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Jamie's Phuket

Jamie's Phuket
Jamie has lived in Phuket for 7 years. Some hints, recommendations, ideas and information about the real Phuket.

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Wat Kosit Wiharn (Phuket Town)
2008-05-23 05:17:00
It's temple time again! You'll find a lot of information about Phuket 's Temples on the blog, and that's because I like temples! I have a vague plan to blog all the temples in Phuket including mosques and Chinese shrines too. Every temple has something special, but they all share a certain spiritual peace and are somewhat removed from the hustle and bustle of daily life.We happened to be passing Wat Kosit Wiharn (or Wihan, or indeed Viharn), which is a little north of Phuket City center on the road towards the airport (route 402) - see location on Google Earth. It's quite an important temple, mainly due to it's large Buddhist cemetery (which I might revisit soon). Near the main temple is a crematorium, and around the main temple you find small recesses in the wall containing ashes along with a photo of the deceased and money for the afterlife. You have to climb a fair number of steps to reach the temple, which is built into the jungly hillside. You have views to the west a...
More About: Town

Wat Kosit Wiharn (Phuket Town)
2008-05-23 05:17:00
It's temple time again! You'll find a lot of information about Phuket 's Temples on the blog, and that's because I like temples! I have a vague plan to blog all the temples in Phuket including mosques and Chinese shrines too. Every temple has something special, but they all share a certain spiritual peace and are somewhat removed from the hustle and bustle of daily life.We happened to be passing Wat Kosit Wiharn (or Wihan, or indeed Viharn), which is a little north of Phuket City center on the road towards the airport (route 402). It's quite an important temple, mainly due to it's large Buddhist cemetery (which I might revisit soon). Near the main temple is a crematorium, and around the main temple you find small recesses in the wall containing ashes along with a photo of the deceased and money for the afterlife. You have to climb a fair number of steps to reach the temple, which is built into the jungly hillside. You have views to the west across the north of Phuket town....
More About: Town

Views from Rang Hill (Phuket Town)
2008-05-20 06:16:00
Rang Hill (Khao Rang) is located on the north side of Phuket town and is a popular gathering place in the evenings and a fairly commonly visited viewpoint, on the itineraries of tours. There's a well known cafe (Tunk Ka Cafe) on the top, which does food and great iced coffee. We've only ever had the coffee, must go and try a meal there one day! There are views over parts of Phuket City and also across to Chalong Bay and Buddha Mountain. We go up there now and then for a little walk and a bit of fresh air. There are several access roads, one of which is just behind one of our favourite restaurants - Dairy Hut, on a side road next to the Phuket Bangkok Hospital.• Rang Hill location on Google Earth(above) Romance on Rang Hill. Couples sit and enjoy the views in the evening.The statue above shows Ratsada Korsimbi Na Ranong, who was governor of Phuket around the turn of the 20th century. He came from a political family (his dad was governor of Ranong), and did a lot to put Phuket ...
More About: Views , Town

Views from Rang Hill (Phuket Town)
2008-05-20 06:16:00
Rang Hill (Khao Rang) is located on the north side of Phuket town and is a popular gathering place in the evenings and a fairly commonly visited viewpoint, on the itineraries of tours. There's a well known cafe (Tunk Ka Cafe) on the top, which does food and great iced coffee. We've only ever had the coffee, must go and try a meal there one day! There are views over parts of Phuket City and also across to Chalong Bay and Buddha Mountain. We go up there now and then for a little walk and a bit of fresh air. There are several access roads, one of which is just behind one of our favourite restaurants - Dairy Hut, on a side road next to the Phuket Bangkok Hospital.(above) Romance on Rang Hill. Couples sit and enjoy the views in the evening.The statue above shows Ratsada Korsimbi Na Ranong, who was governor of Phuket around the turn of the 20th century. He came from a political family (his dad was governor of Ranong), and did a lot to put Phuket on the map, especially modernising the ti...
More About: Views , Town

