Jamie's Phuket Blog

Koh Tachai Island - Day trip from Khao Lak

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:39:00 +0000

On our recent holiday we spent a total of 4 nights in Khao Lak, and we'll be going again next time the kids have some school holidays. It was very relaxing, much of the time was spent in the pool, or walking on the beach, or having breakfast, lunch, dinner and sunset beers! But we did have one day trip planned and booked in advance. Koh Tachai is a small island about 50km north of the Similan Islands, out in the Andaman Sea off the west coast of Thailand. We had heard that the speedboat tours left from Ban Nam Khem, a small fishing port and village north of Khao Lak, and from there it would be about 50km to Koh Tachai. I have been to Koh Tachai many times in the past for diving on liveaboard boats and have had some great dives there with manta rays at a dive site called Tachai Pinnacle, but I had never set foot on the island before! Over the last couple of years Tachai has been becoming a popular alternative to the Similan Islands, which get a lot more visitors. Thai tourists especially seemed to be heading to Tachai, I saw lots of lovely photos on Thai websites and also on Thai TV channels. I knew my friends at Easy Day Thailand could book us on the tour, so we signed up and were ready on a warm but hazy morning on April 25th. Minibus pick up was on time, but we headed south towards Thap Lamu port, not north to Ban Nam Khem. Looked like we'd be leaving from Thap Lamu which would mean a 70km speedboat trip. We had a wait of about 20 minutes before boarding the speedboat while the tour operator sorted out various groups heading to different islands. Coffee, tea and toast were provided (self service) and then we headed to the speedboat. Aside from our family of 6, all other customers on the trip were Thai.

We sped out of Thap Lamu, the sky cleared up a little, the sea was flat calm, looked like a perfect day coming up! I had been a little worried about my parents doing a long speedboat trip out in the sun all day, but with mirror-like seas and a bit of cloud cover, we all sat in the front of the speedboat while all the white skinned Bangkok Thai people hid in the shade :)

It was going to be quite a long ride, about 90 minutes to Koh Tachai. Would have been less from Ban Nam Khem, but departure point had been switched due to the tides - Thap Lamu is a deep water port used by dive boats, fishing boats and the Thai navy too. Well anyway, as the sun came out and the sea was so calm, a longer ride did not matter. My daughter enjoyed being right in the bow with the wind in her hair ...

Unfortunately ... things then went a bit pear shaped. Some dark clouds ahead. Surely just hazy skies? Maybe a light shower? We sped onward. Very dark clouds. Lightning. Are we going through that? Well, the sea was still calm. I sent the family "inside" and took a quick snapshot with the phone before the rain bucketed down...

Well, the next 30 minutes were very very wet. Everyone was soaked since the roof of the speedboat had a gap all the way around, and in came the rain. My poor dad was not feeling too healthy, and I was just cursing our luck! The speedboat carried on, sea was a little bouncy but there were no big waves, but at the same time, there seemed to be no let up in the rain and no brightening of the sky. We arrived at Koh Tachai in the rain, left all bags and cameras under cover on the boat, then off into the treeline to find some shelter. Must have carried on raining for another hour, time we would have spent snorkeling or walking on the beach, instead of hiding and drinking tea!

And then, as if by magic .. within minutes (so it seemed) the rain disappeared, the sky cleared and it was suddenly the perfect day! Everyone was stripping down to swimwear and hanging up clothes to dry in the trees. And then we could all see the attraction of Koh Tachai island! Our guide decided that the 'jungle walk' that should be part of the day would be cancelled to give everyone plenty of beach time after the rains. I went climbing back on the speedboat to look for everyone's bags and cameras which had been stored in a dry space when the rain started. And then the photo-shoot could begin!

Much of the next couple of hours was spent on the beach, playing in the water with the kids, doing a little snorkeling (but not much to see right by the beach, you have to swim out further) and taking photos. The tour operator provided drinks all day (juices, sodas, tea, coffee, drinking water) and snacks like nuts and biscuits. The actual lunch was a bit disappointing for me, though I think the rain meant that the staff had a hard time getting everything ready. Anyway, why waste time eating in the shade when you can jump!

The kids wanted nothing more than to swim, snorkel and play in the shallow waters by the beach. It certainly is very beautiful and you can't really get colours like this so close to Phuket, although Racha Yai island is pretty good. I just wished the weather had been like this ALL day, although considering that I got a pretty good sunburn anyway, maybe that was enough sun. The kids can normally be out all day without feeling the sun, though my daughter has fair skin which can get quite red, and it did on this day. For a couple of hours, kids were in their own private paradise!

OK, not quite private, there were about 6 speedboats there on the same day, but as with most tourist locations, if you walk a couple of hundred meters you lose 90% of the people who just plonk their lazy behinds down on the first available patch of sand. The beach on the east side of Tachai is about 700m long, plenty of room to spread out. Tommy the guide called it 'Paradise Island', which I guess is the tourist name or the name his employers tell him to use! There are plenty of paradise islands around these parts! Koh Tachai has no development save for a ranger station, some toilets, a couple of covered areas with a concrete floor and some thatched bamboo gazebos. Hope it stays that way.

Days like these are more for the kids than the adults! I am happy that our kids love the outdoors, swimming, boat trips, and don't complain too much when we do other things like visit temples. On this same trip (to be blogged) we visited a couple of tsunami memorials and I think the kids learned something from that. But the day at Koh Tachai was certainly more fun! Here's the boy, mask in hand, skipping his way through the shallows...

A word about our guide on the trip, Tommy - nice guy, very friendly. We met him the next week on our return to Khao Lak, on the beach with his family and we stopped for a chat. If you are on this tour, leave him a tip! When it was time to get back on the speedboat he wandered up and down the beach to find everyone, ukelele in hand ...

Took a while to get off the beach, as the tide was low. Everyone had to get onto a national park flat bottomed boat to transfer to the speedboat. For a moment I was worried that we were heading straight back to port, and with the rain we'd really only had a couple of hours of beach time, surely we could not be leaving already? No ... we headed along the east coast of the island for some snorkeling. The kids and I joined most of the Thai folks from Bangkok and Tommy for about 20 minutes, and there was some good fish life on this part of the island. My son was quite proud of the distance we swam during this snorkeling session. The kids love the water, I guess I'll have to be taking them diving soon!

How much did you enjoy the day, son?

In the end a very good day out. With the rain, and then the sun, everyone was cream crackered by the end of the day. It is actually possible to do the trip if you stay in Phuket, but that means a pick up at about 6am. Certainly this is a better option if you stay in Khao Lak. Now, until last month I did not really care for Khao Lak, but I can see now why people like it. If you have a 2 week Phuket trip, then a few days in Khao Lak is a good idea, but the day trips to Koh Tachai and the Similan Islands only operate in high season November - April.

• Contact Easy Day Thailand to book trips to Koh Tachai, Similan Islands and just about anything else.
• Khao Lak Hotels at Agoda.com

Koh Tachai - Location Map

View Koh Tachai Island in a larger map

Ton Prai Waterfall near Khao Lak

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:02:00 +0000

We've all just had a little holiday, and life is now settling back to normal with work and school and blogging! While on holiday I took plenty of photos and posted updates on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, but couldn't face a whole blog post and was trying to keep off the computer as much as possible and spend more time with the family. Mum and Dad were here from England, kids had school holidays and I had a couple of weeks away from the dive shop. Much of the time was quite relaxed, nothing too strenuous. We did 2 separate trips to Khao Lak and I will write more about Khao Lak sometime soon. We'd not been to stay there before, and we liked it. Khao Lak is less than 2 hours drive from our house, about 100km north. On the way home from the second trip, we stopped off at Ton Prai waterfall, which is about about 30km south of Nanthong beach in Khao Lak where we stayed, or 30km north of Sarasin bridge which joins Phuket island to the mainland. It's then another 6km down a small side road which gets narrower and more jungly as you approach the hills. It was clearly signposted, easy to find. We had stopped last year one time, but on a rainy day and we did not fancy a walk in the jungle! This time the sky was blue with some fluffy cotton wool clouds floating around. We stopped at the entrance / visitors center where you have to pay an entry fee, currently 100 Baht for a tourist, cheaper for Thai people. My wife negotiated a group price for 6 of us :)

There are some clean toilets at the entrance. Nowhere to buy a drink, though .. we should have stopped at a 7-11 or local store to get a few bottles of water along the way. Hot day, walking in the jungle, need drinks! There's a sign at the visitors center explaining that it's a 650m walk to reach Ton Prai waterfall. There's another sign too ... Conserve nature. Do not leave anything here. Good. And then a wonderful mis-spelling or mistranslation ... Accept your Footprint. Should say "Except" but actually turns into a Buddhist concept. Accept your footprint. I like it!

The walk to the waterfall was quite easy, the path is well made, up and downhill sections mostly have steps rather than rough ground, not too many loose stones, it was no bother for my parents who are not as young as they used to be :) The walk is very jungly and I do like a bit of jungle in small doses, though prefer sweeping views. Big rainforest trees with buttress roots are a favourite of mine. The roots are mostly above ground because rainforest soil has most of it's nutrients near the surface, and buttress roots are there to soak up all the goodness!

And here's Mum and Dad enjoying a jungle walk!

Now, there are quite a lot of waterfalls in and around Phuket (see Waterfalls in Phuket), and most are pretty small. The main attraction is the jungle ambience, and maybe a chance to jump in and cool off! I had heard that Ton Prai was worth a visit, and .. yes, it is! Even though we visited at the end of a very dry season, there was still plenty of water. Here's the first sight of Ton Prai at the end of the path ...

Yeh, it's not huge, but I like the water tumbling down the rocks. I guess after some rain it would look better. There's a shallow pool under the falls - often falls have deep pools but since the water is not falling vertically, it's not created a deep pool. My boy was straight in to check it out!

Is it cold? Well, let's say it's "refreshing"! And even a little jungle walk can make you sweat a little. So I jumped in too for a splash with the kids. It was easy enough to go and sit right under the waterfall. Would that be possible in rainy season? Not sure. Here's me enjoying a free shower ...

We're thinking of a little trip to Khao Lak sometime in the low season, so will check out Ton Prai again, as well as a return visit to Sri Phang Nga national park north of Khao Lak which features several waterfalls, including Tamnang which is quite impressive. Ton Prai deserves another look, and is easy enough to visit on the way to Khao Lak or on the way home.

Here's some more of that jungle :)

Next few blog posts will also feature the Khao Lak area. We took a speedboat day trip to Koh Tachai island, we visited a couple of tsunami memorials and really enjoyed a couple of easy relaxing days staying at a small resort by the sea. With low season prices, hotels in Khao Lak are a bargain for half the year! Only trouble is that Khao Lak gets very quiet and a lot of things close up. We'll see later this year!

