Jamie's Phuket - Highlights 2010

Where to begin? Quick lowdown on Jamie's Phuket Blog... I started the blog in 2006 with the aim of showing what I might call the "real" Phuket. I have been here since 1999 and tend to keep away from the most touristy areas of Phuket, which is hard to do since I work at Karon Beach (manager for Sunrise Divers) 6 days a week... finding time to blog can be a struggle sometimes too. After over 4 years I keep finding new things to blog about - festivals, restaurants, places to visit. Some events like the vegetarian festival I blog every year, trying to get better photos than the previous year. I look at some of the old posts from 2006 - 2007 and probably should get some new pictures here and there since back then I had a cr*ppy little camera.. but until I win the lottery and can devote more time to blogging, this blog will normally get updated about once per week, hopefully with something new, hopefully something that will interest visitors.

So here are some of the highlights of the Phuket Blog in 2010 ...

In January, I took the kids to the Phuket Tin Mining Museum, which was not quite finished and indeed closed again later in the year.. not quite sure if its 100% open now. Anyway, we loved it. I enjoyed the fact that my kids enjoyed it, if you know what I mean. I will take a look at the museum again soon and see if it's fully operational yet. Also in January, my Mother finally sent me a very nice story which I had been asking for... she and my Dad did an elephant ride some years back and I wanted a first hand story about the experience - have a read: Elephant Ride in Phuket (by Jamie's Mum).



February... The Big Buddha in Phuket is now a major attraction, and you can drive up to the top of the 400+m high hill... or you can hike up, which is what I did one morning : Hike to the Big Buddha. I was also happy to finally blog the Thai Italy restaurant in Patong which we have been to many times. Great Pizza.



March - lots of good stuff. My wife and I enjoyed an evening at Glastnost Cafe in old Phuket Town, I had a birthday on the water chasing speedboats with a helicopter, and we discovered the Phuket Heroines Festival, something which is in the diary again for 2011.



April - as if that hike in February had not been enough, I did a day trip cycling at Koh Yao Noi. Saddle sore and very enjoyable. Also blogged about a trip to James Bond Island and Ko Panyi.



May - some holidays! We spent a night at the Cliff and River Jungle Resort near Khao Sok National Park. Beautiful.. we went again in September. I also re-blogged Laem Hin Seafood, which was the first restaurant on this blog and is still a favourite.



June & July ... into low season now, we drove up Radar Hill one misty morning - this is the highest road in Phuket, over 500m above sea level, with some great views.



Kathu village where I live staged it's second cultural festival. In 2009 I was the only foreigner present for the main parade. In 2010, the promotion was a little better, I must have seen at least 4 other foreigners!



And another very local event.. I checked out the Phuket Butterfly Release in July and there was still time for the second Phuket Photo Walk, part of the Worldwide Photo Walk.



August - I finally went to see Phuket FC - I love football, and I am happy to say the Phuket FC have now been promoted to Thai Division 1. Well done, boys.



Also in August I felt quite out of place for a while attending an afternoon party at the Hongyok family house in Phuket Town celebrating the 2010 Baba Wedding ceremony. Like being immersed in history.



September - my wife and I used to drink coffee at Tunk Ka Cafe about 10 years ago. One day after lunch in Phuket Town we realised that we'd not been there for a loooong time. Coffee still good, and we went back again later in the month with my family visiting from England. Dinner with a view.



October - I had found out about Phuket Heritage Trails via a friend on Facebook - Pu and Gan will give people a real Phuket cultural tour, as you'd expect from 2 Phuket natives. I went with Mum, Dad and an errant traveling cousin on a morning tour around old Phuket. Great.



And then .. the Vegetarian Festival, my favourite time of year. And not because of the food, although I do take the opportunity to eat a cleansing diet. No, I like the festival for this:



I posted multiple entries about the festival : Part 1, Episode 2 and the much awaited Chapter 3. Plus there are lots of photos on Flickr: Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2010. I might change camera next year, but the old Canon EOS 20D was aided by the purchase of a 50mm f1.8 lens which was used for the photo above. Very good for sharp portraits.

I had some holiday end of September and early October when Mum and Dad visited, and we did plenty of exploring, much of which was blogged later in November and early December such as the Wat Tha Reua temple and the Phuket Butterfly Garden. On our return visit to Khao Sok we stopped to look around the old town of Sri Takua Pa, like a town that time forgot...



