'Clownfish V' by Christopher Hogan is the top prize in the charity raffle.

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.

Hogan is currently Artist in Residence at Laguna Phuket’s Summer Family Festival – and the raffle draw will be the centerpiece of the Summer Family Festival “Art Party” in Canal Village on  July 31, when his residency ends.

The raffle prize  - Clownfish V – is a metre-square acrylic painting on canvas and an outstanding example of Hogan’ well-known aquatic-themed work.

With tickets being snapped up, the raffle has already raised thousands of baht for Baan Jao Krue School in Phang Nga province, the current focus of Laguna Phuket’s Developing Sustainable Schools program.

The 100-baht raffle tickets are available from reception desks and tour counters at Laguna Phuket hotels, as well as around the Laguna area in Pepper’s Bar, Khun Woody’s Sandwich Shoppe, Black Cat restaurant, Farang restaurant, Lady Pie restaurant, Village Bakery and the Cherngtalay branch of Siam Commercial Bank.

Other prizes include two nights at a Laguna Phuket resort, a Banyan Tree spa package for two, rounds of golf at Laguna Phuket Golf Club and a Laguna Tours trip for two to Phi Phi Island.

Hogan holds daily painting classes for hotel guests and local residents as part of the Summer Family Festival in Canal Village. He is also volunteering creative art lessons for teachers and pupils of Baan Jao Krue School to initiate the children’s creative studies.

The Laguna Phuket Summer Family Festival runs until August 20 with daily Kidz Fun Zone adventure activities, a Flying Trapeze, Hollywood@Laguna family filming of a “Virtual Motorcycle Tour of Phuket” and nightly entertainment in the beer tent.  The Festival also has a range of offers for children to stay, eat and play free at Laguna hotels until October 31.

Pool villa at the Outrigger Laguna Phuket resort.

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).

With its offices in Plaza del Mar, just outside the gates of the Laguna complex, Outrigger is the first company to set up an ROH in Phuket.

“We are a resort company so we have chosen a resort location,” said Outrigger’s Senior Vice President, Asia, Mr Darren Edmonstone. “Our expertise since our formation in Hawaii over 60 years ago pertains to warm climate resort holidays. Phuket with its great aviation access, human resources and culture of hospitality is a perfect regional headquarters for us in Asia.”

ROH status gives Outrigger privileges and responsibilities in the areas of taxation, human resources, research, product development, sourcing of raw materials and parts, credit management, marketing, sales and technical support. BoI approval has a number of additional advantages, including foreign majority ownership of the business, and easier work permit and visas procedures.

In addition, Edmonstone said, “The quality and variety of Phuket’s existing human resource pool is excellent and improving all the time. Furthermore, with a headquarters in Phuket, Outrigger can easily access resort areas of potential business interest … around Asia.”

The company, which has its corporate HQ in Hawaii, has been on a drive into Asia over the past three years. It manages Outrigger Laguna Phuket Resort & Villas, along with a property in Bali, and is looking at other resorts and hotels in Indonesia, Vietnam, Hainan (China), South Korea, the Maldives and India.

What's that down there?? Using Hollywood-style green-screen magic, a family fly over Phang Nag Bay in their "rot saleng"- Thai-style motorbike and sidecar.

Laguna Phuket has just launched its annual Summer Family Festival, with a new twist – families can now star in their own professionally-produced Hollywood-style motorbike tour of Phuket.

The Family Festival,  first launched last year, is aimed at all the family, whether visiting Phuket or living here. For children there will be three-hour programme each day (2 – 5pm), featuring in turn activities such as Wacky Games, Sports Skills; Climbing Capers; Treasure Hunts, High Ropes Adventure; Wet ‘n’ Wild; Arts & Crafts, Slip ‘n’ Splash; rock climbing and other outdoor adventure activities. For hotel guests these sessions are free. For non-guests the price is B200 per child.

There will also be a bouncy castle for the little ones, and evening Kidz Lounge sessions with movies and video games and a new KidzSole flying trapeze.

For parents, there will be a barbecue and beer tent with screenings of all the World Cup matches, along with live music, quiz nights and other entertainment.

The new “Hollywood@Laguna” will feature a rot saleng – a Thai-style motorbike with sidecar – in front of a green screen. Footage taken of the family will be combined with shots of various parts of Phuket, including James Bond Island – this motorbike can ride on water, part of the magic of Hollywood.

Families can even be involved in a choreographed “bike crash”, then continue making the movie with appropriate crash victim make-up.

For more on Hollywood@Laguna, go here. For more on the Summer Family Festival, go here. The festival continues until October 31.

Trattoria staff celebrate; At centre is resort GM Peter Komposch. Exec Chef Silvano Amolini is at left.

