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Thailand
Tourist information about Phuket Island
Long before Koh Samui emerge as a premier beach resort in Thailand
, there was Phuket. Phuket caught the attention of the world when the
James Bond movie, The Man With The Golden Gun was filmed on one of its
islands. Since then, that island is known as James
Bond
Island. Because of this movie, the world suddenly saw the amazing
beauty of Phuket on the big screen. Since then, millions of tourists have
traveled to this amazing
Island for their tropical vacation holidays.
The beauty of Phuket Island
Phuket's physical beauty stems from its picture perfect tropical villages,
rubber plantations, swaying coconut trees, exotic wild flowers, lush
rainforest on rolling hills and of course its exquisite beaches and bountyful
marine life amidst colorful corals. It is an alluring tourist attraction in Thailand,
especially for adventure travelers and scuba divers. However, during monsoon
season from May to October, rough surf and high waves can make swimming,
snorkeling and scuba diving unsafe.
For centuries, Phuket was
just a back water town because it is a long way by road from Bangkok,
the lack of a bridge to reach the mainland and bad roads on the island itself
saw it taking a back seat in Thailand central goverment's development plans.
Phuket's airport was only upgraded to international status in the 1970s to
provide easy traveling for tin and rubber merchants doing busineses with
Malaysia and Singapore.
No one thought of developing the island as a tourist destination in those days.
Tourism Industry
In the late seventies, backpackers started to show up in small pockets and
they stayed in fishing villages or camped out at the now famous Patong Beach.
As words spread by these backpacker tourists about the beauty of the island,
developers started flocking to the island and massive development begun.
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The airport was then expanded to handle long haul flights as
international tourists started to arrive. As tourist dollars begin to flow
into the island, the local economy grew so much so until it became the richest
province in Thailand, second only to its capital city, Bangkok. Because of the
tourism boom, to compliment the local population of only about 10,000 people,
about a quarter million Thais now live in Phuket as migrant workers working
mainly in the tourist industry.
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Phuket Town
Phuket Town is located 19 miles (30 km) south of the island. Two women warrior
bronze statues guard the entrance to the town. Legend has it that these two
sisters, Chan and Muk led an army of villagers to repel Burmese invaders in
1785. Here, you can see the affluence of the early inhabitants in the form of
beautiful colonial style bungalows built by tin and rubber barons at the end
of 19th century. Some of the streets in Thanon Thalang and Thanon Phang Nga
are still lined with Sino-Portuguese shophouses. These houses were built by
the middle class Chinese to house their extended families.
The charm of Phuket Town's old buildings are complemented by the many
Chinese shrines providing splashes of bright colors to the town's facade. You
may like to pay a visit to the brightly painted Jui Tui temple and Put Jaw
temple next to it. Jui Tui is the starting point for 5 days of colorful and
bizarre parades that mark the annual Phuket Vegetarian festival in October. It
is highly recommended that if you are in Phuket for holiday vacation during
this time of the year, do head down to Phuket Town to see these weird parades
that are almost indescribable by words. You must see to believe and this is
one of the many reasons why Phuket is so beloved by tourists from all over the
world. - Phuket Tourist Vacation Holiday Information article
was published in 3 April 2008
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