Bang Rong Floating Restaurant

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 (it's called Chum Chon restaurant, though we always just call it Bang Rong, after its location) reached by a wooden walkway through the mangroves.

• View Location on Google Earth



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 looked. We felt a bit guilty that we only went for drinks, so bought a couple of plates of fried rice for the kids too. Next time we'll go for a proper lunch!





You realise its floating when other people step "on board" and your table starts to bounce. We were a little paranoid about the kids running around, but we decided I could not try to run after them or my 100+ kilo frame might sink the place, or at least spill a few drinks.

Out back they keep the fish, either for sale in the restaurant or at market. The whole area is full of fishing folk who are only just starting to make any money from tourism. The restaurant is very cheap - we paid 150 Baht for 2 plates of shrimp fried rice, 4 cokes and an orange juice. They don't make much from that! By the way, the owners are a muslim family and they don't sell beer here, so don't come looking for a quiet place for a cold Singha!







There are some kayaks for rent, and we intend to do that one day soon. A couple of small groups of tourists came through the restaurant to use kayaks as part of a safari tour with Bang Pae Safari. The family from the restaurant were the paddlers on the kayaks, which disappeared round the corner up the mangrove creek and were back in 15 minutes - a very quick taste of nature! I think the guy said you can rent one for 150 Baht/hour (if you paddle yourself).

UPDATE: Kayaking in the Mangroves (August 2009)



I think we have found our new favourite quiet place to sit and relax for an hour. It's very peaceful here, just the odd longtail engine to disturb the silence.






Looks nice, right? Here's some of our other favourite spots...

• Layan Beach
• The Beach Bar
• Paradise Beach

Chalong Temple Fair

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 beaches. I want to blog more about markets in the future. You can find local markets all over Phuket, just take a drive and explore!



The photos below are all from the Chalong Temple Fair.







 



• Chalong Temple
• Festivals and Local Life in Phuket

Restaurant Tips: The Ninth Floor (Patong)

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. Another of our party had a very tasty looking Lamb Shank in a red wine sauce, oh and the starters were mouth watering too - I had Eggplant gratin, filled with feta cheese, chick peas and tomato au gratin with parmesan cheese. My wife had the smoked salmon. As I say, not the kind of food we normally eat. It's not a cheap place, but if you are coming from Europe or North America on holiday, it would not be an extravagant meal... a treat maybe, but not outrageous - see the menu on the Ninth Floor website for prices.



You can find The Ninth Floor on (yes, that's right) the 9th Floor of the Sky Inn Condotel in Patong, towards the North end of Ratuthid road (the main road through the center of Patong). Parking is a bit tight around the area. Reservations are recommended. Ask for a table by the window. Treat yourself.

• The Ninth Floor website
• More Phuket Restaurant Tips

Naka Temple (Wat Naka)

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 (see location in Google Earth). 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. 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 died. Some old, some young, some recently, some many years ago. It adds a certain local feeling and a spirit to the temple. These people lived and prayed here.




And of course there is Buddha showing everyone the path. The image below shows a standing Buddha image with both hands raised to chest level, which is known as the attitude of calming the ocean. The Lord Buddha performed a miracle by stopping a rainstorm and flooding in the presence of the three arrogant hermits. Having seen the miracle, they submitted to the Lord Buddha and listened to his sermon. The three hermits and their 1,000 followers were so impressed with the preaching that they were willingly ordained as monks. You can read more about Buddha images here: Buddha Images.



• More Phuket Temples

Kata Temple (Wat Kittisangkaram)

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.

• Kata Temple on Google Earth



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 school here too. This has also been newly built, which can only be a good thing for the kids.




One small building was higher up on the hill, up a flight of steps that left my legs feeling wobbly (yeh, too much office work). Of course it was shut, but I took a peek inside through the dusty window...



Around the temple grounds I found one of the most serene Buddha statues I have ever seen. Click on the photo to enlarge. Look at the face. Serene.



Also while at the temple I met a volunteer for PAWS - a Phuket based animal welfare charity. She was there to feed the dogs. There are a lot of dogs around the temple! PAWS helps many animals around Phuket - visit the PAWS website for information and maybe to make a donation. The little girl below, whose parents were painting part of the temple wall, decided to feed a temple dog too...



 

If you are passing by, in the Kata area, take a few minutes to visit Kata Temple. Every area of Phuket has it's own local temple. Just a few km down the road you'll find Karon Temple near Karon Beach. Take a look at the temple nearest your hotel, and if you are a temple lover like me, check out some more Temples in Phuket.

English Food in Phuket

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 that now. Got another craving.

Update... someone did bring me some Fig Rolls. Thank you! See here: FIG ROLLS!

Update 2... and somebody brought me Hob Nobs! See : I've Been Nobbled!

    

Now, I know some expats who hardly eat Thai food at all, and there are many restaurants in Phuket catering to foreigners and expats, selling English food, German food, Swedish food, Italian food etc... I am happy with Thai food almost all the time, but this last week I have had some cravings, and have twice visited the Pineapple Guesthouse in Karon for large servings of that most wonderfully English, greasy spoon cafe special - Eggs, Bacon, Chips and Beans. A food so wonderful that a blog about it won an award in 2006 - See eggbaconchipsandbeans.





The Pineapple Guesthouse is English owned and Steve has just finished moving everything out of the old "Pineapple 1" into the newer "Pineapple 2". Finally he got a couple of tables outside and some big beach umbrellas to shade customers from the unrelenting lunchtime sun, so now I think I will be round there a couple of times a month to preempt my cravings. I've just been today. I think this nicely balances the days when I have the local Phad Thai, or a big curry at Mama Noi - and all these places are just a few minutes from work! Well, I guess I'll be back on the Phad Kana Moo Grob tomorrow. That's a real plus point about living in Phuket - you can easily switch between local food and "farang" food. Whatever you want you can get it here!

Phad Thai

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. The restaurant does not really have a name except "the Phad Thai restaurant". They also do noodle soup with chicken or beef, a good Phad Gapraow with beef, a popular fried rice with crab. The menu is expanding - when I first ate here a couple of years ago they had only Phad Thai or Noodles and beef stew.

• Location on Google Earth





It's only a little place but it can be packed at lunchtime. You can get Phad Thai to eat there or take away - the take away is wrapped in a banana leaf. The cooking is all done by one guy, with others helping to serve noodle soup - you can see the huge bowls full of chicken and beef below - these are ladled over the noodles. The Phad Thai is cooked with quite a bit of chili, and you have extra bowls of chili sauce, prik nam pla and dried chili on the table in case it's not spicy enough for you.

 



I ate my Phad Thai in the restaurant today. Bear in mind that by Western standards this is not really a "restaurant" - a collection of tables in the dirt by the road outside someones house... but this is real local eating here in Phuket. If you want to mingle with the people, get on the back roads and get some Phad Thai right here! I tend to get food from here at least once a week as it's so cheap and close to work.... oh and very tasty!



UPDATE - 2010 - the place has been tarted up with a concrete floor and nicer tables, but still the same food and same price (40 Baht). Just before the Baan Karon Resort on the way from Karon to Kata on Patak Road. It's not a big obvious restaurant, folks, just a small local place. Do try to find it! Yes, I do need to update the photos! If in doubt come to see us at Sunrise Divers first. Only a few minutes away...