Thai Food - Good Ol' Home Cooking
2008-05-12 07:49:00
I just cannot get bored with Thai food. The variety is endless, the tastes sometimes surprising, odd mixtures of sour, sweet and spicy, flavours to ensnare the senses. I have to say the food was one of the reasons I stayed in Thailand longer than originally intended. I don't like all Thai food - for example, I have never been a fan of Som Tam, and some of the curries are too spicy for me - though over the years I have gotten used to the spicy food. Not all Thai food is spicy of course. There are plenty of simple dishes like fried rice or mixed vegetables or egg dishes. And I don't exclusively eat Thai food, I don't pretend to be a local! I do like the occasional pizza or spaghetti or English breakfast or just a sandwich. Of course in Phuket you can get pretty much anything you fancy.At home we eat mostly Thai food, mainly because my wife is Thai and when she's in the mood, she does like to cook. We go out to eat quite often because eating out here (if avoiding tourist restaurant...
More About: Cooking , Food , Home , Good

Not in Phuket - Prachuap Khiri Khan
2008-05-07 10:18:00
The province of Prachuap Khiri Khan is between Phuket and Bangkok, to the North of Chumphon province and south of Phetchaburi province. Officially, it's part of Central Thailand - Chumphon is the first of the southern provinces, and is called the Gateway to the South. My wife's family is from Chumphon, and she has some family in Prachuap Khiri Khan too. Her cousin who lives in Prachuap Khiri Khan town had just had a baby, so on our recent trip to Chumphon we decided to take a couple of days in the next province to explore and visit the family.Yes, I know this is a Phuket blog, but I've been out of Phuket for the last week, and I think Prachuap Khiri Khan is worth a visit. It's around 570km from Phuket to the provincial capital. We will visit again as we liked the area, and the weather was not that great as we caught the edge of Cyclone Nargis, so we'd like another look sometime. I hope you enjoy reading about something out of Phuket!Our first stop was Bang Saphan, to visit an a...

Street Food: Pa Tong Go
2008-04-28 16:15:00
I guess that I buy what can be termed "street food" almost every day. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but there are stalls selling all kinds of food all over Phuket, indeed all over Thailand. On the street corner near my workplace in Karon Beach you can find (either fixed in place or on mobile stalls) somtam, fried chicken, fruits, corn, pancakes, cakes and deserts, ice cream, sticky rice and more. Some stalls are more or less permanent, some are fixed to motorbikes and make the rounds, some are pushed on carts, some carried on bicycles. Mostly the street stalls sell snacks rather than meals, though there are also mobile stalls selling kuay tiow (noodle soup) or phad thai.Pa Tong Go (or Pa Thong Go, or Pa Tong Ko, transliteration is a bit tricky with Thai words!), are small fried pieces of dough, a bit like doughnuts in the shape of, well, in the shape of a chromosome (or an X). You get them crispy or soft, varying in size and exact shape, depends exactly what stall you choose...
More About: Food , Street

More Phuket Bloggers
2008-04-24 11:18:00
If you search hard enough around the internet or dig deeper into Google, you may find that Jamie's Phuket is not the only blog about Phuket or written by someone in Phuket. I keep an eye on some other people's blogs looking for different angles on Phuket, something I have not seen or thought of blogging about. Everyone has a different point of view, though I'd say all the blogs and bloggers listed below have one thing in common - all are Phuket lovers!Although Jamie's Phuket (that's this blog) is my main blog, I keep several others which are updated with varying degrees of diligency. The Weather Blog is kept updated every day or few, reporting on weather and news, normally with photos that show the weather. There are lots of links to other weather sites too.• The Phuket Weather BlogI have a couple of others - We Love Phuket has a fair amount of information on things like cheap places to stay in Phuket and how to get to Phuket. Gets updated when I think of an article that d...
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A Working Lunch
2008-04-20 10:53:00
One of the joys of living and working in Thailand is the abundance of street food and cheap local restaurants. Within a few minutes walk or bike ride of my office in Karon Beach, there's a huge selection of dining options from the well known Phad Thai shop to Noodle stalls, the local Som Tam lady, the slightly pricier Mama Noi (but Mama Noi's banana shakes at 20 Baht are a steal), and several small local restaurants that you probably wouldn't look twice at, BUT are the best place to get cheap local food.There are also places to get "Western" food - such as English breakfasts and my (occasional) favourite - egg, bacon, chips & beans at the Pineapple Guesthouse, and the Pineapple just opened a small cafe there too for cheap Thai food. There's even a pizza place round the corner, but somehow pizza is a bit too heavy for a quick lunch.And everyone, it seems, eats out for lunch. The little local restaurants are busy. The Phad Thai place is always packed - and here's why... It's...
More About: Lunch , Working

