The Surin Resort Phuket

The Surin Hotel is just the right place for a bit of quiet seclusion. Not a cheap hotel, but the last minute prices can be much better. But, it has to be said, you get your money's worth. The Surin has it's own private beach in between Surin and Bang Tao beaches. The scenery is beautiful along the coast here and you're off the main tourist beaches. Having said that, The Surin is not too far from anywhere. About 20 minutes to the airport, about 25 to Patong if you want a bit of nightlife.

The Surin provides one-bedroom and two-bedroom thatched cottages with private verandahs and sun decks. It's a very nice looking place. The New York Times review says "From the exotic lobby (with columns and lily pond) to sleek and handsome private bungalows, it is one of the most handsome properties on the island. It's quality with a big price tag, but this romantic getaway has it down to the details."

Actually, compared to it's nearest neighbour (Amanpuri Resort) The Surin is quite reasonably priced! You can just about walk down to Surin beach from the hotel, where you can find more dining options, or eat at one of the 3 restaurants at the resort - they also apparently do beach BBQ's on Pansea Beach. Looks like paradise to me!

The Surin - Booking & Reviews

• The Surin Rates and Reservations at Agoda.com
• The Surin Reviews at Agoda.com


The Surin - 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
• Thailand Hotel Booking at Agoda.com

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Phuket Food Festival

The Phuket Food Festival 2008 started on 19th March and runs until the 28th. It's an annual event organised by the Phuket Food Vendors Club and Phuket City Municipality. I managed to convince my family that it would be worthwhile having a look on Saturday evening, and I think we might go back again one evening this week for some cheap tasty food! The event is being held at Sapan Hin, in the south of Phuket City. Many local events are held there during the year. Sapan Hin is by the sea, has lots of open spaces, and also features sports facilities (we've been to see my wife's dad playing Takraw there!).

 



We arrived at the food festival in the late afternoon so I could snap some photos of the food stalls before dark. There's around 50 or 60 stalls selling everything from Phad Thai to BBQ Fresh Water Prawns, fried fish, Sai Ua (spicy northern sausages), Satay sticks and much more. We even found a stall selling coffee from Chumphon (my wife's home town).

This festival is well worth a look. The food is good and cheap, a great chance to sample many different dishes and get a bit of local life. I did see a handful of foreign faces on Saturday, but this is very much a local Phuket event, organised and run by locals for locals. It'll be on my calendar for next year for sure.

 





Need to wash down that food, never worry! There are several beer stalls selling draft Singha or Leo Beer, as well as stalls selling ice coffee, fresh juices and there was a Chinese tea stall also. I think you could come and eat here every night of the week!

 

 



The festival runs from late afternoon until about 11pm. After dark, the entertainment starts. There are bands playing, local schools doing song and dance acts. A big stage has been set up. There were some young girls doing dancing and singing which our 6 year old daughter wanted to watch and she thought was very beautiful. Some guys were warming up with guitars too, ready to rock the night away.









Hungry? Maybe see you there this week!

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Phuket Climate Overview

Note: A lot of people are visiting this page.. it is meant to be a quick overview of Phuket's climate and weather patterns... for the latest Phuket weather updates, please head to my Phuket Weather Blog. Stay here on Jamie's Phuket Blog (online since 2006) for information on hotels, things to do, festivals, restaurants and more!

Most tourists and travelers coming to Phuket want to know what the weather will be like during their stay. Holiday planning revolves around the seasons, so most tourists come during the "high season" and come with an expectation of hot sunny days. Any sign of rain is treated with shock. "But we came here for the sun!" - please remember that this is a tropical environment. Look at all the green hills....

So, it was in 2006, just after starting this blog, that I started the Phuket Weather Blog, where I try to report every few days on the weather, add lots of photos, a bit of news, a bit of this and that... if you're coming to Phuket, the Phuket Weather Blog is well worth bookmarking! The photos on this page are taken from the weather blog entries over the last few years.



