lating and have proved a real eye-catcher, said Mr Batt. “It’s beena huge hit,” he said.

The wristbands are beingused as give-aways for guests,staff, travel industry partners,media, VIPs and celebrities, andwill also be distributed at tradeshows in Pattaya, Hong Kongand London.

They are available in foursizes and two colors – pink andgreen – and can be bought for 40baht apiece from the LagunaTravel & Tours office in CanalVillage Shopping Center, at theLaguna resort.

P H U K E T P E O P L E10 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

Formed in 1989, the PIWCis a social networkknown for offering schol-arships for education-re-

lated expenses to students fac-ing financial difficulties. Already,the PIWC has helped more than200 children, with around 150more on their list for assistanceacross Thailand.

Originally from England,Cindy and her husband David hadlived and worked in Australia,Brazil and Holland before he ar-rived in Phuket as Managing Di-rector of tin smelting firm Thai-sarco.

Thailand’s friendly peopleand myriad opportunities to en-joy scuba diving and sailing soonconvinced the couple to retireearly and, 13 years on, of theirthree daughters, two – Claire, 32,and Sarah, 30 – also call Phukethome.

Cindy’s experience in Bra-zil heightened her sensitivity to theplight of struggling students.

“When I first arrived inThailand, I found that there wasless opportunity for girls than forboys to receive a complete edu-cation,” she says.

Putting the funin fundraising

“Generally speaking, mostgirls ended up doing domesticwork, getting married relativelyearly and raising families ratherthan pursuing higher educationand careers.

“The culture and the legalsystem here differ from that inEngland, so people here have dif-ferent expectations. I accept that,but I am pleased to have seen thesituation for Thai girls and womenchanging in positive ways over thepast decade,” she says.

“The Thai education systemis equalizing [opportunities] as thegovernment has realized the im-portance of educating women.”

The PIWC helps to open upeducational opportunities for tal-ented young Thais by, for ex-ample, raising money to relievethe burden on single mothers topay for their children’s schooluniforms.

Money is provided for dis-advantaged students, often frombroken homes or low-incomefamilies, in the form of annualgrants, usually administeredthrough the schools.

“Local officials understandour mission and are very co-op-erative. The tax office providesus with the information we needto manage the donations we re-ceive from individual sponsorsaround the world and from ourregular fundraising drives here,properly and legally.

“At the same time, the Pub-lic Health Department, govern-ment school principals and stu-dent welfare teachers approachus with information about brightstudents in need of financial aid.”

At a ceremony in July, thePIWC, with major sponsorshipfrom Dive Supply Co of Chalong,presented 25 scholarships total-

If there’s one thing that keeps Cindy Ratcliffe awake atnight, it’s unfulfilled potential. One of only two womenamong 250 students to specialize in physics in her

graduating year, Cindy worked for British Aerospacebefore teaching the traditionally masculine subjects of

math and science at a high school in one of the world’smost macho societies, Brazil. There, she observed hermale colleagues discriminating against female studentsand she was determined to make a difference. That iswhat she has been doing with the Phuket International

Women’s Club (PIWC), of which she is currentlyPresident. Cindy spoke with the Gazette’s Shiona

Mackenzie about the PIWC, its aims and achievements.

Happily Ever AfterRecent weddings in Phuket

Pitchatorn and Apisit Lertkamolrak celebrate at the Thavorn GrandPlaza Hotel after their wedding in Chaiyaphum on October 15.

Tidarat Srisaeng and Lee Sang Jae from Korea were married at atThe Metropole Hotel Phuket on October 14.

P H U K E T P E O P L EOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 11

ing 500,000 baht to students atPhuket Rajabhat University.

The majority of the recipi-ents, students who aimed to be-come teachers, came from im-poverished families, the Uni-versity’s President, Dr ChirawatNitchanet, said in his speech.

“The PIWC has receivedmore applications for help sincethe tsunami, because so manyfamilies lost their livelihoods.Right now, we are helping twoyoung students in Haad Yai, andthree medical students in the re-gion – our focus is no longer juston Phuket – have each receiveda lump sum to cover their educa-tion expenses for the year,” Cindysays.

“Our commitment to a stu-dent can continue for six years

or more.” Indeed, at the July cer-emony, Yangruk Chaweepan, aRajabhat student, was then poisedto graduate after being supportedby the PIWC for nine years.

All the money the PIWCraises, including membershipdues, goes toward the sponsor-ship of students, and a monthlycommittee meeting is held to en-sure that funds are allocated ap-propriately. One member recentlyorganized the club’s huge data-base with all the students’ perti-nent information.

“The students are referredto us and we then assess andauthenticate each one separately.We always try to select those whohave proved themselves to be dili-gent. We stay in close contactwith the students and their

schools, keeping an eye on theirattendance and grades. It re-quires quite a lot of effort.

“PIWC members are volun-teers who use their personal re-sources to run the club, dedicat-ing much of their time and talentsto fundraising activities, such aslunches or craft sessions.

“It isn’t easy to maintain thegroup’s sense of coherence be-cause some members are only inPhuket for six months at a time,while others live here for a fewyears and then move on. Thisyear, especially, we need newmembers to join and help out,”she says.

The annual PIWC gala, theinternational community onPhuket’s biggest social event eachyear, is also its largest fundraiser.

Last year, some 750,000 baht wasraised from the gala alone.

This year, The PIWC plansan even bigger and better ballwith the theme, “An EveningWith the Stars”. Everyone is in-vited to attend dressed like amovie star at the Oscars. Tick-ets are 2,500 baht each.

The PIWC is also rafflingoff a brand new Mazda Tribute4WD vehicle worth 1.3 millionbaht, with the winner to be drawnon the night of the gala ball.

With only 1,000 tickets avail-able at 2,000 baht apiece, they aregoing fast.

“I’m sure the gala will beas huge a success as ever, if notbetter. PIWC members havebeen working hard and enthusi-astically to gather sponsored

prizes for the silent auction and itis looking good,” Cindy says.

During the rest of the yearsome 20 women – Thais and for-eigners – gather for weekly cof-fee klatsches, where it is easy tosee how much fun these friendshave as they invite newcomersto their regular “aquacize”, Mah-jong, golf and tennis games.

Cindy also finds time foraerobics three times a week. Onemight expect that continually or-ganizing or participating in sucha variety of activities would beexhausting, but she is the pictureof health and happiness.

Knowing the positive im-pact she and fellow PIWC mem-bers are making on the lives ofyoung Thais, Cindy can rest easytonight.

This year, especially, we neednew members to join and helpout at the PIWC, says Cindy.

Get ready for a fun November. Itall starts with the MelbourneCup celebrations at the HiltonPhuket Arcadia Resort & Spa

in Karon on November 1.For those not familiar with this fes-

tive Australian event, the Melbourne Cupis a horse race run every year, despite warand other disasters, since 1861. In Oz, it isthe one race that literally stops a nation.Women dress up in costumes topped withbig funny hats and men attempt to provethey can drink more beer in a couple hoursthan all of the brew consumed at anOktoberfest.

It is a really silly day. The last bigMelbourne Cup celebration on Phuket wasat the Novotel Phuket Resort in Patongsome years ago.

By the time the race was over, it wasbarely afternoon and the hundreds of Aus-tralians and their friends who attendedcould barely walk a straight line, much lessdrive safely. I heard the whole party emp-tied out on Laem Singh Beach complimentsof resort staff buses.

If you are an Aussie, or appreciateAustralians and their culture, you really

need to be at the Hilton next Tuesday at10 am for what promises to be a majorparty. For the 1,700 baht admission price,you will be among the first to discover anew line of glamorwear designed byPhuket interior designer Sonia Seery. Youalso get a champagne brunch plus lots offun. And for those unable to drive whenthe doors close after the race at 2 pm,there’s a big beach waiting to be enjoyedjust across the road.

The Hilton also recently invited Aus-tralian Karen Alexander-MacIver toopen a Dance and Drama Academy atthe resort. Karen is a major talent wholeft the stages of Sydney for Phuket totrain both young people and adults in theart of tap dance, classical ballet, “jaz-zercize” and other disciplines. I would liketo take her class called “Wiggle & Giggle”but it’s for three- to five-year-olds only.Contact Karen at the Hilton for class timesand costs.

Also on the calendar for next weekis the annual Patong Carnival, though thisyear it is called the Phuket Carnival – andit is an open opportunity for those curious

to observe how Patong people have a goodtime.

It’s a festival of cheap T-shirts, sec-ondhand clothes and shoes, polyester Ha-waiian shirts, poor-quality pirate CDs andDVDs, plastic dishes and some of theworst entertainment that you can imag-ine.

Recent attempts to make the carni-val more international in flavor in an effortto attract more tourists should just be for-gotten as the Patong residents deserve tohave a party that suits their own interests.

It’s always lots of fun to wanderaround this carnival kicking discarded plas-tic bags, avoiding mangy dogs and the noisebilled as music that blasts from the enor-mous towers of loudspeakers.

One big party that you probablywon’t be able to go to will be Nation V,billed as East Asia’s biggest celebrationfor subscribers to Fridae.com, the region’smost popular website for the gay commu-nity.

After weeks of controversy whilethe Kata-Karon Tambon AdministrationOrganization debated whether it wanted

homosexuals in the neighborhood, consentwas finally given, most probably becausePhuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkurawas keen to support the event.

Nation V promises to be big, with ninemajor parties featuring international DJsscheduled between November 4 and 6. Ican’t go into the details of each party, buta small sample includes “Insomnia” hostedby Liquid, Malaysia’s renowned gay danceclub, and “AgeHa”, Tokyo’s largest danceclub, which will feature Japanese go-goboys and a dress code that insists on teamuniforms and sports gear.

All this frivolity will be centeredaround the stunning, recently openedCrowne Plaza Resort at Karon Beach. Ihear there are busloads of transsexualsfrom Pattaya and Bangkok streaming toPhuket for this major event.

That said, Fridae.com says, “Nomatter who you are, or where you comefrom, gay, lesbian, transgendered, bisexual,straight, or just plain curious – everyone iswelcomed! Nation is a party that does notdiscriminate, so leave your prejudice athome and enjoy a weekend where you canbe yourself.”

But remember, you can only attendNation V if you join Fridae.com.

This year’s PIWC GalaBall has the theme ‘AnEvening With the Stars’,featuring the Lai ThaiOrchestra and with manyprizes to be won and itemsauctioned off.

Date and time:Saturday, November 26,from 6:30 pm to 1 am.

Venue: Grand Ball-room, Hilton PhuketArcadia Resort & Spa.

Tickets: 2,500 bahteach, including a four-course meal and drinks.

Anyone interested inbuying gala or raffletickets, sponsoring a prizeor making a donationshould contact Julie Streetat Tel: 01-3700230 or NorMoorhouse at Tel: 01-9581383.

For more informationabout the PIWC, call AnitaHourigan at Tel: 01-0867025 or visit thePIWC website at:www.phuket.com/piwc/home.htm ‘An Evening on the Nile’ was last year’s Gala Ball theme.

By Bruce Stanley

The Melbourne Cup runneth overIt’s going to be a fun November

L I F E S T Y L E12 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

There are a number of es-sential accoutrementsthat the well-seasonedgentleman traveler

would do well to carry with himat all times.

The items should be carriedin the hand, on the person – withinthe pockets of, depending on theclimate, a tropical or a three-pieceHarris tweed suit, made on TheRow, of course – or in his port-manteau or campaign chest.

Such pieces of kit include apassport; the best ones state thatHer Britannic Majesty’s Secre-tary of State and cetera will de-ploy RAF No 617 Squadron ifJohnny Foreigner does not allowthe bearer to pass without let orhindrance.

Next, a solid English apple-wood walking stick – preferablycontaining a sword or dagger incase one enters the sort of placeone shouldn’t, which is generallynorth of Cheltenham and the firstcontinent west of Ireland – madeby James Smith & Sons, London.

INTERLUDES

One should also carry a selectionof works by Greene, Kipling,Wodehouse and Waugh, as wellas Wisden’s.

These are vital for the quietinterludes between flights, whenin the company of people fromthe 38th state of the US, or whenone has forgotten the short-wavefrequency of the hour for theBBC World Service and there-fore cannot hear the Test Matchscores.

A penknife with an imple-ment for getting stones – or in-deed small boys’ fingers – out of

By Andy Johnstone

horses’ hooves is also useful.And last, but not least, one mustalso have some recourse to saucewhen on the move.

Sauce? A stiffener. Abracer. Devil’s urine. Electricsoup. Booze.

It isn’t enough to rely on thegood offices of the charming Brit-ish Airways stewardesses; thepoor frippets would be run offtheir feet keeping some chapsentertained on an all-nighter fromHeathrow.

Walking into a bar in down-town Mogadishu singing Land ofHope and Glory when desper-ate for a snifter will, perhaps, notendear one to the locals in their“technicals” too much.

The wise traveler will beprepared. The wise traveler willtake his own supply in a hip flask.

This writer has had his for15 years now and it – the hipflask, that is, not the writer – isbattered, dented and minus itsleather cover.

It has traveled the worldwith him, including to a couple of“dry” Arab states where it was

topped up with uisge beatha inthe form of Talisker sent in sham-poo bottles by his father.

Of course, one can fill a hipflask with any desired spirit, butsomehow whisky best fits the bill.

A number of shops on theisland sell them, including HunterPhuket on the second floor ofCentral Festival and a touristygiftware shop in Ocean Mall,Phuket City.

The staff of the latter shopwere not keen to reveal their

names, its name or its telephonenumber, possibly fearing the thewrath of the Illuminati or the“Black Helicopters”.

Prices at Hunter Phuket fortheir range of Thai-made stain-less-steel flasks start from 450baht for a 4-ounce flask, eitherplain brushed metal or a no doubtlicensed Remy Martin flask.Hunter also sells flasks in 6oz and7oz sizes, both at 550 baht.Economy of scale in action.

These flasks benefit fromhaving attached lids, whichmakes losing it – and beingforced to drink the entire contentsin one go – far less likely.

The no-name shop stockspewter flasks in a number of sizesand styles, including attractiveround versions and one with adimpled, orange-peel effect fin-ish. They are heavier and costmore than the steel ones, but areperhaps less prone to denting.

Elephants also feature intheir range. A 4oz flask with arelief scene of elephantine lifeand with pleasing rounded cor-ners costs 690 baht. An orbit flaskwith an elephant on the obverseand an impression of Wat Phra

Is that a hip f lask in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?

The hippest, bar none

Kaeo on the reverse costs 720baht.

Whether on a visa run toBurma, in the desert like ElAurens, fly-fishing for trout on achalk stream or bagging a braceor two of grouse on the moors –and it’s been a long time since mylast sniff of heather and fern – agentleman’s hip flask remains anessential piece of kit.

Call K. Joy at Hunter Phuketat 01-5351287 for more infor-mation. The no-name shop atOcean Mall, Phuket City, is onthe ground floor near the lin-gerie section.

A wide range of flasks is available locally, including the above designs.

My own has seen some action.

L I F E S T Y L EOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 13

Oh, go on, you may as well givethe 2006 Mercury Prize to FranzFerdinand now. They’re prob-ably going to win it anyway for

the release this month of You Could HaveIt So Much Better, following on from theirwin for their eponymous 2004 debut.

The Scottish quartet, whose originaltake on the angular esthetics of NewWave led to them being hailed last year asthe saviors of British rock, has rushed outits second album with almost indecenthaste.

Having taken years to establish him-self, leader Alex Kapranos (an indie vet-eran at 33) is hungry for more.

This is a band on fire, burning up withideas, buzzing on the adrenaline of suc-cess, charged with the confidence of pub-lic and critical affirmation.

You Could…does not so much re-fine their sound as condense and re-ener-gize it. The production is dirty and raw,and their blending of black and white in-fluences (disco riffs and rhythms with ga-rage rock) and their penchant for soaringchoruses are capable of lifting the listenerfrom sweaty dance floor to heights of per-haps chemically-induced melodious rap-ture.

It puts me in mind of a 21st-centuryversion of the savage young Squeeze, al-beit playing Cossack fighting songs at aschool founder’s day concert while sing-ing about the death of civilization.

There is a joyousness about FranzFerdinand that is rare in an art-schoolgenre much too much inclined to take it-self too seriously. Kapranos and crew un-derstand the architecture – note: not me-

No one-shotwonders;ArchdukesFerdinandchanics – of songwriting, by keeping thestructure solid but having fun with form,underpinning melodies with geometric riffsprojected at rakish trajectories, instinctivelyknowing just when to shift gear and liftthe listener into another aural area.

The bold tempo-switching that caughteveryone’s ears last time around is kept toa minimum, but on Well That Was Easythey pull it off so effortlessly, you wonderwhy everyone isn’t doing it, although theKaiser Chiefs are coming close to approxi-mating it.

Two short piano and acoustic guitarballads - Eleanor Put Your Boots BackOn and Fade Together – suggest that theband has other dimensions to explore, butnot yet. You Could… is mostly more ofthe same, only far better.

The band appears to be composedof the nervous energy and awkward blus-

ter of sixth-form schoolboys – a nod toXTC – and the motif is taken further withthe cover lyrics “scrawled” on what lookslike an exercise book.

Franz Ferdinand take their amalgamof disco-punk sound from the wealth ofBritish post-punk bands such as Magazine,Josef K, Killing Joke and Duran Duranalthough they also manage to cram in someSweetesque glam-rock with the stompingDo You Want To.

The bitchy lines to this track include“Well he’s a friend and he’s so proud ofyou/ He’s a friend and I knew him beforeyou/ Well he’s a friend and we’re so proudof you/ Your famous friend, well I blewhim before you”. Like so many difficultsecond albums, You Could... seems toreflect the effect of the band’s sudden suc-cess, yet not in the comparatively dullmanner of The Stereophonics, with their

travelogue songs about touring.Franz Ferdinand are trying to keep

their feet on the ground while retaining atight grip on the rocket of fame to whichtheir ambitions are attached.

For the listener, the odds may havebeen stacked against You Could…, but theyare slashed within seconds of the albumstarting. If there’s a more exciting openingtrack this year than The Fallen, youwouldn’t let it near anyone with a heart con-dition.

The trend for disappointing follow-upshas been bucked with enviable panache inrecent years with the likes of Coldplay’s trioof albums and now Franz Ferd-inand – whohave wiped the floor with most of theirpeers.

You Could... leaves one excited,rather than apprehensive, about their nextalbum.

EAR CANDYBy Andy Johnstone

H A P P E N I N G S14 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

T his week

MAKING WAVES:Australian lifeguardinstructor David Fieldleads children carrying a“patient” during a rescuerelay race held recently aspart of a children’straining session in surflifesaving skills and watersafety.

CONSERVATIONAL KIDS: Sompoch Chayakesatrin (in brown shirt), Director of theMinistry of Culture’s Cultural Promotion Fund, and Provincial Chief AdministrativeOfficer (Palad) Witcharn Butrsapawanich (in white trousers) after awarding prizesto students who took part in the recent “Art on the Wall” contest, which aimed topromote the conservation of both culture and the environment.

HEALS ON WHEELS: Rotary Club of Patong Beach President Arnaud Verstraete (3rd

from right), former President Friedrich “Sam” Fauma (3rd from left) and Dr Peter Tschudi(5th from left) of the Swiss Doctors Association present a new ambulance to PatongHospital Managing Director Dr Taweesak Netwong (4th from left). Deputy Patong MayorChairat Sukbal (4th from right) looks on.

WELCOME BACKSTROM: (Fromleft) Kata Group Chairman PamukeArchariyachai and his wife K.Tanyarat welcome FinnishAmbassador to Thailand LarsBackstrom during his recent visitto Phuket. Amb Backstrom was onthe island to thank staff at theThai Tsunami Victim Identificationcenter for their work.

GOLD POWER: EnergyMinister Viset Jupiban helpscast the Golden Sea Dragonstatue that will take pride of

place in HM Queen SirikitPark, in Phuket City. The sea

dragon has long beenconsidered by previous

generations to be the symbolof Phuket because of the

island’s shape.

PUN FUN: Howard Digby-Johns (white shirt)

surprised his wife K. Nui(3rd from right) by inviting

her favorite singer Paiboon“Pun” Kiatkeawkaew(back, center) to her

birthday party at The GreenMan Pub & Restaurant,

near Chalong Circle.

S P A M A G I COctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 15

Sleeplessin Baray

MAGICSpa

By AnongnatSartpisut

SawasdeeVillage

Avisit to Baray Spa atKata’s Sawasdee Vil-lage resort is almostlike being transported

through a portal; out of the toil ofeveryday life to a lush oasis,where relaxation and rejuvena-tion are the only concerns.

More accustomed to mediacircuses, I was initially disorientedto find myself amid such tranquil-lity. At the spa entrance, I wasgreeted with graceful wais. SoonSpa Manager Sutida Horkaewwelcomed me with a refreshingglass of chilled, fresh chrysanthe-mum juice, which was sippedslowly between breaths of thelemongrass-scented air.

Soft meditation musicplayed softly in the background;the gentle forces of relaxationseemed to be at work on all fivesenses as I began to unwind inthe naturally cool ambiance.

K. Sutida showed me thespa’s four treatment rooms, eachof which is fitted with two beds.One room is designed for couples.

