Hotel Recommendation: Yorkshire Inn (Patong)

There are a few reasons for writing about the Yorkshire Inn (well, it used to be called that, now it's the Yorkshire Hotel and Spa), even though it's right in the middle of Patong, just a few minutes walk from Soi Bangla, the nightlife center. Normally this area is off my list. Patong is not my cup of tea. BUT I do recognise that many people like Patong, so you will find some Patong Beach hotel recommendations on the blog already such as Amari Coral Beach and Burasari.

Reasons for including the Yorkshire Inn on Jamie's Phuket... Well, firstly it's a great location if you want to stay in Patong. The street (Soi Sansabai) is just to the east of Bangla Road and yet is much quieter. I won't promise 100% noise free nights, but a few hundred meters can make a big difference. Second - recommendations from customers who have stayed there - I keep hearing how friendly it is, like a home from home, how the Yorkshire Inn makes you feel like part of the family. Thirdly - the price. Check the link below for booking/rates on Agoda. I have had a few comments recently asking for more mid price hotel recommendations rather than the slightly fancy places I tend to write about. Yorkshire Inn is a bargain. Fourthly - I lived in Yorkshire for a few years. Sentimental value. Fifthly - I used to work at a dive shop on Soi Sansabai and indeed met my wife at said dive shop. Double Sentimental value!

So, great location (if you want the Patong vibe), good price... also, friendly personal service. This is not a chain hotel, this is a one off. Rooms look decent and the pool great... and the food... Yes I know you are supposed to eat Thai food here, but the Yorkshire Inn is not just a place to stay but has a well known restaurant which does good old traditional English food, just in case you miss home.

A final word on the location - less than 10 minute walk to the beach, just a few minutes to the Jungceylon Shopping Mall. A few more things - free internet, free sauna, 2 restaurants, poolside dining... If you want a good price in Patong, I recommend the Yorkshire Inn.

Yorkshire Hotel and Spa - Booking & Reviews

• Yorkshire Inn - Rates and Reservations at Agoda.com
• Yorkshire Inn - Hotels Reviews


Yorkshire Inn - Photos










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

Phuket Brewery

I admit to not being a nightlife person - noisy bars and clubs are not my thing... thus there's not a great deal on this blog relating to nightlife in Phuket or bars or clubs! A lot of the nightlife in Phuket is related to bargirls, ladyboys and everything in between. Not really family entertainment. What I like to find is a place that has a good atmosphere, is not a rip off and preferably has good beer!

Enter Phuket Brewery, just opened last November - a huge entertainment venue just outside Phuket Town, opposite the Tesco Lotus store, impossible to miss.. I mean, there's half a boat sticking out the front of the building, more or less everyone will see it when driving from the airport to the beaches.





I had been putting off a visit due in part to laziness and in part because I heard it was very expensive. The Brewery is just 5 minutes from my house, and could become my local pub! Certainly not as expensive as I thought, and there's even a happy hour from 7 - 8pm (we found that out when we got the bill)! I had a friend visiting from England and we both like good beer, so I thought it was time to try the Brewery.



It does look a bit fancy and expensive. The entrance is like stepping on board a cruise ship, all polished wood and portholes for effect, mirroring the boat on the outside. You can sit outside to eat or just for a drink, or you can head into the theatre. Inside there is an impressive looking wooden and copper bar, with the freshly brewing beer right behind the bar - all the pipes and valves of the microbrewery out in the open and it looks great!



The house band had already started before 8pm. It's a large theater, I reckon must seat over 1,000 people. Only about 30 people when we arrived, but it did fill a little later, maybe around 200 people there by 10pm, not bad for a week night.

So, what's Phuket Brewery all about? Well, for me, number one - (the word Brewery is a hint) - BEER! The microbrewery makes 3 different beers, a dark beer, a lager and a weizenbier (wheat beer). It looks good, it tastes great. Normal price 130 Baht for half liter, but only 75 Baht during happy hour. There are also 0.3 liter glasses and huge beer towers containing 3 or 5 liters - good for large parties.

Here's some of that beer - in the photo below you see a dark beer and the weizenbier.



But, this is not a drinkers den. The beers are good, but the Brewery is aimed at families, work social evenings, ladies nights out and concerts - some of the big names in Thai rock have been already such as Carabao and Sek Loso. I wonder if they can attract any big Western bands? When we were there on Thursday it was just the house band, which was not too bad. Also some Thai dancing and a magic show. I think kids would enjoy it, though they'd have to be allowed a late night by mum and dad.





There is an upstairs balcony too which would seat several hundred people. On this quiet week night the balcony was not being used but I went for a look upstairs and also wandered down to the stage. They have an impressive array of live video screens around the venue and 3 different cameras shooting all the action from the stage. From the balcony I could look back down on the bar area too.