Ton Prai Waterfall - Location Map

View Ton Prai Waterfall in a larger map

Top 10 Family Hotels in Phuket

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Sun, 12 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Several times on the Phuket blog, I have blogged the Top 10 Hotels in Phuket, the list being based mostly on TripAdvisor rankings. The hotels in the most recent list are all kinds and all over the island, and mostly 4 - 5 star resorts .. I mean it's a list of the best hotels, so you'd expect them to be classy! TripAdvisor is not perfect, anyone can leave a review, there's no way to check if the reviewer actually stayed at the hotel, but I would hope that on average things even out, though results can be skewed by smaller hotels which actively pursue TripAdvisor reviews. A hotel might be great, but get less reviews simply because they don't ask guests to leave a review. Anyway, we digress... I've had suggestions to do some different "top 10 hotel" lists for families, couples or low budget hotels. So here goes...

On this page you'll find a list of the Top 10 Family Hotels in Phuket, again based on current TripAdvisor rankings. For each hotel there are links for checking rates online, for booking and availability - On this blog I recommend Agoda.com for hotels in Phuket. For each hotel there's also a link to reviews on Agoda (where available) - and only people who have booked the hotel through Agoda can make the review (I use Agoda myself and leave reviews). With all the reviews on Agoda and/or TripAdvisor, you get a very wide range of opinions. Sure there may be other good family hotels that are not on this list, please do leave a comment below if you have stayed in a good family resort in Phuket, every opinion counts!

Top 10 Phuket Family Hotels

1. Andara Resort and Villas (Kamala Beach)

A 5 star resort, on the hillside near Kamala Beach with luxury villas. I'm a bit surprised to see this rated as the top family hotel, but it does provide relaxation in comfort for the whole family, and since it's individual villas with private pools, suits families as well as couples. Andara resort is not right on the beach - it's on the hillside. Many of the villas have great seaviews

• Andara Resort & Villas on Agoda.com
• Andara Resort Reviews

2. Rising Sun Residence (Chalong)

Rising Sun Residence is also not a beachfront hotel - it has 12 villas in the hills of Chalong overlooking Chalong Bay and Chalong Temple. There are seven 3 bedroom villas - some of these have a private pool and jacuzzi, kitchen and large living room. There are also five 1 bedroom villas arranged around a large pool with sun deck and jacuzzi. Long way from the main beaches, more of a "home away from home" and would be a good idea to rent a car if you stay here.

• Rising Sun Residence on Agoda.com
• Rising Sun Residence Reviews

3. Kantary Bay Hotel (Cape Panwa)

The Cape Panwa area is south of Phuket Town, well away from the main Phuket beaches, an area that we really like. Kantary Bay Hotel is right by the Phuket Aquarium, and the hotel has studio, 1 bedroom, and 2 bedroom suites. All suites have a living room and kitchenette. Seeing a trend here? Family hotels are not the standard "room" - it's nice to have something more like an apartment so you can be a bit more independent.

• Kantary Bay Hotel on Agoda.com
• Kantary Bay Hotel Reviews

4. Pacific Club Resort (Karon Beach)

The Pacific Club Resort is a long time favourite and seems to often rank highly, despite (again, thats 4 out of 4 so far) not being by the beach. It's about 10 minutes walk down the hill to the sands of Karon Beach. The hotel is in the hills, with seaviews and green views. There are normal rooms and also 1 and 2 bedroom suites. The restaurant is also meant to be very good and I must try it one day!

• Pacific Club Resort on Agoda.com
• Pacific Club Resort Reviews

5. JW Marriott (Mai Khao Beach)

I think everyone knows the Marriott brand? Actually there are 2 different hotels in the top 10 - Marriott Beach Club and the JW Marriott Resort, so I combine them here. Marriott is at Mai Khao Beach - north of the airport and a long way from the main tourist areas or Phuket Town (like 40 - 50km away). A place to relax. Mai Khao Beach is very uncrowded. I'd advise on car hire if you stay here to get out and explore, especially as dining options nearby are limited.

• JW Marriott on Agoda.com
• JW Marriott Reviews
• Marriott Phuket Beach Club

6. Cape Panwa Hotel

Another hotel at Cape Panwa - the Cape Panwa Hotel is an older hotel, has a little private beach and I know the guest relations manager, so if you book here say hello to Tim. He's very helpful arranging trips and knows plenty about Phuket. The hotel has a variety of suites of different sizes, many with seaviews, and the Cape Panwa area is very nice.

• Cape Panwa Hotel on Agoda.com
• Cape Panwa Hotel Reviews

7. Serenity Resort and Residences (Chalong Bay)

Chalong Bay is not a swimming beach, but great views and actually a good central location for getting around Phuket. Serenity has simpler rooms up to huge 2 - 3 bedroom suites, with seaviews, kitchens and some with private pools. You're not far to drive from here to Kata or Rawai beach and only 20 minutes to Phuket Town too. The pool suites are expensive / luxurious. The simpler rooms are a good deal and kids under 5 stay at no extra cost, good if you have smaller kids.

• Serenity Resort and Residences on Agoda.com
• Serenity Resort and Residences Reviews

8. Banyan Tree (Bang Tao Beach)

The Banyan Tree - definitely luxury. You're looking at 1000 US$ per night, but go on, you're worth it! I'm amazed that this place makes the list, must be a few rich TripAdvisor readers! The 2 bedroom pool villas look amazing. I'm going to stay here if we win the lottery! Just for a night....

• Banyan Tree Booking on Agoda.com
• Banyan Tree Reviews

9. Twinpalms (Surin Beach)

Twinpalms has now been open 8 years and is one of the best places around the Surin area, which despite rampant hillside development manages (on the beachfront) to retain a laid back feel with small restaurants and bars. Twinpalms has less than 100 rooms, some of which are huge duplexes and penthouse suites. It's those 2 bedroom suites that are great for families. Twinpalms also has its own semi-private beach club right by the sand.

• Twinpalms Booking on Agoda.com
• Twinpalms Reviews

10. Holiday Inn Resort (Patong Beach)

Holiday Inn has been around for ages, and is the only Patong beach hotel to make this list. The resort has lots of kids activities and family rooms and the south end of Patong is quite family friendly away from most of the bars and noise. Holiday Inn also recently opened at Mai Khao beach with the resort also specifically catering to kids. Holiday Inn has not only family suites but these things called Kids Suites - kids will love it!

• Holiday Inn Resort on Agoda.com
• Holiday Inn Resort Reviews

Hope this list of family hotels is useful! For Phuket hotel bookings, I always recommend looking at Agoda.com first - it's what I use. Any questions about hotels or Phuket, please do leave a comment or ask on the Jamie's Phuket Facebook Page.

• Top 10 Hotels in Phuket 2012
• Jamie's Phuket Hotel Recommendations
• Phuket Hotels - online booking @ Agoda.com

Morning Exercise at Bang Wad Reservoir

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:45:00 +0000

Bang Wad reservoir is Phuket's largest source of fresh water, a large artificial lake in the hills in the Kathu area of Phuket not far from Phuket Town and only a short drive from my house. The dam is about 800m long and there's a small road winding for a total of 6.5km around the reservoir. We've been coming up here for 10 years, normally just for a little walk, some fresh air and exercise, let the kids ride bikes along the dam, buy some food from the food stalls that are there on weekend evenings. We've driven around the reservoir a few times, it's a lovely jungly road, but until last month I'd never tried to walk or run around that road. With the coming of another birthday, I decided it's time to try and get more healthy. Too much time sitting at a computer and too many beers .. I am about 20kg, maybe 25kg, bigger than when I arrived in Phuket back in 1999. After a few days just walking up and down the dam, just walking a few km, I took the plunge and headed off around the reservoir on the 6.5km loop. Not running, just walking.

(above) This is the dam not long after sunrise. Best to start early or it's to hot, and I'll be late for work. In the mornings there are quite a few people exercising, walking or running or cycling around the road. There are more people in the early evening, but since I normally don't stop work at the dive shop until 6pm, the morning is when I am able to get there. And the reservoir really looks great in the morning light. It's a side of Phuket people maybe don't know exists. A big lake? Hills?

Sometimes I walk clockwise, sometimes anti-clockwise (that's counter clockwise for Americans). I throw in some short bursts of running too, and got some new Reeboks just last week. The aim will be to actually be able to run 6.5km eventually. Doesn't sound like much of a challenge, but it's going to need some work. I signed up for an app called Strava to "track my progress". No rush, not aiming to be Phuket's biggest loser :)

The road twists and turns around the reservoir, there is very little vehicular traffic. On an average walk I see maybe a handful of mopeds, maybe 1 or 2 pick up trucks, and the cyclists, joggers and walkers.

At the moment it takes me around an hour to walk 6.5km around the reservoir. A bit faster if there is some jogging involved. Fastest time about 55 minutes. Sounds a bit slow, but from small acorns grow the mighty oak! And a 1 hour fast walk is a good way to burn fat, and sweat out a few poisons like the beers I am drinking as I write this now! Seems a shame to run, it's nice to walk and enjoy the jungle and some great views across the water in the early morning light ...

Yes, this beautiful scene is in Phuket! Remember that Phuket has some pretty big hills, up to about 1700 feet high. I've done a few hikes in the past, such as a little ramble up to the Big Buddha, and a much harder one up to the top of Phuket's highest hill. It's not just beaches here in Phuket, which was part of the point of starting this blog back in 2006 :)

There's a lot of little interesting things to see on the way round the road. There are little rubber plantations, quite a few small houses, and I've seen one area with pineapples growing too. If you're walking and not rushing too much, the details stand out. Roadside shrines and bananas. And jungle. Most of Phuket is green.

It's really nice there. A totally different side of Phuket, away from the tourism, beaches, nightlife. I'm very happy that Bang Wad reservoir is so close to our house! There are various places for people to walk or jog in Phuket, in different local areas. This is our area... It was the hope when starting this blog that a few people might want to visit some of the lesser known, and certainly less touristy parts of Phuket. So maybe see you 7am at the reservoir sometime!

Bang Wad Reservoir - Location Map

View Bang Wad Reservoir, Phuket in a larger map

Koh Rang Yai

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:45:00 +0000

Koh Rang Yai is a small uninhabited island about 5km off the east coast of Phuket, featuring a kilometer of sandy beach on the west side with views back to the mainland. There is a restaurant, a little bar and I believe some bungalows, I'm going to have to go again to check, but I am sure that they have some simple bungalows for rent. The island is a little slice of paradise. Really. It's as close to unspoiled as you can get in this part of the world. The photo below was taken in March 2013 ...

