Restaurant Tips: Friendship Beach

Along the shoreline between Chalong and Rawai you can find Friendship Beach Waterfront Resort. I guess this place could go in the hotels and the restaurant section, but it's the food I am interested in! It's a quiet spot, but can be busy at the weekends, as it's a popular place with expats and their families as well as guests at the bungalows. You'll find plenty of seating around the pool and right by the beach with a view across Chalong Bay. The resort is a couple of hundred meters down from the main Chalong-Rawai road, so you get no traffic noise, no cars. In fact the only traffic I saw was horses from the nearby Phuket Riding Club!



Now, it's not the cheapest place to eat - but I think 70 Baht for Thai food is OK when you're by the beach! The menu is quite extensive with a mix of local and "western" food with daily specials. I notice that their web site claims "No MSG". There is also a western chef. We only went for snacks today - I had some delicious Apple Pie...a friend ordered Nachos - a huge plate with cheese and cream. I had a couple of glasses of cold draught Heineken. They also have a bit of a wine list. Meanwhile the kids could play in the pool.

 

In the late afternoon, the live music starts. I've been there a few times over the years. Today we had a Thai band playing Jazz. Another time the music was more kind of Bossa Nova (not the kind of thing you expect to hear in Thailand). Another time (a few years ago), a Thai girl was singing Celine Dion songs and she was so good I thought they'd put a CD on!

It's a relaxing spot for food or drinks and snacks, oh and they do have accommodation too! There are not that many places in Phuket which are small scale and right on the beach. OK, the beach is not the best. Chalong Bay tends to be a bit murky as it's very shallow, but it's certainly uncrowded and you have the pool a stones throw from the waterline anyway. Friendship Beach also makes a good stopping off point if you're making a tour around this area of Phuket (Chalong, Rawai, Phromthep etc).

• Friendship Beach Website
• Friendship Beach Accommodation and Rates
• Friendship Beach location on Google Earth
• Phuket Riding Club

Patong Temple (Wat Patong)

The Patong you see now is nothing like the Patong of 30 years ago. Can you imagine a place with limited road access, just a small village with fishermen, farmers, rubber plantations...a place where Tony Wheeler (Lonely Planet founder) says there was "an open shelter where you could camp for 3 Baht a night"...My how things have changed. Patong is the biggest tourist centre in Thailand and the most overdeveloped beach in Thailand. However, if you know where to go, Patong has quiet spots. There are a couple of Patong hotels in my recommended hotel list, there is plenty of good food and there is still a local community, just you won't find it on the beach.





Patong temple (Wat Suwan Khiri Wong) marks the entrance to Patong at the bottom of the hilly road that winds over from Kathu and Phuket Town. Where you have a temple you have a community and in the area around the temple and further along Phisit Karani road you'll see older houses and local people who are not involved a great deal in the goings on closer to the beach. The temple is a little haven of peace even with the main road outside. It's a fairly extensive place with a main temple, a bell tower, monks quarters, dining hall and so on. Yes there are monks at Patong temple. If you are awake early you can catch them as they walk along the road from the temple through the older part of Patong. Near the temple is a little daily street market selling veg, fresh fish and meat, which starts at dawn and is all over by 8:30am. Along the same street are many little local shops, though they now compete with a 7-11.





• Patong Temple location on Google Earth

Patong temple takes you back to a time when Patong was a village, when tourists had not discovered Phuket. But, look just outside and you have the new Patong:





These 2 photos are on the main road. If you enter via the main gate you can walk or ride your bike around the grounds and will come out onto Phisit Karani road, which is the south end of the road that wiggles along the back of Patong, becoming Nanai road and is a way to avoid central Patong completely! Y'know Patong is not all bad, but I basically never hit the center unless I have a very good reason. I see Patong temple almost every day, climbing over the hill from Kathu, beeping my horn at the top when reaching the shrine on the hill before descending into "big bad" Patong ...