So, you've got beer, entertainment, concerts, friendly staff, oh and they do food too - not super cheap, but I think for the western food about the same as you'd pay elsewhere. Open every day, easy to find, and only 5 minutes from my house. Did I mention the beer? Who's meeting me for happy hour? :)



UPDATE January 2010 - Phuket Brewery has closed - not making enough money. The place has been taken over by an entertainment company called "Whisky and Moonlight" : Full Story in the Phuket Wan website: http://phuketwan.com/property/phuket-brewery-closes-venue-rocks-11985/

Sunset at Cape Phromthep

Cape Phromthep is Phuket's southernmost point, a rocky headland surrounded by steep cliffs with views of the ocean and all the islands to the south and east of Phuket. The coastal scenery is quite beautiful, and the area around Phromthep heading towards Rawai Beach to the east or Naiharn Beach to the north is still quiet and undeveloped, making a nice change from the main beaches of Phuket. This little corner of Phuket has always been a favourite of ours. Nothing else to do? Let's take a drive down to Rawai and Phromthep...

Yes, we've stopped at Laem Phromthep countless times. Anytime we have visitors, this area is on the to-do list. But somehow, despite the fact that Phromthep Cape is known as THE sunset viewpoint, I have never been there for sunset.. until yesterday. We drive along Rawai beach road past the little seafood restaurants and turned left onto the winding hilly road up to the cape. Now, as I say, Phromthep is THE place to watch the sunset, all the guidebooks and websites say so. I was not too surprised to see a packed car park, a dozen buses and people everywhere. On the road by the carpark you find food stalls and souvenir stalls...





We walked up the steps, stopping for the kids to much some BBQ pork and sticky rice. At the top of the steps above the cars you have a large open area with great views, and everywhere there were people waiting for the sunset and taking holiday snaps. Most of the visitors seemed to be locals, being that this was a Saturday, a day to relax and enjoy living in Phuket. A fair number of foreign tourists too. All waiting for that magical sunset.





The sun was already low in the sky when we arrived. I had a feeling that the sky was too hazy for a spectacular sunset, and was proved right. The sun did eventually sink behind the hazy horizon, but nevertheless it was a great photo opportunity! I would say there are better sunset views. I prefer the sunset at Kata Beach, or watching the sunset and views from Buddha Mountain for example, but Phromthep is a very scenic area, and after sunset you could head down to Rawai for dinner or a drink at Nikitas Bar on the beach for example.





There's a small but interesting temple at Cape Phromthep with elephant images all around. People were saying prayers as the sun set...



And at Cape Phromthep you get entertained too! There was live music...



And a bongo playing / fire dancing combo... We gave our kids some change to put in the hat. My 4 year old son was particularly impressed by the fire dancer. I kept wishing I had a better camera... coming soon!





Being a rather rocky headland, there is a lighthouse here. The lighthouse, built in 1996 for the golden jubilee of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, is open to the public - you can climb up some steps inside for a better view (please remove your shoes). Outside is a sunset scoreboard:



Note the year "52". The old calendar is still used for official business. In Thailand it's 2552. So, here's a view from the lighthouse (click to enlarge), the sun having already all but sunk into the hazy horizon. Sunset over, time to go home!

Hotel Booking with Agoda.com

Over the years since Jamie's Phuket started, I have looked at a number of online hotel booking sites, signed up for affiliate deals, seen the results, tried new sites... the original idea was to have several different booking options for the hotels reviewed here, giving people the opportunity to check rates at a bunch of different sites. Regular travelers will probably have their preferred booking site, I don't wish to try and change anyones mind about which is best, but I have to say that over the last few years the Agoda.com site has got neater, the hotel descriptions better, the booking process easier.

Having experimented quite a bit, there are just two hotel booking options on Jamie's Phuket - Agoda and LateStays. The latter is designed only for late bookings, no more than 28 days ahead and sometimes has the best rates. Agoda can also be used for late bookings, but of course also offers advance booking.

Agoda is part of a larger company that also included PrecisionReservations.com and PlanetHoliday.com - these both redirect now to Agoda.com. The brand name is getting well known especially around Asia, as Agoda is based in Singapore and Bangkok. The word "Agoda" you might expect to mean something in Chinese or Thai.. in fact it's just a result (according to the About Agoda page) of a phrase suggested by someone at Agoda "Agoda where I wanna go to!". The important part of the word being "GO"! For more about Agoda, check their FAQ.



Agoda offers a reward program. From your first booking you get reward points worth around 5% of the room price. You can use these points to reduce the price of the room you are booking, or you can let the points mount up after several bookings and use them to get even bigger savings, or even free rooms! You decide. A friend here in Phuket said he ended up with a free room on his last trip to Kuala Lumpur, having saved up his reward points. You can earn extra points by contributing a hotel review (good or bad!) after your stay. You should also check the special offers on offer.



The Agoda site is available in many languages, not just English - for example you can find Agoda in German, French, Japanese, Swedish, Thai .. and many more, reflecting the worldwide appeal of Agoda. Not just Thailand, not just Asia, but Worldwide. The site is very easy to use, easy to navigate, it's easy to find rates, easy to make bookings. I'd suggest checking Agoda for your trip to Phuket and Thailand.

