Shopping / Security and smart homes

Kim Chi / Yuzu / Bonito / Hibiscus / Turnip

Lunch: 12 noon - 3pm
Dinner: 7-11pm

Where do you come from and how long have you lived in Phuket. which part of the island do you call home?
I come from Ratchaburi, a small province in the west of Thailand. I’ve been living in Phuket for more than 10 years now, in the Thalang District near Layan Beach.

How long have you been in the property business? – and how did you get started in it?
It's been seven years now – I first started in a building contractors company.

Please tell us about your different businesses and how they all fit together
We act as consultants for Villas Aelita and Villas Bangtao and Happy Village is a Thai-style project we manage through Nichols Perfect Properties, as we do The Happy Place Condo. But Verve Villas is my first high-end project, through a new management company called Prosperous Developer.

Which has been your favourite project since starting off in the business and why?
It has to be Verve Villas as it's a unique development aimed at those with modern tastes. With Verve Villas I've deliberately stayed away from the standard Thai-style design so common on the Island. 'Best Quality, Style and Luxury' is our Motto at Verve and this is reflected in the choice of materials we’ve used in this construction.

What's unique about Verve Villas? What makes it stand out from the crowd?
What's different is its design and style. If you look around the island a little, you’ll begin to notice similarities in the various building projects. We’re different; so if you’re seeking something out of the ordinary you’ll find it with us.

White snapper fillet
Ingredients:

• 1 white snapper fillet
• spring onions
• cherry
• tomatoes
• citrus crust
• zest of lemon & lime
• chopped parsley
• 5 ml olive oil

Method: Mix the bread crumbs, citrus zest and olive oil. Cut the fillet into three slices, season then roll in breadcrumbs. Place breaded fish on an oiled baking dish and bake @ 360° 5-6 min until golden brown.

Lemongrass cream
Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooking cream
• lemongrass stalk
• 1 shallot
• salt & pepper
• sugar
• 1 cup water

Method: Chop the lemongrass and simmer for 20 min until flavour has infused. Strain into a saucepan and reduce to 1/3 cup. Slice shallot and add to the reduction with the cream until thick. Season with sugar, salt and pepper.

Shiitake polenta
Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups water
• ½ tbsp salt
• ½ cup polenta
• 1 tbsp butter
• 10 gm shiitaki mushroom
• 1 small shallot
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tbsp cream

Method: Mince shallot and garlic and sauté in a saucepan. Add sliced shiitaki mushroom and sauté 30 sec. Add water, salt and cream and bring to boil. Slowly whisk in polenta and stir. Simmer until polenta is thick. Take off the heat and stir in the butter. Transfer to square baking tin and let cool until firm and set. Cut the polenta into three small triangles and sear in a frying pan until crispy on both sides. Sauté green onions, tomato until the onion is soft but still has a bright colour and the tomato just starts to split then add olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Before rampant development and 21st century transit systems changed its face forever, Bangkok was 'The Venice of the East', with life revolving around its network of canals. But then Bangkokians fell in love with their cars, turned most of the klongs into roads and largely got rid of a water-based lifestyle - and a superb way of navigating the city.

Today, while a far cry from its heyday, Bangkok still boasts a system of public water transport that's cheap, efficient and fast. And - for adventurous visitors – offers a glimpse of a way of life far-removed from the street-side hurly-burly.

Travelling by klong is not, however, for the faint-hearted. At the smaller jetties, boat drivers swoop in and slam the engine into reverse - causing a great surge in the pier-side water - while passengers clamber from slippery jetties onto the heaving vessel. Surprisingly, it's rare to see anyone suffer more than a minor indignity in the process.

The drivers are competitive, while the water - contained between concrete embankments - can become surprisingly choppy. Bouncing over the waves, it's not unusual for the bow wave of a passing boat to drench a whole section of passengers. Then there's the vicarious pleasure of watching others gingerly getting on and off...

Due to Phuket's ideal location, there are many water-based activities that can be enjoyed, including swimming, snorkelling, lazing on idyllic beaches, island hopping, and boat trips. You can rent a surfboard at some of Phuket's west coast beaches during the monsoon season; a few offer surfing lessons as well. Stand-up paddle boards (SUP), sea canoes, and fishing gear are also for hire if you look around. If you've had too much of the sand-between-your-toes experience but still want to soak up the sunshine, Phuket has a gigantic water park in the north of the island that plays host to a variety of wave pools, a 'lazy river' and exhilarating waterslides.

If more athletic water-based activities are what your family is about, a number of choices - including wakeboarding, cable skiing, wake surfing and knee boarding - are to be found throughout the island. A variety of wakeboard parks and, the latest arrival on the scene, open ocean wakeboarding, will cater to your needs, and it's good to know that they have instructors for beginners as well as various daily packages.

For the bold family seeking extreme adventures, Phuket has a number of exciting choices to satisfy that adrenaline rush, including zip-line and canopy tours through the hillside jungles. Many of these tours are set up as team building eco-adventure activities. High above the trees, you can experience Phuket's natural scenery firsthand and, if luck is on your side, come face to face with some of the island's native jungle species of lizards and birds.

In the USA and Europe, gift exchanges between family members were relatively subdued and simple until the late 19th century - very different from the gift culture our generation is accustomed to.

In modern-day society, holiday gift giving often gets associated with consumerism and profit-oriented brands. Regardless of your view on holiday commercialisation, remember that giving, at its core, is about celebrating the humanity of people around you. When personalised and chosen with the right sentiment, gift-giving can form new, and deepen existing, connections.

Do you dread this time of the year because of gift shopping, or do you get excited that you get to show appreciation to those you love? To help you express your feelings in a creative way this holiday season, we've checked out what Phuket has to offer and gathered some ideas to help get you started.

Phuket is truly a place with plentiful shopping and gift options. For an ample selection of everyday products - such as clothes, shoes, accessories or cosmetics - there are malls in Patong, Phuket Town and on major roads throughout the island with huge choices of goods similar to those in international shopping destinations. In prominent department stores, bestsellers and new collections are displayed in bright windows. Buying a fashionable surprise for your significant other, whether it's a new perfume, a pair of jeans, or a planner will be simple enough; every store has countless sales assistants just waiting to help you get it right.

Southern Thai traditional rice salad with miso dressing & fermented fish dressing.

Open daily 06.30am-10pm.

From the spacious hall you enter a cave-like tunnel and come face-to-face with a hominid – well, an ape-like, wild-eyed mannequin with matted black hair, crouched in a cave, stone-age tools in hand. The main hall features an elaborate miniature diorama of an open-pit tin mine operation in action. Hundreds of tiny workers are seen working busily on the site.

"If people can walk, they mostly can climb," says Gop, from King Climbers. "It's natural. When we're born, we crawl around on all fours first, after all." But as I stood at the bottom of the sheer, soaring cliff face, craning my neck in disbelief, his words, like my arms, seemed to lose all their power.

The monumental rocks in Railay are part of a 30 million year old chain of limestone karsts - stretching from China down to Borneo – and formed from compacted shell and coral. As I squinted into the sunlight, the summit was way out of sight, hidden behind jagged outcrops and the odd solitary tree that had managed to get a hold in the grudging rock.

Climbers from all over the world come to Krabi to scale these heights. Many beginners also try their hand here, whether they are looking for an adventurous day out, or are more serious about the sport. I was one of those making my debut.

The romantic image of a solo learning experience, where I could pretend I was the first person ever to ascend the rock, quickly vanished as I turned the corner to find what resembled a small climbing factory. A whole gaggle of first-timers like me with their guides were gathered around the base of the cliff.