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Baba (Peranakan) Wedding in Phuket
2010-08-16 06:25:00
A what wedding? If you are not familiar with the history of Phuket, you probably don't know about the Baba or Peranakan culture. I am not an expert either, so you'll find some links at the end of this article that have lots of information. In a nutshell, Nyonya (female) and Baba (male) are the terms used for the descendants of mixed marriages between Chinese immigrants and locals. Malaysians use the Malay word Peranakan. Apparently the word "Nyonya" is not used much as it's hard to pronounce, so male and female alike are all Baba! Many Chinese came to Phuket in the 19th century as traders and to work in the tin mining industry which created a lot of wealth for Phuket. Some of the biggest and richest families in Phuket are "Baba" families, including the Hongyok family. The current Mayor of Phuket City, Somjai Suwansupana is also a Baba. There is a lot of history there, a lot that I think we cannot fully understand without being a part of the "clan"!So - about the weddings - the Pe...
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Going to watch the Football - Phuket FC!
2010-08-10 11:28:00
Yes, you can watch live football here in Phuket! And I am not talking about the English Premier League in a bar, but real life football in a stadium with real players. Phuket has a football team (that's "soccer" for those of you who are uneducated). Phuket FC play in the regional southern league division 2, one of half a dozen second division leagues from various parts of the country. The winners of the division 2 titles enter a play off to get promoted to division 1.. there is a Premier division above that. So right now Phuket are in a low division, which is hardly surprising, as FC Phuket was only formed in 2009! In their first year, Phuket FC did rather badly, only winning 2 games all season, but this time around Phuket are top of the table and heading for the playoffs. I have been vaguely following the teams progress via the Facebook page for the Phuket FC Fan Club.I have meant to attend a match for months. Had a plan to see Phuket v Ranong a few months ago, which Phuket won 5-...
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Sabai Sabai Curry Restaurant
2010-08-03 15:48:00
The local radio station 91.5FM has a bunch of very local advertisements, many of them seem to be voiced by the same geezer with what used to be called a "suburban cockney" accent. One of these ads is for an Indian restaurant, of which there are several in Phuket. The geezer proclaims "I've not had a curry for Ages, I really fancy a Tandoori Chicken" or something like that. I know how he feels. Kind of. I mean, this is Thailand, so curry is everywhere... Red, yellow, green, jungle, massaman, penang. You want curry, Thailand has it, but you know us Brits abroad, we like a taste of home. And, at least to my generation, an Indian meal is British food! And I had not eaten one for ages, so was happy to join a bunch of dive folk last week for a curry at a little restaurant in Kata.Sabai Sabai is on Thaina road in Kata center, next door to Calypso Divers. The owner used to work as cook in another restaurant which stopped doing curries, so he opened his own place. It's not big, only half a...
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The Phuket Photo Walk 2010
2010-07-28 18:59:00
Last Saturday (24th July) was the date for the 3rd annual Worldwide Photo Walk, an event which aims to get photographers out snapping pictures of their home towns, all on the same day. According to the website, this year there were over 1,000 walks and a total of over 33,000 registered walkers. I took part in the 2009 walk in Phuket, and signed up for 2010. Last year I had been worried that everyone on the walk would be a super pro with 5,000 dollar cameras, but was happy to see all kinds of people and all kinds of cameras. Part of the idea is to get people to see their town in a different way. You can walk the same street a thousand times, but if you go down the same street with a camera and open your eyes, in the company of other people with cameras, you might just see things in a new light!In 2009 there were at least 40 people on the Phuket walk, so I was surprised to see less this year. Only about 15 or 20 people met at the Royal Phuket City Hotel. Yeh, the weather may have been...