Related Jamie's Phuket pages:

• My Phuket Hotel Recommendations
• LateStays.com - for Late Booking Deals

Wat Vichit Sangkaram (Phuket Town)

Yes! It's time for another temple! I do like to check out a temple now and then.. there are about 25 temples and shrines on this blog so far... so if you are a fan of religious architecture, or want to follow the temple trail, check my Phuket Temples section. There are Buddhist temples all over Phuket, mixed in with Chinese shrines and lots of mosques too.

Wat Vichit Sangkaram, also called Wat Kuan, can be found just to the Northeast of old Phuket Town, near the government offices, the court, the prison and Satree Phuket school. As with many temples around Phuket, there is very little on the internet about Wat Vichit Sangkaram. As of now, it's my weather blog that is No.1 in a Google search!.. I imagine this blog will be by tomorrow. All I can find is that the temple has been used for funerals of some important local people, and last year was the site of a ceremony paying respects to Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana.



I forced a "temple stop" on the family some weeks ago. We had just eaten lunch at the Uptown restaurant which is nearby, and I could not resist the lure of an unblogged temple! So, I ran around and took a few photos. The temple grounds were being renovated, with backhoes and construction workers all around. Sure it will look better soon!







Naga (multiheaded snakes) guard the entrance to the temple. The Naga is a part of the Buddha story. You often see Naga images above the head of the Buddha. In the story, the Naga raised it's multiple heads to protect Buddha from the rain as he meditated.

 
(above) Naga outside Wat Vichit Sangkaram, and detail of one of the temple doors.

More temples to come. I think, if you are passing by, any local temple in Phuket is worth a look. The detail and decoration is often impressive. Much more to Phuket than beaches, you know!

Travelfish Guide to Phuket

Phuket, pearl of the Andaman Sea, with golden sands, beautiful smiles, blue skies... Phuket is blessed with powdery, palm-fringed white beaches, sparkling island-dotted seas ... delightful turn-of-the-century Sino-Portuguese architecture.. la la la. You know it's the same kind of poetry on almost every website, the same cliches, some of which are true in a way, but certainly there is the idea that Phuket is indeed perfect. I have to say this: I love living here, Phuket is great, but Phuket is not perfect. I hear this many times: "I was surprised by... (insert comment here)". Somewhere out in the mass of websites and guidebooks is the truth. I hope Jamie's Phuket paints a fair picture of Phuket, though as Lana points out - I don't write about the bits I don't like!

Back in August I did a quick review of the new Lonely Planet "Encounter" guide to Phuket, which is a nice little book, well researched, a good deal more up to date than your average LP guide book.. Lonely Planet "Shoestring" bearing backpackers walk past my office every other day looking for a guesthouse that closed 2 years ago. Sometimes they come in and ask and are AMAZED to find that the Bible is wrong!

So, I am happy to say that for under 5 US dollars you can buy a well researched, up to date, easy to use, recommended-by-Jamie guidebook for Phuket. Well, "book" is the wrong word. Actually you can buy a 37 page pdf file by making payment online and the "guidebook" can then be downloaded. And it's good. It knows things I don't know, it has reviews of guesthouses and hotels, it says this about Patong: "a seething mass of tourism, squalor and unrestricted development, a mess of hotels, bars, restaurants, travel agents, massage parlours, tailor shops and touts. Patong is everything that tourism in Thailand should not have become." Amen.

You see? This guidebook does not pull any punches! Compare to the No.1 website about Phuket, which says "With its wide variety of activities and nightlife, Patong is an ideal place to party and play.".. although admittedly Phuket.com does try to hint that Patong is not perfect... "the steaming hot streets, neon lights and chaotic atmosphere of Patong can be overwhelming for the new arrival".. yeh, still overwhelms me 9 years later!

So, where can you get a $4.95 Phuket guidebook? The website to look for is Travelfish.org, which has been silently growing into an internet giant. If you are looking for SE Asia information, Travelfish is a very good starting place. And the range of guidebooks includes Phuket, Phi Phi, Koh Tao, Koh Samet, and various guides in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Travelfish is certainly backpacker oriented - the accommodation recommendations are for lower budget travelers (Note to Travelfish - you should include Pineapple Guesthouse in Phuket!). The Phuket guide includes some general info, local transport info (local buses, not taxis - this is for backpackers!), and extended info on different beach areas and on Phuket Town. The information is tightly packed, no wasted space, ready to print. It may not suit the luxury traveler, but on the other hand, if you are looking for a very nice hotel and want to explore some of the real Phuket, this Travelfish Phuket guide is certainly worth 5 bucks!

Thanks to Stuart of Travelfish for sending me a copy to read. It's good, I say again. The price of a few beers for a guidebook? If you're coming to Phuket, you should head to Travelfish and download the Phuket guide.

• Travelfish Phuket Guide - Get it here!