VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1                          UP DATED  January 23, 2005                          Weather: Mostly all day

Front Page

PHUKET ISLAND, Indonesia -- As the clean up of this island paradise continues, some residents are beginning to look on the bright side.  "Many of our rooms are ready for tourists," says Jabar Ranji, manager of the Hotel Phuket.  "The rest are still occupied by sea turtles, but we are making progress." 

Minister of Tourism, Boblik Patel has another problem. "We've gotten a lot of bad press," he points out. "What with the death and destruction, most tourists would rather pet a scorpion than vacation here now. And then there's the name.  We islanders know that first syllable sounds like 'poo' which isn't great but it's better than the 'fuh' sound caused by that pesky 'h' for some folks."

"I'm hearing people in Nebraska  thinking 'Let's go on an Indian Ocean beach holiday. Then, 'Nah, Phuket!'"

"We need a name with a marketing track record," says Patel who has recommended to the governing council that the island change its name to "Smuckers."