Wat Chalong

Phuket has two seasons. high and Low; sunny and rainy. The rainy season came early this year. The forcast was clouds and scattered rain every day. The usual pattern was night and morning rain, then drying off in the afternoon and evening.

We took a taxi to Phuket town today and learned a lesson: be very clear to your taxi driver exactly where you want to go. This is often difficult with the language barrier. We told him we want to go to Phuket town, thinking he take us downtown, but instead we were dropped off a their big western shopping mall. So we had to take a tuktuk into town.

Phuket town is on the east coast and is not a resort town. We walked around, the shops (which were cheaper than in Karon) and bought some stuff. Had the best meal of our trip in a little Thai restaurant--$10 for a delicious meal for two.

On the way back from Phuket town we conviced our tuktuk driver to stop for 30 minutes at Wat Chalong--an amazing Buddhist temple. It actually consisted of many different building, this one being the most ornate. The one in front of this and slightly smaller we were allowed to go in. There were three statues in robes that you could stick little squares of gold leaf on. In another building across the street we could hear a group of monks chanting.