Songkran Festival
2008-04-14 12:26:00
Another year rolls in. Here in Thailand you have several New Year celebrations to choose from, or you can have all of them... Aside from 1st January, you also have the Chinese new Year and the traditional Thai new year, Songkran, which used to be the date for changing the year on the calendar. Thailand only adopted the Western New Year in 1940. Songkran is one of the biggest celebrations in Thailand, mixing tradition, family and of course plenty of Sanook (fun). The traditions still apply - New Year is a time for cleaning your home, and wishing elders good luck by sprinkling them gently with water. Buddha images are also cleansed. We started our Songkran this year with some tradition... And then took a drive around Phuket Town. Much of the town seemed very quiet, as the local police have been really trying to make things safer this year, with water throwing only supposed to be in designated areas to prevent accidents. We started to wonder where all the people had gone... maybe ...
More About: Festival

Songkran is coming!
2008-04-10 10:23:00
There's just a few more days until Songkran, one of Thailand's most famous festivals, also known as the water festival, or more specifically, the water fight festival. Not sure who to blame for this, as Songkran is actually the traditional Thai New Year (January 1st has only been the start of the year here since 1940). This always used to be (and indeed still is) the time for Thai people to pray to Buddha, clean their houses, and sprinkle water on their elders as a show of respect. The traditional aspect is still there, but as a tourist in the beach areas, what you will see is lots of water, lots of partying, lots of drinking and lots of fun! Just be prepared to get wet. Do not carry valuable electronic devices in the streets of Patong. Get a camera with a case like a snorkel camera if you want to take photos, or do what I did last year and stay in the car and take photos through the window!Last year we had a busy day visiting Mai Khao Beach for a local turtle release ceremony (tu...

Sapan Hin (Phuket Town)
2008-04-04 17:50:00
Over the next few months I want to explore and blog various areas of Phuket Town (now officially called Phuket City). It's a town full of interest, history and the best place for taking a peek at the "real" Phuket away from the tourist zones. I did blog about Old Phuket Town previously, but that blog entry just covered a few square blocks in the center of town!Sapan Hin is a large open area in the south of town - follow Phuket Road from the center and keep going. You'll pass Bang Neow chinese shrine on the way and the Phuket Immigration office. As you reach Sapan Hin, theres an odd shaped monument in the center of a traffic circle - it's apparently meant to represent a drill bit and is dedicated to the tin mining industry that made Phuket rich.As you continue, you pass sports facilities - there are several sports halls (we have been to watch my father in law play Takraw here) and a Muay Thai stadium (there are weekly fights every Friday), tennis courts, an ICT center plus a small...

Hotel Recommendation: The Chedi
2008-03-30 11:12:00
The Chedi Hotel is just the right place for a bit of quiet seclusion. Not a cheap hotel, but the last minute prices can be much better. But, it has to be said, you get your money's worth. The Chedi has it's own private beach in between Surin and Bang Tao beaches. The scenery is beautiful along the coast here and you're off the main tourist beaches. Having said that, The Chedi is not too far from anywhere. About 20 minutes to the airport, about 25 to Patong if you want a bit of nightlife.The Chedi provides one-bedroom and two-bedroom thatched cottages with private verandahs and sun decks. It's a very nice looking place. The New York Times review says "From the exotic lobby (with columns and lily pond) to sleek and handsome private bungalows, it is one of the most handsome properties on the island. It's quality with a big price tag, but this romantic getaway has it down to the details."Actually, compared to it's nearest neighbour (Amanpuri Resort) The Chedi is quite reasonably p...
More About: Recommendation

Phuket Food Festival
2008-03-23 11:00:00
The Phuket Food Festival 2008 started on 19th March and runs until the 28th. It's an annual event organised by the Phuket Food Vendors Club and Phuket City Municipality. I managed to convince my family that it would be worthwhile having a look on Saturday evening, and I think we might go back again one evening this week for some cheap tasty food! The event is being held at Sapan Hin, in the south of Phuket City. Many local events are held there during the year. Sapan Hin is by the sea, has lots of open spaces, and also features sports facilities (we've been to see my wife's dad playing Takraw there). We arrived at the food festival in the late afternoon so I could snap some photos of the food stalls before dark. There's around 50 or 60 stalls selling everything from Phad Thai to BBQ Fresh Water Prawns, fried fish, Sai Ua (spicy northern sausages), Satay sticks and much more. We even found a stall selling coffee from Chumphon (my wife's home town).This festival is well wort...

