First thing to consider when looking for long-term accommodations is location. Villas in the busiest and most populated expat communities will of course also be the most expensive but will offer foreigners the most comfortable facilities. Apartments are great for those not wanting to deal with the maintenance of a villa and can run from a few thousand baht to a hundred thousand. This of course depends on the location; an ocean front penthouse with all the trimmings will of course be more than an apartment in Phuket Town.

Those that want to live in a Thai style environment have the option of renting a house. Houses will be the least expensive in the residential areas of the island, rather than the touristy beaches. Small one and two bedroom unfurnished homes can come as cheap as 5,000 baht per month. There are also very large houses that are two-storeys and consist of swimming pool and are completely furnished for those with more money to spend.

Regardless of which suits you, the best thing to do is tour around the island and look for a suitable place before jumping into the first one available. Visit a few of the local expat hangouts for tips, or try browsing through one of Phuket’s local newspapers.

This is one of the island’s biggest show with trapeze artists, a cast of hundreds, performing elephants, other animals and an exotic storyline that blends traditional with fantasy, atrully guaranteed enjoyment out here.

Fantasea also hosts one of the biggest buffets in Asia and it is set in a theme park that offres carnival-like games, lots of shopping opportunities, a palace for elephants, Similan adventure centre also has other food outlets.

The theatre doors open at 20.30pm and people start filling in as the show kicks off in grand style at 21.00pm, the stage is huge and the performance space is even bigger and every part of the theatre is used, Aisles, ceiling, audience and the eye is treated treated to modern effects like smoke, explosions lasers, rain soaring people and the taken away through the Thai traditional dances from different regions of the country, showdow puppets and a fascinating wardrobe. It is one of the best shows I have seen in Thailand because it employs elephants, water buffalos, roasters, goats and doves in supporting roles.

The Fantasea show is inspired by Thailand’s rich and exotic heritage and it showcases the charm and beauty of Thailand while enriching the ancient Thai traditions with wonder of the cutting edge technology and special effects. For a 1100 Baht including a buffets, you are guaranteed to have a wonderful experience. It is spectacular, extravagent, impressive and a great entertainment for all.

Apparently, and unbeknown to me, Phuket and Thailand as a whole have been experience a bit of a slump in visitor numbers recently.

The latest air passenger numbers tell a different story, however. Even the recent difficulties with Cambodia and the notorious ‘sit-in’ don’t seem to have put them off.

Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, which is the main gateway to Phuket, has seen a rise of almost 30 per cent on last year’s peak season passenger figures.

In total, the amount of happy sun seekers on their way to Phuket’s sunny shores between Christmas Day and January 5^th were no less than 1,668,863 this year. Pretty amazing for just 10 days.

Apparently the biggest resorts in Phuket are already reporting a better month this February than last month, and while I’m pleased that our local business are thriving, I can’t help feeling a bit like a kid with a new toy when I hear about figures like these.

Can’t these people find their own piece of paradise and leave mine alone?

A company known as the European Bartenderschool (EBS) have spread their wings a little farther than Europe and opened up what must surely be the greatest classroom in the world in Phuket.

The organisation, who train 1,500 students every year in their other centres in London, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Oslo, Copenhagen and Greece, is Europe’s largest bartender training company.

The brand-new contemporary centre can be found towards the southern part of Patong beach, where an 18-metre bar sits atop the centre’s roof so the future bartenders can practice pouring, shaking and stirring until they get it right.

As well as great views of the city, there is even a pool up there for so they can cool off after a hard afternoon of mixing drinks.

I’ve always quite fancied myself as a cocktail shaker, and at only five hours a day, Monday to Friday for four weeks, it strikes me as an opportunity worth staying sober for.

The island’s court system has seen a similar principle hailed as a breakthrough and so the security forces may soon follow suit.

Phuket chief justice Varangkana Sujaritkul told reporters that she did not see any problem involving corruption with the plans. She added that there would always be a minimum of two parties involved in any process, making the potential for bias negligible.

There were a number of interesting innovations introduced to Phuket in 2009 such as the ‘keep beaches clean’ campaign, ‘Summer on Phuket’ concept of marketing, music on the beach Roy Fest festival, plus jet-ski insurance.

Next year will see the banning of free plastic bags in the majority of the island’s retailers in a bid to tackle excess waste.

