The Big Buddhas of Phuket

Buddhas? Surely there's only one "Big Buddha" in Phuket? The big white one on the hill? Yes, that's the one known as THE Big Buddha, and it certainly is impressive. We've been driving up that hill for 10 years since before construction began. It's not just the 45m high statue, but we love the great views over much of southern Phuket. Thailand is of course mostly Buddhist, so there are lots of Buddhist temples here, though Phuket also has large a Muslim minority and many Thai-Chinese families. You'll find mosques and Chinese shrines all over the island too, and even a Catholic church, a Hindu temple and Sikh temple!

"The" Big Buddha of Phuket

The biggest Buddha in Phuket is the big white marble covered statue on top of the Nakkerd hills in the south of the island near Chalong. It's been under construction for many years. The main statue is fairly well complete, but there's still work in progress around the edges. When it was being built we'd come up the hill for the views and some peace. Now it's part of many tour itineraries, so can be crowded, unless you visit early morning or late afternoon. The statue can be seen from much of the south of the island, and the views from the hill, more than 400m above the sea, are great.

• The Big Buddha of Phuket
• Hiking to the Big Buddha




Reclining Buddha at Sri Sunthorn Temple

Built on the roof of one of the temple buildings at Sri Sunthorn temple, just south of Thalang in the centre of Phuket island is a 25m reclining Buddha. This is not a busy temple, we've been numerous times and hardly ever seen more than a few visitors. It's right by the main road through Phuket from town to the airport, but it's behind some trees and hard to spot from the road. The temple is named after one of the Heroines of Phuket who fought off the Burmese way back in 1785. Oh yes, we got history too!

• Sri Sunthorn Temple




Seated Buddha at Rang Hill Temple

Up a tiny, hard to find side road next to the Vachira hospital in Phuket Town, is a little secret. Somehow, I did not see this until January 2012, even though the blog had been going nearly 6 years and I love temples. My wife just casually said one day "did you ever see the temple up this road?" ... Wat Khao Rang is at the foot of Rang Hill, on the north side of Phuket Town, well known for views and the popular Tunk Ka Cafe. The golden seated Buddha is very nice indeed and I really should go back one day for some early morning photos in better light. Phuket is full of surprises, even for a long term resident!

• Khao Rang Temple




Buddha in a cave at Wat Suwan Kuha

OK, this one is not on Phuket island .. Wat Suwan Kuha, also called Wat Tham ("cave temple") is over the bridge in Phang Nga province, but is visited by many tours from Phuket. We've been quite a few times. The Buddha is quite impressive, the whole thing was built about 150 years ago by the Na Takuathung family who still live in Phuket. A visit here can be combined with a Phang Nga Bay tour. Outside the cave there are lots of monkeys. There's a 20 Baht entry fee to the cave.

• Wat Suwan Kuha




Reclining Buddha at Koh Sirey Temple

Every time we visit the temple on a hill at Sirey Island (just east of Phuket Town) we feel sorry for the place. With some funding it could be gorgeous. Please do visit and leave a donation! Sirey Island (rather like Phuket) is hardly an island, you can drive there over a small bridge from Phuket Town. The temple is up a small hill, about 200 feet above sea level - views are pretty good actually! Inside the temple is a large reclining Buddha about 20m from head to toe. We like driving around Sirey for the views and there are some small restaurants dotted around the place, plus a sea gypsy village not far from the temple.

• Koh Sirey Temple




Golden Buddha at Koh Kaew Yai Island

Not such an enormous Buddha, but an important one ... Koh Kaew Yai is a small island about 1km off the south tip of Phuket, you can see it from Phromthep Cape. Local legend says that Buddha set foot on the island before arriving in Phuket. Some monks live on the island. There is a large "footprint of Buddha" on the south side of the island, and facing north towards Phuket is a Buddha statue about 6 or 7m high. Not enormous, but an interesting place to visit - you can go by longtail boat from Rawai beach.

• Boat trip to Koh Kaew Yai




Wat Bang Riang

A very impressive temple in the hills north of Phang Nga Town near the small town of Thap Put ... quite a drive from Phuket actually, but a day trip including this temple can also include Wat Suwan Kuha and maybe a nice lunch at Tha Sai Seafood. The temple covers a huge area, with a main building on a hill and then a big Buddha and a big standing figure of the goddess Guan Yin. And quite a few steps to climb! Certainly worth a visit if you are in an exploring mood (which we often are!).