Phuket Climate and Weather Patterns

We don't have 4 seasons here. There's no spring, no autumn (or "fall" as some odd people call it), no freezing winters and the length of the day varies only by an hour throughout the year. The weather is pretty stable most of the time; we don't have hurricanes or cyclones. Since I came here in 1999 there's not been so much as a tropical storm - we don't get violent weather here. We get some sun, some rain, some wind, and the weather follows 2 general seasons.



So, what are the seasons in Phuket? Well, in layman's terms we can call them the "dry season" and "rainy season", but that's rather simplifying things. The proper names for our seasons are as follows:

• Northeast Monsoon season (approx. November - April)
• Southwest Monsoon season (approx. May - October)

It's the Southwest monsoon that brings the "wet" season. The word Monsoon relates to winds (derived from the Arabic word mausim meaning 'seasons', referring to seasonal winds experienced by sailors in the Arabian Sea so says Wikipedia), so during the Southwest monsoon season, the wind blows from the ... South West, yes. That means the winds are blowing across the Indian ocean bringing moisture and making for some big waves from time to time. It's the waves rather than the rain that make this the low season for diving, as we can't guarantee reaching the best dive sites such as the Similan Islands, which are 100km from Phuket. The waves can be quite big at the beaches too. Be careful, people drown every year. Big waves? Don't swim.



But, the rainy season often gets blown out of all proportion. People hear the word MONSOON and get scared, imagining 24 hour rain and floods. This is complete rubbish. Yes, there can be some heavy rain, yes there can be minor flooding, but as I said - Phuket does not often get really bad weather. Most of the wet season is actually sunny. Many days are as hot and calm as the best high season days. In fact, the low season is a great time to visit Phuket (unless you are unlucky). Read more here : Wet Season in Phuket.



The Southwest monsoon starts sometime in May, normally around mid-May. Can start in early May, can be later in May, but it's pretty predictable. The winds change and things get wetter. Often starts with a bang, but then settles down. July and August can be very nice months. September is normally quite wet, and then sometime in October (often after a final flourish of wetness) the winds change again.

The Northeast monsoon season features winds blowing from the North East - blowing across land bringing slightly cooler air (but it's still hot) and much less rain. Since Phuket's beaches are on the west coast, the waters are calm at this time of year, great for beach lovers! The season starts sometime in October, but the weather is most stable from November onwards - early season can still be a bit wet sometimes, every year is slightly different. Don't blame me if it rains. The nights can be cooler from November - February. We are just about in the Northern hemisphere, so this is actually winter. In the early morning, you often get really clear skies and temperatures can plummet as low as 24°C!





As you progress into March and April, things get hotter. These are the hottest months of the year, so the Songkran Festival on April 13th is a welcome relief. The period February - April is also (I think) the best time for scuba diving in Phuket. The winds have normally all but ceased by April, so days can be hot and windless, and anyone who says they don't like aircon is a liar!



The merry month of May arrives and the guessing game begins. When will the "Green Season" start again? The Green Season is a much nicer name than "Wet" season or "Low" season, don't you think? Phuket certainly looks much greener with a bit of rain and everyone starts praying for rain during the hottest months. Sometime in May the circle starts again. Another year passes. Another year over. A new one just begun.



For regular weather reports, weather links, forecasts, webcams, radar, satellite, wind forecasts, photos and much more, please do visit my Phuket Weather Blog!

• Jamie's Phuket Weather Blog
• Karon Beach Webcam
• Surin Beach Webcam
• Phuket Weather Radar
• Phuket Rainfall Averages

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Indigo Pearl Resort - Nai Yang Beach

The Indigo Pearl Hotel is something a bit special, which is what I look for when recommending hotels on Jamie's Phuket. I met the marketing manager a few months ago at a party and she was explaining to me how the decor and design is so special, with architecture inspired by Phuket's past, in particular the tin mining industry, which makes for some interesting decorations! The Indigo Pearl only opened last year, taking over the site of the old Pearl Village resort and creating something quite special. It's already established as one of the Top 10 hotels in Phuket.

