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Wednesday, 20 February 2013

Old Town Festival 2013

Posted on 05:38 by Unknown
It was festival time last week in Phuket! Chinese New Year was on February 10th (welcome to the year of the snake!), and the Chalong Temple Fair was on from the 9th - 17th February. And at the weekend from Friday 15th - Sunday 17th February, it was the Phuket Old Town Festival which was taking place for the 14th time highlighting old Phuket Town as a place to visit, and featuring music, art, food and history. For sure Phuket has some nice beaches and lots of hotels and lots of tours, but Phuket tourism really only kicked off less than 30 years ago, and the real Phuket is easy to find if you get off the beach and explore! This years festival was way bigger than last year, with street stalls, stages, entertainers and crowds covering several square blocks of the old town on Thalang Road, Krabi Road, Phang Nga Road, Soi Romanee and more.

Krabi Road, Old Phuket Town

(above) Food stalls along Krabi Road on Sunday 17th February

We skipped the Friday events, as I was working until 6pm and rather annoyingly, a big festival procession was planned to start at 5pm. It's a shame that I miss things like this sometimes due to work. We could have gone later, but planned a few drinks with friends and anyway we knew that we'd be there on Saturday evening as our kids were signed up to perform on stage along with lots of others from their music school - they learn guitar. Pop and rock, not classical. So on Saturday afternoon we headed into town around 5pm before things got busy for a little wander before checking in at the big stage on the corner of Phang Nga Road and Phuket Road. Better get the kids something to nibble before they go on stage - and finding food during the festival was not hard. Food stalls everywhere!

Fresh Orange Juice

Thai sausages

Street dinner

We checked in at the stage and our kids little pop group was given number 20 in the line up. We figured that might mean a wait of about 90 minutes, but they were to be the 20th music act, this did not count dance groups and all the announcing in between. Our kids music teacher was also a bit frustrated by the end! He prefers something small scale with just "his" kids performing. Well, anyway, I figured that I had enough time for a walk up Phang Nga Road to find a cold beer and take some pictures ...

Street Art on Phang Nga Road

Roxy Pub

Phang Nga Road had a number of artists exhibiting or selling their talent. I was tempted to buy something, but really we don't have a place to put a huge painting like the one above. I found a cold Chang beer at the Roxy Pub which is a popular weekend hangout, one of many small bars and cafes in old Phuket Town. Thinking of a blog post about a "pub crawl" in town sometime soon! Well, I had a beer and wandered back up the road to the stage to see how things were progressing. All along the road, and indeed all over the old town, were street entertainers and performance artists such as these guys below ...

Street Entertainer

Street Entertainer / Statue

And the time ticked by ... we waited behind the stage with the clock tower across the street.

Phuket Town Clock Tower

And finally our kids got to perform one song (should have been 2, but later acts only got 1 darn it) on the stage in old town, well done kids! I am amazed at them going on stage with a crowd watching, very proud Dad. Then we could all take a little walk before heading home. This was around 10pm and the streets were packed! We were all tired, so planned to see more on Sunday.

Painted Faces

Street Entertainer

(above) Painted faces in Old Phuket Town on 16th February 2013

On Sunday 17th we headed to town again for a walk, to get some food, and I reckon it was even more crowded than Saturday! We did not get to town until nearly 8pm so the streets were already packed and finding a parking space anywhere near the old town was hard work! Walking in the crowds trying to take photos and not lose my wife and kids was a challenge at times. Again, there were performances, art and food everywhere along the roads, plus the several big stages set up too.

Busy streets in Old Phuket Town

After a hot day, nothing beats a "very cool beer" :

Very Cool Beer

We wandered up Thalang Road which we'd missed on Saturday. Thalang Road is kind of the heart of old town, and is nice for a walk any evening. We had hoped for some food at Kopitiam, a nice old style cafe, but it was absolutely packed, so we looked for street food instead. Just west of Kopitiam, Thalang Road becomes Krabi road and there were lots of food stalls. We also found a secondhand book stall where my daughter got an 'X-Factor' annual for 10 Baht and the boy chose a 'Captain Scarlet' annual, also 10 Baht... not sure he knows the history of Captain Scarlet though! Krabi road was also very busy ...

