Bang Wad Dam and Reservoir

Not far from where we live in Kathu is the Bang Wad Reservoir, Phuket's largest water supply, able to hold something like 8 million cubic meters of water. The reservoir is situated beneath Phuket's highest hill (Radar Hill) above the Phuket Country Club in Kathu. Holding back all that water is the Dam. The reservoir is 1.5km long and the dam about half a mile end to end. There's a road winding it's way around the reservoir, about a 6km drive. Not really a tourist destination you might think, but if you want to "mix with the locals" then Bang Wad is a good place to come in the late afternoon.

• View Bang Wad reservoir on Google Earth

Many people come up here to get some fresh air and exercise, walking or jogging along the dam, or even (for the keen ones) doing a loop around the reservoir. It's quiet and green up here, making a nice spot for a picnic too, and there's a large grassy area at one end of the dam which is made for just that. Snack and drink stalls set up selling soft drinks and BBQ pork, chicken, sausages on sticks and such. We like to come up about an hour before sunset for a walk. Good for the kids, especially baby boy (17 months old) - gets him good and tired. He tries to imitate the joggers and has quite a turn of speed for a 1 year old.

 

Photos on this page were taken yesterday evening. We go there at least once a week to stretch our legs and I am always interested to see the water level. There have been a couple of water shortages in Phuket in recent years, and I have seen the reservoir looking like an African mudhole. Recent projects have increased the supply to the reservoir by pumping water here from other nearby water supplies like old mines. If you look at a Google Earth image of the Kathu area to the north of the dam you can see a lot of small ponds and lakes. Right now, water level is healthy as one would expect at the start of the wet season. We had a wet week at the end of May, but has been rather nice since - see more on my Phuket Weather Blog!

 

Diving in Phuket

Diving in Phuket

My first day’s diving in Phuket was in November 1999. I had come here from Utila (Honduras) looking for work, having been teaching scuba diving there for a little under a year, and decided I had better do a couple of dives to test the local waters. Marine life in SE Asia is very different to the Caribbean, and in particular I was hoping to see a lionfish and a clown anemone fish. Not asking too much, I thought. I booked a day trip with 2 dives – the King Cruiser wreck, and Shark Point. That dive site name had me hoping to see sharks too, as I had seen but a few nurse sharks in Utila, oh and a few whalesharks!

First dive – King Cruiser Wreck. Quite a descent down the line to 15m on top of the wreck. My buddy was a little slow coming down. When I looked up there must have been 15 divers coming down the line at the same time, lots of bubbles! At the bottom of the mooring, close to an old winch, the DM pointed at…about 7 lionfish! So, dive objective complete! I dived with my buddy and let the DM fin off at great speed…I prefer to go slow. You see more that way. The King Cruiser is not an easy beginners dive. The maximum depth is 30m, the average visibility is 10m, and you can get some strong currents, but I always like it and you will always find lionfish and scorpionfish. Be very careful if you need to put your hand down..very careful.


Dive 2 – Shark Point. No sharks. Having been here for 6 years now, I am very aware of the fact that sharks are not all that common there, and are more often seen in the low season months of May-October, almost always leopard sharks. But, the site is lovely, lots of colourful soft corals, a good variety of fish, I saw my first clownfish... This is still my favourite local dive site.

The rest is history, I am still here living and diving in Phuket. Well, not diving much actually these days, though I have logged about 1,000 dives in this area. It was actually the Similan Islands that kept me here. Once I had dived there, I was totally hooked on diving in Phuket...

• More about the Dive Sites of Phuket - click here



More Information:

• Diving in Phuket and all over Thailand - Sunrise Divers

Attractions: Phuket Zoo

I am not a big fan of zoos. In general, I don't like the idea of wild animals being caged, though Alex the Lion from Madagascar might disagree. Too many zoos have large animals in bare concrete pits or muddy holes, and yes, Phuket zoo has some of this. A dopey tiger is kept chained up for photos, a leopard walks around his solitary cell, the elephants, monkeys and crocodiles all do shows... this is not a modern luxury zoo and I don't think Alex would enjoy life here. So why the hell have I been to Phuket zoo 3 times? Well, it's for the kids. I can't deny my kids the chance to see some animals; I mean real life animals as opposed to what they can see on Animal Planet. Last weekend was the first time for my son (16 months old) and he was quite fascinated by things like monkeys and elephants. My daughter has been before, and loves to check out the crocodiles...

The zoo is about 15 minutes drive from Phuket Town, about 10 minutes from Chalong Bay, down a side road that leads to the east coast. See here: Phuket Zoo - Location on Google Earth. Further down the same road are a whole host of seafood restaurants. The entry fee is rather steep for tourists - 500 Baht (adults), 300 Baht (Kids). Local foreign residents can get in for the local price - 80 Baht. Were it not for that I would just wait in the car!