Want to know which is the best restaurant, not just in Phuket but the whole of Thailand? According to Thailand Tatler magazine, it’s La Trattoria at the Dusit Laguna Resort.

It’s the second time the restaurant has received the accolade from the Tatler; the first time was in 2007. The hi-so magazine didn’t just name the editor’s favourite place – it polled readers.of course, Tatler readers are not generally people who frequent Auntie Pen’s Somtam Shack, so there were probably quite a few of Thailand’s 60 million restaurants that didn’t make the cut.

It’s still an impressive score, however, and Peter Komposch, General Manager of the Dusit, was excited. “La Trattoria is delighted to receive Thailand Tatler’s award once again. This recognition is indeed a privilege and a reflection of a positive feedback from our guests.”

The man who makes the food (with a little help in the kitchen) is Silvano Amolini, Executive Chef. The Dusit press release doesn’t mention his reaction to the award, but we can safely imagine it was positive.

Instead, it lists some of his signature dishes, “blending new Italian sensations and tastes”, and including Insalata di rucola con timballo di gorgonzola e noci, sciroppo al Balsamico, or Pici toscani con stracotto di manzo al Chianti. You can all figure out what those are, can’t you?

The Observer recently visited the restaurant for Earth Hour. See that report here.

Kids have a 2-km race all to themselves.

It’s time to get those smelly old Nike and Adidas running shoes out of the depths of the closet and start getting into shape for the Laguna Phuket Marathon in just over a month’s time, on Sunday June 13.

As always, for those who reckon that a 42-km jog – roughly the distance from Phuket Town to the Sarasin Bridge at the top of the island – might just be a little too much to take on, there will be shorter races.

The marathon itself starts in darkness, at 4:30 am. At 6 am the half marathon will kick off, followed by the 10.5-km run at 6:30. The winners of these three events are expected to breast the tape between 7:10 and 7:45.

At 8 am the rather more leisurely 5-km walk begins, followed an hour later by the 2-km Kids’ Run.

To register online, go here (Internet Explorer or Safari only).

Those registered before June 4 will pay lower entry fees. Those who don’t get themselves organised by that date can still join in by registering on June 11 and 12, the two days before the event. They should go to Laguna Grove – the start/finish area – between 10 am and 5 pm on those days. Entry fees (in baht) are as follows:

The elephant was disqualified for having too many legs, so Australian pro racer Richie Cunningham won the men's title in the 2008 Laguna Phuket Triathlon. - Photo courtesy Laguna Resorts & Hotels.

After 16 years of hosting the highly successful Laguna Phuket Triathlon, Laguna Resorts & Hotels (LRH) has been rewarded by being named as the venue for the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship. The race, on December 10 next year, will be the culmination of a new annual Asia-Pacific Ironman 70.3 Event Series and Laguna is expected to be the permanent home of this Championship.

The triathlon, which attracts hundreds of athletes including, in recent years, top triathletes from various parts of the world, now has the added luster of being an Ironman championship event, which means a $60,000 professional prize purse as well 50 qualifying slots for the 2011 Foster Grant Ironman World Championship 70.3 in Clearwater, Florida.

The Series is expected to include six races and grow to eight  or 10 races long-term. Athletes will be able to qualify, at the Laguna Phuket Asia-Pacific Championship race to compete at Ironman 70.3 races around the world and at selected races in new markets such as the first ever international triathlon to be held in India.

Belinda Granger, also of Australia, took the women's pro title last year. Both she and Cunningham will return this year to defend their Laguna titles. - Photo courtesy Laguna Resorts & Hotels.

“The decision to host the Championship event at Laguna Phuket was an easy one,” said Murphy Reinschreiber, the World Triathlon Corporation’s managing director for Asia-Pacific. “The resort serves as a destination with broad appeal to athletes in all of our markets, including Australia, Singapore, Japan, the U.S. and Europe, and it is a proven and storied triathlon venue.”

Michael Ayling, managing director of LRH, commented, “The management of Laguna Phuket and the government of Phuket Province are truly honoured, extremely excited and proud that Phuket has been selected to host the Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship.

“We feel that the 16 years of hard work and dedication that has gone into organizing the Laguna Phuket Triathlon has been rewarded by the international triathlon community, who recognize that we have the know-how and resources to ensure a very successful Asia-Pacific 70.3 Championship event in 2010 and beyond.”

Cheap beer will be a feature of the partying at Laguna from July 8. Do you need any further recommendation?

In the hotel world, when the going gets tough, the tough get the locals. With empty hotel rooms across Phuket (a combination of swine flu + Thai political shakiness + world economic gloom) hotel owners are looking to the local market to put meals and drinks in bellies and snorers in beds.

