Jamie's Phuket on Google Earth

(Updated March 2010) I have (when time allows) been adding placemarks on Google Earth showing where to find the hotels, restaurants, temples, beaches and hills that feature on Jamie's Phuket. I joined the "Google Earth Community" to be able to post on the Google Earth forum which creates a link to the places I have added.

So, if you browse this blog now you will notice that many pages have links to Google Earth - click on the link and what happens is this: If you have Google Earth installed on your computer, then it will open and you'll fly in to Phuket and see the placemarker. You may have a message on screen first asking "Do you wish to open or save this file?" - click Open.

For example, if you are looking at some of the restaurants on this blog and like the look of Kan Eang Seafood, and want to know where it is, just click on the link that says "See location on Google Earth", and you'll see this:



If you fancy an evening walk at Bang Wad Reservoir, click the link on that page that says "View Bang Wad reservoir on Google Earth" - and Google Earth will take you there...



I have added over 80 placemarks so far. There are plenty more to add - if you have a favourite post on the blog and are not sure of the location of the place, do let me know and I will add an Earth placemark. Will get more added anyway as time goes by.

I hope you enjoy surfing some of the pages on Jamie's Phuket and zooming into Phuket with Google Earth! If you don't have Google Earth on your computer - Get it!

• Download Google Earth
• Google Earth Community (Forum)
• My Google Earth Community Post List (you must be a member to view)

Guesthouses and Hostels - Phuket for Backpackers

It's fair to say that Phuket is more of an "upmarket" destination compared to backpackers hangouts like Koh Pha Ngan or Koh Tao. I am sorry to say you can't find little bamboo bungalows on the beach for 150 Baht a night in Phuket, and you don't have much in the way of backpacker oriented bars and nightlife. Over the years, Phuket has moved more into the luxury market, with many 4 - 5 star resorts around the island, and I have seen huge changes in infrastructure in the 9 years that I have been here. Not just hotels, but marinas, luxury condos, many housing developments, shopping centers such as Jungceylon and Central Festival... The list goes on and on...

Not all of this is for tourists of course, in fact most of it benefits the local people and foreign residents more than tourists. Many foreigners have decided that Phuket is a great place to live (see Buying a House in Phuket for more information), and the money coming into Phuket has made plenty of local people wealthy - a look at the roads full of new cars will confirm that... But I don't want to get sidetracked into a discussion on the economy of Phuket!



Phuket is for Everyone!

With all these resorts, fancy cars, luxury villas and so on, is there room for backpackers in Phuket any more? Well, please remember that Phuket is a big island, so naturally the answer is a resounding YES. It may not be No.1 on the list of backpacker must-sees, indeed many young travelers will just pass through on the way to Phi Phi or Ao Nang, but I would hope after reading a bit of this blog, you might realise that Phuket is a rich, diverse island with many beautiful areas. Well worth a few days of your time!

Backpackers Hostels in Phuket

There is a bit of a misconception that Phuket Town is the only place to stay if you want low budget, and indeed you do have hostels there for around 200 Baht/night, and I do like Phuket Town, so won't try to put you off - see more here: A Walk Around Old Phuket Town. But surely you want to come to Phuket and stay near the beach, right? This is where the rumour mill starts... the beaches are full of 5 star resorts, there's no cheap places to stay, no local restaurants... Not true at all! I wrote a blog article about the cheap places to stay some time ago:

• Cheap Places to stay in Phuket

 

And now, especially because it's low season, things have gotten even cheaper. The Pineapple Guesthouse at Karon Beach now has a backpackers dorm, low season price just 180 Baht per night. There are also twin fan rooms from 300 Baht, or aircon from 500 Baht. Distance to the beach: less than 5 minutes walk. In the same area the Boost Guesthouse has a dorm and rooms for the same price, and there are a few more which have similarly priced rooms such as Thip House, Robin House and Kangaroo Guesthouse. I know these places well as they're a stones throw from Sunrise Divers dive center (see location on Google Earth). Oh, Pineapple has free wifi internet for guests too.

• Pineapple Guesthouse Review on Jamie's Phuket
• Pineapple Guesthouse Web Site
• Pineapple Guesthouse - Online Booking

What about eating? Well, Phuket is not just a tourist island, as I hope I have made clear, so long as you get off the beach, and onto the back roads where the locals live and eat, you'll find endless noodle stalls, street food stalls and small restaurants. I rarely spend more than about 70 Baht on my lunch unless I go for a big English Breakfast at the Pineapple Cafe (attached to the guesthouse). Here's a few blog posts on the food close to where I work and close to the aforementioned guesthouses:

• Mama Noi
• Phad Thai
• A working lunch
• Fruit Stalls

 

What about getting around Phuket? Well, this is the tricky one for a low budget traveler. There are cheap local buses, only 25 Baht to Phuket Town from Karon Beach for example, BUT no buses between the beaches. So you are kind of at the mercy of the tuk tuks. Normal fare from Karon to Patong (next beach, about 8km) is 300 Baht. Take a few of those per day and your budget is screwed.