• Wat Bang Riang




Related Blog Posts

• Phuket Temples and Shrines
• Wat Chalong - Phuket's Biggest Buddhist Temple
• Sikh Gurdwara in Phuket Town
• Shrine of the Serene Light in Phuket Town

Google Map of Phuket Temples


View Phuket Temples in a larger map

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Phuket Weekend Market

Markets are where you can sample real life, local life - it's all laid bare for everyone to see. I've always been a big fan of markets and despite all the modern shopping malls and supermarkets that have sprung up around Phuket (Tesco Lotus, Big C, Central, Jungceylon and more) the local markets are as lively as ever. You'll find fresh markets in all areas of Phuket, some daily, some only on selected days. One of the biggest is in Kathu in between Patong and Phuket Town - see Kathu Local Market. Well worth a look.





The Phuket weekend market (aka Phuket night market) is located just outside Phuket City off Chao Fa West road, near Naka Temple. There's a Google Map at the end of this page. It's open Saturday and Sunday starting late afternoon, up to around 10pm. Along the same road is also a fresh market (called the Talad Sot Mai - "New Fresh Market"). The weekend market is not really for buying fresh food, but there are stalls selling fruit and there are loads snack stalls for buying deserts, corn, drinks, spicy snacks, noodles and of course fried insects! I've been in Thailand since 1999. Never eaten a fried insect and have no plans to eat a fried insect. Ever.







It's one of those "you can get anything here" markets - you'll find entire stalls selling nothing but remote controls or comic books or fluffy toys. There are also some random secondhand stalls where you're never quite sure what you'll find. Many stalls are selling clothes, new and secondhand. We visit the weekend market every couple of months if we happen to be passing. There are CD and DVD stalls (all originals of course!), handicrafts and antiques too. It's become quite popular with tourists now, but don't expect to find something on the scale of Jatujak market in Bangkok.





You don't see many beggars in Phuket. So it's quite noticeable at the weekend market. Each time we go I see several poor souls with disabilities and I suppose no family to support them. Having traveled in some very poor countries in my life, I admit to having a hard heart, but here it stands out more. On our last visit I did give this guy some money...



The weekend market starts up in the afternoon and carries on into the evening. Many people go in the evening and it does get quite busy. Hard to park a car sometimes. We go there every now and then. My wife can always find some clothes to buy! If you go in the evening, you could more or less eat your dinner at the market by buying and sampling different snacks like the yummy (and slightly spicy) fish cakes below.







This blog likes to show a bit of local life and the weekend market is a good place to start if you want to see the real Phuket (although quite a lot of other tourists also go!). Remember, it's on Saturday and Sunday only. Try some snacks and food from the many foodstalls, grab a cold beer from the bar that can be found somewhere in the middle of the market... actually there are a few places selling drinks. Easy to get to from Phuket Town. If you come from Patong it takes about 20 minutes. I think a tuk tuk will charge about 400 Baht. or of course you can rent a moped for about 200 - 250 Baht per day. Best to go late afternoon / early evening when the temperature cools down a bit. Enjoy!

More Markets in Phuket

• Phuket Town Main Market (Daily)
• Indy Market (Thursday/Friday evenings)
• Karon Temple Market (Tuesday and Saturday)
• More Weekend Market Photos


Phuket Weekend Market / Night Market - Location Map


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2013 Phuket Vegetarian Festival (Part 2)

So, as I was saying a few days ago in Part 1 of my Phuket vegetarian festival 2013 report... Due to a mix of rainy weather, tiredness (staying up until after 2am painting our living room 2 nights in a row) and general apathy, I was really not feeling any great excitement for the vegetarian festival this year. Hard to summon up the energy for an early morning at the shrine when it's drizzly and I had 4 hours sleep. So that changed on Friday 11th October when I was in Phuket Town for the big Jui Tui Shrine procession. I think it was all the firecrackers that woke me up! Now I was looking forward to an early morning at Kathu shrine on Saturday 12th October. Kathu is the area of Phuket where I live, between Phuket Town and Patong beach. It's a historical area and was the center of the tin mining industry in Phuket in the mid 19th century, maybe even the most important town in Phuket for a while before Phuket Town became important due to easy access to the sea via the wide Bang Yai canal (which is not wide any more!). The canal did reach as far as Kathu, but was smaller there, only navigable by small canoes. Kathu was where Chinese miners were camped sometime after 1825 when Chinese theater artists came to perform, got sick and cured themselves by sticking to a special vegetarian diet. And thus the festival was born.

