QUEER NEWS 4; AROUND THE

NATION 7; HAPPENINGS 9;

HEARD & SCENE, BIKE WEEK

14; KIDS 15; COMPUTERS,

BOOKS 16; HOROSCOPES,

HEALTH 17; EDITORIAL & LET-

TERS 18; ISSUES & ANSWERS

19; TOON TOWN, EDGEWISE 20;

MOTORING 24; WINE 25; GAR-

DENING 28; CLASSIFIEDS 29-35.

PLUS

NEWS: Bypass work to startin May; Gibbon touts nabbed;Phuket Waterworks turns onnew pipelines; Immigration90-day update. Pages 2 & 3

INSIDE STORY: Is it too late tosave the Similans?

Pages 4, 5 & 6

AROUND THE REGION: Earlyclosing in Krabi takes toll onAo Nang’s Centre Point. Page 8

PEOPLE: Dance teacherkeeps local customs alive. Pages 10 & 11

THAILAND TRAVELER: Hang-ing around in heavenly HuaHin. Page 12

AROUND THE ISLAND: SeaGypsies celebrate in style.

Page 13

FIRST PERSON: Tribulations ofa village headman. Page 19

BUSINESS & MONEY: Newrules to avoid credit crunch;Money Talks. Page 21

SPORT: Italian soccer proteaches local youth; PhuketMasters Golf; Samui Regatta.

Pages 22 & 23

GOOD LIVING: Roma Pizze-ria and Ristorante. Page 25

PROPERTY: Home of theWeek in Nai Harn; GrahamDoven. Pages 26 & 27

April 24 - April 30, 2004Volume 11 Issue 17 News Desk - Tel: 076-236555 Daily news at www.phuketgazette.net 20 Baht

The Gazette is publishedin association with

IN THIS ISSUE

Tourists slamPatong stink

BoatmenblockadeAmanpurilaunchBy Gategaeo Phetsawang

DEPRESSING: Garbage and seaweed – the result of a rise in theamount of sewage in the sea – litter Patong Beach.

By Gazette StaffPATONG: The dirty beach,grubby streets and the stinkingsewage system of Phuket’s mostpopular resort town have beensingled out by tourists as the is-sues that require the most urgentaction, according to an authori-tative survey.

The poll, the 3rd PatongBeach Survey, was conducted byeight major hotels in the townand questioned 1,009 tourists.

The survey shows that thegrubbiness of the town is of in-creasing concern, with only 38%of respondents rating the clean-liness of Patong as excellent orvery good, and 21% saying it waspoor or very poor.

Walking areas came in forsevere criticism, being rated aspoor or very poor by 31% of re-spondents, while the number ofpeople satisfied with the qualityof water at the beach droppedfrom 85% in the 2003 survey to82% this year.

Coming in for growingcriticism were tuk-tuk and taxidrivers. Last year, 71% of re-spondents rated the drivers’friendliness as very good or ex-cellent. This year, the figureplummeted to 55%.

There was also bad newsfor the entertainment industry,currently fighting an extendedbattle for later closing times. Just3% of those polled were dissat-isfied with the closing hours ofdiscos and bars, while 61%ticked the excellent or very goodboxes, an increase of four per-centage points over the 2003poll.

Although the vast major-ity of tourists said they felt safeat night in Patong, the level ofsatisfaction at the visibility of

the Tourist Police fell to 87%,from 90% last year and 91% in2002.

Less popular were thetown’s vendors, with only halfof the visitors describing thefriendliness of vendors as excel-lent or very good. Scores forprices and quality of goods, how-ever, both rose compared withprevious years.

From comments added tosurvey forms by respondents, thepoll’s compilers were able tosingle out three aspects of Patongthat made people happy – thefriendly people; the fun, easy-going atmosphere and the vari-ety of restaurants, bars andshops; and value for money.

Despite negative observa-tions, 90% said they would re-turn to Patong, while 95% saidthey would recommend it tofriends.

On the negative side, apartfrom the cleanliness problem,pushy vendors and the growingrudeness of tuk-tuk and taxi driv-ers, respondents felt that trans-port costs were too high andPatong needed to fix prices orintroduce taxi meters.

The hotels involved in thesurvey have already presented acopy of the survey results to theGovernor of Phuket and otherofficials. In it, they make recom-mendations for improvements.These include:

• Fix transport prices or in-troduce meters;

• Introduce bus routes be-tween beaches;

• Open the wastewatertreatment plant extension andensure that the plant is workingat 100% efficiency;

• Clean up the canal flow-Continued on page 2

KATA: A dispute over businessterritory led to a seaborne block-ade at Kata Beach on April 16during which a motor launchfrom the exclusive Amanpuriresort was forced to sail withouteight passengers.

The 38-foot motor yachtMariTess, operated by Aman-cruises, had been booked to pickup four adults and four childrenfrom Kata Beach and take themto Phi Phi.

But when local boatmensaw the MariTess at Kata and re-alized it was picking up passen-gers, they sprang into action andprevented it from leaving forabout an hour.

Mongkol Maneesri, cap-tain of the Amancruises yacht,told the Gazette that he had anappointment to pick up theguests at 8:30 am on April 16.

“I beached the boat and theguests got aboard,” he said. “Atleast six boat operators then toldme that the boat couldn’t takeguests from the beach and thatthe guests had to get out again.”

The boatmen includedlongtail and speedboat operators,he said.

He added that, normally,the boat picked up guests at BangTao Beach or at the Boat Lagoon.This was the first time an ap-pointment had been made for apick-up at Kata.

“The passengers were notpleased,” he said. “I think they[the boatmen] should be flexiblein cases like this. Sometimes,guests from Kata arrange a pick-up at Bang Tao Beach – there areno bans on boats going to BangTao to pick up passengers.”

He said that, as a compro-mise, he suggested the boat-

Continued on page 2

N E W S2 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E April 24 - April 30, 2004

From page 1men ferry the guests out to theMariTess, but they refused to doso. In the end the guests had totake a car to Chalong to be pickedup at the pier.

“I don’t know why [the lo-cal boatman] did that,” he said,“Maybe it’s because we werepicking up guests in ‘their area’.In future we may collect passen-gers from Chalong Pier becausewe don’t want any more prob-lems with local operators.”

Samrit Taweesaman, Presi-dent of Rak Kata Karon (LoveKata Karon) Club told the Ga-zette that he owns two speedboatsand has operated them for morethan 10 years.

“I get about 10,000 baht [amonth] from this business. It’s [asource of] income for people wholive in the area. If we don’t keepit for local people, what will theydo for a living?”

Met Chulak, President of

operators and masseuses – allearned their income from tour-ism. Each group has specificmembership regulations.

“These groups are membersof the Rak Kata Karon Club,” hesaid. “The club has agreementswith the municipality and alsoliaises with other local commit-tees.

“Although the law doesn’tspecifically say that we can orcannot do this, social rules makeit a suitable arrangement,” hesaid.

“For example, with suchthings as motorbike taxis inKaron, the issues need to be dis-cussed first. Although there areno legal bans, if [local] peoplewere to agree that motorcycletaxis were not suitable, we wouldusually ask for cooperation to endtheir use.”

K. Thawatchai added thatthere are 38 longtail boats andnine speedboats operating offthe three beaches. Because ofthe agreement between the mu-nicipality and the club, no moreboats are allowed to operate inthe area.

He explained, “If one newboat [is allowed to come] here totransport tourists, then more willcome, and it will no longer bewell organized.”

Local monopolies such asthis are common on Phuket. Fif-teen months ago, demonstrationsand threats of violence by tuk-tukdrivers stopped safari companiesfrom picking up their own cus-tomers from hotels in the Kata-Karon area. Instead, the custom-ers were forced to use local tuk-tuks or taxis.

the Longtail Boat Club of Kata,Kata Noi and Karon, said that ifother boats come to do businessat Kata or Karon beaches, thecaptains should first ask for per-mission from the boat club first,by contacting the Kata-KaronMunicipality.

If more boats came to thesebeaches from elsewhere, he said,this would affect local operatorsbecause tourists would go withthose boats instead.

“We have divided up thearea for picking up guests,” hesaid. For example, he said, boatoperators from Kata would notpick up customers at KaronBeach and vice versa.

The Chief AdministrativeOfficer of Karon Municipality,Thawatchai Tongmung, said,“We need to have a well-orga-nized plan for good tourism. Oth-erwise people will just comefrom everywhere and set up busi-nesses at will.”

He explained that localpeople – taxi drivers, beach chairowners, longtail boatmen, jet-ski

Kata boatmen blockade Amancruises launch

File photo of the MariTess and a sister launch – its intendedpassengers were forced to stay on the beach.

OOPS: Passers-by atthe Thepkrasattri Rd-Komarapaj Rd inter-section in Phuket Cityon the evening of April17 were astonished tocome across thishumpbacked pickuptruck.

Witnesses saidthat the truck, heavilyladen with fruit, wasnot involved in anaccident, but had jack-knifed – vertically –after its driver slammedon the brakes at thetraffic lights.

A practicallessonin physics

From page 1ing into the south end of thebeach;

• Ban tailors’ representa-tives and timeshare salespeoplefrom soliciting business on side-walks; and

• Consider creating a largeparking area for all private carsand rental cars, then ban trafficfrom the beach road.

The hotels, in their remarksintroducing the survey, say thatthey worry about the lack of sig-nificant improvement in the fig-ures since the first survey wasconducted in 2002.

“Regrettably the survey ...shows that the problems and dis-likes of our guests [have re-mained] the same for the pastthree years, an indication that notmuch has changed.”

They warn, “In today’scompetitive environment, con-sumers have choices and willspend their money and time indestinations [that] are willing tomeet their demands and desiresfor a problem-free vacation.”

The survey was conductedby the Novotel Coralia Resort,the Horizon Beach Resort Hotel,the Patong Merlin Hotel, theMerlin Beach Resort, the Holi-day Inn Resort, the Burasari Re-sort, the Phuket Grand TropicanaHotel and the Impiana PhuketCabana.

Tourist pollhighlightsproblemsof Patong

CHERNG TALAY: The 11th SeaTurtle Conservation Ceremonywas held on Friday, April 16, onBang Tao Beach.

Participants enjoyed the“sale” of 200 juvenile sea turtlesto the public as well as other ac-tivities involving the specialguests, Phuket Governor, Udom-sak Usawarangkura, and MissThailand Universe 2004, Mora-kot “Amy” Kittisara.

The event was organized byLaguna Resort & Hotels Plc andthe five Laguna resorts, thePhuket Provincial Government,the Royal Thai Navy Third Na-val Area Command and thePhuket Marine Biological Cen-ter.

Turtles freed onBang Tao Beach

April 24 - April 30, 2004 N E W S P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 3

3 killed onroads during

Songkran

PATONG: Four photo-taking touts havebeen arrested by police and charged withhaving young gibbons in their possessionwithout the required wildlife licences. Onehas already been fined 20,000 baht.

The men were taken into custodyover Songkran in Patong after a steadystream of complaints from tourists.

Further charges will be laid againstthe four if allegations that the baby gib-bons were drugged can be proven. Theanimals are now in the care of the island’sGibbon Rehabilitation Project.

One man, Tawee Kingjampa – thefirst to be arrested, on April 11– was fined

By Sangkhae Leelanapaporn

Four wildlife touts arrested in Patong20,000 baht by the court. The other three,named as Dej Khunpol, 25, Jaroon Luk-wai, 27, and Suchart Kongyot, were ar-rested on subsequent nights. They werereleased on bail to appear in court later.The maximum penalty for illegal posses-sion of wildlife is four years in jail or afine of 40,000 baht.

With effect from November 2003,the law has required people to declarewildlife in their possession, to registertheir ownership, and to treat the animalswith proper care.

Before the new law came into force,police and wildlife officials were pow-erless to act, even though many peoplecomplained about the treatment of gib-

bons, sea eagles and other animals inPatong, where touts paraded the crea-tures, urging tourists to hold the animalswhile having their photographs taken fora fee.

Awat Nitikul, Chief of the KhaoPrathaew Non-Hunting Area, was del-egated to lead a team of officers in thecase. He said instructions to act came fromthe Forestry Department in Bangkok,which had received many complaintsabout photo-taking touts.

Catching the men required under-cover work with the help of Kathu police,K. Awat said. “The men tried to hide thebaby gibbons under big jackets and showthem as tourists walked past.

“I believe these people were work-ing as a team and I understand that someof them come from Ranong,” he said. “Ourinvestigations are continuing.”

He added, “I heard the cost of onephoto is 500 baht to 1,200 baht. That’sexpensive.”

He noted that the men appeared tothink that they could continue to operatewithout fear of legal action.

K. Awat added that 44 gibbons arelegally registered as being in private own-ership in Phuket.

People who see wildlife being mis-treated or abused may call K. Awat or col-leagues on Tel: 06-6897040, 01-8943120or 07-2684148 around the clock.

PHUKET CITY: Work to widenthe bypass road (ChalermprakiatRor IX Rd) to four lanes and,along one section, to six lanes, isdue to begin on May 7.

The 111-million-baht pro-ject, which will be paid for by thecentral government, will runfrom just south of the Dara SamutSchool intersection (known tomost people as the Thainaan in-tersection) to the Baan Bang Kuintersection, close to the the BoatLagoon marina.

It is scheduled for comple-tion on September 28, 2005, less

Widening of bypassroad begins in May PHUKET CITY: Phuket Immi-

gration Office has renewed itswarning that foreigners holdingany type of one-year extension-of-stay must visit an Immigrationoffice every 90 days to confirmtheir identity and address, or facea 2,000 baht fine.

More stringent applicationof the rules – along with randomvisits by officers to check pass-ports in areas where foreignersgather – will begin in May.

However, foreigners whoreport late, but before the end ofApril, may escape penalty, offi-cials told the Gazette.

The checks are part of in-tensified security to prevent ter-rorism. While the initial warningin November to foreigners about

By Athairat Muangkong than 17 months from the startdate.

Wanchai Wattanasiri, Chiefof the Phuket Provincial High-ways Office, told the Gazette thatthe stretch between the BaanBang Ku and Baan Samkong(Tesco) intersections will be wid-ened to four lanes while the south-ern section will have six lanes.

Compulsory purchaseshave already been made of anumber of parcels of land front-ing the bypass road, and the maincontractor, Chiang Rai HarnCharoen Enterprise Ltd (CRHC),has been appointed.

Little indication has been

given as to what will happenwhen traffic reaches the southernend of the expansion. K. Wanchaitold the Gazette that the threesouthbound lanes will filter intoone lane within 100 meters of theDara Samut School intersection.

The last major road-build-ing project, the road from PhuketCity to the Sarasin Bridge, ran along way over budget and com-pletion date. Addressing concernabout the possibility of similarproblems with the bypass road,K. Wanchai said that if CRHCfails on either count, the com-pany will be blacklisted, barringit from future state projects.

PHUKET CITY: Two new mainswater projects by the Phuket Pro-vincial Waterworks Department(PPWD) are now in operation,and the authority is nearingcompletion of three additionalsupply lines as part of its fiscal2004 budget.

Speaking at the Governor’smonthly press conference at thePhuket Provincial Health Officeon April 19, PPWD chief SayunVareearoonrod said residentscould now apply for hook-upand meters in the two areaswhere construction has beencompleted:

• From Chid Chiow villagenorth to Sapam MunicipalSchool: This pipeline supplieswater to areas north of YaowaratRd, between Thepkrasattri Rdand the bypass road.

The main line starts nearBig C, runs along the bypassroad, past Tesco-Lotus and SoiPaniang and intersects Thepkra-sattri Rd near the Provincial Elec-tricity Authority substation.From there it runs north pastSupercheap, ending near SapamMunicipal School.

• From the Vanich Estate(near the Workor Intersection)south to Leam Tokkae: This pipe-

Visa-holders remindedabout 90-day reporting

90-day reporting followed thecapture in Ayudhya of allegedJamaah Islamiyah terrorist Ham-bali, concern has been mountingmore recently about trouble inThailand’s deep south.

In Phuket, Pol Capt Krissa-rat Nuesen of the ImmigrationOffice told the Gazette that theinitial announcement in Novem-ber about 90-day reporting haddramatically improved Immigra-tion officers’ knowledge of thenumber of foreigners in Phuketand their whereabouts.

He reminded foreignersthat they need to report not justonce, but every 90 days.

He noted that the responsehad been good from Americans,Britons and Australians, but notas good from continental Euro-peans and people from the Indiansub-continent.

In addition to the 2,000 bahtfine, failure to report could affectlong-term visa holders in otherways, Capt Krissarat warned.

“If stamps in a passportshow that the holder has not con-tacted Immigration as the rulesprescribe, this may affect his orher next application for an exten-sion-of-stay,” he explained.

– Dhirarat Boonkongsaen

New water pipelines completedline supplies water to areas inTambon Rassada, including thoseclose to Rassadanusorn Rd, KukuVillage School, Rassada TambonAdministration Organization of-fices, Soi Ta Chin, Soi Kingkaew,Honsaitong Community Center,Srisuthat Rd, Koh Sireh Circle,and the road to PleumsookBeach.

Three additional main linesare still under construction:

• Along Thepkrasattri RdFrom the Phuket Highway sub-district office near Laem Hin Pierto the Vanich Estate. The projectis about 60% complete and isexpected to come into service inabout a month.

• From Phuket Villa 2 southto the Rawai Tambon Adminis-tration Organization offices: Thepipeline will serve areas alongChao Fa West Rd south of theThep-Anusorn Rd intersection,south to Chalong Circle andChalong Pier, and extending fur-ther south along Wiset Rd to theOrBorTor Rawai offices. Work is80% complete.

• Along Sakdidet Rd fromThaiSarco to Cape Panwa View-point. This pipeline will coverareas near Baan Panwa School,Soi Khaokad and South Sea

Farm. Work is 80% complete.The PPWD is responsible

for supplying water to areas inKathu, Patong and Karon Mu-nicipalities as well as areas alongChao Fa East Rd, Chao Fa WestRd and Sakdidet Rd in MuangDistrict. It is not responsible forwater within Phuket City, whichhas its own waterworks depart-ment.

PPWD projects for 2005include 6.94 million baht for in-stallation of 6,400 meters of160mm pipe to provide servicein the following areas: Honsai-tong Village, Tambon Rassada;ThaiSarco, Tambon Wichit; SoiDara, Soi Thida and Soi Suy-Larn-Uthit, Tambon Kathu; SoiLay Rim Chang Restaurant,Tambon Rassada; and Soi BaanKlaang, Tambon Chalong.

During the press confer-ence, Phuket Governor UdomsakUsawawarangkura said that inorder for Phuket to reach its goalof becoming a world-class city,it would eventually need to raiseits public water supplies to drink-ing water quality. In the mean-time, however, he urged residentsto collect rainwater as a way ofmaking supplies last.

– Dhirarat Boonkongsaen

PHUKET: Three people died inaccidents on Phuket roads duringthe official Songkran period,which began on April 9 andended at midnight on Sunday,April 18.

Metha Mekarat, Chief ofthe Phuket Office of Disaster Pre-vention and Mitigation, an-nounced on April 19 that the lat-est two victims were VisanuChulap and Kajornkiat Sae-iew,both 20 and from Mai Khao, whodied in a motorbike smash nearthe Sarasin Bridge on April 18.

K. Metha added that thenumber of people injured duringthe 10 days was 424, marginallyless than the 426 recorded in thesame period last year. The num-ber of accidents fell from 397 lastyear to 363.

Over the 10 days, 2,181people were charged with driv-ing without a license, 1,176 withnot wearing helmets, 258 withnot wearing seatbelts, 155 withdrunk driving, 65 with drivingillegally modified vehicles, andtwo with speeding.

– Sangkhae Leelanapaporn

I N S I D E S T O R Y4 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E April 24 - April 30, 2004

Queer News

Glowing example ofthe value of tattoos

Astorm is brewing in theAndaman Sea, but it isnot part of the annualmonsoon. As record

numbers of tourists enter theSimilans Marine National Park,a group of well-established divetour operators are calling for lim-its, arguing that the park is dan-gerously overcrowded and suf-fering from environmental dam-age.

The islands are still listedin many guidebooks as beingamong the world’s Top 10 div-ing destinations, the kind of at-traction that has caused diversand other tourists to flock there.

The result? Overcrowdingthat has created dangerous stres-ses to the islands’ delicate ma-rine and terrestrial ecosystems.

Located about 100 kilome-ters northwest of Phuket, theSimilans’ greatest protection hasalways been remoteness. Butdive operators feel that the parkis heading in the same directionas Phi Phi Marine National Park,which has been described bymany as an “environmental ca-tastrophe”, one brought on byexactly the same forces now atwork in the Similans.

The Similans do enjoy pro-tection as a Marine NationalPark, but illegal fishing, over-crowding of dive sites and toomany overnight campers arepushing the islands to breakingpoint.

Tour operators and park of-ficials agree that overcrowdingis a serious problem, but thereis less agreement about what, ifanything, can be done to pre-serve the islands’ pristine eco-systems.

The man in the middle ofthis maelstrom is Similan MarineNational Park Chief VithayaHongvengchan. He admits thatthe number of touristsentering the park isincreasing annually,but says he is now re-evaluating just howmany tourists shouldbe allowed into thepark during its six-month open season,from November 15 toMay 15.

Figures talliedfrom entry fee re-ceipts show that justover 50,000 visitors entered thepark in 2003. By the end of the2004 season, however, K. Vitha-ya expects 54,000 visitors willhave entered the park, about9,000 a month during high sea-son, or 300 a day.

In an effort to cap the arriv-als, the park designated 2004 asthe last year boats could registerto ferry passengers into the park.

The moratorium might help

Is Paradiseat riskof goingall to hell?in the long run, but in the shortterm it seems to have backfired.The number of registered vesselsskyrocketed from 40 boats lastyear to 126 in 2004, with touroperators from as far away asPattaya registering vessels withthe park in a desperate attemptto get a foot in the door before itis slammed shut.

K. Vithaya has also takenaction against unscrupulous touroperators, the kind who engagein false advertising by tellingcustomers that the islands havefacilities that don’t exist and whobring in more tourists than thepark’s limited overnight facilitiescan accommodate.

The park contains basic,reasonably-priced rooms and

tents that can bebooked in advance.Four of the islandsoffers such accom-modation, for about200 tourists each.

But in the re-cent past, as many as6,000 tourists werebrought to the is-lands over long holi-days, each thinkingthey had a place tostay, only to find out

that the facilities were fullybooked.

After paying a tidy sum andbeing promised comfortablerooms, many had to sleep on thebeach. K. Vithaya said he hassolved this problem, however, byrefusing to license cheating tourcompanies to operate in the park.