Baray Spa has a wide vari-ety of spa treatments to choosefrom, but its specialty is of IndianAyuravedic origin and is knownas kesa treatment, which usessesame seed oil to heal your hair,head and scalp.

K. Sutida suggested that Iexperience this as part of one thespa’s five packages, a three-hoursession known as “Sleepless inBaray” offered for 4,500 baht.This course starts with one hourof steam and Jacuzzi with

aromatherapy, followed by anhour of Swedish oil massage andkesa, ending with an hour ofAroma Hydro Massage. A kesasession on its own is also offeredat 1,950 baht.

The steam Jacuzzi witharomatherapy is the perfectwarm-up for kesa, as it increasescirculation and oxygenates theblood. As I surveyed the spaciousBalinese-style room where Iwould be given the Swedish mas-sage and kesa, K. Sutida told methat the treatment further en-hances circulation, has a detoxi-fying effect and leaves the hairradiant and healthy.

As I lay face-up on the bed,my therapist, K. Aew, firstscrubbed my feet with special

salts and herbs. After this sheworked the oil into my hair andscalp, eventually using a halfbottle of the oil to give me a backonly massage using Swedish mas-sage techniques.

During the massage my skinfelt slightly hot, but this left alovely tingling sensation as shemoved into the next phase of thetreatment, which involved plac-ing cooling compresses to myface, neck shoulders and fingers.

After about 40 minutes ofthis, it was time for the kesa treat-ment, which uses special equip-ment to drop sesame oil slowlyonto the center of one’s forehead.After about three initial drops, itthen flows in a slow stream, bath-ing the head in warm rivulets. The

oil inside the kesa dispenser, abouthalf a bottle, is also carefully lay-ered with different temperaturesfor each layer. The sensation isunique as each transition soothesinto the next; this five-minute seg-ment is the highlight of the three-hour treatment.

When you’re enjoying a spatreatment such as this, time al-most ceases to exist. It was onlywhen I heard the the tell-tale“chop-chop-chop” of K. Aew’sfingers performing percussionmassage on the back of my headthat I knew the kesa had finished.

Unfortunately, I had to missthe last segment of the “Sleep-less in Baray” package, the hy-dro massage, which would haveremoved all the oil. Instead I had

a shower and a parting glass ofginger tea. Emerging from the spastill smelling somewhat of sesa-me, I felt totally relaxed.

Baray Spa at Sawasdee Vil-lage, on 38 Katekwan Rd inKata, is open from 10 am to 7pm daily. For more informationvisit www.phuketsawasdee.com or call Tel: 076-330979 orFax: 076-330905 or Email:info@phuketsawasdee.com

Note: in this column on October15, the Gazette incorrectly iden-tified Nikorn Banjerdlert and hiswife Darinda Rose Berry asowners of the Evolve@Spa atTreetops Arasia. In fact theywork there as consultants.

The kesatreatment usesspecial equipmentto drop sesame oilslowly onto thecenter of theforehead. Afterabout three initialdrops, it then flowsin a slow stream,bathing the headin rivulets ofwarmth...

G O O D L I V I N G16 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

W I N E

By Steven Roberto

It’s not that I dislike French wines, but...

From time to time I amaccused of being biasedagainst French wines. Itis true I have a problem

with many modern Frenchwines, but this does not mean Iam against French wine. Manyof the world’s greatest wines areFrench, and I adore them asmuch as anyone.

The problem is that thesegreat wines account for less than2% of all French wine, and theyare excruciatingly expensive. Idon’t know about you, but I can-not afford to drink Louis Latourevery night.

What aggravates me most,though, is the intractable con-tempt of French producers of theother 98% of mundane Frenchwine. These wines bear old-fashioned labels that are all butindecipherable, and the winesare boring at best and completelylacking in appeal at worst.

This is not just my opinion;consumers around the globe, in-cluding within France, are shun-ning French wine. As I write thiscolumn there is a crisis in Bor-deaux, where 1.5 million hectoli-ters of wine are being distilledinto industrial alcohol.

Afterwards, there will stillbe an estimated 38.4 million hec-toliters of oversupply. And this isjust in Bordeaux.

French prices are plunging.In southern France, winemakerslast month handed out 50,000 freebottles to tourists at highway tollbooths to publicize their plight asprices continue to crumble.

There have even been riotsas winemakers demand that thegovernment intervene to supportprices.

I have no sympathy forthese fellow winemakers be-cause, rather than making an ef-fort to improve, they instead de-

mand that the consumer acceptwhat they produce.

This is where I draw a dis-tinction between French and otherwines. In Australia or California,for example, if consumers wanta taste that is more of this or lessof that, winemakers strive to givethem what they want.

In France, however, wine-makers condescendingly “edu-cate” the consumers about theirunsophisticated palates. Clearlythat is not the way to remain atthe top of the heap.

It is not that French wine-makers cannot make betterwines. They go to the same uni-versities that New World wine-makers attend; and I haveworked alongside French wine-makers from California to NewZealand.

But back home in France,winemakers are often con-strained by archaic laws, cultureand traditions that oppose change– except in the obscure and in-consequential appellations which,not surprisingly, are becoming thenew quality hot spots in France.

My favorite picks for ex-citement in modern French wineinclude the wonderfully aromaticand charming Cabernet Francs

from Saumur, rustic and gutsyMalbec from St Joseph, and thenew-wave boutique Syrah andViognier wines of the Côteauxdu Languedoc.

Ultimately these winesbeing pioneered by iconoclasticFrench producers may breathenew life into French wine.

Until then, though, con-sumers have no choice but towade carefully through the seaof monotony exported to far-away places such as Thailand,biding our time and hoping forinnovation to take hold elsewherein French winedom.

Steven Roberto is a wine-maker and restaurant consult-ant from California. He is theManaging Director of enVis-ion Phuket, a wine importerand consultant. Email: steven@env i s ion-phuke t . co . th ;www.envision-phuket.com

Most curry lovers willhave already heardof Roti Namgengon Chao Fa East

Rd, as the 120-seat restaurant hasbeen open for 18 years and issomewhat of an institution inPhuket.

Of course, a good roti isalso at the heart of many a goodcurry – and this curry house spe-cializes in them. Rotis are theideal accompaniment to gaengmassaman (spicy chicken coco-nut curry) and geng massamangai (chicken curry), gaengmassaman nua (beef curry) andgaeng pae (goat curry).

By Athiga Jundee

K. Malee: secret recipes.

Malee Mormudsutan, theowner of Roti Namgeng, buys allof the spices locally: “We choosefresh spices and follow our se-cret recipes. We focus on fresh-ness, cleanliness and maintaining

our unique tastes,” she said.Signature dishes include

khao mok gai (yellow rice withchicken), sweet roti with banana,egg or just plain sweet roti, rotimataba gai (a Muslim dishserved with Ah-jaht – cucumberslices and pickled onions) as wellas salad kag (Muslim saladserved with bean curry soup).

The restaurant adheresstrictly to a standard recipe and

methodology to make sure thateach roti has the same textureand taste, day in and day out.

“We don’t make a lot ofmoney at prices like these,” saysK. Malee. “Spices are gettingmore and more expensive too, butwe won’t raise our prices as wewant to keep our regulars happyand coming back.”

Prices of some of the morepopular dishes are 20 baht forRoti Namgeng Gai, Nua withfried egg; Roti Namgeng Pae 50baht (large portion), or 30 baht(small portion); sweet roti withbanana 15 baht; sweet roti withegg 12 baht; plain sweet roti 7baht; khao mok gai 25 baht; saladkag with Ah-jaht 25 baht.

Roti Namgeng is open dailyfrom 6 am to midday (it is closedduring Ramadan): 44 Chao FaEast Rd, Tambon Taladnuew,Phuket City. Tel: 076-221771.

LOW PRICE SPICE

October 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 17M O T O R I N G

BEHINDWHEELBy Jeff Heselwood

T H E

The World Touring CarChampionship (WTCC)goes down to the wirenext month, at the final

round on the daunting street cir-cuit of Macau, the tiny formerPortuguese enclave on the south-ern tip of China, about 60 kilo-meters from Hong Kong.

The penultimate race, inSpain in October, saw the lead-ing contenders come away sepa-rated by just five points. With atotal of 20 available over the twolegs in Macau, it could go eitherway.

The Championship leader isGermany’s Dirk Müller, withreigning WTCC title-holder AndyPriaulx one point adrift – bothbehind the wheels of BMWs –while five points behind Müller isAlfa Romeo driver FabrizioGiovanardi, in an Alfa 156.

NEW ALFA

A wide range of European se-dans competes in the series, in-cluding examples from Seat,Chevrolet (née Daewoo), Fordand Honda, as well as the domi-nating Alfas and BMWs. Allexcept the BMWs are front-wheel drive.

The Alfa 156 is getting alittle long in the tooth these days,and next year will be replaced byits successor, the 159, the road-going version of which waslaunched at the Geneva showearlier this year.

The Seat Léon is a newmodel that has impressed its driv-ers, Rickard Rydell and JordiGené. Spain’s Gené is the olderbrother of Ferrari test driver MarcGené. The Chevrolet Lacetti isessentially a rebadged Daewooafter General Motors took overthe ailing Korean auto maker.

This is the marque’s firstseason in the WTCC, and al-though proving a little slow on thestraights, the team is gradually

Three battle for WTCC title in Macauimproving the car’s competitive-ness. Recently Chevrolet wasgranted an engine upgrade to im-prove its straightline perfor-mance.

But it has been the BMWsof Dirk Müller and Jörg Müller(no relation) that have producedsome epic battles, along withBriton Andy Priaulx. All havebeen driving the BMW 320i, ashas former Champion Car driverAlex Zanardi.

Followers of motorsport willrecall that Zanardi lost both legsin a horrific accident at Lausitz-ring in the summer of 2001.Amazingly, the Italian has re-turned to competition and, withthe help of prosthetic legs, has

been producing some impressiveperformances, culminating in anemotional win at Oschersleben inGermany at the end of August,barely an hour’s drive from thescene of his life-threatening shuntfour years earlier.

The BMWs and the Alfasproduce around 275bhp fromtheir respective two-liter engines;the Seats a little less at 260bhp,but this will no doubt improve nextyear.

The 2006 season heralds theentrance of perhaps the mostunlikely touring car team: theRussian Ladas.

Officially known as LadaAutovaz, it is Russia’s biggestauto maker. The official press

release reads: “2006 is the 40th

anniversary of Lada Autovaz…and Lada has elected to enter the2006 WTCC. Lada wishes todemonstrate their technical ex-pertise and open a new market-ing strategy.”

Other new entrants nextyear will include Kia and possi-bly Skoda.

With Dirk Müller, Priaulxand Giovanardi all chasing the titlein Macau, the others will prob-ably not get much of a look-in,but such is the nature of the 6.2kmMacau street circuit that it couldstill be anyone’s race.

The BMWs will probablyhave an advantage on the long,long straight, but the nimble Alfas

will hold their own up on the hilloverlooking the city, where thetight twists and turns and the nar-rowness of the track make ac-curate placement of the car atracing speeds absolutely essen-tial.

Both Müller and Priaulxhave raced extensively in Macau,but for Giovanardi, it will be hisfirst visit since 1988 when he un-successfully raced a Formula 3Reynard.

The Macau Grand Prixtakes place over the weekend ofNovember 17 to 20.

Jeff Heselwood may be con-tacted by email at jhc@netvigator.com

The indomitable Alex Zanardi and the two Müller BMWs, with Jordi Gené’s Seat on their tails. Photos: FIA World Touring Car Championship

T R A V E L18 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

ThailandTRAVELER

By Bill Owen

Pattaya attracts more thana million tourists a year.This post-tsunami year ithas been especially busy

as many vacationers switchedfrom Phuket and resorts along theAndaman coast to this busy cityand Bangkok bolt-hole.

Forty years ago, Pattaya’sbeaches were backwaters, hometo 100 or so fishing families.

It was during the ’60s and’70s that Pattaya changed rap-idly – the US built its huge airbaseat U-Tapao and many of the ser-vicemen went to Pattaya tospend their leisure time and hard-earned cash.

Major hotel chains, hun-dreds of guesthouses and smallerresorts, and an ever-increasingnumber of houses and condos arenow serving the tourists and cityweekenders. Someone told methere are more than 110 real es-tate agents here in the city.

I had not been to Pattayafor five years and once I hit townI was immediately lost; the placehas grown out of all proportion.“Take me to the Beach Rd,” Isighed. “I need to get my bear-ings.”

We checked into the BJLodge. My friend Eddie com-mented that he couldn’t tell his

wife where we were staying incase she misunderstood the nameI assured him this new small ho-tel on Soi 3 came highly recom-

mended as a clean and very up-right hotel, with good service.

Sure enough, it was great,and only a few strides from thebeach. At 900 baht a night, a su-perb deal – and with a cookedbreakfast at jut 55 baht.

That afternoon we decidedto head down to the Beach Rd insearch of some good old Englishfare. Walking past Soi 6 we no-ticed a sign with a Union Jack,and there it was, the Queen VicPub and restaurant, 500 metersdown the soi.

What we did not notice un-til we actually entered the soiwere the hundreds of scantily-dressed girls seated outside themany bars, massage joints, res-taurants and short-time hotels.And it was only 4 pm.

“Much easier to handle thisin the dark after a few beers,”said Eddie as we stumbled intothe Queen Vic.

The food was excellent,cheap, and there was lots of it.T-bone steaks, all-day breakfasts,and for me the largest steak andkidney pie I have ever seen. At190 baht it was a steal.

From there it was on to theHard Rock Hotel where we hadbeen invited to attend a reception.The party was in full swing, withhundreds of professionals fromthe travel industry all around the

huge pool. It’s a typical party-style hotel. Not my kind of place,I have to say, but certainly to somepeople’s taste.

Later that evening we tooka short trip around the innercircle, along the Back Rd andBeach Rd by local songtaew –for just 20 baht. Patong tuk-tuks,please take note.

The next day we headedsouth toward Jomtien Beach toinspect the newly-openedSheraton Pattaya Resort, built onthe headland overlooking theSouth of Pattaya. This is a stun-ning resort, nestled into the hillsbut with views across the sea. Ithas a very mystical feel and it isa superb location to hide away in.

You can love Pattaya for itsincredible value for money, itsfood, its excellent and inexpen-sive accommodation – or hate itfor its hundreds of bars, andseedy night life, which alwaysseems to be in your face. Yet mostholidaymakers there don’t seemto care.

Pattaya is good for one thingthough: it makes me realize thatwhat I have here in Phuket iswonderful.

Sunset stunner: The view fromthe new Sheraton PattayaResort, overlooking the southernend of the city, is hard to beat.

GETTING THERE,©STAYING THERE

By air: Bangkok Airways from Phuket via Koh Samui to U-Tapao. There are flights every day.

By air/road: By air to Bangkok and then by bus or taxi to Pattaya.My taxi cost 1,600 baht.

Where to stay:

BJ Lodge, Soi 3, Beach Rd, Pattaya. Good basic hotel. Fiftyrooms, all air-conditioned, from 900 baht per night Breakfast from55 baht. Note: this is a very popular hotel so reservation is stronglyrecommended. Tel: 038-488572

Sheraton Pattaya Resort, 437 Phra Tamnak Rd.192 rooms fromUS$125++ (5,000 baht ++). Tel: 038-259888.

PATTAYA:Where BJis just thename of agood hotel

P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 19T A K E A B R E A KOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 19

Solution, tips andcomputer program at

www.sudoku.com

The principle of Sudoku is very simple: each row, eachcolumn and each “box” of nine squares within thepuzzle must contain all the numbers from 1 to 9 with,naturally, no repetitions. Guess if you will, but eachSudoku puzzle can be solved using logic alone. Be-ware: there is only one solution to this puzzle, which ison the next page.

Can you find the seven

differences between the

two cartoons below? And

can you find them faster

than the rest of the family?

Spot the DifferenceSpot the Difference

Answers on page 20

Compiled by Tortuus. © 2005

The Cryptic CrosswordACROSS

1. Mr Elk in revolution in RedSquare. (7)

4. Card wraps us and shirt insweet sauce. (7)

8. Hear convict stir state?Confusion! (13)

10. All like borer, perhaps. (3)11. Let it stand, lad – hat, that

is. (7)13. No, I mean small wife. (3)14. Ass goes around by the pit.

(5)17. 8 dn, later. (3)18. Bend car into part of circle.

(3)20. Fine linen made from uni-

versity town river brick,mostly. (7)

23. Trope lit no intersection withdirections. (7)

26. Mom who wants to build anew school. (3)

27. Knock before sheet. (3)28. A bloom moved from its

bed. (5)31. Little Philip’s seed. (3)32. Anchorage occupant? (7)34. Did mix telephone initials.

(3)35. Being zapped is, in a man-

ner of speaking, a cert –maybe. (13)

38. Have an inkling he’swanted by the police. (7)

39. It’s said Edie the cat is com-plex. (7)

DOWN

1. Town has 1,000 plus a mas-ter and Los Angeles. (6)

2. Cow sounds off in Thai vil-lage. (3)

3. Upend parasite in tin. (3)4. Goddess, we hear, is in a

number of episodes. (5)5. Deer Point worker is stale.6. 36 dn occupant I follow on

street to find expert wit-ness. (8)

7. Horrible din tests oral ex-perts. (8)

8. Could Cassius be molded?(4)

9. A monstrous lake. (4)12. Precise levy. (5)

15. Feathered snake? (3)16. Warship that stands by, in

short. (3)19. Metallic sound in jail. (5)20. Useful for trimming nails –

or ships! (8)21. Rush poem perplexed

dream god. (8)22. Witty reply as to quiet art

on points. (8)24. Or, they say, a paddle. (3)25. Dawn gives directions

about nothing. (3)28. Worker I opposed. (4)29. King of gods makes no

noise. (4)30. Little Edward’s swirls, (6)33. Abandon the bad smell in

art. (5)36. Spacecraft for Foreign Of-

fice? After you! (3)37. Yes, French use no conso-

nants. (3)

PPPPPUZZLESUZZLESUZZLESUZZLESUZZLES

1. What do we call thedifferent forms of anelement which have thesame the number ofprotons but a differentnumbers of neutrons?

2. Which member of TheEagles wrote the musicfor Hotel Californiaand played the first partof its guitar solo?

3. Who is the currentPope?

4. What does UNICEFstand for?

5. Who was the GermanJewish girl who wrote afamous diary while inhiding with her family inAmsterdam during the

German occupation ofthat city in World WarII?

6. What was the namegiven to the atom bombthe US dropped onHiroshima, Japan?

7. What is a caterpillarcocoon made of?

8. What unit of computerstorage capacity is equalto 8 bits?

9. Which comedian doesthe voice of Shrek?

10. Which snooker player,in 1982, got the first-ever maximum highbreak of 147 shown liveon TV?

EZ TRIVIA BrainBuster!!

Miss Black, MissBrown and Miss

White were having a con-versation in the supermar-ket.

“Isn’t it odd,” saidMiss Black to the othertwo women. “We are allwearing different colors,but none of us is wearingthe color that is the sameas her name.”

“That’s true,” agreedthe woman who was wear-ing white.

Use the informationin this conversation togive the correct last nameof the woman wearingeach color (black, brown,and white).

Answer on page 20

20 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005T A K E A B R E A K

ACROSS

1. Collection of art.7. Buddy.8. Collection of singers.9. Die Fledermaus composer.10. Flightless Antarctic bird.13. Mosquito-borne disease.14. Province of Switzerland.15. ~.17. Boxing middleman, in short.18. A lie.

Get your brainin gear with

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

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

1. Which European capitalis on the island ofZealand?

2. Who is the bluesydaughter of RaviShankar?

3. Who designed the flagunder which the GeneralBelgrano was sailingwhen it was torpedoed?

4. Rickets is caused by adeficiency of whichvitamin?

5. How many guns ofNavarone were there?

6. What Bogart filmfeatured the charactersCharlie Allnut and RoseySayer?

7. What unfinished Dickensnovel became a Broad-way success in 1987?

Quick Crossword

Cryptic CrosswordSolutionPuzzle

Solutions

Sudoku solution

Monster Quiz

AnswersQuick Crossword

Solution

EZ Triva Answers1. Isotopes; 2. Don Felder; 3. Benedict XVI (born Joseph Ratzinger); 4.United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund; 5. Anne Frank; 6.Little Boy; 7. Silk: 8. A byte; 9. Mike Myers; 10. Steve Davis.

Brain BusterSince no one can be wearing the same color as his name, Miss Black can bewearing only brown or white. Since she is talking to a woman wearing white,that means Miss Black must be wearing brown. Miss White can be wearingonly black or brown, but Miss Black is wearing brown, so Miss White mustbe wearing black. That means that Miss Brown is wearing white.

