Wat Phra Nang Sang

Wat Phra Nang Sang is the oldest temple in Phuket, dating back more than 200 years, and was built on the site of the famous battle in 1785 between the people of Phuket and the Burmese invaders. A statue of Thao Thep Kassatri and Thao Sri Sunthon (known as Chan and Mook before the King gave them these names for their valiant defense of Phuket) lies in the temple grounds - a larger one can be seen at the so called "Heroines Monument" - a traffic circle on the main road between the airport and Phuket City.



The temple is close to the center of Thalang town which was once the principal town in Phuket (see location on Google Earth). We have already visited Wat Phra Tong (which lies a bit further north) and Wat Sri Sunthon (a little south of Thalang), but this was our first visit to Wat Phra Nang Sang. Will no doubt go back - we could not enter the main temple as it is undergoing restoration work, so there's still more to see! The grounds are quite large, it's worth taking your time.





There's a lot of history here. My daughter was amazed to see a mummified Monk who died about 50 years ago I think. Not sure she could believe she was seeing a dead Monk. There is another building with 3 large Buddha images made of tin - one of these being the largest tin Buddha in the world. Phuket was until recently a major tin mining center and this helped to make Phuket quite wealthy.





Another story says that the temple was built (or ordered to be built) by a princess who was due to be executed, although she had been framed and was innocent. When she was executed she bled white bood, thus showing her purity. There is also said to be (buried, I guess) an ancient manuscript showing the location of treasure - what the Burmese were after in 1785.



Well, if you like temples (as I do) you can spend a day out in the Thalang area visiting Wat Phra Nang Sang, Wat Sri Sunthon and Wat Phra Tong.

Military Coup in Bangkok? All Quiet in Phuket.

Well, I have just come to the office and can see nothing abnormal here in Phuket. No military, no increased police presence, no worried faces. Thailand is very relaxed. Hard to work out last night what was going on. All the Thai TV channels went off the air and started playing music and showing pictures of the King. We got pictures from the BBC News (www.bbcworld.com or www.bbc.co.uk) showing soliders and military vehicles in the streets of Bangkok, but otherwise everything going on as normal. Called my wifes sister who works for a bank in Bangkok and she said she could see nothing at all.

So let's wait and see. Looks like Thaksin may be out of a job. The statement issued on Thai TV said the military were acting on behalf of the King, or at least with his approval, which makes all the difference here in Thailand.

As I say, no reason to worry, and nothing going on here in Phuket except schools and banks will be closed today. (Today is the last day of the school term anyway).

(Later) - Thai TV is back on, and there was a statement issued by the leaders of the military and police saying they are only trying to help and do not intend holding power any longer than neccesary.

News Sources

• The Phuket Gazette (best source for local news)
• Phuket Post (the other Phuket paper)
• www.bangkokpost.com
• www.nationmultimedia.com
• www.timesonline.co.uk/global
• Latest Coup news by Sunrise Divers

Also a lot of comments (many to be taken with a pinch of salt) on the Lonely Planet Thailand Forum:

• http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/categories.cfm?catid=51



(Update on Thursday 21st)

Nothing happening in Phuket, everything is 100% normal. Sun is shining. The news says that the King supports the leaders of the coup, which means (since everyone is loyal to the king) that there will be no trouble.

BBC News says "During the day, coup supporters brought flowers, pizzas and donuts to the soldiers and took turns taking family pictures in front of the armoured vehicles which have cordoned off the government district.

Many of the tanks that have been deployed in Bangkok have yellow ribbons tied around their barrels to signify loyalty to the king."

Have a good day!
Jamie

These Blogs have or had updates from Bangkok:

• http://bangkokpundit.blogspot.com
• http://19sep.blogspot.com

Restaurant Tips: Chen Long (All you can eat buffet)

We just went a couple of days ago to this new all-you-can-eat buffet place located on Wichitsongkram road, just before Central, on the corner of the road to Big C. The place is called "Chen Long Kung Kata". My wife tells me Chen Long is Jackie Chan's name in Thai (well, Chinese I guess). Recommend getting there early! It's only open from 5 - 11pm, and by the time we got there at 5:30 it was busy. When we left a couple of hour later it was heaving!