To reach Koh Rang Yai, you can visit as part of a tour or take a longtail boat from Laem Hin jetty, next to Laem Hin Seafood (a favourite restaurant). On the way, you pass Koh Maphrao, a much bigger island which is basically full of coconut trees (Maphrao = coconut), has a fishing village and a resort called The Village which opened a few years ago. I'm tempted to book us in there for a night sometime soon!

We've been there a few times over the years, the first time in 2006 with our kids and my parents. The parents are back again this year and I think maybe we might just head to Koh Rang Yai again after a tasty lunch at Laem Hin! That first time I think we paid 800 Baht for the longtail boat, I guess it would be more now, but not too much more. I mean, there's not much there, ideal to chill on a lovely beach, but not much to do! I think the kids would love to go back and really it's a gorgeous place...

I am quite amazed that a huge resort has not been built there yet. Doesn't seem to have changed much over the years. The second time I visited was in 2010, a great day out on my birthday - the owner of Sunrise Divers bought a cool sporty speedboat to use as a charter boat and we headed to Koh Rang Yai to do some promotional photography with Helicam...

The photo above is by Helicam - the little helicopter with attached camera was being flown by Phil (one of the owners) chasing the speedboat - they'd never tried doing really low level stuff like this before. And that's Koh Rang Yai in the background! They got some great shots. In the back of the speedboat is me taking photos and Phil controlling the helicopter. The photographer is also in the speedboat - he gets a live image from the helicam and takes photos by remote control. Amazing stuff! Some of the photos I took can be found on the blog - see Speedboats and Helicam at Rang Yai Island. You can "park" a speedboat or longtail boat easily at the beach ...

Rang Yai was in my mind again recently - we did a speedboat tour right around Phuket Island a few weeks ago, a bit of an experimental tour by my friends at Easy Day Thailand. We did a full circumnavigation of Phuket, with several stops on the way, the first stop being at Koh Rang Yai and to be honest I think we would have been happy to stay there all day! The word "paradise" is overused, but anyway ....

Certainly fun for all the family. We stopped about 1 hour on the island. There is something about blue seas, white sand, palm trees, a cold beer that makes you want to stay a while. We'd stocked a few beers on ice in the speedboat. I saw that there is a bar there by the beach. I know that there is a small restaurant, but on that last visit in 2010 we found the restaurant to be somewhat overpriced, charging something like 200 Baht for a fried rice. If we go again soon, we're taking a picnic! Not sure what the bar charged for a beer, but sometimes any price is OK for a cold beer on a perfect day :)

Oh yeh, jump for joy! When we stopped on that trip, there were about 10 other boats and almost all the tourists from those boats had taken up position on the same 100 meter stretch of sand or in the shade of the trees behind the beach. If you walk 100m, you get a perfect beach to yourself. Same goes in many tourist areas. 90% of tourists in the same 10% of space. Take the road less traveled! I mean, just by heading to Koh Rang Yai you lose 99% of the tourists who are happily sitting on Patong beach or one of the other main beaches. And then walk 100m and you lose 90% of the remaining 1%. Get it? Hope so.

Inland from the beach, aside from the previously mentioned bungalows (I think), restaurant and bar, there's a shop, and then some trails through the coconut trees. You can rent a bicycle and ride around or just take a walk as we did. Yeh, not much to see, but sometimes that's great. Palm trees, nature, sand, sea, the hot tropical air. That'll do!

(above) Bike hire on Rang Yai island

Not a bad little place! I think we'll be back again soon. The east coast of Phuket has a lot of small islands. It sounds kind of obvious but the best way to see Phuket island is by boat!

Koh Rang Yai - Location Map

View Koh Rang Yai Island in a larger map

Shrine of the Serene Light

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 02:30:00 +0000

Phuket Town is full of history, full of interest. I still keep stumbling upon new places... I wish there was more time to explore and less time in the office! I thought I knew the old town pretty well, but then back in 2009 I read about this shrine on the "Phuket Town Treasure Map" (a great map for exploring old town, it's made by a company called Serendipity Designs which has an office on Soi Romanee). A shrine that I did not know about? It seems I must have walked past the entrance many times, but in 2009 the entrance to the shrine was an alleyway about 4 feet wide marked by a pillar with Chinese writing (see photo here.) Felt like I was making a real discovery! The shrine itself was a bit crumbly and I was the only visitor. A couple of years ago, renovation started on the shrine, and the entrance has been widened and beautified. The renovation took ages and it only reopened officially in February 2013. So, this is an updated, re written blog post about the Shrine of the Serene Light with new 2013 photos!

(above) Entrance to the shrine on Phang Nga road

The shrine is built among the houses in the old town. It was built in 1889 by a local Hokkien Chinese family. The late 19th century was a boom time for Phuket, with money pouring in from the tin mining industry. Chinese families became very important here around that time. The old town is full of Chinese influence - check the shops, the shrines, the people. If you see the Google map at the bottom of the page, you can see the shrine is really in the middle of a block or houses and shops, hidden away. There's actually a "secret" passage at the back of the shrine that leads through the kitchen of a restaurant on the next street (Thalang Road). I've walked through a couple of time. Down the alleyway from Phang Nga road is the main entrance to the shrine...

Certainly looks a lot better than it used to. And on the day I visited last month there were a few other visitors including a Chinese-Thai man from Bangkok paying his respects. A reminder to everyone about being respectful ...

Externally, the shrine is very bright and colourful especially now that it's been fixed up and repainted. Inside the shrine, things are different. Everything is kept tidy by a live-in caretaker, but inside there has been no rebuilding or repainting.

The walls are covered in murals showing old stories - the walls look old. Were they originally this colour, or is that due to over 120 years of smoke from burning incense? I am happy to see that nobody has tried to restore these old walls. The local people here have a healthy respect for tradition and history. If you walk into the shrine, with the incense that always burns, there's a huge array of statues of Chinese gods.

The photo below I took from behind a row of statues looking back out the entrance of the shrine ...

It's quite a magical place and well worth looking for. I always urge people to go take a walk around town, visit a shrine, maybe the Thai Hua museum or the Chinpracha House, get some lunch at Kopitiam or try some Roti with curry. And stop by the old Chinese herb shop on Thalang Road, join the locals for a late afternoon walk at Sapan Hin park..... Phuket Town is where it's at!

Shrine of the Serene Light - Location Map

View Shrine of the Serene Light in a larger map

Phuket Town Central Market

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:09:00 +0000

I'd been meaning to explore the big central market in Phuket for a long time. I do like markets - it's where you see real local life, or at least one side of local life. The main market is on Ranong road in the older section of Phuket Town, and when I first came to Phuket in 1999, I walked around the town since the first few nights in Phuket were spent in town. The central market back then was an old building, not sure when it was built, but could be close to 100 years ago. I never went inside. The smell was off-putting. This was an old, old, place with old, old smells. Thankfully, the old central market was finally demolished about 5 years ago, and a new one built which finally opened in 2010. There are of course local markets all over Phuket Island, but the main market is still in Phuket Town.

You can't park on the road near the market, it's full of stalls and small shops and local buses and things being loaded and unloaded. I parked on Krabi road near the Thai Hua Museum, and just west of the museum is a very handy alleyway that cuts through 2 blocks direct to the market...

And it's a busy little alleyway! I hung around for 10 minutes to take a few photos. Big pick up trucks were squeezing through, heading out from the market, with only a few inches to spare on each side. These streets were not built with a Toyota Hilux in mind! Phuket Town has a lot of little shortcuts, and this is one of the most useful.

Approaching the market down this narrow street, you first come to an outdoor market area. The streets around the main market building are full of colour, stalls selling fruits and vegetables. People were loading vehicles with baskets full of bananas, papayas, oranges, pineapples, coconuts ....

The streets in this area of course get a bit scruffy, but help is at hand. The market area keeps itself as tidy as possible. I saw several people hard at work inside and outside ...

The alley leads right to the entrance of the central market, though of course you can also get there along Ranong road. I had originally intended to get there earlier, but it was after 10am, and already hot with the sun high in the sky. It would be better to get there a bit earlier for photos and to avoid the heat. The street outside the market is a continually moving ballet.

So I wandered inside. The main entrance has several sets of stairs leading to 3 different levels. There are signs in English which is very helpful for non Thai speaking market enthusiasts. I like to find a place to watch people coming and going. Markets are great for people watching. The egg man arrived with a pick-up full of eggs, and he took repeated journeys between truck and market stall. Down all those steps. With all those eggs. It's all about balance.

Most of one floor seems to be all about meat of various kinds. Phuket of course has plenty of seafood available. Our family eats lots of fish. It would take a fair sized family to manage one of the fish on the stall below. Most local markets in Phuket also sell fish, prawns, squid and shellfish. The people of Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi areas have long been fishing folk. As a diver I wish they'd fish a bit less in some areas, but seafood is a traditional staple for locals and in demand from tourists so the fishing industry remains strong.

The fish and seafood stalls need ice. Fresh seafood is great. Old seafood is a disaster. I had to dodge out the way of the ice men several times. Buckets full of ice arriving to keep those fish cool....

Any market anywhere is a riot of colours, smells, people, and things you don't get "back home". Thai cooking is more about the herbs, spices and special blends of ingredients that can be added to vegetables, meat, maybe coconut milk, and wow! You get a wonderful variety of tastes. This stall below is selling a lot of things used in local Phuket cooking - dried chilies, dried shrimp, dried fish combined with the right spices can make all kind of dishes. The dried shrimp in particular is an oft-used ingredient in Phuket and Phang Nga.

And this shop (below) adds the spice - several different curry pastes for sale, the magic ingredient in Thai curries. People do sometimes make their own curry paste, but it's actually not that easy, and most people buy the curry pastes from a specialist in the local market...

And the market is also the place to pick up some vegetables and a smile ...

Outside the market on Ranong Road is where local buses are found, destination anywhere! It's a shame that Phuket does not have a comprehensive public transport system. You can get a bus from Phuket Town to all over the island (and from there, back again). But from Karon to Patong beach? From Patong to Surin Beach? No bus. Only taxis and tuk tuks. Well, I hope that will change. From the street outside the market you can head out all over Phuket ...

The bus above? Takes you to Sarasin, where you find the bridge to the mainland. The bus below? Heads off to the northeast coast to Bang Rong, where there's a great floating restaurant in the mangroves. The old central market in Phuket Town is still the center of Phuket for local people.

This is not at all a tourist market, this is the center of Phuket life, well it certainly was until 15 years ago. A traditional market with fresh produce has to compete with supermarkets, and Phuket has a lot of these now, mostly opened in the last 10 years, but the local markets seem as busy as ever, a great place to get a taste of the real Phuket.

