Tim in Thailand : February 2015

Phuket Old Town Festival 2015

Phuket Old Town Festival is always a pleasure to visit - this year there was the recognition of the Chinese New Year which makes it feel more of a Cultural Celebration.

It had started yesterday on the stage but having to work I missed the opening show but there was a show there later in the evening. It is worth waiting to see but Jemma and I were on a mission and she had got 10 out of 10 for her Thai Spellings so basically she had carte blanche today!

There was a stage set up in the park, there were Chinese Figures erected with a Chinese Shrine and later we met the Chinese show people walking on the streets. How the

guy on the right managed to stay upright whilst cycling was great - they were also all able to walk through the corridor of lights (see below).

This year they closed three parallel roads - more than usual. I don't know which road control figures had the best effect though? I do know who had more photographs taken with though!

It was Jemma's day however and we started with the usual candy floss and the coca cola lollies and looked for the Chiang Mai sausage for me but we got sidetracked...

Any ideas that I had were swiftly set aside - we had to feed the goats - this seems to be a popular festival 'thing' at the moment...

Looking more carefully at the artefacts I did see that they were what looked like Samurai swords on offer and also old 'bolt' pistols. A fascinating selection but I have to admit to not wanting to spend too much time taking a photograph there...

I have no idea what these were but they did look good...

The roads were divided into topics;
Street shows / Local foods / Local culture / Local Artefacts...

Jemma enjoyed the Street Painting the most.

Then the whole road seemed to be covered with children and chalk - fabulous.
I sat in an antique store and took photographs - it was extremely hot.

We walked round all the roads - missing out what looked like the 'Sponsor Road' - my apologies but I was hungry...

Previous Phuket Old Town Festivals

1) Festival 2014
2) Jamie in Phuket 2013
3) Festival 2013

4) Otter's Tales 2012
5) Festival 2012

Chalong Temple Fair 2015

Chalong Temple Fair is a yearly event and we always try to make it.

Chalong Temple is the Wat in Phuket which is recognised as the wealthiest and so attracts to the most people - but the buildings are beautiful.

However the attraction here is that ther is so much here that is not normally here. Chalong Wat is usually full of people celebrating and down one side are a number of market stalls selling any number of bits and pieces.

However during this period however the spaces between the places of worship are full up with a plethora of stalls. There was somewhere to park - next to the Wat - 20 Baht for a motorbike and 60 Baht for your car.

At the front of the Wat are the plants and then food stalls - with the normal shops open. There was really no place to see anything of the temple because of the stalls...

But I am not sure about the games for people with guns...

1) Chalong Temple Fair 2012

2) Chalong Temple Fair 2013

3) Chalong Temple Fair 2014

Chinese acrobats in Phuket - Happy New Year

Welcoming the 'Year of the Goat' with a troupe of Chinese Acrobats was one way to start the New Year.

Sanam Chai park in Phuket Town was the focus for this.

The park was a mass of red lanterns - it looked great and there was a children's play area, Chinese Umbrellas to pose with, a traditional Chinese street to pose with and a multitude of stalls selling traditional Chinese dishes (and more Thai dishes).

The MC for the evening was 'Kanya 'Ying' Raiwan and the Thai po-rock band 'Getsunova' were playing. BUT the highlight for us was the troupe of Chinese Acrobats

They 'swung up' the pole

Then they let go and caught themselves with their legs!

Balancing on each other and then...

letting go and not dropping the bowls on their foot!

Poetic...

Fantastic...

A Buddhist symbol as a tattoo.

My readers have read here about the people who do not take their shoes off before entering a Buddhist Wat but I was pleased to read this sign as we drove through Bangkok.

There are a great number of people in Thailand who do have a tattoo of Religious reasons but nobody would do what too many Westerners are doing... and it seems to be very popular?

Maps - Sunsets in Phuket

There are many places to take a photograph in Phuket and here are some of mine.

Do you have a favourite place?

Here are more maps of Phuket - on Google and a blog.

Expedia buys Orbitz - the value of the Internet

Image from Mashable

Online travel company Expedia is buying Orbitz for about $1.3 billion in cash, just a month after acquiring Travelocity for $280 million.

If a business chooses to ignore this.........

" In an era when everything is speeding up, the best way for businesses to succeed is to attract smart-creative people and give them an environment where they can thrive at scale."
How Google Works from Eric Schmidt

Well I guess the Internet is a key to all our business now!

Hello from
TiminPhuket blogs - thingstodo, restaurants, Apps, Weddings
TiminPhuket - Google+
TiminPhuket - Pinterest
TiminPhuket - Instagram
TiminPhuket - Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook and so much more...