After exploring the mountain location of Chiang Mai, I was ready for a change of scenery and pace. I decided a beach destination was in store. Flying down south, on Nok Air, I landed on a tropical island. Here are my first impressions of Phuket Thailand.
Big
Phuket is much larger than I had envisioned in my mind. With the airport located at the top of the island and my first hotel about ¾ the way down the island, the Bolt ride took one hour. For some reason I had expected a much smaller land mass. There is no way I will be able to explore even a fraction of this place at my slow pace. 😂
Old Town
It truly is really beautiful! Full of tourists of course, which I expected, I am thrilled that there has been a concerted attempt to preserve the old town and many of the interesting buildings. Painted in Easter egg colours, this area of the sprawling city is unique and very charming.
Traffic
There are soooo many vehicles on this island. The traffic is a bit nuts and more than that in certain places. It is not uncommon to see cars at a standstill in town, or come to a complete stop trying to enter a specific area.
Tourism
I was not naïve about how many visitors would be here, having read and seen enough social media posts about Patong (not going there), and nearby areas that hold no interest to me. What is a surprise is how much the town and island has catered to tourism. I don’t feel or see much authenticity here. From what I read, the population of Phuket is around 225,000 and at the height of the tourist season, there can be up to an additional 500,000 visitors and workers here too. 😶
Ethnic Population
Right away, I have noticed there are significantly more Muslims here and people of Chinese descent. Now that I look into the figures, I believe the Malay’s that account for 24% of the population are the Muslim people I am seeing, and the ethnic Chinese account for 35% of the 71% Thai Buddhists. This is a large difference from Chiang Mai where about 97% of the population is Buddhist.
In Chiang Mai I was surrounded by Buddhist temples at every turn. Here I rarely see a temple but do see many Chinese shrines. An exciting difference that I am curious to investigate further.
I am thrilled to get out onto the streets of Phuket old and new city, to see what I can find. So far, it looks like an interesting destination, even if it has a high degree of holiday goers. This is not the quaint and quiet destination of old, but a busy and bustling tourist hub.
