Phuket's other side
The popular island also boasts attractions nature lovers will enjoy
Dubbed the ''Pearl of the Andaman'' for its scenic natural beauty and pristine beaches, Phuket is Thailand's largest island and easily the most popular. Visitors can hope to be entertained and enriched by a wealth of travel experiences lying in wait there.
On a recent trip to this premier island destination, we drew up our own itinerary and after sampling our options settled for a marine national park, an aquarium and places of worship held in esteem by the locals.
Our tour began in a sunny afternoon. Having taken the main highway from town, we veered off onto a dusty track that wove past verdant green landscape flanked by palms, paddies and rubber plantations. Buffaloes grazed the fields. Occasionally they were spotted lazing in murky ponds or pools of water by the roadside.
Nai Yang Beach was our first stop in the marine national park. Compared to similar parks elsewhere in the country, the one is more accessible, but it can't be spoken in the same breath as Similan and Surin islands that pull in divers and tourists with their abundant underwater treasures.
But still, modest slow-paced ambience and pleasing natural settings make the park worthy of visit, particularly for somebody trying to escape the hustle and bustle of city life. It attracts whole families arriving for picnic or to enjoy a dip in the sea.
The marine habitat here, compared to its more famous neighbours, is relatively unspoiled while the sea this time of year, which is end of the monsoon season, is usually all smooth and at peace with itself.
The sound of waves gently lapping the shore and stately casuarina trees swinging in the wind is nice antidote for frayed nerves. Actually, the profusion of casuarina trees gracing Nai Yang Beach is in itself a sight to behold. The beach strip extends to the northern tip of Phuket, while to its south is the marine park that includes some coastal hills.
❖ Planting trees in the park is one activity adults as well children enjoy in equal measure.
One of the park's major attractions is a project dealing with the conservation of sea turtles whose number has declined considerably in recent years due to encroachment on their habitat by humans.
Our next stop was an aquarium with a nature trail. It is part of Phuket Marine Biological Center on the tip of Cape Panwa. The aquarium educates and entertains visitors with its numerous exhibits of marine life, their habitat and about environmental and conservation issues. Everyone's favourite seemed to be a walk through a tunnel tank which offers a close view of exotic marine creatures such as sharks and sting rays. We left the place with a better understanding and awareness of our marine and coastal resources, the need to conserve and help make them sustainable.
From the aquarium we moved to the spiritual side of Phuket, visiting the iconic Big Buddha, a gigantic all-white jade statue weighing 135 tons, locally known as Phraphutthaming Mongkhol-akenagakhiri Buddha, followed by Wat Chalong which sits in a beautifully landscaped garden and boasts a wax museum housing the statues of its former abbots, Luang Pho Chaem and Luang Pho Chuang.
The tour ended at the temple of Put Jaw, a Taoist shrine about 200 years old built in honour of Kuan Yin, the Chinese goddess of mercy.
❖ Sitting Buddha atop Mount Nak Kerd in Muang district is a sight to behold. The white alljade statue is 45 metres tall and you need to walk 78 flight of steps to get there. In the final stages of construction, its podium is adorned with a huge lotus flower motif. Also enshrined in its vicinity are images of the goddess of Earth, Wasunthara, and venerated monk Phra Siwali. The view from top is out of this world—crystal blue waters frame emerald green islands and silver white sandy beaches.
❖ In the main hall of the Put Jaw Chinese temple in Muang district are statues of the goddess Kuan Yin and her disciples. Visitors come here to get their fortune foretold, or for a prognosis of illness afflicting them and the remedy, which they do by shaking cans— there are two of them—containing chopsticks until one chopstick spills out of each can. The chopsticks carry numbers. Remember the numbers and proceed to a room on the left. To read your fortune, you need to go to the right side where on the wall are pigeon holes containing numbered slips of paper with both good and bad fortune written on them. Look for the number that matches yours in the right compartment and ask someone to translate the Chinese writing on the slip of paper. The left wall holds slips of paper describing your illness and the remedy. This prescription is to be taken to a practitioner of traditional herbal medicine. It is no surprise the most common request people make while saying their prayers is to ask for good health.
❖ The temple’s most recent addition is this 61-metre high chedi housing a relic called Phra Borom Sareerikatat (a piece of Lord Buddha’s bones brought over from Sri Lanka). The chedi is a beautiful mix of southern, central and northeastern architectural styles.
❖ Sunset at Nai Yang Beach is breathtaking, always a nice time to contemplate over the events of the day. Coral reef abound not far from the beach which is within walking distance of the headquarters of Sirinat Marine National Park.
❖ Built in 1837, Wat Chalong—also known as Wat Chai Tararam—is one of the largest and most impressively decorated of the island’s Buddhist sanctuaries. The temple’s popularity is largely due to its former abbots, Luang Pho Chaem and Luang Pho Chuang, who were famous for their work in the field of herbal medicine and tending people with injuries. Today worshippers come from all over Thailand to pay their respects to the statues of these monks by pasting strips of gold paper on the statues.
❖ A visit to Phuket Aquarium opens you to a whole new world of Thailand’s underwater treasures. Established in 1983, it offers a nice selection of marine lives such as seahorses and butterfly fish. This giant grouper, resident here for over two decades, is a popular attraction. Also not to be missed are the more exotic species such as the piranha, an omnivorous freshwater fish native to South America. A nature trail from the aquarium connects tourists with the picturesque shoreline of Cape Panwa.
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