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General Information
Phuket is the largest island in Thailand. At 540 km sq,
it's about the same size as Singapore. Just over an hour by jet
from Bangkok or Singapore, and with daily connections to most
major Asian airports, Phuket is ideally situated for a short break
or a relaxing vacation.
Business Hours are generally from 9am to 5pm, weekdays,
plus 9am to 12am on Saturdays, except Public
Holidays when hours may vary widely. Banking hours are Monday
to Friday 9.30am to 3.30pm. Currency exchange booths operate as
retail outlets and are usually open 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Shops and stores also open from 10 or 11am to 10pm, everyday.
Currency is the Thai Baht. Currently, (2003) around 43
Baht to US$1. Check out our handy Currency
Convertor to find the value in your own currency.
Cameras and Film Most popular brands and types of film
are widely available in Thailand and in Phuket. Film processing
is widely available and one-hour service is common. Throw-away
one-time cameras are widely available, too.
Electricity is 220 Volts AC at 50 cycles. Several different
plugs and sockets are in use, but two pin flat (US type) or round
(European type) are pretty universal.
Geography
Some 8° north of the Equator, and well below the latitudes of
destructive tropical storms, Phuket's balmy tropical climate is
tempered by cool northeasterly breezes from November to March,
and by fresh on-shore winds in summer months. Time is +
7 hours ahead of GMT, 1 hour behind Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.
Detailed Maps
of the island and surrounding areas, are available Here.
Phuket is the natural base for exploring the Andaman Sea.
The Andaman Sea, separated from the Bay of Bengal by the Andaman-Nicobar
Ridge, is part of the Indian Ocean. Thailand's Andaman coast extends
for 870 km from the Surin Islands on the northern border with
Burma to Tarutao National Park on the southern border with Malaysia.
Hundreds of islands are accessible to small craft from Phuket,
many of them uninhabited, many of them forested and fringed with
spectacular coral reefs. You often won't find even a footprint
on the beach.
Two distinctively different varieties of island are found in
the Andaman Sea, each of them scenically striking in its own way.
Low-relief granite intrusions, including the Surin and Similan
islands, run in series roughly parallel to the more dramatic limestone
islands. Island groups such as Koh
Phi Phi have been shaped by a variety of forces from a massive
limestone platform that was deposited 350 million to 450 million
years ago.
 Phuket
Island itself is mainly granite, with low forested mountains and
a series of fine white-sand beaches, mostly on the west coast.
Much of the forest has been cleared, first for rubber plantations
and then for tourism development. The one remaining significant
stand of virgin rainforest -- Khao
Phra Thaeo Park -- is worth a visit.
Phang Nga and Krabi provinces, mainland and islands alike, display
the same dramatic limestone ("karst") geography of the
Phi Phi Islands. Khao Sok National Park, just to the north and
east off Phuket, has large areas of tropical forest, some of it
still remote enough to harbour wild tigers. Many Daytrips
are available.
Population
The official census shows 231,206 people living in Phuket. This
figure only includes those registered as resident in Phuket province,
however there is a significant (semi-permanent) work force from
other provinces of Thailand and as many as 35,000 visitors at
any one time. It is therefore likely that the real figures for
Phuket's population is higher.
Phuket Town, the main town, has over 60,000 inhabitants.
Patong Beach, the most developed of the west-coast beaches, has
evolved from a fishing village into a thriving little resort city
over the past 15 years or so.
Ethnic composition
- Thai
- Chinese
- Muslim (originally of Malay descent)
- Chao Le (sea nomads)
- European
- Indian and Arabic
Read more....
Industry
Tourism
In the past decade, this industry has become the biggest earner
for the area, and it continues to grow. One of the biggest issues
now is how to retain the benefits of tourism while sustaining
the natural attractions that brought the visitors here in the
first place.
Phuket now attracts more than 3 million visitors every year,
and this number is growing. The area is a popular holiday destination
for both tourists from around Asia and the wider western world.
Other industries
Rubber. First introduced from Malaya in 1903, the orderly
ranks of rubber trees soon came to define much of the local landscape.
Rubber plantations are still much in evidence, but soaring real
estate values and the boom in tourism has meant that land is being
turned to other uses.
Tin. This mineral has been mined on Phuket from time immemorial,
however the demand for tin has declined. Tin dredging in offshore
waters has slowed in the past few years, moreover, by zoning regulations
designed to help protect the coral reefs and beaches of the west
coast. Old tin-mine workings on land, meanwhile, are being converted
from unsightly scars in the landscape to beautiful resort hotel
developments, yacht marinas, golf courses and bungee-jumping facilities.
Coconuts, pineapples, bananas, cashews, etc. Agricultural
products of various sorts still contribute significantly to Phuket's
economy, but more and more farming land -- even rice paddies --
are being given over to housing, roads, and other infrastructure.
Fishing. Fishing still constitutes an important part of
life for the people living along the coast, however small-scale
fisheries are being hurt by modern trawling, some of it illegal.
Large-scale fisheries, meanwhile, are threatened with the depletion
of commercial fish stocks from over-fishing.
Environment
On the island of Phuket and on the adjacent mainland, tropical
rainforests of various types provide excellent opportunities for
trekking. (See Sports & Recreation).
The fringing coral reefs of the area include some of the best
in the world, and sport diving has become a major Phuket-based
recreational industry. (See Watersports
and Diving).
This region's coral reefs are home to 106 coral reef fish species
that have already been identified. At the same time more than
210 species of hard coral play their parts in building the reefs
of the Andaman Sea. We can add to this incredible fauna an undetermined
number of soft coral species plus tens of thousands of other marine
organisms, including crustaceans, echinoderms, and worms, each
with its own role in maintaining the coral reef ecosystem as a
whole. (See our extensive Diving
section).
These waters include more than 850 species of pelagic fish (open-water
as opposed to demersal, or those living near the bottom), many
of them of commercial value. The Andaman Sea is on the migration
routes of classic fighting fish such as the blue marlin. Other
much-sought-after trophy fish are black marlin (relatively scarce),
sailfish, barracuda and a variety of sharks, notably tigers and
makos. (See our Fishing pages).
Five species of sea turtle nest on islands in Thai waters --
leatherbacks, green turtles, loggerheads, hawksbills, and ridleys.
All of these are endangered species, and they are less frequently
sighted every year. Aside from more than 30 recorded species of
sea snakes, the only other marine reptile in the region is the
brackish-water crocodile, locally all but extinct, a species which
inhabits mangrove swamps and river estuaries along the southern
peninsula.
Other marine life of note includes the mammals. At least two
species of dolphin are commonly found in Thai waters: the Indian
porpoise and the long-nosed dolphin. Whales are also occasional
visitors. The dugong, or "sea cow", is now all but extinct;
and the Thai Fisheries Department has declared it a protected
species.
Conservationist note. All of the local marine habitats
-- coral reef, mangrove swamp, and pelagic -- are currently suffering
pressures from a variety of sources, including commercial over-fishing,
inappropriate fishing methods, shrimp-farming, other forms of
pollution, and a number of tourism-related pressures.
Even the pelagic environment, perhaps the least vulnerable of
these habitats, has been so intensively fished since the introduction
of trawl-net fishing in 1962 that commercial fisheries are threatened
with being fished past their maximum sustainable yield.
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