New Pasta restaurant penned by Twinpalms

PHUKET Italian culinary experience gets a new addition next month when Pasta by Twinpalms opens its doors just in tome for Songkran.

Located between Bake and Frame in Cherng Talay, this new pasta bar will ass an intimate and interactive dining dimension for patrons to enjoy a closeup view of their selected dishes being prepared at the chef's station at the end of a 16-seat oval bar.

A modern white marble bar counter and brushed stainless steel decor will complement at cordial atmosphere with the playing of traditional Italian folk songs to add a dash of old world charm.

The menu features more than a dozen noodle varieties including spaghetti and ravioli, and nearly 20 sauces.

Pasta is the latest addition to Phuket's emerging culinary scene along the road approaching Bangtao Bay where Twinpalms first brought its influence into this hotspot of dining area by opening their bakery [BAKE], followed by the launch of their garden rotisserie [Flame] next door.

The Andaman Deach Suites Phuket Hotel Patong CEO says 'No more payouts'

The Andaman Beach Suites Phuket Hotel in Patong has confirmed that it will  no longer pay any guests who claimed their room was robbed with our sufficient evidence, after a recent surge in cases and a tightening of hotel security.

The hotel has paid victims in six of the past eight instance, all since July. In each of those cases, hotel staff or outside persons were suspected or robbing the room safes.

“In eight cases our guests’ valuables were stolen from their safes. That’s not normal, and it was a situation that I took very seriously,” said Sommai Phasee, chairman and CEO of the hotel.

“However I do not believe that the thieves are members of my staff. I checked with all of them and I am nearly 100% certain that none of them are thieves. We even had fingerprints of 10 of my staff members suspected to be involved in the cases checked and the results showed that they were innocent.” 

“We started to pay out the entire amount of money [estimated value of stolen items], when an Australian couple, who are regular guests of ours, had valuables stolen,” he said.

Mr Sommai explained that the hotel security at that time was not “perfect”, because the room safe could be opened by a key, hotel code and guest code.

The safes used in the rooms at the hotel were brought from Mr Sommai’s old hotel, the Club Andaman Beach Resort Phuket, which closed more than a yesr ago.

“We did not reset the codes and that was reskless on our part,” he explained.

The hotel also paid an American man whose safe had been opened with the “secret” code according to the hotel’s safe record.

“We paid him because I did not want our hotel to lose its reputation,” he said.

After the third and fourth cases were reported to the hotel, comments on the popular travel portal TripAdvisor started to make accusations “that you will be roobed” if you stayed at the hotel.

Mr Sommai believes that crooks seeing the comments have tried to make advantage of the hotel’s past lenient policy on repaying some of their guests, which was not the industry standard, as pointed out by Director of Rooms Thuwanan “Charn” Peanawan.

“The hotel in Bangkok where I previously worked had guests’ valuables stolen 10 times, and they never paid antone out,” he said.

Citing the most recent incident at the Andaman Beach suites Phuket, Mr Sommai sia, “Jim Nagi even told us that he saw the complaints on TripAdvisor. I throught he was making up his story because he had brought visitors to his room without hotel permission and was always having issues that required hotel staff to come into his room”

“Also, he could not open his safe and my staff had to open the safe with the key for him”

“According to safe opening record, Mr Nagi opened the safe quite often, sometimes 11 times in one day,” Mr Charn said.

Mr Sommai has now created new safe codes and reinstalled CCTV cameras so who comes in and out of the rooms can be monitored.

“Now, anyone who claims they have had their things stolen and do not have enough evidence, I will never pay,” Mr Sommai said.

Paying for paradise, Phuket Resort

BEACHFRONT land that runs abreast of traditional turtle nesting sites in Mai Khao is now up for sale at 15 million baht per rai. Advertisements for these sites describe them as ideal for hotel projects, with road access, electricity and water all ready to connect.

Sadly, the continued degradation of nesting sites, through development of nearby land such as this, is one of the biggest threats to the survival of Phuket's sea turtles.

The building of more hotels, restaurants and roads near turtle nesting beaches will lead to an increased disturbance of nesting turtles by people and dogs.

It's impossible to forget your first experience of watching a turtle come ashore to nest, unfortunately this sight is becoming increasingly rare. So, if you are one of the few lucky ones what should you do?

If a turtle comes ashore, stay out of sight; she won't get out of the water if she sees you or feels threatened.