December, nearly home. We had already done a trip in Phang Nga Bay this year, but I reckoned if we planned things right we could hit James Bond Island when all the tourists had gone home. It's taken a few trips to plan this. But now we've got it sorted - Phang Nga Bay - Doing it Our Way :) - and you can book a tour doing it Jamie-Style by contacting Easy Day Thailand, a tour company set up by some friends of mine this year.





The Big Buddha has been blogged many times as the building continued for many years, and is still not complete. We were up there again in December to get the latest photos. I also blogged about local markets - want to see real local life? Markets are the place to be.

December was time for something new in Phuket. The first 'Phuket Street Show' festival. A couple of streets in old Phuket Town were closed off for several evenings and made into walking streets with stalls and stages set up with performers doing juggling, drumming, acrobatics, comedy and more. Great event, happy faces everywhere. In fact my favourite photo of the festival is a photo of the crowd. Everyone is smiling.



Back to the vegetarian festival for a moment - my favourite thing... and I was very chuffed that some of my photos and writing was published on the France 24 News website - see Phuket's Bloody Vegetarian Festival, or in French here. And then later I did a webcam interview which appeared on TV and on the website here - certainly a highlight of 2010 for me :)

I have been in Phuket for 11 years now, still looking for new places, new food, new experiences. Maybe in 2011 I will finally try the bungy jump. We have been to Phuket Fantasea recently, not blogged yet. I want to take the family out on boat trips to the Similan Islands and Phi Phi sometime soon. And people have contacted asking for some more general information on the blog... Maybe. I want to keep this blog a bit more personal showing this places we go as a family. If anyone has any suggestions for what could be on the blog, do let me know. Oh, and please do Follow me on Twitter and join the Jamie's Phuket Facebook Group.

Happy New Year! Sawatdee Pee Mai!

• Best of the blog 2009 Part 1 - Best of 2009 Part 2
• Best of the blog 2008
• Best of the blog 2007

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Phuket Street Show Festival 2010

And now for something completely different... Phuket has all kinds of festivals during the year. Some are national (Songkran, Loy Krathong); some are related to Phuket's history (Vegetarian Festival, Heroines Festival); and some are very local festivals such as the Kathu Village Fair that I have attended the last 2 years (see links to information about all these festivals at the end of this page). Now something new! The Phuket Street Show, the first time there has been a festival like it, and based on the reaction, I'd say there's a good chance there will be another one next year. I saw the event mentioned in the local news websites and there was also a website (in Thai), and the event was sponsored by the TAT, but was certainly not heavily promoted in the tourist areas, it was more of a local event. Nevertheless, I'd say all our friends knew about it and lots of them went. I managed to go on Saturday evening, but was working late other days - my wife took the kids on Friday and Sunday too!

The festival took place along Thalang Road, in old Phuket Town - below, a photo of Thalang Road taken on Saturday evening. Lots of people... there were about 6 different stages set up along the street stretching from the TAT office to the Thai Hua museum, about half a kilometer of entertainment!



On Saturday, we arrived quite early - the shows started 5pm, and carried on until 11pm. Before 6pm the streets were not too busy, but after dark it got pretty crowded along Thalang Road. Between the stages lots of vendors were selling food such as mango and sticky rice, or little Thai style doughnuts (see pictures below). Our kids along with some of their friends, set up camp at "stage 3" and watched a man doing a balancing act, followed by a flea circus.



I wandered off to take photos. The street got pretty busy by the time darkness fell. Street vendors selling food and drinks were doing good business. After a couple of hours a very cold beer was welcome :)





I never had a chance to see it all, I walked down to watch acts at other stages, but my eye was more drawn to the crowd than the show. The kind of comedy that appeals to Thai people is slapstick, silly faces, exaggerated postures, and a couple of the stages had acts just like this ... I love to see happy faces. This event made people happy. You could feel the happiness in the air. I love the photo below. Smiles.



What were they watching? Clowns. Good old fashioned clowns. Thai style.



Once our kids had finished at "Stage 3" we walked further up the road. Thankfully on this warm evening, I was able to find a cold beer. And my son was able to help one musician with his act. Drums. One of these days, my son is going to ask for drums for Christmas. Not this year. First we have to build the soundproofed room.