Site Map for Jamie's Phuket Blog
2010-07-22 11:38:00
Since Jamie's Phuket started in April 2006, there have been nearly 300 blog pages published, and I admit that the navigation can be a bit tricky sometimes - there are lots of links on the left of the page to take you to various sections of the site and to popular pages, and I created main subject pages for hotels, things to do, temples, festivals etc.. but there are too many pages to keep track of now, and there are some useful pages that are kind of buried and hard to find... so this Site Map is an attempt to simplify navigation. This page will link to all pages on this blog except for a few early pages that were nothing to do with Phuket and a few older pages that are no longer relevant. Here we go...Jamie's Phuket Blog • Hotels• Things to Do• Places to Visit• Beaches• Festivals• Restaurants• Local Life• Hills and Views• Temples• General Information• Best of the Blog• Away from Phuket• OtherPhuket HotelsPhuket Orchi...
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A walk at Ton Sai Waterfall
2010-07-19 14:49:00
A rather cloudy Saturday, looks like some rain might fall. What do do? How to entertain the kids? Last weekend was like this. Certainly not a day for the beach; my wife suggested we just stay home and do the garden, but I normally take just one day off per week, and gardening is a waste of a day. We all woke up fairly early for some reason, and with the weather being undecided, we decided to play it by ear. First stop: Noodles... We drove a couple of miles to a favourite little noodle shop near Kathu Waterfall.So... where now? We were not too far from the Phuket Tin Mining Museum, and the kids wanted to go again. My wife has not been yet. We'd heard it was all closed up now while work continues to finish it... and that was correct. Lots of work going on around the place, they are building a huge mock-up of a mine with a lake and a Chinese style bridge - looks like it will be great.OK, so .. no museum. I had been up in the Ton Sai area last week for the Phuket Butterfly Release, and...

Phuket Butterfly Release
2010-07-13 14:30:00
On Saturday (10th July) I went along to the 4th annual Phuket butterfly release - I had not been to (or even heard about) the previous 3! Yes, this is another very local event which is not promoted to tourists, something that only those "in the know" will know of. Might change a bit next year. During the event which is organised by the Phuket Butterfly Garden, I talked to the director Mr Jaipet Hatthakham - he'd like to make the event bigger.. well, if you are in Phuket next July keep your eyes open!I heard about it from Tim who works at the Cape Panwa Hotel and is also keen on local events, and also does a blog. He mentioned it to me a couple of weeks ago when we met in Kathu Village at the local festival there. The butterfly release was also mentioned in the Phuket Gazette a few days ahead of the event. I did not think there would be many foreigners there (and I was right, aside from me and Tim I counted half a dozen more), but also I did not realise that this was such a big loca...
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2010 Phuket Vegetarian Festival - Full Schedule
2010-07-07 16:02:00
UPDATE October 2010Festival now over. Some reports and photos on this blog:• Bang Neow Shrine Street Procession 13th October• Vegetarian Festival Part 1 (photos from 7th, 10th, 11th Octber)Next year (2011), the festival will start earlier, around September 27th - the date is not fixed, it's based on the Chinese lunar calendar.Dates and schedule now available for the Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2010 - it will be held from 7th - 17th October. The what? Oh, come on... you must have heard of the vegetarian festival by now? I think I talk about the Phuket Vegetarian festival quite often... it's my favourite event in Phuket, my favourite time of year, and a photographers dream. I never really took much notice until about 2005, but since 2006 have been blogging the festival and taking lots of photos. Here's some photos and comments from last year:• Jamie's Phuket - Vegetarian Festival Photos 2009• Flickr Slideshow - 50 Photos of the Festival(above) entranced Ma Song ...
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The Second Kathu Village Culture Festival
2010-07-01 10:33:00
Last weekend from the 25th - 27th June our local village had it's second cultural street festival (first one was last August - see here). Using the word "village" in Phuket may sound odd, but there are many small communities in Phuket and remember that Phuket was not always so built up - go back only 20 years and things were much quieter. The villages like Kathu retain a very local way of life with modern attributes like internet, new cars and 4 lane roads (often the 4 lane roads are totally unnecessary). Kathu is one of the 3 districts of Phuket (along with Muang and Thalang) and is then subdivided into subdistricts called Tambon and further into villages (Tesaban and Muban) - it's all rather confusing actually - this website helps with all the terminology.So the event in Kathu celebrates the culture and history of this part of Phuket, which became the main town in Phuket in the early 19th century thanks to the tin mining boom. Kathu (aka Ket-Ho) was the center of the mining indu...
