Located north of Thalang and about 20 km from Phuket Town, Wat Pra Tong is the oldest temple on the island and was created when Thalang was still Phuket's capital.

This shrine encloses a golden statue of Buddha that sprang up from beneath the earth long ago. The story is of a young boy who tied his buffalo to what he thought was a post It was in an area at that time given over to the raising of animals. After doing so, he fell down in agony and died.

The father of the boy dreamed that the reason his son had died was for he sin of tying a filthy buffalo to a sacred object, that what the boy thought was a post was in reality the golden peak of the Buddha's conical cap.

He told his neighbors the dream and they all went out to dig up the statue but had no success. Later, at the time of Thao Thep Kasatri's heroic defense against the Burmese in 1785, the invaders tried to succeed where the villagers had failed their intention was to take the statue back to Burma.

Sacred objects and slaves were then the most sought after spoil for armies. Holy statues brought good luck to their possessors and the slaves were used for work and to populate places that lacked inhabitants a frequent problem for rulers in Southeast Asia who had a great deal of land but very few subjects.

The Burmese, however, were unable to retrieve the golden Buddha despite several attempts. They were finally driven off by a swarm of angry hornets.

After this the villagers decided to protect their miraculous statue by covering the part that stuck up from the ground with a plaster cast of Buddha's head and shoulders' which is the way it is today. Located north of the traffic light on the outskirts of Thalang Town. A large sign shows the entrance.

How to get there: Wat Pratong  is Located north of the traffic light on the outskirts of Thalang town. A large sign shows the entrance. 2 min form traffic light Wat Pratong   is on the right.

Photo Gallery : Wat Pratong