Leading the pack are the destination marketing crew at Laguna Resorts & Hotels, who are about to launch into their Summer Family Festival, with big discounts (cheap beer), free entertainment and succulent prizes. We’ve mentioned Laguna’s plans before but here’s a list of temptations specifically for locals that will be launched on July 8, lasting until August 30:

• Daily Kid’s Summer Fun program, from 2-5pm, followed by evening entertainment: bouncy castle, face painting, kid’s movies, video games, and so on.
• While the kids are entertained adults can relax in the beer garden (cheap beer) and sports bar where international sporting events will be televised from 5pm. Later on, DJs crank up the music to get the party started.
• And when you’re feeling tired and emotional from the glut of entertainment (and cheap beer), there are hefty discounts for a night at any of the seven Laguna resorts, ranging from B1,799 a night at Allamanda to B5,999 at Laguna Phuket Holiday Residences, with breakfast. Kids stay free at any of the resorts.

Although the deals will be available from July 8, the day to go will be July 10, from 5pm to midnight, when a prize draw will be held to decide who gets a private speedboat trip for six to Phi Phi, which would normally cost B40,000.

On that day there will be free nibbles and drink on arrival, with a barbecue later on (cheap beer), a bouncy castle, magic show, crafts and movies for the kids while sports fans will be kept happy (cheap beer) with big-screen TVs showing either the German Grand Prix or the Ashes (for anyone who’s not English or Australian, see here for an explanation). Those who are seeing double from the cheap beer can probably watch both at the same time.

Oh yes. Did we mention? There will be cheap beer.

One of the four-bedroom homes at the new Outrigger Laguna Phuket Resort and Villas.

US-based resort management company Outrigger has been selected to manage a luxury collection of residences, villas, town homes and apartments being developed by Laguna Resorts & Hotels in Phuket.

The new collection will be named “Outrigger Laguna Phuket Resort and Villas”. When complete, it will consist of 309 two-, three- and four-bedroom units, many with their own private swimming pools. The first units will be ready for occupancy in the fourth quarter of of this year, with the remainder completed in 2011.

Outrigger is a relatively recent arrival in Phuket but is already managing Serenity Terraces Resort on the shore of Chalong Bay and the West Sands Resort on Mai Khao Beach, both high-end resorts.

“We are excited to work with Laguna Resorts on this great new luxury product,” said David Carey, president and CEO of Outrigger Enterprises Group. “Laguna Phuket has such a well-deserved reputation as a quality resort and we are thrilled to be a part of it.”

Laguna boss Michael Ayling was equally complimentary. “We’re positive that Laguna Phuket will greatly benefit from Outrigger’s quality management services of Laguna Village.”

About half of the 309 units have been completed, with the remainder scheduled for completion in 2011. Amenities at the resort will include a beach club, private clubhouse, fitness center, tennis courts, an Angsana spa, retail shops and restaurants.

Is it a castle? An elephant? Who cares? It's bouncy!

Laguna Phuket, with its six – soon to be seven – resorts, has put together an array of family entertainment and activities called the Summer Family Festival, running from July 8 to August 30.

Designed to satisfy both kids and parents, the resort will offer a daily children’s activity program from 2-5pm, followed by a casual BBQ and beer garden at Laguna’s Canal Shopping Village where major international sporting events will be screened on 2×2-metre screens.

While Dad enjoys the cricket, Formula 1, golf or premier league soccer, children will be entertained with a bouncy castle, playground, movies and Kid’s Club games. After dinner Mum – if she’s not into soccer or bouncy castles – can browse the market stalls and surrounding boutiques before the DJ cranks up the music at 8pm.

The festival’s official launch party is scheduled for Friday July 10, featuring host DJs from Phuket Island Radio 91.5FM plus live entertainment and great prizes to be won.

The Kid’s Summer Fun program will incorporate a different activity each day from 2-5pm including: wacky games, which are non-skill specific games and races; ten pin bowling (off site); sports clinics with experienced instructors in golf, football and tennis; treasure hunts, mini-golf (off-site), rock climbing and outdoor adventure activities.

For more information, schedule of events and details on how to book, see the Laguna website.

Athletes dash into the water at the start of the 2008 triathlon.

A heads-up for seriously sporty types: Online reservations are now open for the 2009 Laguna Phuket Triathlon, which will take place on Sunday, December 6. Anyone interested in taking part should register fast; in the past four years, all places have been filled long before the event.

Nine hundred athletes are expected to take part in the triathlon, now in its 16^th year. The event comprises a grueling combination of 1.8km swim, 55km cycle and 12km run.

The 2008 men’s event was won by Richie Cunningham of Australia and the women’s event by three-times Ironman Champion Belinda Granger, also from Down Under, and the competition attracts many other top triathletes from around the world.

The event also includes a corporate relay challenge for teams of three (swimmer, cyclist and runner), a 6km Fun Run and a “Splash ’n’ dash” race for children. For more information see the main event website. To register, click through from there, or go here.