chub

The next marine tragedy waiting to happen: Speed boats pulling parachutes operate dangerously close to swimmers near the shore at Karon Beach. Shouldn't these boats (i) operate at a safe distance from the shore - say 300 metres, (ii) be fitted with propeller guards and (iii) have at least two crew, one to look forward for swimmers and another to watch the parachute?  A swimmer snorkelling with his head underwater is at great risk.

The OP claims that the black effluent crossing the beach from 'the pool' was 'unexpected', something new.  Google Earth takes an aerial photo every year or so, and this black stream appears in many of them. See for example, this image from February 2014.  

Anyone familiar with Bangkok in the 1990's, before the urban railways were built, will recognise the strategy of 'self-limiting congestion' (or 'do nothing') that Phuket is now experiencing. It's the inevitable result of decades of propulation and income growth with no increase in transport capacity. 

'Self-limiting' means that congestion was the main restraint on car use. When it might take several hours to drive a few kilometres only essential trips will be made. 

In Bangkok, the government made no serious attempt to manage the gridlock at ground level and instead embarked on a strategy of building elevated roads and railways above the chaos. For various reasons, building new infrastructure is much more attractive than trying to manage the chaos which would have required intensive traffic management and enforcement. and restraints on car use.     

Lacking capability and political will to manage traffic, and with severe constraints on building elevated highways, 'self-limiting congestion' in Phuket is now inevitable. The proposed new roads and LRT cannot provide significant relief while demand continues to escalate.  As traffic density increases more junctions lock up and the installation of simple fixed-cycle traffic lights without vehicle actuation increases delays in every case .  

The Governor clearly does not want to acknowledge these uncomfortable truths, and he resorts to token measures such as diverting main road traffic 'to small roads'.  The consequences of such a strategy are very negative, spreading danger, noise, pollution and congestion to sois and residential streets and creating more junction conflicts. 

It's not only coconuts that can drop on you in Phuket. This part of an Indian rocket made of carbon fibre, washed up this morning on Karon Beach, but, judging by the barnacles, it came most of the way by sea. 

I got rejected three times this week, making minor adjustments each time.  The fourth adjustment was to turn off the VPN and was approved.

I registered for expatvac on the first day (1st August) and received confirmation that my registration was successful.

But today I received the following message from expatvac:

I am also in the process of applying for a yellow book.  There was an obvious reluctance to accept my application but I persevered. I had to produce all the documents listed by Londinium.  I'm currently looking for a second witness. Both witnesses have to be Thai and hold a tabien baan in the tambon where I live.  I have many Thai friends who live in my tambon, but they all hold tabien baans from other tambons. 

I believe that if a foreigner holds a tabien baan he is exempt from the Land and Property Tax on a condo owned and occupied by him. 

I understand that if a condo owner holds a yellow tabien baan he will be exempt from the new land and property tax. 

"Under the Act, individuals holding residential land and buildings as shown in a house registration certificate (primary residential property) on January 1 in any given tax year will receive a tax base exemption, as follows:

·   50 million baht for an individual who owns both land and buildings; and

·   10 million baht for an individual who only owns buildings.

Those who own multiple residential properties will only receive a tax base exemption for their primary residential properties."

I am applying for a yellow housebook, partly because this will exempt me from future payment of the land and property tax on my condo.  Kata Karon tessabaan is clearly reluctant to issue the yellow book and so is presenting a series of bureaucratic obstacles.

May I ask if anyone has recent experience of obtaining a yellow book in Phuket, particularly Kata/Karon.   

The quality of the beach lifeguard service and those who supervise it can be judged by their care of lifesaving equipment on the most dangerous beach -Karon.   

Just to confuse readers of this article, the photograph shows Karon Beach, where sand has been deposited on the beach in the last couple of years, doubling the width of sand.

