The Phuket Blog - Best of 2011 (Part 2)

Continuing swiftly on from the Best of the Phuket Blog Part 1 (January - June) .. here's the best bits from the second half of 2011. I enjoyed 2011 - we had some very nice days out, our kids are growing up and learning about life every day. We had holidays with my Mum and Dad here in September / October. And I've had no trouble finding new places to blog about, although I have also "reblogged" a few things that were originally on the Phuket blog back in 2006 or 2007, mainly to keep everything current, also to add new photos, as some of the older blog posts don't have great images. I am still using a Canon EOS 20D, which is quite old, and will most likely be upgraded this year. Bring on 2012!

July 2011... A very good blogging month. Starting with a favourite little restaurant in Phuket called Kopitiam located on Thalang Road in the old town. They do good old style coffee (Kopi) and Chinese-Thai food like Hokkien noodles and the restaurant is full of old photos of Phuket. The Chinese connection continued - I blogged about the big Chinese shrine at Thau Reua, close to the Heroines Monument - most tourists will drive past this shrine on the way from the airport to the main beach areas. It was being built when I first arrived in Phuket in 1999. It was only completed in 2010 .. and this was the first time I had looked inside!



We found a new restaurant in July called Yellow Door, on the north side of Phuket Town and we've been several times since. And then on the weekend of 15th - 17th July was the 3rd annual Kathu Village Festival - a street fair with a great street procession on the first evening. We live in Kathu and I really like the area. Some superb costumes in the procession ...



I have friends in Phuket who are involved in all kinds of businesses. I wrote in July about a couple of friend's places... If you want to book a tour, hire a car, charter a boat, visit Phi Phi, just about anything - contact Diego or Ingo at Easy Day Thailand! And if you want Yoga classes, go and see Becky and The Little Yoga Room!

August - it's low season and one thing I love is that the evenings are longer - sunset is 30 minutes later than January, it just makes the day more relaxed for me. I had the chance to visit places after work, catch the sunset, take in some views. The viewpoint by the wind turbine in between Naiharn and Ya Nui beaches is great, and when I visited in August someone was paragliding too! The weather in low season is mixed but can often be like this ...



Also in August, another first - I had heard about the Por Tor festival (Hungry Ghost Festival) but never had a look before... another WoW! Very much enjoyed this - something very different for me, for the whole family in fact. It's a very local festival based around a small Chinese shrine in Phuket Town. Huge red turtle cakes are made as offerings.



The blog, being over 5 years old, is a little ragged in places.. can be hard to find some posts, so I wrote a couple of things to tie up some blog pages in neat packages - Phuket Museums and Phuket Waterfalls. In September, I realised that despite working for many years at Karon Beach, I had never stopped at the Karon Temple Market which takes place every Tuesday and Saturday evening. I have to make more of an effort! Hey, the Chalong Temple fair is coming up soon 23 - 29 January 2012 - I will be stopping there to get some new photos for sure. From local markets to new resorts, I actually got invited to the opening party of the Holiday Inn Mai Khao Beach, they obviously think I am a full time blogger with lots of spare time! Could not make the party, but did blog about the resort.

On another sunny evening, I visited the Nai Harn Temple for the first time. It's a stones throw from the beach. As the evening sun bathed the temple in light, Monks chanted inside. A spiritual experience? Well, a photo op for sure!



The 2011 Phuket Vegetarian Festival started on September 26th - my favourite Phuket event! The history and the traditions and the bizarre piercings and all the firecrackers - love it! The next 6 blog posts in September and October were all about the festival and it's many ceremonies. We attended the opening ceremony at Kathu Shrine - raising the Go Teng pole for the Gods to descend. We went back at midnight too. First time I'd done that.



The festival lasts 10 days. Best 10 days of the year! A few days after the start we investigated the "Birth and Death Gods" procession in Kathu village, and during the festival we also saw early-morning face piercing at Sam Kong Shrine, a big street parade in Phuket Town from the Bang Neow Shrine, we were at our "local" Kathu shrine early morning for more face piercing. And we were back at Kathu on the last night of the festival for the bridge crossing ceremony which seemed to attract the whole local population! A few photos from the vegetarian festival ...







Early October was a busy time for photos! Mum and Dad here for holidays and I took some time off work, we were out most days, though the weather was not very kind - most of the blog posts from October right into December were based on things we did during the holidays - we investigated quite a lot of new restaurants such as Thanoon Seafood, next to the Sarasin Bridge between Phuket and Phang Nga. And also the restaurant at Cape Phromthep, which somehow we had never tried before in all these years .. what a view!



We also ate at Kin Dee Restaurant in the north of Phuket and I blogged about the floating restaurants at Coconut Island. We had been busy bees on holiday and I was glad to have a backlog of new things to blog - once I was back at work, things were busy! We visited the old Chinese mansion in Phuket Town called Chinpracha House, open to the public for taste of early 20th century Phuket life. Nice to be on holiday! Another day we headed to the south of Phuket and visited Rawai Beach and Ya Nui Beach.





(above) Fishermen making a fish trap at Rawai beach - and my Mum at Ya Nui beach :)

December 2011 - new pages on the blog included the very good Thai Hua Phuket History Museum and the new bridge from Phuket to Phang Nga that you can walk across - quite a popular new exercise area for local people. And the year comes to an end ... already a couple of new places ready to blog :) I have less time at this time of year, high season and the dive shop is busy. A day off is more likely to be relaxing at home, not driving and exploring Phuket! Thanks for reading the Phuket Blog ... much more to come! Please do join the Facebook Page, please do keep reading! The photo below was taken yesterday. Not blogged yet!