Phuket Town Market - Location Map

View Phuket Town Central Market in a larger map

Circumnavigating Phuket Island by Speedboat!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:24:00 +0000

Phuket is a big island. I've said that before, but it's worth repeating. Part of the reason for starting Jamie's Phuket in the first place was to show that there is way more to Phuket than some beaches, bars and a few well known attractions. Over the years doing the blog it's been good to explore Phuket and the surrounding area. Over the bridge into Phang Nga province, by boat over to Phi Phi, Racha Yai or Koh Yao Noi islands. Ah yes ... a boat. Phuket is an island, and within a 1 hour speedboat ride there must be 100 small islands, there's certainly some amazing scenery (such as Phang Nga Bay), and if you charter a speedboat you can go when and where you want (within reason!). Many speedboat tours head to Phi Phi or James Bond Island or Khai island (for snorkeling) or Raya island. You can take boat trips every day for a week to somewhere different. You can ask my friends at Easy Day Thailand about all kind of tours. They tend to offer private tours and try to avoid the crowds as much as possible - yeh, some of these places can get real busy - to avoid crowds it's best to visit places early or late in the day .. or just do something different, explore, see what happens! And that's what we did last weekend!

The boys at Easy Day Thailand had hired a speedboat for the day to see what could be done. The aim was to cruise a complete circuit of Phuket Island stopping off on the way at a few places and seeing what's possible. We did not start until after midday which led to a very late lunch and a feeling that probably a 10am start would have been better. We started from Chalong Bay and headed off south and east towards the east coast of Phuket...

It was a HOT day with calm seas. It's a long ride to get right around Phuket .. I'd say we covered about 130km, or 70 nautical miles. In places we could open the throttle, but there are plenty of marine craft around Phuket, with speedboats, longtail boats, fishing boats, sailing boats ... you have to slow down sometimes! Best anyway not to race, but enjoy the views of Phuket island from the sea.

(above) View on the east coast - this is Sirey Island, you can see the temple on the hill, it's a nice place to visit. And (below), we passed a fishing boat heading for the fishing port on Sirey.

First stop was Koh Rang Yai island, which I last visited a couple of years ago. It's a lovely little island. There were about a dozen boats by the beach and looked like mostly Russian tourists. Rang Yai is not big, but if you walk 100m from the boats, you get this...

Oh yes! We walked across the island which is mostly full of coconut palms (see photo below). There is some private development here, a restaurant, a small bar, some bungalows, but it's mostly very quiet, and remember this was the middle of the day in high season.

Paradise? Well, don't ask me .. I've traveled a lot and my mind varies between two points of view - there is no paradise (someone always spoils it), and paradise is what you make it. Well, the kids in our group certainly loved Rang Yai :)

We could have stayed much longer there, but due to our late start, people started to feel hungry and lunch was still nearly 40km away! The plan was for lunch at a restaurant next to Sarasin bridge which joins Phuket to the mainland. And I think we would have been happy to stay longer at Koh Rang Yai :) But off we sped up the east coast of Phuket. The east coast is way less visited than the west coast where the main beaches are found. The east is mostly mangroves, small islands, fishing villages. Oh, and places like this ...

Just a low-tide sand bar near Naka island, a sailing boat, the island of Koh Yao Yai beyond. As we all remarked on the boat, Phuket is just so crowded and touristy! Sure it can be, but that's not my Phuket ... so maybe there is a paradise :)

The speedboat captain slowed down quite a bit on the last 10km before the bridge - he'd never been this way before. A first for all of us. The speedboat owner Mr Kung was aboard too, and he'd never done a full circuit of Phuket either. By this time we knew that a trip of this kind needs an earlier start! It was nearly 4pm when we dropped anchor just past Sarasin Bridge on the beach next to the Thanoon Seafood restaurant which is actually on the Phang Nga side of the bridge.

I'd only been to Thanoon Seafood once before, and I had suggested that it might be suitable for lunch on this trip. It was just about perfect - great view, quick service, cold beers and easy to park the boat right by the restaurant. Actually a late lunch was good, as by about 4pm you can feel the heat dropping, the light is beautiful and .. yeh, one more beer please!

And then we noticed that local kids were playing around, cooling off by jumping off the bridge ...

And on the other side of us, trying to catch something for dinner ...

Well, our lunch break finished at about 5pm! This was of course an experimental trip. We learned that an afternoon trip is possible, but it would be much better to start earlier! Sun was already sinking low as we sped down the west coast of Phuket. An earlier plan to be at Phromthep Cape (at the southwest corner of Phuket) was abandoned. We stopped for a short while at Koh Waew, a tiny island close to Bang Tao Beach. Everyone jumped in for a little spot of snorkeling.

But time was ticking and speedboats don't want to be out after dark, so we could not stop long. It was not far from sunset when we left Koh Waew - still about 45km to get back to Chalong Bay. Sunset at Koh Waew I guess is not seen by too many people. Nice.

And then a dash down the west coast passing Bang Tao, Surin, Kamala, Patong, Karon, Kata, Kata Noi, Naiharn and Ya Nui beaches, rounding Phromthep Cape, past Rawai beach and back to Chalong Bay just before dark. A great afternoon! If you want a trip like this, just ask Easy Day Thailand, the schedule is flexible, there's a lot of possible stops along the way.. they can work something out for you. I want to do it again :)

Top 10 Phuket Hotels 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 10:30:00 +0000

Time to update the Top 10 Phuket Hotels. This is a new list based on TripAdvisor rankings as they are now. For each hotel there are links for checking online rates and availability - I suggest using Agoda.com if you want to book a hotel in Phuket. There are also review links - also mostly from Agoda where possible - only people who have booked the hotels through Agoda can make a review (I've left some reviews myself), and if you check the reviews, they tend to be very honest reviews, with plus points and minus points - combine Agoda reviews with the TripAdvisor reviews for an even wider range of people's views. Here's the 2013 version of the Top 10 Phuket hotels ...

Top 10 Phuket Hotels 2013

1. The Baray Villa by Sawasdee Village (Kata Beach)

The Baray Villa - just 14 luxury villas, which are run by the Sawasdee Village Resort, and yet separate from the resort. Villas are 2 floor with huge rooms, jacuzzi, direct pool access, set in tropical gardens, with a spa available. Reviews make the villas sound fantastic! It was also number 1 in 2012. Yes, please!

• The Baray Villa at Agoda.com
• Baray Villa Reviews

2. Rising Sun Residence (Chalong)

Not a beach hotel at all, Rising Sun Residence has 12 villas in the hills in the Chalong area near Chalong Temple. There are seven three-bedroom villas, four of these have a private pool and jacuzzi, kitchen and large living room. The five one-bedroom villas are built around a large pool with sun deck and jacuzzi. Long way from the beach, so would suit people who want to explore Phuket and "come home" in the evening. Jamie's Phuket kind of people!

• Rising Sun Residence at Agoda.com
• Rising Sun Residence Reviews

3. BYD Lofts (Patong Beach)

Up from 7th place last year, BYD Lofts is not really a hotel, it offers serviced apartments, with a viewtastic rooftop pool, near the center of Patong Beach. There are 1 and 2 bedroom apartments of various sizes. A good place to stay if you like to be near the center of all the action (that's Patong) but need a quiet place to retire to. I know I knock Patong, but for sure it's convenient to have a lot of restaurants, shops and tour counters near you.

• BYD Lofts at Agoda.com
• BYD Lofts Reviews

4. Trisara Resort Villas

Trisara was 9th last year, and I gotta say it might be my choice. Trisara offers private pool villas on a private beach just north of Layan beach in the north of Phuket. Trisara is a "secluded, luxury, amazing views, forget-your-worries" style hotels. Only 39 villas, lots of space, no crowds. Villas from 2 - 6 bedrooms, so can be ideal for families or big groups, or weddings. Or just for a relaxing trip for a couple. And yes, it's miles from any busy areas, so don't complain that you have to get taxis everywhere :)

• Trisara at Agoda.com
• Trisara Reviews

5. The Shore at Katathani (Kata Noi Beach)

Katathani has been around for years, but The Shore is their newer luxury "pool villa" development, opened in 2010. And it sure looks good! Pool villas, some with seaview (note: reviews mention that the view does vary from villa to villa), all with private pools. As I said, this "private villa" thing seems to be the trend in the last few years. A great hotel for couples. I see lots of honeymoon reviews.

• The Shore at Katathani at Agoda.com
• The Shore Reviews

6. Pen Villa (Surin Beach)

And the totally new entry ... Pen Villa. I had to check on this one. A smaller hotel at Surin beach, and I'd really not heard of it before writing this . Must have opened in the last couple of years, and looks like the kind of personal place which requests guests that they make reviews on TripAdvisor. Every year there are a couple of places that make me say "Where?". Power of the internet. I'm sure it is very nice though!

• Pen Villa at Agoda.com
• Pen Villa Reviews

7. Renaissance Resort and Spa (Mai Khao Beach)

Mai Khao Beach is still one of Phuket's quiet secrets. It's about 10km long with only about 7 resorts plus a couple of small bungalow operations. Renaissance is one of the best in the area, close to the airport (don't worry, you can't hear it) and right on the beach which is never, ever crowded. There's a variety of rooms - simple "deluxe" rooms up to pool villas with seaview. Mai Khao Beach is way up in the north of Phuket, it's over 40km from here to Patong, Karon and Kata. If you want solitude, it's ideal and why would you visit the main beaches anyway? I love the location of the Renaissance!

• Renaissance Resort at Agoda.com
• Renaissance Resort Reviews

8. Kantary Bay Hotel (Cape Panwa)

The Cape Panwa area is south of Phuket Town, well away from the main Phuket beaches, and it's an area that we really like. Kantary Bay Hotel is right by the Phuket Aquarium. The hotel has studio, 1 bedroom, and 2 bedroom suites. All suites have a living room and kitchenette. Seeing a trend here? Old style hotels are out ... it's nice to have something more like an apartment so you can be a bit more independent. Explore Phuket .. explore with the help of this blog :)

• Kantary Bay Hotel on Agoda.com
• Kantary Bay Hotel Reviews

9. Pacific Club Resort (Karon Beach)

The Pacific Club Resort seems to often rank highly when I make top 10 lists, despite (again) not being by the beach. It missed the list last year, but it's back! Pacific Club is about 10 minutes walk down to the sands of Karon Beach. The hotel is situated in the hills above Karon, with seaviews and green views. There are standard rooms and also 1 and 2 bedroom suites. The restaurant is said to be good and I must try it one day! (I've been saying that for years).

• Pacific Club Resort on Agoda.com
• Pacific Club Resort Reviews

10. Mom Tri's Villa Royale (Kata Noi Beach)

Mom Tri's Boathouse hotel was one of Phuket's first five star boutique hotels with a famous restaurant. The Villa Royale was built later on land which used to be the location of his home, on the headland overlooking Kata Noi beach (just south of Kata beach). Steps from the hotel takes you down to the beach. Great views from the rooms and from the restaurant too. It's got a touch of class, and is often fully booked even in low season!

