Wat Koh Sirey

Share

Wat Koh Sirey is certainly a Wat to visit and the most pleasant thing about this Wat is that it is peaceful. It is not on a great many maps which are produced.

At the bottom there is a temple and is well taken care of.

Then there is still a very steep hill in front of the temple and this is an effort that you have to make to get to the top - there is more meaning when you do get there in the end...

On arrival at the temple there is the same reclining Buddha and it is still as exquisite as it was on the previous visit.

Recently the Wat was updated and the surround of the Temple was finished - great. This was after.

This was before.

But what is more of an attraction is the (I think) structure that was added - but I am told that it has something to do with the Myanmar workers that live on the island. It is a replica of Phra That In Kwaen (Golden Rock) from Burma (Myanmar).

The original rock represents one of the 3 most sacred places in Myanmar for Religious Worship and apparently the original one is certainly a sight to behold....

Well this is certainly special to visit and it was clear that it was not a simple tourist destination but had a lot of meaning for the visitors that we saw whilst we were there.

Please remember to remove your shoes if you enter in and dress appropriately.

Then there is the surrounding area of all the boats and the fishermen preparing for their fishing expedition. Koh Sirey is certainly a place to visit if you are interested in culture.

 

Previous visits

 1) September 2012  

and 

Sea Gypsy Cultural Centre - Koh Sirey (2016)

Share

So what has happened here since my last post in 2012?

Nothing...

Koh Sirey Island

Share

Koh Sirey Island is an island that I usually recommend to the visitors who want something real - this is an island where there is very little investment and I am never sure why.

There is an area is called Asia Marina near the South End of the island and I can find nothing about it at all - I could not even tell whether is had been opened at all?

Crossing over the bridge from Phuket Island there is immediately a port on the South sise and it is teeming with fishing vessels each time we enter Koh Sirey. I must admit to feeling a little 'conspicuous as I entered into the harbour to take a few photographs. 



Swiftly returning to the care we travelled over the bridge which gave me another look at the harbour and I can tell that there is a lot of boats and activity when we visited in the morning.

We travelled the roads (after feeding the monkeys) and very swiftly the 

atmosphere changed.

There were a great number of discarded boats alongside the mangrove swamps - whether they were abandone and deposited there from the Tsuami I was let to ponder. As we drove round we went into the small fishing villages of the local people. There was certainly more to be seen here so we will have to make another visit.

In the distance we saw the hill of the Wat Koh Sirey so we headed there - I wonder what else is on the island - it is far bigger than we visited.

Just found a Google Street Map of Koh Sirey and Jamie has a post about Koh Sirey.

Previous visits

 1) July 2012 - Monkey seeing

 2) September 2012 - Wat Koh Sirey

 2) November 2012 - Sea Gypsy Cultural Centre

 2) January 2013 - Phuket Fishing Community

Monkey See Shrine - Koh Sirey

Share

We decided to visit the geocache on Koh Sirey and we had to go this way!

We took our usual stop to fed the Monkeys at 'Monkey Seeing' and there was nobody selling anything!

So walked along the Klong and we noticed that there were a number of discarded shrines discarded on the side of the road. 

Then we noticed that there was a roadside shrine here - but what culture it reflected there was not strictly one.

One could say that is was a reflection on how cultures can mix?

View tim in phuket - Koh Sirey in a larger map

Fishing Community - Koh Sirey

Share

As we drove around Phuket we found a village along the coastal route at the South end of Koh Sirey. As we drove through the belief was shattered somewhat - there was a great deal of damaged properties and there did not seem to be a 'thriving' community.

As we drove further through the village my heart was strengthened as we saw children playing and fishermen preparing nets and villagers opening shells.

This heartened me further and we drove into the village but the road began to diminish and around us the buildings became less occupied - we turned around and drove back through the town.

We are not sure what we saw - a community which was falling apart and needed support or a traditional Fishing Village? 

View tim in phuket - Koh Sirey in a larger map

Koh Tapao Noi

Share

This is an island at the South end of Phuket and is also referred to as 'Hornbill Island' - there are usually Hornbills nesting on the Island.

We left with a local fisherman from outside Phuket Aquarium and the journey took us only 20 minutes and it was an easy journey.

The first thing that I noticed was the level of rubbish that we found on the beach - I contacted John Gray of the world renown 'John Gray Sea Canoe' and asked him whether a clean up would be possible...

The family began to play on the beach and catch the crabs and I set off to find the hornbills and deposit a geocache on the top of the Lighthouse. I kept hearing the hornbills as I walked steadily up the hill but could not get a good photograph - next time.

At the top of the hill was the Lighthouse and the view is really quite good - you need an App (or a fab camera) which is able to take multiple shots and gives you a wide shot - I like Panorama.

Then there is the Lighthouse to climb up and it is a long way and is a little claustrophobic - but it was closed this time (Nov 2012).

Following this we picked fresh Tamarind from the tree and slowly made our way back to the beach. Here Jemma made a friend of a very cute local dog and I decided to try for some hornbills - I found none but I did find something else.

I took a left instead of right towards the Lighthouse  and after battling through the trees I found that there was a canon on the top of a hill on the island and this canon was part of a fortified structure - but what? 

After finishing trying to understand this I returned to join the family - worth a trip out but I do not know how to ensure the hornbills are flying and the Lighthouse door is open.

View Koh Tapao Noi in a larger map

Sea Gypsy Cultural Centre - Koh Sirey

Share

After a wonderful trip to Wat Koh Sirey we decided to drive around the island - we were under the impression that there was a superb Seafood restaurant close by...

We did not find it and ended up at The Westin Hotel for pizza.

But what we did find was this building. The official title to this collection of buildings is 
"The Cultural Center Sea Gypsy of Banlaemtukkae"

Interesting but it was empty (the picture above was opposite)... on returning home I searched for some information

It is to open later this year...
Will open this year...

but I am sorry to say this was our visit in May 2012

Update: This was a 2013 Newspaper Report

View tim in phuket - Koh Sirey in a larger map

Wat Koh Sirey

Share

Koh Sirey is to the East of Phuket Town - it is not actually an Island but there is a very big bridge that you can cross to visit the Island.  I visited Koh Sirey previously to feed the monkeys at Monkey Seeing, we visited here again to visit the Wat on the top of the hill.

After feeding the monkeys we continued further into the island to look for the road to the hill. After several mistakes and feeling that we were lost we found a road which took us to Wat Koh Sirey...

The 'first' Wat was at the bottom of the hill and we were unable to enter, because the fence around the outside were locked. However the monks pointed us in the correct direction - up a steep hill which we had to walk, although a tuk-tuk driver was able to drive all the way up?

There was a peaceful pool and then the road was rather steep...

As we were halfway up there were some Buddhist statues and rooms set back from the road - I investigated and there were some deserted rooms, I think that they may have been previously for monks.

As we came to the top Wat Koh Sirey peered through the trees, we found a geo-cache and progressed up the steep stairs - the stirs were very steep and we stopped halfway to bang on a hanging drum. We then progressed further and came upon a large temple perched on the top of the hill.

In the temple was something that we did not expect - the enormous reclining Golden Buddha - peaceful was something that I felt.

After kneeling at the Buddha we walked outside and saw the statuettes surrounding the Wat. We found that we a were able to walk completely around the Wat - the views were beautiful and breath taking. We walk down but as we walked down we found that there were more Buddha images circling the Wat.

Definitely worth a trip.

View Buddhist Temples in Phuket in a larger map

More information can be found from Phuket Index.com and Willy at Phuket 101.

View tim in phuket - Koh Sirey in a larger map