Phuket Island (Part 3)
(Part 1)

This page tries to give you some impression of the Island of Phuket.
It is a very touristic island, as you will see. Nevertheless it has some quiet and interesting spots. Please judge for yourself!

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Wat Chalong

Wat Chalong is a Temple on the Southern part of the Island of Phuket, dedicated to three Monks, who had great medical skills, especially in connection with herbal medicine. They also were famous for their skill to set broken bones. When you enter the Temple, you see statues of them. One is shown above, on the right hand side picture.

As in every Temple in Thailand, you should look at all the details. Some are very beautiful. In Wat Chalong I find the window panes of great beauty.
In a building next to the principal Temple building there are images, made out of wax, of the three Monks, looking very much like real-life monks. Don't forget to visit that building! It is very dark inside, so I do not wish to show the pictures I made inside, due to the poor quality.

Phuket Shell Museum

If you are interested in seashells, you are at the right place in Phuket. The Island houses the largest shell museum in the World. (That is what they claim, anyway). Even if you are not an expert in seashells, the museum is still worthwhile, because of the way the shells have been arranged, as you see in an example on the picture above.

Phuket FantaSea

Doubtless any travel agency on Phuket will try to tempt you to buy tickets with them for Phuket FantaSea. Should you go there? Let me put it this way: The place is ultra-commercial and the prices you pay in the shops there for anything at all are very un-Thai. I would even hesitate to pay such prices in a Western Country. So, should you not go then? No, you should go there, because at the end of your visit you will be seeing a show. And that show is so very, very good and -in fact- surpasses everything I had ever seen before! This is not just my own impression, but I have heard people who were spoiled with shows in Disneyland and any other place you can name, and they too found this show surpassing everything they ever had seen.
So what I advise is: Go there, keep your purse closed (as well as you can) and enjoy the show!
They sell, tickets including a meal and tickets excluding a meal. As the price of the meal is also very un-Thai, I would advise you to buy a ticket without a meal, and -if you have that option- have your meal in any nice restaurant in Phuket or at one of the small restaurants inside Phuket FantaSea, near the entrance. If you do not have that option, well, you don't have it. Buy the ticket including the meal then and imagine that you pay everything for the show. It certainly is worth even that price! (Photography is strictly prohibited. You even have to hand over your camera at the entrance! And they have trained their personnel specially for finding hidden cameras).

Back to Phuket City

I want to end these pages about Phuket in Phuket City again. In Rasda Road, you find the old Thavorn Hotel (not to be confused with some fancy new Thavorn resorts!) It is a very old low-budget hotel. The owners have lost their interest in it because of their fancy new places elsewhere on the island, which is a pity, because of the history of Phuket that clearly is part of the old Thavorn Hotel. So if you are not a luxury tourist, you might want to stay there. The hotel is not only old, but it is (or was?) proud of its history too. In and around the lobby, there is an exhibition about its legendary past. Just walk in and have a look (free of charge). You will see photo's, paintings, and other objects form the past of Phuket. Sadly the magnificent dining room has been "modernized" a few years ago. Do not forget to have breakfast, lunch or simply coffee or some other drink in its coffee shop, because that too is much like a mini-museum. And the coffee shop is one of the few places of the old Thavorn Hotel that is still in its old glory! The two pictures above try to give you a small impression of what you can expect inside the old Thavorn Hotel. Please also observe the wonderful staircase, in the lobby (see picture below; not very sharp, sorry).

And finally: Whenever you are in Phuket City and wonder at what time the sun rises or at what time you should go to the beach to see a beautiful sunset, go to the corner of Rasda Road and you can see the actual times of sunrise and sunset, daily updated!

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