_{Yesterday's brief period of heavy rain brought tons of mud down to the beach from the hillsides above Karon , now stripped for the construction of condominiums.}  

It's very simple to verify the length of Karon Beach that is covered with chairs. No need for a high-level delegation with military escort and photographers. The current Google Earth image dated a year ago (22 March 2018) shows that there were five zones, each 200 metres long with double rows of chairs coloured red on the attached photo. The whole length of the sand beach is 3.3km. That means 30% of the beach is occupied by chairs. I think the zones are still the same today, maybe longer. 

I suspect that these are fresh water eels, not sea snakes.  The eels live in the klongs and get washed into the sea as the klongs empty after heavy rain. They cannot survive in the salt water and try to swim up the beach to escape. There they are dried out by the sun.  I've seen many of them downstream of the klongs on west coat beaches. I don't think sea snakes get beached. 

The photo shows the old and the new.  The 'old' tells you where it's going, the new doesn't. Every ride on the 'old' costs 40 baht. The first ride on the new costs 300 baht.  The old is full. the new is empty. Which one is Smart?

OK I've got it! These are the departure times from each terminus.  It's misleading because they use the same blue line to denote the route and stops on the website and buses.

Now we see that there are gaps in service of up to three hours in morning and afternoon and there are only 8 trips per day.

That's quite different from the press release that announced the Smart Bus launch on 3rd February.

 “The buses will run every 30 to 45 minutes,” he added.

“The first departures will be from the airport and Rawai at 6am, while the last will be at 8pm. The total is 32 times a day" 

I really want this service to succeed but 8 daily departures instead of 32 is not viable for users travelling to work or to catch a flight.

The tracking technology is 'smart', but it looks like they urgently need professional help with managing the service to meet passengers needs and to avoid incurring operating deficits.   

Can anyone explain this diagram 'Time Bus' on the Smart Bus Website?  Does it tell us that it takes more than 12 hours to travel in either direction between airport and Rawai?  Or is this bus a lot smarter than I am? 

Right now there are no buses on the route, (but there's also no published timetable). Bus no's 3, 4 and 7 are on Viset Road off the route, three (no's 5,6 & 8) are on Thepkassattri Road off the route, two are at the Homeworks depot and two are off the system.

Is anyone going to stand at a bus stop and wait for these buses that never come?  

Does this look like a Smart Bus system?

A garbled report on the new bus service appeared in Thaiger today  The reporter thinks that Route A (southbound) and route B (northbound) are two separate routes.

The report states that the route now extends to the airport domestic terminal.  There's already an 'Airport Express"  bus service claiming to serve Kata and Karon from the domestic terminal (although it has never been seen to operate past Patong). Some 'negotiations' may be needed with this operator, who also operates a fleet of airport minibuses to Patong, Karon and Kata. 

"Phuket’s new smart bus kicked off yesterday featuring two initial routes around the island. The route travels along Thepkasattri Road until it reaches Thalang where it takes a turn towards the coast through Cherngtalay and Bang Tao and on to Surin, Kamala and Patong. Then it continues along the coast to Karon and Kata, over the hill at Kata Noi to Rawai. Then it returns in the opposite direction, again taking the coastal road.

ROUTE A

Phuket International Airport – Rawai

A1 International Terminal (Arrival)

A2 Domestic Terminal (Arrival)

A3 In Front of Thalang District Office

A4 Boat Avenue, Cherngtalay

A5 Bang Tao Mosque

A6 Surin Beach

A7 Phuket Fantasea

A8 Kamala Big C

A9 Junceylon Patong

A10 Karon Circle

A 11 Kata Night Plaza

A 12 Rawai Beach

ROUTE B

Rawai – Phuket International Airport

B1 Rawai Beach

B2 Kata Night Plaza

B3 Karon Circle

B4 Bangla Road

B5 Kamala Big C

B6 Phuket Fantasea

B7 Surin Beach

B8 Bang Tao Mosque

B9 Boat Avenue, Cherngtalay

B10 In Front of Thalang District Office

B11 International Terminal (Arrival)

B12 Domestic Terminal (Arrival)

There were eight buses in the Homeworks parking lot yesterday (Sunday) at 4pm see the photo below, so perhaps one or two were operating.  Did anyone check the app which shows the real-time location of all the buses?