The park is also re-evaluat-ing how many tourists should beallowed to stay overnight on the

islands, he said, because all of thetrash they generate needs to beferried out.

He estimates that touristsgenerate 500 kilograms to onetonne of garbage a week. Of this,70% is carried away by diveboats. The remaining 30% istaken out by park officers onweekends, he said.

But trash isn’t the onlyproblem. This year, supplies offresh water were only justenough to meet demand, headded – and that was only thanksto some unexpected heavy rain.

“I am worried that theSimilans will become another PhiPhi Island if we do not controlthe situation now,” K. Vithayasaid, voicing everyone’s greatestfear.

One person who has wit-nessed the Similans’ growingpopularity with distress is Dutch-man Jeroen Deknatel, owner ofboth Fantasea Divers and OceanRover Cruises.

Having operated live-aboard diving trips to the islandssince the late 1970s, Mr Deknatelis also worried that the Similansmay be doomed to the same fateas Phi Phi.

“This issue is very dear tomy heart,” he told the Gazette. “Inthe late ’70s and early ’80s, I wasone of the first operators to bringdivers to both Phi Phi and theSimilans. I know what both is-land groups were like then, and Idare not contemplate what theSimilans will be like 10 yearsfrom now.

“There are simply too manypeople there at any given time.Just too many boats, too manybodies, too many divers, toomuch of everything. It’s morethan the islands can sustain,” hesaid.

He is also pessimistic aboutthe will of the Thai authorities tolimit the number of visitors.

“Thai tourism authoritieshave a love affair with big num-bers. They preach low-impact,niche tourism, but practice some-thing entirely different: ‘Bring onthe busloads or boatloads of mass

THE SIMILANS

“There are simplytoo many people

there at any given time.

It’s more thanthe islands

can sustain.”– Jeroen Deknatel,Fantasea Divers.

A special investigation by the Gazette’s Stephen Fein andSangkhae Leelanapaporn

ROI-ET: A group of volunteerworkers who were digging upbodies in a temple graveyard inMuang district discovered thecorpse of a man whose tattoo re-portedly mummified the skin onhis back, protecting it from de-cay and giving it the appearanceof normal, living flesh.

The volunteers of the Roi-Et branch of the Eik Luk ChiangTeung Foundation were exhum-ing the bodies of anonymoussouls buried in a paupers’ grave-yard at Tambon Robmuang Tem-ple in Muang district. This ishardly what most people wouldchoose to do on their day off, butthe volunteers believe exhumingand cremating such bodies withproper religious rites is a goodway of keeping disquieted soulsfrom wandering the city, wreak-ing havoc on the living.

All was going as well ascould be expected for such amorbid activity, until stunnedworkers came across the remainsof a male corpse that had a largepatch of skin that looked ashealthy as that of any living per-son – even though the rest of thecorpse was little more than a skel-eton.

The skin was described as

about 50 centimeters long, 20cmwide, and bore a black tattoo inthe shape of a dragon. The reportnoted that the skin was perfectlypreserved and had no foul odorwhatsoever.

Based on the state of decayof the rest of the body, Founda-tion Chairman Satian Chatban-cha estimated it had been buriedabout eight years ago. He said hetried to cut into the skin with asharp knife but was unable topenetrate it, and that the bonesappeared to bear strange alpha-betical markings.

The chill factor deepenedwhen Phra Tha Thitsrilo,79, ofPaudompraisorn Temple, said,“Often in the early morning dark-ness, I have seen strange lightemanating from the area wherethe body was buried and stream-ing up into the sky.

“This most often happenedon Buddhist holidays. I tried tofind the exact source of the light,but was unable to. I haven’t seenthe light for about a month.

“Now, with the discovery ofthis corpse, many people thinkthat the light I saw must havecome from the corpse – and theythink it’s a miracle,” he said.

Source: Daily News

SONGKHLA: While the myththat Marilyn Monroe had asixth toe surgically removedmay be one of the greatest ur-ban legends of all time, a kittenin Chana District is the realdeal: it has six claws on eachpaw instead of the normalcomplement of just five.

But while this may be badluck for the rats, cockroaches,house lizards and and other ver-min that infest Village 4 ofTambon Banna, local residentsare sure that the cat, named

Boonlua, is a harbinger of goodluck.

In fact, many neighborshave appeared at the doorstep ofowner Prakong Trakulkij, 58,asking if they could rub the littlepussy. They believe doing so willsomehow transmit to them thewinning digits in the lottery draw.

But the beleagured owner isnot so enthusiastic about all theattention his kitten has attracted.“I really have to plead with thesepeople to stop bothering my cat,”he said. Source: Daily News

A little extra in the kitty

I N S I D E S T O R YApril 24 - April 30, 2004 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 5

tourists, we need statistics show-ing bigger numbers than lastyear’,” he said sarcastically.

“Now, there is a huge influxof day-boats. A lot of live-aboardoperators believe that the day-boats are really bad news for theSimilans, because they tend tobring in less-experienced diverswho do more coral damage andother things that can harm theenvironment.

“Most of the live-aboarddivers are more experienced andtend to have better diving skills,”he said.

“Many years ago, I was thefirst person to bring divers to theSimilan Islands regularly. Formany years I was sort of alone atthe islands. If I go now, it’s justheart-breaking – very sad,” hesaid.

Among divemasters, wordslike “circus” and “zoo” are rou-tinely used to describe conditionsat popular dive sites. Even parkchief Vithaya describes the situ-ation as resembling an “open-airmarket under the water”.

Alistair Beveridge, Presi-dent of the Dive Operators’ Clubof Thailand (DOCT), PhuketChapter, agrees that there are toomany dive companies operatingin the park.

“The problem started aboutthree years ago when day-tripboats, catamarans and speedboats from Phuket and Tab Lamu

in Phang Nga started arriving,”he said.

“The number of visitorsbegan to rise dramatically. Untilthen, there was a relatively stablenumber of live-aboard boats. Itis the day-trip operators whohave increased the number ofvisitors.

“The islands’ beauty andenvironment can be maintained.They should not be allowed todeteriorate into a Phi Phi-styleenvironmental disaster.

“They will be saved if thereis strong leadership from theNational Park and well-trained,enthusiastic park staff.

“Most importantly, theywill be saved if the dive opera-tors work as one body and self-

regulate their operations,” MrBeveridge added.

“The National Park offi-cials are doing a good job admin-istering the park.

“They have limited man-power and resources, but try touse them as effectively as pos-sible.

“It is also the responsibil-ity of each dive operator to help‘police’ the park by assisting parkstaff where necessary. The parkstaff should improve communi-cation with the dive companies

and inform them when some newpolicy is about to be imple-mented,” he said.

But Fantasea Divers’ MrDeknatel thinks that too manypeople, both government offi-cials and tour operators, view thepark as a “cash cow” rather thanas a fragile marine ecosystem. Healso thinks that the reported9,000 visitors a month is farlower than the actual figure.

Though he says he respectspark chief Vithaya as a man ofhonesty and integrity, he is less

complimentary about the way thepark is administered.

He thinks the system usedto collect park entrance fees fromdivers leads to corruption bysome park staff who collect parkfees, then under-report the actualnumber of divers and pocket thedifference.

“Everyone can see howmany boats there are now,” MrDeknatel said. “If you do themath, it is clear that the amountof money the park officially de-clares as income from fees ismuch lower than the amountthere should be,” he told the Ga-zette.

Park chief Vithaya agreesthat some people are taking ad-vantage of the situation, but in hisopinion it is the divemasters whoare cashing in.

Thais pay 40 baht to enterthe park and foreigners pay 200baht. But all those who enter toscuba dive are charged an addi-tional 200-baht-a-day “user” fee,regardless of nationality.

Park chief Vithaya told theGazette that some divemasterscan rake in as much as 30,000baht on a single tour by chargingtheir customers the fees, thenunder-reporting the number ofdivers they are bringing in andpocketing the difference.

He also cites the failure ofdivemasters to provide him withtheir diving plans as another ma-jor problem, turning fee collec-tion into a game of cat-and-mouse.

And with the increasingnumber of vessels – many ofthem speedboats – it’s almostimpossible for the park officialsin their longtail boats to keeptrack of everyone who enters thepark.

When told that park chiefVithaya suspected divemasters ofmalfeasance, Mr Deknatel re-plied, “K. Vithaya is a good per-son and I believe he is sincere.His natural reaction is to point thefinger at cheating divemasters.The dive operators’ natural reac-tion is to accuse the park staff.

“But the fact is that theticket-and-receipt system used inthe park is not watertight. Thereis probably some cheating goingon, on both sides. All this could

Continued on page 6

“The Similans will besaved if there is

strong leadershipfrom the National

Park and well-trained,enthusiastic park

staff.Most importantly,

they will be saved ifthe dive operatorswork as one body.”– Alistair Beveridge,President of DOCT.

6 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E April 24 - April 30, 2004I N S I D E S T O R Y

Paradise in perilContinued from page 5

be avoided if my plan [for a bid-ding and pre-payment system]were adopted,” he said.

But bad environmentalpractices by divers and flimsyaccounting are far from the worstthreat to the islands, Mr Deknatelsaid.

“One of the most glaringshortcomings of the park staff istheir inability to ban commercialfishing boats from park waters.

“I can hardly blame them.Going head-to-head with thefishermen is dangerous. The parkofficials’ superiors in Bangkokshould back them up and get theNavy or Marine Police to protectthe park rangers.

“Chief Vithaya once toldme there have been several oc-casions where he or his col-leagues have been threatened andeven shot at,” he said.

“Currently, islands No. 1and No. 2 are off-limits to diversand I do not know of any diveoperator who has violated thisban. What I do know is that thereare local people who have goodcontacts with certain naval au-thorities.

“They boast of going tothese off-limit islands to enjoydiving, spear-fishing and camp-ing on the beach. I wonder whathappens to the turtle eggs there?

“It is an open secret amongsport fishing operators that theycan fish at these islands at nightwithout fear of being caught bythe park authorities.

“Again, this proves thatthere is nothing to gain by declar-ing certain parts of the islandsoff-limits to divers. It only in-

creases pressure on the other ar-eas and denies [the off-limits is-lands] the protection that thepresence of dive boats gives,” hesaid.

“For this same reason, theSimilans should not be closed forsix months a year. As soon as thedive boats leave, the commercialfishing trawlers move in.

“Dive boats can be the eyesand ears of the authorities. Thisis what helped to stop dynamitefishing in Thai waters a long timeago,” he concluded.

Sea Rover divemaster HansTibboel agrees that the trawlersare the biggest threat to the healthof the islands.

“The biggest danger is theenormous pressure of fishingtrawlers and boats that drop an-chors and garbage on the reefsand put their nets, traps and linesright on top of the fragile coral,”he said.

Like most divers, he wouldlike to see commercial fishermenbanned from the park, except forshelter during bad weather.

He also thinks the numberof boats of any kind poses dan-gers and that many divemastersneed better training.

“It’s not uncommon at allnowadays in the Similans or atRichelieu Rock to see dive boatspassing too close or speedingover surfacing or descendingdivers. What surprises me is thatno real accidents have happenedso far this year.

“It’s a zoo out here, andsooner or later something reallybad will probably happen be-cause there are so many clownsout here,” he said.

While the number of day-trip dive operators has increased,they aren’t the only ones makingday-trips into the park. An in-creasing number of day-touristsare now being transported to theSimilans for hiking, beach ex-ploring and snorkeling.

The most notable tourist car-rier is the Seatran Express 2, ahigh-tech vessel that cruises at 30knots, fast enough and largeenough to carry 160 passengers tothe islands in just over two hoursfrom its berth in Patong Bay.

Seatran Managing DirectorTanan Tanphaibul told the Ga-zette that the ferry is now aver-aging 50-60 passengers a day,though the numbers are far higheron weekends and on long holi-days.

Express 2 has successfullydone what would have been un-thinkable a few years ago; it hasput the Similans within reach ofweekend tourists from Bangkok.

But while the arrival of Ex-press 2 every day may causesome commotion and noise pol-

lution [its tour guides herd theday trippers about using mega-phones], its physical toll on theislands is limited.

All of the equipment theday-trippers need, includingmasks and snorkels, is kept on theisland and reused. Most Seatranstourists go ashore empty-handedfor a few hours, after eating abuffet lunch aboard the vessel. Itsholding tanks allow wastes to bedischarged in deep waters, farfrom the park, during the returntrip.

Like everyone the Gazettespoke to, K. Tanan expressedgreat concern over the Similans’future. He thinks the six-monthclosure is good for the park be-cause it gives the environmenttime to recuperate.

Park chief Vithaya does notthink day trippers create the samekind of environmental stress asthose who stay overnight or thoseon dive trips who stay longenough to need provisions – andgenerate waste.

He also noted that Express

2 has its own buoy, unlike manydive vessels that scramble formooring spots. There are no pierson any of the islands.

K. Vithaya noted thatspeedboats operating day tripstend to race from site-to-site,grabbing moorings ahead of thelarger live-aboard boats, andsometimes not waiting in line.

This creates the kind of fric-tion that could be avoided if ev-erybody would abide by parkrules and submit their dive plans,he said, though he noted that thearrival of inspectors from theCrime Suppression Division hashelped to bring about better com-pliance.

K. Vithaya wants to set upthree zones in the park, so thatinexperienced divers would notbe permitted into areas withabundant coral, in order to pre-vent damage to the best reefs.

Noted underwater photog-rapher Mark Strickland brandedthe scheme unworkable, if onlybecause it raised questions aboutwho could judge who is an “ex-perienced” diver and who is not.

K. Vithaya, however, didnot see things that way. “Thesecompanies seem interested onlyin profit,” he said. “I think if theywere sincere about conservingour natural resources, they wouldsupport my plan for strict zoningmeasures,” he said.

With divers, illegal fisher-men, commercial tour operatorsand other vested interests allcompeting for the Similans’ lim-ited resources, it’s clear that find-ing an equitable solution to theproblem could be a long way off.

But if one isn’t found soon,there may not be much left tofight over. Some dive operatorsare already turning their attentionto more remote sites – in Burma.

a

BEACH INVASION: As another landing craft hoves into view,this lucky tourist might not be getting away from it all.

A R O U N D T H E N A T I O NApril 24 - April 30, 2004 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 7

Around the Nation news roundupis sourced from the pages of TheNation and Kom Chad Lueknewspapers.

Smart cards to track student loansThe government is con

sidering using new chip-embedded ID cardsto track the employment

records of graduates and to remittheir student loan repayments,Prime Minister Thaksin Shina-watra has announced.

Under the system, borrow-ers would pay tuition and educa-tion expenses with their smartcard, and the transactions wouldbe automatically debited fromtheir student-loan accounts.

After a grace period, eachgraduate’s ID card will be usedto compute repayment install-ments based on the graduate’searnings and automatically sus-pend repayments if his or her in-come drops below a certain level.

PM Thaksin said thescheme would make higher edu-cation more accessible and lessdependent on state support.

Another expected result isthe reduction of the default inter-est rate on student loans becausethe repayments will be tied tosalaries.

Caving in: Villagers on KohMook in Trang ended a two-dayblockade of the popular Morakot(Emerald) Cave after authoritiesagreed to transfer the island’snational park chief. About 500villagers used their longtail boatsto block the sea entrance to thecave, a popular tourist site in theSikao District.

Villagers called for Pra-yoon Srisuwan, chief of the HatChao Mai National Park, to beremoved, claiming he had or-dered park officials to fell 100coconut trees on the island, thusharming its environment.

Kampol Wongteerarit, thedirector of the Parks Departmentoffice for southern Thailand, metwith the representatives of theangry villagers for three hours.Villagers agreed to end the block-ade after he pledged to removeK. Prayoon.

Thai Janet Jackson? Policeare searching for a dancer whoabruptly peeled off her top dur-ing a Songkran dance at TheMarket shopping mall in Pattaya.

The young woman, identi-fied only as “Nong Bo”, was one

HE'S THE ONE! Miss Tiffany Universe 2004, Saknarind Malyaporn, 19, is congratulated by,from left, runner-up Kittirat Sukpoon, 21, and second runner-up Prakorb Charonkul, 20,after winning the coveted title in Pattaya. In October, transgender contestants from morethan 40 countries will come to Pattaya to compete in the Miss International Queen contest,to be held in Thailand for the first time.

of five dancers hired to spice upSongkran festivities at the mallwith a mermaid performance.Before a throng of shoppers,Nong Bo suddenly ripped off hertop, leaving only a chain of shellshanging over her breasts. Wit-nesses said they saw stickers cov-ering her nipples.

A spokesman for the RoyalThai Police condemned NongBo’s act as obscene and pledgedto take action against her andthose behind the performance.Organizers of the show deniedthey had paid her to remove hertop. Committing an obscene actin public in Thailand is punish-able by a 500-baht fine.

Teens in Thailand: Literary de-scriptions of life as a young per-son in Thailand have won Chom-punoot Tangtavorn and EstherJoy McCarty tickets to Ireland toattend the IMPAC Dublin Liter-ary Awards.

The two girls wrote win-ning essays for the Junior IMPACDublin Literary Awards for Thai-land. Entrants were asked to de-scribe in writing their feelings onwhat it is like being a teenager inThailand today.

K. Chompunoot, winner ofthe Thai category, is a graduateof Triam Udom Suksa and haswon many awards, including agovernment scholarship to studylaw in France. Although writingpoetry is her passion, she said shewould eventually like to work asa government official.

Winner of the non-Thai cat-egory was a 17-year-old Ameri-can, Esther Joy McCarty, whosaid her experience living amongforeign cultures has made heranything but a typical teen.

She said that teenagersaround the world share charac-teristics, particularly the desirefor independence.

Like K. Chompunoot, MissMcCarty said that she believesher parents have played a majorrole in shaping her outlook. Shecame with her parents from theUS to Thailand three years ago,and the family settled in ChiangMai.

Floral crisis: Wildfires scorched1,250 rai in Doi Inthanon Na-tional Park in Chiang Mai, rav-aging thousands of 50-year-oldericaceae shrubs and threateningthe park’s ecosystem.

It will take more than 10years for the flowering ericaceaeshrub, the park’s symbol, to re-cover to normal levels, said

Veerachai na Nakhon, director ofMae Rim Botanical Garden.Other important species, such asorchids and ferns, could also dis-appear from area, he said.

A forest official blamed thefires on hot, dry conditions andcareless hunters who light firesto create smoke to drive theirprey into the open.

Patent pending: Prime Minis-ter Thaksin Shinawatra voicedhis support for a plan to manu-facture bomb- and drug-detectionmachines for use at Immigrationcheckpoints after he inspected aThai-designed device at a univer-sity in Chiang Mai.

PM Thaksin recently vis-ited the Fast Neutron ResearchFacility at Chiang Mai Univer-sity’s Department of Physics,where Prof Thiraphat Vilaithongsaid he and his colleagues hadbeen researching the subject formore than 20 years.

The researchers have al-ready applied for a patent for adetection device they designed.They plan to upgrade the ma-chine if it receives governmentsupport.

Problems with an extra-marital affair?

Questions about Thai culture?

Having communications problems?

Need somebody to Love?

ASK KHUN WANIDA!

MOMMA DUCK

Fax 076-213971or email

momma@phuketgazette.net

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Phuket Gazette

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 April 24 - April 30, 2004

ACROSSTHE BAYBy Gus Reynolds

Early closing bars the doors

RIDING OUT THE ROUGH: Early closing time has resulted in less late-night revelry at CentrePoint, where the rent for one site reportedly plummeted after the lot was vacant for 18 months.

As bar owners adjust toa more strictly en-forced closing time,their clientèle has

changed behavior as well. Previ-ously, the bars at Centre Pointwere the focal point for punterslooking for late-night activity andafter-hours entertainment.

However, with 2 am clos-ing being enforced – at least onan intermittent basis – many lo-cal bars have lost their allure.Some are up for sale, and othershave closed for good.

Late-night revelers havemoved on to barson the periphery ofAo Nang, outsidethe tourist areas,where the closingtime is not enforc-ed and they canparty all night long.

The KR Barseems to be theonly bar at CentrePoint with custom-ers. Owner SayanYootkoon says thatbusiness has soft-ened since thecrackdown on 2 amclosing began, butthat his bar hasbeen able to sur-vive since it does not cater to thebar girl scene.

Rent roundup: There are somesigns that the rents at CentrePoint may fall. While most of theowners of the beer bars at thecomplex are locked in for threeyears, there are still vacant lotsthere. One space, which previ-ously rented for 200,000 baht ayear, has been reported as rentedfor about 30,000 baht a year af-ter it sat vacant for 18 months.

Rental prices on the beach-front remain strong, with reportsof record high prices being paidfor next season. Let’s just hopefor more customers next year.

Getting set for the wet: As weapproach the beginning of theofficial low season – for many it

already appears to have started –it seems timely to give an updateon the popular entertainmentvenues in the area.

As noted, most of the barsat Centre Point will be closed,and some for good. KR Bar willkeep its doors open, along withthe Full Moon House, the oldest,best-known bar in Ao Nang.Most of the beachfront restau-

rants will be open.Silvano Silvagni,the cordial ownerof La Luna ItalianRestaurant, has al-ready returned toItaly for threemonths, so his shopwill probably closeafter the Songkranholidays.

English John,owner of the En-glish Rose restau-rant, has also re-turned home, so nomore Sunday roaststhere for a while.Instead, head up tothe Irish Rover,

where Kevin and staff serveroasts and a good selection ofdraft beers.

Encore Café will keep play-ing tunes, with four nights of livemusic weekly. Monday and Fri-days will see Déjà Vuplaying jazz and pop,while on Tuesdays andThursdays the housewill rock with classicrock hits from TheBeaters. JJ’s will con-tinue to show all majorsports events live andthe two premier steakhouses, Café 154 andCarnivore, will continue servingdinner.

Clean start: People say thatlong-term expats are cynical andjaded. And for sure, there are a

number of them that fall into thatcategory. On the other hand, itis always amazing to see thegullibility of the average new-

comer to Thailand.Holiday visitors andtourists are attractedby the easy-going na-ture of Thai people,the excellent food,scenery and weather.

However, takinga holiday and doingbusiness are differentmatters. As newcomers

look around and comment on thebusiness opportunities begging,they don’t even consider thecomplexities of a different lan-guage, culture and legal system.

As a result, many an aspir-

ing business person has experi-enced disastrous results trying toestablish a business here. Severalconsulting firms have been start-ed in Krabi over the years to helpnewcomers find their waythrough the maze of immigration,tax and legal issues.

But it is always amazing tosee newbies who think they aredifferent and can do it alone, en-gaging in totally illogical andself-destructive behavior.

For example, would youpay a deposit to buy a home –without seeing a title deed or do-ing a title search, much less with-out a contract – to a person youmet just a few days earlier?