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Radar Hill - Highest Road in Phuket
2010-06-25 05:35:00
Until last year, I thought Radar Hill was the highest point in Phuket - the highest hill. Everyone who comes to Phuket will see Radar Hill (real name Khao Mai Tao Sip Song) - it's the big hill behind Patong Beach with the radar dome on top. BUT it's not actually the highest hill. Another hill a little to the North above Kathu Waterfall tops out around 30m higher - I hiked up here in September - see Hiking to the Roof of Phuket.Well, even if Radar Hill is the second highest hill, it certainly boasts the highest road. You can drive all the way to the top.. almost.. you cannot quite hit the summit since the radar is a military installation, so when you are 95% of the way up you reach a gate and armed soldiers. The road by the gate is almost half a kilometer above sea level. We've been up here before and I blogged about it some 4 years ago here, but we'd not driven up this hill for a while, and last Sunday we had an hour to waste while our son was at football practice.. weather was ...
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Spicy Noodles for Breakfast
2010-06-22 06:23:00
Sunday morning 9am. Dropped our son off at school for football practice - yes, he's only 5, but so long as he's enjoying it, I am also happy. We made sure he ate some sensible cereal before starting, but the rest of the family planned to eat breakfast while he was busy. Just down the road about 2km from the school is a noodle restaurant. Nothing amazing about that - Phuket, just like anywhere else in Thailand, has noodle shops everywhere. A bowl of noodles is one of the most common meals or snacks for Thai people. I have blogged a couple of other noodle places before - here and here. If you are in Phuket, you MUST try a simple bowl of noodles at least once - it's cheap and tasty and filling. I normally trust my wife with regards to choosing noodle restaurants, she'll find one that is clean, friendly and serving noodles with the best flavour - it's all in the soup - can be a bit bland sometimes, I admit. This one is not - where we ate on Sunday does the noodles in a Tom Yum soup...
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Hotel Recommendation: Phuket Orchid Resort
2010-06-14 09:52:00
The Phuket Orchid Resort is located at Karon Beach, the entrance is on Luang Poh Chuang Road (also called Karon Bangla Road) about 2 minutes walk to the beach.. and just a few minutes walk to see me at Sunrise Divers! We see quite a few customers from Phuket Orchid. I walk past the hotel if I head down to the beach. I'd recommend the place for families or anyone wanting a conveniently located hotel, but on a quieter beach than Patong. Not ideal if you want a quiet romantic hotel - it has 500+ rooms, so it's not a small place, but well designed with lot of tropical gardens and (the biggest positive I can see in the reviews) - big, big swimming pools which wind around the grounds surrounded by plants, statues, waterfalls, rocks and bridges. Looks great.I can also add that I know the GM - his kids are in the same school as ours. So if you stay there and see John, please tell him Jamie recommended the Orchid :)Phuket Orchid Resort - Booking & Information Links• Phuket Orchid Reso...
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Hotel Recommendation: Aspery Hotel Patong Beach
2010-06-05 03:44:00
I'm not a big fan of Patong Beach myself, though of course there are plenty of people who like the hustle and bustle, like the endless shops, the abundance of restaurants, the bars and girls and so on. Patong is the most developed 3km of tourist beach in Thailand. Any other beach in Phuket is quieter. BUT even if Patong is not my cup of tea, there are quite a few recommended Patong hotels on this blog. Not everyone wants to stay on a secluded beach - there are disadvantages to that too, mainly a lack of alternative places to eat and distance to attractions in Phuket. If you stay in Patong you can walk to 100 different restaurants, try a new place every day without having to take a tuk tuk. And if you like a bit of nightlife, Patong is the place to be. But you probably don't want to be staying right next to a bar.. don't worry, Patong is big enough to have quieter areas. The Aspery is only a 10 minute walk to Bangla Road, but is located in a quiet back street behind the main throu...
