Thai Hua Phuket History Museum

Time for some more Phuket history and culture! I know we have nice beaches and lots of touristy things to do, but as a long time local resident, I have an interest in the local area, and I think that the long and interesting history of Phuket might surprise a few people! Phuket has several quiet good museums - the Thalang National Museum, the Phuket Tin Mining Museum, and Chinpracha House are all worth a visit. The Thai Hua Museum I have blogged before about 3 years ago when it was newly opened. There was not too much to see beyond an old classroom and some old school photos and books, but entry was free :)



(above) Thai Hua Museum Entrance

The Thai Hua Museum has changed quite a bit in the last 3 years. There is an entry fee now (200 Baht) - but I think it's worth that. The museum now has many rooms full of displays and information about the history of Phuket. We visited again a couple of months ago, and we were impressed. There's been a lot of investment here and if you happen to be in Phuket Town, I say go and visit! For a start, the building itself is really nice. An old (early 20th century) mansion that was built as a school for the Chinese-Thai families who had flocked to Phuket in the 19th century for the tin mining industry.



Some parts of the interior still look like the old school, and other areas have been modernised with the rooms of the museum clearly labelled.. plus you can pick up a guide to the museum when you pay the admission.



The Thai Hua Museum now has some excellent information about the history of Phuket. I think many visitors maybe think of Phuket only in terms of beaches and tourism, but Phuket did not really have much of a large tourist "industry" until 1985 when the Club Med resort opened at Kata Beach. Before that.. there was some tourism, but Phuket made it's money in the 19th and 20th centuries from tin mining, rubber, fishing, prawn farms and agriculture. Many of the big Phuket families have Chinese origins and the Thai Hua Museum has some good information on this.



Our family enjoyed the visit.. there were even buttons to press on the history displays, and buttons are always good for kids! This room below explained which parts of China were originally home to the Phuket Chinese families.



The old school sections are still there. More family fun! My mother used to be a teacher and my kids are .. kids. Their grandmother tried to drill them in the old traditions : Morality, Intelligence, Sports, Unity, Beauty. The old classroom should give a good idea of what school was like here in the "old days" :)



Certainly worth a look, the Thai Hua Museum has a pretty good website, and can also be visited as part of an old town tour with Phuket Heritage Trails. Easy to find, just a bit to the east of Thalang Road on Krabi Road in the old part of Phuket Town.



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Happy New Year :)

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The Kee Resort and Spa @ Patong Beach

Patong Beach is of course Phuket's busiest tourist beach, and right at the center of everything is Soi Bangla, which has always been full of bars, girls, boys pretending to be girls ... and restaurants, shops and hotels. Patong is a bit too much for my taste, but a lot of people like it! If you go back 12 years, when I first came here, Soi Bangla was a little different, indeed the whole of Patong was different. There is now the Jungceylon shopping mall where once used to be a dirty market, and although Soi Bangla is still the nightlife center, things are changing. Many people would like to see a more family oriented Patong, less bars, less bar girls, and I guess more shops and cafes. It's a personal call whether you think Patong (or parts of Patong) is seedy, or maybe you think it's just a whole lot of fun. I tend to think of the Soi Bangla area as a fun party zone, actually anyone can hang out there, it's not full of old male tourists looking for girls, although some people like to see it that way. The bars don't quite dominate as they used to, and in 2011, with the opening of The Kee Resort, and The Kee Plaza, the area gained a new, modern face. The old street called "Soi Sea Dragon" is gone. Replaced by something much nicer!

 

(above) The Kee Plaza, a shopping center attached to the resort, and the Sky Lounge - on the roof, got to be a good place for a sunset! I might have to try it, though I am guessing the prices are Sky high!

