The Phuket travelers who will travel in Japan offered free Potassium Iodine tablets at Phuket International Airport. The anti radiation medicine are provide at a Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) booth set up today on the second floor of Terminal 1. The booth is open from 6:30am to 9:30pm daily until further notice.

“People are adviced to take a tablet daily from one to 12 hours before entering radioactive areas. One tablet is active for 24 hours,” said PPHO chief Dr Sak Tanchaikul. The tablets are available in two dosages: 130 milligrams for adults, and 65mg for children aged 3-18 and not weighing more than 68 kilograms, Dr Sak added. This afternoon, the booth had delivered 320 bottles of the 130mg adult doses and 80 bottles of the 65mg tablets for children, Dr Sak said.

“The first batch of tablet was sent from the US. However, the Ministry of Public Health has ordered the Government Pharmaceutical Organization to produce more of the tablets,” he added. Pregnant women are advised to take just one tablet – and only once. “Any people with health conditions such as nephropathy [a kidney condition related to diabetes] or hyperthyroidism are advised not to take the tablets at all,” Dr Sak said.

The tablets may have side effects such as vomiting, skin rashes or stomach ache. “People should consult a doctor or stop taking the tablets if they suffer any strong side effects, Dr Sak said. “These tablets just provide some protection from radiation. However, the best way not to be affected by radiation is to avoid going near affected areas. Travel to Japan is currently not advised. Visit there if it is necessary,” he added.

News by Phuket Gazette

“The flights to Phuket are currently available once a day using the sophisticated Airbus A320, both from Medan and from Jakarta,” Thai AirAsia CEO Tassapon Bijleveld said Tuesday in Jakarta. Phuket is the ninth foreign city to be connected to Indonesia by the AirAsia group – including Indonesia AirAsia – after Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Ho Chi Minh City, Perth, and Bangkok.

Bijleveld said he was optimistic the Phuket route would attract customers. “Our current flights to Bangkok, from Denpasar and from Jakarta, are very lucrative,” he said. Bijleveld said the routes were part of a plan to expand Asian business.

Thai Ambassador to Indonesia Akrasid Amatayakul said he welcomed the Phuket routes as improving business links with Indonesia.

Capt. Dharmadi, CEO of PT Indonesia AirAsia, shared Amatayakul’s opinion, saying the routes would benefit Thailand and Indonesia. “We know that Phuket is full of foreign tourists. By opening these routes, such tourists, in addition to Thai people themselves, can be attracted to come to Indonesia.”

For online buyers, AirAsia sells the Medan-Phuket ticket at Rp 99,000 (US$10) and Jakarta-Phuket at Rp 199,000, at the cheapest.

Dharmadi said that the routes opening to Phuket were part of AirAsia’s plan to expand business in Southeast Asia. “Our mission is to be the biggest international airline player in ASEAN,” he said. To achieve the target, AirAsia is now eyeing Manila and Bandar Seri Begawan as its next destinations, Dharmadi said.

AirAsia flies international routes currently from five Indonesian cities, Jakarta, Denpasar, Medan, Bandung and Yogyakarta. “We are targeting to open new international routes from Makasar shortly,” he said.

“As much as 75 percent of our flights are connected with foreign cities, the rest are domestics. Until today, our load factor stays at 75 percent on average,” he said. Dharmadi said that Indonesia AirAsia currently operated 10 Airbus A320s and four Boeing 737-300s. “Next year, we will replace the four old 737s with four new A320s.”

Indonesia AirAsia flew 2.5 million people in 2008 and is targeting to fly 3 million people this year.

News by The Jakarta Post – thejakartapost.com

Jetstar CEO Bruce Buchanan said the new connection provided yet another affordable and easily accessible low fares international holiday destination for West Australians via its expanding flying hub in Singapore which presently serves 18 destinations across South East Asia. “With every day one-way JetSaver Light fares starting from $219, we believe that the new Jetstar connections from Perth to Phuket via our Singapore hub will be an attractive option for West Australians seeking an affordable Thai holiday,” Mr Buchanan said.

“Jetstar now offers from Perth a range of attractive international destinations with access to Bali, Jakarta and Singapore with future thru-access to Phuket now in place on the eve of Christmas school holidays. “Jetstar Asia operates from Singapore to an existing 18 other Asian destinations providing insurmountable low fares opportunities for travelers from Perth.”

