Phuket Meteorological Radar Hill near Phuket Airport

I was rather happy last week to find a hill that we could drive up, one that I'd never been up before. It was a fairly sunny Sunday afternoon, one of those afternoons when we sometimes just "go for a drive" in a random direction. Sometimes we follow new roads, or roads that we've not explored for a long time. With Phuket island being over 500 square kilometers, there are plenty of roads to try, and with neighbouring Phang Nga province being just over the bridge, even after all this time in Phuket, we still find new places. On this day, I did have an objective in mind. I had seen this hill on Google Earth with a couple of photos of the view, and it looked nice. I just never realised it was possible to drive up there...

Just north of Phuket airport, there's a hill where the Phuket weather radar is located. I knew it was there, but figured it would be closed to traffic / private or something. Well, maybe it is... but we drove up anyway. I went with the kids and we first took the narrow road that runs alongside the airport runway, hoping to see a plane land right next to us, but it must have been a quiet afternooon for flights. We've done that before and my kids like it.. when a plane is zooming along the runway less than 200m from the car. Dad likes it too :) A bit less than 1km north of that road, is a left turn heading towards the West Sands resort and Splash Jungle Waterpark. And a little more than 500m down this road, a narrow, crappy looking road to the right, it was not signposted but I figured it would be this way. The little road was bumpy and got steep, passing several Thai style villas (seemingly not occupied), heading up through the trees. And up. I hoped this was the right road! Finally topped out and for a second I thought it was all fenced off, but we could drive through to the met station buildings (nobody there) and park.



According to Google Earth the hill is about 250m above sea level, but it's quite flat-topped and covered in trees, so there were no 360 degree views. Damn trees, always getting in the way of a good view. Nevertheless, there was a fair sweeping seaview to the west just peeping over the tops of the tees ...



And looking southwest we could see the airport, and Nai Yang beach. Again was hoping to see a take off or landing, but this seemed like a very quiet Sunday afternoon at the airport! Didn't want to hang around too long with the kids on a lonely hilltop, plus they were asking for dinner, so we didn't wait for a plane.

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There's also a small shrine on the hill, facing to the west.



Another hill conquered! Maybe not the best view, but it was in the spirit of "adventure". My kids enjoyed the scary, narrow jungly road and the feeling of seeing something new. They do get dragged around by us quite a lot, but mostly they are happy to be exploring. I always enjoy a view and some fresh air. Phuket is very hilly, plenty of hills you can drive or walk up - see Phuket Hills and Views.

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Abduls Roti Shop in Old Phuket Town

I've been meaning to blog about this place for some time, and there's a lot more on the "things to blog when I have time" list. Abdul's roti shop is a bit of a Phuket legend, located on Thalang Road in the old town and it's been there, I don't know, forever I suppose. The eastern end of Thalang Road just to the west of the junction with Phuket Road has lots of Muslim shops, mostly selling fabrics and clothes - there are at least half a dozen of the fabric shops - see photo below. There are also 2 restaurants which sell roti with curry, and if you ask me this is a "must eat" if you are in town. The 2 restaurants are only a couple of doors from each other. I've eaten at Abdul's several times before. The photo below was taken in January this year during the Old Town Festival.





Thalang Road for me is the heart of the "real" Phuket. Lots of history, lots of old shops and family businesses, and plenty of pride shown by the local people. I am glad to see more of the old town getting restored, especially with the removal of overhead cables... and just today (19th August) I saw that another section of town is cable-free. I also love the mix of people, culture and religion in Phuket, in Phuket Town and if you want to see this all on the same street, have a look at Thalang Road. On one small road are Thai-Chinese people, Muslim people, a small Chinese shrine, a Christian Assembly... I hate to get all "flower power" but here everyone seems to get along just fine no matter what they believe, no matter what they wear or what they look like. I have mentioned it before, but to repeat - many visitors to Phuket don't know that Phuket is about 30% Muslim. The belief is that Thailand is a Buddhist country. I like the mixture. And without the Muslims, we'd not have the roti shops! I tend to think about food before religion...

So, with the Phuket blog in mind, I was in Phuket Town on Saturday (August 18th) aiming for some roti for breakfast. The idea was to try both of the roti shops, but the other was closed, only Abdul's was open (though there was no sign of Abdul himself). A sign on the wall says Roti made by Abdul 74 Years Old 7th Generation. You can get Roti with chicken, beef or fish. Don't ask for pork. Or a beer! I asked for roti with masaman chicken curry.





The roti are cooked at the front of the shop right by the street, a lump of dough is bashed, flattened, folded, flattened again, shown no mercy and put on an oiled hotplate. And then when it's slightly crispy, it's slapped about to break it up, ready to eat...





My bowl of Masaman curry with a leg of chicken came first ... and a wait of a few minutes for a freshly cooked roti. Anyone disagree? This looks GOOD!