The Kee Resort is not huge, there are about 250 rooms, along with a big pool in the center of the resort, a restaurant (but then again, you're in the middle of Patong, so there's plenty of dining options nearby), and the Sky Lounge with 360 degree views. There's also a fitness center and (as the full name suggests) a Spa. The thing with a resort like this - it's in the middle of Patong, but once you are in the resort, it's like an Oasis. I wondered if the proximity to Soi Bangla might mean the hotel gets a noise problem, but I have read through some of the reviews and see comments like "Extremely close to the craziness of Bangla road without the noise!" .. might depend what room you get. You'd have to expect some noise I think. Probably a good place to stay if you want some nightlife, and if you want quiet in Patong, think again (or stay somewhere like the Amari, at the far south end of the beach).

 


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Kruvit Floating Restaurant at Coconut Island

The east coast of Phuket is very much under-rated, far less touched by tourism than the sandy beaches on the west coast and far less visited by visitors. Quite a few of my favourite places and favourite restaurants are on the east side. If you head north from Phuket Town, on the main airport road there is a small side road heading to Laem Hin, a fishing community where you find the very popular Laem Hin Seafood restaurant. A new jetty was built at Laem Hin a few years ago to serve Coconut Island and allow larger boats to dock in the area. On Coconut Island (Koh Maphrao) you find a very nice resort called The Village. And in the water just off the island there are several floating restaurants. We've been before and somehow I have never blogged anything about these places. The day when we went recently was not such a perfect sunny day, guess we will go again soon with blue skies for better photos.

There are several restaurants to choose from - Kruvit, Bang Mud and Kru Suwit. To reach them, you need to get a longtail boat from Laem Hin - boats depart from a wooden jetty with shallow muddy water all around, and longtail boats jammed in like sardines in a can! The deal with the boats.. something like.. if you spend a certain amount at the restaurant you don't pay the boat .. I don't know the amount .. but don't be worried, I think the idea is just to stop people trying to get free rides to drink a coke :)



On the way out to Koh Maphrao (only takes 5 minutes) there are fishermen's huts floating in the water too. Is this the same Phuket as the west coast? Things tend to be more traditional here. Fishing, prawn farms (you pass some on the road down to Laem Hin), it's the old way of life here (oh yeh, and the resort on Coconut Island). The restaurants have been here for a long time. I think first time I went there was about 2002. Very popular with locals at the weekends.



We chose to eat at Kruvit restaurant (full name "Kruvit Raft") - my wife had been recently to Bang Mud with some friends and says that's good too. Even on a grey day, quite a few tables were occupied (all local people, although I did see one "farang" arrive later with a Thai lady). I realise that places like this are not so easy to reach for the average tourist, but .. go for it! Explore! We were met by a friendly boatman who held the longtail steady so we (especially my Mum, who cracked a rib on a longtail last year!) could step off easily. Nothing to worry about really, the sea over here is always calm, it's very sheltered.



The Kruvit Raft probably has space for a couple of hundred people. There are tables with benches and tables which allow people to sit on the floor, for those that enjoy such things. I like chairs. We found our table near the fish tanks ... lots of live seafood is kept in large enclosed pools built into the raft. Fish and more .. I actually have to say I was not happy to see a leopard shark. I guess for decoration, not for eating. It's a thin line, I know.. I am not vegetarian, happily eat fish, and yet get upset to see a shark in a "cage" ...



We ate very well too - but with a restaurant like this, eating is only part of the experience! The boat ride, the view, the fresh air, getting away from the crowds ... good food is almost a bonus. I ordered my favourite - Yam Gung Siap, a salad made with smoked, dried shrimp .. it's quite spicy and is quite a local delicacy, really only found in Phuket and Phang Nga. I love it! My wife had some "Hoi Wan" - shellfish cooked with basil and sweet chili paste (not so spicy). There was plenty more too, but sometimes when I am hungry I forget to take photos of the food!