Inside, among winding paths in the trees are cages, pens, pits, bars..the usual animal containment systems. There are big animals like the tiger, elephants, camels, deer, crocs, a bear or two, also a variety of birds, small mammals like civets, and an airconditioned aquarium (small, and not as good in any way as the Phuket Aquarium on Cape Panwa), but on a hot day you may find the aquarium very useful! They even have a wallaby or two, which my daughter liked and ran off to tell mummy - "Mummy, I saw a Wobbly"! There are 3 shows - Monkey, Elephant and Crocodile, at regular intervals during the day. You'd need to spend a good couple of hours to see it all, along with the shows. This time we just saw the Monkey show. Monkey do maths, monkey play basketball, orangutan ride bike, monkey pose with umbrella...the show is quite fun, but there is a very very annoying commentator who speaksveryfastandswitchesfromenglishtothaiand (breathe) youarenotsurewhatthehellheissayingmostofthetime. Nearly as annoying as the Muay Thai announcements in Patong "Toniiiiight, Muay Thaaaaaaaaaaaai".

We have seen the elephant show before. Elephant stand on back legs, elephant play ball, elephant walk over people, elephant p*ss on trainer. Then you can feed them bananas and sit on their back for a photo. Then they are chained up until the next show...(see photo). The Crocodile show...you really just watch it in the hope that something will go wrong. Once the guy has put his head in the crocs mouth once, it gets a bit repetitive. The misspelling on the sign below will hopefully not tempt fate...(like this - not in Phuket, by the way)

Photos below all taken on Sunday May 28th 2006



• Phuket Zoo Website : www.phuketzoo.com
• More about Phuket Zoo on Jamie's Phuket
• Discussion about Phuket Zoo on TripAdvisor

Phuket Restaurant Tips: Bang Pae Seafood

The east coast of Phuket gets you away from the tourist beaches and into another world. No beaches here, no big hotels, just small fishing communities, mangroves, great scenery and some nice places to eat..There are many back roads on the east coast, especially if you take the road that heads east from the "Heroines Monument". There are countless side roads leading down to the sea from this road, well worth exploring if you rent a car or bike. After about 8km you reach a turn on the left to the Bang Pae Waterfall and Gibbon rehabilitation center. Just after this on the right is a turning to Bang Pae Seafood. Go a bit further still and you'll find the turning to Bang Rong, from where you can catch a ferry to Koh Yao Noi, and can also find a little floating restaurant in the mangroves.

Bang Pae Seafood is the kind of place you are not likely to find a tourist - maybe a local resident foreigner, but few tourists venture down these side roads. Hoorah to those who do get out and explore Phuket. With a little effort you can see so much more than most people. We had never been to Bang Pae Seafood before, but it was recommended by friends and we met them here for lunch last weekend. It's quiet, right by the water (albeit in the mangroves), our kind of place. Not expensive. We all ate until we were full (4 adults plus 3 kids), me and my pal drank about 6 Heinekens (good and cold), total bill was just under 1000 Baht (25 US$ / 14 £). The dried shrimp salad (yam gung seab) was very tasty, the fish cakes (Tod Man Pla) were great - very different to normal. Often you get them very spicy and made more with fish paste than actual pieces of fish. These were better, with pieces of fish and not so spicy. Even my 1 year old son could eat them!

As we ate, there were quite a fair few local folk walking out on the sand collecting shellfish. The water here is very shallow and it was low tide. Some of them seemed to be several hundred meters from the shore. This is a very peaceful spot for lunch, the food good, service decent, very relaxing.

• Bang Pae Seafood - Location on Google Earth

Nearby Attractions

• Bang Pae Waterfall and Gibbon Rehabilitation Center
• Kayaking in the Mangroves

More Restaurants

• Laem Hin Seafood (also on the east coast)
• Lakeside not far from Bang Pae
• Plenty more restaurants!

Noodle Time (Kuay Tiaow) in Phuket

At a rough guess, I'd say Phuket has at least 2,000 Noodle stalls. I have not tried them all, and do not intend to. Noodle soup (Kuay Tiaow / Kway Teow, or however you wish to spell it in English) is just about the most common food in Thailand. Breakfast noodles, lunchtime, evening noodles..it's good any time of day. So simple and yet can be so tasty. Also cheap! Street food is one of the joys of traveling. Normally you can't get noodle soup in a fancy restaurant, only at small roadside stalls or little family restaurants. They are everywhere, on every street, often many side by side.

You can get noodle soup made with different size noodles - big fat ones, thin ones or glass noodles, or even yellow noodles. The noodles are cooked in boiling broth/soup, usually along with some green veg and a handful of beansprouts. Cooking time - less than a minute. Add cooked noodles to a bowl of the hot soup, add some pork (moo daeng) or chicken or various other meats, maybe some pork balls (luuk chin) add a sprinkling of crushed nuts (tua), and hey presto!

