Word: phuket
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...Hoteliers have arrived with their eyes on the prize. Resorts are springing up alongside the fish-sauce stalls that line the town's only paved street. While the place may yet become a Phuket or a Boracay, Phan Thiet is currently at the lux-backwater stage, with comfortable hotels that are still relatively affordable. The Victoria Phan Thiet resort offers air-conditioned bungalows, each with a sea view and most with a balcony, for $113-$154 a night; call (84-62) 813 000 or go to victoriahotels-asia.com for reservations. The similarly styled Coco Beach resort, located in the center...
...about 30 kilometers east of Galle, and has another beach retreat an hour away at Tangalla also on the southern coast. Apart from introducing beach elephant polo, Dobbs is now planning to open a boutique yacht club because there isn't a single one between the Suez Canal and Phuket. "I now term this part of southern Sri Lanka as the Serendip Riviera. The stretch from Galle to Tangalla will in time become the best address in the Indian Ocean." Amanresorts, the ultra-chic chain run by Adrian Zecha, is moving in too. Zecha is restoring Galle's New Oriental...
...THAILAND: Soft targets Thailand has many. They read like a roll call of Asia's most popular tourist destinations: Phuket, Pattaya, Koh Samui. Thai authorities have been quick to hose down speculation that the kingdom is under threat of a Bali-style attack and have criticized Western governments for issuing travel advisories warning their citizens to avoid, or to take extreme caution, in areas where foreigners congregate. Yet the country is taking anti-terrorism measures. Bar patrons are being frisked, police patrols have been stepped up in places like Phuket, and soldiers are boarding boats for searches off southern Thailand...
...They say that the problems in the south are isolated cases, that the attacks are undertaken by criminals," says Rohan Gunaratna, author of a seminal study of al-Qaeda. "But they are making a fatal mistake. Jemaah Islamiah has infrastructure there, and there is no doubt that Phuket was considered on the list of targets before Bali. The Thais must act now or risk (having their own) Bali...
...Verbatim "This is the world's safest island." APIRAK HONGTHONG, police colonel and head of Phuket's immigration office, responding to Danish warnings of an attack on Thailand's popular getaway...