After finding a location for her nest, well above the high-water mark, she will dig. Not until she is almost finished can you quietly approach her, still keeping out of her line of sight. Make sure you keep a respectful distance and remain silent while she covers her nest at this point you can start taking photos, but no flash!

Not only do beachfront hotels and restaurants bring crowds that disturb nesting turtles on once secluded beaches, they also emit light pollution at night that scares away female turtles. So unless a hotel has a policy of no external lighting, and activity enforces it, their establishment is contributing to the demise of Phuket's turtle population.

If we want to keep our turtles on Mai Khao Beach and other nesting sites in Phuket for future generations, we have to set aside areas of prime beachfront land exclusively for them. The choice is ours, but doing nothing can't be an option if we want to save these creatures from the brink of extinction along our shores.

Peak season tourism spike sees limited phuket hotel vacancy

OCCUPANCY rates at hotels along Phuket beaches have averaged more than 90 percent during the current peak period and are expected to remain at or near capacity well into 2012, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced.

Bangornrat Shinaprayoon, head of the TAT regional office in Phuket Town, said the island's tourism sector is bustling not only because it is the high season, but also thanks to an increased number of direct flights to Phuket launched in 2011.

Popular destinations including Patong Beach, Karon Beach, Rawai Beach, Chalong Temple and Phromthep Cape have been packed with tourists during the current long holiday period, she noted.

Many hotels in Patong and Karon were turning away guests over the New Year period, despite a decline in arrivals from traditional source markets in Europe due to the financial situation there, she said.

"Domestic tourism is down overall because of the recent flooding crisis. Most of the Thais that did come to Phuket [in 2011] came to visit friends and family," she said.

Fortunately, the decline in both Thai and European arrivals has been more than offset by an increase in the number of visitors from the Middle East, India and other parts of Asia throughout 2011, she said.

She expects these markets to continue to perform well in 2012, even during the tourism low season that typically begins in May.

"If there are no problems, the tourism sector will continue to thrive in 2012. Besides the New Year celebrations, more Asian tourists will be arriving at the end of January to celebrate the Chinese New Year holiday," she said.

Putting down a phuket infrustructure myth

MANY o'coffee break and lunch hour have dwindled away in what to me is rapidly becoming one of the most annoying topics of debate: Phuket's transportation system, or lack thereof.

Ask most expatriate residents and self-proclaimed gurus on an indefinitely extended holiday, about the situation, and they’ll matter-of-factly infrom you that the island’s infrastructure is a product of the local mafia.

Dare to entertain such a notion and you’ll learn that the only hope for Phuket – these ever-enlightened wise men insist – is for “Bangkok muscle” to come in and sweep the island clean. That way Phuket can become just like Pattaya, Bangkok or any other place o’erthe rainbow, take your pick.

One thing in particular that gets my blood boiling is the insistence that recently implemented taxi fare standards in Phuket are unreasonable – that a 48 kilometer trip (45 minutes to an hour) from Phuket International Airport to Karon Beach at 1,300 baht is “ridiculous and a comparable trip anywhere else in the world would be cheaper”.

Let’s expel such myths once and for all.

From Hong Kong International Airport to Aberdeen (about 44 kilometers for a 40-60 minute commute) a metered taxi would cost about 375 Hong Kong Dollas or about 1,400 baht; similarly, a taxi from London Heathrow Airport to Central London would be no less than 42 UK pounds (about 2,000 baht); from Tokyo Narita Airport to central Tokyo, minimum 20,000 yen (about 7,900 baht). Indeed, comparable trips (using distance and/or time as a factor) by taxi in Paris, Berlin, Oslo, Amsterdam Sydney, Zurich, Rome, New York, and Honolulu would all cost more than 1,300 baht.

Event if this is Thailand, let’s not dismiss the fact that Phuket boasts the highest cost of living in the country. Personally, I am not willing to pay 1,300 baht to get to Karon from the airport. But if I were here on holiday with the goal of getting to my hotel ASAP, I wouldn’t hesitable to pay such a fare. However, as a Phuket resident living on modest earnings, the choice is simple: get your own wheels or suck it up and use the local public transport. Before I finally got my car, I was accustomed to using local public transportation, which is cheap and reliable during standard working hours.