You pay on arrival, 98 Baht per person. This includes all food. Drinks are paid as you go, so when you leave there is no bill to wait for. Find yourselves a table, and then head for the food hall where you find fresh shrimps, mussels and other shells, tables full of pork, salads, noodles, mushrooms, fishcakes, chicken, fruit etc.. Theres a "make your own somtam" bar, free ice cream, and a couple more tables that I'll have to investigate next time! Pile up a plate or two and back to your table where you'll find a cooker - see photo - with soup around the outside and a griddle on top (use some butter so it doesn't burn so much). Cook and eat and repeat. Wash it down with a coke (15 Baht) or Big Chang (65 Baht).







It was Sunday when we were there and I was worried I'd maybe miss the football - not to worry, they have TV's and one area has a big screen TV too. There's a kids play area where my kids had fun on the slide and swings, and the staff are very efficient and friendly. We'll be back.

• Chen Long location on Google Earth

Up Buddha Mountain Again

If you want a great view, a bit of off road driving, a temple, some fresh air and more..take a drive up Buddha Mountain. The access road is close to Chalong circle on the road to Wat Chalong. Its about 5km drive, at least half of which is on a dirt road that can be kind of rutted in the wet season (now). But we made it up in our Toyota Corona (albeit wishing we had a Toyota Fortuner). We have been up before (and I have blogged it before - see here), but my wife's mum is visiting so we took her there on Sunday and I wanted to see how building of the Big Buddha (the "Mingmongkol Buddha project) is coming along. Slowly is the answer, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and this Buddha will be 45 meters high when completed. And I reckon I'll be 45 years old by the time it's completed!

 

Phromthep Cape (Laem Phromthep)

At the extreme southwestern corner of Phuket is Phromthep Cape, just to the south of Naiharn beach and just to the west of Rawai beach. This corner of the island has long been a favourite area of ours - it is slowly getting developed and there are quite a lot of foreign residents around, but its still quiet, you can still eat at little foodstalls at Rawai, and you're close to little beaches like Ao Sane and Ya Nui. Combined with a visit to Chalong Temple, this area makes a good day out, with great views, quiet beaches and good local food. If you're staying in Patong, Karon or Kata, rent a bike or car and get a map and see what you can find! Note that there are quite a number of little roads around this part of the island, easy to get lost!

Promthep Cape gets a fair number of visitors, and there's a sizeable car park, a cafe and tacky souvenir stalls, but if you climb up the steps you'll find a great view, along with an elephant shrine. The elephant is important in Buddhism, representing strength and wisdom. Beyond the shrine is an odd looking lighthouse, built in 1996 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Every time we have been there, even if there seem to be several busloads of tourists, the lighthouse is quiet. You can climb up inside for a view of the ocean and offshore islands - and (bonus) it's airconditioned inside, so on a hot day makes an excellent place to cool off!

• Thai Navy Website - The Golden Jubilee Lighthouse Project
• Phromthep Cape location on Google Earth

Some photos at Cape Phromthep (photos by Bill & Paula Monk):

 

Scuba Diving in Phuket

Scuba diving is why I came to Phuket 7 years ago, hoping to get some instructor work, see the best dive sites of the area, and then move on. I had this idea to work my way round SE Asia, only I never left Thailand (at least, not for long). My very first dives here were local day dives from Phuket (read more here), but what I really wanted was to be on a liveaboard to the Similan Islands. Best diving in Thailand and the best way to do it. Well, more about that later. This section is about the great variety local dive sites around Phuket. If you want to go scuba diving in Phuket, Phi Phi or the Similan Islands, talk to Sunrise Divers based in Karon Beach.



• Sunrise Divers on Google Earth

Phuket Scuba Diving - Dive Sites

Koh Racha Yai

Nice and easy diving, with the east coast being the best; visibility normally around 20 - 25m, lots of coral, loads of small fish, minimal currents. Ideal for everyone who wants a relaxing couple of dives. There are boats going here every day and it's home to The Racha resort. Most commonly used for students doing beginners courses, but you can get some nice dives here if you dive a little deeper. The max depth is really only about 24m unless you like sand. I have dived to about 33m here. All the usual reef fish are here, with regular octopus, lionfish, scorpionfish, cuttlefish, blue spotted stingrays, puffers, butterflyfish...the list goes on. Not the most exciting scuba diving in Phuket but always what I would class a "nice" dive.