Well, I wanted to be there earlier than 6am, but I am not a morning person! So, got there just after 6am. For Kathu, that's a bit late. The shrine was packed already, and many of the Ma Song were already pierced and ready to go. First guy I saw had candle piercings ...



Oh, and hooks through his ears too. Many other piercings were already done. Damn, I really do need to wake up 5am next year! They start early in Kathu, as the procession starts here and they walk all the way into town and back. From the shrine into town as far as Sapan Hin shrine is about 10km each way. On a hot sunny morning, do you want to walk 20km with this in your face?





(above) I was hoping for the eyes-rolled shot here .. and I hope that's not real ivory. Historical note - Phuket used to be a major port for the shipment of elephants to India. The province was full of wild elephants 200 years ago and the next province Phang Nga means "broken elephant tusk".



(above) Getting pierced. Some of the Ma Song were still getting their faces done after 6am. This guy we see often around Kathu and we always stop for a chat. I see him every year with different piercings. Here he in 2012, and 2010. In real life, he's a local policeman .. see here.

And then, time for the main procession to begin. Groups of young men gather to carry the statues of the gods. Many of the pierced Ma Song have already left. Drums sound inside the shrine, and blessings are given to those who will carry the gods ...



My friend Tim and I wondered who is actually in charge here.. no specific order seems to be given to start, but everyone knows their place. The noise, colour, faces and traditions of this festival never cease to amaze me. I am totally not sure if the Ma Song are for real. Are they possessed, in a trance, very good actors? The guy below I see every year. In normal life he looks like an average guy. On the day of the Kathu procession he appears from the shrine bent over like an old, old man.



The guy being held aloft seems to be the most important of the Ma Song in Kathu. He's carried through the streets, though I have seen him get off his perch a couple of times. He leads the procession of the gods out of the shrine.



And then follows a crazy 25 minutes when I take about 200 photos as the emperor god statues are carried through Kathu village through a constant barrage of firecrackers either thrown or held out on bamboo poles by the local residents of Kathu. Next time, aside from waking up earlier... earplugs and a facemask. Essential.









It's madness! And now they head off through the old village of Kathu towards Phuket Town. On this day I decided not to follow them. Maybe next year I'll do a 20km walk with the procession. That should be an experience. I bought myself a set of white trousers and shirt this year intending to use them on the crazy last night of the festival in town, but never went. Might be ideal for a long walk on the day of next years Kathu shrine procession. The festival next year looks like it will be from September 23rd - October 3rd. There is so much going on during the processions, so much energy, that the quiet moments are sometimes overlooked. Last photo for 2013 ... in Kathu village, a female Ma Song stops to bless a small child.



If you can tell me what that young boy is thinking .. I might better understand this festival. Until next year.

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The Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2013 (Part 1)

Well, the 2013 Phuket Vegetarian Festival finished a few days ago, and I have been spending a few evenings sorting out photos. I was more or less unaware of this festival until about 2005. Guess I was living in a box. When this blog started in 2006, that's when my family and I started to explore Phuket and the surrounding area a lot more and get a lot more involved in the local culture. And over the last 7 years, the vegetarian festival in particular has fascinated me. I've been at shrines before 6am, attended many street processions, watched firewalking and bladed ladder climbing, and every year do my best to (maybe not 100%) stick to the vegan diet and rules of the festival. For a good introduction to the festival and links to many previous blog posts see The Amazing Phuket Vegetarian Festival.