With Jetstar Asia’s new twice daily services between Singapore and Phuket, the Jetstar Group will operate a total of nearly 7000 weekly seats into and from Phuket. Jetstar has continued to rapidly grow its international and domestic hub from Perth since launching its first international services from the Western Australia capital into Asia in October 2008.

From Australia Jetstar also operates three times weekly A330-200 Sydney-Phuket services.

Virgin Blue Adds Perth-Phuket Route

Virgin Blue’s international airline, Pacific Blue Airlines, will commence a direct, twice-weekly service between Perth and the resort island of Phuket, from 14 November 2009.

Perth Airport CEO Brad Geatches said Virgin Blue’s decision to introduce this new direct service had reinforced the strong demand by Western Australian travelers who were looking for affordable and convenient travel options. “The introduction of Pacific Blue’s new service to Phuket will be perfect for those looking to escape to South-East Asia. This service offers more travel options to Western Australians and highlights the popularity of this region.”

Virgin Blue has steadily increased its services into Asia over the past 12 months with the commencement of daily flights to Bali in June 2009. The new service to Phuket is the second international destination for the Virgin Blue Group departing from Perth.

The new service between Perth and Phuket will operate twice a week from Perth Airport’s International Terminal. Outgoing flights depart Tuesdays and Saturdays at 10.35am and incoming flights arrive Wednesdays and Sundays at 9.45pm.

News by PERTH NOW – news.com.au

Flights were suspended, leaving at least 3,000 passengers stranded. The state-of-the-art terminal and business center will accommodate the swelling ranks of VIP visitors to Thailand each year and is expected to be operational by the end of summer. “We handle so many private flights into both Bangkok and Phuket and it is apparent that the time is right to cater for our growing client base of VIP visitors, who presently have nowhere in the airport to go once they disembark,” said ASA CEO Simon Wagstaff.

ASA also recently opened an office in Dubai. “We have several Middle East clients who regularly fly into Thailand and they are used to high standards of service. We are delighted to be able to offer this to them going forward,” he said. The FBO will offer aircraft operators, their passengers and aircrew a range of professional FBO services for business and private flights, including tailored solutions for VIP, diplomatic and large-aircraft operations.

Phuket International Airport is the most important gateway to Thailand’s premier tourist region. Last year AOT announced that it would inject 5 billion baht into the expansion of Phuket to bring its capacity up to 11.5 million passengers by the year 2016 – an increase of 77% over current capacity.

ASA will also offer VIP security services, non-scheduled business aircraft charter services, concierge services, over-flight and landing clearances, in-flight catering, aircraft marshalling, parking, fuel, aircraft valet, hangarage, security, customs and immigration, passenger and baggage handling, limousine transfers and hotel accommodation.

Written by Liz Moscrop
Published on AVweb.com

A spokesperson for Pacific Blue told the press that the allocation of flights is part of the airline’s ongoing planning process and a departure city is yet to be determined. “We are always assessing new opportunities to expand our operations into routes which provide good potential for growth and also increase the range of travel options available to Australian and international travellers,” the spokesperson said.

“This application for capacity is a natural part of this continuous long-term planning process, to ensure we have all appropriate approvals in place, to allow us to take advantage of interesting new opportunities as they arise.” “We have no specific launch date in mind at this time and we have not specified from which Australian ports such services might operate,” the spokesperson said.

Pacific Blue is yet to officially announce the Phuket flights, but speculation is rife the route could be flown from Perth. The Perth-Phuket route is approximately 160km longer than Sydney-Denpasar, which Pacific Blue will fly non-stop from June 1.

While Melbourne flights to Bali also commence on June 1, Pacific Blue has separately applied to the IASC for an unlimited capacity allocation between Australia and Indonesia. In that application, Pacific Blue is seeking to increase Indonesian flights, and not necessarily from Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. The move has raised speculation the airline’s upcoming Bali flights could be launched from other Australian cities, such as Broome, Canberra or Darwin.

