Sapam Chinese Shrine (Kuan Te Kun)

I had meant to visit the Chinese shrine at Sapam for ages. Sapam is a village about 7km north of Phuket Town. Just south of the village is Wat Sapam which I have visited before. The village is/was a fishing community. The access is just off the main road between town and the airport, about 1.5km south of the bypass road. The Chinese shrine is right at the corner at the entrance to the village. The village road is only about 500m long before you hit the sea on the east coast of Phuket.



Although the shrine is commonly called "Sapam Shrine", or "Sanjao Sapam" (Sanjao is the Thai word for a Chinese shrine), the actual name is Kuan Te Kun - the sign above says Sanjao Kuan Te Kun, and I guess says a similar thing in Chinese. I wanted to visit, as this is one of the participating shrines in the Phuket vegetarian festival, and this year (2010), the first main street procession of the festival will start at Sapam shrine on Saturday 10th October. I intend to be there nice and early, around 6am. So this visit was a kind of familiarisation trip.

It's not a big shrine compared to Kathu or Jui Tui for example, which is not surprising as it serves a small community. You can read something here about the history of the Sapam area.



The dragon above is one of 2 on the stairway at the entrance to the shrine. Everything was looking very shiny, I could see recently used mops hanging to dry and pots of paint in a shed across the road. At the time of the vegetarian festival everything is made to look its best. Statues of gods are carefully cleaned, shrines spruced up... the belief is that during the festival the gods or spirits descend into the shrines.



The main doors into the interior of the shrine were closed, but I could walk around the covered area outside where statues such as the one above were found. Also, see below.... this spiked ball (I believe) will be tied to a rope and used by a devotee (Ma Song) during the vegetarian festival - swung into the flesh of his back. There is a lot more to the festival than just Tofu :)



I have more photos of this shrine on Flickr: Sapam Shrine. I'll be back here on the 10th!

Update - photos at Sapam Shrine on 10th October:

• Sapam Shrine Vegetarian Festival

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Marina Phuket Resort at Karon Beach

The Marina Phuket Resort has been around for quite a long time. Not sure exactly when it opened, but it's been in Phuket longer than me! It's one of those hotels that somehow manages to combine a secluded feel and a central location, sitting on the headland at the far south end of Karon Beach with beach access down some stairs at the "On The Rock" restaurant, unspoiled sea views and yet if you walk out of the main entrance you are in the busy Kata Center area with lots of shops and restaurants. I've been inside several times to see customers or to visit the restaurant - there is a webcam installed at the restaurant - see here: Karon Beach Phuket Webcam... so you can get a good idea of the view. the rooms are past the restaurant over the sea and the rocks. This end of Karon is decent for snorkeling, and I've dived there too. It's also only about 10 minutes walk to the sands at Kata Beach from the resort.

Marina Phuket Resort - Booking & Information Links

• Marina Phuket Resort - Rates and Reservations at Agoda.com
• Marina Phuket Resort - Rates and Reservations at HotelsCombined.com
• More Suggested Karon Beach Hotels
• Kata Beach Hotel Suggestions

Reviews on TripAdvisor are almost all positive, I do see some things about rooms being a bit old, but there are different kinds of room with Seaview or "Jungle View" - the grounds of the hotel are well kept and very green and jungly. The reviews we\re good enough to put Marina Phuket Resort into the Top 10 Phuket Hotels list that I wrote in 2008. The resort was fully renovated during the summer of 2012.

Marina Phuket Resort - 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

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Tunk Ka Restaurant / Cafe on Rang Hill

Tunk Ka is a well known restaurant, a bit of an institution in Phuket, located near the top of Rang Hill in Phuket Town, open since sometime in the 1970's (I seem to remember reading that somewhere). I have meant to visit and blog Tunk Ka for ages, but my wife and I used to have the idea that the food prices were really high, putting it into the "fancy" bracket that we non-fancy folk avoid. We used to go there a lot 8 - 10 years ago just for coffee. They claimed to have the best ice coffee in Phuket and we agreed, plus you had a nice view and a calm environment. I don't recall ever eating there until a few years ago, just ice coffee until then. This blog page was first written in 2010, updated 2013. Although we have been up Rang Hill many times we've only eaten at Tunk Ka a couple of times and it's a good one!

So one day a few years ago after lunch in Phuket Town we had some free time and I convinced my dear wife that we should try Tunk Ka Cafe again, just for a coffee. You need to drive up Rang Hill. There are a couple of different roads up there, both ending up at a hill top park with a fair amount of parking space, views over Phuket Town and a statue of a man called Korsimbi Na Ranong who was governor of Phuket about 110 years ago and is credited for introducing the rubber industry into Thailand - rubber became a major source of income for Thailand and for Phuket in particular.



A newer restaurant called Khao Rang Breeze opened a couple of years ago. We've not tried it yet! Past this restaurant is the main viewpoint with lots of benches. Quite a lot of tours come this way. If you want great views there are plenty in Phuket - see Phuket Hills and Views.



Oh, and there are normally monkeys hanging around the car park area looking for handouts...





(above) Buddha at the entrance to Tunk Ka

The Tunk Ka restaurant is clearly signposted, although you can't see it from here, as you have to walk down a stairway in the trees, the stairs being made from old railway sleepers, which is an oddity since there is no railway within 200 kilometres of Phuket! (note : update 2013, a new stairway has been built). The restaurant is perched on the side of the hill with views to the South and West. It's around 350 feet above the town. Most of the view is towards Chalong, you can't see so much of Phuket Town, as the center is to the Southeast.



There's lots of seating inside (the outer tables with a view) and some on a balcony outside which is where we chose to sit on that day in 2010 in the fresh air. We spent some time looking at the menu, and after a quick browse we decided we'll be back soon for dinner. Arriving around 5:30 - 6pm would be good. Sunset time in Phuket varies from about 6pm - 6:45pm during the year, but if you get there too early, it might be a bit hot to sit outside in the sun. And by the time you finish eating it would be dark, so there would be some night views with pretty lights..



The menu is very local food, no western options. I have had the fried rice made with dried shrimp chili paste (nam prik gung seab) and grilled pork (moo yang). Very tasty. Most things on the menu are 80 - 120 Baht. The iced coffee we had is 60 Baht, but there are lots of drink options from fruit shakes to various teas and coffees and beers. This felt like a "discovery" in a way - although we had been here many times before, it had been years, so I guess we have rediscovered Tunk Ka.



(above) The ice coffee is good - and here are some food photos .... on our last visit in 2013, I had the crab curry with coconut milk. That's a really tasty dish!



And here's a really local dish - Nam Prik Gung Seab, a chili paste with dried shrimps you eat with boiled vegetables and normally with omelette and rice too. It wasn't the best I'd had, but it's kind of addictive .. or if you have not tried it before, well it's a real local flavour to try!





(above) We went to Tunk Ka again in the evening one time for dinner when my mum, dad and cousin were visiting. We bagged the balcony table with the best view. Very nice evening. You gotta get this table!

Tunk Ka Cafe - Location Map


View Tunk Ka Cafe, Phuket in a larger map

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