I would normally try to attend at least 3 - 4 events during the festival, get up early several times to be at shrines to watch face piercing .. last year I was at Sapam, Sam Kong and Kathu shrines around 6am, but this year I had trouble to summon up the enthusiasm of previous years. Seen too much? Or maybe it was the weather - we had wet days from the 4th to the 8th October. I did wake up early one morning, but heard the rain and went back to sleep. Also my wife and I had spent a few days painting our house, and worked into the early hours of the morning to get it done - slept at 2am on the 3rd and 3am on the 4th, so the idea of 5:30am alarms was not appealing! But finally the weather changed, so I hit the town before 7am on October 11th to watch the street procession from Jui Tui shrine, probably the biggest procession and featuring many female Ma Song with piercings too. It was a lovely sunny morning in town. Took me a while to get into the photography mood, but I figured out of 400 photos there had to be some good ones!







I started off trying to photograph individual faces with a 70-300mm zoom lens, but the Jui Tui procession is so crowded, at times the pierced Ma Song and helpers were bunched tightly together and barely able to squeeze through the crowds along the narrow old-town roads, it was hard to get a picture. At times you just have to sit back and take in the spectacle instead of looking at things through a viewfinder! This close to the action, a wide angle lens is useful .. I followed the procession a little way onto Thalang Road and parked myself near the old herb shop.



(above) It's not all face piercing! I wanted to try this year and get more pictures like this. A Ma Song tying a string to the wrist of a small child who is amazed at what's going on. The old traditions are passed on from generation to generation.



(above) A Ma Song giving blessings to some of the older members of the Bumrungwong family who run the herb shop, Kopitiam restaurant and Wilai restaurant on Thalang Road. I can only begin to imagine the changes these folks have seen in Phuket.



(above) Houses and businesses along the procession route each day will place shrines outside covered in fruit, cups of tea, incense, candles .. Ma Song may stop at any shrine to bless the house, and may drink some tea or take some fruit which as far as I can tell, they then give to people in the crowd. Sometimes the Ma Song go into the house or shop behind the shrine also.

This procession from Jui Tui seems to be never ending! Certainly took well over an hour for the parade of Ma Song to pass by. No way you can photograph or even see all of them, as they often pass by several at a time and it was very busy - lots of people like me happy to see the sun and taking the chance to see a procession. I can see other people's photos of the same procession, and they have photos of different faces. And there are a lot of faces to see ...







When the majority of the Ma Song have passed by, the rear of the procession is the noisy part ... groups of young men carry statues of the emperor gods through the streets and are subject to a barrage of firecrackers, either thrown on the ground, or onto the statue or held above them on a bamboo pole. This is my favourite part of the procession and I enjoy getting close up! Maybe a bit too close - I think next time a face mask and earplugs are needed, though I can say this .. If I had any slight apathy this year it was blown away by the firecrackers!





By 8:30am I was hot, sweating and covered in pieces of firecracker! Could not stay any longer, I had to dash home, shower and go open the dive shop .. and wished I had not been so lazy for the first 5 days of the festival! OK, next year I will be up for it again ... This really IS worth waking up early for. The Jui Tui procession was on October 11th, and I planned to wake up even earlier on the 12th to visit Kathu Shrine, see some face piercing taking place and watch the procession leave Kathu village ... had planned to add all that onto the same blog post, but it will follow soon in a 2nd blog post about the 2013 Phuket vegetarian festival. :)

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Food at the Phuket Vegetarian Festival

I actually was a vegetarian (except for fish, I couldn't have lived as a student without tinned tuna) for quite a few years in my teens until I was 24. We had "nut roast" in our house for Christmas (well, my Dad had meat!) and the smell of frying bacon in the morning in my student house at university made me feel sick. I think it started when I was 16 and went to India. Sometimes the meat dishes contained unidentifiable pieces of meat, so the vegetable dishes were safer .. and tasty! My vegetarianism stopped with a bang when I set off in February 1993 on a 6 month trans-Africa expedition with about 15 other people - an adventure trip run by a company called Exodus. First day - question .. any vegetarians in the group? Me. Just me. So I started on meat again and never looked back! I like meat. And I like beer. Both of which are not allowed if you want to stick to the special diet during the 9 day vegetarian festival. Actually only some people do it for 9 days. Many just do it for the last 3 days. And .. please note - if you are a tourist, visiting Phuket, you can eat what you want. Almost all restaurants are open as normal for steak, pizza, Thai food with meat, burgers, bacon and more bacon. It's only a part of the Phuket population who are involved in the vegetarian festival which has Chinese origins. I normally try to stick to the vegetarian diet for the whole festival. Might sneak a beer or two, but no meat for 9 days. So for lunch I have something like this ...