And as we enter 2012, here's a photo I took on New Years Eve. We (meaning my family) avoided the crowds and had a NYE dinner at a small restaurant by the beach in a less touristy area. The whole idea of the Phuket Blog was to show Phuket in a different light, hope that is still obvious, hope it will continue through 2012.



Happy New Year from Phuket!

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Jamie's Phuket - Best of the Blog 2011 (Part 1)

Happy New Year! Yes it's 2012 or, as we say in Thailand, 2555. Both calendars are used here, with the Buddhist date being used for a lot of official business. By the end of 2012, I will have been in Thailand for 13 years, and in April this blog will be 6 years old. I am happy to say that even after doing this Phuket weblog for so long, there were plenty of new experiences in 2011. I just want to repeat - this blog is not the usual tourist website talking about the golden sands, the swaying palms, the exotic seafood, the naughty nightlife ... the blog is still very much personal and based on things that I do with the family or alone. I very much enjoyed 2011, and rather hope that Mayan forecasts are incorrect. I'd like to enjoy all of 2012 too and plenty more of the 21st century!

2011 started with January. We don't normally do too much in January - it's peak season, I am working a lot and the kids are in school. I wrote a Top 10 Phuket Hotels page which will need updating soon. We tried a new restaurant called Peang Prai, near Bang Pae Waterfall, and I also wrote about Kathu Waterfall which is only a few miles from our house and the excellent Phuket Mining Museum.



February is another busy month for Phuket, and the kids are still at school - days out are limited, no holidays ... but the school arranged a special trip to Phuket Fantasea which we very much enjoyed. Sure its the biggest tourist attraction in Phuket, and I had been avoiding it for that reason. Now converted - it's actually very good! The great weather in February was good for views. I got some nice photos at the Karon Viewpoint and we had a nice family walk up Monkey Hill in Phuket Town.



I realised in March that I should write something about my actual full-time job, as manager of a dive center! So here it is : Diving Phuket with Sunrise Divers! It was a month for putting some order into the blog too, so I wrote 3 pages about hotels - Kata Beach Hotels, Karon Beach Hotels and Patong Beach Hotels. Was a month of work and not much else. Kids finished school in mid March and they went with my wife to stay with her family in Chumphon.

In April, another first! Well, I had been to Phromthep Cape plenty of times but somehow had never hiked down the path to the very end of Phuket. Now done - Phromthep Cape - The End of Phuket!



My dear wife came back from Chumphon and we changed plans a bit. I had always been in Phuket for the Songkran festival, but in 2011 we drove from Phuket to Chumphon on the night of 12th April, arriving after midnight, ready for the celebrations on the 13th! It was very nice to share Songkran with the family - see here : Songkran 2011 in Chumphon. We all came back to Phuket and had one of the best family days out of the year, taking a ferry over to Koh Yao Noi island and hiring a couple of scooters. Will do it again sometime for sure.



(above) Songkran in Chumphon



(above) Koh Yao Noi by Moped!

In early May we had a long weekend away to Khao Sok National Park, and on the way back we "discovered" Sri Phang Nga National Park, forests and waterfalls, another place which is now on our "Go Back To" list!



Food and drink in May ... I finally blogged the After Beach Bar which is like a Phuket legend, built on the hillside just south of Kata beach, great seaviews, great sunsets, guaranteed Bob Marley sounds... Also "reblogged" a restaurant called Bang Pae Seafood, which is on the Northeast coast of Phuket a million miles from the main tourist beaches. It was one of the first restaurants I had blogged in 2006 and needed an update, as do quite a few of the older posts on the Phuket weblog...



(above) The After Beach Bar

We reach June, halfway through 2011 .. and at this point I realise that the "Best of 2011" will need 2 parts! In June I wrote a blog page about my wife's home town, Chumphon, where we had celebrated Songkran. Might be our home one day too! Back in Phuket ... June is low season and there's more time to relax. We enjoyed a Walk in Old Phuket Town (actually I enjoy walking there any time!), and I found time to actually stop at the Heroines Monument which is seen by most visitors to Phuket - I had never actually stopped there before.



(above) Thalang Road - old buildings with new cars



(above) The Heroines of Phuket - the statue is in the middle of a traffic circle on the main road south from the airport.

And then.. also in June, some more fun for the kids! We had a day out to the Splash Jungle Waterpark located north of the airport. Kids loved it (so did Mum and Dad actually) and despite the high price I guess we'll go again sometime. Some days we do things "for dad" or "for the blog", and some days it's for the kids, and sometimes they match!



(above) The Super Bowl at Splash Jungle Waterpark

Continued at ..... Best of the Phuket Blog 2011 Part II (July - December)

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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.



Phuket Museums - Google Maps


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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).

 


The Kee Resort and Spa - Booking & Information Links

• The Kee Resort and Spa - Rates and Reservations @ Agoda.com
• The Kee Resort and Spa - Reviews


Phuket Hotels - More Information & Online Booking

• More Phuket Hotel Suggestions
• Top 10 Phuket Hotels
• Phuket Hotel Reservations at Agoda.com
• Thailand Hotel Booking at Agoda.com

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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 :)

Floating Restaurants - Location Map


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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 ...



Sarasin Bridge - Location Map


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