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One
of the legacies of the Chinese tin miners who
got rich are the few marvelous villas in Phuket Town
with a
mixture of Chinese
and Portuguese Style elements called
Sino - Portuguese architecture.
Portuguese adventure
where the first European arriving at the shores of in Phuket,
Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia and over time
influenced the architecture because they built
houses in their usual style.
The rich Chinese copied
this style and enhanced it with Chinese style
elements, we know Chinese and copy, don't we ?
During the reign of King Rama V through towards the end
of King Rama VI (1868 - 1925) Sino - Portuguese architecture
gained the highest popularity. During this period tin mining
was at his peak and a rapid economic grow was on. Most of
the tin miner were Chinese immigrant who had a prosperous
business.
More interesting buildings of Phuket Town are around
Phang Nga, Yaowarat, Dibuk and Krabi road.
Phuket Town lost a lot of its bustling flair
after some huge shopping malls came up on the
western fringe of Phuket Town and the malls are
still rising one after the other.
But in the evening
Phuket Town still starts on afterburner
with myriads of restaurants, bars and nightclubs plus sing - song
and karaoke places, called Cafe, plus some coyote go go bars
and discos.
All this places in Phuket Town are mostly frequented by
Thai, there are almost no foreigners around, some more on the
Phuket Nightlife subject here.
The air is still clean in Phuket
Town, its much better than in
Penang but the
traffic is increasing exponentially and the infrastructure planning
in Phuket
could be done somehow more sophisticated.
Myriads of chaotic motocyc (Thaiglish for small motor
bikes and scooter) are
all over Phuket - not giving the others a millimeter
of space and leading to unbelievable accidents.
Phuket Town is not a beach Town beside it borders the
Andaman sea directly, there is a small harbor mainly for the
ferries to Phi Phi Island. But Phuket Town has for sure all
the marks of a real Asian Town.
The Phuket Tsunami had no impact at Phuket Town since
the Tsunami banged into the west coast of Phuket Island,
means Patong Beach, Karon Beach, Kata Beach etc. Phuket Town
is on the east side of Phuket Island.
You can find all kind of Phuket accommodation, Phuket
bungalows, Phuket guest house, Phuket hotels in Phuket Town.
Could be just the right place for your Phuket holidays on
Phuket island.
Plenty of orchid nurseries around Phuket orchid
Town.
Orchid
Nurseries or Orchid Farm as they call it are in
Phuket Town
and elsewhere on Phuket Island.
Phuket is a genuine tropical Town with all the
positive and negative sides. Phuket Town is also the biggest
Town in Phuket Province and you will find everything here
what you need for your stay on Phuket Island, including the
Thai Immigration for extending visa etc.
Phuket Town offers great massage parlors, Phuket Spa,
several big, modern hospitals and several clinics for
plastic and cosmetic surgery.
One of the most important activity in Phuket Town is...go
shopping ! Phuket Town has lots of small shops full of
art, antiques, fashion, excellent restaurants - many
Chinese, travel agents and a lot of small roads with old
fashioned houses.
The Phuket houses in Phuket Town along the road sometimes
look a little bit rotten but this is the Phuket Town
tropical style, everything clear ?
Naturally
there are plenty of other shops for a
real exotic shopping experience in Phuket
Town.
Also several
art galleries with paintings in very
special styles and here there is real artist
paintings, not like in Patong.
Phuket Town can be characterized by 3
words
affordable,
run down and somehow beautiful – Most is
in a setting like it was 200 years ago
during the tin mining heydays of Phuket.
There are sleazy areas but in general its
quite interesting and a stroll through the
roads of Phuket Town opens new panoramas
on virtually every second corner. There is
only one other town in south east Asia with
this flair of a old Chinese settlement with
great Chinese restaurants, this is
Georgetown Penang.
Phuket town has also become a place for
the art scene on the island. Not the
glittering flashy stuff but small galleries
where you can watch the artist doing his
work. Its not like at Patong where you also
can watch artists in a gallery, but they
only pretend to do something, all paintings
at Patong are mass produced elsewhere, even
as far as China.
Plenty of pubs at Phuket town have a
nice atmosphere in the evening, some have
life music and a huge TV screen.
The most
fascinating, most strange, most masochistic etc.
festival in Phuket Town is the Vegetarian Festival.
Strange things start
to happen every year on the first day of the
ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar - normally
in late September or the beginning of October - the
bizarre vegetarian festival is on celebrated in
Phuket Town and elsewhere in Thailand.
The action is mainly
around Phuket Town and lasts from the first to
the ninth day of the ninth lunar month.
Especially bizarre
considering what kind of materials the devotees
(called “the soldier of god”) push through their
skin on different parts of the body- primarily
around the mouth region, just have a look at the
pictures here.
The festival is up for the first days of the
month of Taoist Lent when devout Chinese don’t
eat meat.
Celebrations are held in all Chinese temples in
Phuket. Everyone who like can join the
celebration.
No one really knows
when all this started but some say it was during the
reign of Thalang Governor Jerm in 1825. At that
time many Chinese migrated to Phuket to work in the
newly discovered tin mines and a Chinese drama group
came with them.
Some member of the
group turned vegetarian in the hope to immunize
themselves from malaria.
At that time, the custom to pierce
the body and face, walk barefoot over
hot glowing coals, climbing knife-blade ladders,
etc. Everyone can join the festival.
Some assume that
this strange
custom has its origin in Malaysia. The rituals in
Phuket Town are very similar to the Hindu Festival
of Thaipusam.
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