Phuket Weather
2008-03-14 14:35:00
Most tourists and travelers coming to Phuket want to know the what weather will be like during their stay. Holiday planning revolves around the seasons, so most tourists come during the "high season" and come with an expectation of hot sunny days. Any sign of rain is treated with shock.. "But we came here for the sun!"So, it was nearly 2 years ago, just after starting this blog, that I started the Phuket Weather Blog, where I try to report every 2 or 3 days on the weather, add lots of photos, a bit of news, a bit of this and that... if you're coming to Phuket, the Phuket Weather blog is well worth bookmarking! The photos on this page are taken from the weather blog entries over the last 2 years.We don't have 4 seasons here. There's no spring, no autumn (or "fall" as some odd people call it), no freezing winters and the length of the day varies only by an hour throughout the year. The weather is pretty stable most of the time; we don't have hurricanes or cyclones. Since I came he...

Hotel Recommendations: Indigo Pearl
2008-03-07 08:12:00
The Indigo Pearl Hotel is something a bit special, which is what I look for when recommending hotels on Jamie's Phuket. I met the marketing manager a few months ago at a party and she was explaining to me how the decor and design is so special, with architecture inspired by Phuket's past, in particular the tin mining industry, which makes for some interesting decorations! The Indigo Pearl only opened last year, taking over the site of the old Pearl Village resort and creating something quite special. It's already managed to rank #3 of all hotels in Phuket according to the reviews on TripAdvisor.I have mentioned before, that location is one of my main reasons for recommending hotels. If Indigo Pearl was in the middle of Patong Beach, I would not think so highly of it. But the Indigo Pearl is found on Nai Yang Beach near the airport (but you can't hear the planes) in the North of Phuket, seemingly a million miles from the more crowded tourist beaches further south.The resort was d...

Weekend Market
2008-03-02 08:30:00
I'd like to add more markets to the blog in the near future. Market s are where you can sample real life, local life - it's all laid bare for everyone to see. I've always been a big fan of markets and despite all the modern shopping malls and supermarkets that have sprung up around Phuket (Tesco Lotus, Big C, Central, Makro and more) the local markets are as lively as ever. You'll find fresh markets in all areas of Phuket, some daily, some only on selected days. Well worth a look.The weekend market is located just outside Phuket City off Chao Fa West road, near Naka Temple. Along the same road is also a fresh market (called the Talad Sot Mai - "New Fresh Market"). The weekend market is not really for buying fresh food, but there are plenty of snack stalls for buying fruits, sweets, corn, drinks, noodles and of course fried insects!It's one of those "you can get anything here" markets - you'll find entire stalls selling nothing but remote controls or comic books or fluffy toys. ...
More About: Weekend

Buddha Mountain and Restaurant "Nakkerd Seaview"
2008-02-24 15:35:00
Buddha mountain (aka Khao Nakkerd) where the 45m high Big Buddha is being built has been mentioned on this blog a number of times and will probably crop up again. The work on the biggest Buddha image in Thailand is slowly continuing. As it stands, the basic construction is complete, but the whole image needs to be covered in white marble. The face is just about done, which leaves the enormous body. Since we first went up this hill some years ago, word has been spreading about the Big Buddha and the views from the top, and it's becoming more popular now. By the time it's complete, I imagine a climb up Buddha mountain will be on the itinerary of most tours. Even covered in scaffolding, it's an impressive sight! For 100 Baht you can write your name on a piece of marble that will be used to cover the Buddha image. We did the same with a brick a couple of years ago. It's for good luck.Nakkerd Seaview Restaurant Almost at the top of the mountain, with a fabulous seaview over Karon...
More About: Buddha , Mountain

