Phuket Culture | The Phuket News

Phuket History: The Siamese character seen through foreign eyes

Sunday 24 November 2019 03:00 PM

Nicolas Gervaise, a French resident in Siam in 1688, says of the Siamese character: “They make no scruples about being a little [dissembling] and those to whom they sometimes show the greatest politeness and respect are those for whom in their heart they have often contempt and antipathy.

Ghosts of music past: Success stories from beyond the grave

Phuket Life / Culture

Monday 11 November 2019 02:00 PM

Congratulations. You survived another Halloween. Just when you thought it was safe to return to the land of the living, the latest album releases blast out of limbo from somebody who didn’t.

Loy Krathong Festival: Give people the light and they will find their own way

Phuket Life / Culture

Sunday 10 November 2019 10:00 AM

Loy Krathong has often been called “the festival of the lights” and it is one of Southeast Asia’s most recognisable holidays. Every year, hundreds of thousands of tiny, hand-sized candlelit boats are sent out on Thai waterways to light up this very special evening.

Phuket Sikhs to honour birth anniversary of founder Guru Nanak

Phuket Life / Culture

Friday 8 November 2019 03:05 PM

The Sri Guru Singh Sabha Association and Thai-Sikh community of Phuket will celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of the Sikh religion, with a programme of events on Sunday, November 10 from 9:30am to 12:30pm at the Sikh gurdwara on Suthat Road.

Is the customer always a ‘customer’?

Phuket Life / Culture

Tuesday 5 November 2019 10:00 AM

There is nothing wrong with the salesgirl. In fact she is cheery and accommodating. Nevertheless, she is driving me crazy.

The Buddhist Pilgrimage: How ghosts of the past drive the believers of today

Phuket Life / Culture

Sunday 27 October 2019 03:00 PM

Today, ardent devotees to Buddhism come from just about every corner of the world. Yet they often make a pilgrimage to India and Nepal, and it could be argued that one possible motivation for doing so is to seek out memories from the religion’s early days (ghosts of the past, so to speak).

Phuket History: Why Penang was colonised but Phuket was not

Phuket Life / Culture

Sunday 20 October 2019 03:00 PM

After 12 years of intrigues, Captain Francis Light [of the British East India Company (EIC)] and [his friend and business partner] James Scott had two islands potentially in their hands: Phuket and Penang – and an EIC in the mood to do something to obtain a base on the east side of the Bay of Bengal.

Community in action: The merits of the Sufficiency Economy philosophy: Part 2

Phuket Life / Culture

Sunday 29 September 2019 03:00 PM

Imagine for a moment that you are running for your life from a huge predator. Imagine that you are being chased down a seemingly endless corridor by a mortal foe who is hot on your fleeing heels.

Phuket History: Siam’s conflict with Portugal

Phuket Life / Culture

Sunday 22 September 2019 03:00 PM

Portugal and Siam had generally got along well at first, but the Portuguese, especially after they united with the Spanish crown (1580-1640) grew increasingly arrogant and overbearing towards the Siamese kings Ekathotsarot and Songtham.

Beyond my control: Revelations from the philosophy of Stoicism

Phuket Life / Culture

Sunday 15 September 2019 03:00 PM

“What have the Romans ever done for us?” exclaimed Reg, the spokesperson for the People’s Front of Judea in Monty Python’s comedy classic The Life of Brian.

Cities on the move: Countries that relocated their capitals and the reasons why

Phuket Life / Culture

Sunday 8 September 2019 03:00 PM

Since World War I, the world has seen a country move its capital every five or six years. From Kazakhstan to Pakistan to Nigeria; for political gain, for environmental protection, for better, for worse. There’s something oddly fascinating and dramatic about the idea of capital moves, although they aren’t particularly uncommon.

Looking into the origins of Thailand’s iconic tom yum soup

Phuket Life / Culture

Sunday 1 September 2019 03:00 PM

Finally it’s official. As announced by the Ministry of Culture, early next year Thailand will seek to have tom yum kung spicy shrimp soup included in Unesco’s intangible cultural heritage list for 2020.

Phuket History: The first English privateers in Phuket

Phuket Life / Culture

Wednesday 21 August 2019 04:00 PM

In 1591 the first English privateering fleet was funded to go to the East for, as its charter stated, “The anoyinge of the Spaniards and Portingalls, (nowe our enemys) as also for the vendinge of oure comodities.”

Phuket readies for Vegetarian Festival, schedule released

Phuket Life / Culture

Wednesday 21 August 2019 09:37 AM

PHUKET: Preparations are already underway for the Phuket Vegetarian Festival, which this year will be celebrated from September 29 through to October 8.

Phuket History: A short period of Japanese rule over the central peninsula and Phuket

Phuket Life / Culture

Monday 19 August 2019 03:00 PM

In 1629 when King Songtham of Ayutthaya died, his cousin, Okya Kalahom (minister of defence), and his supporters effectively usurped the throne by killing King Songtham’s designated heir and placing King Songtham’s six-year-old son on the throne as King Chetha, with Okya Kalahom as his overseeing regent, which gave the ambitious defence minister real power over the kingdom.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? The merits of the Sufficiency Economy philosophy: Part 1

Phuket Life / Culture

Sunday 18 August 2019 03:00 PM

Managing money is not an easy business in today’s world, and the past 40 years have truly seen a challenge for many middle-class people. Wage growth has been slow. More and more jobs are being automated. Many pensions have been eliminated almost altogether. Higher-education costs have gone up and health insurance benefits have gone down.

Some kind of monster

Phuket Life / Culture

Saturday 10 August 2019 03:00 PM

The last thing you want to be worrying about as you’re basking in the sun on the beach this summer is a 120-metre prehistoric monster wreaking havoc on the shoreline, ruining your efforts on that all-over tan, and running rampage through your hometown. Bad boy.

Melting pot: Luk kreung people in history and popular culture

Phuket Life / Culture

Sunday 28 July 2019 03:00 PM

It’s been a while since I’ve explored the influence of luk kreung (i.e. half-Thai people) on popular culture. Today it seems that a great number of part-Thai people are prominent in Thai popular culture. However, this phenomenon is not new considering that the first luk kreung actors appeared in the 1940s to 1960s. This, nevertheless, is not widely known nowadays.

Happy Birthday, Your Majesty

Phuket Life / Culture

Sunday 28 July 2019 09:15 AM

Thais throughout the world will today celebrate the 67th birthday of His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun (Rama X).

Phuket History: A picture of the slave trade before the chains were broken

Phuket Life / Culture

Sunday 21 July 2019 03:00 PM

Since labour was such a scarce resource, slavery remained legal in Siam until 1905 and was integral to peninsular society. Hwang Chung, a visiting Chinese trader in the 16th century, reported that on the peninsular west coast the people said, “it is better to have slaves than to have land because [the labour of] slaves [is] a protection to their masters”.

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