• Villa Royale at Agoda.com
• Villa Royale Reviews
• More about Mom Tri's Villa Royale on Jamie's Phuket

Is that really the top 10? Well, it's based on the TripAdvisor list, I had to base it on something! Maybe you stayed at a hotel that's not listed, but should be? Do add a comment below! Phuket has a very confusing mix of old and new resorts, big hotels and small guesthouses, villas for rent, hillside, beachfront, busy areas, quiet areas... There's something here for everyone, but sometimes. There is a trend in recent years for new luxury resorts and for sea view (not on the beach) villas. Land prices and rent are very high these days in Phuket, so it's hard to think about opening a small hotel or guesthouse. I'd say Phuket is slowly heading upmarket. Older tourist areas like Soi Bangla in Patong are being redeveloped. Out with the bars, in with aircon shopping centers and new stylish resorts. And dotted around the coast, many new 4 - 5 star resorts have opened in the last few years. If you have a favourite hotel, let me know :)

Since doing the 2012 list, it was suggested that I add some more specific hotel information, so during 2012 a few new blog posts were added about different kinds of Phuket hotels ...

• Best Phuket Family Hotels
• Best Phuket Luxury Hotels
• Best Phuket Value Hotels

For Phuket hotel reservations, I recommend you check Agoda.com - it's what I use myself. On the subject of reviews, by all means read them, but do think also about actual hotel features - location, size, room type, price (!), suitability for kids etc.. one person's heaven may be another person's holiday nightmare! Some like it quiet and secluded, others want action. Some want great views from a hillside, some want beachfront.... Any questions about hotels, please do leave a comment or ask on my Jamie's Phuket Facebook Page.

• Top 10 Hotels in Phuket (2012 version)
• Jamie's Phuket Hotel Recommendations

What to do in Phuket with Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 01:00:00 +0000

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 kids to live, a great place for kids to visit on holiday and a great place for families to experience together. Yes, together. I admit there may be a couple of times when a Mum and Dad might want to leave their kids at the hotel "kids club" and maybe got for a massage together or leave the kids with a babysitter and go for a "just the 2 of us" dinner, but mostly I would say this : Whatever you do, do it as a family. Let the kids experience a variety of places, smells, sights and sounds. In a way, almost all of this blog is about Phuket with kids, because I am a Dad and we are a family! Our kids were born here in Thailand, go to school here, speak Thai and English .. so I realise my situation is different to a visiting family, but the blog sticks to things that tourists can do and does not really dwell on the expat life. The main thing our kids do is school, plus they do extra activities like music and Taekwondo and football. There's a lot for kids to do if you live here ...

(above) That's my boy playing football and playing guitar

(above) And my daughter practicing Taekwondo

There's a lot of "kids stuff" here and I am of course happy to let kids be kids, but also involve them in family activities. We often go out for the day at the weekend, or out in the evening to eat and I like them to get new experiences .. I also like to get new experiences myself, but almost always with my family, with the kids. Now, some things depend on the age of the kids, there are things to do in Phuket like parasailing or diving or bungy jumping and these are not for 2 year olds! Kids age 10 or older can try diving - my daughter has tried and I plan to take her for a proper dive trip soon. People often ask me "is this suitable for kids?" - I can tell you with our kids we did boat trips when they were a year old, drove all around Phuket and in the (more than) 6 years since this blog started they've come with us almost everywhere and they are happy to explore back roads, temples, islands ... We (I hope) manage to mix kids stuff with adult stuff. As every parent hopes .. we're doing our best!

Best Things for Kids in Phuket

I am not a fan of lists, but for this blog page, a kind of list is needed. This is not everything, suggestions welcome - please leave a comment. This might take a while and I will probably update the page as time goes by .... I asked my kids what they like doing, and they both went for Taekwondo and they both went for "The Beach Bar" ...

The Beach Bar is one of our favourite hangouts, we have been going there for years, our kids play with the owners kids, we can eat decent food at a good price, enjoy a sunset beer, it's safe, friendly, quiet. Yes, best thing to do with the kids .. go to the beach (and eat new food!). Kids also mentioned that they like Layan Beach and eating dinner at Dairy Hut and Route 68, a couple of restaurants in Phuket Town. I hope kids visiting Thailand try some Thai food - all part of the experience!

My son gave me "Khao Sok" as one of his favourite places - me too! Khao Sok National Park is not in Phuket, it's a few hours drive, past Khao Lak and into the jungle! We like to stay here to relax and get some jungly fresh air. We have also done boat trips on the lake, tubing and kayaking there. Oh yeh!

Closer to Phuket, a great day out that we have done many times, with kids when they were as young as 2 years old, is a boat ride in Phang Nga Bay including James Bond Island and Koh Panyee.

My kids both (independently) wrote that they like to visit the Indy Market, which is on Thursday and Friday evenings in Phuket Town. I urge people always to try Phuket Town sometimes - and if you visit the old town early evening when the Indy Market is on, that's a good time. Better for older kids, not toddlers.

A great weekend we had last year (and will do again) ... we stayed on Racha Yai island, kids went snorkeling, enjoyed beach time, met huge monitor lizards, played in a pool with a great view. Add in the boat ride, the tractor-pulled shuttle from pier to hotel - kids got something new and interesting and had fun, and so did their parents!

(above) My daughter and friends enjoying Racha Yai island :)

Next ... Phuket Aquarium. We have been here countless times over the years since our daughter was a baby. Fish! Wow! Fish! Amazing! Colours! Fantastic! And as they get older, Dad the diver can educate them about species and the environment and we all have a good time. And the entry fee is cheap too. They learn something new every time we visit. And it's close to the aforementioned Beach Bar :)

And then nerdy Dad takes over. I like my kids to have fun. And learn. Hopefully, sometimes, both at the same time. So, kids let's go to a museum. Phuket has a number of museums and a few of them are very good. The kids have enjoyed several visits to the Mining Museum. Phuket used to have a big tin mining industry back in the 19th century through to the mid 20th century. We've also enjoyed family visits to the Thai Hua museum in Phuket Town, which is mostly about Phuket history and housed in an old school.

(above) The kidz at the Thai Hua Museum and Phuket Mining Museum

Enough nerdy stuff, let's have some fun (balance, balance). I think I'll have to take the kids to the Splash Jungle Waterpark again sometime soon. They've been twice, it's not that cheap, but boy did they have fun. Can't put a price on a happy face.

Or how about some mini golf? We've been to the Dino Park mini golf near Kata Beach and the newer Adventure minigolf at Bang Tao Beach. Fun for everyone!

And I am sure the kids will enjoy Phuket Fantasea or the newer Siam Niramit show. Our kids have seen Fantasea a couple of times and I'd like to go again. Part of the "magic" in these shows is (as an adult) watching your kids watching the show. Watch their magical faces. You might know how the trick is done, but for them it's magic.

Like I said, we do like to go exploring sometimes and the kids come and explore with us. A trip we have done a couple of times, and will do again, involves taking a ferry to the small island of Koh Yao Noi, hiring scooters and riding round the island to see what we can see. Kids have loved these days out. New experiences are good for young minds.

(above) Our kids and friends exploring at Koh Yao Noi

Our kids also love festivals and street fairs - I guess Songkran would be their favourite, and Loy Krathong, and events like the recent Old Phuket Festival. My daughter and I enjoyed walking together and visiting the shrine during last years Por Tor Festival. For a visiting tourist kid, experiencing festivals like these would be great!

(above) Buying a turtle cake as an offering for the Por Tor Festival

(above) Having fun on Songkran

This page could go on forever, kids don't have to do "kids things" all the time, a balance of fun, learning, new experiences, time with the family, time to run off without Mum and Dad. Our kids are happy to visit a temple, try new restaurants, and we've been a couple of times to watch Phuket FC, the local football team - last time my son was one of the team mascots :)

(above) Our son as team mascot, and the kids at Khao Rang temple

Phuket has so much to do and see, some of it is "for kids", but (and you don't need to listen to me) I think if you go on holiday as a family, you should explore and experience things as a family. Most kids enjoy doing things with their parents, so if you want to check out a Chinese shrine, visit a museum or walk around Old Phuket Town, take the kids. And by all means have a day by the pool too! I guess what I am saying ... having kids should not limit what you do too much unless the kids are really small. I guess I should add - be aware that it's hot here, so make sure kids drink plenty of water and get their rest. Have fun with the family!

A final photo ... Phuket is great for kids because ....

Related posts ...

Top 10 Phuket Family Hotels

Old Town Festival 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:38:00 +0000

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.

(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!

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 ...

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 ...

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

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.

(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.

After a hot day, nothing beats a "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 ...

(above) Strawberries for sale on Krabi road

(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 ...

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 :)

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...

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

Laem Sai - An Unexplored Corner of Phuket

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 15:39:00 +0000

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.

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.

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

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 ...

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.

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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Naowarat Restaurant in Phuket Town

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:06:00 +0000

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.

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.

(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.

(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!

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!

Naowarat Restaurant - Location Map

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Markets in Phuket

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:40:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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Phuket Zoo - Should You Visit?

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 15:12:00 +0000

The last time I mentioned Phuket zoo on the blog was back in 2007, and I wrote "A tourist kid sat with the tiger while his dad took photos. The tiger keeper (a one armed man) poked the tiger with a stick, making him growl and bare his teeth. Would I let my kid sit next to a pissed off tiger? Er.. no."

Seems my memory is short! And I am a hypocrite.

That's me, my daughter and my Mum with the same tiger in 2004 (before the blog existed). I'd forgotten about that earlier visit with the family when we took the tiger photos, watched the shows, bought ice cream for the little girl and quite possibly enjoyed the day! I knew the zoo wasn't all that clean, but most of the animals seemed happy and oh, an orangutan riding a bike and doing maths, hilarious! We went again in 2006, again enjoying things, and justifying the visit as the only opportunity the kids would get to see such animals, and it's right here in Phuket! By then we had a little son too. And we don't have the money for a family holiday to Tanzania.

Feeding a tiger cub? Elephants playing basketball? Brilliant!

I have not been since 2007. Over the years my views on Phuket zoo have changed. I noticed a lot more of the unhappy animals which were probably there in 2004 and 2006, or maybe things got worse? Kids have been since, on school trips. I have no plan to visit again, though maybe I should, just to see for myself. I don't want to say too much bad, since I have not been there for many years.

Oh, and the crocodile show! More fun! Don't think they have lost anyone yet...