“But they are such nicepeople,” comes the usual reply.

“In fact, they even drove me tothe bank to make the withdraw-al.” Well, we now have a bitterexpat who is 100,000 baht poorerand is still shaking his head inamazement at his own stupidity.True story.

There are enough of thesestories to fill a book, one which Iintend to write one day. Somestories are funny, most are not.Con artists play on the gullibil-ity of newcomers, separatingthem from a good deal of theirmoney.

The next time you find anold-time expat making a cynicalcomment, remember that theyhave probably seen it all over theyears. If you buy them a beer, youmight get some good advice.

Do Not DrinkTap Water!

H A P P E N I N G SApril 24 - April 30, 2004 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 9

T his week

A ROSE-TINTED SPECTACLE: Phuket Vice-Governor Pongpow Ketthong(right) and actress Sikharintarn Plaipluet joined Hiran Moosopon at theopening of his new entertainment venue, The Crocodile, in Patong.

MEDALLION MEN ... AND WOMAN: Enjoying themselves at the Chaîne des RôtisseursPhuket dining club’s recent black-tie event at the Otowa Japanese Restaurant in Patongare (from left): Steven Roberto, Wine and Beverage Director of the Baan Rim Pa Group;Kiichi Nakamura, Otowa’s Manager; Tom McNamara, MD of Baan Rim Pa; Junji Katakura,Executive Chef of Otowa; Sue Armstrong-Ultmann, Director of Marketing at Baan RimPa; and Martin Carpenter of Pleasure Worldwide Group.

FAST FOOD: Giorgio Pantano (center), driver with the Jordan-Ford Formula One team,took a quick pit stop at the Amari Coral Beach Resort before the recent Malaysian GrandPrix. He is flanked by the resort’s Executive Assistant Manager, Daniel Zygmunt (left)and Executive Chef Alexander Mack.

WHITE NIGHTS: The opening party of South Sea Pakarang Resort and Spa in Khao Lakwas attended by, from left: Bogdan Goralczyk, Polish Ambassador to Thailand; NantanaSujiratana, Director and Group General Manager of the resort; Danish Ambassador toThailand Ulrik Helweg-Larsen and his wife; and Rear Adm Amornchote Sujiratana, Chief ofStaff, Third Naval Area Command.

A LOAD OF ... LARGE, SPHERICAL OBJECTS: Showing that they haveplenty, the sales team of JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa celebrate arecent successful sales promotion.

AND YOU TWO MAKE THREE: Panomporn Lernlun (center), ManagingDirector of U2 Computer Company, with a couple of aluminum foil dishesat the launch of his bypass road venture.

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 April 24 - April 30, 2004

gA life inprogressBy Siripansa Somboon

The spirit of the kinaree– a mythical being, halfwoman and half bird –has been with Yod Aud-

sin since he was seven years old.Now aged 65, Ajarn Yod is theliving embodiment of the south-ern folk dance, known as Norah,which cap-tures and por-trays the bird’sspirit.

Colorfulhandmade cos-tumes, elabo-rate headdres-ses and extra-ordinary bodyand handm o v e m e n t screate the en-chantment thatis the hallmarkof Norah dan-cing.

But thedance, and themusic thatgoes with it, isin constantneed of pres-ervation, asnew genera-tions seek dif-ferent formsof entertain-ment.

A j a r nYod’s interest in Norah dancingwas a legacy that came down thegenerations. It was passed to himwhen he was growing up inTrang, by his father.

The Norah Yod Chai PhuketGroup is an attempt to make surethat the skills and traditions of thedance are enjoyed, and pre-served.

For Ajarn Yod, the learningcontinues with the passing years.Only through constant practice

can he maintain his knowledgeand the suppleness of body re-quired to perform the movementsperfectly.

The future of Norah danc-ing relies on a marriage of tradi-tion and technology. When AjarnYod needs to organize a dance

night, he picksup a mobilephone anddoes somemodern net-working. Hecalls brothersand sisters,cousins andfriends whocan dance andplay musicalinstruments.

If he’sin his tradi-tional head-dress and cos-tume, that’squite a sight –especially ifhis fingers stillhave theircurly metalstalls on them,his “Norahnails”.

W h e nhe arrived atThalang in1999, Ajarn

Yod taught Norah at Baan Lipon.There was no shortage of stu-dents; many young people want-ed to learn the timeless dance andto have the spirit of the bird run-ning through their veins.

Ajarn Yod conducted popu-lar classes at the Baan KanaanCouncil of Cultural Affairs inThalang.

These days, he no longerteaches but he is kept busy prac-ticing and performing. His wife

SPIRIT

Dancing Norah requires an agile body and an equally agile mind, says Ajarn Yod Audsin.

P H U K E T P E O P L EApril 24 - April 30, 2004 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 11

works at a market while he pot-ters in his garden. But Ajarn Yodstill maintains the spirit of the bird

OF THE KINAREE

by doing the Norah dance with atroupe about once a fortnight.

He also continues to train

10 former students, continuing thelegacy.

The discipline in Norah is

strict, with successive genera-tions of students being requiredto pay respect to their teacher.

Failure to uphold the principlescan mean bad luck befallingwrong-doers, causing them tolose their appetite or becomemore seriously ill.

The dance involves 12 les-sons, and 12 postures. In additionto being beautiful, dancers needto be gentle, and pliable – right-angle finger bends are required.

An agile mind is required,too – the dancers often have torecite poetry to explain the storyof the dance.

Backing for the dancers isusually supplied by a troupe ofmusicians playing drums, pipes,gongs, cymbals and castanet-likeclappers.

Norah dancing has a spe-cial place at celebrations and cre-mations, and religious ceremo-nies.

A performance in Phuketor the surrounding provincescan vary in cost depending onthe number of performers re-quired, the cost of equipment,food and travel, and the lengthof time of the show, which mayvary from 30 minutes to five orsix hours.

About 5,000 baht will covera two-hour performance, while agroup involving about 50 dancersand musicians over several hourscould cost as much as 30,000 baht.

Ajarn Yod and his grouphave performed at about 80 ven-ues around Phuket in the past fewyears. As he continues to spurinterest in Norah dancing, and thespirit of the bird seems safe withhim.

Anyone wishing to arrange aNorah dance performanceshould contact Ajarn Yod at Tel:076-313402 or 07-2712397, orcall the Tourism Authority ofThailand at Tel: 076-212213.

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12 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E April 24 - April 30, 2004L E I S U R E

ThailandTRAVELER

By Bill Owen

Having recently spenttime in Thailand’sDeep South, it was arefreshing change to

spend a few days in the peaceand calm of Hua Hin.

Despite an increasing num-ber of hotels and resorts, Hua Hinstill manages to maintain its sleepybackwater appeal, and becauseit is not far from Bangkok, theplace has been a favorite week-end destination for residents ofthe capital over the years.

Being the Thai RoyalFamily’s favorite beach retreathas also helped Hua Hin’s suc-cess as a local tourist destination.Here, when staying at their RoyalPalace, HM King BhumibolAdulyadej and his children wereoften seen sailing in the calmwaters of the Gulf.

The palace is still used fre-quently today and the royal en-tourages are often seen drivingthrough the city.

The beaches are spaciousand clean, although not of thequality or charm offered byPhuket or Samui. Like many tra-ditional resorts, Hua Hin offerssuch popular old-time attractions

as horse riding along the beach.We were fortunate to be

offered a few free nights’ staywith my friend John Gill, Resi-dent Manager at the Dusit Re-sort and Polo Club, a few kilo-meters north of the town, nearCha-Am. This is a lovely resortthat showcases all that’s best ofthe Dusit hotels. If you are pass-ing en route to Bangkok or the

North, it is certainly worth a fewdays to stop, relax and pamperyourself there.

Well-known for its innova-tive style, the hotel is home toseveral quirky and fun activities,such as its famed Elephant PoloGames, and host to the excellentHua Hin Cricket Sixes – bothevents well worth attending.

On the first evening, we

popped in for a sundowner at theelegant Sofitel Hua-Hin Resort,formerly the old Railway Hotel.This resort still retains its classicstyle, with its well-manicuredbeachside gardens and its Britishcolonial-style buildings.

We spent time wanderingthrough the small streets of thetown and visited the sprawlingnight market, which is definitelyworthwhile. Although similar

Heavenly Hua Hin

handicrafts and gifts are found atPhuket markets, items at thismarket are far cheaper and shop-ping there involves the proper tra-dition of friendly bargaining.

Later, a quick sortie into SoiBintabaht, which is full of theusual bars and referred to bymany locals as the town’s SoiDisappointment. I wonder why?It’s definitely worth a short visitjust to see the slightly wilder sideof town.

For those in need of a qui-eter hangout, head to NaresdamriRd, with its many local restau-rants and bars.

Off Naresdamri Rd, in theHua Hin Bazaar, is one of the lo-cal expats’ favorite hangouts,which is run by a Scot known sim-ply as Billy. Billy’s Bar offers theusual bar services of pool, livePremier League football and ice-cold beers. They serve a prettymean cocktail too, thanks to thefriendly K. Yai.

Another fun hangout withgood food and drink can be foundin front of the new Hilton HuaHin Resort & Spa, also onNaresdamri Rd. Hua Hin’s ownbrewery, with its good food andexcellent German-style beers, isa little touristy but offers goodservice and booze.

How to Get ThereBy plane: fly to Bangkok, then take a limousine or taxi from theairport, from about 2,500 baht. It is possible to fly direct fromBangkok to Hua Hin, but the time spent transfering from one flightto another is about the same as it takes to drive there.

By bus: overnight buses to Bangkok depart Phuket daily at 6pm, and pass through Hua Hin about 5 am. Tickets from 650 bahta person.

By train from Surat Thani: Train tickets from Surat Thanifrom 550 baht, subject to class and availability.

Where to StayFive-star pampering at the Dusit Resort and Polo Club, from 4,800baht a night. Tel: 032-540009.

Three-star Pavilion Village – good downtown location withexcellent value rooms and beautiful Thai-style décor and designs,from 2,000 baht a night. Tel: 032-533433.

For the budget-conscious, try one of the many small guest-houses found on Soi Bintabaht.

Bill Owen has lived in Phuket andworked in Phuket’s travel indus-try for more than 15 years. He canbe contacted by email at: owen_b@hotmail.com.

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April 24 - April 30, 2004 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 13A R O U N D T H E I S L A N D

At what point do culturaltraditions become soover-hyped and com-mercialized that they

become sad mockeries of them-selves?

In the West, Christmas haslargely degraded into an orgy ofconsumerism, while Thailand’sonce delightful Songkran festivalhas descended into an exercisein immodest self-indulgence.

Perhaps when it comes tocultural traditions, smaller reallyis better. Those hoping to see forthemselves may want to get upearly on May 1 and check out theannual Boat Floating Festival cel-ebrated by Phuket’s indigenousinhabitants, the Na Goo, or ChaoLay or Sea Gypsies as they areknown to Thais and others.

The estimated 2,000 NaGoo living at Laem Nga on KohSireh traditionally hold the festi-val on the 14th and 15th days ofthe sixth and 11th lunar months.This year, the first of these pairsof dates falls on May 1 and 2.

Similar in many respects tothe Loy Kratong festival, the BoatFloating Festival is intended todrive out evil and call on ances-tral spirits to bring good luck.

Phuket’s three Na Goo vil-lages all celebrate the festival,though not necessarily on thesame days. Traditions also varyslightly in terms of the construc-tion methods used to make thesmall, ceremonial boats that areat the center of the celebration,but the intent is essentially thesame.

The hand-carved vessels,about 1.5 meters long, can alsoperhaps be thought of as theequivalent of “floating spirithouses” for a people whose tra-ditional home is on the sea, ratherthan on land.

One fount of knowledgeabout the Boat Floating Festival

is 70-year-old Mae Jiew, probablythe most well-known of Phuket’sNa Goo. As leader of the PornSawan Group, a Na Goo dancetroupe, she holds an award fromHRH Princess Maha Chakri Si-rindhorn for her work in tradi-tional dance.

She outlined the festival ac-tivities. “About four or five daysbeforehand, the men carve theboats from a certain kind of palmtree that is indigenous to thearea,” she explained.

“The small boat is decoratedwith orchids. All the Na Goo jointogether at the community’s cen-tral sala to help and the womenalso prepare a large meal,” sheexplained.

“The village headman col-lects 100 baht from each family,which is used to pay for decora-tions, sweets and food,” she said.

Not only food, but also spe-cial garments are required for thebig day, Mae Jiew explained.

“The important thing is thateverything worn must be new andcolorful, because the festival is

one of renewal. Showing offone’s new clothes to friends is animportant part of the tradition,especially among the children,who spend a lot of time runningfrom house to house showing offtheir garments,” she said.

“After this, everyone gath-ers at the central sala. The head-man makes announcements viaa public address system. Some ofthe older people give their chil-dren money, so in this sense it isalmost like Chinese New Year,”she said.

Well before dawn the fol-lowing day, sweets and other foodare brought to the community’shillside shrine, where they areoffered to the ancestral spirits. Atdawn, the boat is blessed by theheadman, who calls on the ances-tors by saying, “We, the Na Goo,have carved this boat as a repre-sentation of all Na Goo vessels,and we invite our ancestors withus on all our voyages.”

Aboard the ceremonial boatare wooden dolls, made from theleftover wood scraps. Each Na

Goo must make his of her owndoll, which can be personalizedwith nail clippings and strands ofhair. The vessel is also laden withrice, sweets, banknotes and otherofferings to please the spirits.

The Na Goo are happy toshare this tradition, which isthought to be at least 200 yearsold. “Both Thai and foreign tour-ists come to see the festival.Some make merit by donatingmoney, which the Na Goo add tothe boat’s precious cargo.

“Other visitors pray forwealth and good health. They alsocan put their own fingernail clip-

pings and strandsof hair into theboat,” she ex-plained.

“But if theywant to take partin the feast, theyhave to bring theirown food,” sheadded.

After this,the Na Goo per-form their own

version of the Southern Thaidance called the Ram RongNgeng, led of course by MaeJiew. All of the villagers join inwith unrestrained passion, circlingthe small craft in heartfelt songand dance.

After all the preliminarieshave been performed, the smallboat is finally pushed out to seaon its one-way voyage.

“The boat can never bebrought back to shore. If anyonedoes this, they will have commit-ted a great sin,” explained MaeJiew. “This is never a problembecause nobody would ever dareto do such a thing.”

After the boat is put to sea,the Na Goo have a two-day party,feasting and having fun.

“This festival may seemsmall compared with other Thaitraditional festivals, it is unique tothe Phuket Na Goo, the first set-tlers of Phuket,” Mae Jiew addedproudly.

Spiritual renewal for the Na Goo

A link with the seafaring past: the ceremonial model boat takes a one-way voyage carrying the Na Goovillagers’ hopes and prayers. Inset: Mae Jiew.

F E A T U R E S14 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E April 24 - April 30, 2004

The Gazette’s Rittiwat Suwannarattaphum and Athairat Muangkong went out and about and asked,“What is the one thing about yourself that you never want to see in print?” Amazingly, some people told them.

&HEARD&scene

Paul TeeAge: 27From: MalaysiaOccupation: Teacher

I don’t want to see my thoughtsin print. They are really privateand letting others know what Iam thinking might get me intotrouble. Who knows? I amprobably thinking right now ofMadonna kissing me at ourwedding ceremony. I just don’twant people to see what’s onmy mind.

Maki KanekoAge: 32From: JapanOccupation: Teacher

One thing about myself I neverwant to see in print is myeyebrows. I’ve got littleeyebrows, which really makesme shy. My friends often laughat me because of this as well. Ifmy eyebrows were put in print,I might have to paint in fakeones, just so other peoplecouldn’t recognize me.

Tassawan JulaiumAge: 22From: PhuketOccupation: Student

I never want to see my nose inprint. It is laughably flat andusually bothers me in publicbecause I am self-conscious.People who see my flat nose inprint might giggle, possiblyassuming that I come fromIsarn or Laos. This could be atopic of ridiculous gossipamong my friends.

Najnapak KittitornkulAge: 23From: KrabiOccupation: Student

One thing I never want to see inprint is the calves of my legs.They are really huge, as big asthe ones you see on profes-sional soccer players. Somepeople might think I’m DavidBeckham’s twin. My calveslook terrible. But they are justthe right size for taking freekicks.

Romlee SulongseuAge: 33From: Nakhon RatchassimaOccupation: Manager

I wouldn’t like to see in printpictures of myself when I amcrazy drunk, crawling andvomiting, with a beer bottlejammed in my mouth. Thismight make other people seeme in a negative light. I justdon’t want them to think of meas a drunk, though I do like totake a drink now and then.

View Thailand’sLARGEST

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of them !

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WheelerDealers

BIKE WEEKIN PHUKET

A winning smile from Miss Phuket BikeWeek 2004, Elena Volkova of Russia.Members of Heaven’s Devils gather with their bikes.

Above: After opening Bike Week, Interior Minister Bhokin Bhalaku-la took time to meet some of the bikers. Below: Ready to rumble.

S M A L L W O R L DApril 24 - April 30, 2004 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 15

Get your brainin gear with

The Monster Quiz

Nevera CrossWord!

the Fthe Fthe Fthe Fthe Fun Pageun Pageun Pageun Pageun Page

for allfor allfor allfor allfor all

the Fthe Fthe Fthe Fthe Familyamilyamilyamilyamily

KKKKKIDSIDSIDSIDSIDS

Brain Buster!!Q. One day, two mothers and two

daughters went shopping for shoes.Their shopping spree was successful

— each bought a pair of shoes, and alltogether, they had three pairs.

How was this possible?

A. They were daughter, mother and grandmother.

Hidden in the grid below are the names of at least 20novelists. The words may read vertically, horizontally ordiagonally. They may also read right-to-left or down-to-up. See if you can find more than your family or friends.Score: More than 10, good; more than 15, very good; 20

or more, excellent.

Hidden Words

P E M W P C J I C C A P X F J

Y I O A J D Z O G U H R C T U

E T R D H Y Q I B Q E T T D J

L S H P D G K Q X G B Q W R K

X I H A J X U Y K E I D O N I

U R P E M W I A R N Q I N H K

H H K C M M V J M W Q C M P U

L C Y E T I E R P N G K W V A

J Z M W O S N T E R J E S A Y

T C A K L H L G T N T N R C J

Y I O I B E J H W O K S S T Q

N C X Q V R I A L A Y L T V P

D Q K E T W O S O K Y R U D J

C E T M B O T N S S E L W A Z

O L N W L O K V T B A T A I F

R X L N Y D E E U E C U P B S

L G M K P Y I A L L E V A L C

I X L S O N L L G T L U Q F F

H K Q T B F M E L V I L L E A

R W S E F I T Z G E R A L D C

N O C R E L D N A H C V I A J

D K A U S T E N U E T B Z T O

M R Y Y G J B H K K R L P D Y

P J C G R X F A R P A B V G C

K N F D T O F B N B B N Z K E

Across

6. Teacher’s headgear (6,5).

7. Timbuktu country.8. Rectangular.10. Good at.11. Tropical fruit.14. Opposite of alkaline.16. Deserve.17. Eat and drink too much.

Down

1. Mr Duck.2. Disrobed.3. Refrigerator or air

conditioner gas.4. Lower part of a wall.5. Leisurely passage in

music.9. Omit (5, 3).10. Brazil’s great river.12. Vehicle shelter.13. Perfume.15. Thought.

Solution next week.

1. What is the correctword for the metalor plastic end of ashoelace?

2. From whichlanguage does theword “bizarre”derive?

3. What does theoriginal wordmean?

4. By what name wasRose LouiseHovick betterknown?

5. What would youuse a cuspidor for?

6. Who was king ofDenmark from1905 to 1957?

7. Where would you

find an inferior venacava?

8. What is the Rann ofKutch?

9. What word can beused to refer to a spy,an animal, a stonebarrier and a quantityof chemical?

10. By what name isPrince Siddhartabetter known?

11. What does Sieg Heilmean?

12. If you entered agurning competition,what would you berequired to do?

13. What is a habanera?

14. In what profession

would you findlaticinio used?

15. Which country is tothe southwest ofLithuania?

16. Which part of thebody is affected bycoxalgia?

17. Who was KingArthur’s evil half-sister?

18. What weapons did aretiarius use?

19. Which artist wasnicknamed LeDouanier?

20. What is the mainfunction of afarrier?

Answers next week.

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S MONSTER QUIZ

1. Amherst; 2. Superman; 3. Cannibalism; 4. Catherine ofValois; 5. Victor Hugo; 6. $650,000; 7. 1971; 8. Turkish; 9.British Crown Jewels; 10. -38.87ºC; 11. Kirk Douglas; 12.Taking a bath; 13. Silk; 14. Oliver Cromwell; 15. Anne Boleyn;16. Laudanum; 17. When in doubt, mumble; 18. John Wayne;19. John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown; 20. Canada.

Solu

tio

n t

o last

week’s

Crossw

ord

F E A T U R E S16 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E April 24 - April 30, 2004

Off theSHELFBy James Eckardt

WAR AS ANEXERCISE INBOREDOM

Woody Leonhard has written anumber of books in the “...forDummies” series on computing.Readers can contact him at:woody@khunwoody.com

COMPUTERKHUN WOODY’S

War is a guy thing.When I go home toNew York, I spenda lot of time on the

couch with my brother-in-lawwatching black-and-white footage ofWorld War II on theHistory Channel.My sister can’t un-derstand this. Asshe points out, “It’snot as if you don’tknow how it ends.”

So I was over-joyed to receive asa present from myeldest daughter af r e s h l y - m i n t e dhardbound book, Intelligence inWar: Knowledge of the Enemyfrom Napoleon to Al-Qaeda(Alfred A. Knopf,New York, 2003,384pp).

This is the 16th

book by the Englishwar historian, JohnKeegan, often calledthe best military his-torian of moderntimes.

In Intelligencein War, Keegan cov-ers the role of intelli-gence in such eventsas Admiral HoratioNelson’s pursuit of theFrench fleet in Egyptin 1798, StonewallJackson’s 1862 cam-paign in theShenandoah Valley,the sinking of the Ger-man cruiser Emden in1915, the Germanparachute invasion ofCrete in 1942, theBattle of Midway andthe Battle of the At-lantic.

I’m interested in all of this,especially events I know littleabout, such as the Emden sink-ing and the Crete campaign, butI regret to report that much of thisbook is a hard slog. Keegan isboring, repetitive, pompous anddry. He restates his theme adozen times throughout the book,so this one in the middle will dofor all:

“Results in war, in the lastresort, are an affair of the body,not mind; of physical force, notplans or intelligence. Over thelonger run, of course, a power ofsuperior intellectual resource will,if its superiority translates in pos-session of superior industrial,technical and demographicmeans, ineluctably overcome apower inferior in those qualities.There are no examples in military

history of a state weaker inforce than its enemy achievingvictory in a protracted conflict.Force tells. Mind, however, isusually also its concomitant.”