Best option is to rent a moped, normal price around 200 - 250 Baht per day. Riding mopeds is another issue to discuss properly at a later date. I'll say this - if you have never ridden a motorbike before, Phuket is not the place to try. I ride almost every day, I have had a couple of minor scrapes. Keep your eyes open, keep left, don't drive fast, don't ride around quiet roads late at night, and always wear a helmet. If you have your own transport you can explore Phuket at your leisure without spending a fortune.

Phuket Hostels - Online Booking



In summary... Phuket is a great place to visit. Being a low budget traveler is not a problem. You have dorms, cheap rooms, good local food, it's just that Phuket is not a trendy backpacker hangout, so if you want to party with young folks, Koh Pha Ngan is the place, but if you are a bit more independent and don't feel the need to have the safety of the herd, give Phuket a go, at least for a few days!

Restaurant Tips: Farang

Farang – such a simple word that can be used in so many different situations. You would have thought that naming a Phuket restaurant Farang would be a recipe for disaster, but thankfully Farang restaurant is a welcome breath of fresh air for Phuket's restaurant scene.

There are actually two Farang restaurants in Phuket. The first is in Cherng Talay (an area in the north of Phuket near Bang Tao beach popular with expats); the second is next to Index Living Mall on the bypass road (just outside Phuket Town). Both have identical menus. The only difference between the two restaurants is that the vibe at the Cherng Talay branch is a little more chilled without the headache of the bypass road nearby.



The food at Farang restaurant is fantastic. The menu features simple fusion dishes executed to perfection. Choose from a range of pasta dishes, pizzas, salads and Thai dishes, all coming in at about 100 to 200 baht.

It's the little touches that make Farang stand out. The care taken in the presentation of the food adds to the whole dining experience. It's almost a paradox, because the dishes usually fly out of the kitchen within minutes of ordering. The pasta dishes are particularly good, with none of the ketchup-as-sauce antics you find at other restaurants that charge the same kind of price. Also worth trying is the beef tenderloin, which has a tenderness to it.

Another surprise at Farang is that the house wine is actually drinkable. Cheap wine and good food – what could be better? There isn't really anything to fault Farang restaurant for. It's cheap and cheerful and makes no bones about trying to be something it's not.

Both restaurants are closed on Mondays. Call 086-9463142 for details.

This post was guest blogged by Matt from Phuket Vogue - a new Phuket website about dining and nightlife. Matt also writes a well known Thailand blog - The Lost Boy.

Jamie adds... We have driven past the Farang restaurant next to Index about 300 times, and we know an American lady who makes cakes for them - we sometimes buy cheesecake from her - absolutely fantastic - so I guess we have an idea of the quality of the dessert menu at Farang! One of these days we must go and sample the food, as it's been recommended to me by several people, not just Matt.

• More Phuket Restaurants at Phuket Vogue
• More Phuket Restaurants on Jamie's Phuket

Photo above is from a Japanese blog I found which (I guess...it's in Japanese) recommends Farang restaurant - see the link and more photos here: Farang Restaurant Review. I'll be sure to add some photos of my own when/if we eat there!

Hotel Recommendation: Karon Princess

You can find a number of smaller mid price resorts along Karon Beach, as well as big resorts such as Hilton Arcadia. Karon even has backpackers rooms (which will be covered on this blog shortly). I'd say that the mid range hotels are all pretty decent, but the Karon Princess gets good reviews on TripAdvisor, and I just noticed that for the low season (May - October) you can stay for just 950 Baht per night! Check the late booking prices! High season rates are more like 4,000 Baht per night. This is not unusual - the low season is a great time to visit Phuket! But it rains all the time, I hear you cry... Not true. Weather is normally very nice - check these links:

• Phuket Weather Blog
• Wet Season Weather in Phuket

Karon Princess is on the beach road, close to the area called "Karon Center" where you have a good selection of restaurants and bars - see location on Google Earth. Karon is pretty quiet, certainly when compared to Patong, which is about 8km north. In the low season, Karon is very quiet, despite the bargain hotel prices - I can't promise you'll have 3km of beach to yourself, but come now and you can certainly avoid the crowds.