Fun or exploitation? I recall the crocs water being very green, I recall elephants chained up, though to be honest - look at the face of the elephant playing basketball, I reckon he looks happy. But .... is this leopard happy?

Is this bear happy?

Given that my last visit was 2007, I wanted to get some updated opinions. So, I posted on my Facebook page "I'd like to hear what people think about Phuket zoo". And got a lot of replies. I was hoping for a mixture of opinions - you can read all the replies here, but here's a selection ...

Myself and my daughter came out of there in tears, if places are making money out of animals they should treat the animals humanely..The conditions are horrendous:( I love Phuket and have been 5 times but have told everyone Not to go to the zoo...I don't find it amazing that you beat a crocodile to bleed, and its entertainment, personally I would've found it funny if the croc had of bitten his head off

Terrible. We were there a couple of months back. We were unable to have photos with many of the animals as they were "tired".....more likely drugged. The animal enclosures were dirty, no water and many of the animals were suffering from injuries and were starving. Should be closed down! I wouldn't recommend it to anyone! Many more beautiful sights to see in Phuket

Not a big fan of zoos in general but I was very disturbed by what I saw at Phuket Zoo -- the concept of using animals for entertainment is very outdated, and most of the creatures there looked unhealthy and/or agitated. The tigers being photographed looked zonked out on drugs. It provides no opportunities for visitors to learn anything about wildlife or nature. It's a sad animal prison. Avoid!

(above) Happy Feet?

Been there twice, once with my brother & partner at the time & then again with my parents. Never again, worst experience. Hate the way they treat their animals & charge you so much for it

Oh yeh - as said above - they do charge you so much - it's a 500 Baht entry fee, though locals pay only 80 Baht. And then many people will pay more for tiger photos, snake photos, food to feed the animals etc... plus your taxi.

That poor orung u tang, he looks so sad. The poor monkeys with chains and the poor elephants look so sad to. We hated it there.

(above) At least the toucan looked fairly healthy

Phuket zoo is the only attraction on Phuket that I will never return to. It is a disgrace with animals kept in horrible conditions. It reminds me of pictures of zoo's in the west from over a hundred years ago.

It was run down and the animals are not cared for and were all cramped in cages. I have to say though that we had the biggest laugh with the Orangutan who fell in love with my husband and we got some great photos. Even the little monkeys are such funny characters and we loved them but as for the rest of the zoo well ...SHAME!

Well I thought I might get at least a few people saying they had fun, but it really was pretty unanimous. These are all comments by people who have been to the zoo in recent years. I guess the place is still busy with tour groups. And I imagine there are visitors like we were the first time - ooh! a tiger! Oooh! A funny monkey! Wow! A huge snake! You can find a lot more opinions on TripAdvisor. Some are positive and I hear that animal activists post fake bad reviews. I was glad to get the opinions on my Facebook page too. Should you visit? My opinion is that the zoo is obviously not looked after very well, it seems obvious that some animals are treated poorly. Personally I am unlikely to return, though maybe I should, just to get my own view. Anyway, Phuket has so much to see, that unless you have never seen any animals before or never been to a zoo before, why go?

Wat Manee Sri Mahathat (วัดมณีศรีมหาธาตุ)

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:45:00 +0000

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...

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.

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!

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.

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!

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 - Location Map

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Rang Hill (Khao Rang) in Phuket Town

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 13:17:00 +0000

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.

(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.

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.

(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.

(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.

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 ....

(above) sign for the toilet at Khao Rang Breeze

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.

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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Dairy Hut Seafood Restaurant, Phang Nga

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 15:00:00 +0000

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.

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...

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!

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!

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.

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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Jamie's Phuket : Best of 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 07:56:00 +0000

Another year! 2013 is upon us, the world did not end, the future is bright. I hope everyone has had a good 2012, had some good times. The year for me in Phuket - busy! I admit to struggling to find time for blogging especially later in the year. Please remember this Phuket blog is a hobby, as I am working as manager of Sunrise Divers, and also have a wife and kids, so can't be on the computer every free moment! Sometimes I get a does of blog fever and make sure we get out and do new things. Sometimes I have a day off and we stay home, do the garden and maybe head out for dinner to a favourite restaurant. Must make sure we try some new places to eat in 2013 for the blog, and for our taste buds! Actually, looking back, 2012 was a good blogging year. We did get out and explore, especially in Phang Nga (north of Phuket) and we also had a couple of holidays out of Phuket visiting Hua Hin, Chumphon and Suan Phung. Might be a struggle to fit the "best of" onto one page, but here goes!

January 2012

Though I knew all the interesting temples in Phuket, but found one that I had never visited, at Wat Khao Rang in Phuket Town, featuring a big golden Buddha statue....

(above) Big Buddha statue at Khao Rang Temple

Also blogged about the new mini golf place at Bang Tao Beach, which we visited with the kids on Christmas Day 2011 (and have meant to go again since, but had no time).

(above) Mini Golf near Bang Tao Beach

February 2012

A month writing on the blog about recent fairs and festivals, with Chinese New Year being on 23rd January, I stopped a couple of times to get new photos at the annual Chalong Temple Fair which is always held around Chinese New Year.

(above) Chalong Temple Fair

And then I wrote about the Phuket Old Town Festival which had been held from 28 - 30 January.

(above) Fire dancer during the old town festival

March 2012

Exploring in Phang Nga province, which is north of Phuket, just over the bridge. Phang Nga is mostly very rural. We found a great restaurant called Tha Sai Seafood, also visited a very interesting temple called Wat Thamtapan and a beautiful little forest park with waterfalls - Sa Nang Manora Forest Park.

(above) View from Tha Sai Seafood and a waterfall at Sa Nang Manora

And later in March, with the kids on school holidays and visiting inlaws, I did some exploring on my own including the Phuket Seashell Museum and (on a walk in Phuket Town) I was invited into a Sikh Gurdwara for a look around.

(above) Phuket Seashell Musem and the ceiling of the Sikh Gurdwara in Phuket Town

April / May 2012

We had a holiday out of Phuket for a couple of weeks including visiting my wife's family in Chumphon. Meanwhile in Phuket, thanks to the Bumrungwong family for letting me snap photos at the Old Herb Shop in Phuket Town

(above) At the old herb shop in Phuket Town

And (inspired by the earlier visit to Khao Rang temple) I wrote about the "Big Buddhas" of Phuket. There's more than one!

(above) Big Buddha at Sri Sunthorn temple

Old Phuket Town is getting better year by year as people who live and work there put some effort into the area. There are now several roads without the usual ugly electric wires overhead, and I am always happy for a little walk in old town.

(above) Dibuk Road in old Phuket Town

June 2012

I meant to write about the Indy Market before, as we go quite often. It's in Phuket Town on Thursday and Friday evenings. Also on the blog in June, a bar/restaurant that has become a favourite - Route 68, on Thalang Road in the old town.

(above) Indy Market and Route 68

And we very much enjoyed watching Phuket FC one evening when our son was chosen as one of the team mascots to go out on the pitch with the players. And Phuket won the game 8-1 :)

(above) At a Phuket FC game

July 2012

A busy month for blogging! Our explorations into Phang Nga continued with a visit to the very impressive temple at Wat Bang Riang. I also got round to blogging about Khao Sok National Park, which we'd actually visited back in May - one of our favourite places.

(above) At Wat Bang Riang, Phang Nga

(above) On the lake at Khao Sok

Found a groovy new bar with great views south of Kata beach - Sabai Corner, great place for a sunset beer or a few, and I hear that the owner now has a few bungalows open too.

(above) Sabai Corner Bar

And I "reblogged" a couple of things. The blog has been going since 2006, so some of the older posts are out of date and photos tend to be better now. Sometimes I update a few old blog posts every week, sometimes write completely new blog posts such as the posts in July about the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project and Wat Kathu temple.

(above) Wat Kathu Temple

August 2012

One of may favourite days of the year - a trip over to Koh Yao Noi island, east of Phuket. It's small, quiet, has great views .. next time we plan to stay a night.

(above) Exploring Koh Yao Noi island

And then some street culture! The 4th annual Kathu village street festival was held in August. Kathu is the area of Phuket where I live. The 3 day festival featured lots of food and street performances and a big street parade on the first evening.

(above) At the Kathu Festival

And some street food! I finally blogged about the well known Abduls Roti Shop in old Phuket Town. Roti with curry for breakfast. Yum!

(above) Abdul's Roti with curry

September 2012

There are some well known festivals in Phuket and some smaller festivals. The 'Por Tor' (Hungry Ghost) festival is one that I never investigated until last year. Well, in 2012 I saw a lot more. We all went to the Por Tor Kong shrine in Phuket Town that is the center of events to say prayers and donate a red turtle cake for the ghosts.

(above) Por Tor Festival

More food! My wife introduced me to a tasty dish called Khao Yam, a kind of salad made with rice and herbs, popular in south Thailand and a new restaurant opened not far from our house doing Khao Yam and also some good dim sum.

(above) Khao Yam

October 2012

In late September / early October we were on holiday for a couple of weeks, I might write something about the Hua Hin trip sometime! Also during the holiday we had an overnight trip to Racha Yai (Raya) Island about 20km south of Phuket - a place I have dived many times, but this was the first time I'd set foot on the island in all these years.

(above) Fun for all the family at Racha Yai

And then one of my favourite festivals - the Phuket vegetarian festival was from 14th - 24th October. A photo fest! I visited several shrines in the early morning to watch face piercing rituals, and also some day time and evening street processions. It's a bizarre and fascinating time of year.

(above) Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2012

November / December 2012

What are the best hotels in Phuket? Well, over the year I have added a bunch of pages which show "Top 10" lists based on TripAdvisor rankings. Started with a simple Top 10 Phuket Hotels list back in February, but in the last 2 months there have been several useful hotel posts :

• Top 10 Family Hotels
• Top 10 Luxury Hotels
• Top 10 Value Hotels

Hope those are useful! We've been a bit lazy recently, not many days out - certainly no holidays, as it's high season. Kids often have music lessons or Taekwondo at the weekend, so we might not always do much. I did "reblog" the Bang Pae Waterfall in November. We combined a visit there with lunch at Bang Rong, a regular favourite restaurant.

(above) Bang Pae Waterfall

And we tried a new restaurant just recently - a floating seafood restaurant called Bang Mud, on the east coast of Phuket. Got to try more restaurants next year! Especially if I finally bite the bullet and buy an iPhone, which will mainly be used to take photos of my lunch.

Even if things aren't blogged, I often put photos onto the Phuket page on Facebook, or please do follow me on Twitter for Phuket updates. And latest photos are on my Flickr account.