Actually around the main beach areas, it's not so easy to find vegetarian food (vegetarian in Thai = เจ pronounced "Jay") ... where I work in Karon I have to drive about 1km to find a restaurant doing this food, and there are half a dozen food stalls along the back road (Patak road) in the Kata and Karon beach area. Same in Patong, you can find places doing the vegetarian food on the back roads. The place I normally go for lunch is opposite Karon post office. Easy to spot the right kind of restaurant as they have yellow flags outside. The noodle dish in the photo above is called Yentafo, and normally comes with meat - this one is all tofu and "textured vegetable protein". The same restaurant also does meals with rice such as the fried rice and the phad kaprow below.





As you can see, the kaprow dish looks meaty, but it's only tofu. They can make just about any Thai dish with tofu instead of meat, though this kind of food is much harder to find outside the festival. You can normally find vegetarian food in Phuket, but sometimes you are limited to mixed veg or fried rice without meat! The vegetarian festival is way more than just the food of course, there are street processions, and there is weird face piercing and fire walking - have a look at Phuket Vegetarian Festival - My Favourite Time of Year. The food, I must point out, is actually vegan - no meat, no dairy, no eggs, not even a splash of fish sauce. There is also a rule that the special food can have no garlic or onions. So once per year I basically go vegan for about 9 days ... which leaves me hungry for bacon and beef at the end of the festival. Well, it can't hurt to change diet now and then!

So where can you find lots of good vegetarian food during the vegetarian festival? Well.... Phuket Town is the place to be. There are several big Chinese shrines in town and a large proportion of the population is Thai-Chinese. So many of the restaurants in town change menu during the festival and do only vegetarian food. Plus there are loads of street stalls doing different foods and snacks. Ranong Road between the market and Jui Tui shrine is closed to traffic and is lined with stalls - see below :





Biggest selling snack during the festival? Got to be spring rolls ("popia" in Thai). They normally cost about 10 Baht each, sometimes 3 for 20 Baht and normally sold with some sauce and some cucumber. I can eat these until I burst. So don't think of the vegetarian festival as a way to lose weight :)



(above) Spring rolls. I want some.

In Phuket Town, well you can find plenty of vegetarian food. I have a couple of favourite restaurants. On Thalang Road there is Kopitiam, which is open year round selling lots of great food (the Phuket style pork is lovely!) .. During the festival they do only vegetarian food and are not open in the night, only during the day.



(above) Vegetarian noodles at Kopitiam in Phuket Town

And one other place that we just discovered last year, and have been to all during the year for non-vegetarian food, and again this year for vegetarian food - a little restaurant called Naowarat near the market. They have about 20 different dishes ready made or you can order. Not sure anyone speaks English there though. Owned by an old (ish) lady who seems to know everyone in town and it's a popular place though it only has about 6 tables! Servings are 30 Baht each .. so it's cheap too! Here's a typical table of food :



And here's a selection of what they sell ...



On that table you have something to really set your taste buds alight, and it's all vegetarian!

If we don't head to Phuket Town for some evening food, we just drive a few minutes to Kathu shrine. During the festival we can hear the shrine from our house when they set off firecrackers or have entertainment in the evenings. It's our local Chinese shrine :) Well, Kathu village is normally pretty quiet and even for much of the festival it's quiet. There are a few food stalls and one place close to the shrine that does Hokkien noodles. The most popular stall does fresh spring rolls (not fried), called "popia sot" in Thai.



(above) Making fresh spring rolls in Kathu village.

We also sometimes drive a tiny bit further to Sam Kong shrine which is on the north side of Phuket Town. The road near the shrine is packed with food stalls. I try every year to stick to the diet for the whole festival, at least in terms of the food. One or two other rules may get broken! Right now I am dreaming of a bacon burger and a pint of Guinness! I mean, this food is OK for a week, but, apologies to vegetarians, I do like meat! Next blog post will feature some photos from shrines and processions during the Phuket vegetarian festival 2013 - watch out, might be some scary pictures!

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