Solution to Cartoon Puzzle

8. What does the hornedtoad squirt from its eyeswhen angry?

9. Who wrote The GoodCompanions and AngelPavement?

10. What, in France, is anhôtel-Dieu?

11. Bingu wa Mutharika ispresident of which coun-try?

12. What is the name of thehome ground of ItalianSerie A football team UCSampdoria?

13. Who composed the tuneBarwick Green from theMy Native Heath suite?

14. Which city is nicknamed“The Venice of the MiddleEast”?

15. Whangee is an Asianbamboo, but what is awhangee?

16. Which five disciplinescomprise the modernpentahlon?

17. Who invented themodern pentathlon?

18. Gram flour, also knownas besan, is made fromwhat?

19. Name the martial artdevised in Englandaround the year 1900 byEdward William Barton-Wright.

20. In the movie Gladiator,what were the names ofMaximus DecimusMeridius’s horses?

Answers below, left

1. Copenhagen; 2. NorahJones; 3. General ManuelJosé Joaquín del Corazónde Jesús Belgrano; 4. Vita-min D; 5. Two; 6. The Afri-can Queen; 7. The Mysteryof Edwin Drood; 8. Blood;9. JB Priestley; 10. A hos-pital; 11. Malawi; 12.Stadio Luigi Ferraris; 13.Arthur Wood; 14. Basra,Iraq; 15. A walking stick;16. Pistol shooting, showjumping, epée fencing,200m freestyle swimmingand cross-country running;17. Baron Pierre deCourbertin; 18. Groundchickpeas; 19. Bartitsu; 20.Argento and Scatto.

DOWN

2. In Scotland, you might hearthis before “Aye”.

3. 1960s English supermodel.4. Citrus fruit or bad car.5. TV’s Ms Winfrey.6. The G in MSG.8. After Sagittarius.9. Italian fashion city.11. Root vegetable.12. Tobacco for snorting.13. Inn for drivers.16. Pair.

Solution below, right

F E A T U R E SOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 21

Off theSHELF

By James Eckardt

There’s no way to plungemore deeply into an alienculture than by joining itsreligion. This is what

Roger Welty did nearly 40 ago.His first year as a monk ischronicled in prose and photo-graphs in Bhikkhu: Disciple ofthe Buddha (Orchid Press,Bangkok, 2005, 206pp).

The author and photogra-pher is Kristiaan Inwood, whoproduced the original and quirkySiamese Bestiary, reviewed herea few months ago. This too is arevised edition of a work pro-duced much earlier, in 1981.

It is not uncommon todayfor Westerners to become or-dained as Buddhist monks, but itwas certainly a novelty back in1967 when Roger Welty, a 38-year-old Californian, donned thesaffron robes and devoted him-self to “a way of life that encom-passes philosophy, psychology,physiology, mysticism, magic,cosmology, metaphysics, ritualand religion; a religion that has

Look at what Lis has lined upfor you in her weekly roundupof how Phuket is faring on theInternet... a well-traveled canof beans, incendiary squirrels,and how to throw a femmefatale out of a second-floor

Patong hotel window. It’s allhere and more, luvvies. Holdon to your homburgs – here

we go!

OUTSIDEIN

By Lis Kinswoman

BEANS ON COASTNight swimming, anyone? “Put on somesunscreen and hit the beach and relax,maybe with a cold beer bought from yourfriendly beach vendor that will be morethen happy to bring a new one without theneed to get up, just wave. There is morethan enough time after sunset to shop andeat, shops don’t close before midnight andyou should be happy to know that watertemperature hold between 27-29 degrees,if you should feel the urge to swim.” (1)

At last a highly original travel article

concept: This young cove takes a can offrijoles negros (that’s black beans to you,Tex) around the world, photographs thecan in different locations, and writes aboutthem a little like this, “Here on PatongBeach there are a thousand and one funactivities to keep any can of vegetablesbusy all day – and night… the frijoles hada superb time on Patong Beach, and theysincerely thank the Thai people for theirgenerous hospitality and use of their fabu-lous beaches. Now, if you don’t mind, thebeans are off to work on their tan – theyneed to find out if the solar rays here arejust as good as bronzing their metal asthose in the Western hemisphere.” (2)

Flaming rodents! The following anecdotefrom Kamala had Lis scratching her size15s in puzzlement. “Some happy news isthat Zero the squirrel is alive and well af-ter falling out of the tree when only a dayor two old onto the concrete alongsideGan’s restaurant and he’s re-ignited withhis mother.” (3)

Literal deconstruction: Remember holi-days in Spain in the 70s? The followingexperience could have been cut and pastedfrom that constructionally challenged era.

“Since the elevators were so faraway from both the room and from thefront desk, I decided to go down the stairsthat were just a few rooms away at theend of the hall. The stairway was unfin-ished, but all there, so I went on down.The stairway ended on a balcony (like amezzanine) overlooking the ground floor.I asked the workmen there how I couldget down to the ground floor. They smiled,then one of the workers took me to theother side of the balcony and pointed to arough-built construction ladder thatreached from the railing on the balconydown to the ground floor. I looked at the

ladder, looked at the worker (who smiledand walked away) then back at the lad-der. ‘Oh, what the hell,’ I thought. I climbedover the railing and down the ladder. Ilanded in the middle of the unfinished areaon the East end of the ground floor I mademy way back to the front desk and got theroom changed … I took our two large bagsto our new room. and waited for thebellman to arrive. While waiting, I decidedto watch CNN – but the TV wouldn’t turnon.” (4)

Thunderous twigs: Some people findadventure wherever they go. This chattychappie is moving into a Patong hotel roomduring the Water Festival and encountersthe following. “Upon the window sill sat aferocious beast! one of the greatestQueens of the insect world! A preyingMantis (but it was a big one) Unfortunatelymy knowledge of this creature ended withthe fact that upon copulation the femaletears off and eats the head of the male.Knowing this I automatically feared thebeast and had a strong internal drive toremove these genetics from the globalfood chain… Knowing that my onlyweapon was my trusty water gun I lev-eled my barrel and gave her a blast. Itwasn’t enough to send her out of my sec-ond story window, and now I was out ofwater. Her head turned and eyed me withtwo large alien-like eyes. Her antennastwitched as she could undoubtedly smellmy fear. I lept to the bed and across it toreach for a 6ft wooden curtain rod. Shesat stareing, watching my every move. I

stretched out my arm and the rod I held, Inudged her, and I believe she scoffed…She then began moving about like shemight take flight or even more likely, useher huge legs to leap for my face, so Inudged her again… She crawled (slowly)out onto the opening apparatus of my win-dow. Since she was fleeing I knew I hadthe upper hand and so I went for anothernudge. She fell from my window and madea sound like the thunder of a twig fallingfrom a tree. I looked out to see her smoteremains, but, as every evil nemesis, oncevanquished she just disappeared…” (5)

It’s all in the wrist action: “VisitedPhuket Zoo and saw the show’s. Crocodileshow was a bit boring, but was amazed whenthe handlers put their head in the crocsmouth. not amazed when i realised how itwas done. easy trick really. just like thepussy shows in the go-go’s. once you knowhow they are done, it’s not the same.” (6)

1. http://www.phuket.as/2. beans-around-the-world.com/patong.html3. bbc.co.uk/guernsey/content/articles/2005/09/27/4. valkenaar.net/davidlisa2000/journal/I-Thailand.html5. blogs.evergreen.edu/blogs/programs/islands/archives/2004/04/the_biggest_wat.html6. phuketinfo.com/forumsshowthread.php?s=92ac352f80ce62ac1d0b966c8a2ba1d8&threadid=137&goto=nextnewest?threadid=137

A farang monk’s story

inspired much of the world’s fin-est architecture, painting andsculpture.”

Welty left behind a souringmarriage and a prosperous busi-ness career in Manhattan to dothe usual “searching for enlight-enment” trip in the East. On theadvice of a Thai monk, he livedin Thailand for two years, taughtat a Thammasat University andlearned the language. He wasprepared for his ordination.

Inwood begins his accountwith Welty explaining in his ownwords his attraction to TheravadaBuddhism and why he chose tobe ordained in Thailand:

“In our world as it is today,it must be an unusual country thatwelcomes foreigners, takes theminto its monasteries, feeds andcares for them, thus providingthem with this rare opportunity forself-advancement.”

The author then backtracksto explain the historical back-ground and teachings of Bud-dhism.

The second chapter is ameticulous description of Welty’sordination at Wat Pleng, a 200-year-old monastery on the out-skirts of Thonburi, and his firstweeks of adjusting to his newdaily routines of chanting, beg-ging, studying, self-confessionand meditation.

Central to his life are hisdaily tutorials by the Abbot,Acarya Praderm. Inwood pre-sents a fine portrait of this idealmonk:

“Acarya Praderm is an im-pressive abbot who exemplifiesthe selflessness that all bhikkhusshould emulate. He radiates aserenity and wholesomeness thatgive monks and meditators underhis care a great deal of confi-dence. His personality is evi-dently born of knowledge andawareness. Self-possessed, unaf-fected, his every action is calm,untainted with passions.

“This does not mean he isemotionally cold. He enjoyshumour, laughter and personal

contacts as much as anyone, buthis actions appear completelywithout motives of personal profitor pride.”

The climax of Welty’s stayin this wat is a month-long, silent,solitary, intense period of Vip-assana meditation. As describedby Inwood in 15 dense pages, thisis a harrowing personal ordealtinged here and there by ecstasy.To readers like me this is an un-knowable experience, but Inwoodand, obviously, Welty do their ut-most to put words to it.

“A month’s meditation de-mands almost superhuman deter-mination to maintain sincere, ob-jective awareness of each pass-ing second of waking conscious-ness, an awareness that ideallylasts from the first waking mo-ment until the last instant beforesleep.

During the month’s five-hundred-odd hours of awareness,meditation can be an unnervingmixture of exhilaration, enerva-tion, boredom, excitement, terror,

pain and depression. The medi-tator is subject to fierce bubblingsof his mind. Forbidden the ‘es-capist’ activities of reading, writ-ing and talking, he finds himselfconfronted by subconsciousmechanisms, thoughts, preju-dices, ‘skeletons in the closet’,memories, fears and fantasies …A month of this can be absolutehell.”

Welty eventually winds upon an idyllic mountaintop retreatwith two other monks on the thenundiscovered island of Koh Pha-ngan. The book ends here withhim deciding what to do with therest of his life.

He stayed on in Thailandfor a distinguished career as awriter and teacher until his deatha few years ago. One wonderswhat he would have made of theFull Moon Party – an invasion ofmodern-day Visigoths.

The book is illuminated with178 striking black and white pho-tos that lend great immediacy tothe tale.

The climax of Welty’s stay in this wat is a month-long, silent, solitary, intense period of Vipassana

meditation... it is a harrowing personal ordealtinged here and there by ecstasy

F E A T U R E S22 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

In The Stars by Isla Star

SCORPIO (October 24-November 22): If it is your birthday this week,the year ahead promises to bring more than you could hope for. Some-one you would like to be romantically involved with will respond tothoughtful overtures. Other relationships will also benefit from moreconsideration on your part. You get the green light for a new busi-ness venture; Wednesday is the best day for signing contracts.

SAGITTARIUS (November 23-December 21): You can look for-ward to a week of progress. Frustrations will disappear as if by magic;you will be impressed by unexpected co-operation from Aries onTuesday. Try not to take love too seriously. A magnetic attraction isabout to fade, but finding the right person is highly likely to happenbefore the end of this year. The number 3 is lucky on Monday.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 20): Misunderstandings thisweek will get your goat. Talk is especially cheap on Sunday and youwill ignore promises made in the heat of the moment. On Thursday,Pisces comes up with an interesting suggestion worth listening to. Afinancial bonus may enable you to consider planning a get-away forChristmas. Wear the color turquoise to promote the feel-good factor.

AQUARIUS (January 21-February 19): Trick or treat, it’s entirely upto you this weekend. You have the ability to control situations untilthe middle of November, so use it wisely. Even if you’re as busy as abee during the coming days, take time out to have some fun. Yourpartner would appreciate more socializing and less working. There’smagic in the air for single Aquarians who get out and about.

PISCES (February 20-March 20): Those of you who have got theidea that you’ve put someone’s nose out of joint are quite right. Theperson concerned will not raise the subject, so if you want to clearthe air it’s up to you. Next week, actions speak louder than words;making the right gesture will put you on the fast track towards busi-ness success. The number 8 looks promising on Sunday.

ARIES (March 21-April 20): Work matters will occupy your mindfor most of the week. An unfinished project can cause sleeplessnights if you allow that to happen. You are advised to simply do whatyou can to rectify the situation and not take the blame for others’mistakes. On Saturday, Taurus makes your day with some flatteringflirtation. This is an attraction that can go places. Wear citrus shadesto make a more positive impression.

TAURUS (April 21-May 21): You are advised to focus more on whatis positive in your life. You have the tendency to dramatize slightlynegative situations. One of these is about to be rectified, leaving thecoast clear for creative progress. Romance starts to look more real-istic, but caution is advisable until certain questions are answered.On Thursday, you can trust Leo to help find a bargain, but Scorpio isonly looking out for Number One.

GEMINI (May 22-June 21): This is not the right week to trust yourinstincts. Although they are usually sharp, confusion will be part ofthe astral landscape during the coming days, and you should refrainfrom making any serious commitments. After the middle of Novem-ber finances will improve, but you shouldn’t take any gambles in themeantime. If you’re thinking of a change of location, ask Aries forproperty tips – you’ll be spoiled for choice.

CANCER (June 22-July 23): A misunderstanding can get blown outof all proportion. Check your facts before making statements thatwill be hard to retract. On Monday, you have the golden touch atwork; charming the birds out of the trees won’t present any prob-lems. Take your partner out to indulge in something naughty but nicethis weekend. The colors burgundy and cream will help you relax.

LEO (July 24-August 22): Recent feelings of claustrophobia will passthis week as your horizons expand. Those of you who are ready toaccept a challenge will not have much opportunity to laze aroundduring the month of November. Your partner is about to get busier aswell; you should make the effort to spend some quality time together.The number 5 comes alive on Monday.

VIRGO (August 23-September 23): Keeping secrets from your part-ner can only lead to trouble. Those who are tempted to economizewith the truth are strongly advised to come completely clean. Thisweekend, your charisma is especially strong – expect to be surroundedby admirers, although at least one of these has ulterior motives. Youcan, however, trust Taurus to stick to a promise. Don’t leave unfin-ished business discussions on the backburner for much longer.

LIBRA (September 24-October 23): If you got to the end of the rain-bow just in time to see a rival snatch the pot of gold earlier in Octo-ber, all is not quite lost. Events during November will more than makeup for that disappointment. A calmer atmosphere prevails at homethis week; this is an auspicious time to ask a question that has beenburning recently. Wear the color navy blue to encourage more finan-cial stability.

PATONG: Two murders in Pat-ong during the period of 14-22September have set the enclaveabuzz with an array of rumors.

It began on September 14when two Thai males, about 25-30 years of age, pulled up on ared Honda to the door of ExtasyA-Go-Go, a popular night spot onSoi Sunset. The pillion rider wentto the door of the bar where heinquired after a Khun BoonmeeWahndee.

Ilive in a quiet soi in themiddle of the island. It’s anice little house set in alovely garden that my gar-

dener, K. Mea keeps in botanicalgardens-type condition.

There’s also another housein our garden, and it belongs tomy friend, Raymond. He lives inBangkok and comes down onlyevery month or so. It’s really avery peaceful and quiet commu-nity. Well, it was until last week.

Away from Phuket at theproperty shows for a couple ofweeks, I came back, had a latenight, as one does on a Saturday,and was looking forward to a lie-in on Sunday morning.

At 7 am, a loudspeakerstarted blaring.

After 10 minutes of thisracket – even my Thai girlfriendcouldn’t understand the tinnysound produced by the old “bull-horn” style loudspeaker – whichmade further sleep impossible, Idecided that someone had parkedhis pickup truck while selling hiswares.

I got up and put on my best“glare” – being a foreigner, it’swise to communicate displeasurewith a glare rather than vocals –and headed out into the soi.

But there was no pickuptruck in sight. Instead, the speak-ers were mounted some 30 feetin the air on a newly built tower.

As far as I can find out, oneof the first companies to makethis type of public addressspeaker – they claim to be thefirst – was an English companycalled Tannoy. The company isnow is well known for its high-quality stereo and sound rein-forcement loudspeakers.

The company name is a syl-labic abbreviation derived fromthe words tantalum and alloy, acomponent of the original loud-speakers. Interestingly, tantalum

was mined in Phuket’s tin mines.Now it seems to have come backto haunt us.

Such loudspeaker towersare not new to anybody who hasspent time in Thailand, especiallyin country villages, yet the mes-sages broadcast from them arenothing to do with religion – suchas the adhan, the call to prayerfor followers of Islam.

The announcements noware simply another version of theearlier broadcasts of local gov-ernment edicts, anti-communistpropaganda – back in the 1960sand ’70s – as well as news andother information. Each broadcastis ended with the national anthem.

Perhaps in a small ruralcommunity in the ’60s, with a lowlevel of literacy, there may havebeen some justification for suchbroadcasts. But in Phuket – andespecially now with television and

a perfectly good letterbox at nigh-on every house – it seems to beinappropriate.

Rumor has it that the gov-ernment had approved the sale ofadvertising on these announce-ment systems, but even Thai resi-dents in my area cannot see thepurpose.

It is certainly noise pollutionand an invasion of privacy. Peoplehave enough advertising forcedupon them without being forcedto listen to these raucous horns,which give the community nochoice.

This system seems to fit inbetter with the old military dicta-torships and, apart from the oddcountry village, I have not beenaware of these in Thailand for 16years.

Now it has come to my soi,not 100 meters from my bedroomwindow. It should be interestingif they pop up in any of the newfive-star projects on the island.

My friend from the localauthorities is going to have a wordwith someone he knows. I shall,hopefully, report the results in thenear future.

Patong Stunned By TwoMurders In One Week

From the Phuket Gazette, issue of October, 1995

When K. Wahndee ap-peared, the man shot him throughthe right shoulder. K. Wahndeeran back into the bar and col-lapsed on the floor. He was takento hospital where he died aboutmidnight.

Early on the morning of Sep-tember 17, the body of PrapitSang-omfai, 22, was discoveredon Sai Trang Beach near theCoral Beach Hotel, Patong. Hehad been shot in the head. Thoughhis occupation was listed as “tourguide” in Patong, he was, accord-ing to reports in the local Thaipress, a member of a street gangfrom Nakhon Sri Thammarat.

Mayor Pian informed localreporters that the homicide casesrested with the police, who theo-rized that Prapit’s death was theresult of private conflicts. Thepolice had no further comment onthe cases and at press time bothkillings remained a mystery.

From the Phuket Gazette,October 15-31, 2000

Tourist raped aftervegetarian festival

I’m very Tannoyed...LARGER

LIFEBy Graham Doven

THANTHAN

WAKEY WAKEY: the offending source of the noise pollution.

machineTHE TIME

News from the past

PHUKET TOWN: Instead ofenjoying the island’s VegetarianFestival, a 22-year-old touristfrom Scotland ended up beingraped on October 3.

The victim told police thatshe was raped by a man wearingthe traditional white clothingpopular with celebrants. White isassociated with the festival’smoral tone of purity, good behav-ior, and sexual abstinence.

Police said the victim de-cided to go to see the fire-walk-ing ceremony at Jui Tui Shrine.Later, she accepted a lift from aThai she thought was a motor-bike taxi driver, but instead of tak-ing her home he drove her to asecluded spot and raped her.

F E A T U R E SOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 23

TSOWNDINGSBy S. TSOW

Vegetables and animalsare only human too

The recent Vegetarian Festival pro-vided a rich opportunity to reflecton the rationale for vegetarianism.Philosophically, vegetarianism has

a pretty solid case. Killing living creaturesjust so that we humans scan stuff our bel-lies on their quivering flesh is disgusting. Itmakes us no better than savages. It alsoviolates the Golden Rule. We wouldn’twant animals to eat us, so what gives usthe right to eat them? After all, animalsare human too.

But the vegetarian philosophy has ahidden flaw, because vegetables are alsoliving creatures.

Many years ago, a great Indian sci-entist, Sir JC Bose, conducted experimentsin which he concluded that plants react tostimuli. If I remember correctly, he evenconcluded that plants scream when theyare cut. But it’s a sub-sonic scream thathumans can’t hear.

Curious to explore this issue, I ar-ranged to interview three selected mem-bers of the plant community: a peanut, acabbage and a tree. Our conversation wentlike this:

Peanut: Yes, it’s true. We plants have feel-ings. If a human bites into a peanut, thepeanut screams. It’s horrible.

Me: What about peanut butter? Does pea-nut butter scream when we eat it?

Peanut: No. Peanut butter is made fromdead peanuts. Dead peanuts don’t scream.But they scream like hell before they die,when they’re writhing in agonized death-throes while being ground into peanut but-ter.

Cabbage: Cabbages scream even louder,because we’re bigger. We don’t mind ifyou eat peanuts, but you should leave uscabbages alone.

Peanut: Hey, watch your MOUTH, man.Just because peanuts are small doesn’tmean we’re not human too.

Cabbage: What we smaller plants wouldlike to do is turn humans on to the idea ofeating trees. Trees are real big. If humanscould learn to eat trees, they’d leave uslittle guys alone. One tree – especially abig one, like a Sequoia – could feed a wholefamily of humans for a week.

Tree: Hey, hey, hey! Let’s not stab ourfellow plants in the back by inducing vora-cious humans to devour the noble tree. Thetree is a saintly creature who bestowsnothing but blessings on the world. Weprovide shade from the sun, we preventlandslides and desertification, we even pro-duce fruit for humans to eat.

