Part 6 Charming Phuket

15 Mar 2012 – Cruising the Island

At 8.00am, our driver cum tour guide (he also runs his own travel agency) arrived at our lobby to take us on an island cruise. He suggested we make it free and easy so that we don’t end up rushing to see too many things and get stressed by it. Instead his idea was to point out interesting places as he drove and if we are interested to see further, he would then stop. He actually suggested many things – shooting range, go-kart drive, elephant ride, pearl factory, sea shell museum, T-shirt factory outlet, massage and even a Tiger Show. Seems licenced tour guides get special rates.


Finally we settled for :-


(1) Thalang National Museum


(2) The Heroine’s Monument


(3) T-Shirt Factory outlet


(4) Phuket Pearl Factory


(5) Cashew Nut Factory


(6) Wang Talang Duty Free Shop


(7) Wat Cha Long temple


(8) Promthep Cape


(9) Kata, Karon and Patong Beach




Thalang National Museum

Thalang National Museum

The reason I chose Thalang Museum was I wanted very much to see the 9th century statue of the Hindu deity Vishnu. The museum was also located on the way to Phuket town. But alas, we were not happy about the entrance fee. It was 100baht per person, which is about RM10. The entrance fee to KL National Museum is RM1.

The statue of Lord Vishnu

Anyway, to my surprise, what I came to see stood right in front of my eyes. It occupied the centre of the entrance hall and it was a huge structure so I could see it clearly. There stood Lord Vishnu’s statue and next to him was another idol whose face was missing. It was uncovered from a jungle in Kapong, Phang Nga.

There was also a showcase of many prehistoric artifacts that were unearthed along the shore of Andaman sea which shows Thailand’s prehistoric relations with India, and explains the early Indian influence on Thai culture. Of course when we chatted with the museum staff they were not able to explain anything as they can’t speak English.

Sculpture of the dead and its spirit

Tsunami wreckage

Outside of the museum, in its compound, there was a tin-mining machinery used by the Chinese tin-miners. We also saw two strange sculptures - one of a dead person and another of the spirit leaving his body.  The latest addition I suppose must be the  tsunami section where we saw all kinds of wreckages caused by the 2004 tsunami.



The Heroine’s Monument


This is a symbolic statue of two sisters which stands in the middle of a round-a-bout in Thalang city. They are remembered every year during the anniversary of the Thalang War. As it so happenend, we were there just two days after they had the celebration, so we could see all kind of fresh flowers and garlands placed at the foot of the two heroines. They are revered for their bravery in tricking the invading Burmese army.



T-Shirt Factory Outlet

Going by what our guide told us, this was supposedly the cheapest place to get quality Tshirts. We did buy some T-shirts and for that, our guide got a free shirt – a pink floral shirt. That’s his commission, well deserved.



Phuket Pearl Factory

Pearl harvest demo

I am not really into pearl or any type of accessories but what I was interested was to see the demo on how pearls are farmed. We were shown sea and river pearls, how pearls are cultured, and moulds placed on their shells so that pearls have a form. We saw a huge pearl that is said to be worth 1.5million baht.

Pearls before and after

Cashew Nut Factory

The cashew nut factory

At the Sri Bhurapa Orchid,  we got to see how cashew nuts are removed, cleaned and processed. Surprisingly, the kernel or fruit seed is not contained in the fruit but outside. Of course the main aim of the factory was sale so we were assigned to one salesgirl who even helps you carry the basket for your purchase.  Available were many flavours of cashew nuts including tom yam flavoured.




Cashew nut cutting machine



Processing cashew nuts

The cashew nut is the dark one

Cashew nut juice

Wang Talang Duty Free Shop


This is supposedly the biggest jewelry, souvenir and gift shop in Phuket town. Those who are into gemstones should visit as I saw a large display of rubies, sapphires, emeralds, pearls etc.

Phuket's Duty Free Shop



Lord Shiva and Ganesha at the entrance

I saw a whole load of mini-vans cum taxis stationed in their carpark area. These are taxis for customers who wish to visit the store. All you need to do is call and free transportation will be provided.


Seems that the Thai government is urging more businesspeople to set up duty-free shops to attract tourists to Phuket.


And I found out later that all tour operators include this shop and the pearl factory in their listing. If you purchase something, their commission is 50%.

We didn’t buy anything. Instead, while I was browsing, N and the boys tried a game of dart at the taxi drivers’ waiting area.


Cameras are not allowed inside the shop.

For lunch, our guide took us to a Narong restaurant serving his hometown food. We had salted fish curry with rice. Again, need I say it, it was delicious.