I am not sure how one is "supposed" to eat this. Is there a traditional technique? I spooned up curry and pieces of tender chicken onto the roti. Very tasty, fairly spicy. I could have eaten another one, this is good eating! I feel an addiction coming on. Going to be back here on my next day off! As with many little shops and restaurants in Thailand you get the feeling you're in someone's house ... that's because you are! Family come and go, grandma comes out to say hello, I often see into shops after closing time, and the restaurant is now the living room. Just behind my table a young boy was watching TV ...



The roti with curry was good, but I also wanted some dessert - a nice plain roti with condensed milk. Same kind of roti you get with the curry but this one is sweet!



Roti with curry plus the sweet roti and 2 iced coffees. 105 Baht. Did I hear someone say "Phuket is expensive"? Phuket can be expensive if you want. I just saw a post from someone on Facebook showing a frankly very ordinary burger at the very plush "Joe's Downstairs" restaurant in Patong. Price for the burger with some equally ordinary looking fries : 705 Baht. Unreal. Phuket is like that. You can spend as much as you want, please don't complain that Phuket is expensive. Not the real Phuket. After eating, back on Thalang Road I noticed that the roti shop is right next door to a fabric shop. Thalang Road is a gem, hope it remains that way.



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Kathu Street Culture Festival 2012

The 4th annual Kathu street festival was held on August 4th - 6th 2012. A great little local event that has grown considerably since the first time it was held in 2009. Kathu is an older area of Phuket with many older Chinese-Thai residents who are quite proud of their history and are doing plenty to preserve their heritage and educate locals and tourists about the "real" Phuket that exists away from the beaches. This is also the main aim of this blog, so I love festivals like this one, and I am happy to say that I did see a few more tourist faces in the streets this year. It was promoted in the local news, there were roadside signs up all around the area, and I kept mentioning the festival on my Facebook page and on Twitter.



There were already some street stalls set up a couple of days in advance, and by the 4th, there were stalls running for about 1km along the road through Kathu Village, and the weather was looking very good too (this low season has had a lot of hot sunny weather). On the first evening of last year's festival, the street parade was delayed by heavy rain. It was also delayed this year. Supposed to start at 5:30pm, but nothing was happening ... maybe I had the date wrong? But I was sure the main parade was on the first evening... Finally around 6:15pm the parade appeared. I had not quite got the message that the processio started outside the village, unlike the last few years when it all started in the village. Again the procession was full of colour and smiles.







There were no amazing Chinese opera style costumes like the last few years.. Shame, they were my favourites! But a great deal of variety of costume and featuring a cross section of Phuket's people. Phuket has a big mix of ethnic Malays, Chinese-Thai and a sprinkling of sea gypsies, plus a growing foreign population with lots of workers living in Phuket who are originally from other areas of Thailand. There is also a big mix of Buddhism, Islam and Chinese beliefs here.





(above) A local Kathu resident watches the festival from outside his house.

If you visit a local festival like this, no need to worry about dinner. The streets are lined with stalls and most of them are selling food. As soon as I started walking after the procession, I found mango with sticky rice, and this was next to a stall selling spicy Sai-Ua sausages which are a north Thai specialty.







We went along again on the second evening (5th August) mostly to eat, but there were also quite a lot of stalls selling arts and crafts, and my wife stocked up on bargains like some very nice candlesticks at 50 Baht each and some wooden dolphins which she said cost only 10 Baht each. Not sure what we'll do with them! Aside from the stalls and the food, there were several places in the village with historical information, mock ups of old houses and displays of old photos. Kathu has plenty of history, a lot more can be found at the nearby Tin Mining Museum.

The hot weather was a blessing, no rain fell during the festival, and muic continued on several stages into the night. We could hear it from our house. We did not stay out late ourselves, just until around 8pm each evening. The streets were decorated with lanterns ...



And I found a way to cool down ...





(above) One of several stages around the village with music and dancing. There was plenty going on during the 3 night festival and the streets were full of people. Kathu village is normally very very quiet, only wakes up for festivals. It'll be busy again during the Phuket Vegetarian Festival, which is from 14 - 24 October. The Chinese shrine in Kathu is one of the centers for that festival, which is my favourite event in Phuket! Looking forward to it! And before that, there's another interesting festival, called the Por Tor Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, which is on from 31st August to 6th September 2012. And this is the stuff that makes up the beating heart of Phuket.