Some of us provide rubber; othersprovide maple syrup. If silkworms could

not nest in mulberry trees, there would beno silk; if bees could not build their hivesin us, there would be no honey. At Christ-mas time, we don our festive attire andbring great joy to little children. Besidesthat, we are beautiful. Without us, the land-scape would be barren. He who cuts downthe noble tree bites the branch that feedshim, cuts the ground from beneath his feetand brings the world one step closer toutter desolation.

Peanut: If humans ate trees, the rest ofthe plant community would be safe. If youwere as noble as you claim to be, tree,you’d sacrifice yourself for the rest of us.

Tree: Yes, the tree as Christ-figure. It istruly symbolic that the Son of God wascrucified upon a tree.

Cabbage: Actually, instead of eating liv-ing entities like animals and plants, I thinkit would be a good idea if humans couldeat a non-living substance like dirt.

Me: Dirt? Are you nuts? We can’t eat dirt.It’s too dirty.

Peanut: You could wash it. Then it wouldbe clean.

Me: It’s also ugly. It has no aesthetic ap-peal.

Peanut: You could pretty it up. Give itsome cosmetic surgery. I envision dirt ballscleverly sculpted into attractive forms re-sembling Peking ducks and suckling pigs.You could pretend you were eating meat.

Tree: I should think that a few condimentscould make dirt very palatable. Add someketchup, say. Or soy sauce, chili peppers,Worcestershire sauce. There’s a lot youcan do with dirt if you use a little imagina-tion.

Peanut: You could learn to eat stones.

Me: Get serious! Stones are too hard. We’dbreak our teeth on them.

Peanut: You could use some stone soft-ener.

Tree: There is a famous story about stonesoup in which the stone turned out to bevery delicious.

Stone: Hey, I heard that. Back off, dudes!Stones are too old to eat. Haven’t you everheard of the Rolling Stones?

All: Uh-oh…

S. Tsow can be flamed at stsow@yahoo.com, except when he’s trying toeat stones (but not the rolling kind).

Until November 6: SevenWeeks of Cultural Roads.Thalang, Krabi and Dibuk Roads,the hub of Phuket City’s OldTown, are the center of attentionfor a melange of arts, crafts, per-formances and food. Set amid theold town’s Sino-Portuguese archi-tecture, the festival begins at 7pm and ends at 11 pm every Fri-day, Saturday and Sunday. China,Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Iran, Por-tugal, the Netherlands and Brit-ain are all represented by per-formers, as is the culture ofPhuket itself.

November 16: Loy Krathongfestival. Loy Krathong, the full-moon night of the 12th lunarmonth, is when Thais push deco-rated floats, traditionally madefrom banana leaves, onto riversand let them float away, partly asan offering to the river goddessand partly to carry away bad luck.Ceremonies held around the is-land.

November 16-20: PhuketGame Fishing Competition.Although the Official PhuketClassic Tournament has beencanceled due to lack of sponsor-ship, there will still be an unoffi-cial competition taking place inChalong Bay, with fishing dayson November 17, 18 and 19. Allinterested anglers are invited toattend the registration party at theTamarind Bar, Chalong Bay, from7 pm on Wednesday November16, or email: dorado@loxinfo.co.th for details.

November 26: Phuket Inter-national Soccer 7s. The 3rd

Phuket International Soccer 7s isan invitational tournament thatprovides a socially competitiveenvironment for players who ap-proach the game with the rightattitude and in the right spirit.

This competition attractsabout 20 teams from all over theworld and is set to become amajor attraction in Asia for ex-patriate soccer players.

Teams come not only fromAsian countries, but also fromAustralia, New Zealand and Eu-rope. For further information callTel: 06-9998839 or email: alain@reperages-thailand.com.

November 26: Phuket Inter-national Women’s Club’s An-nual Gala 2005. The Phuket In-ternational Women’s Club’s An-nual Gala this year is titled “AnEvening with the Stars”, a movietheme. It will be at the HiltonArcadia Resort & Spa, startingat 6:30 pm. Come dressed as ifyou were going to the Oscars.

Tickets are 2,500 baht each,including a four-course meal anddrinks. The well-known Lai Thaiorchestra will provide entertain-ment throughout the night. Therewill be many prizes to be won,while other items will be auc-tioned off. All profits will go tothe PIWC education fund. For

more information contact NorMoorhouse at Tel: 01-9581383 orEmail: normoorhouse@yahoo.com

November 26: Turtle Fun Runand Beach & Reef Cleanup.The annual five-kilometer run andclean-up – to raise funds andawareness about the plight ofPhuket’s endangered leatherbackturtles – will start at 7:30 am and9:30 am respectively.

They are organized by theJW Marriott Phuket Resort &Spa in conjunction with the MaiKhao Marine Turtle Foundation.Registration will be from 6:30 to7:30 am. Entry costs 100 baht foradults and 50 baht for children andstudents. Entrants may also buya commemorative T-shirt for 150baht, with all proceeds going tothe Marine Turtle Foundation.Tickets will be on sale at the ho-tel from November 14.

For further information, con-tact Samart Damrongkul (Recre-ation Manager) or Siripun Petchai(Public Relations Manager) atTel: 076-338000 or by email:samart.d@marriotthotels.com orsiripun.petchai@marriotthotels.com

December 4-10: 19th PhuketKing’s Cup Regatta. The 2005Phuket King’s Cup Regatta getsunder way at Kata Beach Resorton December 4 with registration

and the skippers’ briefing fol-lowed by a practice race off KataBeach.Race day 1 ends with a candleceremony at Mom Tri’s Boat-house to celebrate HM KingBhumibol Adulyadej’s birthday,followed by prize giving. Moreinformation, and the event’s fullprogram, can be found at: www.kingscup.com.

December 4: 12th THAI Air-ways Laguna Phuket Tria-thlon. Some 250 atheletes, in-cluding champions Craig Alex-ander and Nicole Hackett, havealready registered for this inter-national sporting event, which isexpected to the biggest triathlonon Phuket to date.

In addition to the main eventstarting at 8 am at Laguna Phuket,while the triathletes are complet-ing the cycling course, there willbe a fun run starting at 9 am.

Some 200 people have al-ready registered to take part inthe fun run, but as runners mustcomplete one lap of the six-kilo-

PHUKET DIARYmeter course before the tria-thletes return, competitors mustbe aged 12 or older and the num-ber of entrants is limited to 400.All competitors must register inadvance.

For further information, con-tact Paula Himel at Tel: 076-324060, or email: triathlon@lagunaphuket.com

December 5: Birthday of HMKing Bhumibol Adulyadej.December 5 is the birthday ofHM King Bhumibol Adulyadej,and is a public holiday.

Most government officeswill be shut.

E D I T O R I A L & L E T T E R S

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

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Letters

24 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

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: Rungtip HongjakpetManaging Editor: Alasdair Forbes

Deputy Editors: Chris Husted, Stephen MylesChief Reporter: Sangkhae Leelanapaporn

Editorial Team: Stephen Fein, Andy Johnstone, Anongnat Sartpisut,Athiga Jundee, Sam Wilkinson, Ananya Hongsa-ngiam, Shiona Mackenzie

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Phuket needs to get outof the Twilight Zone

100 years on, is slavery really a thing of the past in Thailand?

In March, the Gazette and The Nation hosted an open seminar inPhuket to discuss zoning of the island. Although the seminar turnedinto something of a town hall meeting, it was clear that those whoattended were all passionately in favor of a serious attempt to estab-lish zones in Phuket.

Officials from Bangkok said they were working on a plan forPhuket, but that, after six years or so, it was still not ready. Appar-ently, it still is not. That is a great shame.

The lack of zoning is clearly something that is obvious to – andconcerns – senior government officials who spend any length of timeon the island. Take, for example, the comments of departing Vice-Governor Supachai Yuwaboon (see news pages) who, after just 10months in Phuket, remarked that “the island needs some serious townplanning”.

He is right. The Gazette received a visit not so long ago from adistraught Danish couple who had recently moved into their new 10-million-baht home, only to discover that the foundations were beinglaid for a pig farm right next door.

“Surely this is illegal,” they cried. In Denmark it undoubtedlywould be. In Phuket, sorry, no. It’s not. Nor is building a karaoke baror a “massage” parlor wherever one wishes..

It is plain that few village leaders see the big picture. The odi-ous loudspeaker towers being erected in various parts of the island(see “I’m very Tannoyed…”, page 22) belong to an era 30 years agowhen most people still worked in agriculture and only one family in20 had a TV or radio.

Life on Phuket is now much more sophisticated than in thoserural days, but the loudspeaker lovers don’t seem to get it. More tothe point, they don’t seem to care.

There is a development theory that societies become prosper-ous more quickly when there are no rules. They may be nasty placesto live, but wealth accumulates more rapidly.

Phuket has gone through this phase, but seems to be havingextreme difficulty coming out of it, in great part because those whomake money during freewheeling phases – or lawless phases, de-pending upon your point of view – do not want things to be betterorganized.

It will take great will on the part of the authorities to push pastthis phase into a more orderly, equitable, livable one. But push theymust, and soon. The Editor

In your October 15 edition youpublished an illustration of thenew 100-baht banknote com-memorating the abolition of sla-very in Thailand 100 years ago.

This struck me as ratherironic, when one considers theplight of the ladies employed inmassage parlors throughout Thai-land.

My Thai girlfriend works ina beauty salon in the PatongBeach area, giving purely Thaimassage to tourists. I hope you

Phuket, Khao Lakare not competitors

Upon returning to Phuket to con-tinue to help the people of KhaoLak, it disappointed me to readthe article (Phuket Gazette, is-sue of October 22) highlightingthe lack of support for Khao Lakfrom the Tourism Authority ofThailand (TAT).

This is a sad indictment ofhow Khao Lak business peopleand its community are beingtreated.

My wife and I have a reallove of Thailand, Phuket, KhaoLak and the people.

Phuket and Khao Lak neednot compete for the tourist dol-lar. They should complementeach other in offering a wonder-ful choice of destinations and dif-ferent experiences for tourists.

Phuket and Patong offerexcitement and the party side oftourism, whereas Khao Lak pro-vides a more peaceful, tranquiland culturally Thai experience.

Khao Lak should be pro-moted and supported so that thischoice for tourists continues to beavailable.

Govt achieves whattsunami failed to do

I was never a fan of Khao Lak,but following recent events mysympathies go out to this resortarea.

Khao Lak previously por-trayed itself as some kind ofsqueaky-clean destination, layingclaim to the fact that, in this ageof political correctness, beachbars and go-go dancers would bebanned there. Hawkers, jet-skioperators and beach chairs werealso declared undesirable.

will understand when I keep hername and place of work secretto protect her employment.

She works 7 days a weekfrom 10 am until midnight for themiserable wage of about 4,000baht per month.

Worse than that, if she doesnot get a customer during thecourse of the day she gets noth-ing!

This situation, in my view,is tantamount to slavery. Her ex-penses are roughly twice what

We will be in Khao Lak foran extended time to pick up fromwhere we left off in May by help-ing the people there in whateverway we can.

The Phuket Gazette and themedia, along with the TAT, could,at the very least, promote day-trips to the Khao Lak area.

Such visits would offer en-couragement and hope for thefuture of this stunningly beautifulregion.

Stuart DavieDarwin, NT

Australia

she earns, and she lives on theedge of poverty. She has fre-quently asked me for money asshe never has enough to pay herbills, and she is so worried thatshe sometimes falls ill, with doc-tors’ bills adding to her troubles.

This is 2005. How can thegovernment allow this situation tocontinue? What are the unionsdoing about it?

R. GuilmotoChannel Islands,United Kingdom

So when the tsunami cameit was ironic that Khao Lak tookthe brunt of the disaster and thatPatong was let off so lightly.

If ever there were a resortarea that met the government’sideal of what side of Thailand topromote, then surely this was it.

So to move on 10 monthsand to hear that what the tsunamifailed to do the TAT office has infact achieved, that is wiping thisresort from its official website, isjust beyond belief!

They have literally ridden acoach and horses through thisresort, by expanding the quaintrural atmosphere of a two-laneroad into a six-lane highway.

Why have resort proprietorsbeen left out in the allocation ofgovernment funds?

Don’t be surprised if CNNand the BBC hone in on this factduring their anniversary cover-age.

I have recently been up inKhao Lak. I went to both LaFlora and to Le Meridien, and itis amazing what they have ach-ieved under the circumstances. Ifever there was a story that de-served success, this is it.

Name and address supplied

P E R S P E C T I V E SOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 25

As most people on Phuket arewell aware, the bypass widen-

ing project on Route 402 betweenthe Darasamut School and BaanBang Khu intersections is aimed atreducing chronic traffic congestion.

Most residents regard the workas a necessary evil and grudginglyput up with the traffic jams, lumpysurface and other dangers.

For some, however, the project– and specifically the blastingnecessary to level the land – hasmeant headaches in more waysthan one.

Madunan Chehteek, owner ofa T-shirt wholesale shop just 20meters from the main blasting site,talks here about the effects of theproject on his business.

Bypass work is a blastednuisance for those nearbyThe bypass road has

more vehicles than anyother on Phuket andchannels more cars into

Phuket City than anywhere else.Everyone understands that Phu-ket is a tourism province, so it’simportant to expand the road tomake it more user-friendly.

I realize that the roadworkis making Phuket a better andmore modern place and this iswhy I accept the present situa-tion. We must think of the future,and people who stand in the wayof progress are wrong.

However, I think that workis going much too slowly and thatthe project doesn’t appear to beat all well-planned.

When I first bought mythree-story house, I did not knowthat the provincial governmentplanned to expand the nearbyroad. If I had known I might havebought and set up shop else-where.

Let’s face it: I am an un-lucky guy because the main blast-ing site is right outside my shopas well as my home – I am rightopposite the hill that needs themost work done to it and I’m surethat the blasting will go on forquite a while yet.

My customers say that it isvery difficult to get to my shopbecause of the many detours.The road is also in very bad shape,and the dust the traffic createsmeans I have to clean the pre-mises every day.

Sometimes, just when mycustomers need to take their time

Who is responsible for thenegative effects of the blasting?We entrepreneurs are not justsuffering now, but in the long termas well.

Normally, when there areimmediate negative effects fromdynamiting, such as roof damage,the contractor is responsible. But

my house has been damaged infive places and no one is takingcare of it.

Where is my security? Whois there to reassure me that thesituation is under control?

As I am the owner of myhouse I notice the damage to it,however small. The place was

flawless before this blasting, buttiny hairline cracks have appearedand are growing wider andlonger.

People have advised me totake a picture of the house in itscurrent state, and at first I didn’tknow where to start, but now it’seasy to see the damage. How-ever, I still don’t know if I will becompensated or when.

A newspaper has writtenabout this. It claimed that thecontractor had had a look at thehouse, assessed the damage tobe in the area of 100,000 baht,and this amount was to be paidto me.

That’s completely wrong.Up to now I have received noth-ing by way of compensation.

I understand that some-times the government works veryslowly and that sometimes no onewants to take responsibility. How-ever, I want to see someone re-sponsible take this case up and Idon’t want it to drag on and onas it distracts me from my busi-ness.

Ideally, I would like lessblasting. I’d prefer them to sim-ply let the road scale the hillside.That way, motorists could take ina view of the mountains, the seaand the mining lagoons.

The blasting is makingthings so difficult. I would like theprovincial authorities to take agood look at what is happeningand show their concern for thosewho have suffered damage totheir properties and businessesbecause of the dynamiting.

shopping, the Highways Depart-ment announces there will be ablast and they [the customers]have to hurry out.

As a result, I lose a lot ofmoney. Not only that, but whenthey count down to a blast I getscared about my belongings, mystock and my house.

Want to know how to get something done?Can’t understand some of the dafter things thatseem to go on in Phuket? Want to pitch an ideato Phuket’s authorities or institutions? Then this

is the forum for you.Submit your queries or suggestions to us andwe’ll ask the appropriate people to respond to

them.

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&

FIRSTPERSON

We will move to Phuket fromAustralia in four months andwould like to bring our family dogwith us. He is an AmericanStaffordshire.

Can this breed be broughtinto Thailand? He has been neu-tered and fully vaccinated, andwe consider him just like one ofour children.

Jenny MalosAustralia

Suthut Ngankanlanatikarn ofthe Phuket Animal Quaran-tine Office at Phuket Interna-tional Airport replies:

Three kinds of dog arebarred from import into Thailandbecause of their reputation asdangerous animals.

These are Pit Bulls, Ameri-can Stafforshire Terriers andAmerican Staffordshire Bull Ter-riers.

Can we bringour family dogto Phuket?

When will proper lighting be in-stalled on the coast road betweenRawai and Kata?

Peter CoquillardRawai

Thanit Sakiya, Chief of PhuketProvincial Highway Office(PPHO), replies:

The PPHO has no plans toinstall lights along that stretch ofroad.

Not all the roads in Phuketare equipped with street lights,and that road does not have a lotof traffic.

But we will keep it in mindfor the future.

Long, winding and dark road

ATVs on Nai Harn BeachI like going to Nai Harn Beachbut today I was surprised to seean ATV [all-terrain vehicle] tourcompany taking customers allover the beach.

One nearby area that usedto be nice grass is now ATVtrails. The grass is now allchewed up, so it looks like theyare making a habit of this.

Are there any laws hereregarding the use of ATVs on thebeaches?

It’s also a serious hazard forthem to drive the 4 or 5 kilome-ters along the road to get to thebeach.

DavidRawai

Arun Soros, Chairman of theRawai Tambon AdministrationOrganization (OrBorTor), re-plies:

I was not aware that peoplewere driving ATVs on the roadsor on the beach.

The OrBorTor will orderthem not to do so. We will warn

them first not to drive on thebeach and, if they persist in do-ing it, we will find a more suit-able place for them to go.

Theerayuth Prasertphol,Chief Technical Officer of thePhuket Provincial Transpor-tation Office (PPTO), replies:

There are no laws that wecan enforce with regard to ATVsas these vehicles are not regis-tered with the PPTO. However,ATVs many not be driven on pub-lic roads, so it is up to theOrBorTor and police whether toorganize a place for them to go,and to decide whether they shouldbe punished.

The Superintendent of Cha-long Police Station, Pol ColChalit Kaewyarat, adds:

ATVs are unregistered ve-hicles. According to the TrafficAct, Section 6, anyone using anunregistered vehicle on publicroads is subject to a fine of up to10,000 baht.

F E A T U R E S26 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

ON THE MOVEBangkok-born Isara “Liz”Pangchan, 28, is the newSales & Marketing Man-ager of Crowne Plaza Res-idences at Karon Beach.She has a master’s degreein marketing communica-tion from Canberra and aBA in mass communicationand journalism from Tham-masat University. Previ-ously, she was MarketingServices Manager of Sher-aton Grande, Laguna Phuket.

Mareeyana “Anna” Poh-nea, 29, from Narathiwat,has been appointed Salesand Marketing Executive ofthe Phuri Phimaan Project,3K Property ManagementCo. She has a bachelor’sdegree in business Englishfrom Rajabhat University,Songkhla. K. Anna alsoworked as Guest RelationsOfficer at the Holiday InnHotel and as MarketingOfficer of Leisure 4.

Kanokwan Trakultawee-koon, 25, from Saraburi,has been appointed SalesExecutive of The Metro-pole hotel Phuket. She hasa bachelor’s degree in mar-keting management fromRamkhamhang Universityin Bangkok. She hasworked in marketing atB2S in Central Chidlomand as a Beauty Consult-ant for Hi Care Weyergansat Central Festival Phuket.

In my last article, I coveredthe basics of a very interest-ing subset of MIS (Manage-ment Information Systems)

and workflow re-engineeringknown as Enterprise ResourcePlanning, or ERP.

I tell all of my clients that ifthey have a dysfunctional busi-ness process and then automateit with computers, they will endup with an automated dysfunc-tional business process. This is alittle bit like the old “GIGO” syn-drome of computers – GarbageIn = Garbage Out.

To recap briefly, true MISwork consists of taking the timeto really understand a business sothat you can analyze each andevery part of the workflow.

This process starts with theidentification of UDEs (undesir-able effects) of the business as itrelates to the flow of the businessinformation. This exercise usu-ally takes place with top manage-ment and key personnel workingtogether for several half-day ses-sions. It is simple in concept yetprofound in its impact.

The basic approach is to geteveryone in the room to complainopenly about everything they canthink of. Well, perhaps not every-thing: if the boss has bad breath,this may not be the correct timeto share that.

Just going through the pro-cess of putting on a board, in

Tactics for preventingGIGO syndrome

I T ISSUESBy John Seebach

simple language, each and everydifficulty, frustration, inefficiencyand need is an eye-opener – notonly for management and work-ers, but also for us.

This is where we get ourfirst introduction to the details ofthe day-to-day operations of theclient. The UDE exercise is in noway intended to solve anything oreven identify the sources of prob-lems. It is an open gripe sessionwhere invaluable information,feedback and experience have achance to surface.

Chart the flow. The next step isto develop an extremely detailedflow-chart of each and everybusiness process. This takes a lotof effort and, again, is not in-tended to solve anything. We areonly documenting and agreeingon the actual flow of workthroughout the organization.

This exercise is also a realeye-opener; I am always im-pressed by how much of the bigpicture the working staff really donot understand. Even morealarming is how much of the in-tricate details upper managementdo not understand.

