The Beyond News

Phuket is one of the southern provinces (changwat) of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands off its coast. It lies off the west coast of Thailand in the Andaman Sea. Phuket Island is connected by the Sarasin Bridge to Phang Nga Province to the north. The next nearest province is Krabi, to the east across Phang Nga Bay.Phuket Province has an area of 576 km2 (222 sq mi), somewhat less than that of Singapore, and is the second-smallest province of Thailand. The island was on one of the major trading routes between India and China, and was frequently mentioned in foreign ships' logs of Portuguese, French, Dutch, and English traders, but was never colonised by a European power. It formerly derived its wealth from tin and rubber and now from tourism.

Foods in  Phuket :

(1) Pad Thai (stir-fried rice noodles with shrimps) : 

Those fried rice noodles don’t need to be introduced anymore and are, without a doubt, the most popular street food in Phuket. Ironically it originated in China and is mostly loved by tourist and not so much by Thai. Pad Thai is a stir-fried rice noodle dish made of rice noodles, eggs, tofu, fish sauce, dried shrimp, garlic or shallots, red chilli pepper and palm sugar, served with lime wedges and often peanuts. It usually comes with bean sprouts, garlic chives and sometimes banana leaves on the side.

(2) Pancake (Roti) : 

Pancake is the number one snack or dessert, and almost everyone loves it, whether it uses banana, chocolate, condensed milk, Nutella. Yes, we know It’s called roti, but it sells a lot better when called Pancake, so every cart now advertises these as Pancakes. So don’t worry about finding them on your next holidays; they are everywhere on the island.

(3) Kuay Teow (Noodle Soups) : 

The most popular dish comes in many ways: pork, beef, chicken, or seafood served with rice noodles or yellow noodles. To pick your ingredients, you can point at things usually on display on the carts. 2 words you might want to remember: ‘Mai Nai’ meaning ‘no entrails’ since not everybody likes to find pieces of intestines in their soup.

(4) Som Tum (Papaya Salad) : 

A timeless dish in Thailand found almost everywhere. Som tum comes in few variations with some extremes, such as Som Tum Poo Pala (Papaya salad with fermented crab, super pungent). The safest option is Som Tum Thai, which usually only uses papaya, tomatoes, green beans and a variable amount of chillies. Most of the time, if you don’t specify how spicy you want your Som Tum to be, the cook will look at you and guess how many chillies you can take. You are farang (foreigner) and can’t speak Thai? You’ll get 1 chilli or even none! So, if you like it spicy (because that’s how it’s best), you can learn those words: Pet Mak (very spicy, but he will only half believe you anyway). Now, if you worry about spice levels, say ‘Mai Pet’ (not spicy). Som Tum is often best with grilled catfish, grilled chicken or pork.

(5) Khao Pad Kai (Fried rice with chicken) : 

Khao Pad is another super classic dish. It can be cooked with pork or chicken or seafood and is always served with precisely three cucumber slices. It’s even better if you ask for Plik Nam Pla, a bit of fish sauce with chopped chillies in it, gives a nice extra salty punch.

(6) Kai Yang (Grilled Chicken) : 

Grilled chicken is everywhere, and you have to follow your nose to spot them. Cooked on a tiny cart and more often as a takeaway than a seated meal, grilled is best eaten with sticky rice (Khao Niaow). Delicious and so cheap!

Weather & geography in  Phuket:

Phuket is the largest island in Thailand. It is located in the Andaman Sea in southern Thailand. The island is mostly mountainous with a mountain range in the west of the island from the north to the south. The mountains of Phuket form the southern end of the Phuket mountain range, which ranges for 440 kilometres (270 mi) from the Kra Isthmus.Although some recent geographical works refer to the sections of the Tenasserim Hills in the isthmus as the "Phuket Range", these names are not found in classical geographic sources. Besides, the name Phuket is relatively recent having previously been named Jung Ceylon and Thalang. The highest elevation of the island is usually regarded as Khao Mai Thao Sip Song (Twelve Canes), at 529 metres (1,736 ft) above sea level. However, it has been reported[by whom by barometric pressure readings that there is an even higher elevation (with no apparent name), of 542 meters above sea level, in the Kamala hills behind Kathu waterfall. Its population was 249,446 in 2000, rising to 525,709 in the 2010 decennial census,the highest growth rate of all provinces nationwide at 7.4 percent annually. Some 600,000 people reside on Phuket currently, among them migrants, international ex-pats, Thais registered in other provinces, and locals. The registered population, however, includes only Thais who are registered in a thabian ban or house registration book, which most are not, and the end of 2012 was 360,905 persons.

Phuket is approximately 863 kilometres (536 mi) south of Bangkok and covers an area of 543 square kilometres (210 sq mi) excluding small islets. It is estimated that Phuket would have a total area of approximately 576 square kilometres (222 sq mi) if all its outlying islands were included. Other islands are: Ko Lone 4.77 square kilometres (1.84 sq mi), Ko Maprao 3.7 square kilometres (1.4 sq mi), Ko Naka Yai 2.08 square kilometres (0.80 sq mi), Ko Racha Noi 3.06 square kilometres (1.18 sq mi), Ko Racha Yai 4.5 square kilometres (1.7 sq mi), and the second biggest, Ko Sire 8.8 square kilometres.

Per day Cost in  Phuket :

You should plan to spend around ฿3,012 ($93) per day on your vacation in Phuket, which is the average daily price based on the expenses of other visitors. Past travelers have spent, on average, ฿596 ($18) on meals for one day and ฿294 ($9.05) on local transportation.

History of  Phuket :

Located on trading routes between India and China, Phuket was subjected to foreign influences long before many other parts of Thailand. Ships would anchor in the safe harbours of Phuket and wait for the northeast monsoon winds which would allow them to proceed to India.The interior jungle was inhabited by indigenous tribes until they were displaced in the 19th century by tin miners. The coastal areas were inhabited by Chao Leh, sea-gypsies who made their living through piracy and fishing for pearls. Although threatened by development, Chao Leh villages can still be found along the coast of Phuket and neighbouring islands.Phuket first became part of a Thai state during the thirteenth century when Thai armies from Sukhothai wrestled control of the island from the Sirivijaya Empire based in Sumatra.Tourism began on the island in the 1970s with the first beach bungalows at Patong beach. During this time Phuket was a haven for backpackers. Phuket’s idyllic tropical beaches and clear warm waters attracted travellers from all over the world to the island. This was facilitated by the building of an airport in the mid-1970s.Today, tourism is by far the island’s biggest industry with over 3 million tourists visiting the island annually, making Phuket one of the most popular travel destinations in South-East Asia.