Phuket offers charming attractions
By Suwitcha Chaiyong
Photos by Suwitcha Chaiyong
Did you know
The Baan Bang Rong Community manages a gibbon rehabilitation project.
Phuket province is rich with natural resources and interesting cultural attractions. Two examples of this are the Phuket Thaihua Museum and the Baan Bang Rong Community.
Phuket Thaihua Museum displays the history of Chinese ancestors who immigrated to Thailand and established Phuket’s first Chinese language school, the Phuket Thaihua School, in 1934.
The Baan Bang Rong Community is a Muslim community that has preserved mangrove forests and developed agritourism for visitors.
Student Weekly recently visited Phuket Thaihua Museum and the Baan Bang Rong Community to experience different aspects of Phuket life and history.
Located in a two-story colonial style building, Phuket Thaihua Museum features 14 rooms that house exhibits about the Fujian people — people from the Chinese province of Fujian who migrated to Phuket. The exhibition explores the background of Fujian immigrants, their alliances, careers in tin mining, and the type of clothes they wore at in the past. Aside from stories about the immigrants, the museum provides information about the history of Phuket Thaihua School and the school’s pioneering headmaster, Kru Sun Pin.
Opening Hours: Daily from 9 am to 5 pm
Admission: 50 baht for adults and 25 baht for children under 15 and elders over 60.
Contact: 076 211 224
The Thai Hua Museum is housed in the building that was once Phuket Thaihua School. The piano in the middle of the hall on the first floor, which was used when the school first opened in 1934, was played when students practised Chinese language songs.
This display shows the clothes that Chinese people in Phuket used to wear.
Tin mining was the major industry in Phuket from the 16th to the 20th century. This display shows how people mined tin in the past and the kind of equipment that was used.
Vintage household items such as an old iron and a tape recorder are also on display.
An old classroom, complete with some vintage textbooks, give an idea of what schooling was like in Phuket in the past.
The Baan Bang Rong Community is located in Amphoe Thalang. In the past, the mangrove forest in the area was seriously damaged. Fortunately, the local people worked together to rehabilitate the forest.
With the forest productive once again, there is now a wide variety of wildlife living there. The forest also attracts many nature-loving visitors, and the villagers organise activities for tourists such as trekking, kayaking and milking goats.
Opening Hours: Daily from 8:30 am to 5 pm
Admission: 800 baht per person, including one free meal (reservation required)
Contact: Prasert Litraksa 084 309 9131
The mangrove forest is full of beautiful greenery, as well as many mangrove crabs.
According to Prasert Litraksa, who is in charge of tourism in the community, there are about 100 monkeys living around the forest. Prasert said that visitors shouldn’t give the monkeys food because it could change their natural behaviour — instead of looking for crabs and other natural food sources, the monkeys might end up waiting for people to feed them.
Tourists can experience milking goats and feeding baby goats when they visit the community.
Vocabulary
- ancestor (n): a person in your family who lived a long time ago
immigrate (v): to come and live permanently in a country after leaving your own country
mangrove (n): a tropical tree that grows in mud or at the edge of rivers and sends roots down from its branches
agritourism (n): agriculturally based activities that bring visitors and tourists to local farms, ranches, etc.
alliance (n): group of people who have agreed to work together because of shared interests or aims
pioneering (adj): introducing new ideas and methods that have never been used before
rehabilitate (v): to return something to its previous good condition
trek (v): to walking long distances, especially in mountains or forests, for pleasure
greenery (n): attractive green leaves and plants