The end result of this partof the process is of course a com-prehensive understanding of allthe business processes and flowof information, but equally impor-tant is the communication thattakes place when doing the UDEand flow-chart work. Now it istime to look at the MIS side ofthings.

Targeting inefficiencies. Thisis where the real work begins.The goal of this part of ERP is todefine which UDEs result fromsimilar causes. As a result of thefirst two exercises, this work is

not as difficult as it seems. Hav-ing a very clear picture of all theworkflows and a comprehensivelist of everything that is not work-ing enables everyone in the roomto see where things need re-en-gineering.

At this point, the flow ofideas, suggestions and potentialchanges is staggering.

If the goal of the ERP workis to identify where the applica-tion of information technologycan benefit the business MIS,then we focus mainly on docu-ments and data.

There is often also a need,especially in manufacturing andproduction environments, to re-engineer the actual processes andprocedures involved in the“shop”.

However, we will stay onthe MIS part of ERP for now.

Spreading the paper. This is themost difficult and time-consum-ing part of an ERP-MIS project,and it is from here that most ofthe positive results are realized.The concept is really quite simple:just bring every report, form andfile to the room and spread themall out so we can evaluate themin light of the UDEs and theworkflow chart.

You can imagine that this iswhere inefficiencies, double dataentry and multiple sources of thesame information come to thesurface. I enjoy this step becausethe team cannot avoid asking eachother two very important ques-tions: “How many different re-ports contain this same piece of

information?” and “Do we reallyneed all this information?”

Studies by several top busi-ness schools have determinedthat management and staff alikecan effectively use a maximumof four reports per week.

In addition, they commentthat 1.5 pages at 12-point fontshould be the maximum size fora report.

My favorite question at thispoint is this: “What intelligent busi-ness decisions have you madefrom this information in the past30 days?” Although people maybe reluctant to give up their “own-ership” of information and re-ports, most people now begin tosee the point.

Finally, when trying to de-cide what kinds of informationshould be candidates for no fur-ther tracking, the best approachis to take it off the system andsee if anyone is still looking for itafter a few months.

One needs to keep an eyeout, though, because managersand staff will often simply not usethe report – but will continue totrack the information on a newpersonal report, and this onlymakes things worse.

John Seebach has 25 years’consulting experience in Infor-mation Systems and BusinessProcess Re-engineering. Hiscompany, Island Technology,offers IT solutions and broad-band services throughoutSoutheast Asia. For more infor-mation send an email to john@islandtechnology.com

I am always impressed by how much of the bigpicture the working staff really do not understand.Even more alarming is how much of the intricatedetails upper management do not understand.

B U S I N E S S & M O N E YOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 27

TALKSMONEY

By Richard Watson

America saw its monthlyinflation figures jumpin September by 1.2%,the largest increase in

25 years. The cause of this wasincreased oil and gasoline prices,driven sharply higher by the re-cent hurricanes.

Economists always refer totwo different types of inflation,and the one listedabove is known as“headline” infla-tion. It is an accu-rate figure, but itdoes include foodand energy priceswhich can behighly volatile, as isthe case currently.

The othertype of inflation isknown as “core”inflation, and thisexcludes food andenergy prices. The Septemberrise in “core” inflation was a mere0.1% from the previous month.

What the US governmentand the US Federal Reserve areconcerned about is higher “head-line” inflation figures moving into“core” inflation. There is so farlittle evidence of this happening.The Fed is very concerned that“contamination will in factspread”. It is perhaps inaccurateto describe it as being “very con-cerned”, but this is all part ofmanaging national sentiment.

The Fed has to be seen tobe ahead of the inflation curve,

The Fed combats the spread of ‘contamination’and statements from various Fedgovernors have retained a hawk-ish stance. There is no doubt thatinterest rates will rise steadily;they are already at 3.75%, and itis unlikely that there will be anypause until rates reach 4.5% oreven 5.0%. Inflation will continueto be under attack.

There is another factor inevidence regardingthe Fed: its chair-man, Alan Green-span, is due to re-tire at the end ofJanuary, 2006. Hewill then haveserved for 18years in this capac-ity and has built aconsiderable repu-tation both insideand outside theFed for maintain-ing a steady hand

at the wheel. His successor, andat this stage there have yet to beany nominations for the position,will have much less influence.

Greenspan’s imminent depar-ture is encouraging various FederalReserve governors to make theirown public statements as theyjockey for position and influence.

Where criticism exists forAlan Greenspan, it is mainly thathe ran a monetary policy that wastoo “accommodative”. In otherwords, interest rates were lowerthan they should have been andliquidity levels were too high. TheFed, in 2006, will be very wary

of being accused of continuingthis policy, but if it reacts toofirmly in the opposite direction itruns the risk of tipping the USeconomy into recession.

Financial markets areacutely aware of the situation.The US stock market has failedto make any progress in 2005.This is understandable. Interestrates have been rising all year, so,effectively, they have been bat-tling against a headwind. This,when combined with rising oilprices, has brought more than anelement of caution into the out-look.

On the plus side, averagecorporate profits have seendouble-digit growth for almost arecord number of quarters. How-ever, the market is not cheap at aprice/earning multiple of around16, and the market – as always –is looking to the future, not thepast.

The bond market has its ownconcerns: rates on benchmark 10-year treasuries have risen about

0.25% over the past two monthsand are now brushing the 4.5%level. The bond market is signal-ing that it is not unduly concernedabout inflation.

What is definitely happen-ing is that foreign purchases ofUS bonds are slowing down, andthis is understandable. Risingshort-term interest rates haveprovided alternative targets for in-ward US investment, and withslight erosion of capital values inthe bond market due to a “backup” in long-term rates, holdingcash on deposit makes sense.Steady increases in short-terminterest rates make it even moreappealing.

America is not alone in hav-ing a central bank making pro-nouncements about the need tocombat inflation. In the EuroZone, the European Central Bank(ECB) is playing the same game,with even more strongly wordedstatements. To any outsider lis-tening to ECB statements it mightappear that a policy change is

imminent. However, although in-flation on an annual basis is overthe 2% ceiling, this is caused sim-ply by higher oil prices. Economicgrowth is weak and core infla-tion is moderate.

The ECB not only has tomanage public expectations, italso has to try to keep membercountries’ governments in line.The task of the ECB is not anenviable one, and it is often thetarget of criticism when the realcause of Europe’s problems liesfirmly with its member states andtheir electorates.

In the UK, Bank of EnglandGovernor Mervyn King is expe-riencing a difficult year. In con-trast with Alan Greenspan inAmerica, Mr King voted againstan interest rate cut a few monthsago. His committee saw mattersdifferently and he was outvoted.This leaves him with a severecredibility problem: pressure re-mains on the pound sterling as themarket expects at least one morerate cut in the first half of 2006.

Think tourist destination,think souvenir shops.Phuket is no exception,and many of the prod-

ucts are food-related – no sur-prise in a country with as fameda cuisine as Thailand boasts.

Shops catering for the food-ie tourist market abound, eachselling a bewildering array of deli-cacies such as dried cuttlefish,cashew nuts, birds’ nests, durianchips and naam phrik, the ubiq-uitous spicy shrimp paste.

All sectors of the tourist in-dustry in Phuket continue toweather the fallout from the tsu-nami to greater or lesser degrees.

Souvenir shops hoping for a bumper high seasonBy Athiga Jundee Naparat Ponsin, Marketing

Manager of Siam Southern FoodLine, which produces the KornThong brand of food sold at thestore along Thepkrassatri Rd, saidcompetition among the touristshops is, naturally, high. “But it ispositive competition,” she argued.

In common with the otherstores the Gazette contacted,Korn Thong sees around 300 to400 customers a day in the highseason. “We saw our customersdrop by around 60% after the tsu-nami, although the situation hasnow improved and we have 200to 300 customers each day. Weexpect to see around 80% of ourusual number of customers thishigh season.”

Korn Thong has, as havemany other souvenir shops,signed contracts with a numberof tour companies to bring theirclients to the shop. “We at KornThong sell our products at thesame price to Thais and foreign-ers,” said K. Naparat.

This is not the case, how-ever, with Pornthip Sea Store onthe bypass road. Managing Di-rector Wittawat Wiwattikul toldthe Gazette that they operate atwo-tier pricing system. “We dothis because the tour companiesand tour guides who bring cus-tomers to our store must be paidtheir commission.”

K. Wittawat said that salesdropped to just 30% of their nor-

mal low-season average betweenJuly and October, but he addedthat the signs were positive andthat “100% of the store’s aver-age number of customers willreturn this high season”.

“We had to make an oppor-tunity out of a crisis, so we ex-panded the range and amount ofour exports to Hong Kong, China,Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.We support the government’s‘Thai kitchen to the world’policy,” he said, concluding that“the tsunami crisis made our busi-ness grow”.

Joolah Kittithornkul, Man-aging Director of Sri BhurapaOrchid, the cashew nut produceron Kwang Rd, said that the pe-

riod after the tsunami was theworst in the firm’s 22-year history.

“It wasn’t simply that therewere fewer tourists coming to ourstore,” she said. “We have a loyalcustomer base among Phuket lo-cals, but with so many of themworking in tourism, their incomeswere reduced and they were be-ing prudent as to how they spenttheir disposable income.”

K. Joolah said that the num-ber of customers at the store be-gan to rise in October, and she isbullish about prospects: “I do notexpect this year to be as promis-ing as, say, last high season wasgoing to be, but it will be betterthan we forecast in the worstdays after the tsunami.”

S P O R T28 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

PHUKET CITY: The Parent andSport Dancer Network Club(PSDNC) and The MetropoleHotel Phuket are jointly organiz-ing their first Standard and Latin

Night, to be held at the hotel onOctober 29 from 6 pm to 11 pm.

The event is being held inorder to raise money to buy sportsequipment for Tessaban Plook-panya School, and also as a wayof supporting members of the Par-

ent and Sport Dancer NetworkClub.

Phuket City Mayor SomjaiSuwannasuppana will make aspeech at 7 pm and will then takethe first steps on the dance floorat 8 pm.

This will be followed bychildren’s dance demonstrationsof Basic Dancing, Hula Dancingand more at 8:30 pm.

The event continues withthe PSDNC winners of the OishiGreen Combat Southern Cham-pionship performing an OishiGreen Combat dance show at 9pm.

Adult dancing will start at9:30 pm and there will be a luckydraw at 10 pm.

Tickets for the event cost300 baht each.

For further information, con-tact PSDNC Secretary OnumaWasin at Tel: 04-0517455.

Standard and Latin dance at The MetropoleBy Anongnat Sartpisut

There seems to be somesort of divine justice atwork in the league en-suring that teams who

demolish their opponents in thedoubles and singles then go on tolose the beer leg and its associ-ated point.

For the second time thisyear, OffShore was involved inthe unlikeliest of results, white-washing Didi’s 9-0 before losingthe beer leg.

League leaders Shakersalso came up short with beer onthe line, after smashing Dog’sBollocks 8-1. Ditto for Piccadilly,who pounded Two Black Sheep7-2 and then lost beer.

Only Amigos were able totake all three points, tying themfor first place with Shakers, whostill have two games in hand.

October 18 results: Nag’sHead 5, Valhalla* 4; Two BlackSheep* 2, Piccadilly 7; Shakers8, Dog’s Bollocks* 1; Didi’s* 0,OffShore 9; Coyote 3, Amigos*6; African Café v Queen Marypostponed. (* = winners of beerleg)

Standings: 1.= Shakers, Amigos(31pts); 3. Piccadilly (26); 4.Valhalla (25); 5. Queen Mary(24); 6. Nag’s Head (24); 7.OffShore (22); 8. African Café(19); 9. Dog’s Bollocks (12); 10.Two Black Sheep (11); 11.= Coy-ote, Didi’s (6).

November 1 matchups: QueenMary v OffShore; Dog’s Bol-locks v Amigos; Two BlackSheep v Coyote; Shakers v Nag’sHead; Valhalla v Piccadilly; Didi’sv African Café (home teamslisted first).

Patong Darts League

IT’S THEBEER,STUPID!

PATONG: The Department ofMarine and Coastal Resources isto stage a diving competition witha twist at Loma Park, PatongBeach, on November 1. Themajor difference between thisand other dive competitions is thatparticipants will be judged onhow much garbage they can raisefrom the depths.

Garbage diving competition to be held off Patong BeachWeerasak Pakkapong-

yothin, Communications Officerof the Department of Marine andCoastal Resources Bangkok,said that this will be the 15th yearof the annual clean-up operation.It will run from 9 am to 5 pm.

Apart from the diving, otheractivities on the day will includea “songs for life” mini concert, a

nature quiz, an exhibition promot-ing environmental conservationand a musical performance bylocal students.

Participants are advised toapply in teams of two-to-fourmembers and to bring divingequipment. Boat transportation,food and drinks will be providedfree for competitors.

Divers will not be allowedto go deeper than 12 meters; andparticipants wishing to snorkel inshallower waters may do so.

The winning team will re-ceive a cash prize, a souvenir anda certificate. Competitors canenroll on the day of the event (be-fore 9 am) or call 076-393566-7to register in advance.

PHI PHI ISLANDS: Some 13yachts carrying more than 100people dropped anchor in Ton SaiBay off Koh Phi Phi Don onOctober 22 as part of the AoChalong Yacht Club (ACYC) PhiPhi rally, which aimed to supportbusinesses on the island by at-tracting visitors and encouragingthem to spend money.

ACYC rallydesc ends onPhi PhiBy Chris Husted The smaller yachts headed

off from Chalong Bay on the Sat-urday from 9:30 am with thelarger yachts following. Althoughdark clouds were on every hori-zon during the journey to Phi Phi,the rain held off until the lastyachts entered Ton Sai Bay.

Both the journey to Phi Phiand the return voyage the follow-ing day saw yachts struggling di-rectly into the wind, with nearlyall choosing to motor-sail in or-der to make it back to Chalong intime for the Sunday evening bar-becue at the ACYC clubhouse.

During the barbecue, spe-cial thanks went to Tony Knightfor driving the Phi Phi rally idea,and also to Tom Howard for tak-ing some 30 passengers on boardthe Seraph, an impressive 99-year-old schooner in prime con-dition.

In the true spirit of theevent, special prizes went toMark Horwood for managing tosail all the way back to Phuket,to Matt McGrath’s Gator forhaving the best-looking girls onboard, and to Tom Howard. Why Gator was awarded a special prize...

Seraph at anchor in Ton Sai Bay off Phi Phi Don.

K. Kenny on board Gator.

S P O R TOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 29

He came, he ran, he conquered

KARON: The first Phuket Inter-national Mountain-Beach Mara-thon, held on October 23, at-tracted more than 1,000 entrants,including Phuket residents andrunners from overseas.

The race started at 3:30 amat Karon Circle and KarstenSchiemann, 36, from Germany,became the first man across thefinish line of the 42.195-kilome-ter full marathon almost threehours later.

Mr Schiemann told the Ga-zette that it was his first trip toPhuket.

“I came here for only threedays, not expecting to win themarathon, but simply to enjoy run-ning through the hills and alongthe beaches of this beautiful is-land. Now I think it would be niceto stay longer,” he said.

The first woman to finish thefull marathon was Rabai Nok-long.

Winners of the half mara-thon, in the male and female sec-tions respectively, were NattawutPrabkate and Oranee Kueanun,while the mini-marathon waswon, in the male and female cat-egories respectively, by SurachedChalad and Jerawan Chamnankit.

By Athiga Jundee

German, 36, winsthe first PhuketInternationalMountain-BeachMarathon

A happy Karsten Schiemann speaks to the media after his victory.

RAWAI: The Evason PhuketResort & Six Senses Spa, to-gether with the Rawai TambonAdministration Organization(OrBorTor), will hold The 2nd

Evason Phuket Mini-Marathonand fun run on November 13.

The event is being held toraise funds for the redevelopmentof the Community Hall at WatSawang Arom School, and to pro-mote sports and fitness in thecommunity.

The 10.5-kilometer Mini-Marathon will be divided into thefollowing categories:

Men: Open, under 19 years,30-34 years, 35-39 years, 40-44years, 45-49 years, 50-54 years,55-59 years, 60+ years.

Women: Open, under 19years, 30-39 years, 40+ years.

There will also be a 3.5kmfun run, with both men’s andwomen’s competitions in the fol-lowing age groups: Open, under16 years, 35+ years.

The mini-marathon will startand finish at the three-way inter-section at the southern end ofWiset Rd, at the turn-off forLaem Phromthep.

The route will head up WisetRd and then left along SoiSaiyuan before making its wayback south.

Entry fees for the twoevents are 200 baht for the mini-marathon and 150 baht for the funrun.

Runners should be preparedfor an early rise, as they will be

required to check in at 4 am onrace day.

The mini-marathon will be-gin at 5:45 am and the fun run at6 am.

The awards ceremony isexpected to be complete by about8 am, with the top five finishersin each category receiving a tro-phy or medal.

For those who need it, freeovernight accommodation will beavailable at the Wat SawangArom School.

Registrations will be acceptedat the hotel from November 1.For more information, contactTel: 076-381010-7 (ext.1420or 1460).

Evason resort and Rawai hold mini-marathon to raise funds for schoolBy Anongnat Sartpisut

PHUKET: The Sports Authorityof Thailand has confirmed thatPhuket will be one of the venuesfor the first Asian Indoor Games,being staged from November 12to 19.

HRH Princess MahaChakri Sirindhorn will also be onthe island for two days during theGames.

The two sports to be con-tested on Phuket are Thai kickboxing (Muay Thai) and sportaerobics.

Governor Udomsak Uswar-angkura said that there will befour nationwide venues for theindoor games: Bangkok, ChonBuri, Suphan Buri and Phuket.

TORCH

As in the opening ceremony ofthe Olympic Games, with thelighting of the flame, each prov-ince will have a “Royal Torch”(Fai Pra Ruek) mass run onNovember 12 to be broadcast liveon television.

Channel 11 will cover Phu-ket’s Royal Torch Ceremonywhich will involve some 150 run-ners accompanying the torchfrom the Heroines’ Monumentlighting ceremony to Saphan HinSports Center.

Gov Udomsak said that adetailed route for the torch cer-emony has been planned throughPhuket City, but that this maychange because of the arrival ofPrincess Sirindhorn on Phuket onthe same day.

– Athiga Jundee

Phuket tohold flamefor AsianIndoorGames

P H U K E T P R O P E R T Y30 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

Gardening with Bloomin’ Bert

Cartoons aren’t just forkids. I feel that I speakas one who knows a bitabout these things – I’m

a bit of a closet cartoon fan. Notthose ridiculous el cheapo mod-ern things with kitchen appliancesturning into evil robots that wantto take over the world, but themore traditional style of anima-tion.

The Simpsons and Shrekare certainly up there, but I havea feeling that if there were a polltomorrow for favorite cartooncharacters, most people wouldprobably list a few Disney char-acters among them – and thatMickey Mouse would probablybe somewhere near the top of thelist.

I’m sure many people don’trealize that often when this illus-

Want to know moreabout a plant

in your garden?

Email Bloomin’ Bert at:bloominbert@hotmail.com

trious figure is mentioned it is inthe context of something that isamateurish, slightly inexpert orslapdash. Phrases such as “Thatbuilder’s a bit Mickey Mouse”are not unknown.

And why is it often called a“Mickey Mouse copy” if some-one buys a less-than-legal DVDof a movie that was recordedfrom the back of a cinema? Whathave people got against MickeyMouse anyway?

Much as I admire MrMouse and all he has done forthe world of animation, even he,in his squeakiest possible voice,would be somewhat surprised tofind that a plant had been namedafter him. The Mickey Mouseplant does indeed exist.

It takes a pretty broadimagination to make the some-

what tenuous connection be-tween this Phuket garden resi-dent and the Walt Disney cartooncharacter.

At one stage in the plant’sdevelopment, it happens to havedeep, glossy black seeds that aresurrounded by particularly brightred sepals. (For the uninitiated,sepals are modified leaves thatsurround the reproductive or-gans.)

I know that sounds nothinglike Mickey Mouse’s image, butit was probably named by a gar-dener with a fertile imagination,and after a few too many Heine-kens.

Not me this time; anyway, Iwas probably in the pub.

Most weeks I do my bestto produce a sensible translationof the names of the plants I write

about, but sometimes I tend tostruggle. The name of the plantin Thai is equally off the wall –no problem with this one, themickeee. Really.

Those with less imaginationrefer to it as the bird’s eye bush,but they probably just need to getout more.

The Mickeee (I’ll stick withthat spelling now, I think) origi-nally came from tropical Africa,and is actually a fairly recent im-migrant to Southeast Asia. It’spopular in Thai gardens mainlybecause it flowers almost con-tinually, and even the seeds,framed by their sepals, look likeflowers.

These flowers, which beginlife as a bright yellow color, havefive petals, each about one centi-meter long.

After flowering, the sepalsturn red as the fruit develops. It’sthe fruit, containing a single seed,

that is black – a rare double doseof color.

You have to admit that ca-nary yellow and scarlet bloomsof different shapes appearing ona single plant isn’t exactly com-mon.

Mickeee has sharp-tipped,finely serrated leaves up to 10cmlong, and grows to a height ofaround a couple of meters. Leftto its own devices, it has a ten-dency to become a little undisci-plined. Regular attacks with thepruning shears are, therefore,necessary to stop it looking likethe Tina Turner of the plant world.