See what Imean? A total of384 pages of thisis a bit much.The view is al-most always ofthe general or theadmiral with fewindividual combatstories to addcolor and imme-diacy.

That said,there are any

number of interesting nuggets.For instance, the war in the Pa-cific was decided in the space

of five minutes onJune 4, 1942, at theBattle of Midway.After Lt CdrClarence McCluskyspotted the wake ofa destroyer that ledto the Japanesefleet of four aircraftcarriers, he led adive bomb attackthat sank three car-riers in five minutes.The Pacific wasAmerican again.

The Ameri-cans had the crucialadvantage of havingbroken the Japanesenaval code. Theyknew the mightyJapanese fleet washeaded for Midway.

Keegan sumsup the situation in arare burst of elo-quence: “The com-manders of Amer-ica’s Pacific Fleet,

after the disaster of Pearl Har-bor, the devastation of the airforce in the Philippines, the de-feat of the Java Sea and thedrawn battle of the Coral Sea,had no margin of strength todabble in diversions. Like a gam-bler with one last throw up hissleeve [Admiral Chester]Nimitz had to stake all on theappearance of the enemy atMidway. It was not a blindgamble. The American intelli-gence organization had count-ed the cards. By the end ofMay, the chips were stacked.The outcome depended on howthe hands would be played.”

But such writing is rare.There must be reasons TomClancy calls Keegan “the bestmilitary historian of our genera-tion”, but this book isn’t one.

‘The Americanintelligence

organization hadcounted the

cards. By the endof May, the chips

were stacked.The outcome

depended on howthe hands would

be played.’

Phuket’s Software Industry Promotion Agency holds its first meeting on Sunday, April 25. If you’reinvolved in software, this is one meeting you don’t want to miss.

Sipa takes its first steps

One hundred and sixtybillion baht – roughly 4billion euros or US dol-lars. That’s the target

market value for Phuket’s soft-ware industry in 2009. Impossible,you say? Come meet the peoplewho are determined to make ithappen.

Phuket’s information andcommunication technology sys-tems will rival those in Singaporeby 2006. Preposterous? Thesefolks say it’s definitely on thecards.

On Sunday, April 25, Phu-ket’s Software Industry Promo-tion Agency (Sipa) holds its firstSoftware Business Seminar. Sipais hoping to draw representativesfrom every software company onthe island.

If you’re involved in soft-ware, there are powerful reasonsto attend: sessions on Board ofInvestment requirements, “onestop” visa and work-permit pro-cessing, current problems withsoftware production, and muchmore.

Dr Manoo Ordeedolchest,President of Sipa in Bangkok, willhost the seminar, with the localSipa team – Dr Pongsak Kerd-vongbundit, President of SipaPhuket, and Dr Rattana Wetpra-sit, Acting Manager – pulling itall together.

Full details, including anagenda and application form, are

at www.phuket.psu.ac.th/sipa. Ifyou’re not too late, download theapplication, fill it out, and bring itwith you to the seminar at Tha-vorn Grand Plaza Hotel in PhuketCity, starting at 9 am on April 25.All of the morning sessions arein English. In the afternoon,they’ll be a mix of Thai and En-glish.

And if you are curious howSingapore is tackling many of thesame challenges, check outwww.ida.gov.sg.

Lowdown from Low Yat: Mytrip to Hong Kong’s computermarkets and open bazaars (bi-zarres?) left me a bit jaded, atleast when itcomes to piratedsoftware. As Iexplained in mycolumn a fewweeks ago, bootleg software iswidely available in almost anymarket in Hong Kong.

In Malaysia, with its lessfreewheeling government, I hadexpected much less in the wayof counterfeit goods, but I was infor a surprise. I couldn’t believethe masses of pirate software onoffer in KL earlier this month.Shop after shop in the immacu-late Low Yat Plaza, in the agingImbi Plaza, even in the scruffytourist shopping districts, offerpirate software by the bucket.

But by contrast, hardware

in Kuala Lumpur isn’t cheap. I’dput it on a par with Panthip Plazain Bangkok (although I’ll re-con-firm that observation soon whenI hit Bangkok again).

That Linksys 802.11g Wi-Firouter that I’ve been using as abenchmark for comparing pricesin Singapore, Hong Kong, the USand Bangkok couldn’t be foundin KL.

While cases of 802.11ghardware fly off the shelves inHong Kong and Singapore, theMalaysian government has yet todetermine if 802.11g is so muchbetter than 802.11b that it repre-sents a major threat to nationalsecurity, or some such drivel.

Whateverthe motivation,the net result isthe same as inBangkok: you

can’t buy the superior 802.11gtechnology in Kuala Lumpur, andnobody has any idea how long itwill take before the powers-that-be will permit it to appear onshelves.

Meanwhile, the people ofKuala Lumpur put up with over-priced, second-rate technology,and watch as the folk in Singa-pore and Hong Kong rocketahead.

While 802.11g technologylanguishes, the older 802.11b Wi-Fi technology is everywhere inKL. The major Internet ServiceProviders now sell “roaming” Wi-Fi hotspot packages.

For about 100 baht a month,you can get full access to any ofthe ISP’s hotspots: walk intoStarbucks, say, and if you sub-scribe to the correct ISP, yourwireless Internet access is free.Same with hundreds of hotspotsthroughout the city. Most impres-sive.

– Woody Leonhardwoody@khunwoody.com

F E A T U R E SApril 24 - April 30, 2004 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 17

TAURUS (April 21-May 21): Anopportunity that you believed tobe out of reach movestantalizingly closer.Those born under Tau-rus should soon be ableto take their rightful places onthe career ladder. Other areasof your life will also benefit frombenevolent astrological influ-ences and single bulls will beimpressed by unexpected ro-mantic attention. Wear emeraldgreen to improve your financialsituation.

GEMINI (May 22-June 21): Yourgood judgment in business mat-ters proves to be use-ful this week. It shouldbe impossible for oth-ers to pull the silk overyour eyes, but at least one per-son is going to try. Keep a care-ful watch for snakes in the un-dergrowth and there should be noproblem. A close relationship issubject to misunderstandings. Beclear about your intentions. Virgohas something interesting to sayon Wednesday.

CANCER (June 22-July 23): Theheat is on, but those born underCancer will not be run-ning on full power thisweek. Your batteriesneed charging and thiscould necessitate taking a coupleof days off work to indulge insome quality rest and relaxation.There’s nothing that can’t waituntil you are feeling energeticenough to deal with life again.Wear ice-blue to cool your fe-vered spirit.

LEO (July 24-August 22): Lifewill throw a couple of challengesin your path thisweek, but Leosshould have no prob-lem negotiating a pathtowards reasonable solutions. Ifa family matter is involved, tact-ful handling of a sticky situationwill be required. To improve ca-reer prospects, you need to make

direct contact with key playersand stop trying to deal with peoplewho have no real influence. Yourlucky number is two.

VIRGO (August 23-September23): The planets are smiling onyou during the lastweek of April and youshould sow seeds fora sunny future.Money-making opportunities aredefinitely coming your way andthose Virgoans who don’t act willkick themselves for missing theboat. You may need to make aspur of the moment decision mid-week, but rest assured that yourinstincts will point you in the rightdirection.

LIBRA (September 24-October23): Crossed wires could have anegative effect on abudding relationship. Ifyou can’t reach a mu-tual understandingnow, the chances of buildingsomething worthwhile are low.Librans are strongly advised toremove the blinkers and dare toexamine reality this week. Busi-ness investments are lookingpromising – this is an auspicioustime to consider moving into apreviously unexplored area. OnMonday, you are likely to bumpinto a long-lost friend.

SCORPIO (October 24-No-vember 22): Single Scorpioscould be strongly tempted to setsail from their solitary island thisweekend when strong romantic

conditions prevail. Your desirefor independence is likely to bechallenged, but com-promises can bemade. Creativity ishighlighted, with Mon-day and Tuesday being espe-cially promising days. People willlisten to your ideas and you standa good chance of reeling in a for-tuitous catch. The number eightwill have special meaning.

SAGITTARIUS (November 23-December 21): Sagittarians willhave to accept that acertain personal mat-ter cannot be changed.A disappointment is inthe air, but you should not wasteprecious time wishing that thingscould be different. Instead, putyour energy into a deserving newproject and leave the past be-hind. Teamwork is the key tosuccess, as long as you maintainultimate control. Wear the colorcoral pink to promote cool, clearthinking.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 20): Capricornians areset to enjoy a fun-filledweek, with the em-phasis on socializing.You can play the but-terfly role very well when you letyour hair down, and others willbe envious of your carefree out-look. The atmosphere growsmore serious after Tuesday whenbusiness matters are subject tolast-minute debate. If you don’tthink that your opinion is being lis-

Type in “energy body” on Google and end-less descriptions will appear of howenergy body affects our lives and how weare able to heal the physical body by bring-

ing our focus to the energy body.The anatomy of the energy body consists mainly

of meridians (energy pathways) and chakras (en-ergy centers). Acupuncture uses the meridians to openthe pathways in the body just as energy healers usetheir hands to open blocked chakras.

You doubt? A headache, a sore knee and whatdo we do? Instinctively, we touch it, we bring ourhands to where we feel pain. Perhaps proof thatwe all possess healing hands. Each hand has ap-proximately 7,200 nerve endings (just imagine how muchenergy comes through them) and acts as a conductor togenerate an efficient flow of energy through the body.

The hands can also assist in healing emotionalwounds that block our chakras. Each chakra (chakrais a Sanskrit word meaning disc, wheel or vortex) hasits own personality and carries an imprint of every im-portant or emotional event you have experienced in thisor past lives. Each major chakra is a maelstrom of en-ergy.

There are seven main chakras in the energy body,positioned at seven points from the base of the spine tothe top of the head. They are associated with the seven

Clap hands, here comes chakra

by Isla StarIn The Stars

tened to, try putting somethingdown in writing.

AQUARIUS (January 21-Febru-ary 19): The winds of fortune areset to change direc-tion and most Aqua-rians will benefit be-fore the month ends.However, this is not an auspicioustime to take chances with un-known quantities. Only deal withthose who have earned your trustand resist any temptations to diveinto unknown waters, where jel-lyfish are certainly lurking. Over-seas family are due to make con-tact, and travel plans are brew-

ing. The color amber will bringyou luck.

PISCES (February 20-March20): A dream is due to come truefor Pisceans and long-term plans could takeimmediate shape. Youwill need to move withthe times this week, but othersclose to you could find it difficultto embrace sudden change. Achance encounter on Tuesdaybodes well for the future. Makesure that you stay in contact withthis person. The number four hassome importance.

ARIES (March 21-April 20):Arians should not give in to thetemptation of ignoringobligations this week.Something that youthink can be dismissedas a trivial matter is of more im-portance to another person thanyou can imagine. If business mat-ters are moving at a snail’s pace,progress should speed up soon.You have the chance to make animpact on a new social scene thisweekend.

layers of a person’s aura. If you look at the colors of theenergy body (check out an image on the Internet) youwill see that they correspond with the colors of the rain-bow. They are:

Red: our base chakra, our physical connection tothe earth and physical sensation, like a safety line or um-bilical cord.

Orange: generally associated with our emotionallife and feelings, and creativity and sexuality. This chakrais in the sacral area, at the lower end of the spine.

Yellow: this chakra is tucked away in the the solarplexus. It manifests knowledge and our mental life, andis the force that maintains one’s individual identity.

Green: located in the heart, this chakra dealswith giving and receiving, and with balance; this iswhere we metabolize the energy of love.

Light blue: in the thyroid gland area of thethroat, this one is associated with expression and thepower of the word.

Indigo: the sixth chakra is our third eye andis found in the pituitary gland at the base of the brain.It relates to intuition and and is the command centerof the whole being.

Purple: the final chakra is found on the crownof the head. It is both our higher mind and our spiri-tual connection to the universal energy.

When we understand the chakras and theircorresponding physical areas in the body, we are able toconnect the emotions, sensations, thoughts and memo-ries of our energy body to our physical body. We canthen understand the nature of both health and disease,and, having awoken ourselves to the subtle energies inour bodies, we are able to heal ourselves.

When our physical body and our energy body are inbalance, we live and experience life with less trauma andmore harmony.

For more information on the energy body contactRhonda Ann Clarke at the Movement Center at Tel:01-7975065. Website: www.phuketmoves.com.

Heavenly advicefrom the stars

ALTERNATIVE

HEALTHRhonda Ann Clark

Not everyone believes thatWestern medicine orconventional exerciseregimens have all theanswers.Many alternative forms oftherapy are advocated bya variety of people in Phuket.Here is one such view.

E D I T O R I A L & L E T T E R S18 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E April 24 - April 30, 2004

- Since 1994 -

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

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

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– The Editor

Saving the Similans

Smell the roses,Nostrildamus

If Alex B [Letters, April 17-23]wants a holiday that reminds himof Australia, then he should takeone in Australia – the smells arepart of Asia’s allure.

If he thinks Phuket smells,then he is really in for a treat inVietnam.

I spent a year there – andthere were some very differentodors that did not exactly tanta-lize the sensory organs.

If you travel overseas, thenyou have to expect that the com-forts of home may not be there.Accept it, and make the most ofyour time. Who knows? Youmight even enjoy yourself.

John DedmanPerth

Lights but not muchaction in Kamala

Whose brilliant idea it was to puttwo traffic lights right in themiddle of Kamala town?They just create traffic jams andadd extra travel time for cars andmotorbikes traveling through Ka-mala.

I pass through Kamalathree times a week on my wayto Laguna and have never had agreen light going or returningthrough either traffic light.

Instead, I sit and wait be-hind a minimum of 10 vehicles,mostly cars and buses waiting fora green light, while there is verylittle – if any – cross traffic.

Perhaps Kamala does war-rant one traffic light but certainlynot two – and why are theyplaced so close together?

The authorities need to re-think their strategy on where toput traffic lights so they could ac-tually save lives and prevent ac-cidents as well as perhaps im-proving the flow of traffic.

For instance, what about thebottom of Patong Hill, coming intoPatong near the temple, wherethere seems to be a constant free-for-all as to who gets to go andwho gets to wait?

BewilderedKathu

Tasteless tale waswhat bugged Keith

Your Page 9 picture [Issue ofApril 10-16] showing two would-be journalists learning the ropeswas good news indeed.

But let us hope that they donot choose to follow in your gut-less footsteps when it comes towriting about the troubled youngwoman (Page 2) you so cutelyfeatured under the headline, NowWhat’s Bugging Her?

After almost 50 years as ajournalist in Britain, the US, Aus-tralia and Canada, my reaction toyour gross violation of that

Walk the beach walk,don’t talk the talk

Apart from talk, little has hap-pened about cleaning up the al-gae on Patong Beach.

Every day, employees fromthe Holiday Inn Resort Phuketand others resorts collect the sea-weed and put it in black plasticbags, yet often the municipalitydoes not collect the garbage untilsome time later.

A few days ago, a vessel inthe bay must have dischargedfuel because the whole bay stinksof diesel or gasoline.

The perfect vacation: go toa beach that is full of slimy greenalgae, topped with a film of fuel.

It is time we all woke up.As a top priority, the beach needsto be cleaned every day.

The people in charge shouldwalk along it every morning to getthe real picture.

Wolfgang MeusburgerGeneral Manager

Holiday Inn Resort Phuket

Beer belly findsplenty of support

The attack on Konrad Stalin byJohn Lock from Rawai (Gazette,April 10-16) can only be con-strued as jealousy of KonradStalin’s excellent beer belly.

Konrad keeps us all amusedwith his Northern English senseof humor.

I know the real KonradStalin and a person with a moregenerous heart you could nevermeet.

His column is an enlighten-ing look at the world from a hu-morous point of view, somethingthat you seem to be lacking.

May I suggest that you finda friend who can travel to what-ever country you come from andbuy you a sense of humor.

Konrad Stalin’s Father.

person’s rights is that you musthave received your journalistictraining on the Page 3 desk of aLondon tabloid (you know, the titsand arses section).

I hope the young womangets a good barrister and suesyour pants off.

Keith DavidsonPatong.

The Similans Marine National Park (see Inside Story, pp 4-6) com-prises just 14 square kilometers of land, but also includes 128 squarekilometers of ocean that are home to some of Thailand’s premierdive sites.

The number of vessels entering the park continues to rise eachyear, causing dive sites to become dangerously overcrowded andgiving rise to fear that it is only a matter of time before a fatalaccident occurs. Poorly-trained divemasters who refuse to observesafety regulations or the dictates of common sense add to the risk.

Bringing the situation under control won’t be easy. Park rang-ers in longtail boats stand little chance of catching speedboats ca-pable of doing 30 knots. A moratorium on new vessels is a goodidea, but with 126 vessels already registered to bring people into thepark, other measures need to be adopted – and soon.

A system of pre-payment for the right to use the dive sites inthe park is required, along with divemasters being required to sub-mit dive plans in advance, because this is the only way park officialswill be able to know who should be at which sites at which times.

Perhaps an open, public auction for a limited number of visitorpasses for the entire year would be the best solution, with higherbids driving out the cowboys. Such a system would have the addedadvantage of minimizing embezzlement, whether by park officialsor by dive tour staff lying about the diving fees collected and paid.

Once such a system is implemented, park officials should begiven the proper tools to enforce regulations, including faster, bet-ter-equipped boats and modern telecommunications equipment. Thiswould improve the ability to respond to emergencies and to patrolpark waters for vessels that enter the park illegally.

Park Chief Vithaya Hongvengchan is correct to re-evaluatethe number of people who should be allowed to stay on the islandsovernight. Currently, park staff are forced to divide their effortsbetween managing all the waste created by overnight tourists andenforcing park rules.

K. Vithaya will, one hopes, have the foresight to limit over-night tourists to those who can be lodged in existing solid-framestructures, doing away with eyesore tent colonies.

Finding a balance between conservation and tourism is nevereasy, especially under a government that views the chief role of itsnational parks in terms of revenue creation rather than environmen-tal protection. But with a few necessary adjustments and coopera-tion on all sides, there is still time to save the Similans.

P E R S P E C T I V E SApril 24 - April 30, 2004 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 19

PERSONFIRST

I pay my taxes,so whereare the goods? Want to know how to get something done? Can’t

understand some of the dafter things that seemto go on in Phuket? Want to pitch an idea to

Phuket’s authorities or institutions? Then this isthe forum for you. Submit your queries or

suggestions to us and we’ll ask the appropriatepeople 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

ANSWERSANSWERSIssues&Issues&

Two of the main problemsthat Rawai faces – andin my role as kamnan Imust deal with them –

are the beachfront food stalls andthe Sea Gypsies.

I have tried many times tohave the food vendors removed,and it looks as if I will be suc-cessful this time.

It isn’t that I want to pre-vent villagers from earning a liv-ing – quite the opposite. I wantthem to succeed with their ven-tures. But Rawai is not for themexclusively. It’s a public area andvery popular with the many tour-ists who come to visit it. Thesetourists want to see nature, thebeach and the sea, not shabbybuildings and stalls.

Some vendors have startedto dismantle and demolish theirstalls for moving to a designatedzone behind the OrBorTor [Tam-bon Administration Organization]office. The moves should start atthe beginning of May.

The other problems in Ra-wai relate to the Sea Gypsies.Some of the problems, such aswhere they live, aren’t really oftheir doing. Because they live onsomeone else’s land, they mustmove on if the landowner wants,and thus become homeless.

Because they move arounda lot, it is very difficult to struc-ture any type of managed pro-gram for the Sea Gypsies. I wantto help them to achieve as muchas other [Thai] villagers.

But the homes of the SeaGypsies are a problem. The build-ings are very dirty, and [the Sea

Senior village headmen, or kamnan, have animportant role in Thai society. Taking on the re-sponsibility of sometime-policeman, sometime-adviser and sometime-advocate, a kamnan canbe sniped at from all sides. Sin Polrop givesan insight into the ordinary – and extraordinary– problems he faces in the villages of Rawai.

Gypsies] don’t bother disposingof their waste correctly.

Garbage disposal is a prob-lem that affects everyone inRawai, not just Sea Gypsies, andpeople don’t take the initiativeand come up with solutions them-selves or consider the effect oftheir actions on their neighbors.Others make the situation worsethrough laziness.

There are some people inthe area – people with largehouses – who are too lazy or toomean to buy their own trashcans.They sneak out at night to puttheir refuse in someone else’s bin,or just leave it lying around inplastic bags.

Someone dumping rubbishin another’s bin is the lesser oftwo evils when compared with justleaving it lying around in a bagwhere animals can get to it.

I am intimately involvedwith the day-to-day life of people

in my villages. I help in any waythat I can.

Building or renovating tem-ples, helping with public health,ordination ceremonies, crema-tions, you name it. I am on call24 hours a day for people whoare sick or need other assistance.

I take people to the doctoror the hospital; I’ll even pay theirmedical expenses should they nothave enough money.

If something needs to bedone for the village – and it’ssometimes too long a process togo through official channels – I’llapproach my friends for help. Thisdetermination is what led to mebeing chosen as kamnan.

My stipend for this role isjust 3,500 baht a month. I did re-ceive an award the year beforelast – the only person who did onPhuket – as the best kamnan[each province, except Bangkok,selects one headman each year

for this title] from a committeeset up by Deputy Prime MinisterPurachai Piemsomboon. In addi-tion to the certificate I receiveda special kamnan-phu yai baanaward revolver.

The award recognized mymany good works, such as pro-jects for farmers and fishermen,anti-drug action, and poverty re-duction measures.

I have tried to encourageSea Gypsies to apply for ID cardsand to have themselves includedin the census, although many ofthem don’t see the necessity.They haven’t realized the benefitsof registering, such as being ableto apply for poverty aid and otherstate or local aid programs.

Every Saturday, I take afew Sea Gypsies who are inter-ested in getting ID cards to reg-ister. It’s crowded, it’s busy [inthe registration office], but I helpthese people as much as I can.

Despite all this, there was apetition raised against me, alleg-ing that I had neglected my dutyto include Sea Gypsies in the cen-sus, and had not encouragedthem to apply for ID cards.

Around 100 Sea Gypsies –out of 2,500 in the Rawai area –signed the petition, so it’s not re-flective of the general feeling.

But it saddened my heart; itsuggested that I don’t care. It hasspoiled my reputation and I feltlike giving up my job.

