Jamie's Phuket Links

This is the place to find more information about Phuket. There are so many web sites, it can be hard to dig through and find accurate and useful information. Below you can find links to recommended websites. If you know of a site that should be included in this list or wish to exchange links with Jamie's Phuket, please leave a comment or email to jjjjmonk AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk. I'll add more anyway as I think of them...

General Phuket Information

PhuketDelight.com – Ted’s website likes to get off the beaten track
Phuket Weather Blog – with lots of weather links
Phuket Scuba Diving - Sunrise Divers, Karon Beach
Knut Angstroms People and Places in Phuket - lots of local life here
Phuketindex.com - Phuket Web Directory
Phuket.net - Phuket Travel Info

Phuket News and Media

Phuket Gazette
The Phuket News
Phuket FM Radio

WINDOW on Phuket
www.windowonphuket.com

Phuket’s monthly showcase of lifestyle products and services. Window on Phuket is a directory of shopping, property, cars and boats with reviews on dining venues and spas, features, useful tips and What's On in Phuket.


Phuket Hotels

My Recommended Phuket Hotels
Phuket Hotels Direct
Booking at Agoda.com
Booking at HotelsCombined.com
R24.org (Sawadee)
Phuket Hotels by Farangs.com

Travel

Phuket Airport
Bus Timetable
Airport Bus
Phuket Ferry Timetables and Booking

Airlines

Thai Airways
Air Asia
Nok Air
Bangkok Airways
Tiger Airways (direct flights from Singapore)
Orient Thai Airlines

Car Rental

Pure Car Rent
Braun Car Rent
Budget Rent-a-Car
Sutin Car Rent

Health and Hospitals

Bangkok Hospital Phuket - my son was born here
Phuket International Hospital
Mission Hospital
Vachira Hospital
Patong Hospital
Optician - Better Vision - I get my specs here
Rang Hill Dental Clinic - I've had dental work here
Phuket Detox

Adventure Activities

Sunrise Divers Phuket Diving
Amazing Bike Tours
Phuket Bungy Jump
Go Kart Racing
Sea Canoe Tours

Real Estate

Siam Real Estate - Find your dream home in Phuket!
Phuket Seaview Real Estate

Government

Phuket Immigration
Phuket Tourism

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Old Phuket Hotel (Karon Beach)

Karon Beach is far less busy and developed than nearby Patong. There's only a few miles between them, but follow the winding road from Patong and you find that Karon is clean, neat and rather nice. Some would say dull, but you can't please everyone! Recent improvements to the beachfront include nice pavements, statues, and plenty of benches to stop for a rest in the shade. Read more here: Karon Beach.

The Old Phuket Hotel is on a quiet side road called Aroona Karon which is now closed to through traffic making it very pleasant. You're just a few minutes walk from the beach, but away from any crowds. The hotel also has something approaching style - not just another resort, it's built in the old Sino-Portuguese style which you can see remnants of in Phuket Town. Rooms and furniture match the old style, well..nearly... I guess they did not have satellite TV's in the old days! Or jacuzzis for that matter. The Private Jacuzzi room looks just great.

There are 2 restaurants, 2 bars, pool, sauna, fitness center..you know, all the usual stuff, but with style :) The views from the pool are great with the hills rising to the east of Karon beach it feels like a little oasis. The main Karon centre is about 15 minutes walk to the north, the other end of Karon about 20 minutes to the south. I think it's one of the nicest places in Karon Beach.

The Old Phuket Hotel - Booking Links and Reviews

• Old Phuket Rates and Reservations at Agoda.com
• Old Phuket Hotel Reviews


Old Phuket Hotel - Photos







Phuket Hotels - More Information - Online Booking

• More of Jamie's Phuket Hotel Suggestions
• Top 10 Phuket Hotels
• Phuket Hotels - Book Online at Agoda.com
• Thailand Hotel Booking at Agoda.com

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Ao Phang Nga Bay

Phang Nga Bay has to be on everyone's "must do" list when visiting Phuket. The scenery in the bay is stunning with limestone cliffs and rocks climbing from the water, mangroves and jungle toppped pinnacles. If you had your own sailing boat you could cruise around for days. Some parts are quite remote and can be reached on multi day kayak tours, but most people visit on a day trip or half day tour, and they come in their hundreds on a daily basis. However you do it, Ao Phang Nga is undeniably beautiful, just you may need to carefully frame photos to keep the people out of the picture.

If you want the place to yourself, wake up really early, drive your car up to Phang Nga and hire a longtail boat. We drove up last Sunday, me and my wife, 2 kids and my mum. A really early start was not on the cards, but we were there by 10am at the National Park Pier. Not early enough to beat the crowds but Phang Nga Bay is still a great place to visit. Note - this post was written in 2007 and we've done several Phang Nga Bay trips since...

