Thalang Area
Thalang is a town right in the center of Phuket island, not near the beach, and was once the seat of government. In 1785, the people of Phuket rallied at Thalang to fight off a Burmese invasion, a date that lives long in the history of Phuket. Wat Phra Nang Sang was built on the battleground and a yearly festival celebrates the event. The Thalang area has some large and important historic temples...
(above) Buddha images at Wat Phra Tong
(above) reclining Buddha at Wat Sri Sunthorn
• Wat Phra Thong
• Wat Sri Sunthorn
• Wat Phra Nang Sang
• Wat Tha Reua Temple
Chalong Area
Wat Chalong is the largest temple in Phuket and the most visited. In the same area are other smaller local temples, not all blogged yet! I pass Chalong temple almost every day. It looks especially nice in the early morning.
• Chalong Temple (Wat Chalong)
• Wat Luang Pu Supha
• Wat Ladthiwanaram
And of course there's the Phuket Big Buddha which is also near Chalong sitting 400m above sea level. Not exactly a temple, but certainly a site of pilgrimage and a place to say prayers to the 4 winds.
(above) The Big Buddha, still not quite ready in 2012. But great anyway!
Temples near the beaches
Most of the beach areas of Phuket also have older local communities even if the old way of life has largely been swamped by tourism. Before tourism hit Phuket, hardly anyone lived by the beach except fishing families. If you get off the beach and look on the back roads you can find the older areas, and that's where you find the temples. More to come - it took me ages to go take some photos of Karon and Kata temples, even though they're just down the road from my work! I still want to blog a very nice one up near Nai Yang Beach.
• Nai Harn Temple
• Karon Temple
• Patong Temple
• Kamala Temple
• Kata Temple
• Wat Sawang Arom (Rawai)
Local Temples
All over Phuket, in every village or tambon you will find a temple. I like the feel of the local temples. Every one has it's little differences and they are little havens of peace away from daily life.
• Wat Kathu Temple
• Wat Khao Rang
• Wat Sapam
• Koh Sirey Temple
• Ket Ho Temple
• Sam Kong Temple
• Wat Kosit Wiharn
• Wat Thep Nimit
• Naka Temple
• Wat Manik
• Wat Mongkhon Nimit (in old part of Phuket Town)
• Wat Vichit Sangkaram (Phuket Town)
(above) Monk at Sam Kong Temple on the edge of Phuket Town
Chinese Shrines
Many Chinese shrines are important during the annual Phuket Vegetarian Festival which has been a Phuket tradition since 1825. There are many more than those listed below, mostly in and around Phuket Town - I must get them blogged sometime!
• Shrine on Patong Hill
• Kathu Village Shrine - More of Kathu Shrine
• Sam Kong Shrine
• Jui Tui Shrine
• Shrine of the Serene Light
• Tha Reua Shrine
(above) at Kathu Chinese Shrine
Temples not in Phuket
Of course all of Thailand is a temple. Now and then we might visit a temple that is not in Phuket. We have stopped several times at Wat Suwan Kuha in Phang Nga province. Big reclining Buddha in a cave, monkeys, well worth a visit! And in Phang Nga town is Wat Thamtapan, a very odd place!
• Wat Bang Riang
• Wat Suwan Kuha
• Wat Thamtapan
The Phuket temples featured so far are all Buddhist / Chinese. I should point out that Phuket has a sizeable Muslim population (around 30%), and there are several quite large mosques around the island. There is also at least 1 Catholic church (in Phuket town). There's a street in Phuket Town that features a mosque, church and chinese shrine! There's also a Hindu temple and a Sikh Gurdwara almost next to each other in Phuket Town. In Phuket the different religions and beliefs mix together without any problems, a good example for the rest of the world...
Phuket Temples - Map
View Phuket Temples in a larger map
Phuket Chinese Shrines - Map
View Phuket Chinese Shrines in a larger map
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