We headed to the stage outside the Thai Hua museum. A crowd of about 300 watched as a drumming troupe starting banging. Drums! Our son gradually worked his way forward until he was sitting near the front. These guys were good. A great show.



A few more of the performers ... I did not get to see them all. Acrobats I did not see - blurry photo below taken by my daughter on her little pink Sony Cybershot. She also took a couple of wobbly videos which I might try to upload later.





A light rain fell, just a few drops, not enough to stop the show. But it was getting late for the kids. This was a fun event. Hope it happens again. If you were here in Phuket and missed it, take note - Phuket Town is the place to be for local life, events, festivals. I didn't know about the street show myself until a couple of weeks before. It's worth keeping your eyes on local websites or follow me on Twitter!

More Festivals in Phuket ...

• Vegetarian Festival
• Heroines Festival
• Songkran
• Loy Krathong
• Kathu Village Festival

Oh, and Merry Christmas!

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Local Markets in Phuket - Local Life

When I was younger, I did a lot of traveling including 7 months in Africa, 6 months in South America and another half year in Central America and Mexico. The object of travel? To see and experience different cultures, different ways of life, to see amazing natural wonders, to discover, to learn, to try all possible local beers... I have always been drawn to markets. The local market is where you see real local life, see the people, smell the smells, find real local food. This can't be found by sitting by the pool at your hotel. You may not care, I know sometimes I also want a holiday when my plan is to do f**k all with nobody bothering me. And I am sure many people coming on holiday to Phuket have the same idea. Relax, do a couple of day trips, eat good food, get a massage, drink some beers. It's a HOLIDAY after all! This blog has ideas for things to do for everyone - I realise that not everyone is interested in temples or small islands with Buddha statues or weird festivals ... but this blog does aim to get off the beaten tourist trail much of the time and show the "real" Phuket. I know many people enjoy exploring and getting a taste of local life, and a local market is a good place to start.

I live in the Kathu area of Phuket which is between Patong Beach and Phuket Town. It's got a lot of history, and lots of people live in this area, both native Phuketians and many people who have moved here from other parts of Thailand, and foreigners too. The local market in Kathu is pretty big, one of the biggest markets on the island, and it's open every day. This is not a tourist market, there are no stalls selling souvenirs, this is a real local market selling food, clothes and much more. It's easy to find - just come from Patong over the hill and when you hit the traffic lights with the Caltex gas station on the right, there you turn left and you will see the market. It's always busy, especially late afternoon/evening, despite the fact that the Tesco Lotus store is just a few minutes drive away, and a Tesco mini store and Big C! The market is still the place to go for fresh produce. I took a walk around with my parents while they were visiting, stopping off first at Kathu Chinese Shrine:



The shrine is in the old part of Kathu village a couple of km away from the market and the busy roads leading from town to Patong. Opposite the shrine, a little shop. The shopowner enjoying an evening beer...



We parked a couple of hundred meters from the market - parking a car nearby not easy, as I say it is a busy market. If you go on a moped, should be able to find a place to squeeze in. There are lots of foodstalls outside selling snacks, chicken etc... and Thai "ready meals" - precooked curries and so on, choose and take away in a bag:



Also saw a couple of "Roti" stalls - pancakes. The banana pancake is a well known snack, and it's not just a tourist thing. These pancake stalls are all over the place. A simple plain pancake can be livened up by adding banana or raisins or chocolate or sweetcorn. A very popular snack.



Inside the covered market you can find stalls selling fresh foods - meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, eggs, chili paste. It's a feast for the senses, all kind of sights and smells. The guy below is selling various chili pastes which are eaten as a kind of "dip" with the vegetables. Killer spicy.



And here's the egg man and the fish man. There are lots of fish stalls, as you might expect, since Phuket is by the sea! Seafood is a large part of the diet for Phuket people, with fish, prawns and squid to be found at this market.





There are fresh food markets all over Phuket, the big one in Phuket Town, also you can find one in Patong (Banzaan), a temple market at Karon, one on the back road in Kata, and Rawai is a good place to go for fresh fish. Always worth a look at a local market, this is where you can really see normal local life, nothing to do with tourism, just real people living in the real Phuket.

