Birth
First and foremost is the arrival of life.
When there is a new member born to your family, there is a tradition that the birth of a new child has to be announced to the neighbourhood.
Once born, the parents should prepare the following things to place in a plate when the baby is one month old. Among the Hokkien Chinese we call it mor ngoy.
To begin with, we prepare a red glutinous rice cake (ang ghoo) and put it on one side of the dish. On the other side will be placed sticky rice cooked with dried shrimp, which is of a light brown colour.
On the top of the sticky rice will be a decoration of boiled egg dyed red. If you receive this plate as an offering, you should take all the things out and replace them with long dry noodles and a small token of money in a red purse.
The meaning behind this tradition is to present a chance for the parents to bless their new born child.
Marriage
Second is marriage. Weddings have to be big.
It's a tradition among Thai people that we will invite lots of friends. Therefore, a typical Phuket wedding may consist of anywhere from 200 to 1,000 guests. You may think, how could you ever prepare yourself?
Well prepare yourself you must, as you have to look your best and wear your best dress for the bride and groom. The wedding day is so important to them, so please don't dress like you do in your everyday life. To overdress is much better than under-dressing.
That said, weddings in Phuket are not as formal as in Bangkok.
In the capital, the city's crème de la crème treat weddings as a place to show off their jewellery, costumes and brand name bags.
But as Phuket was a very remote place in the past, we prefer to keep a low profile. Even Phuket's top families still like to dress very simply.
There is a saying among Phuket locals that the one who wants to show off has just made their first million.
Now, how about gifts.
What would be an appropriate gift for them? Money in an attractive envelope is perfect.
How much should it be? Well, Phuket is not cheap, so give them enough so that they can pay for their hotel – the amount should not be less than B1,000 per person.
Traditionally, you should put your money in a red envelope and hand it by yourself to the people who invite you. This could be the father, mother, grandmother or aunt.
Nowadays though, when to present the money is not a big issue as Phuketians love to hold weddings at hotels, and there will be a reception table near the entrance.
Give the envelope to the reception or put it in the box by yourself. They will then provide you with a gift to say thank you.
The wedding ceremony in the evening is always a pleasant time to greet and meet people.
Please remember that the ceremony starts early and Thai people arrive quickly. They will arrive 30 minutes to one hour before the announced time.
Death
Third are funerals.
Funerals for your friend's parents or grandparents are a good time to show that you care for him or her. Phuket people treat funerals as a necessity to attend in order to show your sympathy.
But don't be surprised if you find that it's not a sad event except on the first and last day of proceedings (Thai funerals are sometimes last up to a week).
The evening event will be held at the Buddhist temple. The host will show you where you should sit and provide you with lots of food. You may well be surprised when people come to chat to you as if it is a normal get-together.
Phuket people are quite used to having good relationships with friends and neighbours. Although we’re in a time of transient tourism, we still keep close ties.
Funerals are a big issue in Phuket culture. You can not ignore it if you have heard about a death in the families of your close friends.
You will know the status of the people in the family of the deceased by counting how many people attend the funeral and also counting the wreaths of flowers. If he or she is a famous or a respected person, then there will be hundreds of people in attendance.
How much money to give depends on how close you are with the host.
A donation of around B500 to B1,000 as a gift of sympathy is a fair figure, unless he or she is your member of staff, when you should give more to show your hospitality.
Finally, when to actually present the money is quite a difficult question to answer.
If you can make eye contact with the host then you can go to present him or her with the envelope, otherwise they will be busy greeting others and you will have to wait until they come back again.