Krabi Road, Old Phuket Town

Strawberry Man

(above) Strawberries for sale on Krabi road

Khao Yam

(above) Khao Yam (south Thai rice salad) for sale

Back along Thalang Road, there were aspiring singers everywhere! Seems like any kid with a guitar could just show up and go for it! And some were drawing a crowd ...

Street Music

Street Music 2

We walked down a block to Phang Nga Road and there was some more serious music being played on a stage set up outside the old On On Hotel which has been closed for ages, undergoing renovations. Part of the festival was about history, Thai culture, local food etc... but here we have a rock band who were doing Guns 'n' Roses, Iron Maiden and UFO. We stopped to listen a while with our rock-star kids :)

Rock Music in Phuket Town

Lots of art on the streets. One guy was drawing a huge cartoon map of old Phuket Town and I really liked this giant cloth - great colour...

Street Art in Phuket Town

Street Art

With the streets still full of people, we had to head home, as of course the kids have school on Mondays, so a late night was not an option, and it was already nearly 10 o'clock, rather past their bedtime! Lots of fun, these local events, and the old town is a great place for a street festival. This is the side of Phuket I like, and really the raison d'etre of this blog. Beaches, nightlife, tours and hotels - yes, Phuket has plenty - but Phuket has so much more...

Related blog posts:

Kathu Street Culture Festival 2012
Abduls Roti Shop on Thalang Road
Old Phuket Town Getting a Face Lift
Phuket Indy Market
Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2012

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Tuesday, 12 February 2013

Laem Sai - An Unexplored Corner of Phuket

Posted on 07:39 by Unknown
It has been mentioned before, but I just want to say .. this blog is still very much a hobby, although it's been online since 2006. I work all week running a dive shop, take some holidays in the low season, and have a family too - sometimes the blog has to be put on the back burner. A normal high season week like we're having now is all about work, school, routine .. just like anyone else's normal life. We sometimes have days out at the weekend, but often the kids are doing activities like music or taekwondo so we often have days at home with maybe a lunch out somewhere. A tourist on holiday in Phuket for 2 weeks can see as much as we see in 3 months! And sometimes when I have a day off in high season, I'm tired and don't fancy exploring too much. Such was the case last Saturday. Kids did music, we did some cleaning and gardening and then I took an afternoon nap aided by a couple of cold beers. Around 3pm, my dear wife was getting bored. Let's go out? But where? Kids have taekwondo at 5pm, we can't do much ... She reminded me of something I had mentioned the week before. I'd been looking at Phuket on Google Earth and seen a coastal road on the northeast coast, a road that I was sure we'd never seen before. Phuket has a lot of small back roads which wind through rubber plantations, pineapple fields or shrimp farms. So we set off for a drive. Sometimes we do this .. just "go for a drive" and see where we end up!

So, we drove north, u-turned at the airport junction and turned off following the signs for Mission Hills Golf Resort, but turned onto a side road heading away from the resort. I was just following the map in my head .. not quite sure if we were on the right road, but soon enough realised that we had been this way before about 10 years ago! The road wound through farmland, rubber trees and a place called Laem Sai Garden Resort that I can barely find online. And then we were by the water. A new jetty has been built recently, so we thought we'd take a walk down to the end of the jetty.

Laem Sai Pier

Laem Sai, Phuket

We know some quiet areas of Phuket. Only a few km from Laem Sai to the south is Bang Rong, where you find a busy jetty, boats heading to Koh Yao Noi, and a floating restaurant. We consider that a quiet place. Laem Sai a different planet - it's almost totally untouched. No hotels, no big houses, no villa developments. Sure there's no beach either - the east coast of Phuket is largely mangroves and mud. And the land you can see off the jetty is actually Phang Nga province, not Phuket. A catamaran cruised by, free to roam the seas. I want a boat one day.

Laem Sai, Phuket

Not far from the new jetty is the old jetty and it's still being used by longtail boats. What a great view!

Laem Sai, Phuket

On afternoons like this we remember why we live here and stop moaning about too much work, too much housework, too many tests at school. I am happy to be out exploring just for a short while and happy to see our kids enjoying it too! Nice to find somewhere new. There is a small restaurant there - not sure of the name, or if it has a name! We'd already lunched and were not hanging around too long as we had to get back for taekwondo .. we'll try the restaurant another time.

