Wat Phra Thong (Pra Tong Temple)

Another week, another temple. On the same day we visited Wat Sri Sunthorn, we also found Wat Phra Tong, which was actually our main aim for the afternoon. Pra Tong temple is fairly well known and is mentioned on many Phuket web sites, but owing to its location in Thalang (quite a way from any main beach) it's not visited as much as Wat Chalong, though there are plenty of Thai visitors coming to see the famous "half Buddha" image.



(above) The actual original Buddha image is behind - but you can rub gold leaf on a replica image ... and, as you can see, many people do!

The temple has quite a story attached to it. It's not clear exactly when, but the story is of a boy who tied his buffalo to a post sticking out of the ground. The boy became sick and died. It was found that the post he had tied the buffalo to was the top of a buried Buddha image hidden in the undergrowth. The buffalo was also dead. The villagers tried to dig up the Buddha, but could not. They got attacked by wasps, hornets and bees. the governor ordered the people to cover the image with gold and to build a temple around it.





The image is known as "Phra Phut" and is thought to be Chinese in origin. At Chinese new year many local Thai-Chinese visit the temple for prayers. You can find the temple just North of the traffic lights in Thalang on the east side of the road (right side if you're going towards the airport).



(above) - The story of Wat Phra Thong



(updated November 2012) Must visit again sometime. This was a very early post on the blog in 2006, just updated the photos with larger size images.