Nguan Choon Tong Herb Shop in Phuket Town

There's a place on Thalang Road in the heart of Old Phuket Town that always turns heads. If you walk past this place, you are bound to notice the smell. And certainly not a bad smell. Something kind of ancient and magical. I can't help but walk in. Outside is a sign that says "Oldest Herbs Shop". The name of the shop is Nguan Choon Tong. Stop outside. Inhale deeply.



Thalang Road is my favourite street in Phuket, I like the old town, there's history here, and a very different kind of Phuket exists here away from the beaches. Tourism does have some influence, there are more little cafes and guesthouses than there were 10 years ago, but a lot of the tourists that come here are Thai. Thalang Road has been spruced up, with the most noticeable thing being the lack of overhead cables. I do like the old shophouses, the wooden shutters, the mix of Muslim and Chinese businesses, some of which have been on the street since the early 20th century when this part of Phuket Town was built. The herb shop opened in 1917, opened by the grandfather of the current proprietor. It's a family business run by the Bumrungwong family who also own the buildings either side of the herb shop, both of which are restaurants. On one side is Wilai restaurant, the other side is Kopitiam. I was in Kopitiam a couple of weeks ago. One of the family running Kopitiam is Wiwan, great granddaughter of the man who opened the herb shop. Her uncle, Wisit Bumrungwong, runs Nguan Choon Tong now.



I asked Wiwan to ask her uncle for permission to take some photos. He's not overly keen on tourists snapping away in his face really. It was a good time to take photos, as Khun Wisit, assisted by his wife and son, was preparing medicines. Portions of herbs were being weighed on the old scales and added to piles of herbal mixes, ready for sale. I am quite amazed that business is still strong. Doesn't everyone use modern pharmacies now? Well, at least in the old town, the Chinese herbal medicine is still popular.





The knowledge of Chinese herbal medicine has to be handed down to the next generation. Khun Wisit sometimes still asks his father, Khun Narong Bumrungwong, for advice. Khun Narong lives next door, at Kopitiam. Only a few of the family live here now, but until 30 years ago, the herb shop was a home and business. It was a typical shophouse. No commuting necessary! I have friends in Phuket now who have bought brand new shophouses and live above their business. The herb shop on Thalang Road is now just a business, nobody lives there, though several of the family live next door.



(above) Photo on the wall at the herb shop. This is the founder of the shop, his name was "Yan Keng". Photos like this are common in the old shops in Phuket town. He is the father of Sodsri Bumrungwong, wife of Narong. The shophouse that is now Kopitiam was bought by Narong and Sodsri about 30 years ago to use as a house. So they did have to commute a few meters to work :)



(above) Khun Wisit Bumrungwong at the Nguan Choon Tong herb shop.



Old Phuket Town is not really so old. Most of the older buildings were constructed in the early 20th century as Phuket Town became the new center of commerce for the island, with business driven by the tin mining industry and the rubber industry. That's when Phuket became important. And the Nguan Choon Tong herb shop was right there to catch the wave. The old Chinese traditions are very evident today. There are Chinese shrines all over town, and festivals like the Phuket Vegetarian Festival and Hungry Ghost Festival show that the traditions are not lost. And the herbs live on too.

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Sikh Temple (Gurdwara) in Phuket Town

Phuket, as I keep trying to say on this blog, has lots of history and culture, lots of festivals, a wide variety of people and religions, which is not surprising when you look on a map. Phuket is on the Andaman coast, would have made an ideal stopping off point on sea journeys with sheltered anchorages on the east coast, and then there was the tin mining boom and finally, in the last 30 years, the tourism explosion. All manner of people live here, work here, travel here. I am happy to say that Phuket is melting pot of different peoples and different religions. Most of the local people are either Buddhist or Muslim, with a large minority of people who are Buddhist but who also believe in old Chinese gods which becomes apparent during such events as the Vegetarian Festival or the Hungry Ghost Festival. Phuket is full of Buddhist temples, Chinese shrines and Muslim Mosques, and having lived here for 12 years, and unless any local can offer me a hint to the contrary, I have to say there is no religious tension here. And let's not even start with the "Buddhism is not really a religion" argument. Everyone seems to get on just fine, no matter if they are Chelsea or Man Utd fans.



I noticed the Sikh temple (Gurdwara) in Phuket Town many years ago. It was opened in 2001 (according to the Thai Sikh Organisation website, from which I will also quote other gems of information), though the very first Sikh Gurdwara was built back in 1939 by "Sikhs who had come to Phuket to do Tin Mining and Railway Engineering under the supervision of the British". Tin Mining I can see, but there is no railway in Phuket :)

For some reason, while driving around town a couple of weeks ago, I decided to stop and take a couple of photos of the Gurdwara. It's on the north side of town with "Monkey Hill" (Khao To Sae) as a backdrop. And there's a Hindu shrine just 100m south on the same road which I also visited (it was open, but there was nobody around). This new Gurdwara was built in 2001. There are quite a few Sikhs living in Phuket these days, many coming here to work in the hotel and tourism industry.