Down at the end of the jetty, people were fishing ...

Laem Sai, Phuket

We then noticed that Laem Sai is right on the flight path of Phuket Airport - the end of the runway is only about 5km away. A couple of planes took off over our heads as we walked on the jetty.

Laem Sai, Phuket

This is one of the quietest places we've been in Phuket, and I was glad to (re)discover Laem Sai. Sometimes, you can just drive. See where the road leads. Phuket is so often slated at being too crowded, too touristy, too developed. This blog started with the idea to show the real Phuket and show that Phuket is so much more than tourism. I hope that has been shown by now!


Laem Sai - Location Map


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Thursday, 7 February 2013

Naowarat Restaurant in Phuket Town

Posted on 07:06 by Unknown
I think the blog makes it clear that I prefer good local food, local style rather than fancy food with descriptions in French and drizzles of sauce. I like food. Good, simple food. Now, partly this may be due to my upbringing, and I am happy that my wife totally agrees .. she knows what she likes and likes what she knows! While my tastes do change and I have temporary favourite dishes, I try to find restaurants that serve Thai food without fancy embellishments and don't ask me about "fusion" food, please. I also prefer to eat good local food that does not cost an arm and a leg. In Phuket you can find lots of fancy restaurants, the same ones seem to be listed on many websites. The kind of places where you are likely to spend 1000 - 1500 Baht per person, and yeh, I know some people have loads of money and like to eat fancy food, but is that food really better than what you can get at a much simpler restaurant? Certainly for Thai food... I have seen restaurants which have something on the menu like green curry, priced at 600 Baht! Would that be better than a 90 Baht green curry? Ha!

So anyway, we're not rich or fancy or even pretend-fancy. We like good food at a good price, preferably a restaurant with some style or history, friendly staff and hopefully a nice location! If our bill for 4 people approaches 1000 Baht, that's expensive. Sure, we don't order lobster and tiger prawns, but just about anything else goes and we often over-order and leave stuffed full having spent 600-800 Baht for the family. Those are the kind of restaurants you get on this blog. I often don't blog the really cheap local places that we kind of use as back-up when we can't be bothered to cook at home. In non-touristy areas you'll find plenty of small roadside restaurants or noodle shops where a family of 4 can eat for 200-300 Baht, and there are several of these that we often use within a couple of km of our house. The Naowarat restaurant is one that has become a favourite recently. We first ate there just a few months ago, as they were doing good vegetarian food during the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. Many restaurants in town are either closed or serve only vegetarian food during the festival, as most are owned by locals who will observe the correct diet during the festival. We have been back to Naowarat half a dozen times since, and now they serve all kinds of tasty food.

Many choices

It's a "ready food" restaurant, like the Thai equivalent of fast food. You see a lot of this kind of restaurant around, but some do look a bit lacking in the hygiene department, and I leave it up to my wife to decide which ones are clean enough! Naowarat is a good one, and has a great choice of meat dishes, fish, curries, vegetable dishes, some spicy, some not. We just ask for this and that (whatever looks good to you), along with a plate of rice per person, then find a table. I'm not sure of opening hours. We only ever go in the evening for dinner.

Restaurant in Phuket Town

(above) Ordering dinner. I'll have one of those and one of those, please. And rice.

By the way, no beer or coke here, just iced water with your food. Plates will all be on the table in a couple of minutes. If anyone does actually read this and eat here, order a few things, test your taste buds! It's going to cost you 35 - 60 Baht per plate depending what you order and 10 Baht for rice. I love "Pla Pad Pet", a spicy fish dish, and my wife says the "Gaeng Som" is great - that's a really typical south Thai style curry. Our daughter is now eating the spicy stuff too, she's also on the gaeng som, and our son loves Kai Palo, a dish made of eggs and pork with a non-spicy sauce.

Our table

(above) Some of our food - we were with another family on that day, altogether 4 adults and 5 kids and the bill was just over 600 Baht. My favourite fish is in the middle of the table there next to some tasty fried veg that was so good our friend's healthy son asked for another plate. The restaurant is built into an old shophouse with all kind of decorations around, a display case full of amulets, Buddha images, photos of kings, it's a bit of a treasure trove in there!

