baabaabobo

Interesting photo.

More information here

I do not think they live in family groups and I have seen one actually eat a smaller gecko.

They are aggressive little bu@@ers!

Carry car keys in your hand and look straight ahead.

Found out that Taj Resorts are definitly building there so it won't be quiet for long:( Big Indian company

bu@@er! All the more reason to go before it becomes spoiled. I remember Ray telling me he generates the only electricity on the island.

I wonder if that means they are laying a mains cable now under the new marina?

There is a story within a story here. I must say I feel rather sorry for the Burmese chap who was desperate enough to attempt this method to seek asylum. With so many Thais losing face they will not be kind to him. Still his welcome in Turkey wouldn't have been pleasant either if that's where the plane was heading.

DaVinci is closer to Nai Harn and the Pizzas are good but I agree you can't beat Margie & Marios (M&Ms) on Rawai beach.

Anybody know anything about Cruiser Island Resort on Koh Lone or about the new resort being built there - Taj Exotica Resort with 60 rooms & 19 villas - mentioned here http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=165562

What's the island like? The resort? Anyone been?

Ssh! One of Phuket's best kept secrets. My family and I go regularly (over Christmas) to escape the crowds in Phuket.It reminds me of Phuket 20 years ago.

It's run by a gentle Aussie called Ray and his charming wife. The have comfortable villas, nice pool and gardens and a good restaurant at reasonable prices.

The beach is fine too and Ray offers all sorts of activities. Lunchtimes in high season can get busy as he has boats of Asian tourists unload for lunch.

Here is the website and no I am not affiliated in any way.

It's a radiated rat snake (Coelognathus radiatus)

Non-venomous but bites and has long fangs. Just let it be on it's way.

Slain frogman identified

KARON: After days of intense speculation, Chalong Police investigating the bizarre death of a frogman who attacked a Swiss yacht owner and a Thai woman on the night of January 9 have finally identified the attacker as German national Peter Michael Schmid, aged 35.

The investigation by Chalong Police included showing pictures of the deceased frogman to hotel employees in Kata-Karon and Rawai.

Chalong Police Superintendent Col Samarn Chainarong told the Gazette that police still believe the attack was a botched robbery because Schmid had a gun, knife and back electrical tape with him when he boarded the vessel, a 10-meter sailboat named Maria.

Schmid was also thought to have been suffering from stomach cancer at the time of his death, Col Samarn added.

Most of the details of the attack, as provided to the media at a press conference on January 10, are based on the eye-witness account of 25-year-old Trat native Porntip Pradit. (Click here for original report.)

After the attack, Schmid’s body was recovered by police and rescue workers about 70 meters from Maria. He had sustained two large wounds: one to under his left eye and the other to his left wrist, inflicted by a gaff, or boat hook, kept aboard Maria.

Doctors at Vachira Phuket Hospital confirmed that the cause of death was blood loss from the wound to his wrist, Col Samarn said.

The victim Mr Orberson, 50, was rushed to Phuket International Hospital, where he was initially kept in the Intensive Care Unit for a gunshot wound to his shoulder.

He was released on Saturday, before he could be questioned by police.

Chalong Police say they know where Mr Oberson is and that they plan to question him soon. They will have to file murder charges against him as a matter of procedure, though they expect the charges to be dropped eventually because all of the available evidence indicates that he was acting in self-defense.

Mr Oberson had come to Thailand with his wife and two young children, a boy and a girl, all three of whom were staying at a resort on Koh Racha Yai when the incident took place, Col Samarn said.

Col Samarn confirmed reports that Schmid was wearing a wetsuit bearing the name and logo of Dive Asia, a local dive tour operator, at the time of his death.

A spokesperson for Dive Asia confirmed that a man named Peter Michael Schmid completed a dive course with the operator within the past three years, but declined to give additional information.

From the Phuket Gazette

Went in yesterday for my first one year license and it took 2 hours 40 minutes. Got there at 8 a.m.

Although I have an International License I was obliged to do the series of tests for reaction time and colour blindness.

I was told everyone had to do them ( even the guy in front of me who was applying for a motorbike license had to do the car pedal test) Anyway got my license

A few tips I can pass on for Phuket.

1. Get there early - the place was packed by 08:30 am

2. Have all photocopies ready otherwise you have to leave the queue and then join at the end again.

3. Get the photos done in the carpark. Right size, takes 5 minutes and costs 70 Baht

4. Make sure the Medical cert and immigration paper specifying your residential address are VERY recent.

My address paper was refused because it was one month old - luckily I had my WP with me as a substitute.

5. After the tests upstairs go downstairs to take a number.

6. Take a book to read - it is a long wait.

7. Take lotsa change for 1 Baht photocopies. License cost 105 Baht plus 10 Baht for lamination.

Picnic on a deserted island away from the crowds - fantastic snorkeling!

From the Gazette:

Three years on: Phuket marks tsunami anniversary

PATONG: Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) is organizing Light Up Phuket on December 26 to mark the third anniversary of the tsunami tragedy in 2004.