Bang Rong Floating Restaurant
2008-02-17 09:05:00
The east coast of Phuket is very, very different to the west coast. All the main tourist areas are found on the west coast, while large parts of the east coast are almost untouched by tourism. Much of the coastline is mangrove forest, with large areas of rubber plantations in the hills, along with shrimp farms, small fishing villages, quiet bays and some great views if you drive round the hilly back roads.Bang Rong, a small Muslim community, is close to Bang Pae (where you can find a waterfall and the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project). From Bang Rong Pier you can take a ferry to Koh Yao Noi. We've been here several times in the past and we have always liked the small family run floating restaurant reached by a wooden walkway through the mangroves.You might see monkeys in the trees nearby...I think we'll be back again soon, and here's why... It's quiet, it's relaxing and it's friendly. We probably had not been for a year, but they remembered us and commented on how big the kids lo...
More About: Restaurant , Floating

Chalong Temple Fair
2008-02-10 10:16:00
The annual fair at Chalong temple has been taking place this week and will finish in a couple of days. A great place to sample a bit of local life, the Chalong Temple fair has been part of the Phuket calendar since 1954 featuring fairground rides, clothes and handicrafts, furniture, flowers, fruit stalls, toy stalls, snack stalls, lots of food, and live "Look Thoong" (Thai country music) in the evenings. It all takes place in the temple grounds at Wat Chalong, which is Phuket's largest temple.We visited yesterday, just for a quick look around. With 2 kids you have to consider their needs, and wandering round in the heat is not kid-friendly. Luckily there are plenty of drinks for sale all around the fair. Also lots of toy stalls for the kids - "oh, pleeeeease daddy". We found a Spiderman outfit for our son, which he wore proudly for the rest of the day. Markets and temples are great places for people watching and for getting a flavour of the real Phuket away from the tourist be...
More About: Fair

Restaurant Tips: The Ninth Floor (Patong)
2008-02-04 15:16:00
The Ninth Floor is not the kind of restaurant we would normally visit, but last week we had a company meal and decided a fancy dinner was in order. We got a babysitter for the kids and were able to enjoy fine dining with views over the "lights of Patong"... Worth getting dressed up for! It's called the highest open air restaurant in Phuket, well kind of - there are huge ceiling high sliding windows that create an open air atmosphere.OK, so here's a reason to visit Patong. The Ninth Floor was quite a treat, and we might just go back sometime soon! This is a lovely little restaurant, with top service, an extensive menu, a huge wine list, oh... and (I only found out when I got there, as it was not on the menu) they sell HofBrau beer - 190 Baht per bottle and worth every satang. I had several... and one for luck.The food was great. I had an Australian Tenderloin Au Poivre, and I have to say the next day my taste buds were craving more of the same. Going back to Phad Thai was hard work...
More About: Restaurant , Tips

Naka Temple (Wat Naka)
2008-01-31 10:35:00
Yes, another temple... Wat Naka (also called Wat Nakaram) is probably not one of Phuket's best known temples, and in fact even for the people of Phuket it's more of a landmark used when giving directions. It's found on a very useful "shortcut" road linking Chao Fa road west to Chao Fa road east, close to Phuket Town. Everyone knows where it is, but when I visited a couple of days ago I got the feeling that the temple was a bit neglected, an old temple on a new road.Just over the road is a weekend market where you can buy clothes, food, secondhand goods. We go sometimes and it might be blogged one day. Further along the road to Phuket town is the new fresh market (Talad Sot Mai) just before you turn left onto Chao Fa road and into the centre of town. With the markets, the temple and a whole bunch of small shops along Chao Fa road, it's an interesting area for a walk, and I might just be back there in the next few days. Around the walls are photos of local people who have die...
More About: Temple

Kata Temple (Wat Kittisangkaram)
2008-01-24 15:28:00
Finally, after many years I decided to take a good look at Kata Temple . Just behind the temple is a place called Kata Big Rock, where you can find a pool used by scuba diving companies for dive training. I must have been there 50 times at least, driving through the main entrance to Kata Temple, but never actually taking time to look at the temple itself. I must have driven past the temple 500 times. Kata Temple is located on the back road (called "Patak Road") about 1km from Kata Beach as the sparrow flies, further by road. It seems not many tourists come here, and I can hardly locate any information about the temple on the web, but Kata Temple is easy enough to find - just follow the back road around Kata and Karon and look for the sign and the obvious temple entrance.The main temple grounds have recently been rebuilt so much of the temple looks brand new. Lots of freshly painted walls here, and still some work going on - I saw some workers painting while I visited. There is a scho...