Actually, I had no intention of going inside, and the gate facing the street was shut .. but the door was open and someone was inside. Probably a little surprised to see my nose poking around. But I tell you what, if Thailand is the land of Smiles, then India is the land of "Come in!" .. the Sikh man who invited me inside was from India, but he said he'd been in Phuket for 6 years. Thanks for letting me inside. I asked to take a few photos. No problem. The ceiling was amazing.



And then I found out that the Gurdwara has an elevator! An oddly modern contraption to be found in the worship place of ancient religion. Well, beats the stairs and fits neatly into a small building. I enjoyed the signs on the wall. Another sign said "Give a lot of time to improvement of yourself, then there is no time to criticize others". I like that. Well, I guess all religions have the same theme of basically being nice to people. Judge ye not. Not that you have to be religious to be a nice person. Debate ends here.



I was escorted in the elevator up to the Darbar Sahib (Prayer Hall).



We only stayed here a few minutes, after which I was asked to hold out both hands to receive a piece of sweet food, which I have found to be called Kara Parshad - a whole section on the guidelines for visiting a Gurdwara is in the SikhWiki website. Wish I'd read this before! And by complete coincidence, I have just right now (by looking at the aforementioned Sikhwiki website) found that tomorrow (April 13th) is International Turban Day!

After visiting the Darbar Sahib, we descended to the downstairs hall where 2 other Sikh guys (who were very quiet) went to make tea. I was told they had only been in Phuket for 1 month and had only been out of the Gurdwara once, on a quick drive around Phuket. They were also from India. The tea they made brought back some memories. I went to India for 1 month when I was 16, part of a "cultural exchange visit" organised between my school and a youth group in Bombay. The sweet, milky tea was a daily ritual. The tea in this Sikh Gurdwara in Phuket tasted just the same. Memories and new experiences. Such friendly guys. Sometimes a treasure can be found by looking more carefully at your own doorstep. Not sure if Confucius said that, maybe I just made it up, or maybe it was in a movie. But it's true.



I only poked my head around the corner, but was invited inside as a (clearly) non Sikh, and indeed a self confessed infidel and non-believer. Thank you to the volunteers at the Sikh Gurdwara in Phuket. Thank you for 30 minutes of peace. Something new and 25 year old memories of sweet tea. And yes, I did not realise that the cloth they gave me to cover my head made me look so silly. But you do have to cover your head in a Gurdwara. This was an unexpected experience, but you can only find something new by exploring. Even your own back yard has places you have not seen. And Phuket is a big back yard!

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Green Forest Restaurant

I first saw the Green Forest restaurant over a year ago, when we took a walk up Monkey Hill (Khao To Sae) which is the big hill on the north side of Phuket Town with all the TV and Radio aerials on it. The restaurant was brand new then, we went in for a drink only and decided to go back "some time". As often happens, plenty of time passed, until a couple of weeks ago when I was driving somewhat randomly in town, thought about lunch and decided to try Green Forest.



You can drive up the hill, although it's very narrow if 2 cars want to pass. Easy on a moped, or hey you can even walk up! I was kind of early for lunch and I was the only customer until about 30 minutes later when a couple of Thai guys arrived for what looked like a business lunch. I believe the place is much busier in the evening. I noticed there is a small stage for live music. But on this day, I had the pick of all the tables, so chose the best one...



Now, I am a little wary when a restaurant like this, which I am sure caters mostly to locals, brings an English menu with only about 20 dishes on it. They did. I ignored it, as they had already brought me a much larger menu with all the food in Thai and the drinks in English and Thai. I do object to restaurants having a different menu for foreigners, and I guess that because I was alone, they assumed I was just some tourist. I ordered from the Thai menu, although my Thai language skills are not perfect, I can read enough. My main choice was crispy fried catfish salad (Yam Pla Duk Foo - ยำปลาดุกฟู) and an extra dish of fried rice with prawns.





(above) Yam Pla Duk Foo comes in 2 parts, though sometimes they are served on the same plate. The crispy fried catfish, and the mango salad. Together = perfect! And this one at Green Forest was very good, only 120 Baht, quite a big plate actually... I had ordered the fried rice because I thought the salad would not be this big!



(above) And the fried rice with prawns - there are some prawns in there somewhere! 100 Baht, a little more than I'd normally pay for fried rice, but it was tasty.

It was a slightly hazy day, quite common in the hot season (March / April) but the views from the restaurant were good. You're facing south and have some view to the west also. Could see the hilltop temple on Sirey Island to the west and a good view over the southwest side of town towards the bay of Phuket and Sapan Hin to the south.





Will go back, probably... the food was good, the view is great, BUT I object to the English menu and my bill was slightly padded. The catfish salad on the menu was 120 Baht, on the bill 150 Baht. There is no great issue with an extra 30 Baht, it's not going to bankrupt me, and I can't be certain that it was not an honest mistake, but the face of the waitress who rewrote the bill told the story. She took about 5 minutes to rewrite it after I kindly pointed out the error. Happy to give Green Forest a second chance. Maybe wait 6 months and the staff will probably be different. I do recommend this place for sure, but hate someone trying to pull a fast one. Thai people always check their bills.

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