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The Phuket Big Buddha - Latest Photos

The Big Buddha, sitting on top of a 400 meter high hill, is now well established as a stop off for many tourists. We have been up this hill countless times, and still enjoy going up for the views, the fresh air and to check on the progress of the building. I have blogged about the Big Buddha several times before in 2006, 2007, 2009 and this year I did a hike to the Big Buddha! We first went up that hill on a dirt road in 2001, when construction had not yet begun, but ground was being prepared. 9 years later, still not finished, partly because the plans have become more extensive, with a large landscaped area being built around the main statue, and lots of car parking space being added.

The Big Buddha is 45 meters high, but sits up on a raised platform that will be surrounded by marbled lotus leaves. The main statue is complete, just there is a large amount of work going on around it. When will it all be finished? Unknown. The photos on this page are all from September and October 2010. There are more on my Flickr page. I am sure we'll take another trip up there soon! I'd like to do the hike again in the dry season, and sometimes we like to go and eat at a small restaurant near the top which looks out over the sea and Karon Beach.



(above) The main Buddha statue is complete.. sort of. The photo below is the back of the Buddha, where I believe the plan is for some kind of Buddhist museum inside the statue. Work continues bit by bit ...



A wide angle view shows the Big Buddha with lots of work going on around the base...



The views will never get old. Below - looking south to Phromthep Cape, you can see various islands like Racha Yai, Koh He and Koh Lon. From different points on top of the hill you have views all around looking towards Phuket Town or Karon Beach or Chalong Bay. One of my yet-to-be-accomplished plans is to watch the sun rise from the Big Buddha. This will require a superhuman feat of waking up really early. Best time of year to try - end of January, when sunrise time is about 6:45am.



The Big Buddha is getting more commercial - OK, there is no entry fee or parking fee (yet) but there are a lot of opportunities to buy Buddha related souvenirs and there must be about 30 different donation boxes. We always donate something, and we have in the past paid to write our names on bricks and marble that are to be used in the construction, so our names will always be part of the Big Buddha. Here's our daughter putting coins into bowls ...



There is a large gong at the top close to the Big Buddha statue. This can be hit with a wooden mallet, or rubbed with bare hands until the gong starts to sing. Making it sing is not easy. I have tried several times! We watched other people trying. And then guess who did it? Our 5 year old boy, no problem, rub rub rub and the gong started to sing. Oh yeh, he thought he was so clever!



The Phuket Big Buddha is easy to get to, you can go by car or moped up the hill which starts close to Chalong circle, or a tuk tuk will take you up, they charge about 800 Baht return trip from Karon Beach. A bit more from Patong. Or you can hike up :) We will no doubt be up there again in the next few months, see how things are progressing. And I ought to do the hike again, before I merge completely with my office chair.

The Phuket Big Buddha - Location Map


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Phang Nga Bay Tour - Doing it our way!

At the end of September when I had family visiting (mum, dad and a traveling cousin) we had some time to explore. Cousin Simon was only here for a few days in between Singapore and Cambodia and one place on his wish list was Phang Nga Bay. We've been before of course, quite a few times actually, but earlier this year in March we found a new way of doing it, starting from a restaurant called Samchong Seafood which is only about 20km drive from the Sarasin bridge that connects Phuket to the mainland. Takes about 1 hour from our house. On that trip in March we had lunch and then went to James Bond Island, then on to Koh Panyee, the stilted Muslim village. We took the boat for about 4 hours. I had an idea that if we maybe went to Panyee first, and then on to James Bond Island, we might be able to avoid the crowds - since there are lots of afternoon "James Bond Island" tours. The plan was to hit Scaramanga's hideout at about 5pm and hope all other tourists had gone home. Also hoped for a nice afternoon light for photos. Plan half worked...

Samchong Seafood, worth looking for, very local, good food, super quiet location on a wide mangrove creek. The view below is looking from the restaurant to the small Muslim village on the other side of the water ...



And a similar view interrupted by a "Formula 1" longtail boat. I don't see these little sports models in Phuket! They can move!



