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Published: March 10th 2012
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PHUKET, THAILAND. Tuesday 6 March, 2012.
We left the ship and were immediately pounced on by a lot of taxi drivers touting for business. We ignored them and made for the port gates on foot. On the way we teamed up with a young Estonian couple from the ship who agreed to share a cab with us.
Once outside the gates the taxi fares were a third of the price. We shared a taxi to an ATM to get some local Thai Bahts and settled up with the taxi driver. We then went together to an internet bar for a Tiger and to post the blogs, read emails etc.
Feeling refreshed, we then found the tourist office and got hold of some local maps of Phuket town and of the island itself. We were approached by several more greedy taxi drivers before we were approached by a very pleasant looking Thai guy of around 50 with a long grey pony tail who reminded M of a friend called Barry from back home in Spain. There was something about his manner that we liked. He offered to take us to see various sites in the town itself at a
reasonable price. He then took us to his Tuk Tuk (pronounced Took Took). This was a little two stroke, bright red vehicle with a roof but open sides and a separate driver's cab. It was slower than a taxi but this meant that it a was a much better way to look at the goings on in the town and to see daily life in Phuket.
The first place he took us was to see the old quarter where there are still some two-storey Sino-Portugese style houses. These were introduced in the 16th century and are the former mansions of the tin magnates. We then re-boarded the Tuk Tuk and took the drive to the top of Khao Rang (Phuket Hill) on the northern edge of the town. This is the best place to get a good view of Phuket and the surrounding area. You can see across to the port, the beaches and over to the mountains as well as the extent of Phuket Town itself.
On the way down from Phuket Hill we stopped at Khao Rang Buddhist Temple. We took off our shoes (as is mandatory at all Buddhist Temples) and strolled around taking several
photographs. This temple houses the "Big Buddha" as it is known in Phuket Town. Our guide was being very charming and allowing us plenty of time to look at the sights so M negotiated with him to take us to the other places we wanted to see. We got a good deal at 800 Bahts (around £16).
The next place on our list was the former capital Thalang. On the way we passed the Heroines Memorial. This memorial shows the sisters Muk and Chan who successfully defended Thalang against the Burmese in 1786. They disguised 500 women and girls as soldiers, gave them sticks shaped like weapons and drilled them in view of the attackers. The ruse succeeded, and after a month of siege the invaders withdrew.
Our next stop was Wat Phra Thong, Phuket's most important monastery on the northern edge of Thalang. It houses a half-buried golden Buddha called Phra Phut . The temple is known among the villagers as Wat Phra Phut or Wat Phra Lo where approximately one cubit of Ketumala, the finial of a golden Budda's Head, is said to have emerged from the ground.
According to legend, the area used to
be a pasture. One morning, a boy took his buffalo to graze there and tied it to the image's finial, unaware of what it really was. The boy returned home, fell sick and died, so did his buffalo. At night, the boy's father ordered that the image should be dug out. Amazingly, the ones who were digging, but not the viewers, were stung by a swarm of hornets from the dug up earth. The ruler of Thalang learnt of this miraculous incident and had a shelter built to cover the golden finial. Several years later a white-clad ascetic or Chipakhao came to stop at Thalang. For fear that the golden finial would be cut and stolen, the ascetic and the villagers prepared a cement mixture out of burnt shells and sand to cover the Buddha's head. In the reign of King Rama I, southern Thailand was invaded by by Burmese troops and Thalang was seized. The Burmese soldeirs tried to dig out the image wishing to take it back to their country. They were bitten by a swarm of tiny ants from the dug out earth. Hundreds of them fell sick and died while the rest set fire to the
ants and continued digging as deep as the neck of the image. Fortunately soon after, the ruler of Nakhon Si Thammarat led his army to successfully liberate Thalang city. After that a monk from Sukhothai came to a stop at Thalang and persuaded the villagers to build a temple here to include Kuti- the monks residence. Phra Whan - an image hall, and Phra Uboscot - the ordination hall, with Phra Phut being the principle image. The Buddha's head was covered with a new image for religious performances.
The monastery complex was full of beautifully decorated buildings (including those listed above) with ornate roofs and gorgeous painted facades. There were images of various different animals from zebra (not native to Thailand) to tigers and buffalo. It seems that all creatures have a place in the Buddhist religion. Little pagodas were scattered throughout the complex. One of the buildings was called Mon Thop Adead Arewas Wat Prathong and housed the statues of the deceased Abbots of the monastery. Inside Phra Uboscot (the building housing the Golden Buddha) there were many other statues covered in gold leaf. You could see the leaves of gold fluttering in the breeze.
After the
Temple Complex we were driven through the Rubber Plantations towards the Ton Sai Waterfall and Nature Trail. The rubber trees were laid out in neat rows. Each tree had a small cup attached to it to collect the latex sap. There were hectares and hectares of them stretching as far as the eye could see.
We arrived at the Ton Sai Nature Reserve and paid our entrace fee of 200 Baht each. We strolled past two muddy pools until we reached the foot of the Ton Sai Waterfall. We took some photos and then went on to the beginning of the nature trail. We had only gone some 25 metres or so, when we found our way blocked by a huge fallen tree. It had obviously been there for some time and the path was impassable. We returned, a little disappointed, to our guide and the Tuk Tuk and negotiated a price for a return journey back to the ship.
We hadn't eaten since breakfast, so when our guide stopped at a roadside eatery and suggested that we eat there, we readily agreed. It was a seafood establishment called the Bypass Restaurant. M checked that they had offerings
other than seafood before we went in. Ouside in huge square water-filled troughs were dozens of lobsters. Their tentacles were poking out of the water like hundreds of whisps of hair. We went inside to eat as it had AC. D ate squid while M settled for a Thai Red Curry which was extremely spicy. No Tiger to wash it down with here though. We had to settle for a couple of bottles of Chang - the local beer which has a couple of elephants on the label. It was good though.
We returned to the ship and spent a few minutes haggling for items in the market stalls that had set up around the ship. We managed to spend every last Baht on gifts for the family and the mandatory article of clothing for M.
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Wendy
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Phra Phut
What an amazing story about this Buddha's head...well done for getting all the facts about it. I am intrigued to see where the ship goes next....is it a round trip or do you finish up somewhere different I wonder!!! Just a snippet of news from here...Stan and I have just bought Beryl and Tony's villa to renovate and rent out.....will keep us busy!! Love the blog, keep it coming.... W x