The taste can vary according to the soup. Some are very clear, some are richer and darker...each to their own taste. We have tried many in our area of Phuket (Kathu) and have a few favourites. Yesterday we ate at a small place on the Kathu Waterfall road (Soi Namtok Kathu). It's past the entrance to the Kathu Cable Ski on the right side. The owners are always friendly and the noodles always tasty. Wash it all down with a couple of glasses of ice tea (cha dam yen). Total bill for 3 bowls of noodles and 4 ice teas - 90 Baht. See photos below...



• Another Noodle Shop in Kathu..click here

The temple on Patong Hill (Pun Tuao Kong Chinese Shrine)

Wherever you go temples, shrines and religious symbols are often built on hills for that "Closer to God" feeling. Either that or they have huge spires reaching up to the heavens. I'm not sure I have ever been in a temple in Thailand that can match some of the Christian cathedrals in terms of the feeling of reverence you get when you enter. That may be because Buddhism is not really a religion, more a way of life, and from what I see, it's just a normal part of life, like brushing your teeth, or walking the dog. It's just something people do. Every house will have it's little Buddha shelf. My wife gets fresh flowers (almost) weekly, lights some incense and candles, says a little prayer, and that's that. I know on Songkran (April 13th) my mother was slightly surprised by the temple we went to - more like a shed really with a tent outside. Ah! But a temple need not be gaudy or magnificent. Prayers are said by people, and can be said anywhere.

Hush! hush! Whisper who dares. Christopher Robin is saying his prayers...Oh, Thank You, God for a lovely day. And what was the other I had to say? I said "Bless Daddy," so what can it be? Oh, Now I remember it. God bless Me.

So anyway...there are a LOT of temples in Phuket, along with a few Christian churches and many Mosques (quite a high Muslim population here). Thus begins the "Temples" section of this blog. We start with the well known Temple on Patong Hill, seen by just about every visitor to Phuket as they drive over the hill in a taxi, minibus, tuk tuk or motorbike. But not many tourists actually stop and look or say a prayer. Plenty of locals stop here at all times of day, and even if they don't stop, they will Wai as they pass, or, if Wai-ing will cause them to lose control of their vehicle, they will Beep instead. I beep twice daily as I drive to Patong in the morning and back home in the afternoon. Beep for luck, beep for good health, beep for your family, beep for a safe journey. Go ahead and Beep, nothing to be ashamed of. The temple is actually called Pun Tuao Kong Chinese Shrine. It's not very big, but if you are going to pray properly you should walk around and stop for prayers at several points to light incense and make an offering of fruit. You can also light up some fire crackers if you want a louder sound than a mere beep. No monks stay here, just a couple of people who look after the place and keep it tidy during the day. Your prayers will be punctuated by beeps. It is right by the road and the traffic can be thick and fast, so be careful when stopping your vehicle or crossing the road. There's no big parking area - people stop their bikes by the temple, or there is a bit of space to park on the other side of the road. Next time you're passing..go and have a look.

• Patong Hill Shrine location on Google Earth

Radar Hill, Phuket

The second highest point in Phuket is what we call Radar Hill. Visible from large areas of Southern Phuket, it is unmistakable, as there is a radar dome on the top. Or as my daughter calls it "the hill with the ball on". The actual name is Khao Mai Thao Sip Song, and the hill is about 510m above sea level (about 1700 feet). You can see the hill from Patong, from Chalong and from Kathu. We can see it from our house. If you go up Buddha Mountain, you can see it from there too, so once the big Buddha is complete, the views from Radar Hill will get even better! The view on the left is Radar Hill as seen from the road in Kathu between Tesco Lotus and the Caltex junction, on the way to Patong (which is on the other side of the hill).

Although the hill overlooks Patong (see photo), there is no way up there from Patong. The long and winding road up Radar Hill begins as a small side road between Wat Chalong and Phuket Town. The road is not clearly marked, and says something like "Phuket Weather Station, 6km". Easy to miss. If you're coming from the North, if you reach Chalong temple, you've gone too far. The road up is paved all the way, but does have some narrow, steep and twisty sections. You don't need 4WD. On the way up there are many views across Chalong Bay, and as you get further up, there are sea views to the West of Phuket too, over Karon beach, though there's no view of the beach itself. You can also get a view across Kathu and Bang Wad reservoir at one point. Also a GREAT place for a sunset photo over the ocean, but driving back down in the dark can be hairy!

There are a couple of places you can stop close to the very top, and get a view from the top of Phuket across the hills and across the Andaman Sea to the west. You can't reach the very very top, as the Radar dome is a military installation - also don't take photos in the direction of the dome, as there are armed guards watching you. I recall last time we went up, speaking to one of the soldiers. He had been up there when the tsunami hit. He had seen it happening. One can imagine how he felt. We like to get up these hills to feel the wind in our hair and get ourselves some fresh air. When you see Patong from up here, it looks small and insignificant compared to nature, compared to the sea, the hills and the sky....

• Here's some more photos of Radar Hill from July 2006
• Radar Hill on Google Earth

More Hills in Phuket:

• Buddha Mountain
• Monkey Hill
• Rang Hill