Old decor in the old restaurant in Phuket Town

The ladies who run the place are always smiling and always seem to have friends round for a chat. It's an old local restaurant which has plenty of regulars, the food has always been tasty and as you can judge the food from the photo below .. all the plates are empty as we are leaving! All finished! And the owner always has time for a laugh and a chat. Phuket Town is the place to be for good local food!

A laugh


Naowarat Restaurant - Location Map


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Wednesday, 30 January 2013

Markets in Phuket

Posted on 08:40 by Unknown
Before coming to Thailand, I traveled quite a lot in Africa plus North, Central and South America. Aside from such things as diving, local tourist attractions, food, drink, beaches, mountains, festivals and enjoying the company of other travelers and locals, I always enjoyed finding local markets. I would go out of my way if I heard of an interesting market. A market is a great place to sample real local life, no matter where you are. The market is the center of the town or village, and despite the arrival of many big shopping centers in Phuket over the last 12 years, the local markets here are still busy. There may be big stores like Tesco Lotus, Makro, Big C, Supercheap and many minimart style shops like 7-11, but the market (Talad) is still the place to get fresh local produce, or a place to hang out and meet people. Phuket is a bigger place than most people realise and there are countless small local markets. I have blogged a number of interesting markets and plan to do more, since (for me) a market is an essential part of life in the local community. Here's some of Phuket's markets...

The Weekend Market

Weekend Market Phuket

Probably the market that most tourists will visit is the weekend market just outside Phuket Town. Locals call it Talad Naka (since it's close to Naka Temple) or Talad Jatujak Phuket (after the huge Jatujak market in Bangkok - the market in Phuket is much smaller!). It's held on Saturday and Sunday starting in the mid afternoon, carrying on until about 11pm. Best time to go, a bit before sunset. It is quite big and once you are in the maze of stalls, easy to be not quite sure which way to go! Lots of food stalls selling all kind of snacks and drinks, lots of clothes, arts and crafts, DVD's/CD's, plants, pets, mobile phone accessories, and it's great for people watching.

• Phuket Weekend Market - More Information


Phuket Town Main Market

Phuket Town Market

The main market in town is a very busy place! It reopened in 2010 in a new building on Ranong Road in the old town area. The old market was .... old. And smelly. I never went inside! But the new market is well worth a visit. The streets all around the market are also a market, it's a very busy area and is also where you can get local buses to destinations all around the island.

• Phuket Town Market - More Information


Kathu Fresh Market

Roti (Pancake) stall

Kathu is my area. The main market is big and seems to have got busier over the years even though the main Tesco store is only a few km away and Tesco even opened a mini store in the area. Kathu is the area between Patong and Phuket Town and is a mainly residential area but with quite a lot of history as the tin mining industry was centered here in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The market is on daily, all day. It's a fresh produce market with stalls selling fish, shrimp, meat, vegetables, chili paste, eggs, flowers, ready made meals and a lot more! Nice to visit early evening, get some food from one of the many food stalls and watch the world go by.

• Kathu Market - More Information


Karon Temple Market

Jewelry at Karon temple market

A very easy to visit market if you stay near Karon beach ... the Karon temple market takes place in the temple grounds on Tuesdays and Saturdays in the late afternoon/evening. It's a mix of fresh produce, snacks and food, clothes and a few tourist-aimed stalls selling sunglasses or swimwear. It's the main local market in Karon. There's another market a couple of miles away in Kata on the back road away from the beach.

• Karon Temple Market - More Information


Phuket Town Indy Market

Phuket Indy Market (หลาดปล่อยของ)

The Indy Market near the old section of Phuket town only started in 2010, meant as a place for kids/teenagers to hang out in a safe, smoke free environment. It's not huge, most of the stalls sell arty items and clothes and there's some food and drink stalls too. It is indeed very popular with the youngsters. There is often live music too. The Indy Market takes place on Thursday and Friday evenings (so does not clash with the Saturday/Sunday weekend market). Certainly worth a visit combined with dinner or drinks in Phuket Town. I've heard there is now a similar market on Wednesdays at a place called Boat Plaza, a new development just north of Phuket Town.