The temple adorned in gold

From the entrance to the architecture and design, it is just beautiful and well maintained. There were a few shrines but the main one has Buddha’s relic kept in a glass case. The atmosphere is quiet as I noticed visitors showed respect by being silent and not touching the Buddha statues. The walls are painted with murals depicting the story of Buddha’s life. 

Reclining Buddha

In the main hall, there are many Buddha statues, in various meditative poses. As you go up the stairs and to the topmost floor, you will see a small bone of Buddha guarded by four monks (statues). The relic was brought from Sri Lanka.

The relic inside the glass case

future buddhas..

Amidst the silence, suddenly we heard the sound of firecrackers. I found out that some locals and foreigners set them off to ask for lucky lottery numbers. Must be Asian tourists. There is a special stack where they light up these firecrackers.

 We entered another shrine and got caught up with some activities in front of the main altar. Some locals would come in, kneel, say a prayer, then pick up a can of bamboo sticks with numbers on them, and start shaking them till just one piece drops out. This is fortune-telling. The fortune for that number is kept in an open wooden shelf written on a piece of paper. Interesting, ya?

the entrance

We tried and hurried to read our fortunes, but it was in Thai. We got our guide to read it for us, as luck would have it, mine was not good. I had to tie up the piece of paper on a tree before I left. Bringing it home is like bringing home the bad luck. Lucky me, seems the fortune is valid only for a month.

The revered monk in the prayer hall

Wat Chalong

Then, we visited the prayer hall. We were surprised to see 3 monks seated inside. Rishi actually thought one of them was real until he noticed that he didn’t blink. These are the 2 revered monks of Phuket. Surprisingly, during my visit, we didn’t see any real monks. Where are they?



Promthep Cape

The southern tip and Andaman Sea

I have read many times about sunset at the cape.

The 3 main southern beaches can be seen from Promthep Cape - the longest is Karon, second longest is Kata and the smallest is Kata Noi

But we didn’t stay that long here. But from the viewpoint we could see some of Phuket’s popular southern beaches; Kata Noi, Kata and Karon.

A shrine with many elephant statues. Note the Light house at the back

Harish at the sunset viewpoint

We visited the light house but everything was in Thai, except the part where they ask for donation to upkeep the lighthouse which was In English.



The Beaches – Kata, Karon and Patong Beach
Karon is the longest and is popular with white travellers. I saw the whole stretch of the beach lined up with deck chairs for lounging. These by the way are not free, it’s for rent, 150-250 baht.

Passing by Karon beach, I couldn’t help think if I had arrived in Little Europe.

Patong beach

By now, the boys were getting restless in the MPV and wanted a swim. And so, we spent a longer time here at Patong. Entering Patong town feels like I was in Penang minus the many bars, massage parlours, night clubs, tattoo shops etc. Patong is definitely more vibrant. The beach looked overcrowded. Rows and rows of deck lounges were lined up for tourists. And there were makeshift huts for full body massages.

Patong beach

I let the boys swim, N stayed with them. I took a leisurely stroll passing many shops, restaurants, boutiques, spas, pedi and mani shops, massage centres, fast food outlets and clothes, shoes and bags.

Along the walkway

The puppy without a mouth at Patong beach

Patong

I saw many Indian and Bangladeshi shopkeepers and tailors.

Ronald McDonald's sawadee

a pretty standard sign at all the beaches

Later, we had a watermelon milk shake for 50baht, steamed fish cakes and chicken balls for 20baht per stick.

hawkeers using long poles to balance their food on sale

Tattoo shop

We left Patong late in the evening. For dinner that night, we took a walk to a food stall that sold soups and noodles. We ordered bee hoon soup with chicken. We also packed banana and chocolate pancake for breakfast the next day.

The chicken noodle soup

Iced water in silver tumblers

A Bangladeshi making the pancake

Banana and chocolate pancake

Some tips :-




1. If you are not into shopping, don’t stop at the Factory Outlet, Pearl Factory and Duty Free Zone. I am not sure if all tour packages include these places, but if they do, let your guide know beforehand. In our case, we had a choice whether to go or not.


2. If you are into nature, I suppose the elephant ride and waterfall will be a better choice.


3. Visit to a pearl farm would be better than seeing a demo in a pearl factory.




4. I wished we had stopped at a Muay Thai training centre just to see them throw some kicks. We saw 2 training centres but were pressed for time. Muay Thai is heavily advertised in Patong.




5. I would have loved to see the night scene in Patong.




All pictures are copyrighted. I can be reached at sivakay2009@gmail.com.