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Laem Hin Seafood - still a favourite restaurant
2010-05-21 16:32:00
While I do intend to add more restaurants on this blog as time goes by, everyone has their favourite places to eat, places where you feel comfortable, relaxed and you KNOW the food is going to be good. Some days you feel like experimenting, other days you want to head out for lunch safe in the knowledge that you'll enjoy your meal. Last week, on one of my final days of holiday, with the kids already back at school, my wife and I had a chance for a nice lunch together, just the 2 of us. It was a hot, humid day, typical for the time of year. My wife fancied somewhere with aircon, like Fuji Japanese restaurant in the Central Festival mall (we did eat there this week!), but I realised I'd not been to Laem Hin Seafood for ages, and wanted to taste some real Thai food. Laem Hin was the first restaurant I wrote about on this blog back in April 2006 - see here.Although it was a hot day, there were plenty of dark clouds around, which you can see in the photos below. In the hot season (Marc...
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Khao Sok National Park - Cliff and River Jungle Resort
2010-05-12 13:13:00
Holidays! By the end of April, things are pretty quiet in the dive shop, so I took a holiday starting April 29th, allowing about 10 days with the family before the kids went back to school after the "summer" break (Thai schools have summertime sensibly from March - May which is the hottest time of year). We decided to stop in the Khao Sok area for a night on the way to Chumphon. The chosen accommodation was the Cliff and River Jungle Resort, which had been recommended by friends. Looked great on the website, but don't they always?... For me, a personal recommendation is far more important.• Cliff and River Jungle Resort Online BookingThe drive from Phuket took around 2½ hours via Khao Lak. I half thought of stopping in Khao Lak to look at the boats that had been carried inland by the tsunami. Saw the famous police boat from the main road. But really, I don't want to be a "tsunami tourist". Have written about my tsunami thoughts several times on this blog, most recently ...
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My favourite places: The Beach Bar
2010-04-28 08:06:00
Phuket can be whatever you want it to be. Phuket is bars and girls. Phuket is crowded beaches and jet skis; shopping and good food. Phuket is groovy nightlife with trendy people. Phuket is a luxury getaway at a 5 star resort. Phuket is an island full of history and interesting culture. Phuket does have all this and more. Me? I am not into nightlife, clubs, bargirls and not rich enough to pamper myself at a fancy resort. Don't need a hotel anyway. Phuket is home. Phuket is where I work, where my kids go to school, and when I have time off work, I try to explore, which is what this blog is mostly about really. You can look other places for nightlife information, and if you want full on tourism, watersports and more food than you can eat, stay in Patong Beach , by all means, but do try to get out and explore some!This blog is "my" Phuket and I give thanks to all readers and people who email or come to see me to say they've enjoyed the blog. If you can find some useful information here...
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Hotels in Phuket Town
2010-04-22 08:47:00
Phuket is of course more known as a beach destination, and I would guess 99% of visitors will want to stay close to the water. There are plenty of hotel recommendations on this blog, mostly hotels near the beaches - Phuket's west coast is all about beaches, from the overdeveloped madness that is Patong (yeh, some people like it, I know) to much quieter locations like Naithon or Kamala. There are some hotels inland away from the water, or on the far less developed east coast, and there is also plenty of accommodation in Phuket Town .Phuket Town (officially called Phuket City, but it certainly feels like a town), is the main business center of Phuket and the provincial capital. There's no beach, but staying in town gives a totally different experience of Phuket. Sure there are some tourism oriented businesses, but mostly it's local life - markets, small interesting shops, Chinese shrines, day to day life going on all around, historic buildings, museums, local restaurants and a night...