Shark Point

From the name you may get the impression the site is crawling with sharks - not really, though leopard sharks are commonly seen, especially in the low season. Shark Point is a beautiful place to dive; colourful soft corals, fan corals, oodles of marine life and it remains the only place ever where I saw a dolphin during a dive. The dive site consists of several pinnacles. The largest breaks the surface, the second is at 5m, then the rest are smaller. You need decent navigation or experience with the site to get between the pinnacles. Visibility varies from 8 - 25m, currents can be fair to middling.



Anemone Reef

Near Shark Point you have Anemone Reef, which was hit by the King Cruiser in 1997. This site is one pinnacle, all under water, starting at about 5m. The top few meters are carpeted with anemones, and all over the site is soft coral. Some people prefer it to Shark Point. To me they are pretty similar. Both have a max depth of about 24m, so they're not really deep. Worth going slowly around these sites. Soft corals can hide all manner of critters such as ghost pipefish, frogfish and seahorses.



King Cruiser Wreck

Sank in 1997, depth is from 15 - 32m, currents can be strong. Not a beginners dive, and conditions are highly variable. Visibility can be 5m, can be 20m. If you get a good day, its a great dive. Wreck is covered in marine life. Lots of lionfish and scorpionfish (don't put your hands down!), schools of snapper hanging around. The wreck has been slowly deteriorating since it sank. Now not possible to penetrate the car deck, but it's the only wreck nearby (unless you are Trimix trained), and there are boats here every day, doing trips combined with 1 or 2 of the other sites.

Koh Doc Mai

This is a real "love it or hate it" kind of site. You dive along a wall with depths down to 28m in places, and to get the most of the site, especially when vis is low, you need to keep your nose to the wall. All kinds of things to see from seahorses to little moray eels to cleaner shrimps and nudibranchs. When vis is good it IS truly spectacular. There are a couple of small caverns at the base of the wall too. I saw mating leopard sharks here one time, which was great. It's almost always the final dive of the day on the way back to Phuket from the wreck. You can see this island anytime you take a ferry from Phuket to Phi Phi - a small limestone island rising straight up from the sea.



Koh Racha Noi

South of Racha Yai and in deeper water, is Racha Noi. Every time I dive here I see something interesting. Maybe an eagle ray, maybe a manta, maybe turtle, maybe big barracudas. The deep water and currents attract bigger fish here and there's not much pretty reef. Currents can be odd - up, down, round and round. Again, like the wreck, not ideal for beginners especially at the South Point, where you try to decend to 30m on top of a deep pinnacle. There are easier sites, so some new divers go here on occasion. It's not the most popular site, probably because its not ideal for all divers, and its quite a long haul in the normal chugga slow day trip boats that are used for Phuket scuba diving, but certainly worth the effort.



That'll do for now. Phi Phi is also within reach of a day trip for diving, and with some new fast boats coming into the dive industry in the last few years, there are more day trips to Hin Daeng and Hin Muang too. In the high season there are daily trips to the Similan Islands - the boats depart from Khao Lak with early morning pick ups in Phuket.

There's a lot of scuba diving variety available from Phuket. You can easily do a weeks diving without repeating dive sites. It was good enough to keep me here for life!

Phuket Scuba Diving Links

• Similan Islands Liveaboards
• Day Trip Diving
• PADI Dive Courses
• Phuket Dive Sites
• Sunrise Divers Blog

Phuket Hotel Recommendations

On Jamie's Phuket Blog, you will find reviews of some of the best hotels on the 3 main beaches (Patong, Karon and Kata) and also plenty which are away from the crowds in quieter areas of Phuket. Phuket is a big place, it's worth spending some time to find the right hotel for you. I've been living in Phuket for over 11 years now, so I can certainly make some good suggestions when people ask me about Phuket hotels. Feel free to leave comments or ask questions on this page.

Where to book Phuket hotels online?

There are so many hotels to choose from in Phuket and literally hundreds of hotel booking web sites. I recommend everyone to look at Agoda before booking anywhere else. The rates are competitive, the choice is wide and the web site is well designed and very easy to use. There are loads of guest reviews for most of the hotels too. Agoda is also good for last minute bookings - you can book right up to the day of the stay with instant confirmation online... plus Agoda has a very nice rewards program where you gain points with every booking that can be used as a refund on future bookings!