I have lost my private life[serving the people]. There aregovernment policies, such as theaction against influential people,that make me anxious because Imust compile lists of these peopleand provide information on them.If I do not, then other officials willcomplain about me. If I do, thenthe influential people may causetrouble for me.

But as kamnan, I must beready for anything and be willingto sacrifice myself for the publicgood.

I must be like a temple,where people come to ease theirworries, like a police stationwhere they can report their prob-lems, and like a hospital, whichthey can visit to ease their pain.

My tenure as kamnan endson August 27 this year and Idon’t want the position again.However, if the villagers want meto shoulder the responsibility, thenI shall accept the post.

– Compiled bySangkhae Leelanapapornand Athairat Muangkong

Leading the village isn’t so easy

I would like to know how the lo-cal authorities manage the moneythat I and many other people workhard to earn, only to see it pourconspicuously into the taxman’scoffers.

Despite being a farang – a“B-class citizen” in this country– I’m considered a first-class tax-payer. So, can someone from theKathu Municipality explain whymost of the palm trees plantedalong the median strip near theCaltex gas station on Phra PhuketKaew Rd are dead?

It seems that the trees havenot been watered since they wereplanted last October or so. Whyspend so much money on some-thing that you cannot maintain?Doing so is like buying a Ferraribut not being able to afford to putpetrol in it.

I also would like to knowwhether the police checkpoint atthe same location will be re-moved. Police officers watching

If a Thai woman marries a manfrom the US and she later be-comes a US citizen, does she loseher Thai citizenship?

Enrique Ramirez

Satchaphand Atthakor, Dep-uty Director-General, Consu-lar Affairs Department, Min-istry of Foreign Affairs, re-plies:

Section 13 of the CitizenshipAct 1965 stipulates that a femaleThai national who marries a for-eigner and is later granted citizen-ship by her foreign husband’shome country shall maintain herThai nationality.

There is no Thai law thatstipulates that she must lose herThai citizenship, though she maychoose to revoke it.

For Thai children with dualnationality, the Citizenship Act(3rd issue) 1992 states that a Thainational with a foreign father maydeclare his or her intention to re-voke Thai nationality within theyear following the child’s 20th

birthday.If the child does not declare

his or her intention to revoke Thaicitizenship, that child will still holdThai nationality.

TV, eating, chatting, sleeping andreading newspapers day andnight, and only performing ridicu-lous inspections at unusual timesis an irritating and offensive spec-tacle for all the hard-workingpeople who are compelled to seehow their money is being mis-spent.

It is a shame to see suchlack of motivation by those whoare supposed to enforce the lawand protect citizens from crime.

Dr Antonio Barra Da SilvaKaron

Pol Lt Col Witoon Kongsud-jai, of Tungtong Police Station,replies:

The checkpoint on PhraPhuket Kaew Rd was set up toboost security for the Apec meet-ings held on Phuket last year.After the Apec meetings thecheckpoint was used mainly tocheck for drunk driving and othertraffic offences, with officers

checking motorists from 6:30 pmto 8 pm and from midnight to 2am.

On April 1 this year it be-came a permanent checkpoint toassist in the government’s roadsafety project, and officers wereposted there to carry out checks24 hours a day.

Now, after Songkran, offic-ers are stationed at the check-point 24 hours a day to respondto emergencies, such as road ac-cidents.

Jaroon Lohakutara, Engineer,

Public Works Division, KathuMunicipality, replies:

The palm trees were plant-ed in January, but the contractorplanted old three-meter-tall palmtrees, so they didn’t take well andeventually died, even though weusually watered them twice a day.

As the contract betweenthe Kathu Municipality and thecontractor covers two years, thecontractor has been ordered toreplace all the dead or dyingpalms with younger 1.5m palmtrees, which will be planted some-time after Songkran.

Thai dualcitizenship

F E A T U R E S20 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E April 24 - April 30, 2004

By Konrad StalinALL IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS

TO O NOWN

Having just had an ex-tended stay in Singa-pore, I thought it maybe useful to pass on a

few observations. For two yearsbefore I pitched up in Phuket, Ihad been in Calcutta, one of theworst (and greatest) cities in theworld.

The first year was spentworking in a children’s clinic anda mobile leprosy clinic. The sec-ond year I worked for a recordcompany.

Everything in Phuket, bycomparison, was fantastic. Pizza,decent roads, clean streets, im-ported beer and, of course, ToonTown.

The nicest thing happenedto me one cold after-noon in Brighton about10 years ago. I was

working in my room on some-thing unimaginably boring whenthe doorbell rang downstairs.

“Who could this be?” Iwondered, glad of an excuse fora break. Winter afternoons in En-gland can be very depressing.

I openedthe door andthere, framed bythe doorway,with a dull graystreet scene as abackground, was the most color-ful and exotic specimen of Asianfemininity I had seen in a longwhile (my wife excluded, ofcourse).

“You must be Derek,” saidthis vision, in the way that Thaissometimes pronounce my name:Deelek. (John just happens to beanother name by which I amknown.)

“I.... I ... indeed I am,” I stut-tered.

“I am Sauwanee,” the vi-sion continued. “I met yourfriend, Tom, on an aeroplane. He

gave me your address. I thoughtit would be nice to visit you inperson, rather than telephone.”

“Uh ... er ... indeed.”In this way I met Sauwanee,

who at that time was practisingher art as a sculptor in a smallvillage not far from Brighton.

Ten years later, I was driv-ing with my wife from Ayudhayato Suphan Buri on a long, straight

road through thewide, flat, rice-growing heart-land of centralThailand. Wehad spent a day

looking at the great ruins ofAyudhaya and now we were onour way to look at another sortof building work: the construc-tion of a traditional Thai teakhouse on the banks of the ThaChin River, where our friendSauwanee had grown up.

The imposing woodenhouse was raised on stilts on apiece of land almost entirely sur-rounded by water, a kind ofmoat. The river was on one side,a klong that ran into the riverwas on another side, and a pondcompleted the triangle. The

house, made mostly of old teak,had been brought down fromChiang Mai and was nearly com-plete.

Sauwanee, no less elegantfor the years that had passed, wasin her element, carrying bucketsof earth or tools here and thereand directing, or discussing withher English partner, Andy, theposition of electricity posts orelectric fittings.

So much was going on andso fast and with so many people,that my wife and I were some-what redundant. We found an old

In short, all that was lack-ing in Calcutta was here in abun-dance. I have not been back toCal since. Actually, I have nottraveled much.

On my second night backfrom immaculate Singapore, Itook a stroll around Toon Townand was appalled at the state ofthe place.

Here, in the playground ofAsia, we are attracting wealthyforeigners by the truckload toparts of the island and encourag-ing them to part with lots ofwonga for fabulous houses.

My trip to Singapore leftme wondering why. I asked sev-eral expats in Singapore, some ofwhom are making the move here,why they were doing it. Over-whelmingly, the first responsewas cost. Singapore is expensive.

It could be argued thatpeople are more than willing toput up with a staggering differ-ence in the quality of infrastruc-ture, dodgy rule of law, danger-ous roads and limited entertain-ment opportunities for cheaperbeer, maids, and lower costs ofliving, health care and property.

The other factors were thebeaches and the scenery, interna-tional colleges, the culture andthe food. Toon Town wasn’tgiven as a reason to move here.

I did not just talk to mar-ried folks, either. A few of thechaps I met were in OrchardTowers, also known as “The FourFloors of Whores”.

Nightlife did not figure inany conversation, except to thedetriment of Phuket. “If I wantnightlife, it’s in Singapore orHong Kong and it’s easy to headthere for a weekend”, was a viewexpressed many times.

Take note, Toonies, eitherstart to develop products that ap-peal to these folk or prepare tolose your wonga.

We also have the likes ofHong Kong’s Mr Entertainment,Canadian Allan Zeman, movinghere.

Rumor has it that he is de-veloping a small project near hisLaem Singh headland home.Those in the know have sug-gested it wouldbe uncharacter-istic of him tonot drop in a res-taurant or twoand a decent bar.

I hope so.The Zeman name is synonymouswith quality and may keep thoseSingapore and Hong Kong dol-lars here during the low season.

Got mail! Got mail! After fiveyears writing this column, I haveyet to receive enough emails toto hit double figures. Every yearI berate bar owners for not send-ing me details of their events,while they criticize me for nevermentioning their bars.

So it was a delight to re-ceive an email from John Lockin Rawai, which was also printedin the Gazette of April 10.

It seems that John has be-come the unelected leader of theexpats on Phuket and he says

“...we [expats] don’t really wantto be preached to by beer-guz-zling barflies.”

Beer is not illegal, and Iknow a few people who actuallyenjoy it. But I did take exceptionat his line “...the sycophanticdrivel that is a source of freebreakfasts and T-shirts for yourKonrad Stalin”.

Alright John, you havethrown down the gauntlet and I

accept the chal-lenge. Here iswhat we’ll do. Ihave already setup another emailaddress at:i_bribed_konrad

@hotmail.com.I will donate 1,000 baht to

a charity of your choice for ev-ery instance where you can provethat I have taken a bribe to men-tion a product or service.

You have made the accusa-tion, now prove it. How’s that,sunshine?

John also pointed out that Ihave a large belly – well spotted– and goes on to suggest that“[writing about] local newswould be a better option”. Localnews is found at the front of thepaper. Features, the kind that Iwrite, are on the inside.

By the way, I have re-estab-lished a regular source of theother comestibles you mention.

wooden canoe and paddled it upthe river, past Sauwanee’s moth-er’s house, and the rice millowned by her sister. For a mo-ment, I felt we had transportedourselves into Old Thailand.

When work was finishedfor the day, we drove to a restau-rant in town, owned by anotherof Sauwanee’s relatives. Herbrother and his wife came withus, as well as a Thai hairdresser,Virat, whom we had also knownin Brighton when we had livedthere.

Virat was about to embark

on a major career change by en-tering the monkhood.

That night, we slept in asmall concrete house near Sau-wanee’s new traditional Thai-style mansion, which was not yethabitable. As we got in the car toleave the next day, the workerswere fixing ceramic tiles on theroof.

It was very pleasing to seeSauwanee returning to her rootsin Thailand and building herselfa place – a palace, almost – inwhich to enjoy the next phase ofher life.

Use it or lose it: a warning for wonga plonkers

“If I want nightlife, it’s inSingapore or Hong Kong

and it’s easy to headthere for a weekend”

Rediscoveringroots boundin beauty

EDGEWISEBy John Gilpin An exercise in preservation of the past: Sauwanee’s mother’s traditional house under reconstruction.

Help us to helpthe animals

Call: 076-263737

B U S I N E S S & M O N E YApril 24 - April 30, 2004 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 21

New rules aim to curb credit card chaos

Richard Watson runs Global Port-folios Co Ltd, a Phuket-based per-sonal financial planning service.He can be reached at Tel and Fax:076-381997, Mobile: 01-0814611. Email: imm@loxinfo.co.th.

By Dhirarat Boonkongsaen

VITAL STATISTICS:

COMPANY REGISTRATIONS JUMP 56%

Feb ’04 Feb ’03 % change

Limited companies registered 98 63 55.56%

Limited companies 8 14 -42.86%increasing capital

Companies deregistered 9 17 -47.06%

Limited partnerships registered 21 30 -30.00%

Limited partnerships 2 4 -50.00%increasing capital

Partnerships deregistered 10 12 -16.67%

Source: Phuket Business Development Office

No downside to full landownership by foreigners

MONEYTALKS

By Richard Watson

On the Move

Been promoted? Made a careerchange? Know someone whohas? Let us know by email toonthemove@phuketgazette.net.

Pornpimol Umrapan, 37, fromYala, is the new General Managerof the QueenAir BookingCenter in Pa-tong. She grad-uated fromR a m k h a m -haeng Univer-sity in Bangkokwith a degree inhumanities. She has been Gener-al Manager of Chaba Tour inPattaya for six years.

Wanchai Choungchaikitija-karn, 40, from Bangkok, has

taken up theposition ofManager, Mar-keting Devel-opment, of tra-vel facilitatorAbacus Distri-bution Systems(Thailand), in

Phuket. He is an engineeringgraduate of Rajamangala Insti-tute of Technology, Bangkok, andalso has a Mini-MBA fromRangsit University, Bangkok.

Christian Noret, 36, from Dax,France, has been appointed Chefde Village (Gen-eral Manager) atClub Med, Phu-ket. He waspreviously theChef de Villageat the Club Medin Cargese,France. Hestudied economics and physicaleducation at Bordeaux Univer-sity, France.

PHUKET: New rules governing creditcards, designed to prevent excessive debtboth for individuals and Thailand as awhole, came into force on April 1.

The new rules devised by the Bankof Thailand are aimed at taming the spend-now pay-later tiger that has caused prob-lems for other countries in Asia, but whichis still in its infancy in Thailand. Thailandhas about four million credit card hold-ers.

The rules also set a limit, for the firsttime, on how much interest banks andother credit card lenders may charge. Thelimit is 18% a year.

The economic turmoil of 1997taught the banking industry to be wary ofnon-performing loans, so the boundarieshave been remade to save individuals fromexceeding their capacity to repay creditcard debts.

For expatriates looking for credit, therules are the same as for Thais, thoughthe proportion of foreigners seeking creditcards from Thai banks is small.

The new rules also apply to non-bank credit cards, such as the customerloyalty cards issued by some departmentstores. (Usually, these can be used to payfor goods only in the issuing store and itsaffiliates.)

Most Thais will probably still find

it difficult to comply with the minimumincome requirements: to qualify as acardholder, an applicant needs an incomeof not less than 15,000 baht a month or180,000 baht a year.

Alternatively, the applicant maymake a deposit at the card-issuing bankas collateral to cover the full amount ofthe credit line, or maintain for at least sixmonths enough funds in a deposit accountto demonstrate a capacity to cover repay-ments.

Supplementary cards may be issuedbut the credit line must be incorporatedinto that of the basic card so the holder isresponsible for all debts incurred bysupplementary cardholders.

Existing cardholders who do notmeet the new requirements may renewcards as long as there have been no morethan two late payments in the past year.

The new rules also raise minimummonthly repayments from 5% to 10%,though existing cardholders will not haveto pay the new rate until April 1, 2007.

A credit card will be canceled if thecardholder fails to pay for three months.

The maximum credit is fairly con-servative – five times the average monthlyincome or cash flow, with enforcement tobegin from January next year for existingcardholders.

Confidentiality rules concerningcardholders’ data that previously applied

only to banks now apply to othercard-issuers as well.

Transparency is the inten-tion of the new confidentialityrules, with commercial bankersin Phuket telling the Gazette thatall card-issuers are now linked tothe Thai Credit Bureau (TCB) CoLtd, bringing controls to an in-creasingly competitive arena.

TCB, the first credit bureauin Thailand, has provided credit-reporting services to memberssince 1999, following a Ministryof Finance initiative.

The bureau is a private firm,shareholders being the ProcessingCenter Co – which provides theTCB’s database system – and theGovernment Housing Bank.

Banking sources in Phukettold the Gazette that peoplewould probably not be able toobtain more than one credit cardbecause banks were unlikely toissue cards to people who werenot their clients.

In addition to evidence oftheir financial status, Thai creditcard applicants must produce anID card and house registrationdocument. Foreigners must pre-sent a passport and a work per-mit. Would-be applicants are ad-vised to contact their bank to as-certain what additional docu-ments may be required.

A Bangkok Bank managertold the Gazette that banks willbe able to obtain individual credithistories from the TCB. Creditcard holders will receive regularupdates of what information hasbeen passed to the TCB.

In its issue of March 27,the Gazette carried astory about land owner-ship, with Phuket Sena-

tor Paiboon Upatising sayingthat he believed foreignersshould be allowed to ownland freehold. He pointedout that foreigners could nottake the land away with them.

However, Governor Udom-sak Usawarangkura – who, to befair, has only recently arrived inPhuket and has probably not beencorrectly briefed – stated: “If weallow foreigners to own land, wewould have to watch the inten-tions of every foreigner whowants to do so. (We need towatch) what they want to do inThailand.

“If we are not careful aboutthis, these foreigners will snatchThai jobs.”

The Governor went on tosay that he was against foreignownership of land. He pointedout that foreigners may alreadyown condominiums and can takeout 30-year leases on land, withthe option of extending theseleases.

Land and property owner-ship are at the heart of finan-cial planning, hence my inter-est in this area. To cover theGovernor’s points: yes, foreign-ers may own condominiums,but not everyone wishes to livein one. Outside the tourist ar-eas, there are not many avail-able.

With respect to his com-ments on the 30-year-lease optionand the ability to extend those

leases, the question immediatelyarises: what are those leasesworth?

When anyone enters into aninvestment, one of the first ques-tions should be: if I need to, howcan I sell this investment later?

I realize that many peoplehave bought into these schemes.Often, they involve 30-yearleases, with options to extend fortwo more 30-year periods.

Thai law allows for a 30-year lease. It does not mentionextentions of this period. There-fore, extensions are open to at-tack in the Thai courts – or theland owner can simply refuse toextend the lease.

This is not my opinion, butthat of an experienced Thai law-yer.

To return to my point aboutselling an investment, take forexample a 30-year lease that has20 years to go. What is its mar-ket value?

A buyer could well be Thai(or a Thai operating on behalf ofa foreign spouse). Why shouldsuch a buyer wish to purchaseany outstanding part of a lease,when they can legally have fullownership?

The original owner of theland may not be the currentowner – for example, death couldhave intervened, or the land mayhave been repossessed by a bankor been the subject of a divorcesettlement.

Therefore, there may be nocooperation from the land owner.Owners of 30-year leases maysay that they have no intentionof selling this asset. However, lifehas a habit of “throwing curveballs” and it may transpire thatthe holder, whatever his or heroriginal intention, has no choicebut to sell.

Some who wish to buyproperty simply place it in aThai girlfriend’s name butanyone who has lived on thisisland for any length of timewill know of a number ofcases where this has resultedin a 100% loss.

There are books thatcover these tales, and they are afrequent topic of discussion atany gathering of foreigners on theisland. Often, the financiallyhumbled party has to leave theisland. They make for some verysad stories.

To return to the Governor’scomments on the need to “watchthe intentions of every foreigner”and foreigners who “will snatchThai jobs”, the questions are:Why? And how?

The British, the French, theSpanish, Americans, Australians,and so on do not feel the sameconcerns when property is soldto foreigners in their countries.

Why should they worry? Aforeigner who has bought land ora house with land does not getright of abode or the right of em-ployment.

Thailand has strict immi-gration rules, combined withtough employment laws, andwhole areas of the economy areoff-limits to foreigners.

Why should a foreignerpose more of a threat by owningland, as opposed to a 30-yearlease or condo ownership?

The fact is, the purchase ofThai land by foreigners would beof benefit to the Thai economyby bringing in foreign investorswho are currentlt hesitating.

Ownership of condos, 30-year leases, land ownership byproxy through Thai girlfriends,boyfriends and so on have not ledto the demise of Thailand. Whyshould full land ownership?

S P O R T22 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E April 24 - April 30, 2004

When Italian AlbertoMancuso moved toPhuket, the formerprofessional soccer

player found it impossible to leavethe game behind. Now he’s aone-man promoter of the Thaigame, with four teams to call hisown.

A native of Rome, the 54-year-old told the Gazette that hisearly days were a struggle but,through dogged hard work, hegraduated with a degree in edu-cation.

A career as a teacher beck-oned. But he turned his back onthis and instead headed to his lo-cal football club, AS Roma, andstarted his dream career. “I waspoor, but lucky enough to be ac-cepted by a world-renownedteam,” is how he sums up hisstart.

Mr Mancuso played forboth Roma and Fiorentina but thestrain of nearly two decades ofprofessional play took its toll. Theneed for medical and surgicaltreatment caused him to quit theprofessional game.

“It really was crunch timein my life,” he says. “Thyroidproblems particularly were tortur-ing me and I just had to quit.”

He moved to Bangkok andbegan a jewelry business, withothers. Miss Sawasdee is stillgoing strong today, with branch-es in Thailand and a flourishingexport business to Italy.

“I eventually came down toPhuket for a holiday, and beganto find the island more and moreinteresting,” he says.

He moved to Phuket andBao Rae village in 1996, andwithin three years, the footballbug bit again. He formed a team,Aladdin, who went straight intothe 1999 Bao Rae Cup.

Mr Mancuso explains thechoice of team name: “My six-year-old son is called Aladdin.When he was a year old, he wasvery ill. I believed that if his namewas said often enough, it wouldhelp him get better.

“The name ‘Aladdin’ wason everyone’s lips, and look at himnow,” he beams.

Although winning is wel-come, Mr Mancuso passionatelybelieves that it is how one playsthat counts. “I want to see chil-dren really enjoying themselvesas they play because you only getwhat you give,” he explains.

“I also want to help raisethe standard of football playedhere because there is a certainThai style of playing that theworld should see.”

Although he praises the de-termination of the players, hefeels that facilities here – sandypitches being just one example –let them down. He hopes to rem-

edy this by launching a footballtraining school – aided by formerand current professional Italianplayers – to turn out professional-quality players.

Mr Mancuso now runs fourteams – all called Aladdin – rang-ing in prowess from strictly forfun to serious competitors. Theteams comprise 48 players, giv-ing Mr Mancuso flexibility tomove weaker and stronger play-ers as needs dictate.

When asked how the teamsare faring, Mr Mancuso is keento point out that they have playedin several football competitions –generally local derbies – and re-cently won the 2nd MetropoleCup.

“It was our first victory fora couple of years and our biggestwin to date,” he beams. “We’realso fortunate to have around90% of our budget met by goodsponsors, especially Club RomeMiraggio – a chain of resorts,”he explains. “They provide stripsand equipment that in turn helpme to get the best out of my play-ers and win more games.”

On Thai footballing skills,and Mr Mancuso suggests thatalthough standards are accept-able, tactics require improvement.

“Thai players’ techniquesare often very good because theyadapt a lot of the ball-control skillsfrom sepak takraw to football.

“It’s a great way of prac-

By Rittiwat Suwannarattaphum

A passion that’s alive and kicking

ticing.” Where Thai players falldown, he believes, is in trying toplay in a traditionally British styleof confrontational play.

“Thai people have smaller,lighter and more agile bodies thanplayers from many other nations.They should use their stature totheir advantage and adopt a morecontinental, typically Italian, ap-proach to the game,” he observes.

With 48 players in fourteams, Mr Mancuso is hardlyshort of players, the majority ofwhom come from the villagewhere he lives. However, be-cause many other villages havejust one team, the surfeit ofwould-be players gravitate to-ward the Aladdin sides because,as he puts it, “Many teenagershave nowhere else to go and littleelse to do.

“But the teams are not justfor Thai people,” he hastens topoint out. “I won’t deny anyonethe chance of playing and I’dwelcome more foreigners joiningin. All you need to play with us isa positive attitude to football.”

