Phuket News, Events, Weather and stuff

Latest Phuket News

I suggest you check Phuket Wan which is online only, but is now vying with the Phuket Gazette as the best source of Phuket news. There are 2 local Phuket print newspapers in English. The biggest and original is the Phuket Gazette, a newer paper is the Phuket Post, which is more of a magazine than a newspaper.

For more Phuket news sources, see here: Phuket News - Where to Find it


Recent Important Phuket News Headlines

Firstly - Jamie says : Phuket is 100% safe, no troubles, no worries regarding the recent protests in Bangkok. I live here with my wife and 2 young kids. If we did not feel safe, we'd leave. I have lived here nearly 10 years now and have never felt unsafe except on a moped going over the hill to Patong in the rain! Drive safe!


May 4th - ASEAN Summit will be in Phuket June 13 - 14

After meeting with diplomatic representatives from 15 nations this morning, Deputy PM Suthep Teuksuban declared Phuket official host of the June 13-14 Asean Plus Six Summit, with Hilton Phuket Arcadia in Karon as the conference centre.

...The ramifications for Phuket are obvious: get this right and thousands of potential customers in China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and across South East Asia will get the message that Phuket is a secure and safe destination.

More: Phuket Wan


April 22nd - Low Season in Phuket is "Cancelled"

(Jamie says - I have been trying to say this for years! The summer is great!)

A group of local hotels and other businesses in Phuket have “canceled” Low Season – April 15 through November 1 – and are renaming the period more appropriately: "Summer Season". The new designation ('re-branding') is being undertaken to better reflect the fact that Phuket is one of the world’s top year-round vacation and second-home destinations.

“We’re going to have a bit of fun with this campaign, which starts with "canceling the Low Season,” says Nick Anthony, Managing Director of Indigo Real Estate,“ and hopefully in the process expose to the world the fact that during summer (April-November), the period formerly known as the Low Season, Phuket has an abundance of delightful sunny weather. Cooling afternoon showers sometimes refresh the island and set up spectacular sunsets, and it’s also a time of good value with lower occupancy, great deals on rates, and a generally quieter island that hums with local festivals.”

More: Phuket Gazette

... Summer in Phuket website


April 18th - PAD Concert in Phuket

Last night saw more than 30,000 yellow-shirted People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) followers gather in a show of support for injured leader Sondhi Limthongkul at the sold-out PAD 6th political concert, which was aired nationwide on ASTV.

Maj Gen Chamlong Srimuang, one of the PAD’s five core leaders, told the crowd he felt happy to see such a large number of supporters pour in from all over the country.

He never expected the planned concert would have to be staged without fellow core PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul, who survived an assassination attempt in Bangkok on Friday morning, he added.

More: Phuket Gazette



February 13th 2009

Karon Beach power lines going underground

Jamie says "I hope so"! Power lines are one of the ugliest things in Thailand!

The Phuket Office of the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) has announced plans to lay a new underground electric power cable from Karon Circle to Kata Beach.

Work is scheduled to begin in July and to be completed by the end of the year.

At a joint press conference held yesterday, the PEA and Karon Municipality announced that the 1.9-kilometer conduit will cost around 43.6 million baht.


December 12th 2008

Work on new Phuket City market almost complete

Work on the new public market on Ranong Rd in downtown Phuket City is now 90% complete, according to officials at Phuket City Hall.

City official Udom Tansakul yesterday told the Gazette that the only work left to be done involves installation of vendors’ stalls and other finishing touches.



The new market on Ranong Rd will be a vast improvement over the squalid, 50-year-old market it replaces, city officials say.

Jamie Says - The old market was rather disgusting... very old, very smelly. About time it was replaced.


October 27th 2008

Box Jellyfish found in Phuket waters

The Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) has issued an official warning following the collection of almost 40 box jellyfish in a trap in shallow waters, off Ao Nambor, on Phuket’s east coast.

Some 38 of the jellyfish, which favor shallow brackish water, were recovered from a fish trap in a mangrove area on July 30. Eighteen more were found in the same area over a two-day collection period starting on October 20.

The search for the deadly jellyfish followed the reported death of a Swedish tourist off Koh Lanta, where another person was reported stung on April 3 this year.

A two-hour search using a seine off Koh Lanta on August 22 recovered 13 specimens, six of the multi-tentacled Chirodropidae family and seven of the smaller, single-tentacled Carybdeidae family.

The PMBC began their search for the jellyfish in Phuket in early July, working jointly with members of the Disease Control Department’s Epidemiology Office.

The researchers have also questioned staff at four hospitals along the Andaman Coast to learn the incidence and type of jellyfish stings that have been reported there...

More : Phuket Gazette


Recent events and festivals in Phuket

• Loy Kratong 12th November
• Phuket Bike Week

The amazing Vegetarian Festival 2008 was mostly sunny. I was again out and about taking photos and some videos too...

• Phuket Vegetarian festival 2008 Photos in Kathu Shrine
• Phuket Vegetarian festival 2008 Photos in Phuket Town
• Vegetarian festival - some videos


Old Phuket News, some things are not forgotten......


August 29th 2008

Anti Government Protests in Bangkok, Phuket and more.

Seems like this is the big news day of the year. Protests and huge gatherings of PAD (People's Alliance for Democracy) supporters were met by tear gas in Bangkok. Meanwhile in Phuket... I decided to kind of "live blog" for a while.. The situation in Bangkok continues even now, though Phuket is totally normal.

• Phuket Airport Closed by Anti Government Demonstrations


September 16th 2007 - The Plane Crash at Phuket Airport

• Plane Crash at Phuket Airport

December 26th 2004

The tsun... yeh, you know. Big wave. Not very pleasant.

In case nobody ever heard of Phuket, they sure as hell did after the tsunami. If you come now, you won't see any signs of what happened. Khao Lak and Phi Phi were hit harder, but are also looking healthy, if a little empty. My many thoughts below.

• 4 Years After the Tsunami (written December 2008)

• Living through the Tsunami
• Living through the Tsunami Part II
• Life After the Tsunami (Part III)
• A trip to Phi Phi in 2006


Everyone wants to know about the Weather in Phuket:

• Phuket Weather - General Information
• My Phuket Weather Blog - updated almost daily!
• The Wet Season in Phuket - What's it like?

19th September 2006 - Coup in Bangkok - All Quiet in Phuket

Nothing to worry about. Read more here - September 19th - Coup in Thailand. Or have a look at what a (rich kid) Bangkok Blogger had to say - Kitty in Bangkok.


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