Reclaiming the Streets (no package tours)

  Phuket, Thailand
Sunday, October 16, 2005

Phuket is one of those places a friend told you about when you were a wee nipper, from which you formed impressions in your mind, then you eventually get to years later only have those impressions confirmed or shattered. In this case they were confirmed, in the positive, and in all I had a good and productive visit.

The aim was to post stuff home and also to pick up supplies for my upcoming Myanmar venture - things like replacement medicines, munchies and $US currency that will be essential there but not necessarily available in the border towns to the north. As usual I timed things perfectly, escaping Temptation Island (Phi Phi) and arriving here Saturday morning, so I had the weekend to kill before the post office and banks opened on Monday morning.



In the end that was great, because I got sample some local culture and cuisine, as well as to go diving again. Might as well make the most of it I say, despite the weather which was raining the proverbial cats and hounds all Saturday. I ended up staying in Phuket Town, a place usually bypassed by tourists arriving by plane, who beeline straight to package hotels on beaches such as Karon, Kata or the infamous Patong. In my quest for diving and currency it didn't take me long to get to Patong (Saturday evening), but wasn't overly impressed by what I was missing out on (nor the footy result I happened to catch).



In contrast, Phuket Town is a heavily Hokkien Chinese influenced place (especially the Old Town in which I was camped), largely ignored by the tourism developers as it sits inland. Narrow streets, interesting two to three story architecture and a rather unsightly jumble of power and phone lines is the name of the game here. Some of the shopping looks well worth a visit, if you're into that type of thing ;-)





The Walking Street Project, which sees Talang Street reclaimed for local food stalls, live bands, dancers and artists in the evenings on weekends, adds even more character to urban landscape. The locals love it and come out in droves, packing the street and making a hell of a racket till 11pm or so each night.



Talang Guesthouse, where I was staying, had a stage built right in front of it so no use trying to get an early night. I couldn't help myself anyway, risking my newly fortified stomach with a pig out on half a dozen local delicacies including mini donut cakes, spicy fish sticks, bamboo cured sticky rice, ultra fresh guava juice, two light pancakes and a tasty noodle stir fry. I think that lot (and more - basically a full three course meal with drinks) cost me in total 66 baht, or $AU2.05!



Another highlight of this quick visit was the diving - results of which can be seen below. Visibility was good despite the overcast weather and the boat that took us out there, compliments of South Siam Divers, was first rate.





I really enjoyed both dives, feeling much more comfortable under the water and not worrying about air consumption as much as I've done in the past. I suppose it comes with experience now that I've racked up ten dives in a short period of time. The only issue was one tosser in our diving group who couldn't sort out his buoyancy and kept crunching the coral as he swam by. Loser. Makes you realise how fragile these environments are, especially when so much traffic comes through them each season, when it takes such a long time for the coral to grow back.



To close, I checked out a couple of cool temples that were near by in the old town. One in particular I had to include because it had such a cool name - The Shrine of the Serene Light, which was tucked away in some back lane. Sounds like a ninja dojo (but probably isn't).

Anyway, that wraps this icon of South East Asian tourism off and prepares for some interesting roads ahead. I promise that you probably won't have heard of most places I'll be in the next month, so keep reading and maybe we'll both learn something.

Next entry -> Ranong - frontier town

Crazy Travelling Contraptions

I really should have a crazy modes of transport segment. I'd feel like a class A clown in this one...