Food washed down nicely with a couple of beers (with ice). Rest assured that the bill was very reasonable (we don't do expensive food!). We'll go again sometime soon, maybe try one of the other floating restaurants. We do eat at Laem Hin Seafood now and then and maybe the food there is better, but hey, you don't get that floating feeling or the boat ride :)

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Walking to Phuket over Sarasin Bridge

Phuket is an island, surrounded by water, true. Yes, we should say "Koh Phuket" and many holiday brochures and websites will make a lot of this "island" idea. An island is exotic, romantic, a place where magic happens, palm trees sway and smiling people serve you cocktails made of coconuts. Yes, Phuket is really an island, but only just. It's less than 500 meters from the very north of Phuket across to Phang Nga province. We're not really cut off by the sea here! Well, not at all. If you ignore the international airport, Phuket is connected to the mainland of Thailand by a bridge. Or 2. Well, actually there are 3 bridges now. The first was built in 1967 and called Sarasin Bridge (สะพานสารสิน / Sapan Sarasin), named after a now-forgotten politician. Before that, there was the ferry .. photo below (showing an old photo on the wall of the Kopitiam cafe in Phuket Town) shows the ferry and no bridge!



The first bridge was enough for 1970's traffic with little tourism yet hitting Phuket. A second bridge was built not so long ago (I can't recall exactly when, but it was in the last 12 years) to allow traffic to pass more easily in and out of Phuket with one bridge heading north and one to the south. And now... just a couple of months ago, a 3rd bridge was completed. The old bridge has been tarted up and turned into a pedestrian bridge with lot of lamps and steps and decorations. We took a walk over the bridge recently on a sunny low season day, planning to walk and then eat lunch at the Thanoon Seafood restaurant which sits by the water just 50 meters from the bridge on the Phang Nga side.



(above) Thanoon Seafood restaurant seen from the north end of Sarasin bridge.

Best place to park if you want to walk.. close to the restaurant.. you have to drive over the new bridge, do a U-turn and turn off on a side road, back under the road bridge... The idea of the pedestrian bridge is to make a nice tourist attraction. The bridge certainly looks nice and is a good chance to walk to Phuket from Phang Nga, or walk to Phang Nga from Phuket with a pretty seaview.. but really? A tourist attraction? You going to take a taxi here 50km from Patong to walk over the bridge? Probably not, but if you are a more independent traveler, rent a car, take a trip to the north of Phuket or to Phang Nga.. then do stop and take some exercise here.



(above) That's me and Dad ready for a little walk. Got some good fresh sea air that day too! It was still low season with a strong breeze blowing in from the west. At the Phang Nga side (north side) of the bridge, to the east in the sheltered waters there is a fishing village. Longtail boats come and go. There were some larger fishing boats at the dockside too.



(above) Mum and Dad check out the view to the east on the Phang Nga side of the Sarasin bridge.



In Phuket, you don't have to drive far to find the "old Phuket" away from the hotels and tourism. The little fishing village above is a world away from Patong Beach, and I know where I'd rather live. We walked along the bridge back towards Phuket, stopping to pose for some pictures on the way. It was a nice sunny day, no rush at all. In the centre of the bridge, you have a little view tower with steps up and down to the bridge. Good place to pose. Halfway up the stairs is the stair where I sit.



Actually, I admit, my wife and I stopped halfway. The kids chased after their Grandma who wanted to complete the long walk back to Phuket. As an aside.. we don't actually use the word Grandma... our kids call my Mum "Nanny", which is what I used to call my paternal grandmother. So, they chased after Nanny and she found something interesting to point out in the water...



They all reached terra firma on the Phuket side safely and headed back to the lazy portion of the family (that's me, my dear wife and my Dad). We cross the bridge quite often for days out. We like heading to Phang Nga to visit Phang Nga Bay or to eat at the Samchong Seafood restaurant or the 360 Degree Cafe. And on this day we ate lunch at the aforementioned Thanoon Seafood. I reckon we'll take a stroll over the Sarasin Bridge again sometime soon. I'd like to explore the area a bit more when there's time.



(above) Yes we enjoyed our little walk over the bridge! Many times I had driven over the old bridge and wished to stop and take a walk - not possible without blocking traffic! Now that walk is possible. To the west - the open ocean, to the east is Phang Nga Bay. I have always enjoyed the view from the Sarasin Bridge, it was nice to be able to get that view and take a leisurely stroll at the same time. Followed by a nice lunch at Thanoon Seafood - and here's a view from under the bridge(s) just along the sand from the restaurant ...



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