Plenty of hotels in Phuket have Thai cooking lessons. Others teach wine appreciation or Thai-style fruit carving. But to our knowledge, The Pavilions, a high-end all-pool-villas resort in the Layan area of Phuket, is the only one that has a perfume-making course.

Travellers to and from Phuket have three more days to book special cheap flights with AirAsia during the period from August 9 to November 15.

Twang. Thunk. Robin Hood was good at it. So was William Tell – he could split an apple at 100 paces. Henry V of England won the battle of Agincourt 600 years ago in great part due to his archers. Closer to Thailand, Phra Narai in the Ramayana was an astonishingly good archer.

A raffle to win a unique signed painting valued at 60,000 baht by Australian artist Christopher Hogan is raising funds for a school in Phang Nga province supported by Laguna Phuket’s “Developing Sustainable Schools” program.

Here’s an oddity: despite the politically-inspired Red Shirt violence in the Thai capital just a couple of months ago, Bangkok is, according to a poll of readers of Travel+Leisure magazine, the best city in the world.

Oh dear. Just when we thought we’d found Phuket’s most expensive home for sale, at US$7 million, along comes another one selling for US$8 million. Not only that, it’s not on Millionaires’ Mile – it’s up above Surin Beach, effectively out-millionairing Millionaires’ Mile by a million bucks.

Phuket Observer believes that Liberty, a cliff-top dwelling on Millionaires’ Mile, may be the most expensive home yet offered in the Phuket luxury home market.

Outrigger Hotels and Resorts, Asia, has officially settled on Phuket as its Regional Operating Headquarters (ROH) and has also been approved by the Thai Government’s Board of Investment (BoI).

AirAsia has warned that a major upgrade of its booking system will take place from midday on Friday, July 9 to 5 pm on Sunday, July 11. During that time the booking system will be shut down.

Andara Resort & Villas in Kamala has launched a Summer Escape promotion