Phang Nga Bay - More Info

(Update) We made a couple of great trips into Phang Nga bay in 2010 - hiring a longtail boat from a restaurant called Samchong Seafood, and heading to James Bond Island and Koh Panyee Village. We actually decided on an afternoon trip, had lunch at the restaurant and took a longtail out from about 2pm - 6pm. For more detailed info on those trips and places click the links below:

• Phang Nga Bay Tour - doing it our way!
• Samchong Seafood Restaurant
• James Bond Island
• Ko Panyee Village





(above) Longtail boats in Phang Nga Bay



(above) This rocky islet is supposed to look like a dog, it's called Khao Ma Chu.

Best to let the pictures do the talking, worth a thousand words and all that. We hired our own longtail for 1500 Baht (note - this was in 2007) and chugged around for about 4 hours. I think we hired Thailand's slowest longtail, but no matter, it was ours and that sure beats being on a tour. It was a hot day, and we were glad we had taken some bottles of water on the boat, though we were also able to get refreshments at Koh Panyee, the village on stilts (not floating), half of which is now tourist restaurants. If you stop at Panyee, walk through the restaurants and souvenir stalls and you can wander around the village. You will probably get lost in the maze of narrow walkways. My mum paid a kid 20 Baht to help her find the restaurant again :)





(above) Me and Mum on the longtail boat



(above) View of Panyee village



(above) Closer to Koh Panyee - it's a Muslim island.

We also stopped at the very well known James Bond Island. Here you may need to pay a National Park fee of 200 Baht. Lots of steps up and down along a narrow path take you to a small beach with a view of Koh Tapu, the rock that sticks up in many postcards. Don't let the photos fool you, it's normallypretty crowded! Lots of stalls selling jewelry and shells and tourist tat. Look the other way and it's great.







(above) Views at James Bond Island



(above) Also James Bond Island! Loads of souvenir stalls.

The main island you land on is actually called Khao Ping Gan (spell it how you like). The name refers to a leaning rock which is quite impressive. There are also a few little caves you can climb into. The kids enjoyed the caves. The famous little island that sticks up is called Koh Tapu ("Nail Island"). Smaller than most people expect, but very picturesque nonetheless. Now, where did I put my golden gun?



(above) The leaning rock at Khao Ping Gan





(above) Views through the caves at James Bond Island

Actually, "James Bond Island" is the only crowded place aside from the restaurants at Koh Panyee - As mentioned above, we have done the trip again and one time we got to James Bond Island around 5pm and were the only visitors! It's a beautiful area. I find Panyee very interesting once you get beyond the restaurants and stalls. Tours that are done "our way" to Phang Nga Bay can be booked via some friends of mine at Easy Day Thailand. This is certainly a must-do if you are in the Phuket area!

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Naithon Beach

Naithon Beach is one of our favourite beaches in Phuket, located in the North West of the island, North of Bang Tao and a bit South of Nai Yang. It's not that easy to get to. The roads around there are narrow and winding, and it's quite a way off the main airport road. For now it stays pretty quiet, though in recent years there has been new building work going on. There are just a few hotels, such as the Naithonburi, and not a huge selection of places to eat. For the most part, there is just a single row of buildings along the beach road, and while there are beach chairs along the sand, plenty of the beach is left "au naturel".

Update 2010 - Naithon is more heavily developed now, but compared to the main beaches (Patong, Karon, Kata) it's still way quieter.



It's not a long beach, you can walk from one end to the other in about 10 minutes. The sand is slightly squeaky. We like this area of Phuket, away from the main tourist beaches. The hills are still green, and the valleys are full of rubber plantations. The roads wind up and down, the views are sometimes stunning... Naithon beach is a great place to stay if you like it quiet. We stopped there last week for a walk on the beach and a bit of lunch. In the restaurant only 2 tables were occupied, the food was decent (nothing flashy here) and despite being by the road, it was peaceful. There's not much traffic, though most of what we saw was building related, so if more construction starts, Naithon could get noisier. Time to make hay while the sun shines...

• Hotels in the Naithon Beach Area

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Kamala Temple (Wat Baan Kamala)

Unless you were living on the moon, you will know about the tsunami that happened on December 26th 2004. Certainly, the people in Kamala know what happened. Kamala beach was the worst hit of all Phuket's beaches, and was where I was sitting with family and friends on Christmas Day, one day before "it" happened.





Check out this photo of Kamala temple which shows water up to the roof:



Much of the temple, along with the school and most of Kamala's beachfront, was destroyed on December 26th 2004. I remember visiting the temple some years ago for Songkran, as we had friends living in Kamala. This week was the first time I have been back to the temple since then. Of course, everything is clean and new. In 2005, the temple grounds were given a special makeover by an Australian TV show called Backyard Blitz. New rooms were also built for the monks. It was quite a feat - one of many charitable acts that helped Kamala back on it's feet.




The temple is at the far south end of the beach, which is a little aside from the hotels. Kamala is not as developed for tourism as some other beaches in Phuket, but the main beach road has bars, restaurants, dive shops and more. Still, Kamala retains a quiet air and is a good place to stay if people want peace and quiet, but within striking distance of the main tourist beaches.

We had a quick look around the temple and grounds. It's not grand, it's not huge. It is the local temple for Kamala beach.

 

• More about Kamala Beach
• More Phuket Temples

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