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Hotel Recommendation: Ibis Kata Beach
2009-12-20 08:32:00
Having just reviewed one brand new resort at Kata Beach (Avista), would you believe it, there's another one just opened this month. World economic downturn be damned! new hotels are a very good thing in a place like Phuket. There has to be growth and renewal in the tourist areas or things might start to get a bit old and stale. Even if occupancy is down this year, there's a strong likelihood that by next year the economies of the world will be on the up again and my guess is that people who maybe cut back on holidays this year will be already saving for an overseas trip. So - hope to see you in Phuket!The Ibis brand is promoted as kind of new and trendy, inexpensive and with everything you need for a great holiday... in other words, nothing too flash... hotels that have the same brand over the world may not suit everyone, maybe they tend to be a bit like a fast-food hotel. You know exactly what you're going to get no matter which country you are in. If you want something more ori...
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Hotel Recommendation: Avista Resort (Kata Beach)
2009-12-10 15:08:00
The absolute peak season is coming very soon - the period around Christmas and New Year is very very busy for me at the dive shop.. already busy now! Personally, I think home is the place to be for Christmas, but seems that thousands disagree and want such strange things as sun, sea and sand. And of course, a nice place to stay. It's odd that with the so called global recession over the last 2 years there are still new hotels popping up in Phuket. It's hard to keep up sometimes with the new hotel names.I had already read about the Avista Resort and noticed that it was due to open in November. Some customers from the dive shop were staying there a couple of weeks ago. I drove them to the resort, only a few minutes drive from the dive shop and my first thought was "wow, this really does look new!" I reckon the paint had hardly dried, everything was immaculate. Our customers might have been the first to use their room! Also I was struck by the open plan of the hotel, lots of space, l...
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Phuket Philatelic Museum (Post Office Museum)
2009-12-01 14:24:00
Now I'll admit that a post office museum may not be top of many peoples top 10 things to do in Phuket list, but 'tis the nature of this blog to avoid the crowds, plus this little museum is in Phuket Town, which I like, and .. come on, admit it.. who didn't have a stamp collection when they were little? Within the history of stamps you can find the history of a country. Kings heads, famous people, historical buildings and even countries changing their names - before 1939, the word Thailand did not exist - the country was called Siam, and this of course is reflected in old stamps. Yes, as a kid I had stamps, inherited from older family members, and I do recall the name Siam.. but could not find it on a map.Phuket Town has several small museums - there is the Thai Hua School museum, and a neat little collection of old stuff at the Thavorn Hotel. I like the town, a welcome break from the tourist beaches. The old town is great, lots of old buildings, small cafes, interesting shops, al...
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Hotel Recommendation: La Flora, Patong Beach
2009-11-26 15:39:00
Now, it's not normally like me to recommend staying in Patong Beach . I prefer quieter places.. which means anywhere but Patong. BUT of course there are lots of people who like Patong, like the abundance of everything a tourist could want, like the busy streets and don't like it too quiet. OK, horses for courses, but one of the reasons I am now recommending La Flora is the first review I saw on TripAdvisor - the hotel got a great review, but the guest said "It all seemed so touristy, I really felt sad looking at all the Westerners lining up at Mc Donalds and Starbucks, come on, you're in Thailand eat Thai food!" - Amen! But the reviewer loved La Flora. An oasis in the heart of all the craziness that is Patong. It's sitting at top spot for Patong Beach hotels in the TripAdvisor ratings.La Flora only opened last year, right on the beach in Patong, right in the middle of Patong. It's a sister hotel of La Flora in Khao Lak, a place which I remember from (almost) 5 years ago. You kno...
