A fantastic view from Phromthep Meditation Centre

I can't believe we never found this place before. We have driven many times around the Cape Phromthep / Rawai Beach area, and it's a great part of Phuket to explore, but somehow we missed this one... We found a great viewpoint at a Buddhist Meditation centre/temple between Rawai and Phromthep, with a lovely view of Cape Phromthep from the south and also looking across the sea to Koh Kaew, a small island with a golden Buddha statue on the shore. The water looked clear, and we spotted a small private beach close to the cape that you would probably need a boat to reach.

 

 

We were following the back road through the west of Rawai and saw a sign saying (in Thai) "Samnagsong (or Samnaksong) Phromthep", which means "Phromthep Meditation Centre". It's a dirt road and I was a little concerned to take our car down there (it's not a fancy 4X4 you know), but it was fine, and only a couple of hundred meters long...we parked next to what looks like a small temple. There is a Buddha statue facing out to sea and a large elevated platform which I assume is for the aforementioned meditation.

The view is gorgeous. We all sat for a while on a small wooden platform looking out at the ocean, at the south side of Cape Phromthep and the island of Koh Kaew, which is accessible by boat from Rawai. If you're in this area, try to find it!





Update: March 1st 2007...

We went back for a look at the view with my mother, the view is still great, and all was fine until we stopped to say a little prayer in the temple. We dropped some money in the donation box and this elderly Monk (see photo) started talking to my wife about all the people who had donated for helping to build a new building on the site. Indeed he had a book with names of people who had donated. My wife told him we'd already left a small donation thank you very much, have a nice day. As we started to leave he started ranting about if we don't want to donate 1000 Baht we can piss off and never come back..not very good behaviour for a monk, is it? My wife says she has never heard a monk talk like that before. I'd say it is rather likely that we will follow his advice and not return. What is the world coming to? You may expect tailors or massage girls to harrass you in Patong, but monks?

Chalong Jetty (Chalong Bay)

On Sunday evening we took a walk along Chalong Jetty. It may not sound very exciting, but in the evening there are a lot of local folk walking or jogging here, getting fresh air and exercise. You get some lovely views across Chalong Bay to some of the offshore islands such as Koh Lone, Koh Bon and Koh Racha Yai, and there are hundreds of boats in the bay – everything from dive boats to catamarans to speedboats and a couple of huge sunset cruise boats.





The jetty is relatively new. It was completed in about 2002 and is around 600 meters long. Before this new jetty, which was built to serve the countless tourist boats that depart from Chalong (for diving, fishing, snorkeling, sightseeing), there was only a rickety wooden jetty, barely wide enough for 2 people to pass each other. When we went on dive trips we normally had to walk out across the bay through the sand and silt, carrying dive gear out to a longtail boat that would take us to the dive boat. Now you have jetty buses that carry passengers up and down (private cars not generally allowed). The dive boats and others wait at the end, where there is space for 6-8 decent sized boats to tie up.

• Chalong Jetty - location on Google Earth



I do like a walk along the jetty, and the kids like to see all the boats. Not far from the jetty are several restaurants. For many years we have been going to a place called Danang Seafood (we must have eaten there 20 times), but it seems to have maybe gone downhill a bit recently. We ate there again on Sunday and sa usual the food was fine and we sat right by the sea but the service was rather lacking. Waiters / waitresses all seemed to be students doing holiday jobs. Next time we might try Kan Eang 2, which is right next door.



If you visit Phuket and take any kind of dive trip, snorkel trip etc., it’s likely you’ll see Chalong Bay. I like the area. You are not far from Chalong Temple, and Rawai beach is only 5km down the road. Also, the access road to Buddha Mountain is close to Chalong Circle (a roundabout with 5 exits, one of which goes to the jetty). It’s a good area to rent a bike and explore. Chalong is only about 6km from Kata beach, or about 15km from Patong.

Loy Krathong - 5th November

Loy Krathong is one of Thailand's more famous celebrations, a festival with ancient roots which (for me) boils down to saying thanks for the water and letting your bad luck drift away. It's not a huge celebration here in Phuket, but nevertheless just about everyone does it - I mean everyone makes or buys a "kratong" and sets it adrift on a body of water somewhere. And there are some parties going on and fancy dress competitions and so on.

We just headed for Bang Wad Reservoir, Phuket's largest water supply. A LOT of people go there. Its located in Kathu district. To get there you drive into the Phuket Country Club.

The event there was better organised this year - in 2005 it was a bit of a scrum to find parking spaces. This year the police and local officials made sure people did not drive right up to the reservoir. It did mean a 5 minute walk up the road to the dam, but we are just about able to manage a walk of this distance! My daughter carried our Kratong :



We set it adrift on the reservoir. In the Kratong we put some coins and snips of hair from each of us. The wind was light but blew out most people's candles. Ours managed to stay alight as we watched the kratong drift away:



At the reservoir were plenty of people making and selling Kratongs and also a competition for the biggest and fanciest kratong (made by local schools etc..):

 





We decided also to let a paper lantern float up for us. These lanterns are not so common in Phuket compared to Chiang Mai, but I saw more this year than last year. Come to think of it I don't recall seeing any at the reservoir last year. Being rather keeniow (Thai word for tight arse) we opted for a cheaper plastic lantern for 50 Baht (it was 100 for the paper ones). Ours nearly burned up before floating away into the sky and, with a breeze picking up, soon disappeared from sight.

Here's some other people letting lanterns go:



We had thought to head down to Chalong Bay too, maybe eat at Danang Seafood as we did last year, but we could see rain was on the way. So, another Loy Krathong over, hopefully any bad luck has been cast adrift and we can look forward to another happy year! Next years Loy Krathong date is 24th November.