Written by James Wilkinson
Published on Spice News – spicenews.com.au

I was floating in the Andaman Sea at Khao Lak, in Thailand’s southwest. A paradise of mangroves, tropical islands and emerald coves set in electric-blue waters, the Andaman Coast is one of the world’s best-known beach destinations. It includes the island province of Phuket, the spectacular small island Ko Phi Phi, hopping Rai Le Beach and more sedate Khao Lak. Its vacation options range from some of the most luxe accommodations on the planet, through unassuming hotels priced for the modest budgets of middle-class European and Asian families, to pristine natural areas accessible only to those willing to rough it. The area is legendary for its lush coral reefs and caves and the green-shrouded sugar-loaf rocks rising from the sea in Phang Nga Bay.

But the softly humid breezes of the Andaman Coast also carry an echo of menace. At the end of 2004, this beach at Khao Lak was littered with bodies and debris. Horrific, indelible scenes that spread around the world almost as fast as what had caused them, the great tsunami. All told, the disaster killed a quarter-million people worldwide and more than 8,000 in Thailand — fishermen, villagers and more than 2,000 foreigners from 16 countries. The United Nations estimated that around 150,000 people in Thailand lost their livelihoods in fishing and tourism that December morning.

I visited this part of Thailand in October, just before the start of the tourist season, with an eye toward assessing the coast’s recovery. What I found was a placid seaside with few signs of the disaster. Instead, it had the expectant atmosphere that any popular tourist area has just before the high season. The beach at Khao Lak was empty, and few tourists were around, but the palm-shaded resorts were spotless and occupied with preseason preparations. Everywhere I went on the Andaman Coast I heard the rhythm of industrious hammers and smelled fresh paint.

Statistics from the Tourism Authority of Thailand support the impression of a full physical recovery for the tourist business — and until political uncertainty and the current global economic crisis sent visitor numbers plunging, an economic recovery as well. Other than Khao Lak and Ko Phi Phi, which, respectively, lost 75 and 60 percent of their hotels, most of the Andaman Coast was spared complete devastation. Hotels were refurbished and repaired, and after visitors returned in large numbers in 2006, a vigorous building boom began. In 2007 alone, Phuket’s stock of hotel rooms climbed a tenth, contributing to an 11 percent increase in visitors to the island, to more than five million — more than in any year before the tsunami. In 2008, more new hotels went up. For travelers willing and able to spend the money to get there, this coast is once again an inviting place to stay.

The Khao Lak area, which suffered much of the Andaman Coast’s worst devastation, now features a low-key set of immaculate resorts attracting families from around the world, especially Northern Europe. Instead of boisterous night life like that in Patong, on Phuket to the south, or stunning cliff faces like Rai Le’s, to the east, Khao Lak’s charm is in its long serene beach at the foot of a range of thickly forested mountains.

Though it retains its mellow vibe, the new hotels are changing things: Khao Lak now features more upscale luxury than it had before, with newer resorts joining rebuilt ones like Le Méridien Khao Lak, which seems to have overcome rumors that it was haunted after the disaster. I found few signs of the tsunami — a vacant lot here and there and a few trees’ exposed roots and stumps of twisted branches alarmingly high up their trunks. The town, a strip of shops, restaurants and tour operators’ offices in utilitarian concrete boxes, was bustling if uninspiring.

As the sun dipped magnificently into the fiery Andaman Sea, I took a place at a split bamboo table by the surf. I dug my toes into the warm sand like a ghost crab and washed down an assertively seasoned green curry with a big bottle of hoppy Chang Beer. Just as the sky turned inky, someone nearby launched a candle-powered paper hot-air balloon. It rose steadily, eventually taking its place as an orange star among the constellations.

The next day, behind the town, I found unmistakable evidence of the tsunami. A small grassy park surrounds an incongruous police boat that was washed there, a mile from the sea, by the wave. The boat had been guarding a Thai prince who was killed in the disaster, and it became a place of mourning and remembrance.

Certainly, everyone who survived has vivid memories. My driver in Phuket, Marn, told me that 10 members of his family had died in the tsunami. But the forlorn boat, and an abstract memorial sculpture nearby, seemed forgotten. A few foreigners walked around the gray hulk in a warm drizzle, shaking their heads.

