Phuket Life : So, your enjoying the elephant tours and boat rides, the spas and the bars, but before you head back home, you’do like to see a bit of culture - the living,
breathing culture of daily life in Thailand. Well, it’s a lot easier than you may
think………. For a start, how about a ride on one of the local ‘buses’. These large wooden buses are known as ‘songthews’ and are usually painted blue with open sides. Like your average bus, they run along set routes, although it is not uncommon for them to detour up a side street to drop someone off at their house if they have a particularly heavy load of shopping. However, unlike regular buses, they don’t have set drop off/pick up points and they don’t even attempt to run to a fixed schedule.
If you want to catch a lift, you simply stand out on the main road and hail one
down when it comes your way – just check the small wooden sign along the top with the route hand painted in English and Thai. When you want to get off, simply bang on the side and yell to the driver. There are enough of them plying the roads to ensure that your wait shouldn’t be too long, especially if you adopt the ‘Thai style’; simply find a spot to sit down and contentedly watch the world hop by until your ride comes.
The songthews usually have a fixed rate for the route, no matter how far along that route you travel, and not only is the travel at a much more relaxing and safer pace than a tuktuk, its also a lot cheaper; the ride from Patong into Phuket Town will only cost you about B40. It’s also a great way to meet the locals and experience the Thai-life. The usual drop off point from the songthew into town is right in the heart
of the Old Town – a perfect place to soak up the atmosphere and culture of the Chinese-Thai population. Take a walk around the fresh market (talat yai) and absorb the buzz of the daily grocery shopping; stalls of neatly arranged fresh fruits and vegetables, carts of meat, fish and seafood on ice, as well and samples of Thai snacks. The road which the market sits on is lined with shops selling general household items; bamboo baskets for cooking rice, hand woven hats to keep the sun at bay and sweeping brooms made from various types of grasses and stalks.
This area of town is also home to many coffee shops, fabric shops and art galleries, but with a distinctly different atmosphere to similar establishments in the tourist areas of the island. It’s also the best place to check out the Chinese temples and will give you a reference to compare with Thai temples and how they differ, both architecturally and in the images and layout of the interiors. The best times to visit the temples is early (and we do mean early) morning. Every day, as the sun rises, the novice monks walk the streets barefoot, giving blessings and accepting offerings of food from the local Thais. Around each Thai temple, there are usually several shops selling candles, incense sticks, flower garlands and orange buckets full
of soap, shampoo and orange robes. These are bought and offered to the Buddha images and monks. A good temple to visit is Chalong Temple, or Wat Chalong. A visit at any time of day should allow you to observe some of the rituals and practices of Buddhism
in Thailand. It is a common sight to see the elder generations taking the grandchildren to the temple to pray and make offerings to the Buddha. A popular offering is to apply small squares of gold leaf to the Buddha images.
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