Nguan Choon Tong Herb Shop in Phuket Town

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



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



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





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



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



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



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

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Sikh Temple (Gurdwara) in Phuket Town

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



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

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



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



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



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



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

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



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

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Green Forest Restaurant

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



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



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





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



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

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





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

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Phuket Seashell Museum

I had a free day last weekend, with some vague plans to try some new places. After lunch at a restaurant on Monkey Hill in Phuket town, and a little walk in town visiting a Hindu temple and a Sikh temple, I drove down towards Rawai beach on a hot sunny afternoon. On the main road from Chalong to Rawai, not far from the beach, on the right side is a place that I have probably driven past 500 times... the Phuket Seashell Museum. I'd really not given much thought to visiting before, because it's a "tourist attraction" and I'm not a tourist! I had a feeling it might be a complete waste of effort, but on a free day, and the entry fee is only 200 Baht... I thought "what the hell" and went to have a look.



You may see on the sign .. it's a museum and shop. I did not look at the shop, but I am sure people can find something worth buying! I just paid my 200 Baht and headed downstairs into the air conditioned underground display room. It was not a busy afternoon, just one minibus load of tourists (from Singapore, I think) in there. So I started wandering around. There are arrows painted on the floor to guide you on a path around all the displays. Not sure anyone follows the arrows. I only noticed them after about 10 minutes!





It's not a huge place. If you had minimal interest in shells and the natural world you might wander around in 10 minutes. But hey, guess what? This is a museum, and I found all the displays to be well labeled with lots of information. You can actually learn something here! The museum opened way back in 1997, showcasing the collection of Somnuek Patamakanthin and his son Somwang . As a diver, I certainly have an interest in the wonderful world of nature. The variety of shells on display here is quite wonderful. Well done to these guys for getting this together. I can just imagine them starting out on the beach in Rawai picking up shells, finding new ones ... the museum is now looked after by Somnuek's brother Somchai.



The collection has grown well beyond local Phuket shells. There are rare black cowry shells from New Caledonia, shells from Europe and more. Fossils too, I guess that Khun Somchai has spent some serious money to get some of these items here!





So there we go again! I think I'll take the kids to the Phuket seashell museum sometime soon, they enjoy walking along the beach picking up shells. My daughter especially. She's always picking up pretty shells.



I'd like her to find a 140 carat golden pearl! One of the "star" attractions at the Phuket seashell museum is a quite large, I suppose you could call it golden, not orangey/yellow? Pearl. It is apparently worth lots of money like tens of thousands of whatever. I did not see any specific security around it. But if you are the kind of person who appreciates pearls and jewels, then this big golden pearl might be something you'd gladly stare at for hours...



As far as I know, the Phuket seashell museum is open every day from dawn til dusk or something. I mean, you can't visit at 6am or 9pm, but during the day it's open and I think I will be back soon with the kids. Some of the "tourist attractions" in Phuket are worth a visit, even for cynics! I've been here since 1999, and the Phuket seashell museum has been open all that time... only took 12 years to visit!

• Hotels in the Rawai Beach area
• Phuket hotel information


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Sa Nang Manora Forest Park, Phang Nga

On our little exploratory drive around Phang Nga a couple of weeks ago, as well s visiting the very interesting Wat Thamtapan temple and eating good food with a great view at Tha Sai Seafood, we also stopped for a little walk at Sa Nang Manora Forest Park which had been recommended by friends. Since we were already in Phang Nga town checking out the temple, we thought "well, why not?" and headed out of town on the road north (which incidentally I'd like to follow further one day). Sa Nang Manora is only about 5 kilometers from Phang Nga town, then another couple of km down a side road to the right. Entry appears to be free. On this hot Saturday, there were only a few cars and a couple of local songthaew buses parked at the entrance.





It's very "jungly" with some big trees and lots of vines hanging down. A 2km nature trail is shown on a sign with such features as "Bat Cave" and "Shell Cave" marked. We did not walk 2km.. maybe next time! We just walked a way through the trees to find some pools and waterfalls.



And we will come back for sure, next time with swimming clothes and towels, for the nicest part of this forest park is the series of small waterfalls and pools, ideal for a swim on a hot, hot day. We'd not anticipated a waterfall that day, so did not have any swimming things with us. All we could do was paddle in the cool, cool water.



The waterfalls are nothing spectacular, but combined with the jungle setting, the lack of crowds, the peace and quiet, it's a little slice of paradise. Note to self : next time bring swimming clothes, towels ... and a picnic.





I like to get the kids out and about. They come with us wherever we go, exploring Phuket and the surrounding area. There's more to be learned than can be found in school books. They got plenty on this particular day - caves, waterfalls, a very weird temple, lots of great scenery ... a nice family day out. Here they are, posing on a fallen tree with their Mum's cousin (once removed). He's an army ranger and was having a short break staying with us before being shipped back to the restless south.



And there's more I want to see in the Phang Nga area such as the fishing village at Bang Pat, a temple called Wat Bang Riang, and Raman waterfall park which is close to the temple in a cave at Wat Suwan Kuha. I do love days like this with the family when we just drive off and explore, always seem to find something unexpected.