If there is any grand physical monument to the disaster, it is the rebuilt coast itself.

“It’s back, stronger than it ever was pre-tsunami,” said Bill Heineke, an owner of the Anantara hotel group, which got its start in northern Thailand and now has nine resorts around Asia. Anantara’s hotel in Khao Lak was destroyed by the tsunami, but in October the group opened a new one on Phuket.

But the area’s economy is at the mercy of more than the awesome forces of nature. Even as I strolled the beach, fresh troubles were brewing. The global economic collapse has been a blow to every region that depends on the disposable incomes of rich countries. Meanwhile, domestic tensions have flared as Thailand’s complex politics works through a particularly intransigent period. Political demonstrations in November closed both of Bangkok’s airports for days, stranding more than a third of a million travelers.

In an indication of how important tourism is to the region, the government of Phuket provided generous aid to stranded visitors (just as many visitors had heroically helped out in the aftermath of the tsunami). Even after the Bangkok airports had reopened, Nick Davies, managing editor at The Phuket Gazette, said, arrivals at Phuket were down by half. By December, in an echo of worldwide troubles, a group of tour operators appealed to the governor of Phuket for debt relief.

Yet the sea remains lambent and calm, and the air touches one’s cheek like a kiss. From the porch of my little bungalow at the Baan Krating hotel in Khao Lak, where leafy palms and umbrella trees clung to the cliff beneath me, towering above the egg-like rocks bathed in clear water below, there was no sign of trouble whatsoever.

With business on the Andaman Coast suffering because of the worldwide slump, taking a beach vacation is actually the best way for foreigners to help. And they should find little reason for fear: political crisis in Thailand almost never has an impact on visitors, and tensions have lessened, making repeat airport closures unlikely.

In fact, now is a great time to go to the Andaman Coast. In normal years, the beaches can be overrun, crowded with as many snorkelers as fish, or by sunburned, jabbering tourists jockeying for position to shoot a scene as it appeared in “The Man With the Golden Gun” or “The Beach,” which were both partly filmed there. But with visitation way off (skittish Asian package tourists are staying away in droves, although Northern Europeans seem unfazed), normally crowded beaches will have noticeable elbow room — even sometimes the solitude that is the often imagined, little realized ideal of a tropical beach vacation.

And bargains are easy to find. Luxury beachside villas at top resorts can be had at the last minute online for hundreds of dollars off their usual published rates. While I was there, I found an oceanfront villa at the two-year-old Ramada Resort in Khao Lak for under $150 a night — nearly three-quarters off the standard rate.

At the high end, the new hotels are competing to push luxury to new levels, — combining global style with Thai hospitality and tropical luxury — with private villas overlooking pristine beaches, pampering by attentive staff, deeply relaxing Thai massage, top quality international food and a sense of splendid respite from the woes of the world. The Yamu, a new high-end hotel scheduled to open late this year in Phang Nga Bay, promises luxuries including a chocolate room; interiors by Philippe Starck and the luxury hotel designer Jean-Michel Gathy; and, for traveling musicians who like to mix work with pleasure, a recording studio.

One of the most prominent new resorts, the Anantara Phuket, opened in October on Mai Khao Beach at the north end of Phuket, a world away from the Jet Skis and beach umbrellas of Kata Beach to the south. (Jet Skis are banned on Mai Khao to protect nesting turtles.)

The resort is laid out along an artificial lake, mimicking a traditional southern Thai water village. Soaring wooden roofs peak above the enclosed compounds of the villas, each of which includes its own small swimming pool and outdoor and indoor sitting areas complete with big daybeds for savoring Thai massages. A dark teak roof and staircase arcing around a banyan tree set off the smoothly polished Treetop bar, with swooping terrazzo, fiber-optic chandelier curtains that sway in the benevolent sea breeze and soft settees for contemplating the setting sun with a ginger margarita in hand.

The rooms themselves are exquisitely well-considered, with big sliding glass doors opening the bedrooms directly onto the shimmering pools, and with big bathtubs sunk directly into the water, separated by a glass partition.

In this cocooned paradise, the misfortunes of the world did intrude slightly: the day after riot police confronted demonstrators in Bangkok, the Bangkok Post’s headline screamed “Brink of Anarchy!”