It thrives in the sunniest partof the garden, but will put up withjust about any kind of treatment.Overwater it, deny it water, sub-ject it to typhoon conditions, andit won’t bat either one of Mick-eee’s eyelids.

IMMUNITY

It even seems to have some kindof immunity to pests. Either it justdoesn’t taste good to your aver-age bug, or insects have a senti-mentality for Disney characters.Whatever the reason, the Mick-eee is somewhat unlikely to beattacked by anything with six legs.

The Mickey Mouse plantwas at one stage used extensivelyin Australia as a hedging plant. Itbecame so successful there thatit was declared an environmen-tal weed in certain areas, after itescaped into the surroundingnatural bush and grew into thick-ets that crowded out the nativeAustralian flora.

People there are even toldnot to dig it up except as part ofan official effort, and there arenow government bodies set up toprevent its spread.

Here in Phuket, its onlycrime is to have a rather daftname, and I am unaware of anyThai government agencies thatare currently hot on its trail.

The Mickeee is definitelynot at all Mickey Mouse.

Not even moderately Mickey Mouse

A rare doubledose of colorin one plant.

P H U K E T P R O P E R T YOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 31

Construction Update by Anongnat Sartpisut

NAI YANG: An exclusive devel-opment of just five luxury villasoccupying a six-rai plot will beone of the highlights of the PhuriPhimaan estate and boutique re-sort at Nai Yang Beach. The re-sort itself, to be built on 12 rai,will comprise 75 chalets.

Kawee Nganthawee, SalesManager of developer 3K Prop-erty Management, told the Ga-zette that construction of the vil-las will finish by mid-2007. Workto build the resort will start aroundJune 2006 with an expectedcompletion date some 18 monthshence.

3K Property Managementalso developed Horizon Ville onKoh Sireh, and has anotherproject, Andaman Butra, plannedfor the island.

Of the entire development,being built at a cost of some 300million baht, K. Kawee explainedthat the popular mix of Lanna andBalinese architectural styles willbe employed throughout.

Adding detail to the project,K. Kawee said that the villas willbe a mixture of two- or three-story dwellings on private plots of

Phuri Phimaan villas and resortat least 850 square meters. Somewill sit on as much as 1,500sqm,almost one rai. Prices start at 30million baht.

The houses will have eitherfour or five bedrooms, a liberaleight to 10 bathrooms, a sauna,fitness area, a sala and a rooftop50sqm pool.

The individual one-bedroomresort chalets, 40 of which willbe offered on 20-year leases, willcome in two classes, comprising55 poolside villas with the remain-der as deluxe villas. Each unit willhave a 4sqm plunge pool and20sqm of terrace.

K. Kawee said that the tar-get market for the project com-prises retiree Europeans, Britonsand expatriate foreigners living inHong Kong as well as Thais.

Wood will be used abun-dantly in the construction of theresort chalets, said K. Kawee.

As much as 80% of thematerials used will be wood, toensure that the boutique resortwill blend in with its hillside sur-roundings.

He said that cedar will beused for the roofs of the villas.

Resilient and unlikely to decay, itwill afford the houses the benefitof its good heat insulation andwaterproof properties. Teak andmaka will also be used in the con-struction of the resort accommo-dations.

Each of the villas will boastits own 3,000-liter reserve watertank to supplement the main16,000-liter tank shared betweenthe five units, in addition to thedevelopment’s own well-watersupply.

K. Kawee said that the firstvilla is now 60% complete, andthe first show units will be readyfor inspection in January 2006.

“Many customers promisedto come and see our properties,”said K. Kawee. “They are at-tracted by the uninterrupted seaviews, the ready access to PhuketInternational Airport and the rea-sonable prices.”

For more information, Tel: 076-224622, 06-2818287, 09-6454123 or 01-6481505, visitwww.phuriphimaan.com orsend an email to: info@phuriphimaan.com

Construction of the villas will be complete by mid-2007.

P H U K E T P R O P E R T Y32 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

This substantial and mod-ern family home set on2,896 square meters ofland offers expansive

living with a convenient locationclose to the center of Patong.

The property comprises themain residence, two beautifulguest houses, staff quarters andample parking and storage facili-ties. Full luxury interior furnish-ing is included.

This luxurious property, sethigh in quiet hills with excellentviews over Patong and towardthe sea, was completed less thana year ago.

The main residence has ahuge living/dining room that opensonto the patio and free-formswimming pool. The kitchen issizeable and fully fitted with mod-ern appliances. The ground flooralso has a separate home officearea with Internet access, phoneand fax facilities.

GUEST HOUSES

The second floor comprises alarge master bedroom with patioand excellent views to the sea,walk-in wardrobes and a large ensuite bathroom.

Four further double bed-rooms, two with mountain viewsand two with sea views – and allwith en suite bathrooms – com-plete the family accommodation.

Two well-appointed andtastefully decorated guest housessit adjacent to the swimming pool.Each comprises a large doublebedroom with seating area andprivate en-suite bathroom. Theseare ideal for guests as they pro-vide both privacy and conve-nience to the main residence andoutside entertainment areas.

The staff quarters are self-contained and comprise a sepa-

Modern Thai-style family home with sea views

rate kitchen, living area and twogood-sized bedrooms.

The plant and equipmentrooms are cleverly concealedunder the main house and provideample storage for water. There

is an independent generator incase of power failure, and fur-ther large storage rooms.

The grounds are terracedlawn, with trees positioned so asnot to obstruct the view.

The home faces west andhas good sunset views. Theowner has given considerablethought to lighting and the housetakes on a magical appearanceafter sunset, ideal for both enter-

taining and relaxing. The land titleis Chanote and the asking priceis approximately 1.97 million eu-ros (96.5 million baht).

For more information, contactEngel & Völkers (Thailand)Ltd at Tel: 01-5398118, 01-3977899 or Fax: 076-385294.Email: Martin.Phillips@engelvoelkers.com or visitwww. engelvoelkers.com

Home of the Week Patong

P H U K E T P R O P E R T YOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 33

Decor by Ananya Hongsa-ngiam

A BLINDING LIGHT

Venetian blinds are by nomeans a new idea –first references to slat-ted blinds can be found

dating back to around 1770 – inItaly, naturally.

The big step forward in theiruse came in 1841, when JohnHampson of New Orleans wasawarded a patent for a devicethat made all the slats move atthe same time, making Venetianblinds more user-friendly.

Unlike curtains and mostother forms of blinds, Venetianblinds can be adjusted finely toallow just the right amount of lightinto a room, and are thus a goodway to protect delicate colors infabrics and paintings from dam-age by ultraviolet light.

BAMBOO

Two shops in Phuket that stockgood selections of Venetian blindsare Purdah Curtain and Mr Cur-tain.

Purdah has a range ofblinds, including wooden onesmade from bamboo or oak.

Once a customer has se-lected his prefered material forthe blind, staff from the shop willgo to his home to measure thewindow and then make the blindto fit.

Prices are negotiable, de-pending on size and material used.

Mr Curtain, a branch of aBangkok company, offers achoice of wood, aluminium or fi-berglass for Venetian blinds. Theblind louvers come in three dif-ferent widths – 1 inch, 1½ inchesor 2 inches wide.

Price varies depending onthe width of louver and materialused, and the size of window, butas a guide, a Venetian blind for awindow 36 inches by 36 inches(one square yard) would costbetween 3,000 and 5,000 baht.

Purdah Curtain, Phuket VillaSamkong, 4 Yaowarat Road,Soi 3, Tambon Taladyai,Muang, Phuket. Tel: Toll Free1-800-900-300 (toll-free callsfrom a land line only) or 076-220305; Email: info@

purdah.biz; Website www.purdah.biz

Mr. Curtain, 108/70-72 Chal-ermprakiet Ror IX Rd (bypassroad), Rassada, Muang,Phuket; Tel: 076-217462.

There are several materials available on the market today, but even the traditional variety (right) can be livened up by using wood.

C L A S S I F I E D S34 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

Property Gazette

PropertiesFor Sale

Gazette Classifieds – 10,000 readers a day!

ABSOLUTEBEACHFRONT

For sale: 2.2 rai of absolutebeachfront land withChanote title at Khok Kloy.Please call for more details.No agents please. Tel: 07-8891717.

2-BEDROOMBUNGALOW

with 1 en-suite bathroom, alarge kitchen, dining roomand lounge, is for sale withChanote title in a nice loca-tion in Chalong. Price: 3 mil-lion baht. Please call formore details. Tel: 076-280-389, 07-8811775.

BEACH LAND PLOT

Beautiful half-rai plot with15m, white sandy beachfrontage. Located on NakhaIsland, only 2 minutes fromPhuket east coast (Ao PorPier), 25 minutes to airportand major shopping centers.For sale direct from owner:3.5 million baht. Tel: 01-3430777.

NEW HOUSE IN PATONGBrand-new, deluxe house witha swimming pool on a Patonghillside, Soi Maneesi. 2 floors,modern Thai-style architec-ture, completely furnished,ready to live in. Ground floor:big living room, Western-stylekitchen and dining room; guesttoilet. 2nd floor: big master bed-room and bath with Jacuzzi, 2bedrooms and a separate bath-room. Each room has an airconditioner and a balcony. Liv-ing area: 200sqm; freeholdland 150sqm. Price: 8.5 millionbaht. (US$210,000). Pleasecontact K. Peter. Tel: 01-892-8526. Please see our websiteat: www.phuket-besthomes.com

NEW HOUSE FOR SALELarge, new 2-story Western-style house in Rawai. 3 bed-rooms, 2 bathrooms, fittedkitchen, furnished. 400sqmplot with landscaped gardenand space for a swimmingpool. Offers around 4 millionbaht. Tel: 01-7520275. Email:comfortablynumb_18@hotmail.com

HILL-VIEW PLOT1 rai for sale: 25m frontage x68m deep. A corner plot withChanote title on Soi BaanKrang, in Chalong. Asking 4million baht, negotiable. Pleasecontact for more details. Tel:076-216260, 07-8945321.Email: prporter56@yahoo.com

BEACH APARTMENT124sqm and 240sqm apart-ments, a 2-minute walk to thebeach. Priced from 7.5 millionbaht. Tel: 06-2806624.Please see our website forfurther information at: www.bangtaobeachgardens.com

RAWAI LUXURY VILLA144sqm house with 400sqmor 600sqm of land for sale.Located 350m from thebeach. Priced from 2.4 mil-lion baht. Please contact formore details. Tel: 06-686-5567. Email: free_holdprop@yahoo.com

KATA COTTAGES.COMFrom 2.4 million to 3 millionbaht. Fully furnished, luxuriousPatong Beach condominium:4.8 million baht. Patong 2-bedroom home: 6 million baht.Patong boutique hotel: 80million baht. Please contactfor more info. Tel: 04-630-1770. Email: phuketproperty@usa.net

LAND FOR SALE

on the bypass road, 27 rai,180 meters wide. Tel: 07-2670488.

2-STORY HOUSEin Rawai, 140sqm , selling for1.4 million baht, includingowning company and financ-ing for 3 years. 400m fromthe beach. Tel: 09-4740227.Email: chotip_5@hotmail.com

2-STORY RAWAIhouse. 130sqm house withChanote title, brand new, closeto a school, 400m from thebeach; asking 1.3 million baht.Please contact for informa-tion. Tel: 06-6865567. Email:free_ holdprop@yahoo.com

RAWAI SHOPHOUSES2 new, connected shop-houses on Wiset Rd, in Rawai,are for sale. Ground floor:sales office, staff room,kitchen, dining room and toilet.2nd floor: master bedroomwith separate bath and 2 sepa-rate bedrooms with connect-ing bath. 3rd floor: living roomand en-suite bedroom. Livingarea 200sqm, freehold land:100sqm. Price 4.5 millionbaht. (US$113.000). Pleasecontact K.Peter. Tel: 01-892-8526. Please see our websiteat: www.phuket-besthomes.com

SEA VIEWAPARTMENTSin Patong. New, deluxe 2-bed-room apartments of 85sqm or96sqm, fully furnished and air-conditioned. Location: Na Naihill in Patong, Soi Thamdee;30+30-year lease. Offersstarting at 4.1 million baht(US$102,000). Please con-tact K. Peter. Tel: 01-892-8526. Please see our websiteat: www.phuket-besthomes.com

NEWHOUSES INPATONG3 new, connected, deluxehouses on Patong hillside, SoiManeesi, for sale. Groundfloor: Garage and separate 1-room apartment with toilet.2nd floor: 2 bedrooms andbath, balcony. 3rd floor: livingroom with balcony, built-inkitchen and dining room, toi-let. 4th floor: big roof gardenwith Jacuzzi. Usable area:200sqm; freehold land:100sqm. Price: 6.2 millionbaht. (US$155,000). Formore details, please contactK. Peter at Tel: 01-8928526or visit the website www.phuket-besthomes.com

VILLA IN NAI HARNVilla, 275sqm of living space,1,000sqm garden, 10m x 5mpool, 60,000 baht rental in-come per month until March2006. Asking 10.75 millionbaht. Tel: 07-8896074, 01-8916143. Email: norbertfun@hotmail.com

RAWAI, 2-STORYhouse. 200sqm house withChanote title, brand new, closeto a temple, 450m from thebeach; asking 1.8 million baht.Please contact for more de-tails. Tel: 06-6865567. Email:free_holdprop@yahoo.com

SEA VIEW LANDYou will not find a better dealon Phuket. Tel: 07-8938747.

CHEAP SEA VIEWin Rawai. Selling for 2.7 millionbaht per rai. Please contact formore info. Tel: 01-5376866.

C L A S S I F I E D SOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 35

Property Gazette

Agents for Classified Advertising

PHUKET

K.L. Mart Tel: 076-280400/3Patak Rd, Chalong Fax: 076-280403

Earth Language School Tel: 076-232398/9Phang Nga Rd, Phuket City Fax: 076-232398

Sin & Lee Tel: 076-258369Thalang Rd, Phuket City Fax: 076-211230

Taurus Travel Tel: 076-344521/2Aroonsom Plaza Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd, Patong Fax: 076-344523

41 Minimart Tel/Fax: 076-324312Srisoontorn Rd, Cherng Talay

Classified ads are charged per line. Each line is 80 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.

NEW HOUSEFOR SALE

A 250sqm house of Euro-pean standards, on 75square wah of land withChanote title, for sale inKathu, Phuket. It has a lakeview , 3 bedrooms, 1 maid’sroom , 3 bathrooms with hotwater, air conditioning, cur-tains and a fitted kitchenwith hot water. The locationis 10 minutes to Patong andPhuket City; 25 minutes tothe airport. Two golf coursesare close by. Asking 6 millionbaht. Please call Mr Geoff.Tel: 01-8540061, 076-323-214 or Fon at Tel: 01-893-7585, 076-323215.

BANG TAO BEACH124sqm and 240sqm fur-nished apartments, 1 min fromthe beach. Price: 7.5 millionbaht and up. For details, pleasesee our website at: www.bangtaobeachgardens.com

PATONG CONDOSCondos with a sea view, 28and 56sqm, for sale. Pricedfrom 650,000 baht. Nearbank and post office. Tel: 09-4740227. Email: chotip_5@hotmail.com

RAWAI CONDOSwith sea view. 27, 54 and81sqm. Priced from 350,000baht. Financing for 3 yearsavailable. Foreign freehold.Tel: 09-4740227. Email:chotip_5@hotmail.com

SMALL PLOTApproximately 700sqm ofland for sale on the east sideof Koh Maphrao – the bestsea view in the Phuket area.Asking 2,000 baht per squaremeter. It would make theideal spot for a holiday orweekend retreat. Please call(in English/German/someThai). Tel: 01-2734000.

NEW HOUSEFOR SALE

Large, 2-story modernThai-style house, located innatural surroundings inChalong; 3 bedrooms, 4bathrooms, a big terrace,family room, a swimmingpool, Jacuzzi, a nice gardenand 2 parking spaces.Price negotiable. Please callK. Bird. Tel: 076-280755,01-7196049.

4.5 RAI WITH SEA VIEWThe land has a great shapeand is ideal for a resort or high-end villa development. It hasroad access, and water andelectric supply are available.Price: 17 million baht. Pleasecontact for further details. Tel:01-8948052. Email: paisarn.j@kasikornbank.com

NEW HOUSEIN NAI HARN

A 3-bedroom house cur-rently under construction,with 2 storerooms, a car-port, a big pool and a nicegarden on 1,000sqm ofwalled land just 10 minutesto the beach, is for sale for7.9 million baht. Please con-tact for more details. Tel:076-288966 or 09-591-0366. Email: coldplay66@hotmail.de

JOMTIEN/PATTAYA

Stunning 3 bedroom/bath-room villa with private pool,great furnishings and garden.Worth a look! Sold byowner, handy shops andbeach, a very nice property.Please contact for more in-formation. Tel: 07-886-9410. Email: john_w_cole@hotmail.com For further de-tails, please see our websiteat: www.PattayaVillaSales.com

HOUSE IN THALANGfor sale. 10 minutes from theairport, 10 minutes from Brit-ish International College, 5minutes to Laguna, 10 min-utes to Surin Beach. 8 x 4swimming pool, 5 aircons, 2bedrooms, 1 child’s room, 2bathrooms and seperate build-ing useful as a store house ormaid’s room. 504sqm,Chanote title, 5.5 million baht.Please call for more details.Tel: 01-6078000.

SEA VIEW LAND3 rai at Cape Panwa; 5 rai inChalong: 3 to 4 million bahtper rai. 26-rai sea view/beachfront land: 5 million bahtper rai. Please contact K. Joe.Tel: 01-6936437, 06-684-1260. Email: joe_mooky@yahoo.com

EAST COAST LAND18 rai at 1.3 million baht perrai; 14 rai at 1.3 million bahtper rai; beach front at 3 millionbaht per rai. Please contact K.Joe. Tel: 01-6936437, 06-6841260. Email: joe_ mooky@yahoo.com

3 RAI KRABI SEA VIEWNicely located plot with elec-tricity and water. Please con-tact K. Aporn for details. Tel:01-7973808.

UNIQUE THAI LUXURYhouse for sale in Kamala.500m from the beach. Superbdesign and tastefully deco-rated. Asking 18 million baht.Tel: 01-9680309. Email:info@houseinphuket.com Forfurther information, please seeour website at: www.houseinphuket.com

5 RAI VIEWS CHALONGSea, island, hill and lake views– this land with Chanote titlehas it all (power, phone, etc).Please contact the owner atTel: 06-6833964 or Email:franklee200@hotmail.com

TOWNHOUSEIN ANUPHAS

On the main road in theheart of the city and nearCentral, a 3-bed, 2-bath-room, house with kitchen,furniture and water heater,good condition. Please con-tact for more details. Tel: 09-4691813. Email: annanoi@hotmail.com

Find more Property Classified ads onlineat www.phuketgazette.net!

LUXURYTOWNHOUSESFOR SALE

Only 4 luxurious townhousesfor sale, just 300m fromMission Hill golf course. Theyconsist of 3 bedrooms, study,fully fitted Western-stylekitchen, living and diningroom, private 4m x 10mswimming pool, carport,balconies. Free furniturepackage for first buyer.Priced from 12.5 millionbaht. Tel: 076-340792, 07-8822856. Fax: 076-340-693. Email: luc@phuket-tropical-realestate.com Forfurther details, please see:www.phuket-tropical-realestate.com

REDUCED BY 4 MILLIONbaht. 2 houses on 1,200sqmof secured land – 6 bedrooms,9 bathrooms, 14.5m x 7.5m,with swimming pool. Was 15million baht, now asking only11 million baht. Tel: 076-398-513, 07-1837161. Email:jon.gibbons@karonproperty.com Please see our websiteat: www.karonproperty.com/82.10-nantawan.html

PATONGGRAND CONDO12th-floor studio, best one inthe building. Good view, fullyfurnished, European kitchen.3.5 million baht (neg). Pleasecontact for more details. Tel:01-2734000. Email: charly@bonello.de

SMALL NAI HARN PLOTfor sale. Asking 1.3 millionbaht. Tel: 09-6525664.

1 RAI IN NAI HARNfor sale. Asking 2.8 millionbaht per rai. Please call Tel:09-6525664.

C L A S S I F I E D S36 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

Property Gazette

PropertiesFor Rent

Property Wanted

PATONG CONDOTEL

A cheap room, fully furnished,with a sea view, is available forlong-term rent at 5,000 bahtper month. Tel: 09-4740227.Email: chotip_5@hotmail.com

LONG-TERM LEASE

New, fully-furnished house inPalai Green, with 2 air-condi-tioned bedrooms, hot shower,kitchen, living room, garageand beautiful garden. Locatedin a quiet area near ChalongBay. Tel: 01-8924311.

RAWAI RESIDENCE

A fully furnished studio forrent, 400m from the beach.Asking 5,000 baht per month.Tel: 09-4740227.

PATONG RESIDENCE

A fully furnished studio forrent, 400m from the beach.Asking 6,000 baht per month.Please call for more informa-tion. Tel: 09-4740227.