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Mai Khao Beach - Seaside Cottages
2009-11-15 09:51:00
There is a question that comes up quite often, maybe asked by people who don't realise that Phuket has moved on since the 1970's. "Where can I find a beach hut or little bungalow right by the beach in Phuket?". Ah, well, I am sorry to say that for the most part, beachfront land in Phuket is now much too valuable to allow such cheap accommodation to exist. On the main beaches in Phuket like Patong, Karon or Kata, no chance of finding that kind of accommodation. In fact I was not sure there could be anything like it in Phuket, but was recently in contact (via Facebook) with Mal, owner of the Seaside Cottages which is found on Mai Khao Beach , the very northernmost beach in Phuket, north of the airport. Mai Khao Beach stretches for about 10km from the airport right up to the northern tip of the island near Sarasin bridge. That's a lot of beach.. and so far there is not TOO much development on Mai Khao. OK, you have the Marriott and Sala Phuket and a few other things but this area of ...

Booking Phuket Hotels Online
2009-11-05 14:13:00
As we enter high season in Phuket and the Andaman coast, visitor numbers increase dramatically compared to our low "summer season". Of course that's due to the weather. From November to April (on average) the weather is better than May - October. In particular, the Phuket Rainfall Averages show that December, January and February are the driest months of the year. Of course you can get plenty of good weather in the low season too, but in high season you'll get more sun. I don't promise no rain, hey, this is the tropics, but the next 6 months is the time to visit Phuket! Plenty more weather information on my Phuket Weather Blog...Enough about the weather! I hope if you browse this blog you will find that Phuket is a wonderful place. Now, this blog is mostly about the "other" Phuket, not the main tourist beaches, tours, shops and shows. But whether you come here for the beach, a family holiday, a honeymoon, a quick trip or a erm... gentleman's holiday.. everyone has one thing in c...
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Vegetarian Festival Procession Photos
2009-10-27 14:21:00
Well, the 2009 Phuket Vegetarian festival is now over. As normal, wish I had more time to see all the different events, visit more shrines, but work and family do just about come first! During the week I had no time, but on Saturday and Sunday woke early and headed to the processions. The street processions in Phuket Town happened every day from the 20th to 26th October. I cannot recommend enough that, should you be in Phuket during the festival, you should make the effort to see something... something that you will not have seen before!I managed a full 9 days on the vegetarian diet, eating food only from the restaurants and stalls selling the "Jae" food, no meat, no dairy, no garlic (it's smelly). Oh, and no alcohol - 9 days without a beer is something of a miracle for me! There are still events that I have not seen, not photographed such as fire walking, and the final night (which was last night) in Phuket Town, where the streets are packed with people and the air is full of fire...
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Some Photos from Kathu Shrine - Vegetarian Festival
2009-10-22 03:56:00
The vegetarian festival is underway, there have been a couple of the street processions in Phuket Town already, I have been eating the special Jae diet for 4 days now and driving home last night past the Phuket Brewery I was gagging for a beer.. but part of the festival is purification, cleaning the body.. so no beers until next week.Would have uploaded a few photos earlier, but the Gremlins struck twice this week. Our wireless internet modem at home suddenly stopped working, and then.. as I was taking photos at Kathu village shrine on Saturday 17th October for the opening ceremony of the festival, my EOS 20D decided to **** up. I got some photos of the people as prayers were said, incense was burned and the Go Teng pole was blessed, and then just as I hoped to get some action shots of the pole being raised, I got "Error 99". Won't bore you with details... looks like a lens issue, so the lens will need fixing. Oddly, it was working just fine a couple of days later.. but can't be 1...
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Phuket Vegetarian Festival Schedule 2009
2009-10-15 02:14:00
Updated - Festival is all done now - some of the best photos here:• Vegetarian festival 2009 - Street Procession PhotosIt's nearly here! My favourite festival in Phuket - the amazing vegetarian festival. If you are in Phuket between the 17th and 26th of this month, you'll have a chance to see something special. BUT here's a hint.. you will not find anything much going on near the main tourist beaches. No, this is a local event with a rich history going back almost 200 years, this is not a tourist show. Want to see something? You need to make a bit of effort. The festival is centered around Phuket Town and the many Chinese Shrines in Phuket that reflect the Chinese ancestry of many of the people here. Most of the shrines are in or near the town, with a few around other parts of the island. The main processions take place early morning around the town - if you want to catch one, best to stay in town, or you'll be needing an early morning ride from the beaches, as processions ...