I have mentioned before, that location is one of my main reasons for recommending hotels. If Indigo Pearl was in the middle of Patong Beach, I would not think so highly of it. But the Indigo Pearl is found on Nai Yang Beach near the airport (but you can't hear the planes) in the North of Phuket, seemingly a million miles from the more crowded tourist beaches further south.

The resort was designed by the Bangkok based architect Bill Bensley, whose philosophy on design is "the more odd, the better". He also says “We pride ourselves on our attention to every detail, from the architecture and gardens down to the napkin rings and signage". This reflects what the marketing manager told me - attention to detail is VERY important in a top class resort and I hate to say it, but... is often rather lacking in Thailand.

Indigo Pearl Resort - Booking & Reviews

• Indigo Pearl Resort Rates and Reservations at Agoda.com
• Indigo Pearl Hotel reviews


Indigo Pearl 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
• Thailand Hotel Booking at Agoda.com

Read More

Buddha Mountain and Restaurant "Nakkerd Seaview"

Buddha mountain (aka Khao Nakkerd) where the 45m high Big Buddha is being built has been mentioned on this blog a number of times and will probably crop up again. The work on the biggest Buddha image in Thailand is slowly continuing. As it stands, the basic construction is complete, but the whole image needs to be covered in white marble. The face is just about done, which leaves the enormous body. Since we first went up this hill some years ago, word has been spreading about the Big Buddha and the views from the top, and it's becoming more popular now. By the time it's complete, I imagine a climb up Buddha mountain will be on the itinerary of most tours. Even covered in scaffolding, it's an impressive sight!

 

For 100 Baht you can write your name on a piece of marble that will be used to cover the Buddha image. We did the same with a brick a couple of years ago. It's for good luck.



Nakkerd Seaview Restaurant

Almost at the top of the mountain, with a fabulous seaview over Karon Beach, is a tiny restaurant with friendly owners who (for the moment) are selling cheap tasty Thai food to anyone who cares to stop. We must go back for sunset one day... Yesterday we only stopped for a coke. There was a lovely cooling breeze blowing as we sat looking over the ocean... not sure, but surely this is the "highest restaurant in Phuket" ...? Long may it remain "our kind of place" - that means inexpensive, friendly and selling cold drinks with simple tasty food.







Read more about the Phuket Big Buddha:

• The Big Buddha of Phuket (2013 blog post)
• Hills and Viewpoints in Phuket

More quiet and friendly restaurants...

• The Beach Bar
• Bang Pae Seafood

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Bang Rong Floating Restaurant

This page was first written February 2008. Updated July 2012.

The east coast of Phuket is very, very different to the west coast. All the main tourist areas and beaches are found on the west coast, while large parts of the east coast are almost untouched by tourism. Much of the coastline is mangrove forest, with large areas of rubber plantations in the hills, along with shrimp farms, small fishing villages, quiet bays and some great views if you drive round the hilly back roads. If we're lost for something to do, we often just "go for a drive" and see what we can find. And so one day, must have been in 2005 or 2006, we found Bang Rong. Check the photo below. Yes, this is Phuket.



Bang Rong is a small Muslim community on the North East coast close to Bang Pae Waterfall and the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project. From Bang Rong Pier you can take a ferry to Koh Yao Noi, which we have done a few times.

The road down to the pier is easy enough to find, turn right off the main road at the mosque, about 1km north of the entrance to Bang Pae waterfall. There's a map at the bottom of the page. There's an entrance gate to the pier. If you are parking long term, like getting a ferry to Koh Yao Noi, then you have to pay. If you are just coming to eat, you do not have to pay. You might see monkeys in the mangroves or on the road near the pier, or they might come out to say hello. They can be a bit cheeky.