More than 100,000 candles will be lit along the three-kilometer stretch of sand at Patong Beach.

At 10:50 am, 108 monks will pray during a ceremony at Loma Park, Patong.

Candles will be placed in the sand on the beach and lit between 5 pm and 7 pm while a standing vigil is held to remember those who died.

Everyone is welcome to take part in the memorial services.

In Phang Nga province, a ceremony attended by HRH Princess Ubol Ratana Rajakanya will be held at Chong Fa Beach in Takuapa District.

This morning by Tesco Lotus - very faint.

Hi Howard,

I found the station on the car radio yesterday and the music was fine BUT it appeared to me that the signal was very weak and kept fading out. I was near the Chalong roundabout at the time...

Yup The family has good Homous, Fallafel, Matbooha, Malook,Assley, & Shawama. I know all this because i have their takeaway menu in front of me. They have moved 700 metres south of the circle just past 711.

Glad to see they were caught... I wonder if these two were responsible for the wire taken from the tsunami warning towers last year?

IMHO the guy buying the wire is equally guilty. I wonder what sentence they will get.

CHALONG: Chalong Police have arrested two suspects for late-night thefts of electric cable that left homes in Rawai and Chalong in blackout over the past month.

At a press conference at Chalong Police Station yesterday morning, police identifed the culprits as Mana Sae-Tun and Sansern Klaseuk, both 23-year-old Phuket natives.

The thieves were presented to the media by Chalong Police Investigtions Inspector Lt Col Suchart Suwanpirom, who led the investigation and subsequent arrests.

Presented on a table before the pair was some of the 44 kilograms of copper wire the two men had stripped from various locations across the island’s south end, along with the insulated wire-cutters and flashlight they used.

Both men confessed to stealing copper wire for sale to a junk shop on Sakdidet Rd in Phuket City for 180- 200 baht/kg, Col Suchart said.

The arrests followed the theft at 3 am on November 22 of the main electric power cable leading to the home of Sommai Damrongkitkarnwong, located opposite the Rising Sun Residence on Soi Sainamyen, off Chao Fa West Rd in Chalong Village 6.

Led by Lt Col Suchart, police rushed to the scene to find a great deal of stripped copper wire. The thieves barely manged to escape on foot, but left behind a key piece of evidence: a Honda Wave motorbike legally registered to Mana.

A check with the Phuket Transport Office led to the November 28 arrest of Mana at his home in Chalong Village 3.

He confessed to the crime and identified Sansern as his partner, who was arrested shortly thereafter at his girlfriend’s home in Rawai Village 6.

After their arrest the pair showed police how they wrapped the handles of the large cable-cutters with cloth to avoid electrocution.

They also confessed to carrying out similar crimes, including the theft at about 3 am on October 30 of about 30 kilograms of copper from a location along the the access road to Baan Krating Resort at Ao Sane, Rawai.

That haul netted the pair about 7,000 baht after they sold it at the Kanlaya Secondhand Shop on Sakdidet Rd in Phuket City. The 44 kilograms sold after their November 22 theft netted them about 8,000 baht, they said.

Both men have been charged with vandalism and robbery.

To see picture/s related to this story, please go to http://www.phuketgazette.net/news/index.as...9&display=1

Brought to you by:

The Phuket Gazette

An Indian in a turban wanders around Chalong handing out business cards for his Mr. India restaurant.

If the English guy is legal and pays taxes why shouldn't he "advertise"

They slipped Mick a Mick y

English women and English cooking the foundations of a great seafarer nation.

give up smoking.....

Good one!

Like a Virgin -Madonna

Who could forget the classic from Airplane:

Roger Murdock: Flight 2-0-9'er, you are cleared for take-off.

Captain Oveur: Roger!

Roger Murdock: Huh?

Tower voice: L.A. departure frequency, 123 point 9'er.

Captain Oveur: Roger!

Roger Murdock: Huh?

Victor Basta: Request vector, over.

Captain Oveur: What?

Tower voice: Flight 2-0-9'er cleared for vector 324.

Roger Murdock: We have clearance, Clarence.

Captain Oveur: Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?

Tower voice: Tower's radio clearance, over!

Captain Oveur: That's Clarence Oveur. Over.

Tower voice: Over.

Captain Oveur: Roger.

Roger Murdock: Huh?

Tower voice: Roger, over!

Roger Murdock: What?

Captain Oveur: Huh?

Victor Basta: Who?

The Blues Brothers:

Elwood: It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tanks of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.

Jake: Hit it.

IF you can find accommodation and IF you are not obliged to participate in situ then The Green Man do a pretty good Christmas package in Chalong.

http://www.the-green-man.net/xmas/booking%20form.htm

sometimes like this

Yup that was the one I got but today it seems to be working again.

The video is quite funny - here's the link http://www.metacafe.com/watch/855825/telev...ercial_blooper/