Map of the Kathu area


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A Beautiful Day at Koh Yao Noi

Koh Yao Noi island is found in Phang Nga Bay to the Northeast of Phuket, home to a Muslim population of maybe 4,000 people, with the main source of income being fishing, prawn and shell farms, and rubber. The large scale tourism of Phuket, Phi Phi and Krabi is not (yet) to be found on Koh Yao Noi. There are a couple of expensive resorts such as Paradise Koh Yao, and a number of smaller bungalow operations, but the island is still mostly rural. We first went in 2006 on a day trip, but I did not go again until doing a cycling tour in 2010. Then in April 2011 we did a family trip, getting the ferry over and hiring mopeds for the day. Was such a great day out that we decided to do it again! So on July 28th 2012, we drove up to Bang Rong (near Bang Pae Waterfall) to get the boat. Bang Rong is a Muslim village on the NE coast of Phuket, and from here there are boats to Koh Yao Noi and Koh Yao Yai. There are speedboats (200 Baht each way per person) or you can get a big longtail boat (see photos later) 120 Baht each way. When we arrived at the pier, the next boat set to depart was a speedboat. Kids - no charge, by the way. We had a wait of about 30 minutes before departure, there is some kind of boat going a couple of times per hour.



(above) On the speedboat to Koh Yao Noi

The speedboat takes just over 30 minutes, and stopped off first at a small jetty on the north of Koh Yao Yai, the larger island to the south of Koh Yao Noi. We've never been to Koh Yao Yai.. will have to go explore sometime! Arriving at Koh Yao Noi, we asked around for mopeds for rent - we needed 3 altogether, 2 for us and 1 for a friend who'd come with her 2 small kids. It may sound a bit cavalier or unsafe hiring mopeds and riding around with the kids, but Koh Yao Noi is so quiet, and there is very little traffic on the roads, and mostly we'd be pootling along no faster than 30km per hour. No rush at all. A guy gave us a lift into the main town and then organised 3 mopeds for us - 200 Baht rental per moped. We then stopped to fill them up with gasoline and put some air in the tyres before our ride around the island.





I love these bike repair places, always full of junk, nothing gets thrown away! Gasoline on Koh Yao Noi is quite a lot more expensive than the mainland, as everything has to be brought over by boat.

We'd not made a really early start to the day, got the boat over around 10:30am, so by the time we'd sorted out the mopeds, some stomachs were thinking of an early lunch. We knew already of places to eat on the east coast, but did not want to rush over there, and so we just stopped near the main town, which is not much more than a couple of hundred meters of shops and a little market. And a 7-11 of course!



We decided upon a small roadside local restaurant where some locals were already eating - always a good sign. It was certainly nothing fancy, but my eyes noticed some yummy looking Pad Ped Pla (spicy fried catfish). And they did a decent fried rice with prawns to go with it.







After lunch we rode over to the east coast. There are not many roads on the island, but we still managed a small wrong turn, following a road to "Laem Sai" which is the southeast corner of Koh Yao Noi, and I figured the road would carry on to the main east coast road. It didn't, but it was only a 10 minute detour. We were soon on the beautiful east coast and stopped to let the kids run around on the beach in front of the very nice looking Villaguna resort, which as I recall was being built last year when we scooted by. There are several small scale resorts on this east coast, but so far nothing big and ugly and I hope the Koh Yao Noi people can keep it that way.



And a little video of the same beach ...



As the east coast road heads North, it turns inland for about 2km and then back to the coast, where we found one of my favourite views. There's a sandy football pitch here just over the road from the small Suntisook Resort, consisting of some little bungalows with an attached restaurant. We downed several cold cokes here - it was a HOT day! The kids of course went off to explore and kick a ball around.





My daughter and I were riding a bit ahead of the others and we found some horses by the side of the road. We were able to give this little pony a stroke, but it ran off to Mum when the other 2 bikes arrived - too many people!



The scenery away from the beach is very green, but largely cultivated. We saw rice paddies, rubber plantations and coconut trees. Rubber is still an important product in south Thailand. Even in "touristy" Phuket there are huge areas of rubber trees. Indeed, Thailand is one of the world's leading producers of natural rubber.



And here's a small mosque on Koh Yao Noi. The population is almost all Muslim, as is much of Phang Nga, and about 30% of the population of Phuket too.



We were back at the main pier before 4pm, as we thought the last boat to Phuket was at 4, but we found later that the last boat was 4:40pm, which we'll remember for next time, giving us a bit more exploring time. There are some roads over on the west coast of the island that we've not yet taken. The 4pm boat was one of the big slow longtail boats. They have huge engines :



And actually not that slow. Took a bit more than 1 hour to get from Koh Yao Noi back to Bang Rong, and it's a 25km trip. There were only a few other passengers so we could spread out and enjoy the ride and the views in the afternoon sun. The little video below shows the view just after we left the jetty at Koh Yao Yai heading back to Phuket. A great day out for the family, and we'll do it again for sure! Next time maybe an overnight stay.

• Hotels on Koh Yao Noi @ Agoda.com

Here's a little video shot on the boat after leaving the Koh Yao Noi jetty on the way back.




Map of Koh Yao Noi


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