The resort has 86 rooms, some with seaview, some with "garden view", but in any case just a minute to the beach. The "deluxe" rooms are slightly larger and have internet access too. There is also 1 suite, low season rate about 2000 Baht per night. There's a pool and kids pool, a sunset restaurant and bar, and a spa too where they do massage, aromatherapy and body scrubs among other things. Karon Princess is a bargain right now and not a bad price even in peak season. On the beach, good location (I like Karon beach), all the facilities you need, easy to recommend!

Karon Princess - Booking & Reviews

• Karon Princess Rates and Reservations at Agoda.com
• Karon Princess Reviews at Agoda.com


Karon Princess - Photos

  

  


• More Hotels in Phuket - Phuket Hotels at Agoda.com
• Last minute Phuket hotels - LateStays.com
• More Phuket Hotel Recommendations

Suan Luang Park (Phuket Town)

On a beautiful clear morning last week I decided to check out the big park on the west of Phuket Town called Suan Luang or King Rama IX park. I have driven past hundreds of times, but it's not that close to our house, so not really convenient for morning or evening walks (we normally go to the Bang Wad Reservoir). I don't think I realised the size of the park. After half an hours walking around there was still more to see. It's a gathering place for locals in the mornings and evenings when it's cool enough to take walks or go jogging or ride bicycles. There were also some people playing badminton and a football match going on at 8am!

The main entrance to the park is on Chao Fa road (see location on Google Earth), which heads out of Phuket town towards Chalong, but there are also a couple of side entrances. Just inside the entrance is a large lake, and you can turn right or left and start walking/jogging...





To the left is another small lake full of lotus flowers, and a maze of paths twisting and turning through the trees. Joggers passed by and a fair number of older folks out for their morning air - many of people had Chinese faces. Much of the population of the town is of Chinese descent. I had read that people come here in the mornings to do Tai Chi and had imagined huge gatherings of old Chinese people, but either they come another time, or not in large numbers. I did see a few here and there who had found their spot to relax.

 



The park seems to be well used, not just joggers and the like, but I found several greenhouses where plants were being tended to. Outside the greenhouses were Leelawadee trees, whose flowers have a beautiful smell.





It was a good bit of morning exercise for me, just a little detour on the way to work, and much needed, as I spend too many days glued to the keyboard. Might just take another walk around one day next week. It's one of those "locals" places. The people there all looked like Phuket people, not visitors or tourists or even people from other parts of Thailand who live and work in Phuket. A couple of folks seemed surprised to see a foreigner in their park. It's a place to go if you want to mingle with the local gentry.



Apparently, according to the Gay Patong website, Suan Luang Park is also a place to go "cruising"! It says "this is the place to meet"... must be an evening thing, as I don't think I saw anyone "cruising" at 8am.



Below - not sure a sign like this in England would use the same language. In any case I did not see any doggy doos in the park, or indeed any dogs. It's very clean and well looked after. There were gardeners at work while I walked around, and I can't say I saw any litter either which is a rare thing in these parts!



There's not much mention of this park on the internet as it's not really a tourist attraction, which is why it's on this blog! Rather like Bang Wad reservoir, Sapan Hin or Monkey Hill, its a place where the locals gather. Phuket has many green spaces like these around the town. I mean, much of the island is green, but in these places there are walking paths and views, great for some fresh air and exercise.

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Back to normal Phuket blogging soon!

An Evening at Bang Wad Reservoir and Dam

Just a few minutes drive from our house, Bang Wad reservoir is Phuket's largest water supply, located in the hills to the west of Phuket Town. To get there just find Phuket Country Club Golf Course and drive through and all the way to the reservoir. During the day there's not much going on, but in the late afternoon, lots of people come here to exercise, jog, ride bikes, picnic, play takraw, let the kids run around... There's lots of space, and some keen joggers even run right around the reservoir (a circuit of about 6km).



The reservoir is over 1km long, and the dam is 800m long - pretty big, yet with the increasing population and demands of tourism in Phuket, there are occasional water shortage "scares" in Phuket. There is talk of pumping water to Phuket from the enormous Chiew Lan Lake at Khao Sok (about 125km from Phuket Town as the crow flies).

• View Bang Wad reservoir on Google Earth







We like to take walks along the dam, let the kids race, play on some big rocks... There are stalls selling snacks (BBQ pork, drinks etc...) and people always seem in a relaxed mood. Something to do with the fresh air. We were up at the dam a few days ago and met some friends who were having a picnic. I took some of the kids for a walk/run along the dam and took a bunch of photos.