This cost-cutting measure is certain to make the three-star ibis Phuket Kata a roaring success, according to company bosses, as the normal ratio for international hotels is usually one-to-one.

The Accor group is launching this addition to its “worldwide economy hotel brand” as it continues to set new standards of utilising technology to make its hotels cost-effective.

So the whole resort will have around 260 rooms but only 80 staff members under general manager Frederic Garnier.

And once again it is the world wide web which is the instrument of change here, as well as a centralised system of accounts based in Bangkok.

The ibis Phuket Kata is the brand’s sixth new hotel opening during its 18-month lifetime and adds to its claim to be Thailand’s ”leading brand of economy hotel”.

The only downside will be if you happen to be looking for a job in Phuket’s hospitality industry, as should it succeed, there are sure to be many more that follow suit.

The IndoChine group enjoys an excellent reputation and is renowned for the award-winning bars and restaurants such as Bar Opiume, Bar Cocoon, Waterfront Restaurant and the Forbidden City. Besides managing 17 Singaporean venues, the company also runs establishments in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

At present the accommodation occupancies are as low as they’ve been in decades but the worldwide economic recession didn’t slow down LaTour Signature Group’s plans. On the contrary! The most ideal time to begin a business is at the bottom. The IndoChine Villa Santi is beautifully located overlooking the Patong area’s Kalim Beach and will definitely offer a luxury resort experience.

Expatriates, the jet-set and Bangkok business people all wish to spend several months a year on tropical Phuket. Add to that small time businessmen, resort and property developers and investors and you’ll understand that the competition here for limited sea views is huge.

Should settling for something inland not be a problem then there are many opportunities for everyone, and numerous local property agents on Phuket offering assistance. There are dozens of projects, which offer brilliant investment or retirement villa accommodations, some with million dollars prices, with a steady stream of customers.

The less-wealthy that wish to realise a home on Phuket can opt for inland housing projects, such as Chalong within a short distance of Phuket Town. Others prefer to construct by themselves in one of the traditional neighbourhoods, which is the less expensive opportunity but it comes with many challenges. Bangkok real estate

The East coast on Phuket, which only has a few beach areas, is far less developed and it isn’t surprising that many property developers are looking towards this area…

In fact Thailand could possibly be described as a short cut nation. Looking good is always important to Thais – whether you are going shopping, or mountain biking, it’s important to look the part and this affords you some measure of respect.  But looking good can be costly and it’s surprising how much quality is compromised simply to make something look fantastic with very little expense.

Ex-pats who’ve been here awhile know better, and though they appreciate how good local people are at making something look impressive, such as a house, they’ve learn’t to take the trouble and check the finer details and close up workmanship.

Recently I had a house built and find this out for myself. The house turned out well and the construction company were quite competent at putting it up – but I did take the trouble to visit the site once a day and keep an eye on things, during which time I realised that behind the nicely painted walls, the actually brick work is practically slapped together.

But when it came to the finishing I wasn’t at all impressed. I realise the workmanship is relative to what you pay people and the cheap building labour in Thailand is an advantage though fairly unskilled. However, some of their habits really surprised me.

Paint was applied with brushes made from grass (even though decent brushes here cost less than a few dollars), never once did they bother putting down any canvass or newspaper so that although the managed to get the paint onto the wall successfully they also managed to get paint everywhere else and fir weeks after I was discovering speckles on everything.

Edges weren’t tapped so that the colour borders were all messy, the varnishing on the wood was full of ‘spots’ and runs, they would happily be varnishing while metres away someone else was sanding beams and creating lots of dust.

Of course some things come with correct training, but many of the faults were just common sense and you start believing that they must know but just don’t care. The consequences of poor word of mouth and loss of face doesn’t occur to them. A carpenter who has been fitting doors for years puts the hinges on the wrong side so that it obsctructs the light switches when you open it, fitting are mounted in the most bizarre places and quite the most impractical height in the bathroom, no one asks, they just go ahead without any real thought, eager to get the job done!

Some of the faults really are astonishing and though you’ll end up with a nice looking house, closer inspection reveals skewed fittings, cracks, big ugly holes accidentally drilled in the wrong places, dirt left everywhere, mismatching colours painted on the roof, afterthought adjustments and more. A lot of effort sometimes goes into the most meaningless superficial appearances while the important structural and practical details are hopelessly inadequate. That’s the difference between priorities of one culture and another.