Five years from now, MrMancuso says, the Thai nationalsquad will be vastly improved ifplayers combine their own styleswith the élan of their Mediterra-nean and Latin counterparts.

He also suggests that train-ing should be given as muchprominence as the sanook ofsoccer. “People here love to playbut they don’t love to train andexercise enough. This retardstheir development and makes in-juries more likely.”

On a local level, his dreamis to see equal numbers of Thaisand foreigners playing togetherand developing soccer schools.“This will go some way to makeup for what I see as a dearth ofgood facilities,” he says.

Football is undoubtedly MrMancuso’s abiding passion.“Look at me,” he says. “I’ve beeninjured through playing but I havenow recovered enough to do whatI love for a new generation.

“I’ll take advantage of thisthrough playing and coaching foras long as I can.”

Alberto Mancuso with sonAladdin, after whom MrMancuso named the teamshe manages.

S P O R TApril 24 - April 30, 2004 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 23

PHUKET: The island’s top golfers aregearing up for the Phuket Masters, andthe chance to be recognized as the bestgolfer on Phuket over four of the leadingcourses.

The four-week tournament begins onMay 16 at Laguna Phuket Golf Club, thenis followed at weekly intervals by roundsat the Blue Canyon Lakes Course andLoch Palm Golf Course before conclud-

Phuket Masters golf open for entriesing with the final round on June 13 atPhuket Country Club.

There are four categories, or“flights”: flight A for golfers with handi-caps of 0-12; flight B for handicaps of 13-18; flight C for handicaps of 19-24 andflight D for handicaps of 25-36.

Golfers with handicaps from morethan one club will play off their lowesthandicap. If two players finish on the same

score, the player having the higher handi-cap will be the winner of the gross scorecompetition while in the net competition,the player with the lower handicap will bethe winner.

If players have the same handicaps,a countback will be made from Hole 18 toHole 1 to decide the winner.

Prizes will be awarded in each flightevery week, with the overall low gross

winner and low net winner each takingaway a trophy, a golf bag and a TV set.

A motorcycle is up for grabs for thefirst person to score a hole in one.

Application forms can be picked upat Phuket Country Club. The deadline forentries is April 30. For details, contactPhuket Country Club at Tel: 076-321038-40 or Prachuab Subcharoen at Tel: 01-6072672. – Rittiwat Suwannarattaphum

KOH SAMUI: Competitive sail-ing will be the main focus formany on Koh Samui from May23 to 29, when the 3rd Koh SamuiRegatta takes place.

Race headquarters willagain be at the Central SamuiBeach Resort on ChawengBeach, with racing organized un-der the auspices of the YachtRacing Association of Thailand,with support and assistance fromthe Royal Thai Navy.

Competition will take placeover five days and include a mix-ture of coastal passage races andround-the-cans sprints.

Most of the action will takeplace within sight of the easternand northern coasts of Samui, andso can be viewed from the look-out points to the south of Cha-weng Bay, from Bophut and MaeNam beaches, as well as in frontof the Central Samui Beach Re-sort, from which the racing crewsand beach cats will launch eachmorning.

There will be five classes:racing, cruising, sport boats,multihulls and beach cats. So farabout 50 boats have registered,with an even mixture of keelboatsand beach catamarans.

Prizes will be awarded toboats finishing first through fourthfor the regatta series, and first to

third for each main SponsorsRace Day. Overall winners ineach class will receive a small

replica of the winner’s WaterfordCrystal Perpetual Trophy. About230 people from Thailand, Ma-

50 boats sign up for 3rd Samui regatta

laysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, thePhilippines, Indonesia, Australia,New Zealand, Europe and the US

are expected on the island for thispopular and increasingly high-pro-file event.

Capital TV will again filmthe regatta as part of a sports andlifestyle television show, whichwill be broadcast on the Star TVand UBC satellite networks.

The main sponsors are Cen-tral Samui Beach Resort, CocoGroup of Companies, CoconutLand & House, QBE Insurance,Santiburi Dusit Resort, SinghaBeer, Strategic Catering andBangkok Airways.

The event is also supportedby local co-sponsors and partici-pating outlets from around the is-land and the region.

Every evening there will bea special function, with six cock-tail parties at various locationsculminating in a prize-giving galadinner at the Central SamuiBeach Resort on the final dayof the regatta.

The Koh Samui Regatta isa non-profit event and almost allthe organizational work is doneby volunteers and part-time help-ers.

The aim is to achieve a smallcash surplus to be donated to de-serving local charities, health andwelfare, or education projects.Some cash will go toward therunning of next year’s event.

Ray Roberts on Hollywood Boulevard will return to defend his title in this year’s Samui regatta in May.

M O T O R I N G24 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E April 24 - April 30, 2004

Jeff Heselwood may be contactedby email at jhc@netvigator.com.

BEHINDWHEELBy Jeff Heselwood

T H E

Tennis superstar MartinaHingis uses her PorscheCayenne rather like abasic mud-plugger and

hauls a horsebox with it. That’sperhaps not what the Stuttgartcompany envisioned with theirfirst foray into areas other thansports cars, but it does demon-strate that the Cayenne, theworld’s fastest off-roader, can dothe business.

The Cayenne – an opensecret in the industry before itsofficial début – was launched inParis in September 2002 to mixedreviews. Trade executives andjournalists criticized its looks andits bulk. What they failed to ap-preciate was that this is not a 4x4based on the 911, but a stand-alone product with all the virtuesthat have made Porsche one ofthe most successful niche manu-facturers in the world.

There were initially two

Cayenne models: the Cayenne Sand the Cayenne Turbo. TheTurbo, with a 4.5-liter, twin-turboV8 is awesome in its specifica-tions and produces a staggering450bhp (331kW) and 620Nm oftorque. That this torque figure isobtained between 2250 and4750rpm demonstrates the super-lative engineering of the light-weight engine by Porsche. Topspeed is 266kmh, while the 0-100kmh dash takes just 5.6 sec-onds. The Cayenne S is margin-

ally slower with a quoted maxi-mum of 242 kmh and a sprint timeof 7.2 seconds.

Both models use a six-speed Tiptronic automatic trans-mission and there is, of course,permanent four-wheel drive.

Porsche’s traction manage-ment system (PTM) apportions62% of the drive to the rearwheels and 38% to the front innormal on-road use. A multiple-plate clutch, operated by an elec-tric motor and controlled elec-tronically, is able to vary the dis-tribution of power according toconditions. When off-road, itcan feed up to 100 % of theavailable torque to either thefront or rear wheels.

The Turbo benefits, par-ticularly over difficult terrain,by using self-leveling andfully-adjustable air suspension.This system automatically low-ers the Cayenne as speedrises. At speeds over 210kmh,it automatically drops the ve-hicle to an extra-low rideheight of 11mm below standard,while the highest off-road level,giving ground clearance of a full

273mm, is only available up to 30kmh.

Working with the PTM isthe stability system, standard onboth Cayenne models. If the ve-hicle reaches the physical limitsof adhesion, the system informsthe PTM to release the differen-tial locks and applies the brakesto individual wheels to stabilize thecar.

The brakes sport massiveventilated discs all round, withsix-pot aluminum calipers at thefront, four pot at the rear. Night

visibility is increased by the useof active bi-xenon headlamps thatreact to steering wheel angle, ef-fectively enabling the driver tosee round corners.

Inside, the Cayenne is purePorsche, with acres of suppleleather and discreet aluminumpaneling.

Front airbags are supple-mented by side “thorax” bags builtinto the seats, and there is a full-length air curtain to protect oc-cupants from side impacts andflying glass. The electrically-ad-

justable front seats feature amemory, while a Bose sound sys-tem is standard on all models. Atotal of 250 watts is pushedthrough the 14 speakers, includ-ing a sub-woofer.

The Cayenne, manufac-tured at the new Leipzig plant –where the exciting V10 Carrerawill be made – was actually de-veloped by Volkswagen andshares some components withthe VW Tuoareg off-roader.

Porsche invested a total of128 million euros in the Leipzigplant, which incorporates a 3.75-kilometer test track with cornersmodeled on those of the famousMonaco and Nürburgring racetracks. There is also an off-roadtrack of six kilometers for drivertraining.

Most of the 25,000 Cay-enne models produced at Leipzigannually are destined for theUnited States, Porsche’s majormarket, where the Cayenne isexceeding all expectations.

Pessimists predicted thedownfall of Porsche by its diver-sification from traditional high-performance sports models, butsales in North America last yearof more than 13,600 Cayenneshave proved the doom-merchantswrong.

The introduction late lastyear of a more user-friendly 3.2V6 Volkswagen engine in somemarkets can only strengthen theappeal of the model.

Porschetakesto thehills

PURE PORSCHE: The interior shines.

CAYENNE PEPPER: Driving is packed with spice galore when a star roadster is repackaged as an off-roader.

G O O D L I V I N GApril 24 - April 30, 2004 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 25

Steven Roberto is a winemakerand restaurant consultant fromCalifornia. He is the Wine andBeverage Director for theaward-winning Baan Rim Parestaurant in Patong. Email:stevenroberto@lycos.com

W I N E

By Steven Roberto

and cocoa flavors with an over-lay of herbaceousness reminis-cent of green tea. Typically,merlot wines offer a mediumbody and fairly crisp acidity.

Despite the focus on mer-lot by winemakers worldwide,few estates stand apart andfewer still have achieved ac-claim with the variety.

In Bordeaux, where mer-lot wines are blended with othervarieties, Le Pin and Petrus arethe most expensive but L’Evan-gile, Cos D’Estournel, and Leo-ville Poyferre offer excellenceand value despite their high pricetags. From California, Caine Fivestands apart.

Many of the better NewZealand merlot blends, like thoseof Villa Maria, Trinity Hill andLincoln, are taking their place onthe world’s wine stage.

Elsewhere, single varietalmerlot is in the limelight. Chile’sSeña and Montes Alpha are wellrespected. Italy’s Siepi andLageder are at the top of theirclass. And Washington state ispacked full of famous names likeWoodward Canyon, Leonetti,and L’Ecole No 41.

Increasing discernment onthe part of consumers is caus-ing a shakeout among wine pro-ducers that should lead to qual-ity gains among merlot wines.

For those new to the vari-etal, I recommend exploring theChilean wines then moving on tothose of Italy and New Zealand.

Once you have a firm ba-sis in the varietal, exploring thematchless merlots of Bordeauxand America will prove muchmore rewarding.

Merlot wines are agentle breath offresh air comparedwith the powerful,

tannic cabernet wines that domi-nated the marketplace in theearly 1990s, and they rose tostardom as consumers becamebetter acquainted with them.

Although merlot is similarin flavor to, and is genetically re-lated to the more robust cabernetsauvignon, merlot wine has amore agreeable, softer, moresupple texture. Merlot wines alsoimprove faster in the bottle thancabernet sauvignon.

Predictably, as merlot’sreputation soared, so did theamount of land devoted to grow-ing the grape. Merlot is the mainred grape in much of Bordeaux.In Italy, it’s everywhere, espe-cially in the north-east. In Am-erica, one can find merlot winegrown in California and Wash-ington. Chile is overrun with thevariety, and upstart New Zea-land is turning heads with itsmerlot plantings.

Generally, merlot rangesfrom good to very good. How-ever, a lot of unremarkable plonkhas been rushed to market in abid to capitalize on drinkers’fondness for smooth and enjoy-able merlot, especially fromFrance’s south, and has left manywondering what the fuss is allabout.

There are two styles ofmerlot. One is the single varietalmodel, 100% merlot; and theother is a blended model, typi-cally seeing merlot married to asmuch as 30% cabernet sauvig-non, sometimes more. Likecabernet, merlot seems to re-spond well to blending but as thepercentage of other grape vari-eties increases it begins to loseits distinctiveness.

In addition to the silkytannins already mentioned, ex-pect lots of zingy black cherry

Making themost ofmarvelousmerlot

Anyone in search of ahaven from the touts,tarts and tourists ofPatong should look no

further than Roma Pizzeria andRistorante, halfway along SoiPost Office.

Turn off Thaweewong Rd,go past a bunch of Thairish barsand the ubiquitous seafood res-taurants and you’ll reach Roma.

On a night when most of hisstaff are away sanook-ing them-selves silly with buckets ofSongkran water, Chef Mauro hasbecome cashier and coffee-maker. He also takes a turn onthe restaurant floor from time totime and makes sure that he vis-its every diner during his or hermeal.

Those staff who are still onduty smile genuine smiles. Thepatrons talk animatedly and ob-viously enjoy their food. The am-bience is lively.

Roma wasn’t built in a day– it’s actually taken 18 years sofar. The first restaurant was alongSoi Bangla and the move to thepresent location took place in1989.

Italian food conjures upmany images. While you knowthat you are not in Rome, in Romayou still half-expect to see AnitaEkberg and Marcello Mastroianniscoot past on a Vespa or to hearDean Martin singing That’sAmore just outside.

Eel does not feature on themenu, nor pasta fazool, but thisis more than made up for by ad e l i g h t f u lzuppa di mareusing the mus-sels, prawnsand firm whitefish we island-dwellers shouldnever tire of.

My com-panion and Ichoose insala-ta Caprese (at150 baht) madein true Capri style with ripe to-matoes, fresh fior di latte moz-zarella (Thailand has an abun-dance of buffaloes; when will anentrepreneur produce mozzarelladi bufala?), fragrant basil andextra virgin olive oil.

No vinegar, balsamic or oth-erwise, is needed or authentic forthis classically simple dish that somany establishments get wrongby trying to add their signature toit, or which they spoil by leavingthe oil to soak into the cheese.

As further antipasti, wealso plump for bruschetta pomo-

doro (95 baht) with a light andsweet salsa served separately tothe thick slices of grilled bread,allowing the diner to decide howmuch or how little to put on.

Again, a few simple ingre-dients – tomatoes, olive oil, gar-lic, basil, a little zucchero – forwhat is traditionally a merenda or

a f t e r n o o nsnack prove tobe all that isneeded. Whyreinvent thewheel?

T h ehuge pizzasdistributed toother dinersare temptingbut we decideinstead on

pasta. My companion choosesgnocchi al pesto (180 baht)while I go straight for the raviolicon cognac e funghi (200 baht).

The fragrance from the co-gnac is captivating though notoverpowering. With the creamsauce, it is a truly heady combi-nation.

The gnocchi has the pre-ferred amount of “bite” to it, andwe agree that the fresh pestosauce knocks into a cocked hatthose we have tasted elsewhereon the island.

Sadly, a couple of glasses of

dry house white, espresso andgrappa take up the space I havebeen reserving for a little tiramisu.Once again I have forgotten mygrandmother’s sage advice: “Lifeis short; eat dessert first.”

I must remember that thenext time I feel like indulging inla dolce vita at Roma.

Roma Pizzeria and Ristorante,Soi Post Office, Patong. Open11:30 am to 11:30 pm daily. Tel:076-292731 for reservations.

When in Roma,feast likean emperor

Simple food: Insalata Caprese does not need (and in Roma does notget) any disastrous ‘signature’ treatment.

A heady dish: ravioli con cognac efunghi.

menuOn the

Andy Johnstonewith

Roma Pizzeria

& Restaurant

P H U K E T P R O P E R T Y26 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E April 24 - April 30, 2004

Home of the Week Nai Harn

Where the buffalo roamImagine a place surroundedby hills, mature coconutand rubber trees, and aman-made lagoon. Buffa-

loes roam the fields nearby andexotic birds sing.

This is the Nai Harn BaanBua development in Nai Harn,one of the most desirable resi-dential areas in the south of theisland.

The home is designed tocombine the convenience ofmodern living with a relaxed,natural tropical setting.

The first phase covering23 rai has already sold out. Thesecond phase will cover 60 rai.

House are available in avariety of designs and sizes,ranging from 440 square meterswith three bedrooms and threebathrooms, to 559sqm withthree bedrooms and four bath-rooms. Designs echo traditionalThai living with a cluster ofbuildings set around a pool.

The landscaping of the de-velopment is exceptional, withtropical trees and colors every-where.

The show house is enteredvia a carport, with a large stor-age room and laundry to the left.

The path leads to the frontdoor of the middle pavilion – thehouse consists of three pavil-

ions. The one on the left containstwo bedrooms, both with en-suitebathrooms with Grohe fittings.The floor is white marble withblack edgings, while the wallsand ceiling are part-teak.

The bedrooms have alumi-num sliding doors and look out

over the lake and the infinity-edge swimming pool.

The main pavilion in themiddle comprises an open-planliving and dining area and a West-ern kitchen, with high-qualityEuropean appliances and break-fast bar.

This large room overlooksthe terrace and swimming pool,with the lake beyond. It has a teakfloor and a high teak ceiling, andis tastefully decorated.

The third pavilion, on theright, houses the master bed-room, which is larger than theother two bedrooms and has an

open-air bathroom with shower,bath and toilet, as well as built-in closets and a double wash ba-sin in marble.

Beyond the master bed-room is a sala, overlooking thelake and surrounded by tropicalplants and lily ponds with fish.

The show house is actuallythe smallest design and the de-veloper has two larger modelswhich can be tailored to buyers’requirements.

Nai Harn Baan Bua is twominutes from Nai Harn Beachand the facilities in the area in-clude good restaurants, bars andbakeries.

Prices range from 13 mil-lion to 16 million baht. In addi-tion, there is a one-time sinkingfund of 150,000 baht and amonthly maintenance charge of3,000 baht. These houses are ex-pected to command rents of70,000 to 90,000 baht a month.

For more information contactRichard Lusted at Siam Real Es-tate, Tel: 076-280805; website:www.siamreales tate .com;Email: info@siamrealestate.com

P H U K E T P R O P E R T YApril 24 - April 30, 2004 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 27

&PROPERTY

HOMEZONEBy Graham Doven

&

Phuket’s stars of stage,screen and housingIt’s interesting to look at what

sort of people build houseson Phuket and what sort ofpeople buy them. If you’re

a pop singer and you want to buya house on a tropical island, howdo you go about it?

Surprising as it may seem,in Phuket one simple way is toget your concert promoter tobuild one for you.

Why not? Former musicianand TNT boss Paul Moorhouseis now buildinghouses for otherpeople. Chefs, res-taurateurs, hoteliersand bankers are allbuilding homes forother people. Hard-ly anybody hiresarchitects or builders to buildhouses for them these days.

Actually, there is no reasonwhy musicians shouldn’t buildhouses, as long as they stay onthe stage, keep playing gigs andsupplying the money to peoplewho do know what they’re do-ing.

Michael Hosking, devel-oper of Sai Taan in Cherng Talay,

is a concert promoter who hasalso sold houses to associates andfriends from all walks of life, in-cluding Boyzone singer RonanKeating, the head of AmericanExpress Thailand, the MD ofCoca-Cola Middle East, a pilotfrom Hong Kong and many oth-ers.

Why did he start buildingSai Taan? “Sars and Iraq hurt theconcert industry,” Mr Hoskingexplained. “A lot of friends de-

cided to come andsee us because wewere living in Phu-ket.

“Once theysaw our house inLakeshore Villas,they wanted one.

But not everybody can afford amillion dollars.

“We set out to build housesthat we could sell for 15 millionbaht. In the event, we found wecouldn’t quite keep the price thatlow. We finally managed to getthem out at 17 million baht.”

That’s not a bad price for avilla with a private swimmingpool, three bedrooms, games

room, sala, modern kitchen andbathrooms, wooden floors and in-ternational-quality finishes.

The built-up area of each ismore than 450 square meters, in-cluding air-conditioned areas,sexy outdoor bathrooms, air-conpool room, swimming pool anddecking. You get a feeling thatthese houses are built for peoplewho know how to live the goodlife.

“The essential thing is tohave the right people in chargeof the project – key people whounderstand the requirements ofthe international market,” MrHosking said.

“Although the design has aan Asian flavor, the architectcame from Hong Kong and theproject manager is an experi-enced Australian.

“If you want to supply aninternational market, you needsomebody in charge who comesfrom the same cultural back-ground and knows what theywant.”

It seems to be an effectiveformula. Of the original 20homes at Sai Taan, six are left.

‘You get a feeling that these houses are built for people who know how to live the good life.’

P H U K E T P R O P E R T Y28 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E April 24 - April 30, 2004

Ithought long and hard abouthow to start an article aboutthe allamanda. Should I waxlyrical about its beauty? No,

not really. It isn’t exciting.Should I harp on about its me-dicinal qualities? A bit difficultbecause it’s poisonous.

A good way to begin wouldbe to say that it’s yellow. Veryyellow. It’s about the most yel-low plant you’ll see in Thailand.

If you’re driving down theroad and see thousands ofplants with thousands of yellowflowers, it is probably theallamanda.

The plant was named in thelate 18th century, after the Swissscientist J. N. S. Allamand. It wasa time when roadside gardenerswere having the first discussionsabout what plants to use tobrighten up the first roads. Some-body came up with the idea ofthe allamanda, or ban buree, asit’s known in Thai.

This plant is everywherenow. There are a number of varia-tions of this flower, with its small,yellow trumpet-shaped petals,but the most common is the onethat’s found at roadsides all overThailand.

Gardening with Bloomin’ Bert

It requires little attention,except for merciless pruning, andit performs an important task –binding the soil together on theverges at the sides of the roads,helping to prevent the earth be-ing washed away in deluges.

The allamanda, or goldentrumpet, grows best in full sunor bright light. It originated in thejungles of Brazil, but is now cul-tivated worldwide.

It’s a prolific bloomer, andthe yellow flowers appear at alltimes of the year. Unlike mostplants, it doesn’t seem to getbored producing flowers, so theyappear non-stop. It doesn’t getbored with growing, either. I’vegot an allamanda in my gardenthat sits at the back of a few otherplants, making it difficult toprune.

A few days ago, I found anew set of allamanda flowers onthe end of a stalk 12 feet away.This was one I’d missed in thepruning process, and it had qui-etly sneaked round the back ofeverything else.

Leave these alone com-pletely, and there’s no stoppingthem. There’s an allamanda inthe Gazette garden that I’m sure

nobody has touched for years. Ithas managed to extend into theupper reaches of a tree so thatit’s difficult to tellwhich branches arethe tree and whichbelong to the alla-manda. It must be 25feet tall now. Notbad for somethingthat’s supposed tobe a bush.

Allamanda isperfectly suited tolife in Phuket, because it lovessun and sandy soil. Many of uswould prefer to be at the beachrather than tending to a garden,so again the allamanda is ideal.It’s happy to be neglected and ig-nored. It actually seems to takegreat delight in just growing.

