 Phuket and The Charming
Chino-Portuguese style Architecture Let's know about the
impressive articles about Phuket Andaman Pearl Southern Heaven Golden SandsThe land of the
two Heroines Powerful Luang Pho Chaem
Besides the amazing treasures of Phuket mentioned above, one of the charms can be seen in
Phuket Town is its over half century old building. Most home residences, shops, official
buildings etc. are showing its significant architecture.
Since most of
Phuketians realize to conserve their heritage buildings to be their unique. In the past,
these people had the close contact with the people in Penang because of the short distance
to visit each other, the trade business, some had their children study there.
Those people
observed and copy the building architecture to build their own in Phuket That is why
Phuket is full of significantly difference in building architecture.
These buildings were
buildings in the newly-developed in tin mining era. At first they were influenced by
Chinese archit ecture. They were two-storey brick wood building, some were one story. Thick
wall to shoulder the heavy curing Chinese style tiles. Roof designing including doors,
windows were all influenced by Chinese architecture . Later, the architecture headed
towards to western civilization. The architectures then got influence from Chino-
Portuguese from Malay through Penang.
The Chino -
Portuguese style architecture show the compositions of the classic Renaissance, neo-Europe
classic with the mixture of Chinese, Thai style architecture. These new building
architecture are about 60-100 years old. One of the charming of these house styles is
using the arch in their work. There are curing pillars standing in row on the first floor
in each building.
 They are
used to hold or carry the weight of the second floor and to mark the space of arcade or
Nlgorkakee as the Chinese call as well. Ngorkakee means the pavement with the roofs.
People may walk through. In the previous time, some areas in Bangkok, such as
Charoenkrung, Bumrungmuang or Sao Ching Cha used to have the building with these styles.
The stucco of
pillars edge, windows frames and decorations are all neat and attractive. There are many
decorative styles at the pillar edges, such as Doris, lonic and Corintian styles and
others. All of them represents the Renaissance and neo classic influence on the way of
living. But the doors, window and interior decoration show the mixture of Chinese and Thai
style or pure Chinese.
These old building still welcome all tourists at the old Phuket residence area on Thalang
Road, Deebuk Road, Russada Road, and ect. It is such a good pleasure that these old
building owners all understand the value to conserve their buildings .
They try to keep the
buildings in good conditions. Some although have new buildings in this area but still
bring or use the previous style to harmonize the surroundings. However some of these
buildings have been out of repair or changed to be more modern while some are demolished.
Nowadays, both government and private organizations are giving hands each other to restore
and keep these old buildings in good conditions for our generations.
| Travel Tips Phuket Town has
not always been the capital of Phuket Island. Three hundred years ago, the capital was
Thalang (see History of Phuket). Phuket is a middle-sized town with about 60.000
inhabitants and offers the sightseer Chinese temples (about 30% of the population of
Phuket Island are Chinese), markets, and old colonial mansions.
Your
Starting Point is Ranong Road. This is the site of Phuket`s town market. The market is
open until late afternoon, but most interesting in the early morning. The stalls offer all
kinds of things: it starts with beautiful flowers and delicious tropical fruit like mango
or pineapple, spices like chilies, garlic,or tamarind, dried fish and Thai shrimp paste,
goes on with fresh seafood and butchered meats and finally ends up with clothes and
household articles. Buy some fruit (the small bananas or the mangoes are delicious!) or a
spray of orchids.
Jui
Jui Temple
When you are sure that you have inspected everything in the market, exit to Ranong Road,
turn left, cross the street and walk ahead past the Thai Airways office and then past a
Thai temple. At the next corner you can see a building with a Chinese temple roof. This is
Put Jaw Temple, the oldest Chinese temple in Phuket. It is dedicated to Kuan Yin, the
Chinese Goddess of Mercy.
Put
Jaw Temple is not particularly sophisticated from an architectonic point of view, but
nevertheless interesting. The middle hall holds an image of Kuan Yin and several fortune
telling devices, such as a pair of wooden blocks that are dropped by the devotees to the
floor. Depending on which side they fall on, the answer to a question is "yes"
or "no". There are also two cans with sticks that have to be shaken until one of
the sticks comes out. Each stick has a number and in the room left to the main hall are
boxes where the devotee can find paper slips (also with numbers written on them) with good
advice that suits his or or problem. Do not forget to leave a donation (it is used for the
upkeep of Put Jaw) - the temple`s guardian will ring a little bell when you put the money
in the box.
 Old Colonial House on Krabi Road
While Put Jaw Temple is admittedly rather plain, the Jui Jui Temple next door is much more
ornate and stately. You just have to walk through the gate in the left temple compound
wall of Put Jaw Temple. The Jui Jui Temple is dedicated to a vegetarian god, Kiu Wong In,
whose statue can be admired on the altar. His red face colour does not indicate fierceness
but, according to Chinese symbolism, benevolence. Also interesting are the carved entrance
doors of the temple.
After
the temple visit walk back to the street corner, cross Ranong Road, and go straight ahead
on the same street (Soi Phoo Toon) in northern direction until you reach the intersection
with Krabi Road (it is the second street after Ranong Road). (The walk takes just a few
minutes) Turn right and walk some 50 meters more until you see a further Chinese shrine,
with an entrance that is flanked by two lions, a little set back form the road. This is
Sanjao Sam San Temple. You can enter it; inside is an altar. The shrine is dedicated to
the Goddess of the Sea and new boats are blessed here, so that their owners may enjoy the
protection of the goddess. The atmosphere of the shrine is a lot more quiet and dignified
than at Put Jaw Temple.
Phuket
Aquarium at Cape Panwa ( More
Detail)
 When you return
from the temple to Krabi Road just walk on in the same direction as before and you will
come across huge yard with very beautiful old Sino-Portuguese houses. They were built and
owned by rich Chinese merchants. The ribbings across the roof edges and on the gables are
typical for this style. There are a number of these houses on Krabi road.
Walk
until the next main intersection (with Yawaraj Road) and turn right (one the corner is
another interesting house) This way you will get back to Ranong road (it is the next
larger road where you can turn left). If you like to, you can also visit the Phuket
Aquarium at Cape Panwa. Just hire a Songthaew and let it take you the 10 kilometers to
Cape Panwa (there are also regular buses to the aquarium that bear signs in English). The
aquarium houses a large variety of tropical fish and other sea animals in large tanks -
quite interesting if you plan to do diving or snorkeling on Phuket Island. From the
aquarium catch a bus or Songthaew back to you hotel.
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Note:
For
more information or Booking Tour please contact Travel Agent or info@phukettourism.com |