Perhaps. But that was the only sign of it.

WHERE TO GO

The Andaman coast of Thailand is home to hundreds of beachfront resorts, at every price range. Since the tsunami of 2004, older resorts that were damaged have been repaired and reconstructed, and new resorts have opened up in all of the major tourist areas. Many of the hotels may offer special prices this season (prices given are standard rates).

In Khao Lak, on the mainland, Le Méridien Khao Lak (www.starwoodhotels.com/lemeridien) was reconstructed after the disaster and exudes a regal charm and grace that suggests carefree imperial fantasy. Villas with butlers start at $520. (Dollars are accepted; the local currency, the baht, is about 35 to the dollar.)

These new hotels have all opened in the last two years:

The Ramada Resort Khao Lak (59 Moo 5, Tumbon Kukkak, Takuapa District, Phang Nga; 66-76-42-7777; www.ramadakhaolak.com) has 84 deluxe rooms, including eight beachside villas, which start at $700. Regular rooms start at $300 in high season.

Anantara Phuket (888 Moo 3, Mai Khao Subdistrict, Thalang District, Phuket; 66-76-33-6100; www.anantara.com). Pool villas start at $1,088.

The Village Coconut Island (Coconut Island, 66-76-239-724; www.thevillage-coconutisland.com.), a luxury collection of villas on a small island just off Phuket’s east coast in Phang Nga Bay. It has the requisite infinity pool (its edge disappearing, it must be said, into blues of sea and sky blue more wondrous than the color of any pool), and activities like scuba diving, sailing and fishing. Big villas — the largest have five bedrooms — sit in their own gardens before their own tiled infinity pools and are $2,896 a night in high season, half that in low season.

Also in Phuket, the Indigo Pearl (www.indigo-pearl.com), designed by Bill Bensley, the Bangkok-based architect largely responsible for defining contemporary Southeast Asian luxury style, is sleek yet comfortable, with nods to Phuket’s colorful past: dark teak and peaked roofs are offset by clean swaths of blocky white walls. Rooms start at $287.

The Sri Panwa (www.sripanwa.com) is set in lush forest on the southern tip of Phuket, adjacent to a clutch of small islands. Big villas nestled in greenery look out from slopes above the sea. In-season, villas start at $1,610.

The SALA Phuket (www.salaphuket.com), which opened in 2008, deftly fuses local Sino-Portuguese 19th-century flourishes with clean lines and big open spaces. Casuarinas whisper in the breeze coming off the ever-present Andaman Sea. Rooms start at $490 in season.

The Aleenta (www.aleenta.com), between Khao Lak and Phuket, exudes the cool but comfortable international boutique hotel style with its sharp lines, spacious rooms, and well-considered layout. Beachfront villas run $1,645 in season.

WHAT TO DO

Loafing on the beach may be enough, but the area also caters to every sort of outdoor activity, from scuba diving and jungle trekking to rock climbing and elephant rides.

The far more contemplative tsunami memorial in Khao Lak is at Soi Rua Tor 813, where the police boat came to rest. A small museum is next door (200 baht, about $5.70, is the suggested donation).

GETTING THERE

Dozens of airlines, including the major American carriers, fly between New York and Bangkok. From New York, round-trip flights run start at about $1,200. Bangkok Airways and Thai Airways make the hour-long flight between Bangkok and Phuket for around $150.

READING

“Exploring Phuket & Phi Phi” by Oliver Hargreave (Odyssey, 2008), is a comprehensive and fascinating handbook for the area that breezes through the sort of logistical details so readily available online in favor of in-depth examinations of the history, culture, politics and ecology of the region.

Article written by Gregory Dicum
Published on The New York Times

GREGORY DICUM, a San Francisco freelance writer, is the author of “Window Seat: Reading the Landscape From the Air” (Chronicle Books, 2004) and “Window Seat Europe” (2006).

Currently on the island there are nearly 40,000 rooms in registered tourism establishments, ranging from guest houses up through to branded hotels with approximately 10,000 of these, or 25% of total supply, being international star rated. Adding in the new inventory there will be an increase by 50% of the existing international standard units, with 47% being upscale and luxury hotels, 41% midscale, 9% budget/economy and 3% extended stay (villas/condos). 2009 is set to see the largest surge in supply with 38% or 1,850 new rooms scheduled to open.