Hotel Recommendations: Naithonburi Beach Resort

The Northwest of Phuket has some fine beaches where you can get away from the crowds. I have written about Nai Yang beach already and will start to expand on the Beaches section of this blog (after all, this is Phuket we're talking about). Last weekend after spending some time at Nai Yang, we drove along the quiet jungle road to Naithon Beach. Hopefully (weather permitting) we'll go back next weekend. I have always liked Naithon. Getting there means heading off the main roads and onto some winding back roads, and the beach still remains quiet. There is a road along the beachfront but with very little traffic. It's not a long beach, maybe 800m and there is not too much in the way of accommodation, just a couple of small resorts.

The Naithonburi is small and neat, not very expensive, but has facilities - a nice pool, a gym and ... Naithon beach just outside! There's a pool bar and a restaurant, one of only a few along the beach. For more dining options you'll need to take a drive!



Naithonburi - Online Reservation and Reviews

• Naithonburi Rates and Reservations at Agoda.com
• Naithonburi Hotel Reviews


Naithonburi Resort - Photos







Phuket Hotels - More Information - Online Booking

• Phuket Hotel Info and Booking at Agoda.com
• More of Jamie's Phuket Hotel Reviews
• Jamie's Top 10 Phuket Hotels
• Thailand Hotels at Agoda.com

Phuket Beaches - Nai Yang

Well, yesterday was a bit grey, but rather than sit at home moping, we headed out for a drive. The kids had already been to the beach on Saturday and got a good dose of sun, so we were not too bothered by the grey skies. From Kathu we drove to Nai Yang beach. There are two ways you can go - first is head for the bypass and airport road, quick but not pretty. Phuket has some big, busy roads and you do need to drive on some of these to reach the quiet places! We chose the quick way and decided to head home the slow way, via all the other beaches on the west coast.

Coming from the south, you pass the Heroines monument, go through the town of Thalang (where you find many temples and a museum), and then you have 2 choices to reach Nai Yang by turning left either on a small side road, or waiting until you reach the airport road. We chose the small road which heads through quiet countryside, lots of rubber plantations and fields of pineapples before arriving at the entrance to the newly refurbished Indigo Pearl Hotel which is way down the south end of Nai Yang. Then follow a narrow road and you'll come to the beach.

Nai Yang is a beach of two halves. The South end has other hotels aside from the Pearl, such as Nai Yang Beach Resort. It is quite crowded down here with little restaurants right on the beach - crowded but quiet. You can sit down right by the sand and enjoy a drink. We drove through this busier area and parked among some trees for a little walk on the beach. I was not happy to see that the headland to the south now has a new development growing - must be a hotel. I always did like the view that way, but this blot spoils it. The beach is quiet, but yesterday was not a beachy day. Too cold. Didn't stop my kids playing with sand, though...





We then headed to the other end of the beach which is protected National Park land. Quiet, clean, no food stalls or restaurants except a few tiny stalls selling eggs and drinks. There were lots of longtail boats in the water, and local kids splashing around. It's a popular area with locals.





One more thing about Nai Yang - great for plane spotters! The airport is just to the North and planes normally land over the ocean, so you can see them coming in. My son (2 years old) is a plane spotter and was happy to see a few gliding in over the sea. Despite the proximity, there is no noise. We heard engines roar a couple of times when planes took off (but they take off to the east so we didn't see them) and my son thought it was thunder.



From Nai Yang, we took the quiet road to the south, heading for Naithon beach, then on to Layan Beach. The road is great down here, winding through the jungle with views over hills and occasionally over the ocean. A very nice part of Phuket. We did stop at Layan briefly (see photo below) and wandered on the beach near the Bundarika Villa, one of only 2 hotels on this beach (the other is Layan Beach Resort). I hope in the next couple of weeks we'll go to Naithon again, if the sun shines. As we left Layan the rain started so rather than drive on more winding roads we went back to the main road, stopping off at the Chili restaurant for some great food. Need some sun to get the best from Layan beach which is a beautiful spot.

Recommended Hotels around Nai Yang:

• Nai Yang Beach Resort
• Phuket Airport Hotel
• Indigo Pearl Hotel
• Naithonuri Beach Resort
• Layan Beach Resort
• Bundarika Villa

Restaurant Tips: Chili

Now this restaurant is a real locals/expats place. Well off the tourist beaches, Chili is found right on the main airport road, just past Boat Lagoon on the left side as you head to the airport. I can't imagine many tourists would stop here, and true enough if you want a nice view this ain't it! We knew the original owner who has now moved on and is running a place called Lakeside, on the road towards Bang Pae Waterfall.