• Phuket Hotels by Agoda.com
• Hotels all over Thailand at Agoda.com

Jamie's Recommended Phuket Hotels

Patong Beach Hotels

• Amari Coral Beach Resort
• La Flora Resort
• Yorkshire Hotel and Spa
• Phuket Merlin Beach Resort
• Baan Yin Dee Boutique Resort
• Graceland Resort
• Aspery Hotel
• Burasari Resort
• Tri Trang Beach Resort
• My Top Patong Beach Hotels
• Full Listing of Patong Beach Hotels

Karon Beach Hotels

• Pacific Club Resort
• Phuket Orchid Resort
• Boomerang Village Cottages
• Old Phuket Hotel
• Phuket Island View
• Le Meridien Beach Resort
• Marina Phuket Resort
• Karon Princess
• My Top Karon Beach Hotels
• Full Listing of Karon Beach Hotels

Kata Beach Hotels

• Ibis Kata Hotel
• Mom Tri's Villa Royale (Kata Noi)
• Sawasdee Village
• Avista Resort
• Kata Palm Resort
• CC Blooms
• Katathani Resort (Kata Noi)
• My Top Kata Beach Hotels
• Full Listing of Kata Beach Hotels

North Phuket

• The Surin (Pansea Beach)
• Sala Phuket (Mai Khao Beach)
• Dusit Thani Laguna (Bang Tao Beach)
• Indigo Pearl Resort (Nai Yang Beach)
• Phuket Airport Hotel
• Nai Yang Beach Resort
• Naithonburi Resort (Naithon Beach)
• Seaside Cottages (Mai Khao Beach)
• Kamala Beach Hotels
• Bang Tao Beach Hotels
• Surin Beach Hotels

South Phuket

• The Racha Resort
• Baan Krating Jungle Beach (Ao Sane Beach)
• Cape Panwa Hotel
• Novotel Beach Resort Panwa
• Evason Resort and Spa (Rawai Beach)
• All Seasons Resort (Naiharn Beach)

Want the very best hotels in Phuket? Check out the Best Hotels in Phuket list I made in January 2011, or the Top 10 Hotels in Phuket list I made in 2008. Quite a few hotels are on both lists. A few new ones on the 2011 list. And they're not all 5 star - quite a mix of budgets. Good place to start looking if you want a top hotel!

Phuket Town

Not next to the beach, but if you want a taste of the real Phuket or want to see some of Phuket's biggest festivals, or like a bit of history and culture, then Phuket Town is worth a look for a hotel - maybe not for your whole holiday, but for a bit of balance. I like Phuket Town, by the way.

• My suggestions for Hotels in Phuket Town
• Phuket Town Hotels at Agoda.com

Phuket Hotels - Google Maps


View Phuket Hotels in a larger map

(The map above includes locations for all hotels mentioned on this blog and my Phuket hotels blog)

Khao Lak Hotels

While Khao Lak is not part of Phuket (it's in Phang Nga province), it's not far away, about 70km north of Phuket airport, which is the nearest airport to Khao Lak, so basically we can consider Khao Lak hotels as being part of Phuket, since the whole region is serviced by Phuket Airport. Khao Lak is very quiet, there are a lot of very nice hotels on the beach, there is very little in the way of nightlife, a good place to just sit and relax. You are also within easy reach of Khao Sok national park and Phang Nga Bay.

• The Sarojin
• Khao Lak Hotels - Full Listing
• Cliff and River Jungle Resort (Khao Sok National Park)

Hotels all over Thailand

• Bangkok Hotels
• Phi Phi Island Hotels
• Krabi & Ao Nang Hotels
• Chiang Mai Hotels

More Phuket hotel reviews to be blogged as time goes by... Please note that this is a blog, and some of the hotel reviews were made years ago - things can change. You can find more hotels on my Phuket Hotels Blog. For most hotels you have a link for up-to-date reviews at the Agoda site, made by people who have stayed at these hotels recently, well worth checking the reviews!

This page is of course just a taster for the hotels available in Phuket. Do you have a question about Phuket Hotels? Please do add a comment below or join the Jamie's Phuket Facebook Page. I will try to answer! Or look @ Agoda.com for more Phuket hotel information than I can ever hope to add here plus best prices for online booking... Enjoy Phuket!