If you do decide to wieldthe clippers, first wear gloves.The rubbery sap it produces is

quite poisonous and can causeitching and blisters. Second,don’t be shy – cut it back until

there’s virtuallynothing left. Thistreatment may seema little harsh andruthless, but it willpay later.

Some yearsago, I worked at aplace with dozens ofallamandas plantedin pots in the street.

One day, a team of gardeners ap-peared out of the back of a bigtruck, and descended on the hap-less plants with callous effi-ciency, until all that was left werea few pathetic woody stumps. Iwondered what these plants haddone to deserve such treatment –they had to be dead.

My pessimism was provedwrong a few weeks later, when

new shoots appeared, quicklyfollowed by much healthier look-ing bushes than before.

Nowadays, I have no mercywhen cutting these things back.You can’t overprune an allaman-da – they could well be the mas-ochists of the plant world.

There are probably enoughallamandas on the street withoutyou feeling the need to go out andbuy one for your garden, but ifyou’re looking for somethingthat’s designed for a gardener thatlikes to spend time not garden-ing, it’s perfect.

Local bloomerworth waxinglyrical about

Allamanda produces its golden, trumpet-like flowers regardless of the time of year.

Want to know moreabout a plant

in your garden?Email Bloomin’ Bert at:

bloominbert@hotmail.com

You can’toverprune an

allamanda – theycould well be themasochists of the

plant world

C L A S S I F I E D SApril 24 - April 30, 2004 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 29

Property GazettePropertiesFor Sale

LUXURY EUROPEANstandard townhouses for salein Patong with ocean view,large pool, fully fitted out, veryprivate beautiful property. Oneat 4.5 million baht, and one at4.9 million baht. Call 01-924-1447.

78 RAI, 10 MILL BAHTBeautiful forest with 500mfrontage along 70m-wide seacanal in Takuapa. Only 30minutes to Koh Khokhao bylongtail. 400m main road front-age, power, and SorKor 1 title.Send email for info. Email:adamphuket2001@yahoo.com

LUXURYBUNGALOWSIN PATONG

New 2-story bungalowswith carport, large living-dining room, kitchen, 3bedrooms, 3 baths,150sqm. Freehold land. 4million baht. Contact Peterfor details. Tel: 01-892-8526. Email: peterwesche@hotmail.com

7.5 RAI BEACHFRONTfor sale at Ao Yon - near CapePanwa - for urgent sale at 28million baht for the whole plot.Tel: 09-7298365. Email:sudaves2002@yahoo.com

KATA HOUSESHouses in Kata for sale atgood prices. 5 min walk to thebeach. Tel: 076-284065, 06-5958512, 01-9704638.Email: nalumana@phuket.ksc.co.th

POOLSIDE APT SALES We are leasing out just 2 of ourpoolside apartments for 15years each. For full details, pho-tos and very attractive leasingrates, please email us and wewill forward to you our promowebsite address. Thank you.Tel: 01-8912100. Fax: 076-292907. Email: sales@nanai-coconut-resorts.com

LUXURY APARTMENTSpacious, 1-bedroom apart-ment at Kalim Bay. Nicely fur-nished. Access to gym andpool. Call 01-8921621.

FOR SALE BYOWNER

Spectacular seaview villasouth of Patong, luxurygolf course mansion at La-guna, for sale by owner. Formore info please call: 01-7974413. or Email: info@tomkatconsulting.com.Please see website : www.tomkatconsulting.com

LAND IN KHAO LAK3 rai in Bang Niang. 800,000baht/rai. Tel: 07-2777794.Email: colan@ksc.th.com

APARTMENT BLOCKBrand new block of six 50-sqmapartments near Surin Beachfor sale at 5.5 million baht forwhole development. Pleasecontact for details. Tel: 01-7885419. Email: tomshut@hotmail.com

CENTRAL PATONGChanote title, 2-story, spa-cious home with 3 aircon bed-rooms, 2 bathrooms, marblemodern kitchen, carport, quietlocation, 24-hr security, gym,6 pools, part furnished. 3 mil-lion baht. Tel: 06-2779149.

LAND FOR SALE

4.5 rai Chalong Hill. 3 millionbaht per rai. Beautiful view.Please contact Blue PhuketProperty. Tel: 09-7310283.

LAND IN PATONGfor sale. Excellent seaviews.Prices from 5.5 million baht/rai (3,450 baht/sqm). Pleasecall for full details. Tel: 076-349050, 01-8957159, 09-2911112.

65 RAI FOR SALE65 rai with Chanote title forsale at Laem Phromthep. 3.5million baht/rai. Tel: 09-867-2462. Email: bluepktproperty@csloxinfo.com

PATONG CONDOfor sale. Opportunity to buy avacant, freehold condo inPatong, with a mountain viewand 300m from the beach.Comprises 1 bed, 1 livingroom, 2 balconies, 1 toilet.Price 1.05 million baht. Tel:07-2738944. Email: chotip_5@hotmail.com

BEACH CONDOFully furnished 8th-floorcondo with fantastic view,freehold, and a bargain priceof 1.6 million baht. Com-prises 1 large living room, 1bedroom, 1 toilet. ContactKhun Christian. Tel: 06-276-0258, 09-4740227. Email:thesonbusiness@hotmail.com

CONDO 4 SALE

1-room Patong Beachapartment for sale. Cashsale for 450,000 baht or150,000 baht deposit and4 yearly payments of100,000 baht. Tel: 09-4740207. Email: su_kingsuwan@hotmail.com

NATAIBEACH LAND

West Coast. 2.25 rai with38 meters of ocean front-age at Natai Beach. Fullyserviced and levelled. Newboundary wall and buildingpermits. Enjoy your sala 20meters above high tide. 15minutes from the airport. 25million baht. Email: nick@indigore.com. Tel: 09-873-2042. Indigo Real EstateLimited. Sound advice, pre-mium properties.

LAND IN THALANGOver 1.5 rai (2,500sqm) withbuildings. Nice area. Electric-ity, water incl. 1.75 millionbaht. Tel: 076-274351, 09-2911112.

BEAUTIFUL LANDfor sale in Thalang. 3.38 raiwith road, water, electricity.Chanote title. Price 3.8 millionbaht (only 700 baht/sqm). Tel:076-349050, 01-8957159,02-2911112.

HOUSE FOR SALEBrand new single house. 3bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, kit-chen, garden, aircon and pri-vate swimming pool (5x10m).800sqm of land, 5 min fromHeroines’ Monument. Price:4.3 million baht. Call 06-682-2325, 04-0575756.

LAGUNA APTS

Laguna Allamanda apart-ments and Sheraton islandvillas for sale at prices from8 million baht. Please call fordetails. Tel: 01-8922113.Email: tasha@indigore.com. Indigo Real Estate Lim-ited. Sound advice, pre-mium properties.

Find more classified ads at www.phuketgazette.net!

TAMAPRAO HOUSE

Furnished Tamapraohouses, built and designedto Swedish standards.Complete with pool, fullmarble finish and aircon.Close to golf course and air-port. Prices from 2.5 millionbaht. Tel: 09-2002497.Please visit our website at:www.phuketvillage.com

NEW HOUSEFOR SALE

Located on Chao Fa EastRd. 204sqm, 3 bedrooms,2 bathrooms, kitchen, livingroom. Price: 1.99 millionbaht. Contact Khun Ya atTel: 01-5973398.

1.25 RAI KAMALAPanoramic views over Kamalavalley, private location, 2kmfrom beach. Price: 2.75 mil-lion baht. Tel: 01-7374295,01-8929524.

C L A S S I F I E D S30 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E April 24 - April 30, 2004

Property Gazette

Classified ads are charged per line. Each line is 60 baht,

with a minimum of 4 lines (heading included) per ad.

All advertising must be paid for in advance.

Deadline for Property Mart page: Friday 3 pm.

Deadline for all other pages: 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.

PropertiesFor Rent

PHUKET

K.L. MartPatak Rd, Chalong Tel: 076-280400/3

NAVA Language SchoolPhang Nga Rd, Phuket Town Tel: 076-232398/9

Sin & LeeThalang Rd, Phuket Town Tel: 076-211230

Taurus TravelAroonsom Plaza Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd, Patong Tel: 076 344521-2

A la CarteKamala main road, Cherng Talay Tel: 076-278019

PHANG NGA

Maew Internet Shop, Khao Lak Tel: 076-420627

Avalon Creative Group Co Ltd, Khao Lak Tel: 076-420539

Agents for Classified Advertising

SMALL PLOTof land in Rawai. 400 sqm ofland with Chanote title, road,electricity and water, avail-able near Laem Ka Yai, just500m from Rawai beach.850,000 baht. Tel: 07-889-4160. Email: gundel_sylvia@yahoo.com

HOUSE FOR SALE

near Tesco-Lotus. 4 bed-rooms, 4 bathrooms,swimming pool, built-in fur-niture, Western kitchen,granite and wooden floors,fully furnished, 5 aircon,Chanote title. Price 5.3million baht. Tel: 01-978-6099. Email: hwaimer@dkyachts.com

VILLA FOR SALEFully-furnished 3-bed, 3-bathroom villa for sale in aquiet residential area of NaiHarn. Only 3.7 million baht.Tel: 01-7520275.

4.75 RAI RAWAIBeautiful 4.75-rai plot inRawai for sale, completewith Chanote title, pavedroad and electricity, for 3.8million baht. Tel: 076-381-181, 076-381189.

LARGE EUROPEANSTYLE HOME

Large European-style resi-dence in Phuket City, 4 bed-rooms, 3 en-suite bath-rooms, separate kitchen/dining area, lounge, largestudy, storage room, 3-meter ceiling (some teakwood), low maintenancegarden, patio area, fishpond, cable TV, 3 phonelines, double car parking,marble floor, air condition-ing, large community swim-ming pool, quiet neighbor-hood. Includes owningcompany. 7.9 million baht.Tel: 076-240612, 09-587-2609. Fax: 076-240613.Email: interval@loxinfo.co.th

HOUSESNEAR LAGUNA

Hilltop houses – two re-maining – 2km from La-guna. From 7.8 millionbaht. 3 bedrooms, 3 baths,study, living room, kitchen,maid’s room, laundry, 2-cargarage. 250-sqm coveredarea, private swimmingpool. Completion October2004. Purchase choicescan include Chanote or longlease. Private sale: no bro-kers. Tel: 01-8930692.Email: toto@phuket.ksc.co.th

LAND FOR SALEURGENT

Land in Anuphas ManoromPhase 1, on Chao Fa WestRd. 45 sq wah or 180 sqm.Only 750,000 baht. Tel: 076-283- 202, 09-8717062. Fax:076-283203. Please Emailfor more info: nsapple@loxinfo.co.th

HOT PROPERTY6.6 MILLION BAHT

2 homes on 3 rai, 3 nganwith Chanote. 250-sqmand 300-sqm terraces.Two-story homes withseaview in a valley withwaterfalls and 150m sur-rounding wall. Call Stefan.Tel: 01-9796011. Pleaseemail to: 019796011@gsmadvance.com

KATA SEAVIEW LAND2 superb plots of Kataseaview land – with Chanotetitles, never built on – nowavailable. 1,100sqm for 6.2million baht and adjoining826sqm for 4.6 million baht.Tel: 06-2817605. Email:kataviews@yahoo.com

HOME OFFICE 4 SALEin Anuphas Golf Ville. 3 bed-rooms, 3 bathrooms, 48 sqwah. Price: 3 million baht.Tel: 01-8921256.

SALE OR RENTBig, nicely-decorated, 1-roomcondos for rent or sale. Tel:01-8948446.

HOUSE FOR RENTNew, quality, furnished 2-bed house in Kathu withaircon, UBC TV, Europeankitchen,verandah and gar-den. Tel: 01-3673106.Email: martinkreutzinger@hotmail.com

HOUSE FOR RENT2 bedrooms (1 with aircon),hot water, kitchen, livingroom, some furniture, phoneline. Tel: 01-7971709, 01-537 9878. Email: suwittrai@hotmail.com

THE BEST VIEWof Patong. Furnished 4-bed-room house with a spectacu-lar view over Patong Beach.Big garden, UBC TV, forlong-term rent only. Tel: 02-5138348, 01-8915325.Email: jorg1@bkk4.loxinfo.co.th

C L A S S I F I E D SApril 24 - April 30, 2004 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 31

Property Gazette

AccommodationAvailable

PropertiesWanted

HOUSE NEAR LAGUNA

4 bedrooms, big living room,study, kitchen, garage for 3cars, maid’s room, swimmingpool, 2 telephone lines, 4aircons, hot water, semi-fur-nished, good neighborhood.For long-term rent at 60,000baht a month. Tel: 01-893-0692. Email: toto@phuket.ksc.co.th

PATONG BEACH

condo for rent. Fully fur-nished, bathroom, kitchen,aircon. From 400 baht a day.For more information, pleasecall Tel: 01-5366713 or seeour website at: www.phuketaccommodation.net

HOUSE FOR RENT

in Kathu. 2 bedrooms, 2bathrooms, kitchen, livingroom, 2 aircons, furnished.10,000 baht/month forlong-term contract. Tel: 09-2909567. For more info,see our website at: www.brommathaihouse.com

LUXURY VILLA

Patong ocean view villa forrent. 2 bedrooms, privatepool, beautifully furnishedand fitted out. 6 months minrental at 45,000 baht amonth. Tel: 01-9241447.

HOUSE FOR RENT

Fully furnished 2-bedroomhouse, just 2 minutes fromChalong Circle, on the way toRawai Beach. Rent: 15,000baht/month. Please call Tel:04-0566989.

PATONG BEACH

condo for rent. Furnishedbathroom, kitchen, aircon.From 500 baht a day. Con-tact for more information.Tel: 01-5366713. Pleasesee our website: www.phuketaccommodation.net

PATONG CONDOS

Fully furnished 1- or 2-roomPatong apartments with pool.7,000 baht/month or 400baht/day. Just 300 metersfrom the beach. Tel: 01-364-5419. Email: thesonbusiness@hotmail.com

TOWNHOUSES

for rent. Situated in quiet areaof Soi Sansabai, Patong, 2bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, fur-nished, UBC, aircon, tele-phone, short- and long-termavailable. 20,000 baht amonth. Tel: 076-341871,01-5697616.

RAWAI CONDO

Fully-furnished 2-bedroomcondo in Rawai with 2 bath-rooms, pool, telephone,aircon and TV. Please call Tel:01-6067410.

OFFICE/SHOWROOM

Office and showroom spaceavailable at The Courtyard.Please call or email for moreinformation. Tel: 076-263-992, 01-8934200. Fax:076-263993. Email: info@thecourtyard-phuket.com

LAND & HOUSES PARK

Fully-furnished, single-storyLand & Houses Park housewith 2 bedrooms, aircon andUBC TV. Rent 20,000 baht.Tel: 01-9797535.

WANTED: RESORTS

in Phuket or Khao Lak. We’rean experienced internationalfirm, and we are looking forproperties in Phuket or KhaoLak to manage. Must be atleast 4-star properties witha minimum/maximum of 75-300 rooms. Please respondwith details, conditions.Email: phuketproject@ehotelier.com

LOOKING FOR LAND

in Patong. I’m looking to buy1 rai in Phuket/Patong. Pleasecontact me by email if youhave something under 2 mil-lion baht. Please email:sgellepes@sbcglobal.net

PATONG LUXURY APT

Central Patong 1- & 2-bed-room apts. Email for info &photos. Email: suites247@yahoo. com

PATONG AIRCON ROOM

Patong Beach air-conditionedroom for 5,500 baht a month(180 baht night). For furtherdetails, please see ourwebsite at: www.paradizo.com or email: paradizo@paradizo.com

FREE DEALS

available. Andaman Hill Ho-tel, Nanai Rd. Beautifullrooms, aircon, shower, bath,sunshine balcony, restaurant,bar, cable TV, large screensports TV, swimming pool,sauna, free snooker, freemotorbike rental, 750 baht anight, deals for long-termstays. Tel: 076 -340743, 09-8722752. Fax: 076-344-057. Email: ukthai@procom.in.th

KATA PENTHOUSE

and rooms. Furnished, andwith UBC TV, aircon, fridge,telephone, balcony and view.11,000 baht a month and5,900 baht a month. Tel:076-333589, 06-2766597.Email: richardandooy@tesco.net

ROOMS TO LET

Rooms for rent in new com-plex. Fully furnished withaircon, free satellite TV, fridge,hot water, plus car parking, for166 baht/day. Yes, it’s true.166 baht/day at Lake ViewApartments. Tel: 076-202-585, 09-1968449. Email:ketmaneeclayton61@hotmail.com

PHUKET BEVERLY HILLWe offer Exclusive

Residences at BeverlyHills in Patong. BeautifulTown House with Superb

Ocean Views.For more details call

076-341871,01-9241447, 01-5697616,

09-7762591E-mail: sales@

phuketislandrealestate.comWebsite: www.

phuketislandrealestate.com

If an event isn’t listedin the Gazette’s

Events Calendarit probably isn’t one.

List your event now - It’s free of charge.

phuketgazette.com/calendar

SEAVIEW LAND

1-2 rai of seaview land (notbeachfront) wanted for pri-vate house site. Ideallynorth Phuket. NorSor 3 Goror Chanote title. Tel: 06-3205874. Email: simon@link77.com

AccommodationWanted

BuildingServices

HouseholdProducts

HOME FURNISHINGS

All your home furnishingneeds – curtains and blinds,furniture and carpets – sup-plied with prompt service.Tel: 01-9035622.

HOUSE OR APT

for family. Our family of 4 (2kids: 3yrs, 5yrs) is looking fora nice house/apartment torent during our visit to Phuketfrom May 27 to June 20.Must have aircon, parkingand preferably a pool. Onlyquiet locations, distant fromtraffic noise or nightlife. Weare also interested in carrental and daytime sailing/fishing trips and excursions tobeautiful beaches and otherislands. Email: noreng@directbox.com

LOOKING 4 A HOUSE

I’m looking for a nice de-tached house in Rawai. 2bedrooms, bathroom, phoneline, furnished or not. I’ll re-turn to Phuket in Septemberand I am looking to lease aplace long term. Please emaildetails to: richardtekram@hotmail.com

HOUSE WANTED

in Kamala. 2 bedrooms, 1bathroom, 1 large livingroom, kitchenette and pri-vate garden/swimmingpool. Rental 20,000-30,000 baht/month. Tel:076-325000. Fax: 076-325886. Or email to: jk@surinbeachresort.com

PropertyServices

SPAS R US

Steam room/sauna andaccessories, and portablehot tubs from USA. Qual-ity equipment, designedand installed for yourneeds. Business and resi-dential. Tel: 09-7939268.

HOUSE PAINTING

Do you need any kind offirst-class quality paintingfor your new house? Orrepairs? For more informa-tion, please call Tel: 072-868634.

90CM BUILT-IN

OVEN

Stainless steel, universaloven, electronic clock, easyclean system, all-glass door,liner, removable accessoryrack, 2 side-mounted halo-gen lighting tubes, coolingfan, stainless steel front. Tel:01-8157440.

View Thailand’sLARGEST

portfolio ofClassified Ads –more than 2,000

of them – andplace your ad

FREE!

See thePhuket Gazette

Onlineat

www.phuketgazette.net

OCEAN VIEW

PATONG

Awesome view from thisfurnished 2-bed, 2-bathproperty with pool, UBCTV, phone and aircon.Long-term rent at 45,000baht a month. Tel: 07-882-1963. Email: benlee53@hotmail.com

NEW SHOPHOUSE

near Robinson. We arelooking to buy or rent oneunit in one of the newshophouse buildings nearRobinson departmentstore (behind night mar-ket). The shophouses areyellow. Please contact usurgently. Tel: 076-264-445-6. Email: jamie@asiadebit.com

C L A S S I F I E D S32 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E April 24 - April 30, 2004

Island Job Mart

EmploymentWanted

HOLIDAY RESORT

Staff wanted for the followingpositions: Assistant to theGeneral Manager, and Salesstaff to work for local chainresorts on Koh Yao Noi inPhang Nga; Chiang Mai; Cha-am; and Ayudhaya. Pleasecontact to apply or for furtherinformation. Tel: 02-7115997-8 (ext 21, 34).

URGENTLY

REQUIRED

Fagor’s European kitchenappliances distributor re-quires a Sales Executive anda Technician to join ourteam. Male or female, ageover 23 years, holding voca-tional certificate or higher.Good command of Englishand computer skills. Experi-ence in position applied willbe an advantage. Tel: 076-234 695, 01-8091386.Fax: 076-234240. Email:fagorpkt@phuket.ksc.co.th

COOK WANTED

The Yorkshire Inn Hotel islooking to employ a good Cookwith experience in Thai andEuropean food. To apply,please call Tel: 076-340904or 076-345258.

HEAD HOUSEKEEPER

wanted for the Yorkshire InnHotel, Patong. Must haveexperience, be able to manageand motivate staff, and speaksome English. Good salaryand conditions. Please con-tact for more information andapplication. Tel: 076-340904or 076-345258.

ESTIMATOR

AND CAD/CAM

Wanted: construction esti-mator and CAD/CAM op-erator for plumbing and wa-ter infrastructure construc-tion projects at our Phuketoffice. Email CV or call fordetails. Tel: 076-354870,01-6334279. Fax: 076-354871. Email: esppkt@phuket.ksc.co.th

TRAINEE HOUSEKEEPER

wanted to work in Kathu area.Must speak some English, beable to ride a motorbike, andwilling to learn. Good wagesand conditions. Tel: 076-323-214, 018540061.

JOB IN TOURISM

French woman available im-mediately for work in tourismsector. Has degree in tourismand experience in leisure sec-tor, is motivated, and ready toconsider any proposition.Please email with offers.Email: sozzideborah@hotmail.com

ASSISTANT

MANAGER

A newly set up company op-erating mainly in the real es-tate market is looking for anenthusiastic, Thai national,male or female, 30-35 yearsold, fluent in English withgood experience in market-ing, a good all-round person-ality and preferably withown car. Very good salaryand profit sharing scheme.If interested, send your CVby fax or email to apply.Fax: 076-352066. Email:info@consaltho.it

Problems with an extra-marital affair? Need somebody to love?