And here's my dad at Samchong Seafood. Possibly my favourite recent photo of my dad, photoshopped with loving care. And he's not making a silly face, which is unusual :)



Right, let's get on the boat and out into Phang Nga Bay... from the restaurant to Koh Panyee is about 7 miles/11km, takes around 30 minutes on the longtail boat. Water was calm, but weather started to look a bit gloomy. My hoped for magical evening light was not appearing, but never mind, Koh Panyee was the first stop. Although we have been several times, it's a great place for photos, so I never get bored. We wandered around all the side streets including the path down to the school which was just ending for the day ...



Koh Panyee (also written Koh Panyi) is a real odd place. It's what I would call a micro-society. Don't ask what that means, I just made it up. A place where everyone knows everyone, where there is no trouble, where people can always find a friend. It also has the tourist side, every day while the tours arrive there are stalls selling souvenirs, necklaces, shirts, shells, sarongs and much more. There are also local shops selling normal local things, though most things have to be brought from the mainland, since there's no place here to grow vegetables and (amazing!) there's no 7-11 here :)

I am amazed sometimes why a town would exist here. Everything is built raised on wooden stilts, there's no livelihood here except fishing, and you can do that without living in such an odd place. I like it here. The view below is looking along the east side of the town. Boats everywhere. You can't get anywhere without a boat. Many things about Panyee remind me of a place I used to live called Utila, a small island off the coast of Honduras. Fishing mixed with tourism, lots of boats, a unique people.



Here's one of the local McLaren F1 longtail boats arriving at Koh Panyee...



I enjoy revisiting a place. You can never see it all first time, there is always something new to discover. I walked around with our daughter, while my wife went with our son. We met up after a while when both kids were asking for a drink and we found the same shop to buy one. Our kids like these kind of trips. They're 9 and 5 now, but we have been taking them out on boat rides since they were babies. When people ask me "what can we do with kids in Phuket?" - I say "anything" - kids will love it, love seeing something new. Please don't come all this way to Phuket and leave the kids in the hotel "kids club". Take them with you. They will learn and you will enjoy watching them learn. Thus endeth the Phuket parenting lesson for today.

Meanwhile, at the main jetty on Panyee island, I found a list of rules. Please do not bring alcohol onto the island unless you have 5000 Baht to spare. And a goat.



After about one hour we left Panyee village and headed for James Bond Island, about 4 miles south. Weather was now looking distinctly unwelcome. Rain to the east, rain to the west, but somehow we stayed dry. On the way, we took the usual route through a stalactite infested cave on the west side of which is a sheltered area used by all the seacanoe companies as a base.



I realised that taking wonderful photos in tropical afternoon light would have to wait until next time. But not many people can say they have been to James Bond Island with NO other tourists there. We owned that island! We arrived a little before 5pm. The national park desk was closed already and when we walked over the rough-cut stone steps to the main beach, we found all the souvenir stalls had closed too - well, one was open and he managed to convince my mum to buy a bracelet. The man selling drinks was still there so cousin Simon and I had a Chang :)



It's very odd to find yourself at a major tourist attraction and be all alone. Frankenstein wrong. Alone .. good! Tours run at set times. If you visit on your own, it's not so hard to avoid the crowds. Some friends of mine have a travel company called Easy Day Thailand, and they can do a tour rather like the one described here, based on this blog - want to get to James Bond Island with no crowds? They can do it for you. Tell them you want to do Jamie's Phang Nga Bay Tour!

Here's my mum and dad at a deserted James Bond Island:



The island is not really called "James Bond" of course - that's because scenes from the 1974 film 'The Man with the Golden Gun' were shot here. The island is called Khao Ping Gan, named after a leaning rock on the island, and the one that's in all the photos, the tower, is called Koh Tapu, which means "Nail Island". The lack of light on this day means we'll have to do this trip again sometime... High season is here now, so sunny evenings should be more common than September, but who can trust the weather? It was rather gloomy at 5 in the afternoon on that day but the scenery was still great. And being on the island with no crowds was a breath of fresh air.





By the time we left, it was well after 5pm, and as we chugged back in the longtail boat, it was close to sunset. I think we got back to the restaurant about 5:45pm, and the kids were crashed out by the time we got home, poor wee lambs. We'll do this again sometime and hope for a perfect orange sunset. Best I could manage was this view from the boat on the way back ...



More Information :

• Book a trip like this with Easy Day Thailand
• More photos of this trip on Flickr
• More about James Bond Island
• More about Koh Panyee

Phang Nga Bay Map


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