According to C9 Hotelworks Managing Director Bill Barnett, “Significant trends emerging include a greater number of Thai investment entities developing new hotels at the back of both publicly listed firms and private individuals. Much of this can be attributed to the domestic liquidity and greater availability of debt. Branding of hotels is also on the rise with 27 of the 30 hotels operated by international, regional and domestic chains. Thailand based brands such as Anantara and Centara are growing at a rapid pace and regional chains such as Langham are now expanding into the country.”

Adds Barnett, “The hotel market in Phuket 2.0 is seeing a strong shift of new properties at the northern end of the island in particularly Mai Khao and now even over the bridge into Phang Nga. The east coast and Phang Nga bay are set to define a new era of luxury properties at the back of offerings which include The Yamu – designed by the design dream team Philippe Starck/Jean Michel Gathy, Jumeriah Private Island and Taj Exotica.”

“There remains growing concern on possible oversupply issues facing the island in the coming years and what is currently a sleeping giant, in terms of supply growth, is the conversion of exclusive villas and condos, in the non-traditional accommodation segment, becoming a direct competitor to the mainstream hotel market,” Barnett concluded.

News by Taiwan News – etaiwannews.com

Take a Songtow there, available from most places this handy bus should be about 30 baht. First timers should probably take a map. Pick a free one up from any tourist shop and get walking. Some of the sites to behold are:

Phra Phitak Chyn Pracha Mansion, 9 Krabi Road. A lush Portuguese/Chinese mansion. You wont be able to enter but its worth a walk past for the surreal setting alone. Pud Jowl Shrine. Near Jui Tui Shrine on Ranong Road. Built over a century ago, many Chinese deities revered by the Hokkien people are housed here.

Jui Tui Tao Bo Keng Shrine on Ranong Road. This temple is significant for physical health and for those who use it as a base during the Vegetarian Festival.

Shrine of Serene Light. Built in the late 1880′s the temple walls are lined with murals, there is even a secret passage.

Siam Indigo, 8 Phang Nga Road, exotic restaurant and boutique. Filled with Asian treasures and serving Asian bistro fare. www.siamindigo.com

Fortune Shop, 12-16 Radsada Rd, Muang, Phuket. Pewter, Silver, Benjarong, Pearls, Thai Silk, Textiles, Celadon, Ornaments and Handicrafts. fortune_phuket@hotmail.com

Natural Restaurant, 62/5 Soi Phutorn, Bangkok Road, Ph 076.224.287. Soothing atmosphere in a myriad of tropical plants and water features.

China Inn, 20 Thalang Road, Phuket Town. My personal favourite, wander through the Chinese treasures and antiques, admire the Portuguese architecture and cool down beneath the old antique fans. Lunch or dinner is served out on the patio surrounded by orchids and exotic shrubbery.

Oriental Pleasure, 27 Radsada Road, Phuket 076 355 439. Aromatherapy, Spa Products, Handmade Silver, Stones, Pearls, Thai Silk, Bedcovers and tablecloths.

Aubergine,115 Phang Nga Road, Phuket Town century22nd@hotmail.com. Ethnic fashion, accessories and decorative items set in an old Portuguese interior.

Hundreds of other Finnair customers are still waiting in Bangkok. The Finnish airline Finnair is planning four more flights to the Thai resort of Phuket to get passengers stuck in the capital Bangkok back home. The first of the new flights is expected to land at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport early Sunday morning. The others will be coming on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat declared emergency rule at Bangkok’s two airports late Thursday, but later he said that officials were negotiating with the activists. However, Thai aviation officials said the airports would remain closed until Monday evening at the earliest.

So far Finnair has canceled more than half a dozen flights to Bangkok and as many return flights since the Thai capital’s international airport was shut down by protesters on Tuesday. The cancellations affect some 3000 passengers, most of them non-Finns. Finnair has been strongly marketing its Helsinki connections as offering the fastest routes from northern Europe to Asia.The airline says its leisure flights to and from Thailand are operating normally, as are its flights in and out of violence-hit Mumbai, India.

News by LYE – yle.fi