Here's a fun photo to end 2012. Yesterday we went for a little drive, took a walk across Sarasin bridge that joins Phuket to the mainland, and then had a drink and cake at the 360 Degree Cafe which is just a few km into Phang Nga. Here's our boy on a big swing at the cafe ...

Let's see what 2013 brings. Happy New Year from Phuket!

Best Value Hotels in Phuket

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Following on from the Top 10 Family Hotels in Phuket post, and the Top 10 Luxury Hotels in Phuket, I thought a post about bargain hotels / good value hotels would be useful. Many of the hotels that appear in the other top 10 lists are 4 - 5 star and of course (myself included) we don't all have 4 - 5 star wallets! So I clicked onto the TripAdvisor ratings for "value hotels" and found a very interesting list of different hotels, mostly small hotels or guesthouses. Phuket does not have to be expensive!

Top 10 Best Value Phuket Hotels

1. Chinotel (Phuket Town)

Chinotel opened just a couple of years ago, a modern hotel right next to the main market in Phuket Town. That should tell you something - might not be the quietest place, but ideal for exploring Phuket Town, a few minutes walk to the old town, and right by the local buses to the beaches. It's one of the hotels in Phuket Town that I recommend on this blog already. I am amazed to see a Phuket Town hotel on top of the list!

• Chinotel Booking @ Agoda.com
• Chinotel Reviews

2. Le Jardin Bungalows (Patong)

I have driven past Le Jardin hundreds of times, it's on the back road (Nanai Road) in Patong, quite a hike to the beach and far away from the noisy areas. Looks like a little French oasis. It's been there as long as I can remember. If you walk along Nanai Road, plenty of nearby places to eat. The area is a lot more developed than 10 years ago but still retains a bit of "old Patong" life, not just tourism. Amazingly seems to do well without being sold by any major online booking sites. Well done!

• Le Jardin Website
• Le Jardin Reviews

3. Summer Breeze Inn (Phuket Town)

Summer Breeze Inn is more of a homestay than a hotel, being run by Manit and his family. Reviews keep saying how friendly he is! Located outside Phuket Town in a residential area, well away from tourist zones (so don't moan about being miles from anywhere!). Just the kind of place I'd like to run myself sometime :) The out of the way location is fine, as the owner will arrange transfers and tours.

• Summer Breeze Inn Booking
• Summer Breeze Inns Reviews

4. Atlas Hotel, Cafe and Bar (Patong)

The Atlas looks like a good bet if you want to be in the middle of Patong, close to the nightlife and shopping, with simple, clean rooms, nothing fancy, with a small restaurant and tour booking office. In other words - value for money, but not the kind of place you want if you're looking for beachfront luxury :) (thus, this list!)

• Atlas Hotel Booking @ Agoda.com
• Atlas Hotel Reviews

5. Baipho Boutique Residence (Patong)

Close to the center of Patong, Baipho seems to be very popular, with personal service and a Swiss owner. I'm not sure what 'boutique' means these days. Nicely decorated? Not just another hotel? Looks decent enough for a cheaper stay near the middle of Patong.

• Baipho Boutique Residence Website
• Baipho Boutique Residence Reviews

6. Valero Guesthouse (Patong)

I'd never even heard of this one! Mind you, I hardly ever go to Patong. Valero Guesthouse is on Nanai Road in Patong like Le Jardin (No.2). Sounds from the reviews like a simple place with a friendly owner. Remember that Nanai Road is quite a way from the beach, renting a scooter is a good idea if you stay in this area.

• Valero Guesthouse Booking at Agoda.com
• Valero Guesthouse Reviews

7. Baan Suwantawe (Phuket Town)

Another good value hotel in Phuket Town, Suwantawe is just out of the old town center, close to the Indy Market. Rooms are more like apartments, quite large and there's a pool too. Staying in Phuket Town gets you closer to the real Phuket and you can easily get local buses from town all over the island.

• Baan Suwantawe Booking @ Agoda.com
• Baan Suwantawe Reviews

8. Green Island Guesthouse (Karon Beach)

I know a lot of the guesthouses in Karon, since I work in that area. Green Island is located on the street going to the big Centara Karon resort, which is quite a busy area by Karon standards, plenty of restaurants and tour agents etc... Karon actually has quite a few lower budget guesthouses, looks like Green Island is popular, or at least popular with TripAdvisor users. Can be a kind of a self perpetuating popularity sometimes with TripAdvisor so long as decent reviews keep coming in!

• Green Island Guesthouse Website
• Green Island Guesthouse Reviews

9. Asialoop Guesthouse (Patong)

Asia Loop (or Asialoop) Guesthouse (or G-House as they call it on TripAdvisor) is on the edge of Patong, one of many small hotels that have been fitted into a large area of new shophouses on the road that heads towards Karon. Maybe not ideal location, but hey, the reviews sound positive especially with regard the friendly staff.

• Asialoop Guesthouse Booking @ Agoda.com
• Asialoop Guesthouse Reviews

10. Nirvana Inn (Patong)

More Patong! I guess this maybe reflects on TripAdvisor users. Yeh, Patong has a lot going on, but it's surely not the place for a relaxing holiday! There's an oversupply of rooms in Patong, so I suppose lots of good reviews must be a good sign. Nirvana is out of Patong, past the Asialoop in another shophouse development past the well known Simon Cabaret show. I'd rent a scooter if I was staying here.

• Nirvana Inn Booking @ Agoda.com
• Nirvana Inn Reviews

For Phuket hotel information and booking, I do recommend looking at Agoda.com first - it's what I use. Any questions about hotels or Phuket, please do leave a comment on this page or the Phuket Facebook Page or Twitter.

• Top 10 Hotels in Phuket 2012
• Top 10 Family Hotels in Phuket
• Top 10 Luxury Hotels in Phuket
• Jamie's Suggested Phuket Hotels

Bang Mud Seafood - Floating Restaurant

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 09:09:00 +0000

During the high season, Saturday is normally my only day off. Some Saturdays are lazy days at home, the kids might have music and/or Taekwondo classes, sometimes we eat at home, sometimes we eat at one of our regular restaurants, and some Saturdays like last week, we figure that we should try a new place to eat rather than play it safe. Also, a new restaurant is good food for the blog! I would have been quite happy to eat at Laem Hin Seafood, but we decided to get the boat from Laem Hin over to one of the floating restaurants next to Koh Maphrao (Coconut Island). I wrote about one of them last year (see Kruvit Seafood). The boats over to these floating restaurants depart from just around the corner from Laem Hin, the longtail ride is free so long as you are eating. This time we chose Bang Mud Seafood.

There's a cluster of longtail boats ready to ferry people over to a restaurant, just tell them which place you're heading to and off you go. It's a short 5 minute ride.

(above) Approaching Bang Mud Seafood. Coconut island is in the background, the restaurant is only about 150 meters from the island, and maybe 700 meters from Laem Hin. I've only ever set foot on Coconut Island once. One of these days I'd like to stop and look around. Maybe treat the family to a night at The Village resort .. or maybe not, it's not a cheap place to stay :)

Ony a few tables were occupied when we arrived, all local people. Some of the tables are low and you sit on the ground, which I find very hard, don't know where to put my big legs! So we took a normal table with chairs. All the tables are shaded and the air is quite fresh as you're over the water.

The view from our table...

Note - Bang Mud is Muslim run and they don't serve alcohol (or pork, but then you wouldn't really be wanting pork at a seafood restaurant anyway). They told us that if people bring their own alcoholic drinks, that's OK. We ordered a bunch of different dishes including Tom Yum, fried soft shell crab with garlic, Yam Tua Pu salad made with wingbeans and seafood, garlic chicken, fried squid with garlic.

(above) Some of our lunch at Bang Mud. I love the soft shell crab (Poo Nim). The bowl of Tom Yum was huge and we were all well stuffed and in no rush to leave after eating. I gotta be honest, a cold beer would have been nice! I snapped some photos of the staff and other diners and longtail boats coming and going.

(above) Our waitress :)

These ladies were having a fun lunch together! They were already there when we arrived and I could see their table was piled with food. When I see a group of local ladies like this at a restaurant that is a good sign - the locals know where to find the best food at the right price.

Aside from the whir and chug of longtail boat engines it's a very peaceful place to eat, on the water, lovely view, good food, nice people, far away from the crowds. Next time I think we'll go for dinner, aim to be there on a nice sunny afternoon as the sun goes down.

Bang Mud Floating Restaurant - Location Map

View Floating Restaurants at Coconut Island, Phuket in a larger map

Top 10 Luxury Hotels in Phuket

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 14:00:00 +0000

It was suggested to me several times in blog comments or messages on Facebook that I should add some more hotel information, a bit more specific that the Top 10 Phuket Hotels list (a list which has been updated several times, most recently this year). So, I have done a Top 10 Family Hotels in Phuket post, and now here's the Top 10 Luxury Hotels in Phuket. There is also now a Top 10 "mid-price" hotels list. The rankings are based on TripAdvisor ratings. There are links for each hotel to online booking / availability / price checking and for guest reviews.

Top 10 Phuket Luxury Hotels

1. The Baray Villa (Kata Beach)

The Baray Villa consists of 14 luxury villas, which are run by the Sawasdee Village Resort, and yet totally separate from the resort. Villas are 2 floor houses with huge rooms, jacuzzi, direct pool access, set in tropical gardens, with a spa (of course) at the resort. Not on the beach, it's about 10 minutes walk to the sands at Kata Beach, but I reckon you'd stay here to relax and feel a bit special. Maybe rent a scooter to get around Kata or scoot down to Naiharn or a sunset drink at the After Beach Bar.

• The Baray Villa Booking @ Agoda.com
• The Baray Villa Reviews (TripAdvisor)

2. The Shore at Katathani (Kata Noi Beach)

The Katathani Resort has been open for many years. The Shore is their newer luxury pool villa wing, opened in 2010 on quiet Kata Noi beach. And it looks great! Pool villas, many have sea view but the view does vary, all villas with private pools of course. Very popular with couples. Check the reviews below - most are from couples.

• The Shore at Katathani Booking @ Agoda.com
• The Shore Reviews

3. BYD Lofts (Patong Beach)

BYD Lofts is a different hotel, the rooms are like serviced apartments, with kitchens and a shared rooftop pool, near the center of Patong Beach, but not in a noisy area. Surprised to see it listed as a luxury place, you normally imagine beach front .. BYD I guess is 5 minutes or less walk to the beach. A good place to stay if you like to be near the center of all the action (that's what Patong is) but need a quiet place to retire to.

• BYD Lofts @ Agoda.com
• BYD Lofts Reviews

4. Villa Zolitude (Chalong)

Villa Zolitude is "up in the hills" .. and seems to be very popular. Located between Phuket Town and Chalong. Not near any beaches, certainly not within walking distance - about 10km to Kata or Karon. Villa Zolitude is reached by driving up the road to Radar Hill (which is the highest road in Phuket). Certainly quiet up there, away from the crowds by quite a distance. Good idea to have some transport if you stay at this hotel. It amuses me to see reviews complaining about the location. Hey, folks, do some research!