If I ever needed to get to Karon from the airport on a budget, I would just catch the airport bus to Phuket Town, about an hour commute at 80 baht. From there, I would continue on a 40 baht songtaew the rest of the way, an additional 30 minutes. Creating a total price, for only a slightly extended commute, of 120 baht. Perhaps someday the proposed direct bus will do the same trip in under an hour for 100 baht or less.

In the mean time, the transport situation in Phuket will continue to improve – even if such progress happens in tiny increments. Change is inevitable, and the best changes won’t likely happen overnight.

THAI Phuket flights operating as usual

THAI Airways International (THAI) is still operating its full schedule of regular flights between Bangkok and Phuket – for now.

An officer from the ‘Enterprise Communication Department’ of THAI, asking not to be named,  ‘I have yet to receive any news about reductions in flights to Phuket.’

Her statement was in response to a report by Thai-language business daily Krungthep Turakij (KT) that last week said THAI had cut more than 500 domestic and international flights due to the decreased member of passengers resulting from the company’s flood crisis.

The report stated that affected routed included flights between Bangkok and Phuket, Haad Yai, Surat Thani, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpure, London,Paris,Zurich,Rome,Munich, Frankfurt, Moscow, Athens, Johannesburg, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Beijing, Shiang Hai, Guangzhao, Taipei, Dubai, Colombo and Mumbai.

“Perhaps Krungthep Turakij had an exclusive interview with someone, who gave them that information, but as far as I know, our current status still remains the same,” she said.

“As long as there is no official letter from management, I would confirm that all of our flights[to and from Phuket] are still operating as usual until we receive further notice,” she added.

According to the KT report, in addition to reducing the number of flights, THAI will also downsize the type of aircraft used on the routes to better suit the number of passengers, with consideration made on a day-by-day basis.

However, in a statement issued on October 30 on THAI’ Public Relations website, the airline said it will increase its seating capacity for flights to Phuket, Haad Yai and Krabi, in order to accommodate Bangkok flood evacuees fleeing to Southern Thailand.

THAI reported 4.8 billion baht in losses during the first nine months of the year, attributing the losses to foreign-currency exchange depreciation and a 41.5% increase in the cost of jet fuel compared with the same period last year.

However, during the third quarter, THAI achieved a profit of 2.4 billion baht, an increase of 10% year-on-year.

Speaking to the press, THAI President Dr Piyasvasti Amranand insisted popular destinations Phuket, Krabi, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai were all unaffected by floods.

He encouraged travelers to visit these destinations, which could be “conveniently reached” via Bangkok’s still fully operational Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

The THAI president admitted that travel advisories warning against travel to Thailand had cut the number of tourists coming from China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and some parts of Europe.

THAI ‘s passenger load dropped to 65.8% last month from 74% in the same month last year, he said.

Mr Piyasvasri said the Thai government must clarify and create understanding that the flooding situation has improved, and usage the countries to lift travel warnings.

“If we can do it fast, we still have hope that our tourism industry will return to normal by December,” he said.

Marine Office allows 70 more rental jet-skis

THE Phuket Marine Office will allow amnesty to jet-ski operators so that they can register 70 jet-skis found operating illegally.

The move is aimed at ensuring all rental jet-skis in Phuket are covered by first-class insurance, Phuket Marine Office Chief Phuripat Theerakulpisut told the quarterly meeting of Phuket's honorary consuls last Friday,

"Since we started managing jet-ski rental operations in 2007, 219 jet-skis have been registered. However, we have found 70 jet jet-skis that are unregistered," Chief Phuripat told the consuls.

The Marine Office is not planning legal action against the offending jet-ski operators, but has instead asked them to cooperate with his office, he said.

"Also, the jet-skis will be registered for particular zones, which means that jet-skis being rented out in Patong cannot be used in other areas," he added.

Previously, jet-skis had to be registered with the marine Office under the category of cruiser and sports boat. "Under that system, there had been many problems with jet-ski insurance claims. So now we have created a category especially for jet-ski rental businesses. This system has been specifically designed for Phuket," explained Chief Phuripat.

Phuket Provincial Police Comander maj Gen Pekad Tantipong said that police had so far received about 40 reports of foreigners damaging jet-skis. "So I would like tourists who have a disagreement with a jet-ski operator to go to the police. That will make it fair for both sides," he said.

Jet-ski insurance scams have long tarnished Phuket's reputation among tourists, with pressure from consuls and ambassadors placing Phuket's top officials squarely in the spotlight.