KATHU HOUSE

with pool. For sale or rent: agood-quality, furnished, 2-bed-room house, like new, with aEuropean-style kitchen, a ve-randah, storage space and agarden. Tel: 01-3673106.Email: martinkreutzinger@hotmail.com

CUSTOM-BUILT

2-bedroom villas with privatepools. Living area: 185sqm.Land area: 400sqm. Furniturepackage available for 400,000baht. Price: 6.5 million baht.Ref: #0220018. Tel: 01-087-5828. Email: homes@phuketpp.com For more infor-mation, please see: www.phuketparadiseproperties.com

SECLUDED 12-ROOM

guesthouse with pool, privatelake, patio seating area, viewsof lake and hills. 1,000sqm.Price: 15 million baht. Ref:#0150010. Tel: 01-087-5828. Email: homes@phuketpp.com For more info,see our website at: www.phuketparadiseproperties.com

18-ROOM HOTEL

Completely renovated in1999. Includes lease incomeand key money from 5 bars.Price: 45 million baht. Ref:#0120008. Tel: 01-0875828.Email: homes@phuketpp.com For more informationsee our website at: www.phuketparadiseproperties.com

GARDEN & PENTHOUSE

Apartments just a 2-minutewalk to the beach. 124sqmwith additional 120sqm ofprivate rooftop terrace. Price:6.5 million baht to 8.5 millionbaht. Ref: #0030019. Tel: 01-0875828. Email: homes@phuketpp.com For more info,please see our website: www.phuketparadiseproperties.com

CHALONG

1-year-old, beautiful 3-bed-room house with 2 bathrooms,large living area and kitchen.Open-plan with loft upstairsoverlooking the living area.Telephone line and own watersupply. Located in a central,quiet, European-style estate.Only 10 minutes to PhuketCity and Tesco Lotus, and only15 minutes to Rawai. Askingprice 4.5 million. Tel: 09-9085343. Email: marc@sail-phuket.com

PALACE WITH POOL

A 5-bedroom home with a liv-ing area of 500sqm, set in anoutdoor area of 1,600sqm in-cluding a tropical garden, in asuper location in Nai Harn. Sell-ing for only 8.5 million baht.Please call for more details.Tel: 07-8938747.

RAWAI CONDO

27sqm room for rent at 4,000baht a month. Please contactfor more info. Tel: 06-686-5567. Email: bargainproperty@hotmail.com

PATONG SEAVIEW

Luxury 2-bedroom apartmentwith 3 bathrooms, a European-style kitchen, air conditioning,a large swimming pool, UBCand secure parking. Please callfor more details. Tel: 06-279-0837.

HOUSE FOR RENT

or sale. A 2-bedroom, 2-bath-room house with a largelounge, dining area, walledgarden, Jacuzzi and a swim-ming pool, in Kamala. Tel: 06-9525071. Email: paul@ukthai.fsnet.co.uk

NEW HOUSE CHALONG

Brand-new furnished villa nearcircle. 2 bedrooms, 2 bath-rooms, large living area, west-ern kitchen, aircon and car-port. Looking for careful long-term tenant. Tel: 076-280-466.

NEW SINGLE

HOUSE

3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms,in Land & Houses ParkPhuket, in Chalong. Quietarea with clubhouse and 24-hour security. 16,000 bahtper month. Tel: 01-569-7068. Email: suksavat@hotmail.com

PATONG APARTMENTS

in Baan Suan Kamnan. A quiet,green and safe area on a hill-side, next to the Blue Pointviewpoint, just outside centralPatong. Now several apart-ments are available for long-term rental only. Prices startat 12,500 baht per month, in-cluding electricity. Tel: 06-7866350.

2-BEDROOM

apartment at Ao Por with stun-ning seaview, fully furnished,aircon, Western kitchen, pooland 24hr security. Close toairport and golf. 35,000 bahtper month. Please call for info.Tel: 04-0633854.

LARGE 3-BEDROOM

house on 800sqm plot with: apleasant garden and shadetrees, including various fruittrees; a safe child’s playroom;2 telephone lines; Internet andfax connections; pumped wa-ter supply from own well; adriveway with parkingspaces. Please contact formore information. Email: span@e-mail.in.th

LAND FOR LONG-TERM

rent. 9 rai on Soi Rattama-noon, in Kathu. Next to Pae-Mae-Nam Restaurant. Lo-cated on a hillside, surroundedby tall trees, with a good view– an ideal location for a resort,spa, etc. Please call for fulldetails. Tel: 01-7191415, 01-8675084.

CHALONG HOUSE

for rent. Furnished, detached,with 3 bedrooms, carport,walled yard, close to town.Telephone, UBC, 2 air condi-tioners, TV, hot water; allamenities included. Tel: 076-283211, 04-8484344.

HOUSE FOR RENT

1 bedroom, 1 bathroom,aircon. Located in Kathu.Please call for more informa-tion. Tel: 01-8675084, 076-202047.

LONG-TERM RENT

IN PATONG

Looking for bungalow or asmall house or condo frommid-2006. Must be quiet,maximum rent: 200,000baht per year. Please callfor info. Tel: 04-7594668.

3-BEDROOM

HOUSE

A potential tenant needs aworkroom, storage room,and a 5m x 10m or biggerpool. Please contact K.Chai. Please call for moreinfo. Tel: 04-8374429.

WEST COAST

LAYAN

Gorgeous 460sqm plotwith ocean view. Great lo-cation. Gated community.Price: 26 million baht.Please call for more details.Tel: 01-8924497.

CHALONG

SEA VIEW

11 rai and 215sqw with aslope. Asking 5 million bahtper rai. Please call for moreinfo. Tel: 01-5693768.

20+ RAI

Land with a sea view, road,power and water. Asking 2.5million baht per rai. Tel: 01-0875828. For more details,please see our website: www.phuketparadiseproperties.com/#0070123

1.5 RAI STUNNING

views - Layan. Land plot of 1.5rai with full infrastructure.West coast, panoramic viewsover Layan Bay and LagunaBeach. For sale by owner. Tel:076-324199, 01-7371688.Fax: 076-273083. Email:riding@loxinfo.co.th Pleasesee our website at: www.phuket-suriyaestate.com

644-SQM HOME SITE

Chanote title, ready to build,with power and phones. I willshare transfer taxes 50/50with the buyer. Price: 1.5 mil-lion baht. Tel: 01-0875828.For details please see: www.phuketparadiseproperties.com/#0070003

C L A S S I F I E D SOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 37

Property Gazette

BuildingProducts

& Services

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

Problems with an extra-marital affair?Questions about Thai culture?Having communications problems?

ASK KHUN WANIDA! MOMMA DUCK

Fax: 076-213971 or email: momma@phuketgazette.net

Read her advice in the Phuket Gazette.

AccommodationAvailable

HouseholdItems

HouseholdServicesNeeded

ROOMS TO LET

Lakeview apartments inKathu. Fully furnished, withair conditioner, fridge,cable TV, hot water, carpark. 183 baht per day.Please contact for furtherinformation. Tel: 076-202-585, 09-1968449. Email:ketmaneeclayton61@hotmail.com

CONDO WITH POOLIN PHUKET CITY

A fully-furnished condo-minium in Phuket City nearTesco and Central, with ahot shower, air conditioner,TV, fridge, telephone, a bigswimming pool, 24-hour se-curity and much more. Tel:076-324199, 01-737-1688. Fax: 076-273083.Email: riding@loxinfo.co.thFor further details, pleasesee our website at: www.phuket-suriyaestate.com

APARTMENTSfor rent in Patong. Quality 1-and 2-bedroom apartmentsare available for long-term rentalong Nanai Rd, Patong. CableTV, telephone, air conditionerand full kitchen provided. Tel:076-342601, 01-2705374.Fax: 076-342601. Email:orcella@phuket.ksc.co.th Formore info, please see ourwebsite at: www.orcella.com

ACCOMMODATIONaround Kamala. 3 x 2-bed-roomed or 2 x 3-bedroomedhouses wanted to rent fortwo months in Kamala areafrom December 21, 2005 toFebruary 27, 2006. Must befurnished and have aircon,kitchen facilities and satelliteTV. Apartments considered.Please contact for more infor-mation. Tel:+44 19645-32801. Email: debbos123@aol.com

RENTAL HOUSEI want to rent a nice house inKaron. 2-3 bedrooms, longterm. Not more than 12,000baht a month. Please contactfor more information. Tel: 06-2818449. Email: stig_ zottele@hotmail.com

PATONG LUXURYAPARTMENTS.

Central Patong 1- and 2-bedroom apartments.Please contact for more in-formation and photos.Email: suites247@yahoo.com

TAITAN COURT22 fully furnished rooms (in-cluding Internet and cableTV) in Phuket City. Locatedin a nice and quiet residentialneighborhood in Wichit.Room rental rate is 6,000baht a month (2,000 bahtper week). Please contactKhun Kanjana Hongsyok.Tel: 09-1101300. Email:passakorn_hongsyok@yahoo.com Please seeour website at: www.taitancourt.com

FULLY-FURNISHEDcondo. A quiet, fully-furnishedcondominium near PhuketCity, with hot water, air-con-ditioning, a large swimmingpool, 24-hour security, and anelevator, is for rent at only7,000 baht per month. Tel:076-271319, 01-7371688.Fax: 076-273083. Email:info@phuket-suriyaestate.com

AccommodationWanted

HOUSE FOR FAMILYWe are looking for a housenear Chalong/Rawai area torent for long term (at least 6months to start). It shouldhave 3-4 bedrooms and agarden. Our budget maxi-mum is 30,000 baht. Pleasereply with full details if youcan help. Tel: 852-2570-1318, 85-91273371. Fax:852-25701201. Email:alexmenz@pacific.net.hk

LONG-TERM RENTLooking for an apartment orbungalow from 1 Nov to 15March. Must have swimmingpool and aircon. Tel: 04-670-7432. Email: chrillearninge@hotmail.com

DSL, 2 BEDROOMSlong term. I am a Westernfemale who doesn’t drink orsmoke. I am quiet and reliablewith rent. I am looking for a 2-bedroom house. It MUST havea telephone line, and prefer-ably DSL. I would like to be inthe Kata, Karon or Nai Harnarea. I will be living there for along time and need the DSLline for work. I have lived inPhuket for 4 years and will bearriving Nov 4. Please emailme with rate and location. I amlooking for a reasonalbe rate.Email: sylvie_yaffe@hotmail.com

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: 07-2824930, 076-271217Fax: 076-271218

Email:info@thestonedoctor-asia.com

• Restoration• Sealing/Protection• Maintenance

All your maintenance,protection & cleaning needsfor natural and manufacturedstone.

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& CAR SERVICES

Building renovation,repairs, maintenance

� Electrical� Air conditioning/lights

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Contact Khun Chuat01-4083800, 076-325391

ELECTRICAL SERVICESWe offer professional, UKapproved electrical ser-vices. Please contact usfor more information. Tel:01-6919907. Email:phuketelectrician@yahoo.co.uk

FURNITURE FOR SALEDining tables & chairs, beds,sofas, art work, wardrobecabinets, mirrors, stools,benches, coffee tables, lampsand much more. Please con-tact for more details. Tel: 076-223025, 05-2170738. Fax :076-223018. Email: robert@islandlivingcompany.com

FURNITUREFurniture and miscellaneousitems – sofas, dining tablechairs, art work, vases andmuch, much more. Pleasecontact for more info. Tel:076-223025, 05-2170738.Fax: 076-223018. Email:robert@islandlivingcompany.com

HOME CINEMATechnics SA-AX540 sur-round-sound receiver plus 6Technics 90-Watt surround-sound speakers, in perfectcondition. 12,000 baht.Please contact for further in-formation. Tel: 01-7531903.Email: lab1bob@yahoo.com

ELECTRIC FANBrand-new 400mm pedestalfan. Paid 690 baht; will sell for400 baht. Still in box, un-opened. Please contact forinfo. Tel: 04-8426293. Email:dflavel@csloxinfo.com

VARIOUS ITEMS- 3 wall fans: 1,500 baht- DiStar 20" pure flat screenTV with wall mountingbracket: 2,500 baht- Sanden Intercool chestfreezer with 3 year warranty(30" high x 34" long x 24"wide): 7,000 baht- Superior hand safe (strongbox): 500 baht- Coolkeeper esky/cooler: 700baht- Various glasses and bin cups.Please call for more informa-tion. Tel: 06-2703517.

HouseholdServices

SPAS-R-USSteam room/sauna and ac-cessories and portable hot-tubs from the US. Qualityequipment, designed and in-stalled to meet your needs.Business and residential. Tel:076-263269, 09-1950610.

NANNY/HOUSEKEEPER

REQUIREDFull-time live-out nanny/housekeeper required bypolite and fun expat familywith 15-month-old boy. Weare currently in a rentedhouse in Bang Tao, but willbe moving to beautiful mod-ern house in Surin in Janu-ary. An excellent opportu-nity for the right person.You will be treated withrespect by us in a pleasantworking environment.Starting salary 10,000 bahtper month. Prefer someonewho can speak some En-glish and can drive a car or amotorbike. Tel: 04-849-2367. Email: mui.tsun@raincatcher.co.uk

BURGLAR ALARMSsecurity. Guardian Alarms –the one-stop shop for all yoursecurity needs. Burglaralarms, fire alarms, CCTV andautomated gates. Contact ustoday for a free quotation. Weoffer a two-year warranty onall alarm systems. Please con-tact for more details. Tel: 076-281327, 01-8954480. Fax:076-383277. Email: guardian@loxinfo.co.th

SITE OFFICES

Insulated, with aircon. Rentfor 4,950 baht per month,or buy a new office for160,000 baht. Tel: 076-281283, 01-8924804. Formore information, pleasevisit our website at:www.safewayphuket.com

HOUSEHOLD ITEMSFor sale: 2 x 29-inch TVs.Treadmill (new), weights andbench press, lawn mower (1week old), grass trimmer,fridge, washing machine, 3fans, kitchen utensils, Pioneerhome theater, sleeper couch,kids toys, etc. Please contactfor more details. Tel: 04-065-5804. Email: leondisley@yahoo.com

SOFA WANTED

2- or 3-piece suite wanted.High quality, comfortable,neutral color. Sofa bedwould be better, Europeanstyle or imported. Will paygood price for upmarketitems. Photo would be nice.Please contact for details.Tel: 01-2734212. Email:coasters@earthlink.net

C L A S S I F I E D S

Property Gazette38 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

13-BEDROOM

GUESTHOUSE

and a house with 4 bed-rooms. It is well maintainedand only 5 minutes’ drive tothe beach, shopping areaand Patong nightlife. Theguesthouse comprises 13bedrooms, pool, bar andparking. Price: 26 millionbaht. Tel: 06-2726508.

ISLANDS

FOR SALE

We have many island prop-erties on our books. Cur-rent: 2 complete islands andmany land plots of differentsizes on islands close toPhuket, such as: Koh YaoYai, Koh Yao Noi, KohRatcha and so on. Pricesfrom 1 million baht. Tel: 09-8715192.

20-BEDROOM

CONDO

This condo is in the heart ofPatong. Only 5 minutes tothe beach, shopping areaand nightlife. It comprises18 bedrooms with fan andbathroom, two shop unitson the ground floor that canbe turned into 2 bedrooms.Price: 26 million baht. Tel:06-2726508.

3-BEDROOM

HOUSE

Thai-style house for sale in asecure area in Nai Harn, witha 5 minutes’ drive to thebeautiful beach of Nai Harnand to Rawai. Built in 2005,it comprises 3 bedrooms, 3bathrooms, kitchen, livingroom, dining room, hallway,guest toilet, pool, 2-car car-port, sala. Price: 15 millionbaht. Tel: 06-2726508.

16 X 2-BEDROOM

APARTMENT

This 16-unit apartment build-ing is located in a quiet areain Chalong: 5 minutes’ driveto Big C and Central, 10 min-utes to Phuket City and 15minutes to Nai Harn, Karonand Kata Beaches. Allapartments have 2 bed-rooms, a bathroom, kitchen,living and dining room, andare fully furnished. It has an of-fice, manicured gardensand the property is very wellmaintained. 20 million baht.Tel: 06-2726508.

3.5 RAI WITH

SEA VIEW

Only 10 minutes to NaiHarn, Kata and RawaiBeaches and Phuket Citywith its big shopping malls.It has excess road and wa-ter and electricity supply areavailable. Chanote titledeed. Price: 24.5 millionbaht. Tel: 09-8715192.

1 RAI

with underground infra-structure. The land is readyto build on and the areaboasts some of the mostexpensive housing on theisland. A very good invest-ment; a beautiful area withnice, quiet beaches. Price:8 million baht. Tel: 09-8715192.

BOUTIQUE HOTEL

of 8 rooms, in Karon. Thehotel consists of 8 nicelyfurnished rooms, a bar

and a laundry. The hotel isfully furnished and located2 minutes to the beach.

Hill views.Price: 14 million baht.

Tel: 06-2726508.

300-METER

BEACHFRONT

Island. 14-year old develop-ment of beach houses com-pany retains Nor Sor 3 Gorownership of 27 rai of primebeachfront land, with basicwater and electricity system.50% of houses survived thetsunami in usable condition.Price: 40 million baht. Tel: 09-8715192.

3-BEDROOM

VILLA WITH SEA

VIEW

It is surrounded by a tropicalgarden and has 24-hour se-curity. The villa comprises 3bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, aWestern kitchen, living-din-ing room and 2 terraceswhere you can relax and seethe sunset. It is fully furnished.Price: 15 million baht. Tel:06-2726508.

9 RAI

WITH SEA VIEW

in Chalong. This 9-rai plot islocated in Chalong and hasa slight slope with a seaview. It is a nice square plotand has water and electric-ity supply. Ideal for a villaproject. Price: 36 millionbaht. Tel: 09-8715192.

39 RAI OF VIEWS!

PRIVATE BEACH!

The viewsare beautiful!

Price: 240 million baht.Tel: 09-8715192.

10 RAI

BEACHFRONT

The land has a greatshape and is ideal for aresort or high-end villa

development.

Price: 80 million baht.

Tel: 09-8715192.

3-BEDROOM

VILLA

Has a sound system through-out the house, plasma TV inthe living room with satelliteTV. Around the house is awell-designed tropical gardenwith Buddha image features.Price: 14.9 million baht. Tel:06-2726508.

APARTMENT

COMPLEX

2 buildings, 2 carports,pool. Building 1 – Groundfloor: 3 apartments; Firstfloor: 1 big apartment(174sqm). Building 2 –

Ground floor: 2 bedroomapartment; First floor: 3-bedroom apartment, 4phone lines, 7 aircons.

Price: 15 million baht.

Tel: 06-2726508.

6 BUNGALOWS

& 2 HOUSES

6 spacious bungalows eachwith 1 bedroom, 1 bath-room, living-dining room,terrace, and 2 two-storyhouses with 2 bedrooms, 2bathrooms, living-diningroom, terrace, relaxationroom with a large terrace onthe first floor. Price: 18 mil-lion baht. Tel: 06-2726508.

6 RAI WITH

SEA VIEW

Only 5 minutes from MaiKhao Beach, 10 minutesfrom the airport, 10 minutesfrom the Blue Canyon Golfcourse and 20 minutes fromPhuket City and Lotus. It haselectricity supply and accessroad. Price: 12 million baht.Tel: 09-8715192.

20 RAI WITH

EAST COAST VIEWS

Has a new sealed-road ac-cess, electricity and someof the best views in Phuket.Would be ideally suited for acondo/housing developmentor for the ultimate home.Price: 60 million baht. Tel:09-8715192.

10 RAI WITH

SEA VIEW

The land has a nice,square, right-angle shape

with an access road.Electricity and watersupply available. Veryinteresting as a villa

project.Price: 50 million baht.

Tel: 09-8715192.

20 RAI WITH

PRIVATE BEACH

The land has a waterfall run-ning down one boundary anda small beach (accessibleonly by this plot) with whitesand and nice feature rocks.One of the last great plots andpriced lower than all surround-ing land. Price: 200 millionbaht. Tel: 09-8715192.

4-BEDROOM

HOUSE

The house is located in a se-cure development in theheart of Patong and com-prises 4 bedrooms, 3 bath-rooms, living room, diningroom, kitchen, carpark and agarden around the house.

Price: 7 million baht.Tel: 06-2726508.

6 RAI ON THE

BEACH

The plot is located on theeast coast at Ao Por and hasbeautiful views of islands inPhang Nga Bay. The land isflat with a slope at the back.It has road access, and wa-ter and electricity supply areavailable. Price: 40 millionbaht. Tel: 09-8715192.

3-BEDROOM HOUSE

with boat mooring. This is alovely home, with a boatmooring, located very closeto nice restaurants, cafés,shopping, school and 20minutes to the airport.

Price: 8.9 million baht.

Tel: 06-2726508.

70 RAI

“STREAMFRONTAGE”

300 meters of “streamfront”, facing a 600ft lime-stone cliff. Presently has asmall 10-room guesthouseon the property but the largeproperty is essentially unde-veloped and pristine, withold trees and wildlife. Price:35 million baht. Tel: 09-8715192.

C L A S S I F I E D SOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 39

Boats & Marine

NEW PERFORMANCE

DINGHIES

1) 59er-Modern Perfor-mance Hiking Dinghy. Hulllightly used, well maintained,new standing rigging and anew set of sails. 495,000baht.

2) 29er-Modern Single Tra-peze Dinghy. Used twice, likenew, new sails. 350,000baht.

