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Thai holiday half a world away . . .  in the Scottish 'Thailands'

MediaWATCH: Thailand's Foxy Highland Fling

Thursday, December 17, 2009
Phuketwan MediaWATCH

A daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media.

dailymail.co.uk The white sands and gently lapping turquoise sea make Thailand's Kai Bae Beach look like heaven on earth. There is just one problem. The picture is actually of a beach on beautiful but chilly Berneray island in Scotland's Outer Hebrides. The give-away is the picturesque range of the Harris Hills in the background of the promotional picture.

thesun.co.uk A remote beach in the Outer Hebrides is being used to promote a tropical paradise 6000 MILES AWAY in Thailand. Barmy tourism bosses took a photo of a hill-lined shore on Berneray, just off North Uist, from the internet to publicise Kai Bae Beach on idyllic Koh Chang island. Photographer John Kirriemuir said: ''It's been lifted as a bit of 'Hope they don't notice it's not really our local beach' advertising.''

nationmultimedia.com The National Anti Corruption Commission has marked 2010 for the awareness campaign mobilising one million people to root out corruption, NACC member Pakdee Pothisiri said. Graft violations have become a deep-rooted problem plaguing society so much so that many are indifferent to corruption. Almost nine in 10 people rated corruption as the ''serious to most serious'' problem in society.

foxnews.com Tiger Woods' wife Elin Nordegren is taking her two children and moving to Sweden after weeks of shocking revelations about her husband's infidelity, Fox411.com has learned exclusively. Tiger is not accompanying Nordegren and their kids, daughter Sam, 2, and son Charlie, 10 months, a source close to her family tells Fox411.com

usmagazine.com Alleged mistress Rachel Uchitel is confiding in pals that Woods is still in touch with her. ''They are not over,'' a source tells Us. ''She said Tiger was texting her, trying to find time to get together again. He wasn't even fazed.''

dnaindia.com It was a dream come true for 24 amateur golfers from across India as they teed off at what Tiger Woods described as one of the best courses he had ever played on. The grand finale of the McDowells Signature Inter-Club Golf Championship at the Blue Canyon Country Club, Phuket, on Wednesday saw an intense battle to be crowned the best club golf team of the country. Lucknow Golf Club emerged the winners. [No, we don't know if Tiger has former mistresses on Phuket. Ed.]

en.rian.ru The Kazakh and Belarusian crew of a plane arrested by Thai police for transporting arms from North Korea said they were unaware of the military nature of the cargo. The Il-76 cargo plane, carrying about 40 tons of weaponry, was seized after landing for refueling at Bangkok's Don Muang airport on December 12. Officials said the weapons included missiles and rocket-propelled grenades. The plane's ultimate destination has not been revealed.

jerusalempost.com Weapons seized in Thailand from an impounded plane traveling from North Korea were likely destined for Iran, a high-ranking Thai government security official was quoted by Reuters as saying regarding the findings of a team investigating the arms. ''Some experts believe the weapons may be going to Iran, which has bought arms from North Korea in the past,'' said the official.

stuff.co.nz A luxury Rotorua lodge, chosen as the world's best of its type, has only three bedrooms, no cellphone coverage and costs more than the average annual salary to stay a week. Lake Okareka Lodge took away the award as the world's best luxury country lodge at the Luxury Hotel Awards held in Thailand. The room rate is $7150 a night for two. The guest list is highly confidential and includes Hollywood's rich and famous, and high-ranking politicians.

smh.com.au Elizabeth Farrelly writes: One thing I love is how rich people have no taste. When you're feeling burdened by envy but at the same time sickened by how unerringly the world's douche bags seem to float to the top, try this for therapy. Swing down to the Gucci-Prada end of town, saunter the racks of thousand-dollar frocks and five-thousand-dollar suits and know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, there's not a thing you'd be seen in, dead or alive.

andrew-drummond.com In the spirit of ''fancy that'' comes the news that some of us poor Brits living over here in Thailand are panicking a bit because those who distribute social security payments back home are blocking payments to people essentially living overseas. So step-forward the Pattaya Brits who find that even a half-good disability pension will cover an apartment, a few beers and a few girls a week in this charming resort though with the drop of the British pound some may have to reduce the quality of service.

bbc.co.uk The leader of Papua's separatist movement has been killed in a shootout with Indonesian police, local officials have said. They said Kelly Kwalik was fatally shot while fleeing police conducting a raid in the Papuan town of Timika. Kelly Kwalik has been on Indonesia's most wanted list for years.

scmp.com China faces the prospect of a new, rival submarine power in the disputed South China Sea, with neighboring Vietnam completing a major arms deal with Russia, the latest sign of regional concern at Beijing's naval build-up. The deal for submarines and jet fighters, Hanoi's biggest since the end of the Vietnam war, also reflects a widening view in the region that Beijing's vaunted show of soft power in the past decade is taking on a harder edge.

hotelnewsnow.com The Asia/Pacific hotel development pipeline includes 975 hotels comprising 232,680 rooms, according to the November 2009 STR Global Construction Pipeline Report released this week. Among the key markets, Shanghai reported the most rooms in the total active pipeline, with 13,057 rooms. Bangkok tallies 8849 rooms, New Delhi 6355 rooms and Beijing 6326 rooms.

nytimes.com The military junta in Burma allowed opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to meet with senior members of her National League for Democracy party, the latest in a recent series of signals that suggest the junta might be responding to diplomatic overtures from the West. A Western diplomat in the main city of Yangon said Suu Kyi was permitted to leave her home under military guard. She has been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years.

monstersandcritics.com Brunei has asked its national carrier to boost flights next month when the sultanate will host the annual Asean Tourism Forum. The Tourism Department has asked Royal Brunei Airlines ''to increase their flights'' to accommodate more than 1600 delegates expected at the January 21-28 expo, the Borneo Bulletin reported.

Associated Press A couple were charged in federal court in Sioux Falls with faking the husband's death to collect on life insurance, claiming husband had died after eating bad oysters in Malaysia in 2003. She eventually settled the insurance case with two insurance companies for $2 million. About a year ago the husband walked into the US Embassy in Jakarta and asked to renew his passport.

reuters.com Richard Branson has challenged aviation rival Tony Fernandes to a Formula One duel with the loser having to dress up as an airline stewardess. AirAsia's Fernandes, who once worked for Branson's music business, said last week that his new Malaysian-backed Lotus F1 team had to beat Branson's Virgin Racing operation next season.

Phuketwan Update Tsunami recovery email: Welcome to JOVEL Bar & Beergarden in Khao Lak, Thailand. Situated in the village of Bang Niang, opposite the now famous Tsunami Police Boat 813 in Khao Lak on the Andaman coast in Thailand, our Beergarden is stretched along the Bang Niang river. The JOVEL Bar includes an indoor waterfall and creek of enormous dimensions, different plattform levels, cozy corners, a free library, free daily newspapers from around the world, free Internet (WiFi) and many more amenities. Our Beer range includes some famous German beers like Flensburger, Veltins, Koestritzer, Weihenstephan and Federbrau.
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