• Indy Market - More Information


Expo Market

Expo Market in Phuket Town

We have used the Expo market quite a lot, bought shirts, pants, Thai souvenirs, computer games. It's an aircon indoor market, open every day near the center of Phuket Town. It's not been mentioned on the blog, but a good place for clothes.


Local Markets

Phuket covers an area of over 500 square km, and there are many local areas and small villages within Phuket, and all have some kind of market. Try looking for fresh seafood at Rawai beach, or check out the big Banzaan fresh market in Patong near the Jungceylon shopping mall - and there's another market in Patong on Nanai road (the back road). Oh and the touristy "OTOP" market. I drive past a small market in the Chalong area every day and there are regular local markets in the Bang Rong and Cherng Talay areas of Phuket. All over the island! Worth a look at any market for a taste of the real Phuket, to pick up some snacks or fruit and see something away from the organised tourist route.

Phuket Markets - Location Map


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Wednesday, 16 January 2013

Wat Manee Sri Mahathat (วัดมณีศรีมหาธาตุ)

Posted on 08:45 by Unknown
Another post from the land beyond the island of Phuket, the "mainland" which of course can be reached by car, over the bridge. This I like about Phuket .. it is geologically an island, it is a separate province of Thailand, but there's a bridge so you don't need to rely on ferries or flights. We like to drive over to Phang Nga province, and we've had quite a few trips in the last year exploring in that direction. This post is about a temple called Wat Manee Sri Mahathat, which we have driven past many times and finally stopped to visit one day last year. Anyone who has driven from Phuket to Phang Nga or Krabi (same road) may have noticed this temple...

Wat Manee Sri Mahathat

Wat Manee Sri Mahatat

It's kind of unmissable with the huge black statue of a monk right by the main road. I've watched this temple being built - construction started about 10 years ago and was finished about 2 years ago, something like that. We have driven up and down that road many times, watching the temple grow. It's one of those places that we always say "we'll stop on the way back" or "we'll stop next time", so I was glad to finally pay a visit. The big statue is a well known monk - his name is Por Than Klai, famous in south Thailand, it was said that he could predict the future and he was a favorite monk of the King. He died in 1970.

Wat Manee Sri Mahathat

Quite an impressive statue. When we stopped there were just a few visitors. Aside from the big statue, there is a beautiful main temple building ("bot") - certainly looks freshly built!

Wat Manee Sri Mahathat

On the day we stopped here, we were actually en route to another temple called Wat Bang Riang, which is past Phang Nga Town. Between Wat Manee Sri Mahathat and Phang Nga is another temple well worth visiting - Wat Suwan Kuha, built into a cave. Plenty to see around here! Making a day trip out of this can also include the Sanang Manora Forest Park, and maybe lunch at Tha Sai Seafood.

Wat Manee Sri Mahathat

Our kids were with us too of course. When people ask me "what can we do with kids in Phuket?" I say this .. do whatever you want, but keep it a bit fun or make sure they learn something. And now and then do something "for the kids". Visit a temple, why not? If you are from England, Sweden, South Africa, Canada .. whatever, your kids I guess will not have seen a Buddhist temple before. So it will be something new and interesting. Lighting some incense and rubbing gold leaf on a statue - do it!

Wat Manee Sri Mahathat

Another building is airconditioned and contains wax statues of several monks. My wife is saying prayers below in front of an image of Luang Pu Thuat (หลวงปู่ทวด) who lived several hundred years ago and is revered throughout Thailand. After one visit here, my wife wants to come with her family sometime.

Wat Manee Sri Mahathat

Wat Manee Sri Mahathat - Location Map


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Wednesday, 9 January 2013

Rang Hill (Khao Rang) in Phuket Town

Posted on 05:17 by Unknown
Rang Hill (Khao Rang) is found on the north side of Phuket Town and is a popular gathering place for locals in the evenings or at weekends and quite a lot of tours take a quick drive up here too. There are 3 different roads up to the top from the south and east sides of the hill (check the map at the end of the page). The main route starts on Mae Luan road next to the Rang Hill Dental Clinic (which we use!). There's a big sign at the corner saying "Khao Rang". The road is shady and well kept. You pass a restaurant called Phuket View on the way up - must try it one day! And finally reach a parking area with a little park in the center at the top of the hill. It is walkable, though a hot walk of about a mile from the bottom. It's not one of Phuket's highest hills, the top is about 140m above sea level, compared to nearby Monkey Hill about 270m high (the one with all the aerials on top) and Phuket's high point is well over 500m above sea level.