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Restaurant Tip: The Coffee Pot
2009-10-06 09:59:00
I don't know about you, but .. as a long term resident here in Thailand I am still learning to appreciate different Thai foods. When I first came here, I think I ate fried rice or green curry about 50% of the time and was a bit scared to try new things especially anything too spicy. These days I love spicier foods and can eat just about any Thai dish. Nevertheless, sometimes my English stomach says "hold on, enough chili, enough rice, enough weird spices... I want proper food". No offence meant, but now and then I get that need for something from the old country, something simple, meat and veg, potatoes or a big English breakfast. I have touched on this before, and during the high season, the Pineapple Guesthouse near our diveshop does some good English food.The Coffee Pot has been around for years, owned by an Aussie guy called Tony who can sometimes be seen outside fixing up big bikes. Somehow I had never been in there until a few weeks ago. Many people had told me that the Coffe...
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Restaurant Tip: Mom Tri's Kitchen
2009-09-29 07:37:00
Earlier this month I decided to write about Mom Tri's Villa Royale, which is one of the top rated hotels in Phuket, a really nice place to stay. I tend to write hotel recommendations based on their reviews on TripAdvisor or based on talking to customers from our dive shop about their hotels. As a resident of course I don't stay in the hotels here and being that this is an honest blog, I don't take any payment or freebies for writing about hotels either.But I am glad to know some people in the tourism industry here do read this blog! Sylvie, who is PR manage for Mom Tri's contacted me with a thanks from the management for the blog article.. and would I like to have lunch at Mom Tri's Kitchen one day? Well, sure! I hate to plead poverty, but a place like that is rather out of my normal budget. Lunch for me is normally going to cost about 60 Baht, I guessed the menu at the Kitchen would be rather pricier...Mom tris' Kitchen is part of the Villa Royale resort overlooking Kata Noi ...
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Luang Pu Supha Temple
2009-09-20 07:21:00
On a grey and wet morning I awoke early for a visit to a temple which has suddenly become famous. Local news last week reported that the revered Monk, Luang Pu Supha could be the world's oldest living man, having just celebrated his 113th birthday. This has yet to be ratified by Guinness. Luang Pu Supha is a well traveled Monk having visited Laos, Burma, China and Europe. He returned to Phuket in his 60's and dedicated time helping the sea gypsies. The temple he resides at now was named after him by HM Queen Sirikit.The main temple is still under construction. All activities for now take place in more modern looking buildings. The temple is not far from Way Chalong, up a side road leading towards the hills. There is talk that this road will one day link up with Patong.. Indeed on a mountain bike or hiking you can follow this road up and over the hill, but it might take a while before the real road actually gets built.The main hall, where the birthday celebrations had been held jus...
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The Phuket Jet Ski Debate
2009-09-12 14:44:00
I feel something should be written here about this weeks big story in Phuket. Jet Skis. Actually, it's an ongoing saga, but this week has seen some very interesting developments. The "Jet Ski" scam is well known, yet people get caught all the time. Not just in Phuket, I have heard the same from Ko Pha Ngan, and read about similar operations in other countries. You rent a jet ski for a bit of adrenaline on the water, bring back the machine after an hour of fun, and lo! The guy who rented it to you finds some damage. I think you know the rest of the story.Now, I have no problem with jet skis if they are properly operated, insured, maintained and kept outside of safe swimming areas. I am not a "jet ski hater". A lot of tourists expect this kind of watersports activity to be available at a major beach resort like Patong Beach. BUT, caveat emptor. Most jet skis have no insurance, and you can normally see this in big letters on the machine "NO INSURANCE". Not put off by this? PT Barnum w...
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