LOVESTRUCK couples around the world will spend next Saturday, Valentine’s Day,
celebrating with flowers, chocolates and anonymous love letters signed ‘From your Valentine’.

And it will be more of the same here on one of the world’s most romantic holiday island.

Phuket is the perfect place to fall in love.

Every day, young lovers meet and fall in love on the beaches and in the nightclubs.

The island is always full of honeymooners and married couples who fall in love with each other all over again while they are here.

In Phuket, the local shopkeepers jump on the love bandwagon and card stalls, florists, and markets burst with pinks and reds.

The Flower in Love store on Thepkrasattree Rd, has stocked up on flowers, cards and Valentines Day gimmicks in readiness for the big day.

Owner, Khun Fern, said the English language Valentines cards were always big sellers as were the red, white and pink roses she imports especially from the famed Pak-Khlong Talaad flower market in Bangkok.

She is expecting to sell almost 5000 roses this year.

Eight couples and 25 pairs of honeymooners from Taiwan will come to Phuket for a traditional Baba mass wedding ceremony in Phuket Town on Valentines Day.

Sirinee Lelanon, Assistant District Officer at the Phuket Provincial Muang District Office said 130 couples signed their wedding certificates on Valentines Day in Phuket last year, and she is expecting even more this year.

“Thai people like the idea of Valentine ‘s Day and we want to support the significance of Valentines Day and welcome it into our culture,” she said.

Phuket’s Governor, Dr Preecha Ruangjan, will open the day’s ceremonies and is expected to give away a swag of gifts to the newlyweds.

In Bangkok, in the renowned Bang Rak or ‘love district’, couples will start queuing at the crack of dawn to tie the knot at the Municipal offices, hoping to win a marriage prize worth 5000 baht.

On Kradan island, about three hours from Phuket, the Underwater Wedding Company is expecting another record breaking year.

The company specialises in taking couples 12 metres under water to exchange gargled vows.

Since the company’s inception in 1997, the ceremonies have gained worldwide recognition and in 2000, they were listed in the Guinness book of records after 30 couples tied the knot in one underwater ceremony.

A company spokesperson said 25 couples had already booked their underwater weddings for this year, but he was hoping the final number will top 30.

Closer to home, the Jungcelyon shopping centre Patong will hosts its second annual ‘Falling in love festival’ which will include a fashion show, live music, food, drinks and a spectacular water fountain show.

Elsewhere on the island, hotels and restaurants will be hosting special romantic Valentines day dinners.

The Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort and Spa in Karon, their will have a set menus in its Red Silk, Buon Appetito and Count the Stars restaurants ranging in price from 4900 to 2200 baht.

They have even planted a special ‘love tree’ for couples to kiss under.

The Banyan Tree in Laguna will be taking lovers on a romantic sunset cocktail cruise on the lagoon followed by Valentines Day dinners with complimentary roses and wine at their eight restaurants.

At the Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket, there will be a special five course Valentines Day’s dinner in a poolside setting under the stars at the Puccini Italian restaurant.

Couple’s death leap inspires Thais


THAI couples will flock to the Sarasin Bridge on Valentines Day to pay homage to two celebrated young lovers who died there more than 25 years ago.

On February 22, 1973, only a week after Valentines Day, Eaw, a young girl from a wealthy family, and Go-Khai, a poor tuk tuk driver, bound themselves together and leaped to their death from the bridge.

Eaw’s father wanted her to marry a wealthy businessman and banned her from seeing GoKhai.

The pair met for one last beach picnic, then bound themselves together and leapt to their death from the bridge.

When Eaw’s father realised what he had done, he sought forgiveness for his cruelty and allowed his daughter and her lover to be buried still bound together.

The tragic story was immortalized in a hit folk song by the band Similan, in a toprating television series and in a 1987 movie starring Thai actors Ron Bunjongsang and Jintara Sukkapat.

Many Thai couples now visit the bridge on Valentines Day to pay homage to the spirits of Eaw and Go-Khai, and to pray for a long life together.


Romance came dressed in drag

IRISHMAN Neil Quail dressed up in drag, and found true love.

The former hockey professional who is now the general manager of Asia Super Yachts Thailand, was invited to a fancy dress party, and he asked a Thai beautician he met in a restaurant in Phuket Town to lend him a wig, a ball gown, and a pair of high heels to wear to the party.

The two instantly hit it off, fell in love and were married on a beach on Cape Panwa last month.

“We still laugh about what brought us together,” said Neil.

“Our wedding day was fantastic and Taum and I exchanged our vows in front of all our friends on the beach just before sunset.

“It’s so easy to fall in love in Phuket.

If you have any romantic sentimentality in you, Phuket will bring out those feelings,” he said.

On Valentines Day, Neil and Taum will go back to the beach where they were married for a romantic lunch.

They plan to remain in Phuket for several years and raise a family here.


Valentines tradition began in a jail cell


THE Catholic Church recognises at least three different Saints named Valentine, but the true origins of Valentine’s Day remain unclear.

One theory is that the tradition of sending love messages on February 14 began when a man named Valentine wrote love letters to his mistress from his prison cell while awaiting execution for adultery.

But the most popular explanation is that St Valentine’s Day is named after a Roman priest who was sentenced to death for secretly marrying Roman soldiers in defiance of a decree by Emperor Claudius II that soldiers must remain single.

The unpopular Claudius was having trouble recruiting soldiers for his armies because the men were loathe to leave their wives and lovers.

Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements, but the priest, named Valentine, continued performing marriages in darkened rooms, whispering the words while listening carefully for approaching soldiers.

He was caught and sentenced to death, but as he awaited his fate, many of the couples he had married came to visit him and brought flowers and notes of support.

One of those visitors was the daughter of a prison guard, and she would sit and talk to him for hours to keep his spirits up.

On the day he died, Valentine wrote her a farewell note and signed it ‘From your Valentine’.

The priest was beheaded on February 14, 269 AD, and in 496AD, Pope Gelasius proclaimed February 14 St Valentines Day in his honour.

In the US, Valentines Day is probably best remembered for the Valentines Day Massacre of 1925.

Mob boss Al Capone ‘eliminated’ seven gangsters from rival George ‘Bugs’ Malone’s gang when he sent gunmen dressed in police uniforms to a bootlegger’s warehouse in Chicago.

The ‘police’ lined the seven gangsters up against a wall and opened fire on them with Thompson submachine guns.

No one was ever charged with the killings.