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 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.

if you were a district government with a budget to manage and improve one of Phuket's key tourist attractions, would you consider erecting a huge concrete monstrosity at the edge of the footpath that blocks the view of the beach for the frontage properties and passers by?

It appears that this giant tombstone is intended to be a triumphal monument to the local governments' achievements in (mis)managing the beach.

Amazing Thailand!

At last, the bus service between the beaches we have been waiting for so long!

Here's how the 'solution' to the black taxi problem was reported one year ago.

"PHUKET: Illegal “black plate” taxi drivers have been given another four months – until February 28 next year (2013)– to register their vehicles for conversion to legal green plates, Vice-Governor Jamroen Tipayapongtada announced yesterday (October 18, 2012)" ...... Yesterday it was announced that 2,882 vehicles – minibuses and cars – have already been registered by their drivers for conversion. Officers have checked and have counted the illegal vehicles. All told there were 3,594 – 510 minibuses and 3,084 cars belonging to 186 groups around Phuket. Of these, 2,882 are already registered [for conversion to green plates].

Contrast that to today's announcement:

"Theerayut Prasertpol, the PLTD’s director, explained, “So far, 118 former black taxi drivers have been registered [as greenplate drivers] while another 200 are waiting for resolution of financial matters. Within three months we expect that we will be able to complete registration of about 70 to 80 per cent of the black taxis.”

So 318 black taxis will convert to green plates while the remainder of the 3,594 illegal taxis counted last year (plus the new black taxis that have come into operation since last year) will continue to operate illegally.

No there was 3594 Altogether, 2882 had already registered, this leaves 712 illegal. So if 318 convert now we are left with 394 from the figures given last year.

Not so. The 2,882 only registered to apply for green plates. When they saw that they needed to pay for insurance for passengers and higher registration fees, and it became obvious that there would be no enforcement, most of them did not proceed with their applications for green plates and removed the yellow stickers. I think only 118 black taxis actually got green plates. You need only to cruise the beach roads, there are hundreds of black taxis lining the roads, but almost no green plates.

The article on taxis in the current issue of the Gazette identifies the Managing Director of the Phuket Airport Limousine and Business Cooperative, one of the two big taxi and minibus concessionaires at the airport, as Khun Prakob Panyawai. The same gentleman is identified as the 'owner' of the Airport Express Bus Co.

Does anyone think that Khun Prakob's larger interest might be best served by giving the impression of 'having a go' at running a low-fare airport bus, then lamenting the lack of demand to justify quietly withdrawing it, hopefully killing all future public bus initiatives. The Kata Karon tuk-tuk 'association' would also be well served by such a strategy.

I live in Singapore (perhaps that’s why I am so critical of the transport situation in Phuket) but I’m a frequent visitor to Karon where I find the stranglehold on transport and beach-side facilities by the tuk-tuk operators and their ‘black taxi’ friends so intolerable.

The beach strip in Karon extends just over one kilometre south from Karon Circle on Karon Beach Road. Within that kilometre there are now seven ‘taxi, tuk-tuk stations’ occupying all the public beach shelters as well as several makeshift huts. The number keeps increasing. Illegal connections to street lamps and fire hydrants supply electricity and water. Up to a dozen people occupy the bigger stations from 8am – 8pm and they have established open toilets among the trees. After 8pm the tuk-tuks (but few of the black taxis) join the hundreds of tuk-tuks jamming the streets of Patong looking for business.

The purposes of the tuk-tuk stations are: (i) to divide the tourist strip into monopolies, almost one for each hotel (ii) to harass passing tourists (iii) to threaten the driver of any vehicle parking in or near the monopolised spaces (iv) to ensure that no other operators (such as metered taxis, motorcycle taxis, any tuk-tuks and unlicensed taxis not affiliated to their gang) pick up passengers. Gang members have a roster to divide the trips.

51 yellow boxes, marked ‘Tuk-Tuk Only’ in English have been marked on the road, taking up almost half the available curb space. Orange cones have also been placed. The vehicles occupying the reserved spaces this morning were: 11 tuk-tuks (10 licensed with yellow plates and one licensed as a private car with white plates), 4 ‘Coaster’ minibuses, 19 private cars (white plates) many with a paper ‘taxi’ sign and including two hire cars (green plates).

Most of the vehicles offered for hire from the tuk-tuk stands are private cars (also called ‘black taxis’). The ‘black taxis’ obviously share the spaces at the invitation of the ‘strongman’ in each station, no doubt for a fee. The ‘black taxis’ are highly visible and are obviously immune from action by the police or licensing authority. It is likely that the police are directly involved as drivers or owners as well as collecting their usual levy on illegal businesses.

Although the purpose of the monopolies is to deny tourists access to any alternative means of transport and thereby to charge exorbitant fares, the monopoly system doesn’t work in the tuk-tuk operators interests. When a tuk-tuk drops a passenger, they have to return empty to their home stand and face a long wait for their turn in the roster. The wait can be long wait as there are so many black taxis in the queue. Tuk-tuks will be prevented by other gangs from picking up a passenger from most points en-route. Also, it is obvious to most tourists that they are being exploited and most prefer to rent a motorcycle and risk death and injury rather than deal with the ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ attitude of the tuk-tuk operators. You can rent a bike for a week for the cost of one round-trip (400 baht each way for 6kms) to Patong.

None of this is in the public interest and is highly detrimental to the tourist trade and the environment of Karon.

It's a shame that it's already sold out. Guess I waited too long before inquiring as it's been common knowledge about this concert since around the end of July...

I went to Phuket Brewery yesterday and bought two THB600 tickets. There were still a few tables available - it's a table seating layout. I think you have to go there personally, choose your table and pay. They also give you a tour of the venue - very impressive. The publicity posters are all in Thai but provides the following booking numbers: 076612885-8.