Rang Hill (Khao Rang) Sunset

(above) View from Rang Hill looking Southwest to Chalong - and you can just see the hill with the Big Buddha on the far right of the photo. From the main viewpoint you can't see much of Phuket Town which is mostly to the Southeast of the hill. But the view to the west and south is nice with all the hills. Not a spectacular view, but pleasant, and since there's a carpark and place to eat, people come.

Rang Hill Panorama

You'll often see couples sitting together quietly enjoying each other's company and the fresh air and trying to ignore the minibus full of Aussies who just arrived.

Couple on Rang Hill

Rang Hill Viewpoint

(above) A couple and (maybe) some Aussies enjoy the view at Rang Hill

One of the other routes up the hill starts at a small turning just south of the Vachira Hospital, and passes a hard-to-find temple, called (yes) Wat Khao Rang. I'd never seen this temple until January 2012, it had somehow eluded me and is well worth a visit. A 3rd route starts on a side road near the Bangkok Phuket Hospital, passing the Dairy Hut restaurant and the Royal Spa.

The "Other" Phuket Big Buddha

(above) Big Buddha at Wat Khao Rang

There's a well known restaurant (Tunk Ka Cafe) on the top, which is a real Phuket legend, it's been there since before the days of tourism. Easy enough to find, bit of a walk downhill on some steps made from old railway sleepers which must have come from some distance away as there's no railways in Phuket! They do great iced coffee and have a menu of local food, not that expensive and great view from there too. Nice in the evening with the lights spread out below.

Ice Coffee at Tunk Ka

There's a newer restaurant at the top too - Khao Rang Breeze. More expensive, I have not eaten there, I prefer funky to fancy and so does my wallet. They do have a great toilet there ....

Auuuu!

(above) sign for the toilet at Khao Rang Breeze

Statue of Korsimbi Na Ranong

This statue is in the park at Rang Hill. His name is Ratsada Korsimbi Na Ranong, and he was governor of Phuket around the turn of the 20th century. He did a lot to advance Phuket, especially modernizing the tin mining industry, building the Bang Yai canal through Phuket Town, and bringing the rubber industry into Phuket on a large scale. That's today's history lesson. With tin and rubber, Phuket was already quite a wealthy place before any tourists came here.

Family at Rang Hill

That's my wife and kids enjoying the view just around sunset from Rang Hill. We've been up here countless times and while you get more spectacular views from the Big Buddha or from Phromthep Cape, Rang Hill is a nice place to stop if exploring around Phuket Town, which I often do!

Rang Hill - Location Map


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Saturday, 5 January 2013

Dairy Hut Seafood Restaurant, Phang Nga

Posted on 07:00 by Unknown
Happy New Year 2013 (or 2556 here in Thailand, we're way ahead)! This is the first blog post of 2013, and it's a restaurant we tried on January 1st. From our house near Phuket Town we can normally drive over the Sarasin bridge in about 45 minutes and over the bridge is Phang Nga province which we are exploring more and more in the last couple of years. I need to make a new blog post about Phang Nga linking to all the posts on the blog that involve a trip over the bridge. On January 1st we headed out for a new year lunch, and Dairy Hut Seafood was the target. We'd seen it opened sometime last year, a new branch of the Dairy Hut restaurant in Phuket Town, which is one of our regular places.

From the bridge, its about 40 minutes to Phang Nga Town and there are places to visit on the way such as Wat Suwan Kuha, a temple built in a cave, and Wat Manee Sri Mahathat, which is right by the road, featuring a huge black statue of a monk - I'll blog about this temple soon. Just before Phang Nga town, there's a junction - the road goes straight to town and right towards Krabi, and this is also the way to Surat Thani and the east coast of Thailand. Less than 1km down this road is a PTT gasoline station on the right, and 2km later on the left is Dairy Hut Seafood. Easy to spot.

