Movie about 2004 tsunami of Phuket shuns ‘disaster’ label

But the Spanish director of The Impossible insisted that the film – which starts with a spectacular recreation of the huge wall of water crashing onto a beachfront resort – is far from a typical “disaster movie.” “Even if the film tells the story in a very direct way, the conclusions it comes to are very complex, more complex than those usual with disaster movies,” Juan Antonio Bayona said. The earthquake-triggered tsunami on December 26, 2004 killed some 230,000 people around the Indian Ocean, including large numbers of tourists caught in the resorts of Thailand. In the Spanish-financed movie, based on the real story of a Spanish family and filmed in the south of the country, McGregor and Watts play a couple on holiday with their children in Thailand, and separated when the tsunami hits. “There was something immediately symbolic in the story of this family, which caught my attention when I heard about it for the first time,” Bayona said after a November 4 screening at the American Film Institute festival in Hollywood. After the tsunami crashes ashore and separates them, the seriously injured mother finds herself with her eldest son, while the father played by McGregor manages to save the two youngest children. The movie portrays the battle for survival amid the havoc wreaked by the wave, from devastated hotels to an over-crowded hospital.

It opens with a family enjoying a luxury holiday in spectacular beach surroundings – before the wall of water hits. “When we were looking for funding, the first thing we were told was, if we were going to make the film, we had to see” the catastrophe itself, Bayona said. “In a film like this about the tsunami, you have to see the monster face to face, and plunge your camera inside it to make filmgoers really feel what it was like to be there.” The young director focused intensely on what the characters are thinking and feeling – notably the eldest son, played by Tom Holland – with techniques including unsparing close-ups and omnipresent music. “The film starts with a shock, in a more documentary style, and as it progresses it takes on a more melodramatic tone... “We want people watching to feel emotions as intensely as the characters themselves,” Bayona said. AFP

Double champion to lead field at Laguna Phuket Triathlon 2012

Newly crowned 2012 Ironman and Ironman 70.3 triathlon double world champion Leanda Cave of Britain will lead a strong line-up at the Ironman 70.3 Laguna Phuket on December 2st. The 34-year-old Cave, who won the Ironman 70.3 world championship in Las Vegas last month and the Ironman world championship in Hawaii two weeks ago, has confirmed her participation in the third Ironman 70.3 Laguna Phuket.

"She has signed up for our Ironman 70.3 just hours after becoming the world champion in Las Vegas," said Debbie Dionysius, Laguna Phuket's assistant vice president of destination marketing. Cave is expected to face a tough challenge from Phuket defending champion Melissa Hauschildt of Australia who was fourth at this year's world championship in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, the 19th Laguna Phuket Triathlon will take place on Nov 25. Australia's Belinda Granger and Czech Radka Vodickova are vying to become the event's first-ever women's triple champion. Italian Massimo Cigana, the tournament's first-ever triple champion, will return to defend his title in a bid to be a four-time champion. He will face stiff opposition from elite pros such as Chris Lieto.

Patong hospital flood prevention measures done for 2012 @ 2012-10-30

A larger expansion project – which includes construction of the hospital’s first Intensive Care Unit (ICU) – is due to finish by September 2013. Mr Pumin met with Phuket Vice-Governor Sommai Preechasilpa today and confirmed that construction had began on flooding prevention measures, which include a waterproof wall around the area, raising the road inside the hospital, and a new improved drainage system. The upgrade will cost B16 million, and will be finished by January 7. Patong Hospital is often flooded during the rainy season because it is in a low lying area. In addition, the project to expand the hospital by 60 additional patient beds, and add 13 private rooms, an ICU department, a new delivery room, a medical stock room, and sterilisation room was almost 15 per cent complete. Around B69.5 million has been earmarked for the project. “However, the budget only covers the building. It is not for new medical instruments, so we will use the hospital savings to buy them, and then get some more funding,” Dr Pumin said.

US Navy leaves Phuket, Indian Navy arrives at Ao Makham @2012-10-12

The Sujata operated for 19 years as an offshore patrol vessel but is now used exclusively for training. The cadets spend six months on the 101-metre-long ship, exposing them to life at sea, shaping their skills on bridge watches, chart work, small arms handling and communications. The ship arrived complete with its own 11-piece orchestra, which swung into action for an on-board reception last night, playing Indian music as guests from the local diplomatic community, the Royal Thai Navy and others arrived. Later, the versatile musicians played the music for a karaoke session.

The ship will leave on Monday for the return voyage to India waters. So today Phuket have many tourist by national army .