ASK KHUN WANIDA "MOMMA DUCK"

Fax your questions to 076-213971or e-mail to momma@phuketgazette.net

HR MANAGER

REQUIRED

The Mangosteen Resort &Spa is seeking a Human Re-sources Manager. Thai na-tionals only, with at least 5years’ experience and excel-lent command of English lan-guage. Knowledge of Thai la-bor law is required. Pleasecontact for more details andto apply. Tel: 076-289399.Fax: 076-289389. Email:ha jo@mangosteen-phuket.com

ADVERTISING

SALES

Expanding young mediacompany seeks Thai na-tionals aged 22 and overwith a good command ofwritten and spoken Englishfor advertising sales posi-tions. Experience in sales isan advantage and musthave own transport. Goodcommission offered. To ap-ply please contact us. Fax:076-282240. Email: info@footprints-asia.com

SPA THERAPIST

Chandara, a new exclusiveresidence situated at LaemSingh Beach, is now lookingfor energetic person to fillthe position of Spa Therapist.Requirements: min 5 years’experience, pleasant per-sonality, service minded,good communication and in-terpersonal skills, good com-mand of English language isessential. Tel: 076-279550-1. Fax: 076-279092. Email:nsapple@loxinfo.co.th

C L A S S I F I E D SC L A S S I F I E D SApril 24 - April 30, 2004 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 33

Tout, Trader & Trumpet

Articles forSale

ArticlesWanted

Boats &Marine

BusinessOpportunities

Bulletins

GARAGE SALE

on Sunday, April 25, from 9am to midday. Gas cooker,single bed, children’s things,bonsai trees, etc. Tel: 076-274819, 01-7196937.

MOVING SALE

Farangs leaving country. Allfurniture and household itemsfor sale. Good stuff, goodprices. Please contact for de-tails. Tel: 076-288743. Email:rkkramer5643@yahoo.com

SURPLUS WOOD

I have a lot of teak wood leftover from building a house. Call07-8823940 or email:albertjames1940@hotmail.com

SURFBOARD

Never ridden, 6'4" x 18¾ " x23/8" single-to-double concavePiranha surfboard. Rounded-square tail, FCS fins. Made forPhuket surf. Price: 11,999baht. Tel: 076-270549. Email:saltwater_dreaming@hotmail.com

NIKONOS CAMERA

Nikonos IV underwater cam-era for sale. Price: 12,000baht. Flooded but in excellentcondition. Traffic accidentforces immediate sale. Email:maxskii@thailand.com

PLAYSTATION 2

Looking for somebody want-ing to sell his or her SonyPlaystation 2. Must be at afair price and in good conditiononly. Email: gabrielle5712@hotmail.com

SECONDHAND FLUTE

Looking for a secondhandflute in good condition (for in-termediate musician). If yourhave one, or if you know whereto buy in Phuket or Bangkok,please contact me. Email:elsbellon@hotmail.com

BOOKS WANTED

I am looking for a good whole-sale supplier of secondhandforeign-language books. Email:phucketinquiry@hotmail.com

BOAT FOR SALE

29-foot fiberglass motoryacht with Thai registration. 2x 280hp Mercruiser engines.Price: 3.5 million baht ono.Please contact for more de-tails. Tel: 076-239864.Email: hktmkt@ksc.th.com

TAMAPRAO YACHT

for sale at Tamaprao. Swed-ish design, 36-foot fiberglass,motor yacht, 2x200hp en-gines. Tel: 09-2002497.

LONGTAIL BOAT

Beautiful, strong and new 12-meter longtail boat with fast 2-liter engine. Located in Rawai.Price: 90,000 baht. Tel: 07-2710609.

SEADOO JETBOAT

Two-year-old SeaDoojetboat in almost perfectcondition. Includes a re-cently rebuilt 90hp engine.Price: 200,000 baht or bestoffer. Tel: 01-8931049.Email: z3114@msn.com

58FT MOTOR YACHT

Beautiful, perfect-condition,4 cabins with aircon, salonwith aircon, a large fully-equipped galley, 3 decks withtop deck fitted out withluxury seating, dining and bararea, and large sun deck.Twin Cummins engines. Alsoincludes a 5.8m tender withtwin 85hp engines. This is atruly magnificent boat in per-fect, spotless condition. Allinquiries to Bill. Photos on re-quest. Tel: 01-9390176.Email: bill@phuketisland.com

SPORTFISHING BOAT

Thai 40-foot sport fishing boatwith a 300hp Hino diesel, Thairegistered for charter, CBRadio, color fish finder. For sale400,000 baht ono. Tel: 09-8661009. Email: thaihino_7@hotmail.com

21FT SPEEDBOAT

Thai registered 09/2000 (alltaxes paid). First owner, pri-vate use, only 230 hours. Su-perb condition, open-deck de-sign, with right-hand console.Strong construction fiberglasshull (marine blue and whitecolor), 225hp Yamaha V6.Fully equipped: life jackets,GPS, VHF, anchor, fenders,sunshade+ rain protectioncovers, etc. Yearly anti-foulingdone. Trailer included. Readyfor taking the sea. Price:700,000 baht. Tel: 09-9732278 or 09-9732316.Email: michelburon@hotmail.com

HOTEL PROPERTY

FOR SALE

Would you like to own a ho-tel, restaurant and rentalshop on Karon Beach? Easyforeign ownership, rapidcompany transfer. Pleasecontact us for further infor-mation or see our websiteat: www.geocities.com/hotelinparadise Tel: 01-6931136. Email: hotelinparadise@yahoo.com

PATONG BUSINESS

Bars, shops, rooms or combi-nation of all three for sale orlease. 300 meters to beach.7,000 baht/month. Pleasecontact for further informa-tion. Tel: 07-2738944. Email:thesonapt_2536@hotmail.com

OWN BUSINESS

Own a business with workpermits in Thailand. Pleasecontact for further informa-tion. Tel: 07-2719664. Email:lester_lougan@yahoo.ca

PHANG NGA

3-story, 14-room guesthouseis for sale. Convenient forJames Bond Island, banks,market, restaurant and busstation, and popular with bothguests and guidebooks. Clean,aircon, fully furnished. A stealat 6 million baht. Please call formore information. Tel: 07-6411963.

RESTAURANT 4 SALE

35-seat, fully-equipped res-taurant in Patong for sale,ready to work. 4 motorcyclesfor rent and 6 computers withInternet access. Tel: 07-048-6254, 01-9496092. Email:pillar@loxinfo.co.th

FARANG

restaurant with full equipmentand many regulars to takeover. Please come and see.Tel: 06-2705064.

PUB/RESTAURANT

in Soi Nanai for sale. Capacity:40 seats with balcony, 3 apart-ments and a view of Patong.Price: 25,000 baht/month ona 5-year contract. Please con-tact for more details. Email:thomaspatong@gmx.de

NICE BAR AND BIKE

Nice bar in a good location inKata Center. Price: 900,000baht. Honda CBR 400cc forsale: 75,000 baht. Please callfor more details. Tel: 07-8814415.

SPORTS BAR

and restaurant. Great loca-tion in central Bangla area.Max 1 pool table, darts area,stereo/DVD/satellite radio, 3(UBC) TV sets, 3 aircons,modern kitchen, living areaupstairs. Upmarket bar withlong lease. Please contact formore information. Tel: 09-8677969. Email: bangla_04@yahoo.com

NAIL SALON

Fully furnished nail salon forlease on main road in Patongarea. Two-year contract for500,000 baht. Please call fordetails. Tel: 01-6383682 or09-1164759.

PRIME LOCATION

shop for sale. Build your fu-ture with your own shop.For further information,please see our website atwww.rangrong.com or Tel:01-6893194. Email: 2810@mail.austria.com

BUSINESS

FOR SALE

Profitable dive business forsale. Located on a presti-gious island resort on GreatBarrier Reef in Queensland,Australia. Please email forfurther information. Email:jgkg24@hotmail.com

RESORT FOR SALE

Koh Samui beachfront re-sort for sale. Comprises 25bungalows and swimmingpool. For further details,please see our website at:www.phuketbooking.net/real_estate

Don’t miss....

Issues

&

Answers

www.phuketgazette.net/

issuesanswers/index.asp

CAFÉ FOR SALE

Fully equipped and well-es-tablished (5 years) café in thecenter of Phuket City. Price:900,000 baht negotiable.Please call or email for moreinformation. Tel: 076-355-233. Email: circlecafe@hotmail.com

DIVE GEAR

I would like to buy two sets ofdive gear. Must be in goodworking condition.2 x com-plete regulators, 2 BCDs 1xXL,1xS; fins x 2 (sizes 42-43 &41-42). Please email me withyour contact number. Email:ianlenton@hotmail.com

GIBSON GUITAR

PR 5E/B model. Semi-acoustic,cut-away, black-laquer finishwith inlays. Genuine Epiphonepick-ups. 12,000 baht, inclcase. Tel: 07-2781478. Email:rickgamble@hotmail.com

GUESTHOUSE

FOR SALE

12-room guesthouse for saleoverlooking large lake andprivate swimming pool nearLoch Palm Golf Course. Also,9 rai for sale with water,pool. Tel: 06-9757268.

WOODEN CRUISER

Comfortable, small, 12mwooden cruiser, with Thairegistration, Isuzu 115hpengine and good onboardloo and shower. Price:400,000 baht ono. Pleasecontact for details. Tel: 07-2642978. Fax: 076-290441.

FOR SALE

Price 280,000 baht.Length 6.5 meters, engine:Yamaha 85hp, options:fishing sounder. DinghyYamaha 2hp. In ChalongBay. Please contact formore information. Tel: 07-2663260.

C L A S S I F I E D S34 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E April 24 - April 30, 2004

Tout, Trader & Trumpet

Computers

BusinessServices

PersonalServicesWanted

BusinessServices

PersonalServices

Business Services

VISA RUN TO

RANONG

1,299 baht. Includes visastamp fee, insurance, tripby boat and minibus (both ingood condition), and lunchwith soft drinks. Daily tripstarts at 7 am at KFC atTesco-Lotus supercenter.Please contact us for reser-vation. Tel: 076-289201 or01-5352637. For furtherinformation, please visit ourwebsite: www.phuket dir.com/expressvisaextension

LUXURYVISA RUN

to Ranong every Mon-day, Wednesday, and Fri-day, starting at 8 amfrom The Yorkshire InnHotel, in Soi Sansabai,Patong. Air-conditionedminibus with surroundmusic, TV, snacks anddrinks. Price: 1,200baht, including Burmesevisa fee and boat cross-ing. Please book early.Tel: 076-340904 or 076-345258.

CONSTRUCTION

Phuket Construction. Top-notch local builder, 10 years’experience. Call us for moredetails. Tel: 07-2698492.

HEALTHY HERBALIFE

Weight control, healthy nutri-tion, use it and earn money.Tel: 07-8054344. Email:aafitform@hotmail. com

NEW E-MARKETING

SERVICES

Office Xpress has gathereda team of international-qual-ity Web designers, program-mers, graphic artists and ITspecialists. Let us help youwith your e-commerce andonline business. Contact ustoday to learn how you canget more sales via theInternet and new IT prod-ucts. Tel: 076-282403.Email: mike@officexpress.org

COMPUTER REPAIRS

Computer repairs, call-outservices, upgrades, sales andtuition by UK technician.Please contact for more infor-mation. Tel: 09-4735080.

ADSL MODEM

ADSL USB modem (Bipac-701 C2) and ADSL splitter forsale. 4,000 baht. Never beenused, still in the box. Pleasecontact Khun Goy. Tel: 076-342636, 09-6451050. Email:hoiclang@hotmail.com

IBM FOR SALE

If you are looking for a perfectcomputer then you are on theright track. For sale: importedIBM 205 8430 IBM Server 2.0MHz. 1 Gigabyte RAM, DVDRDW, DVD, extra Rage XL PCIvideo card 120MB RAM, NECLCD 1850E. Logitech cordlesskeyboard. Tel: 076-383813,07-882 2597. Email: euro-art-gallery@planet.nl

LEARN THAI AT HOME

From easy conversation tofar more advanced learning.Coursework, cassettes andhome-study materials pro-vided by Joy, a charming Thailady and ready to help. Pleasecontact for a chat. Tel: 01-7971497. Email: churee77@hotmail.com

PERMANENT TATTOO

Permanent tattoos for ladies.Professional tattoos for lips,eyes and eyebrows. Contactfor more information. Tel:076-385385, 06-2761506.Email: nattakarn_aasa@yahoo.com

MAKEUP STYLIST

Makeup stylist available toshow you the right way touse cosmetics for wed-dings, parties and other spe-cial occasions. Tel: 076-280363, 01-933 4121.

OPPORTUNITY

for success. A woman’s pro-fessional skills are not enoughto make the top jobs. The am-bitious woman can now ad-vance her career with goodimage management. “TheTools of HER Trade” by DrHarold Dresner – the successguide for women that menread, too. For further details,please see our website atwww.carbeengruncle.comEmail: carbeengruncle@yahoo.co.uk

LEARN CHINESE

Learn Chinese at your placeor mine. Please contact formore information. Tel: 04-0068736 or 04-0560618.Email: leondisley@yahoo.com

ENGLISH TUTORIALS

tailored to your course ofstudy, needs and interests.For all ages and levels, by anexperienced, young and funThai tutor. Contact Gem formore info. Tel: 07-8875279.Email: seafoon2002@yahoo.com

THAI LESSONS

I need to take Thai-languagelessons from Monday throughFriday, from 9 am to 12 noon.Please contact with details.Tel: 06-6853121, 06-7437553. Fax: 076-240622.Email: eric@phuketsmile.com

PIANO INSTRUCTOR

I am seeking an experienced pi-ano teacher to instruct my 11-year-old son, who is in his sec-ond year of instruction. Email:moonsun_hi@hotmail.com

Personals

BACKGAMMON

players wanted for some ex-citing games. Please call orfax for more details. Tel: 076-386113 or 01-577 8443.Fax: 076-386114.

FRENCHMAN

Handsome man, 45 yearsold and a regular visitor toThailand, would like to meeta very good-looking, edu-cated lady between 30 and35 years of age, for a seriousrelationship. Please contactme immediately. Tel: 01-0862673. Email: grange-aulnaies@wanadoo.fr

AUSSIE GUY

I am going to be in Thailand for4 months from August. I amlooking for a Thai lady tospend time with as a friend fornow, but hopefully it will leadto something more like mar-riage. I’m 26 years old, 6-feettall, with blonde hair and anathletic build. I am looking fora female 20-30 years old.Please email me if you’re in-terested in meeting me. Email:peteinnthqld@hotmail.com

Public Notice

PetsWESTERN FEMALES

wanted. I am a 38-year-oldguy, coming to Phuket for 6months. I would like to meetnon-Thai females for friend-ship. I just want friendly facesand to make a few friendsthere. Who knows where itwill lead? Write me a few linesand introduce yourself, if pos-sible send a recent photo.Email: stevieboy07@hotmail.com

HONEST

and beautiful Thai. I am look-ing for an honest and beautifulThai lady with very long hair.I am seeking a long-term rela-tionship and marriage. Ladyshould be between 30 and 47years of age. Please contactme by email and send yourrecent picture. No game play-ers and no paperwork chas-ers please. Email: Dstu2002@yahoo.com

CACATUA PARTNER

We are looking to find a part-ner for our middle-sized yel-low cheek Cacatua. Thebird has to be younger than2 years. Tel: 076-279088,01-9439834. Email: ruthe@tcm-asia.com

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 Gazette’s Island Trader 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 when

payment is made at our agents.

The Phuket Gazette Co Ltd367/2 Yaowarat Road, Phuket TownTel: 076-236555 Fax: 076-213971

C L A S S I F I E D S

Wheels & Motors

April 24 - April 30, 2004 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E 35

Motorbikes

WantedRentals

Saloon Cars

4 x 4s

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

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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 60 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

Pickups

TOYOTA 4 DOORPICKUP

1990 Mighty X. Benzineengine, roll bar, aircon.Chrome wheels, goodtires. Great shape. Seriousinquiries only. 185,000baht. Tel: 076-288743.Email: rkkramer5643@yahoo.com

HONDA CBR 400RR

Honda CBR 400RR – nofaults – for sale. Must beseen. 65,000 baht. Tel: 01-4056588.

NISSAN NV 1.6 SLX

for rent. May thru Sept.Pickup looks like new. Rent300 baht a day, 8,000 bahta month. Call Tage MC.Tel: 07-2676823.

BIG MOTORBIKES

Two Honda CBR motor-bikes in perfect conditionfor sale. Only 65,000 bahteach. Tel: 09-4729740.

SUZUKI CARIBIANFOR RENT

Suzuki in good condition.500 baht per day. 1,200baht per month. Tel: 076-333584, 01-0861060.Email: wtrachsel@hotmail.com

KAWASAKIVULCAN

1500cc, black, 1998, origi-nal 8,700km, new tires.Please call Tel: 076-386-113, 01-5778443.

JRD SNOW SCOOTERin yellow color with windshieldand box on the back. 6 monthsold. Only 3,500km. Price28,000 baht. Tel: 07-263-5565.

VOLKSWAGENbeetle. 1971 model in perfectcondition. Good 1600cc en-gine and suspension. Califor-nia-style, racing seats, airconand radio. Recently resprayedin red. Phuket registration.Ready to drive. 133,000 baht.Available for test drive inPhuket City, near Big C. Tel:076-248158, 01-4765236.Email: filmfarmbkk@hotmail.com

1964 VESPAwith sidecar. Fire-engine red.New white leather seats andwhite trim. Windscreen.Powerful 150cc, just tuned.Green registration book.75,000 baht. A real headturner – park in front of yourbusiness or pick up moregirls than with a Mercedes.Tel: 076-381648. Email:frankvisakay@hotmail.com

HARLEY-DAVIDSON1994 Harley-Davidson forsale. Fat Boy, in red and inprime condition. Price only:620,000 baht. Call Tel: 076-325- 000, fax: 076-325886,or email: jk@surinbeachresort.com

KAWASAKI BOSSfor sale. 175cc, dark green,just over one year old, 8,000km, very clean, always ga-raged, chrome crash bars,luggage rack, windshield, newtax sticker, oil change.60,000 baht. New price withextras was 75,000 baht. Lo-cated in Bang Saphan, 550km north of Phuket. Ride ithome in 6 hours. Tel: 032-548050. Email: klauszelm@hotmail.com

HONDA VFR 400for sale. Yellow-black-white.In good shape. Price: 60,000baht or negotiable. You cancome and have a look at thebike at Don’s Gym at KataBeach. Tel: 09-6533221.Please email: suzanne@suzannessource.com

CHEROKEE 25000 Bper month. 4.0L, auto, leatherseat, good condition. Luxuri-ous and safe car with first-class insurance for rent at25,000 baht a month. Tel:01-3430777. Email: montha_phuket @yahoo.com

YAMAHA TZR 150CC2-stroke, 4 years old, fun todrive, good tires and comeswith matching Index full-facehelmet. Looks great and runsgreat. Contact Neil anytime fora test drive at 07-8911323 oremail at: neilmac42@hotmail.com. Only 30,000 baht.

JRD FOR SALEJRD storm 125cc, 1 year old,in red. Tel: 07-2711270. Email:gimko_8@hotmail.com

SUZUKI RAIDER 1251990, good condition, 125cc,disc brake, 27,000km,17,500 baht. Trade for Dreamor Wave is possible. Tel: 06-9488139. Email: kure41@hotmail.com

VOLKSWAGENVolkswagen Passat 97 with airbags, electric windows. Excel-lent car in excellent condition.650,000 baht. Tel: 06-283-0812.

HONDA CIVIC 2002

20,000km. Like new, has allextras: leather interior, 6-CD changer, automatic,ABS, dual airbags. Call forprice, less than 700,000baht. Tel: 01-8932833.

MOTORBIKEI am looking to buy a smallmotorbike, such as HondaDream, Wave, etc. Must be ingood condition with all papers.Must be electric start andmust not have been rented.Willing to pay in the 12,000baht range. Email: th246810@hotmail.com

HONDA DREAMHonda Dream 100cc for sale.30,000km, 3 years old, ingood condition. Price: 18,000baht. Tel: 07-2656066. Email:karonnet@hotmail.com

TOYOTA 4 DOORpickup. Very good ToyotaHilux, diesel, everything invery good condition. Newtires, sport wheels, stereo,tax and insurance. Needsnew paint. 115,000 baht.Email: kure41@hotmail.com

SUZUKI 1400CCIntruder, black, 9 years old,31,000 miles, 78 horse-power, good sound. Can beseen at Soi Sansabai 169/83,in the Villa area of Ban Ben-jamas at Baan Tantawanapartment hotel. Tel: 076-342936, 06-1062566. Fax:076-345554. Email: philipp@loxinfo.co.th

KAWASAKI KAZE 1122002 model. About 1½ yearsold. Strong 112cc motor.Looks and runs like new. Mustsell quickly. Price: 19,900baht. Tel: 01-2715049. Email:mista_p_williams@yahoo.com

FORD LASER1995 model, 1600cc, 4doors , gold color, automatic.Serviced by Ford Phuket. Ur-gent sale: just 270,000 baht.Tel: 06-6829191. Email:vagabond802000@yahoo.com

PHANTOM FOR RENTHonda Phantom for rent,short- or long-term. Tel: 076-385385, 06-9412918. Email:nattakarn_aasa@yahoo.com

KAWASAKI BOSSGreen, 2 years old, 16,000kms, only 39,500 baht. Tel:01-6912881.

400CC HONDA1993 Honda VFR 400cc forsale. Black, not a rental bike(not easy to find in Phuket).With green book. Needs noth-ing (ready to ride). 68,000baht only. Tel: 01-8926534.Email: gokartwan@yahoo.com

HONDA CIVICin beige with automatic gear-box, airbag, ABS. Registeredin 1999. Only 550,000 baht.Tel: 06-6829191. Email:vagabond802000@yahoo.com

HONDA PHANTOMBlack, 150cc, 37hp, goodconditon, many accessories.Only 39,500 baht for quicksale. Tel: 01-6931300.

TRUCK FOR SALE

2000 Toyota Hilux Tiger, 4door, power steering, 2½ -inch lift kit, stabilizer bars, gasshocks, one year of first-class insurance, one owner,in great condition, neverbeen in accident. 400,000baht. Tel: 01-8955523.Email: pheve@loxinfo.co.th

Others

ATV ETON 150Challenger. Rarely used, ex-cellent condition. 150,000baht, offers welcome. Con-tact Alasdair Junor. Tel: 076-381010-7, 01-8951268.

YAMAHA SCOOTERMio model, 2003, blue, discbrake, red plate, 500km. Verygood condition. Email: doctor@hotmail.com

HONDA WAVE

Honda Wave 125cc, electricstarter, blue. Only 16 monthsold and lightly used with only9,800km on the clock. Hasbeen regularly maintained byHonda dealer. Never droppedand looks like new. Cost:46,000 baht. Will accept32,000 baht. Tel: 076-296-619, 07-9266088.

PONGSAKLOGISTICS

Mitsubishi Pajero jeep, mini-bus and city car for short- orlong-term rent. Tel: 01-6911982, 09-4740269.Fax: 076-356009.

36 P H U K E T G A Z E T T E April 24 - April 30, 2004