Getting the Royal Treatment in Phuket

Phuket, Thailand is best known for it’s stunning beaches, trips to Phi Phi island, snorkeling and diving, and the party central of Patong beach. It is Thailand’s biggest island, located at the southern tip of the country. The South and East coasts are lined with dozens of destination beaches while the Northern end of the island boasts beautiful waterfalls and Khao Phra Thaeo National Park. High season begins in November and the crowds mellow out by February, dropping to their lowest point during rainy season* (September-October). There are plenty of great blogs that will tell you all about Phuket’s beaches, since this is one of the main reasons many people visit (read a great run-down of Phuket’s beaches here). However, this will not be one of those blog posts, as we visited at the start of rainy season and instead spent much of our time in and around Phuket Town in the South/East part of the island. This post will be about getting the most out of modest, charming Phuket Town and the surrounding area.

Wat Chalong and Big Buddha

During our time in Phuket we Couchsurfed with a host about ten minutes outside Phuket town’s center. We arrived via plane and took the airport bus to Central Festival Mall (only 20 baht) and walked from there. Lucky for us, our house was only a few kilometers from Wat Chalong, the most visited Buddhist temple in Phuket. This ornate temple complex contains several beautiful and unique buildings and is decorated all throughout with elephant statues and elephant-shaped shrubs. Free admission makes a tuk-tuk ride to Wat Chalong doubly worth it, but hang on to your driver, because Phuket’s Big Buddha statue is situated on the hill above Wat Chalong, a six-kilometer drive if you want a close look at the statue and a 360 degree view of the island. It’s a good idea to work out a price with your driver ahead of time that includes both attractions.

One of the temples at Wat Chalong

Hittin’ the Town

Next we decided to explore Phuket town itself. Phuket town’s center is bustling and crowded even in low season, but there is something for everyone here. Coffee shops and bakeries are on every other corner and usually offer wifi if you want somewhere to relax and enjoy the A/C. Local eateries can be found just as easily with 30 baht noodles and chicken saté, or small markets carry enough colorful and mysterious desserts to keep you busy for days trying them all. There’s also plenty of souvenir shopping and some great used bookstores. If you want a dose of history the Phuket museum is located a few blocks from the fountain at the center of town, but there’s a small admission fee and the museum contains mainly old photographs and newspaper clippings. And finally for you Leonardo DiCaprio fans, the On-On Hotel is Phuket’s first hotel and is featured in Leo’s film The Beach. This seedy hotel is right in Phuket Town and has been providing rock-hard mattresses for weary backpackers to lay their heads since 1929.

Gettin’ Our Tourist on and a Note About Phang Nga Bay

 My very favorite day in Phuket started out as a total bust, and I’m going to tell you why. We had read online in some of those very lovely TripAdvisor travel forums that Phuket is a good jumping-off point to do a boat tour of the magnificent Phang Nga Bay. It was difficult to get clear information, but from what we could tell the place to go was Ao Por Pier in the Northeast part of the island, where we could get a boat for about 1200 baht (split between a group) for 3-4 hours. Please, don’t make our mistake and actually go to Ao Por Pier (or any pier near it) expecting a boat for 1200 baht. If you really really want to make the trip from Phuket, get there early and expect to pay at least 3000 baht for a short boat toar. But a way better idea is to get a bus to Phang Nga Town, where you can get a lovely half-day tour for 500 baht per person or a full-day tour for 800, and stay for a few days. It’s worth it. Trust us.

Well needless to say, we did go to Ao Por Pier, only to return several hours later with a couple of bad attitudes and no cheap, wonderful tour under our belts. But situations like this have a way of turning around, and when our driver dropped us off in the wrong part of Phuket Town, redemption showed up in the form of a very cheerful man with an SUV and a tourist map. 

Earlier we had had taxi drivers approach us with maps, offering to take us all around town and see the sights for just 100 baht each, but we turned them down. This man told us he’d take us all around and drop us off at our house for just 10 baht each. We were suspicious at first, but later found out the secret to these seemingly too-good-to-be-true offers. Many taxi and tuk-tuk drivers are offered a free liter of petrol for every tourist shop they take you to, whether you buy anything or not. So in order to get their petrol coupons they’ll throw in a few destinations like Big Buddha and the Butterfly Garden to get you interested and make 100 baht sound like a steal. We really just happened to luck out with our driver, who fessed up about the petrol and ended up giving us the entire ride for free in exchange for us meandering through a few (make that six) extra tourist shops. This might sound like a bummer, especially if you’ve taken a similar ride in Bangkok and have had to sit through more custom suit and tie shops than you ever wanted to see in your life, but we rolled with the punches and made the best of it. We went to gem and pearl shops to see jewelry-makers doing their thing and tried on lots of expensive jewelry that we would never buy. We stopped at overpriced markets and beauty stores where we tried every single free sample and tester without buying anything. And we saw a super cute baby elephant outside of a souvenir shop that ate grapes and did funny little tricks—all for free! I call that a good day.

Kim posing with our new elephant friend!

I know, I know, it was like, so touristy of us to do. But there’s no shame in being a tourist now and then, and even those seasoned backpackers who insist on calling themselves “travelers” and avoid the other t-word at all costs deserve to have a little cheap, shallow fun now and then. At any rate we made up for it at the end of the day when our driver (now very happy and drunk on petrol coupons) dropped us off the fabulous weekend market near Central Festival Mall. If you’re near Phuket Town on the weekend, don’t miss the weekend market! It opens in the afternoon and is a huge sprawling carnival of clothes, souvenirs, CDs, and most importantly, tons and tons of cheap, fabulous food. That and an ice cream run at the 7/11 near our host’s home afterward made for an absolutely redeemed day in Phuket, and a great end to our first two days in beautiful Thailand!

*Note: For those visiting Phuket during rainy season, use caution when swimming in the ocean! The currents during this time are notoriously deadly, and tourists have died swimming at the many beaches in Phuket with no regular lifeguard on duty. If you see red flags on the beach during any time of the year, please do not swim!