We've been here many times now, and we like the small family run floating restaurant (it's actually called Chum Chon restaurant, though we always just call it Bang Rong, after its location) reached by a wooden walkway through the mangroves.



I am happy to say that we'll be back here again to eat. It's remained a favourite spot for many years. It's quiet, it's relaxing and it's friendly. On our last visit in July 2012, we probably had not been for a year, but they remembered us. You can get seafood here, and I saw a huge plate of curried crab being carried to another table. We ordered simple fried rice with prawns, and fried chicken with garlic. They do the simple food very well. My wife says the fried rice is one of the best she's had. The chicken they did for the kids was great too. Tasted to good, I forgot to take a photo. Will have to go again soon and get some "food porn" photos!



Out back they keep the fish, either for sale in the restaurant or at market. The whole Bang Rong area is full of fishing folk who are only just starting to make any money from tourism. By the way, the owners are a Muslim family and they don't sell alcohol here, so don't come looking for a quiet place for a cold Singha!



I like to sit at our table and snap pictures of passing boats, heading up the mangrove channel. It's a different world here, a million miles from the tourist beaches and yet only about a 25 minute drive from our house.





There are some kayaks for rent, which you can paddle up into the mangroves. They have a deal with a couple of tour companies to include a quick paddle in the tour itinerary. Or you can just rent one (with or without a paddler, who will be one of the family running the restaurant). We did this a few years ago and have meant to do it again - see Kayaking in the Mangroves. I think the rental price for a kayak is 150 Baht/hour. It's a nice way to spend an hour.





As we were leaving the restaurant, a longtail boat was coming in from Koh Yao Noi. Every boatman has his "boy" (often a son or relative) to help with the boat. I watched them approach and tie up the boat through my 300mm zoom!







Bang Rong is one of our favourite quiet places to sit and relax. It's very peaceful here, just the odd longtail engine to disturb the silence. Makes a good day out combined with the waterfall, the gibbons, a kayak trip in the mangroves, maybe a visit to the Thalang National Museum which is also not far away.

Bang Rong - Location Map


View Bang Rong, Phuket in a larger map

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The Ninth Floor Restaurant (Patong)

The Ninth Floor is not the kind of restaurant we would normally visit, but last week we had a company meal and decided a fancy dinner was in order. We got a babysitter for the kids and were able to enjoy fine dining with views over the "lights of Patong"... Worth getting dressed up for! It's called the highest open air restaurant in Phuket, well kind of - there are huge ceiling high sliding windows that create an open air atmosphere.



OK, so here's a reason to visit Patong. The Ninth Floor was quite a treat, and we might just go back sometime soon! This is a lovely little restaurant, with top service, an extensive menu, a huge wine list, oh... and (I only found out when I got there, as it was not on the menu) they sell HofBrau beer - 190 Baht per bottle and worth every satang. I had several... and one for luck.

The food was great. I had an Australian Tenderloin Au Poivre, and I have to say the next day my taste buds were craving more of the same. Going back to Phad Thai was hard work. Another of our party had a very tasty looking Lamb Shank in a red wine sauce, oh and the starters were mouth watering too - I had Eggplant gratin, filled with feta cheese, chick peas and tomato au gratin with parmesan cheese. My wife had the smoked salmon. As I say, not the kind of food we normally eat. It's not a cheap place, but if you are coming from Europe or North America on holiday, it would not be an extravagant meal... a treat maybe, but not outrageous - see the menu on the Ninth Floor website for prices.



You can find The Ninth Floor on (yes, that's right) the 9th Floor of the Sky Inn Condotel in Patong, towards the North end of Ratuthid road (the main road through the center of Patong). Parking is a bit tight around the area. Reservations are recommended. Ask for a table by the window. Treat yourself.

• The Ninth Floor website
• More Phuket Restaurant Tips

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