Today’s agenda is a walk around Phuket town. But first we have to get there. Last year, we anchored off of Patong Beach,which is across the peninsula from Phuket. I had done some research on tuk tuk costs and found that it would cost about 500 baht to get to the Phuket town. It’s a pretty far distance, and while this is an exorbitant amount for typical tuk tuk rides, we figured it was the going cost (tourist pricing of course). As it turned out though, we anchored off the deep water port of Makam Bay, which was significantly closer (only 9 KM) from Phuket town. While the destination lecturer (who has been excellent for all other information) said it would cost $25 to $30). With that information in hand, we hopped the first tender and headed toward land.
The tender drops you off at a pier with a restaurant at the end (cooking up street food noodles btw), and that’s about it. Buses and taxis don’t come down to the pier, so passengers must walk a fair distance up a narrow dirt road lined with souvenir stalls until they get to the port road where the buses and taxis are located. Because we are so early, we are one of the few independent passengers off the ship – virtually everyone around us is on a ship’s tour. While we know this will hurt our negotiation position, we figure the extra baht we will pay to get us into town quickly will be worth it. The first offer is 700 baht – not a darn chance! We get almost to the port entrance before we find a taxi to take us into town for 400 baht. Apparently there are no tuk tuks here at the port to take you into town. You can get a tuk tuk from town to the port, but not the other way around (the taxi union has obviously had its way here). While still a lot more than we had hoped, we are riding in comfort in an air-conditioned taxi – so there is a worthwhile premium for that for sure.
We tell the driver we want to go to the central market – meaning the city market where the seafood, meat and produce is sold. He drops us off at a Sunday local market (all clothes), which has the benefit of being next to a shopping building containing a grocery store and department store. Through the free internet we figure out we are about a mile away from where we want to be – so he either buboofed us, or misunderstood our “central market” destination. Regardless, we make use of the supermarket for snacks and shaving cream, and then hoof it up through the city to the old town.
Turns out to be a nice little walk through a more local type area before we get to the main old town attractions. I’ve got a whole walking tour mapped out, but since we are coming at it from a different direction, we start in the middle and work our way back to the main part of the city. Our first stop is the market, which is the typical Thai main city market. Seafood stalls closing up by this time in the morning, produce stalls with great looking vegetables (can’t wait to get to Chiang Mai to cook!) and the snack and spice section, where we score a bag of those great little Spanish peanuts we love, 1 pound for $1USD.
Back to our walking tour, we go off in search of the Limpanon House, an abandoned mansion off of Yaowarat Road. We find it down the dark alley, as advertised, but also as noted, the gate to the alley is locked and we can’t explore any further.
It’s still pretty cool though, and just a taste of things to come. One of the things Phuket town is renowned for is the Sino-Portuguese architecture all over the town. Old mansions tucked beside larger residential and commercial structures, lots of multi-colored buildings and semi-porticoed balconies. There is lots to see as we walk along the roads heading toward the Thai Hua museum – otherwise known as the Chinese museum (per our taxi driver).
A few minutes walk from the market and we arrive at the museum, a stately building that was once a school for the Chinese immigrants who came here to work in the Tin mines. (Below left – photo today, below right – photo from early 1900s with school children.)
We are greeted by one of the docents as we approach, a very personable guy who ends up following us through the mansion explaining all the different displays and asking if we have any questions. The museum ends up being quite informative and interesting. It explains the melding of the cultures, the Chinese migration for tin mining, the relationship between Phuket and Penang (most of the mine owners were rich immigrants from Penang – maybe even the gangster that owned the Peranakan mansion we visited yesterday – and the flow of migrants came through Penang), as well as the creation of the school and how much it helped the community through a series of 13 exhibit rooms, including a great display of original old immigration forms which really intrigues us.
Back out on the streets, we reverse course to walk through the center of the old town, looking at restaurant options for lunch. A couple of the choices are closed – probably not open on Sunday because the street will be closed down in a few hours for the local Sunday Walking Market. One of the choices is still serving breakfast, lunch not for another 30 minutes. So, on we go, just wandering and looking at the different buildings, passing Soi Romanee, the oldest street in the city, and the first to have underground power and utilities (although there are still electrical wires on the outside of all the buildings – go figure!).
We make our way all the way to the river, and out to the edge of the old town looking for a “hidden” restaurant called Raya House.
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