For a 2009 update on Chili, scroll down to the comments section...



We stopped there yesterday after a drive round the Northwest of Phuket. We'd been to Nai Yang Beach, driven past Naithon beach and stopped at Layan Beach. All these beaches will be on the blog soon! It was a wet afternoon but fortunately we could park right outside and the staff came running out with an umbrella for us. Inside the restaurant is nothing fancy, but spotless and airconditioned (we turned it off yesterday, as it was not a hot day at all).

I ate the most delicious Massaman curry - 80 Baht for a dish which could feed 2 people, but I admit to being a greedy guts. My wife had a fish curry, my daughter had some excellent spaghetti. There was only us in the place, they do get busier in the week actually especially late afternoon. The fancy British International School is nearby, as is the "Chuan Chuen Lagoon" village (lots of very nice houses) - many of the kids and families eat at this place after school. Fish and Chips is a favourite, but I really suggest you try the Thai food here.



If you're in that area, I'd also suggest stopping at Boat Lagoon (unless you don't like boats). Boat Lagoon is an odd place. You step into Europe and out of Thailand. There are swanky waterside appartments, a hotel (we have used the pool there), and lots and lots of boats. There's a nice little cafe called The Bakery where you can get fresh bread, salads, coffee, cakes etc.. I have done a piece on Boat Lagoon for this blog.

Restaurant Tips - The Beach Bar (Cape Panwa)

We are always looking for quiet, out of the way places to eat (preferably with sea view), and I know there are more to find yet! I should note that the restaurant tips on this blog are not necessarily the "best" (i.e. the fanciest and most expensive) restaurants in Phuket, they are places that we like. Many of them we visit regularly, and The Beach Bar might become one of our favourite lunch spots. We tend to look for places which are off the tourist beaches and won't cost a kings ransom for a meal. Now there are a few places in Patong Beach that I like, and I should add a little section for these in the near future - even there you can find little hideaways - but in general we keep off the main beaches.



The Beach Bar is located in Cape Panwa, just 100m along the beach from the Novotel Beach Resort. To get there, take the road from Phuket Town to the Aquarium (Sakdidet Road), and turn off onto a small side road on the right which has a sign to the Novotel. It’s a narrow road going through a quiet Muslim village and you may wonder if you took a wrong turn, but keep the faith… You pass a road heading up to Khao Kad viewpoint and will pass a small restaurant overlooking the sea on the right (we have also eaten here and it’s decent). Then you come to the Novotel, and just after this there’s a right turn onto a steep dirt road down to the Beach Bar.



Now, it’s not the fanciest of places, but we found it friendly and it’s right by the sea, and the food is good and inexpensive. We went on New Years Eve for lunch and decided to go again today! The location is very quiet. There’s not much traffic down Cape Panwa and most of what there is sticks to the main road rather than the side roads. The beach is, shall we say...uncrowded… but is not really any good for swimming as it’s way too rocky (see photos). I guess the place gets some customers from the Novotel who have taken a walk along the beach. We noticed the same Australian couple in there yesterday and today (so they must agree with us!)




We ate Tom Yam, Fried chicken with garlic, mixed vegetables, sweet and sour chicken, 2 lots of fried rice (hey, we’re 2 hungry adults and my 5 year old daughter normally eats a full adult portion), sank down half a dozen cokes, and the bill today was I believe 460 Baht (I think that could have fed 4 adults, but hey! It’s New Year!)

Happy New Year from Phuket!



Update: February 2007. We've been to the Beach Bar quite a few times in the last 2 months. It really is a relaxing, unpretentious, friendly place. The owners are so nice (it's a family thing) and the last couple of times a friend of the owner has been there playing guitar - things like the Pogues and Cat Stevens. I had to blink when I heard him singing songs like "Dirty Old Town"! The owners son worships the guitar man, and when we were there this last weekend, his dad had just bought him a guitar - see below. Apparently he always wanted to be a football player, now he wants to be a singer...

Update: November 2007 - after being closed for ages, The Beach Bar is now open again, just moved about 20 meters along the beach closer to Novotel. We just went again on 24th November (See entry on Phuket Weather Blog).