• Villa Zolitude Booking @ Agoda.com
• Villa Zolitude Reviews

5. Kantary Bay Hotel (Cape Panwa)

The Cape Panwa area is a beautiful part of Phuket well away from the main Phuket beaches, an area that we really like. Kantary Bay Hotel is right by the Phuket Aquarium, with studio, 1 bedroom, and 2 bedroom suites. All suites have a living room and kitchen. Panwa is a little out of the way, south of Phuket Town and at least 30 - 40 minute drive to the main beaches - good to have a car if you stay here. I am sure the hotel has some shuttle services though.

• Kantary Bay Hotel @ Agoda.com
• Kantary Bay Hotel Reviews

6. Pacific Club Resort (Karon Beach)

The Pacific Club Resort seems to rank in the top 10 every time I do a top 10. It's in "the" top 10 and the family top 10, and yet it's not by the beach, so the hotel itself has to be good! It's about 10 minutes walk down the hill on a little back road which I think would be very dark at night to the sands of Karon Beach. The hotel is in the hills, with seaviews and jungle views - the hills behind Karon are very green. There are standard rooms and suites with 1 or 2 bedrooms. The restaurant is also meant to be very good, especially the steak, and I keep saying I will try it one day!

• Pacific Club Resort Booking on Agoda.com
• Pacific Club Resort Reviews

7. Renaissance Resort and Spa (Mai Khao Beach)

Mai Khao Beach is still one of Phuket's gems. It's like 10km long with just half a dozen resorts plus a couple of small bungalow operations. Renaissance is one of the best in the area, close to the airport (don't worry, you can't hear it) and right on the beach which is never crowded. There's a variety of rooms - simple "deluxe" rooms up to pool villas with seaview. Remember that Mai Khao Beach is way up in the north of Phuket, it's over 40km from here to Patong, Karon and Kata. I mean, if you want solitude, why would you visit these main beaches anyway? So again, I am perplexed by reviews moaning about the location. I love the location!

• Renaissance Resort Booking @ Agoda.com
• Renaissance Resort Reviews

8. Twin Palms (Surin Beach)

Surin Beach, despite rampant hillside development manages to retain a laid back feel on the beachfront with small restaurants and bars although they tend to be a little expensive, and yet Surin is so so different to the big beaches it's nice to come here for a meal and drink sometimes. Twin Palms is not huge, under 100 rooms - the more luxury rooms are huge duplexes and penthouse suites. Twin Palms also has its own semi-private beach club (Catch Beach Club) right by the sea.

• Twin Palms Booking on Agoda.com
• Twin Palms Reviews

9. Trisara Resort Villas

Trisara has private pool villas near a small private beach just north of Layan beach (which is north of Bang Tao Beach) in the north of Phuket. 39 villas, lots of space. Villas of varying sizes from 2 - 6 bedroom, so can be ideal for families or weddings. Or just for a relaxing trip for a couple. My favourite review says "makes you feel like a rock star" :)

• Trisara Booking @ Agoda.com
• Trisara Reviews

10. Mom Tri's Villa Royale (Kata Noi Beach)

Mom Tri Devakul was one of Phuket's tourism originals. His Boathouse hotel opened many years ago on Kata Beach. Villa Royale was built later on the rocky headland overlooking Kata Noi beach. A stairway from the hotel takes you down to the beach. Great views from the rooms and from the restaurant too. It's got a certain touch of class, only 35 rooms and is often fully booked well in advance. Mostly a place for couples.

• Villa Royale Booking @ Agoda.com
• Villa Royale Reviews

For Phuket hotel bookings, I recommend checking out Agoda.com first - it's what I use. Any questions about hotels or Phuket, please do leave a comment on this page or the Phuket Facebook Page.

• Top 10 Hotels in Phuket 2012
• Top 10 Family Hotels in Phuket
• Jamie's Suggested Phuket Hotels

Amulet Alley in Phuket Town

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 14:20:00 +0000

Now here's an interesting local place that I have meant to write about for ages. Phuket Town is the place to look for local life, history and culture, though much of Phuket Town was only built after 1900 and then thrived on the tin and rubber booms. Before that, Phuket was more rural, and the main town was Thalang in the center of the island. Way back in 1785, the people of Thalang battled against a Burmese invasion (more info see : The Heroines of Phuket). These days, Phuket Town (officially called Phuket City though everyone says Phuket Town) is the center of government and business. The old center of town still features a lot of old buildings, and businesses that have been in the same family for generations. There's a lot of content on the blog about Phuket Town. If we go out in the evening, we go to town, not to the tourist beaches. We have several favourite restaurants in town and I just enjoy a walk sometimes around the older streets. And there always seems to be something new to find. I was amazed a few years ago to find the Shrine of the Serene Light hidden up a tiny alleyway and connected via a passage to the back of the Wilai restaurant on Thalang Road. The entrance to that shrine on Phang Nga Road is currently being widened and tarted up. Opposite there is the north end of Amulet Alley (see map at the end of the page).

I've used Amulet Alley (sounds like something out of Harry Potter) as a shortcut from Phang Nga Road to Rassada Road often enough. You might not notice this alleyway, but if walking in town, always worth exploring the side streets! So what's in Amulet Alley? Yes, people selling Buddhist amulets - which are like lucky charms. I'm not an expert though I wear one myself that we got from a temple near Chumphon (my wife's home town) .. got one in the car too that's meant to be for safe journeys.

You can buy simple amulets in temples for 100 Baht or less. In fact the one around my neck was given to me free by a Buddhist Nun. She gave us each one (myself, my wife, daughter and son). But these are not the ones for sale in the market at Amulet Alley. Well, I guess we can call in a market, or maybe just a street for amulet collectors and devotees. Rare amulets can sell for 1 million Baht. There are shops and markets selling amulets all over Thailand including a huge market in Bangkok. There's even an amulet collectors magazine.

You'd have to be a real collector to know a rare amulet from a reproduction, but trade I think must be good. Look around, you see many people here wearing amulets, and the reasons for wearing one are varied. Not just for general "good luck" but an amulet can be for love, for good luck with school or work, for protection from illness, and of course it helps if you believe.

(above) These guys looks like they're serious amulet dealers, while I was there, they were always on the phone and I imagined them discussing the latest amulet prices. I'm not sure of the business hours of this street, sometimes there are more amulets for sale than others, it seems to be quite informal. Not really a market, more a gathering place for amulet enthusiasts.

Near Amulet Alley...

Thai Hua Phuket History Museum
Kopitiam Restaurant
Abdul's Roti Cafe
The Old Thavorn Hotel
The Oldest Herb Shop in Phuket

Amulet Alley - Location Map

View Amulet Alley / Phuket Amulet Market in a larger map

Live Webcam at Karon Beach Phuket

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 14:24:00 +0000

There are several webcams in Phuket, very useful for checking the weather. I have several of these web cams on my Phuket weather blog, the best I think is at Karon Beach (at the Marina Phuket Resort), which normally points at the beach, with a bit of sky and sea. On a sunny day you see people frolicking in the shallow water. On a rainy day you can see the rain, and a mostly empty beach. This blog seems to get different visitors to the weather blog, so the Karon webcam is now here too!

Karon Beach Information

• Suggested Karon Beach Hotels on Jamie's Phuket
• Karon Beach Hotels - Full List @ Agoda.com
• About Karon Beach
• Karon Temple Market

Bang Pae Waterfall - น้ำตกบางแป

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 01:06:00 +0000

Phuket has all the ingredients for some waterfalls - hills (the highest is over 540m above sea level), jungle and rain (average yearly rainfall about 2500mm / 100 inches). And indeed there are several waterfalls in Phuket. None of them are huge, but for a visitor who has never seen jungle before, a walk at Bang Pae waterfall is a nice experience. The northeast of Phuket has a large area of green hills covering about 20 square kilometers. This is the Khao Pra Taew National Park including Bang Pae waterfall on the east side of the hills and Ton Sai waterfall on the west side. Apparently it's possible to walk from one waterfall to the other over the hill. I only met one person who has been walking in that area, and he got attacked by a wild gibbon during his hike! We've been to Bang Pae many times, most recently just a couple of months ago, though on that occasion we skipped the hiking and just visited the Gibbon Rehabilitation Center, which you pass on the way to the waterfall from the carpark.

Last Saturday we had lunch at one of our favourite little places, a floating restaurant at Bang Rong, which is close to Bang Pae. And then, I decided to drag the family for a little walk. There always used to be an entry fee at Bang Pae, but the last 2 times we've visited, the entrance has not been staffed. We visited on a Saturday, quite popular with locals at the weekend, for a picnic and a play in the water. To reach the larger sections of waterfall you need to hike. Up. The path is decent, though a bit steep and rocky in places. It's all green and jungly...

I love the big trees with their buttress roots. And see that tree above? I was checking some old photos of Bang Pae, and I have a photo of the exact same tree taken back in 2004! All along the path you are following the little river that flows down from the hill, kids and families play in natural pools or stick their heads under small cascades...

Further up the hill is the largest section of the falls. Hey, it's not massive, but there was a fair flow of water last weekend as we'd had daily thunderstorms for the previous few days - just 30 minutes of rain, but helps to turn the waterfall into something more than a dribble. It's not so easy to approach the main falls, you need to wade through the river surrounded by large rocks, and the riverbed is stony and slippery. A bit risky when carrying a camera which I'd really not want to drown!

The path actually carries on above these falls, but this was enough walking for the family today! One of these days (it's on the list) I must walk further. From the path you can see the top and bottom of the falls, though rather obscured by the jungle...

To get a better picture I'd have to be in the pool below the main falls, where the kids are playing in the photo below. The height of this "big" waterfall is less than 20 meters but still quite impressive surrounded by the jungle. The main reason there are no huge falls here, despite the rain and the hills, is the geology of Phuket which is mostly granite rock - very hard rock not easily eroded by water.

The Bang Pae area makes for a good day out including the gibbons, maybe an elephant ride, lunch at Bang Rong, or maybe at Bang Pae Seafood, and some kayaking in the mangroves. Ask Easy Day Thailand about tours.

Next to the car park area a couple of small restaurants. After even a 20 minute jungle walk, cold drinks were needed! The lady running this restaurant said she remembered us. I mean, I guess we have been here a dozen times over the years. We got our cold drinks here since they promised "Happiness you can drink"!

Bang Pae Waterfall - Location Map

View Bang Pae Waterfall and Gibbon Rehabilitation Project in a larger map