Both boats already importedto Phuket. Both includebeach trolley and cover.Please contact for moreinfo. Tel: 06-9541915.Email: russ@circumnav.net

YAMAHA 8HP

Excellent runner, only 2 yearsold, good reason for selling.12,000 baht. Please contactfor more information. Tel:076-289656, 01-8951826.Email: faraway@phuket.ksc.co.th

27FT SPEEDBOAT

Unique opportunity: BaylinerSunbridge 27 feet – fully reno-vated, new Mercruiser V8(250 HP) with only 40 hoursnow . Raymarine Chart Plot-ter HSB530 series with 7 inchcolor LCD display. RaymarineFishfinder with VHF. All safetyequipment present on board.Licensed for 12 people. Per-fect for the region. Askingprice: 1.5 million baht. CallAntoine. Please contact formore details. Tel: 01-979-9307. Email: nathaliemuylle@hotmail.com

OUTBOARD ENGINE

Yamaha 25hp. Has had re-cent service. 12,000 baht.Please contact for more infor-mation. Tel: 076-270891, 09-8733952. Fax: 076-270711.Email: bigmanfox@pacific.net.sg

85HP ISUZU ENGINE

Marinized, complete, goodrunner. 35,000 baht. Pleasecontact for more information.Tel: 076-270891, 09-873-3952. Fax: 076-270711.Email: bigmanfox@pacific.net.sg

Looking for a boat?

Check out

www.phuketgazette.net!

SEEKING USED

longtail. I want to buy a usedlongtail boat with engine ingood condition for 50-70,000baht. Please contact. Fax: 46-31263005. Email: heinz.kiso@tele2.se

DIVE COMPRESSOR

FOR SALE

Bauer Capitano 140l/mincomplete with frame and4kw (5.5hp), 3-phase, 380Vmotor. Complete overhaullast season by STI Chalong.Too many parts to list andonly 80 hours running timesince rebuild. 165,000 baht.Please contact. Tel: 076-281526, 09-9720423. Fax:076-281526. Email: dougie@divejohnsandy.com

FISHING BOAT

19ft fiberglass, with trailer.Has center console withpermanent shade cover andplenty of rod holders. Has avery clever shade extensiontoo. As new for 250,000baht. Does not include mo-tors as I am selling the hull andtrailer only. Best value formoney in Phuket. Pleasecontact for more information.Tel: 06-9724805. Email:nervobe@hotmail.com

C L A S S I F I E D S40 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

Island Job Mart

SECRETARY

wanted for diveshop. Do youspeak English? If yes, just callus. Please call for moredetails.Tel: 09-8749147.

LANGUAGE ACADEMY

Position available: InformationStaff. Salary: 12,000 bahtper month. Duties are to enrollnew students and assist thePrincipal. Good English is re-quired. The candidate must bediligent, friendly and helpful,and the ability to teach Englishor Thai would be useful.Please contact Khun Amado.Tel: 076-346188, 09-814-0107. Fax: 076-346188.Email: director.school@gmail.com

SECRETARY/SALES

& marketing. Real Estatecompany is urgently looking fora secretary/sales & marketingassistant. Must have goodknowledge of English, writtenand spoken. Experience withPC is an advantage. Goodsalary for motivated person.Please send your CV by emailor contact for more informa-tion. Tel: 076-340792, 07-8822856. Fax: 076-340693.Email: luc@phuket-tropical-realestate.com

ACCOUNTANT

Wanted: a Thai national, fluentin English and use of account-ing software; autonomous andmotivated. Please contact formore info. Tel: 06-2670352.Email: stanislas.fellay@sdc.net

SECRETARY/PA

Our client is looking for a fe-male with good English skillsand a good personality. Sal-ary: 12-15,000 baht. Pleasecontact. Tel: 076-263737,01-5354108. Fax: 076-224-113. Email: recruitment@bowentraining.com

CAPE YAMU

Seeking gardener for dailymaintenance of nursery;must have knowledge of treeselection and planting. Tel:076-273490, 01-8955491.Fax: 076-273491. Email:hom@capeyamu.com Pleasevisit our website at www.capeyamu.com

PART-TIME

advertising sales. Commis-sion based plus small retainer;flexible hours. Please call. Tel:07-2707163.

THAI MARKETING

MANAGER

Career opportunity. Musthave car, marketing experi-ence, and be available soon.Having influential Phuketfriends, family and contactswould be a definite advan-tage. Please email CV withmobile phone number for ex-press interview. Tel: 076-294486, 01-847 7248.Fax: 076-346188. Email:tanabutr.careers@gmail.com

WEB MARKETING

MANAGER

An Internet garment retailcompany needs a creative,motivated foreigner with ex-cellent writing, marketingskills to promote our brandonline. Can work fromhome. Good salary. Email:jobs@holyclothing.com

Looking for a job?Still haven’t found the perfect candidate?

Find more Recruitment Classifieds at www.phuketgazette.net!

MANGOSTEEN

The Mangosteen Resort &Spa, a 5-star boutique resortin the south of Phuket, is look-ing for a new Executive Chef,aiming to deliver top-standard,quality cuisine with a moti-vated team. F&B managerwith experience working inThailand is also needed! Thaiand foreign nationals wel-come. Please send your CV byemail or contact for more in-formation. Tel: 076-289399.Fax: 076-289389. Email:hajo@mangosteen-phuket.com

RESTAURANT STAFF

We are looking for qualifiedand experienced Thai nation-ality candidates with goodEnglish-language skills forthese positions: 1 chef withexperience in European cook-ing, 1 commis and 3 wait-resses or waiters. Tel: 076-341357, 04-8448381. Email:longmadoogil69@hotmail.com

C L A S S I F I E D SOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 41

Island Job Mart

HOUSEKEEPING TEAM

Husband and wife needed forluxury villa. Good standard ofEnglish, excellent cooking andhousekeeping skills, husbandto have good general mainte-nance and gardening skills, in-cluding pool and water filtersystems. Car driving licenserequired. Excellent salary forthe right couple. Please con-tact for more information. Tel:01-7473000. Email: admin@thaiservers.com

KATA SHOP

We are looking for a Thai fe-male shop assistant. For moreinformation or to apply, pleasecall Tel: 09-8746170 or 01-6075412

THE VILLAGE

COCONUT ISLAND

This exciting new project ofluxurious villas in their ownunique village on KohMaphrao (Coconut Island,15 minutes from Laem HinPier), is looking for highly mo-tivated, experienced andprofessional personnel to joinour team.

The following positions arenow available:

1. General Manager (1 –Thai or foreign)

2. Project Manager (1 –Thai only)

3. Sales and Marketing Ex-ecutives (2 – Thai only)

4. Accountant (1 – Thaionly)

All positions require excel-lent English and computerskills with a minimum of 3years’ experience in a similarfield. If you are interested inthese exciting positions, youare invited to apply with fullresumé, stating present andexpected salary and enclos-ing a recent photo to: Coco-nut Island Holdings Co., Ltd.23/10 Moo 2 Boat LagoonPhuket, Koh Kaew, Muang,Phuket 83200 Thailand. Plscontact for more info. Tel:01-8912926. Fax: 076-273393. Email: coconut@thevillagecoconutisland.com

NANNY+MAID

Needed to work with foreigncouple: a live-in maid and a full-time nanny with basic En-glish. Please call. Tel: 09-4744083.

PERSONALASSISTANT

Computer-literate Thaiwoman, under 30 yearsold, with good spoken andwritten English, good tele-phone skills and at least 1year of experience. Inter-ested applicants pleasecontact by email. Email:leondisley@yahoo.com Gazette Online Classifieds – 10,000 readers every day!

C L A S S I F I E D S42 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005

Tout, Trader & Trumpet

Articlesfor Sale

BAR, CLUB& household items. Pricesand photos of items for saleavailable on request. Wanted:a TT&T or TOT phone line inthe Khet Ho area of Kathu.Tel: 01-5696910. Email:jazzybyname@yahoo.co.uk

CANON MP130 PIXIAPrinter photo cardslots withnew feeder tray – bought thewrong one for 6,000, sellingfor 5,000. Please call K. Frank.Tel: 09-4699030.

KITE SURFINGRRD kite/surfboard and Naishharness in very good condi-tion, hardly used. Asking45,000 baht or nearest offer.Please call for more informa-tion. Tel: 01-3675413.

Bulletins

PHUKET CHESS CLUBOpen every day, at SouthernFried Rice guesthouse in Kata.Tournaments on Wednesdaysat 7 pm and Saturdays at 2pm. Please call. Tel: 01-8948446.

BusinessOpportunities

SALON EQUIPMENTSeveral pieces, new condition,best price for fast sale. Pleasecontact for more information.Tel: 06-2770795. Email:dailoban2003@yahoo.ca

KATA RESTAURANTA fully equipped restaurantwith a new lease, in a goodlocation, is for sale at a goodprice. It has 4 rooms upstairs.Please contact the owner atTel: 06-6833964 or Email:franklee200@hotmail.com

DO YOU WANTMONEY?

Do you aim to invest for avery good monthly interest?Are you looking for partner-ship (a new limited com-pany) in Europe and abranch in Thailand? There isa lot of clients, no waitingperiod for business and norisk! Many years of experi-ence. Please contact byEmail: miamibeachn@netscape.net

BAR FOR SALEincluding kitchen and 4 rooms,recently refurbished, with apool table. A 2.5-year lease +option. Asking 1.7 millionbaht. Please call for more in-formation. Tel: 04-8478139.

BAR FOR SALEOff Soi Bangla, with all fixturesand fittings including a pooltable; low rent and no keymoney. Please call for moreinformation. Tel: 01-8928579.

NICE BEER GARDEN70 seats, fully equipped, lowinvestment on booming SurinBeach. Asking 1.1 million bahtand 12,000 baht per month.Email: phuketopportunity@hotmail.com

PARTNER/INVESTOR WANTED

Stunning west coastLayan-view property. Look-ing for 1 more partner/inves-tor. An excellent opportunityto pick up a free home. Tel:01-9683221.

RESTAURANTand guesthouse. Available on6-year lease in Karon. Euro-pean-style kitchen, 36-seat air-conditioned restaurant, twoTVs, UBC & sound system.Five air-conditioned guestrooms with hot water, TV andfull UBC satellite TV system.Small staff room and office.Thai registered company in-cluded, ready to start yourbusiness now. Tel: 09-591-4044, 01-8936072. Email:kanhathamyorm@hotmail.com

SHOP FOR RENTin a good location, oppositeDinopark Minigolf. Tel: 01-3151383.

PATONGshophouse. A 60sqm shop-house for rent in Patong. Ask-ing 7,000 baht per month. Tel:09-4740227.

THAI MASSAGEshop in Karon. A beautifully-decorated massage shop is forsale in Karon! Price: 500,000baht – a bargain which in-cludes a one-year-old interiorvalued at 225,000 baht andone year of key money left onthe contract which can berenewed. Expect 200,000baht in profit per month in thehigh season. It’s the best look-ing shop on the street! Sellingbecause moving. Contact K.Ben or K. Toon. Tel: 01-869-0976, 09-0114069. Email:thommm@online.no

DAY TRIP TORANONG

New double-decker tour bus(not minibus), non-smokingand smoking areas, toilet,films/music, snacks anddrinks, on-board buffet lunch.No extras to pay, all-inclu-sive. Only 1,500 baht. EveryMon, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sunday.Tel: 04-7457024.

ORIENTAL CARPETSOriental hand-knotted carpet,rug and kilim dealer (specializ-ing in washing and repair).Free pick-up and delivery.Please contact for more infor-mation. Tel: 076-261349, 01-9563061. Fax: 076-261-349. Email: sohail_carpet@yahoo.com

NEWSPAPERservice. 270 titles from 60countries. Free delivery.Same-day editions. Price:160 baht to 240 baht. Call oremail us! Tel: 076-346218-9.Fax: 076-346232. Email:aleks@newspaperdirect-phuket.com

PRO CARPENTERINGWe specialize in woodwork,home furniture, kitchens, built-in or moveable bars, counters,work desks. Yes, anythingthat has to do with woodwork.We also repair and rebuildhouses and boats. Call or e-mail us – Pro Carpentering,who never leave a job half-done. Tel: 076-243089, 04-0511944. Fax: 076-243-089. Email: pro_carpentering@yahoo.com

FREEZERCONTAINER

20-foot refrigerated con-tainer in good condition atChalong. For quick sale:180,000 baht. Tel: 076-281283, 01-1251873.

BusinessProducts &Services

VISA & LEGALSERVICES

• Company Registration2,229 baht;

• One-Year Visa 5,999baht;

• Work Permit 5,999 baht;• UK & US Visa 16,999

baht.No more visa runs – get aone-year visa! Establish yourThai company today! Prop-erty title search and salescontract. Thailand’s LARG-EST legal service network.Please contact for more in-formation. Tel: 076-345-277. Email: dennis_siamlegal@hotmail.com Website:www.siam-legal.com

COMPUTERREPAIRS

English computer techni-cian. New or used GPRS,ADSL, WLAN and Internetaccess without a phone.Tel: 09-4735080.

Computers

Miscellaneousfor Sale

BusinessServices

PersonalServices

LE CLUB DESP’TITS CHOU

An education fun club forchildren aged 2 to 6,

situated near Rawai Gym.Open Monday throughFriday, 8 am to 4 pm and

Saturday 8 am to 1 pm. Fullor part-time.

For more details, pleasecontact Angelina at:

Tel: 07-2790264

GERMAN TUITIONin Phuket, for business andprivate, most areas, 22 yearsexperience. Please contact K.Hans. Tel: 07-8858578.

1.2GHz-1.4GHz PCfor sale. CDROM, 20GB HDD,256MB RAM, 32MB graphicscard and a 17" screen. Sellingfor 9,000 baht. Tel: 09-289-8628.

LEARN THAI,English, French, German,Japanese, and Italian lessonswith TLS certificate. Qualified,professional teacher and ma-terials. Call Tewi. Tel:076-319066-7, 06-3817138, 06-2661585, 04-0591155.

LET’S LEARN THAI

Study Thai language theeasy way. Only 2,800 bahtfor adults. We also offerchildren's classes. Pleasecall K. Dusit. Tel: 09-652-4747, 09-4745669.

PROFESSIONALdata recovery. We do allkinds of computer magic.Tel: 076-383575, 06-6827277. Please see ourwebsite at: www.phuket-data-wizards. com

C L A S S I F I E D SOctober 29 - November 4, 2005 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 43

Wheels & Motors

Rentals

Saloon Cars

Motorbikes

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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 80 baht,with a minimum of 4 lines (heading included) per ad.

All advertising must be paid for in advance.

Deadline for Wheels & Motors page: Saturday 12 noon.

Wheelsheelsheelsheelsheels & MotorsotorsotorsotorsotorsAdvertisements

Need wheels? Check out

www.phuketgazette.net

LOW PRICE

Low price for long-term rent.Many types of new cars,with CD player and insurance,and well maintained. Tel:01-6078567. Email: suksavat@hotmail.com

A1 CAR RENTAL

Cars, trucks, jeep, 7-seatpeople carrier for rent; fully-insured. From 10,000 baht amonth; special long-termrates. Please call for moreinfo. Tel: 09-8314703.

Phuket’s Most Trusted &

Reputable Supplier of the Finest

Quality Used SALOONS,

SEDANS, JEEPS & PICKUPS

New cars or trade-ins –we have what you’re

looking forFor more info pls call us at

Tel: 076-224632, 216243

www.suremotor.com

TOYOTA D4D 3000In best condition, November 2003, 100,000km.Airbag, adjustable steering wheel and special sunprotector film for all windows. Selling for 620,000

baht. Tel: 04-8374429.

Others

CAR FOR RENT

Suzuki Caribian jeep withpower steering, in good con-dition and with first class in-surance, for long-term rent.Asking 10,900 baht permonth. Please call for moreinformation. Tel: 01-537-1050.

’69 VOLKSWAGONHas many new parts, air con-ditioning and all receipts. Ask-ing 65,000 baht. Please callfor more details. Tel: 07-887-5301.

YAMAHA A102 years old, blue, in goodcondition with 29,000km onit. Asking 25,000 baht. Tel:07-2774903, 07-2658865.

KAWASAKIBOSS 175

New, 300km, bought newfor 95,000 baht. Selling for80,000 baht. Please call formore information. Tel: 01-6078000.

115,000 BAHTLAND ROVER

LR88 for sale. Short wheel-base, box body, Toyota dieselengine, rest stock. Car can beseen near Chalong round-about at Land Rover shop onChao Fa East Rd. Please con-tact for more information.Tel: 01-2734000. Email:charly@bonello.de

CHEROKEEFOR RENT

Jeep Cherokee, 4.0L, auto-matic, with leather seats anda CD-player – a luxuriousand very safe car. For rent,with first-class insurance, for22,000 baht a month. Tel:01-3430777.

JRD FOR SALE

JRD Quest JQ, 125cc,2004, in yellow, for 28,000baht. JRD Snow JS, 125R,2004, in yellow, for 20,000baht. Please contact for moredetails. Tel: 01-8105559.

CHEROKEE LIMITED

2000 new model: 72,000km; auto, green. Asking450,000 baht. Please call formore information. Tel: 01-0808831.

Pickups

TOYOTA CROWN1991, manual gears. 135,000baht. I need to get a car withautomatic transmission. Thisone is manual. It’s a great car.Drive it and find out. Pleasecontact for further info. Tel:076 -248783. Ema i l :johnleinfelder@yahoo.com

MAZDA 3 SPORTNew Mazda 3 Sport, 5 doors,2.0L, black paint, blackleather interior, red numberplate, 10,000km, 3 monthsold. Take over finance withoutguarantor. I paid 430,000 bahtdown payment. Take over for300,000 baht plus 44 pay-ments of 15,300 baht. Pleasecontact for more details.Tel:05-1456238. Email:johan@watsonpropertygroup.com

MERCEDES-BENZ 230E1985, leather seats, in goodcondition. 250,000 baht.Please contact for further in-formation. Tel: 076-215829,09-7764200. Fax: 076-270711. Email: skittiwut@hotmail.com

LUXURY SEDAN1996 Hyundai Sonata 2.0i, 16-valve, full options, engine re-cently overhauled, CD, sur-round sound, alloy wheels,metallic silver color. 210,000baht ono. Please contact forinfo. Tel: 076-328218, 09-6509113. Fax: 076-327624.Email: arg@fa2.de

SINGLE CAB MITSUBISHIMitsubishi L200, 7 years old,in excellent condition, oneowner, 150,000km. 170,000baht. Please contact for moreinformation. Tel: 076-443149,06-2811945. Email: mike@ethailand.com

DAIHATSU MIRA1996, very good condition.Regularly serviced, only64,000km, radio/cassette,new aircon, reliable economi-cal car. 120,000 baht. Pleasecall for information. Tel: 076-333244, 09-9091917. Email:porterat@phuket.ksc.co.th

4 x 4s

7-SEATER WANTEDI am looking for a 7-seatervehicle to rent from October30 through November 12.Please contact for further in-formation. Email: ngc807@aol.com

JEEP WANTEDI require a jeep to rent fromOctober 30 through Novem-ber 12. Please contact fordetails. Email: ngc807@aol.com

Wanted

MOTORBIKE & SIDECARI’m looking for a safe andgood-looking sidecar withwood floor and a seat. Will useto transport my dogs and for(fun) shopping. Must be at-tachable to Honda Wave125cc. please contact me ifyou have one for sale. Tel: 06-7866350. Email: buurmanb@hotmail.com

4 X 4 WANTEDCheap, older 4 x 4 pickuptruck for agricultural use.Doesn’t have to be pretty!Please contact for more infor-mation. Email: mikephuket@hotmail.com

HONDA WAVE S 100CC

Only 8 months old. Front discbrake, black and silver. Goodcondition, well maintained.Only 9,000km. Farangowner. Price: 23,000 bahtono. Tel: 07-1279217. Email:max_beardsley@hotmail.com

HONDA PHANTOMChopper, less than 2 years oldwith only 7,200km. Free ser-vice and warranty for anotheryear. Black, sidebags, oneowner. Cost new: 90,000baht; will sell for 65,000.Please contact for furtherinformation. Tel: 09-2872089.Email: junekata@hotmail. com

TOYOTA JEEP

Tatty Jeep – rusty body, butthe engine is great. 2 newGoodyear Wrangler tires. Of-fers from 90,000 baht.Please contact for more de-tails. Tel: 09-0710169.Email: junglesquad@myway.com

RANGE ROVER 4.2

1994, blue, 111,000km.Everything new and looks likenew. 8-cylinder, all extras,full options. A bargain at550,000 baht. Tel: 07-893-8747. Email: bigbhouda5@hotmail.com

HONDA 750MAGNA

Comes with registrationbook, tax and insurance.Lots of new parts, includingbattery, wheel bearings,drive shaft and tires.55,000 baht. Please con-tact for more information.Tel: 041-595083, 04-844-5301. Email: katana850@hotmail.com

2004 HONDA JAZZ IDSILoaded with Honda options.13,000km, silver color, magwheels, Sony stereo with CDand tape player. Serviced byHonda. 525,000 baht or bestoffer. Tel: 076-388525, 06-8934235. Email: dlj1002000@yahoo.com

44 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E October 29 - November 4, 2005