Dairy Hut Phang Nga Restaurant

It certainly looks like a newly opened restaurant - all very clean, freshly painted and with carefully tended grounds. And of course on January 1st it was quite full. A lot of cars parked and I was worried we'd not get a table! But it's bigger than it looks, and there's lots of outdoor (shaded) seating. Great location. Near the road, but it's not noisy, right next to a jungly mountain and a lake, and here's the view on the other side of the road...

Dairy Hut View Across the Road

I liked the place right away, and I am sure we'll eat there again. Seating was comfortable, and we had a lake view from our table. The menu is big, and it would be easy to over-order! We ended up spending about 900 Baht for 4 people (yeh, 2 of the people are kids, but I tell you our kids eat a lot!). Price will depend what you order of course, as you can get lobster and big prawns or mantis shrimp, these cost more and are priced per kilo. We ordered half a dozen dishes and by the end we were stuffed, the food was not finished and we asked for a doggy bag!

The view from our table. Cheers! Happy New Year!

Cheers! At Dairy Hut Seafood, Phang Nga

So, what did we eat? First, I ordered 'Yam Pla Duk Foo' which is fried catfish salad, and a favourite dish of mine. I often head straight for the Thai Spicy Salad section of the menu. I like Yam Tua Pu (wingbean salad), Yam Gung Seab (dried shrimp salad), Yam Ta Krai (lemongrass salad) and more. The plate of Pla Duk Foo here was big. It comes with a mango salad with cashews and chili. Delicious!

Pla Duk Foo

Salad - Part of Yam Pla Duk Foo

I'm hungry just looking at that. Also had a fried fish dish, my daughter had some spaghetti carbonara, we also had some chicken with garlic and a big beef and vegetable hotplate. Everything was tasty though the spaghetti looked more like noodles and my daughter said they do it better at Dairy Hut in Phuket.

Beef Hotplate

Dairy Hut Food

This restaurant is certainly aimed at Thai people who want a nice, but not expensive, meal out. You can tell a lot by looking at the other guests, and the licence plates on the cars in the car park .. a lot were from Phuket. I did see 2 other non-Thai customers, both I guess were foreign residents like me, eating out with the family. Now of course a restaurant like this is not a place you're likely to visit for lunch if you stay in Kata beach. It would be a 2 hour drive, and you'd not want to get a taxi for a ride like that, would cost more than the food. If you stayed in the north of Phuket, or rented a car and went exploring in Phang Nga, a great place to stop and eat for sure, or try Tha Sai Seafood, a bit further away from Phuket, or Samchong Seafood, a bit closer. All in Phang Nga. Just over the bridge from Phuket island ...

Dairy Hut Seafood - Location Map


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  • What to do in Phuket with Kids
    This blog post has been rolling around my head for a while. But it's hard to know where to start. I think Phuket is a great place for ki...
  • Hike from Karon Beach to the Big Buddha
    The Big Buddha is now a much visited tourist attraction in Phuket, even though it's not finished. We have been going up the hill for man...
  • Vegetarian Festival 2008 Photos in Phuket Town
    So, on Monday after getting up early and seeing the piercing at Kathu Shrine, and heading out of Kathu Village with the procession (see Vege...
  • Phuket Orchid Resort - Karon Beach
    The Phuket Orchid Resort is located at Karon Beach, the entrance is on Luang Poh Chuang Road (also called Karon Bangla Road) about 2 minutes...
  • The weather in Phuket
    New! On May 25th 2006 I started a new blog: • My Phuket Weather Blog Actually, I'm not sure how hot it is outside today, as I am in an a...
  • 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 ful...
  • Phuket News, Events, Weather and stuff
    Latest Phuket News (update 2011) Follow me on Twitter! I will post news, views, blog updates, weather, lots of Phuket related information. ...
  • The Siam Niramit Show
    The Siam Niramit Phuket cultural show opened in December 2011, located just outside Phuket Town, and not too far from our house. I must have...
  • Amari Coral Beach Resort - Patong Beach Phuket
    Amari Coral Beach Resort is rated as the Number 1 hotel in Patong Beach on TripAdvisor, which means it should be in my Top 10 Phuket Hotels ...
  • 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...

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