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Wat Thamtapan, Phang Nga

I know the blog is called "Jamie's Phuket" but the blog is not always limited to only things in Phuket province / on Phuket island. A day trip exploring in Phang Nga is easy enough. Phang Nga province is where you find yourself on the north side of the Sarasin Bridge. And we like Phang Nga, you can find a lot to do here, such as exploring Phang Nga Bay, including James Bond Island and Koh Panyee. A couple of weeks ago, we headed north towards Phang Nga Town. I had never ever stopped in Phang Nga Town because normally we drive towards Krabi and the east coast, and the junction where you turn off is just before the town. I wanted to drive through town and visit Wat Thamtapan, which I'd seen on Cathy and Gary's website (see here). The town is quite small, I was hoping for something like an "old town", but there was not so much to see. We stopped at Phung Chang Cave which was interesting, and then on to Wat Thamtapan, which was easy enough to find on a side street called Soi Thamtapan. This temple is a little different ...





I'm sure there's a Buddha somewhere, but the temple grounds are full of bizarre statues. And this is just the start. Hard to know where to look. We knew that there was a "hell" section to the temple, but first we saw a stairway leading up into the jungle, so we followed that, passing a statue of Lakshmi on a crocodile on the way. Well, why not?



And then we climbed up, and up, and up. A rather steep stairway, I nearly stepped on a snake. We had no idea where the stairs would lead! Well, it must have been built for something. Through the trees we climbed, until we reached a shrine with a great view across the town of Phang Nga.



Heading back down .. it really was steep!



And then, hell. Enter through the dragon's mouth. You then walk about 50 meters through the dragon, descending all the time. To hell.



As you exit from the dragon, statues show people seemingly praying to be spared the punishment. The Buddhist "hell" is called "Narok" in Thai. My kids cottoned on to the meaning pretty fast when we saw some of the statues. They decided quite fast that they should "Be good, for goodness sake". Or end up like these poor folks.







Not really something for kids, but, hey, call me a modern parent! Our daughter (age 10) was interested. Our son (age 7) was traumatised a bit worried. So, be good!

There is also a pretty big cave here, near the hell statues. It reaches back about 100m into the rock, and there is a path. Will investigate further next time, but it's the biggest cave I have seen in the area.





This really is a different kind of temple. Glad to have found it. If you have young kids, the visions of hell might not be such a good idea, and although I object to the use of religion as a form of control. My kids picked up the vibe pretty fast! Well, they are good anyway. One of these days, I have to write a blog post about things to do with kids, but look... I started this blog in 2006 when our daughter was 4, our son was 2. Almost everything here involves them. The whole blog is "Phuket for kids"! And look, there was a Buddha in Wat Thamtapan...



After this temple, we checked out a waterfall "forest park" called Sa Nang Manora, a few km north of Phang Nga Town. There are lots of waterfalls and caves in this area. Phang Nga is sparsely populated and very green. And there is more we want to see in the area. If you rent a car, Phang Nga town is only about 1 ½ - 2 hour drive from Phuket (depends where you start in Phuket!). Explore!

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Tha Sai Seafood, Phang Nga

Sometimes we visit a restaurant for the first time, and we instantly add it to our favourites list. We visited Tha Sai Seafood on March 3rd 2012 for a late lunch - we arrived about 2:30pm feeling hungry and thirsty after spending half a day already exploring in Phang Nga, visiting caves, a very odd temple and a forest park with waterfalls. I remembered hearing about this restaurant before and we have passed the turning before, it's off the road between Phang Nga and Krabi, but only about 15km from Phang Nga town. It was one of those "try something new" days which we ended up enjoying very much, and Tha Sai helped with that!

We parked hesitantly by the restaurant while the local village idiot tried to suggest we park in a different spot. It looked very quiet, and from the road, did not look like anything amazing really.



(above) entrance to Tha Sai Seafood on a quiet side road

But we were pleased to see that they offered Freshy Seafood :)



Well, we were committed to eating lunch, we were already into rumbly-belly time, plus I was dying for a cold beer! Through the entrance, and suddenly.... Wow. It was not obvious from the road, but the restaurant is right next to a wide mangrove river. There are several levels of seating, and we chose a table lower down. Here's the view from our table...



What a beautiful spot. We're coming here again, I said ... so long as the food is good! We had not ordered yet, and a return visit was being planned! A longtail boat chugged it's way past the restaurant. The river leads out into Phang Nga Bay.



Did I mention that I was thirsty? Before any food arrived, let's get the drinks in. Time can change a person. Time and circumstance. I do like a beer. I used to love real ale in England, but that's not so easy to find here. My beer of choice in Thailand is Chang. Hated by some, loved by others. Must be cold. You may see Thai people with ice in their beer. This may be viewed as odd by many visitors. We arrived at Tha Sai Seafood on a hot day, after walking around caves, temples and forests. Ice in my beer. OK!



Being a late lunch, there were only a few tables occupied, though I saw a lot of staff around, which indicates that is is a popular place. And a popular place in the middle of nowhere has to mean that people are willing to drive a bit for good food. And yes, the food was good. We ordered all kind of dishes. This is one of my favourites called "Yam Pla Dook Foo" - fluffy fried catfish salad...



And another one of my current favourites, thanks to my wife who insisted I try it. Never ate crab, but this is great! It's called Poo Nim - Soft shelled crab, and this is fried with garlic. And it goes just perfectly with a cold beer (with ice)...



We had plenty more too! It was one of those happy afternoons - find a new restaurant, great food, great view. Thai Sai Seafood is maybe a bit far to drive just for lunch, would take about 1 1/2 hours. But if we are in the Phang Nga area again, we'll eat here again. The day out we had was great for exploring - we also visited Wat Thamtapan Temple, and Sa Nang Manora forest park on the same day. With an early start to the day, a lot can be accomplished! There are more places I want to visit in the area such as the Raman Waterfall park and a fishing village called Bang Pat which has a restaurant and homestay. Days like this remind me how lucky we are to live here!

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