Free Wi-Fi service for all on its way to Phuket @ 2012-10-01

Free Wi-Fi is on the way for residents and visitors to Thailand with the introduction of the latest government project, ICT Free Wi-Fi for Tourism, TTR Weekly reports. The project will offer more than 2,000 Wi-Fi hotspots across the country, 323 of them in the south, including Phuket. Under the ICT project, people must register to gain access, using their ID card numbers or passport numbers in the case of tourists. After registration, users will get free access to Wi-Fi hotspots anywhere in the country for up to six months, though sessions will be limited to just 20 minutes online, with a two-hour wait before users are allowed back on again. Launched late last week, the project is a joint effort of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. The latter claims the project will help the government reach its tourism revenue target of B2.2 trillion in 2015. In the first phase, ICT Free Wi-Fi for Tourism will cover 1,616 hotspots across Thailand by the end of the year, mostly in tourist destinations. Apart from the 323 in the South, 253 hotspots will be installed in tourist districts in Bangkok, 446 in the central region, 201 in the eastern region, 325 in the North and 67 in Isarn. The project will uses CAT Telecom as the service provider, offering a speed of 2 Megabits per second for downloads. Details of how the project will be applied in Phuket have yet to emerge. Chuan Sutontatspidok, CAT’s Phuket director of marketing and service, told The Phuket News that his office had sent a plan for up to 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in Phuket, half in the Patong area and half in Phuket Town. But he had not heard anything back yet. “The research has been done. The next step will be the go-ahead from the ICT. I believe we can have all the Wi-Fi points working before 2015,” he said. Free Wi Fi is part of the Smart Thailand project of the ICT Ministry, which includes a target of high-speed internet for 80 per cent of people living in Thailand by 2015, and 250,000 Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the country by 2017. This is not the first project to offer free Wi-Fi access to tourists. Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has already launched Green Bangkok Wi-Fi, which offers around 20,000 hotspots. True Internet is the provider for that project. Earlier this month, Pattaya announced it will offer free Wi-Fi for tourists covering areas from Na Kluea in north Pattaya, south to Jomtien beach, with a download speed of 2 megabits per second. In the case of Pattaya, users must register first. Registration lasts three months, with a maximum of five hours’ use per month. But Phuket will have more Wifi user in 2013 .

1,000 black taxis in Phuket register to 'go green' @ 2012-09-11

The Provincial Transportation Department (PTD) was deluged with paperwork yesterday when it opened registration to convert illegal “black” taxis into legal “green registration plate” cabs. Because the black taxis is the problem in Phuket . The office received 1,048 applications for conversion from taxi drivers on the first day. Drivers will be called back to the department later so that their cars can be inspected to ensure that they are roadworthy and suitable for use as taxis. Somsak Poknuengnong, expert adviser to the Phuket Land Transportation Office, said, “The [black] taxis have 180 days in which to sign up and we expect more to come. As a result, the paperwork will take some time to complete.” In addition to getting a green plate, the converted drivers will be required to charge regulation fares (with fare tables in every taxi), to dress properly, and to have good manners and a “service mindset”. The drive to legitimise black taxis is the first step in a renewed drive to bring some order to the island’s chaotic transport sector, which is dominated by fiercely independent drivers who have rejected all past attempts to bring them to heel. For the PTD, the black taxis are the low-hanging fruit; many of the estimated 10,000 black taxi drivers on Phuket will be only too happy to become legal, making it relatively easy to organise them. Bringing some kind of order to the mafia-ridden tuk-tuks and stemming the violence that erupts from time to time over taxi territories are likely to prove less easy to achieve. So the tourist in Phuket will receive the good service from the good taxis .

Tourist at Phuket airport arrivals jump 30pc in first half @ 2012-09-04

Extrapolating from this, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) estimates that seven million tourists – both domestic and international – will have visited Phuket by the end of this year. The new Director of the TAT’s Phuket Office, Chanchai Doungjit, speaking at a meeting in Provincial Hall yesterday (September 3), said flights coming to Phuket are full this year, even in the “green” season. The increase in the number of international flights arriving has gone up in line with the number of tourists, rising 28 per cent from last year. Most of the additional flights are from the Middle East and North Asian countries such as South Korea and China. Last year, more than half of the four million international tourists who came to Phuket were stamped in by Phuket Immigration directly, an indicator that Phuket itself (as opposed to Thailand) is an increasingly popular destination. “The rate of growth is very positive,” said Mr Chanchai. “Though the number of European tourist has fallen between 3 and 5 per cent this year due to the impact of the Euro crisis, the Asian market is going up, replacing the missing European tourists.” He noted that although Europe as a whole has fallen, the numbers of tourists from France, Britain and Germany have remained stable. Their numbers, however, have been far outstripped by the new markets. In the first half 142,582 tourists arrived from China and 140,297 from Russia. In third place was Australia with 121,916, followed by South Korea with 102,021 and Sweden in fifth place with 80,427. According to TAT’s statistics, the biggest growth markets were China and Russia, which both more than doubled. China increased 107 per cent and Russia 105 per cent, followed by South Korea (30) Malaysia (25) and Sweden (25). But other news said it is not mean the tourist in Phuket , becuase their flight landing at Phuket airport but they go to other city around Phuket island .