English Food in Phuket
2008-01-20 09:10:00
If you take a look at the Phuket restaurants section of Jamie's Phuket, you'll see that I mostly enjoy eating Thai food - salads, seafood, noodles, curries and so on. Thai food is great, Thai food is fantastic, Thai food is one of the things that makes living in Thailand so enjoyable, but somewhere deep down I think I have an "English food" gene that occasionaly craves an English breakfast, some bangers and mash, baked potatoes, cheese and Branston pickle sandwiches (with thick crusty bread). This gene is mostly inactive, but I sometimes get cravings. I went through a Branston craving a couple of years ago. Any family member or friend visiting Phuket was asked to bring more Branston. I recently had a pickled onion craving too. And I must say a packet of chocolate Hob Nobs would be most welcome any time. Thanks to the web site Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down for reminding me of Hob Nobs. Oh and Fig Rolls, mmmmm. Damn, can someone send me some Fig Rolls? Wish I hadn't thought about ...
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Phad Thai
2008-01-15 16:01:00
Phad Thai is a very common Thai dish made from noodles, egg, chili, tofu, normally some shrimp, maybe some chicken, plus onion, fish sauce, nuts, lime... ingredients can vary. You can order Phad Thai in 10 different places and get 10 different tasting meals depending on the amount and variety of sauces added, the size and type of noodles used, type of meat added and so on... Phad Thai can be bland sometimes or it can be spicy, it can be dry or saucy. You get a lot of variety out of one dish! If bought from a street stall or roadside restaurant you're normally only going to be paying 20 - 30 Baht for your lunch - it's a cheap dish to make and thus a popular lunch all over Thailand, nearly as popular as Noodle Soup.Close to where I work in Karon Beach, on the back road near the Baan Karon hotel, there's one of the most popular little lunchtime restaurants I have ever seen in Phuket. Every day workers in the local area flock here for lunch, and the most popular dish is Phad Thai. Th...

The Best of Jamie's Phuket 2007
2008-01-05 14:55:00
Happy New Year to everyone. Thanks for reading Jamie's Phuket . This blog started in April 2006, and is still getting bigger. The idea? To show the "real" Phuket as opposed to the more popular tourist attractions. This is my Phuket, I tend to write about the places we go as a family, and places that interest me. Thanks for people who have written emails or sent donations, I hope that during 2008 this blog can continue to grow - plenty more temples to blog - sorry if you don't like temples... I do and this is my blog. Among other things, I want to write more about Phuket Town, get some photos from Chinese New Year festivities and I have said to my wife that we need to try some new restaurants as we have become rather middle aged and keep going to the same places.The Best of Jamie's Phuket 2007January was when we found The Beach Bar, a small local restaurant on the beach at Cape Panwa. We have been back many times in the last 12 months. Also in January, I had a look at Patong temple...

Ton Sai Waterfall and Khao Phra Thaeo
2007-12-26 14:59:00
Ton Sai waterfall is on the other side of the mountain from Bang Pae Waterfall in the North East of Phuket. It's easy to get to - just turn east at the main junction in the center of Thalang town and you drive about 5km through rubber plantations. The two waterfalls have their source on the same mountain, Khao Phra Thaeo, which is Phuket's largest untouched area of forest and is officially designated as a National Park. Entry fee is 200 Baht, or free if you arrive after 3pm. We stopped for a look a couple of weeks ago after spending an afternoon at Layan Beach - I can't resist the lure of free entry!We just went for a quick look at the waterfall, get a bit of jungle air (it's very jungly round here) and a little bit of exercise. There was a sign for a 2km nature trail, but I didn't think my kids would thank me for that. Apparently you can even hike over the mountain and join up with Bang Pae falls - not for the faint hearted I would say. The forest is said to be home to wild de...

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