Phuket Vegetarian Festival Photos

New! Vegetarian Festival 2007 Photos  Now Online!

Photos from the street procession on Sunday 29th October 2006 from Kathu Shrine to Phuket Town. These street processions took place all week from the 24th to 30th October. This was the only one I saw - too busy at work, though we did visit Sam Kong shrine a couple of times and we ate the Jae food all week. I was in Kathu village at 6:30am as the participants came from Kathu Shrine along the road through the village heading for Phuket town about 5km away. The early morning light and thousands of firecrackers made a great scene as the gods were carried on their way. Among the statues were the holy people and those with knives, swords, spikes and more through their cheeks, many women seemingly in trances, men with whips and cloths, and many helpers. Here's some photos from the village:





(above) Purification by pain? Kathu village, 30th October

(below) Procession of gods departs from Kathu, early morning










I then headed via another road to catch the procession in Phuket Town. While they walked about 7km I waited with many people in the center of town near the market. There were a few other foreigners around including 2 photographers dressed as if for battle with several thousand dollars worth of gear. I felt a bit lacking with my little digital. In the camera world, size matters.

A long wait, as the procession joined with people from another shrine at the stadium on the edge of town. By the time they reached us, some of the participants were looking rather hot and bothered. Cups of water were made available by the side of the road, as it was hot even at 9am.

I tried to capture some photos of the devotees with pierced faces:







Next year I want to do more, see more. I did eat the food for a week, though did not stick 100% to ALL the rules, but then again I did not stick spikes in my face either. If you were in Phuket and missed it..why? If you're planning a trip to Phuket next year, try to be here for the vegetarian festival..The dates are based on the lunar calendar, starting on the new moon, which means the festival will run from 11 - 19 October 2007. Hope to see you here in Phuket!


Need a place to stay in Phuket for the festival? A few links...

• Jamie's Phuket Hotel Recommendations
• A walk around Old Phuket Town

Vegetarian Festival Blog

The last few days of the vegetarian festival include street processions in Phuket Town, fire walking and plenty more vegetarian food. It's actually good tucker, and I've had a week of eating this food. It's amazing what they can do with bean cakes and tofu! I've had great massaman curry, tom yum, spring rolls, priow wan (sweet and sour) and more. Outside of the festival it's harder to find this food, but right now around any of the main Chinese shrines, it's everywhere. There are even some stalls in Patong up Sai Nam Yen road near the junction with Nanai Road (the back road).

I think it shows that the people here take the festival seriously, as last night we ate at Chen Long Gung Kata, which on previous occasions has been completely full, but last night there must have been only a dozen tables occupied - I still managed to eat veggie there.

Here's a few photos of Sam Kong shrine on the north side of Phuket Town:

 





You may notice from the photos there are numbers around the shrine. If you want to pray properly you must pray at each number in the correct order.

And here's some food photos from around the Sam Kong area. The stalls are all along the road which is quite busy, being on the edge of Phuket Town and being close to the bypass road and the hospitals, so if you walk along here, watch for traffic. All the food is vegetarian, which in the Thai sense means pretty much vegan - no dairy, no eggs. Some of it looks meaty and even tastes meaty, but I assure you there is no flesh!

More Vegetarian Festival

The festival is well and truly under way now and I have not eaten any meat for 4 days, though I will admit to a few "vegetarian" beer Changs. Well, I aim not for perfection, but for happiness. My family munched away on fish and chicken last night but I insisted on driving into Kathu village to buy some Ahan Jae. They do some very good "soft spring rolls" in the village that I have not seen for sale in Phuket Town. The first street procession in the town was yesterday morning. If you want to see something real, something different, something cultural, something you won't see anywhere else, then go to Phuket town at 7am any day from now until Sunday. I want to go on Sunday, which is when Kathu shrine does their procession.

Meanwhile I want to get more pictures today from Kathu and Sam Kong shrines. Here's a few of Kathu taken on Sunday:

Thalang National Museum

The Thalang National Museum is another place we have meant to visit for a long time, having driven past many times. It's located near the Heroine's Monument, just off the main airport road, south of Thalang town in central Phuket (see on Google Earth).



Now, it's not a huge museum, but the entry is only 100 Baht, so I reckon it's worth a look. The first thing we saw outside was a pile of wreckage recovered from the tsunami, and there's a whole room full of stuff pulled from the sea in a room inside. When you see it all piled up - bags, phones, signs, cups, TV's..it does rather hit home.

Outisde there is also a kind of tsunami memorial - a sculpture (already falling apart) showing a spirit leaving a body. (See photo below)



Inside you start with general Thai history, there are some old artifacts, a history of the people of Thailand - good background information. Then you move onto Phuket history with sections about the different people - Chinese, Muslim, Indigenous (sea gypsies) etc..with mock ups of homes showing "the way people lived". There's also a big section devoted to the Heroines of Thalang who rallied the people of Phuket to defeat the Burmese in 1785. These 2 ladies are famous all over Thailand, but especially here in Phuket and more especially in Thalang where roads, temples and schools are named after them.

 



I'd say the museum makes an ideal stop off while touring this area of Phuket. We went from here about 15 minutes up the road to Bang Pae Seafood, and you'll also find Bang Pae waterfall and the Gibbon Rehab Project along the same road. The Ton Sai waterfall is also not far away. Nearby in Thalang town are several important temples (Wat Phra Tong, Wat Sri Sunthon and Wat Phra Nang Sang), and just south you have the Boat Lagoon, which is worth a stop if you like boats and want a nice coffee in a western style marina.