Sapan Hin - Local Food Market and more

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Sapan Hin is an interesting place to visit and there is always a lot of different things happening BUT we always visit here to buy some Local food from the stalls in the Car Park.

The deep fried chicken is wonderful but maybe not the whole chicken?

There are a great deal more dishes which seem to be popular with the Local people!

The sausages are the best!

We saw 'crocodile accessories' for sale once!

We have seen the local people collect shells whilst the tide is out.

There is a klong which leads in to the interweaving klongs throughout Phuket Town.

 

there is more than just this - 

Sapah Hin - Paramotoring 

Sapan Hin - Naval Museum 

Sapan Hin - musical fountain 

Sapan Hin - Kiew Tian Keng Chinese Shrine 

Sapan Hin - Fun Fair 

Sapan Hin - Mangrove Walkway 
Sapan Hin - Phuket Vegetarian Festival 

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Kiew Tian Keng Chinese Shrine

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Kiew Tian Keng Chinese Shrine was (when I first wrote this blog) a small quiet Chinese Shrine at the South end of the island in Sapan Hin.

Since I wrote this I have found out that Sapan Hin is a thriving community and is embraced by all the local people - then it is where the finale of the Vegetarian Festival is, popular for food fairs, a Chinese Shrine Tour and even once a year is part of a Motorsport Rally!

The beauty of may of these Chinese Shrines is the upkeep of them - they are always being tended when I visit. Actually the only time I see the dirt is when the figures are returned to the Shrines after taking part in a Vegetarian Festival parade!

The outside of the shrine has recently taken delivery of a number of large stone Chinese figurines.

Then there are the hanging bells which are very common in Buddhist Wats as well. Start at one end and then ring each bell in turn and this will bring you good luck and a blessing.

After this you can enter the very carefully adorned shrine (remembering to remove your shoes) - we visited on a very special day where there was a number of prayers being chanted by these two people dressed in white, something that I had not seen previously and not seen again.

We shook the sticks - Jemma love to do this - and then we threw the Moon Blocks (or Bwa Bwei 擲筊 Divination Blocks).

After this we lit the Joss stick and then stepped outside and burnt the paper offerings.

It was here that you find an enormous Female Chinese statue of the Goddess Guanyin and the beauty of this is that there is a building devoted to her and not what I normally see which is a part inside the shrine.

After a short prayer and the lighting of more incense we left to visit a local restaurant - รานสมตำเมองคอน สะพานหน - for some fabulous local food (review coming here).

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Takraw - popular throughout Thailand

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Takraw (or Sepak Takraw) is a popular game among Thai men of all ages. They seem to play the game anywhere. The open spaces are numerous throughout Phuket are many - popular places are Sapan Hin Park, King Rama IX Park and these photographs are from Thalang Park adjacent to the Indy Market. 

There is evidence that there is a history to the game being played in Thailand;

In Bangkok, murals at Wat Phra Kaeo which was built in 1785, depict the Hindu god Hanuman playing sepak takraw in a ring with a troop of monkeys. Other historical accounts mention the game earlier during the reign of King Naresuan (1590–1605) of Ayutthaya. The game remained in its circle form for hundreds of years, and the modern version of sepak takraw began taking shape in Thailand sometime during the early 1740s. In 1829 the Siam Sports Association drafted the first rules for takraw competition.^{[citation needed]} Four years later, the association introduced the volleyball-style net and held the first public contest. Within just a few years, takraw was introduced to the curriculum in Siamese schools. The game became such a cherished local custom that another exhibition of volleyball-style takraw was staged to celebrate the kingdom’s first constitution in 1933, the year after Thailand abolished absolute monarchy.

(text is from Wikipedia)

It is played with a woven ball but I see more and more balls which are made of more durable plastic.

The idea of the game is to keep the ball aloft - and the group of players do this with their bodies - it must really be seen to be understood.

Some of the games of Takraw involve two opposing teams and the game is for the ball to go from side to side in the same way that volley ball does.

Then there is a game of Hoop Takraw which I see more rarely and the there is a net suspended above the players and the option of this is to get the ball in the net above them!

In all of these games sometimes the players twist their bodies in what certainly looks like an odd position.

In other circumstances it looks like they are ballet dancers.

So how do you get to play one of these games?

Well I would start off with being extremely athletic!

Have a practice on your own and humbly ask to join in.

Phuket Public Parks

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My first thought on being asked to write this was I wonder how many places would be called a 'Public Park'?

So what would it have to make it (for me) a Public Park.

 1) A degree of maintenance and care

 2) A degree of provision of children's playground

 3) A number of places to find refreshments close by

 4) Local people will be there for an activity.

Sapan Hin 

This would be my first choice and it is the park that we most frequent. With all of the above there are also regular activities which take place there - including motor car racing, a fun fair, regular festivals and more. There is a monument to commemorate Captain Edward Miles who was the first person to bring a tin mining dredger to Phuket in 1909 and is the the place for a finale of the Vegetarian Festival.

Suan Lang / Rama IX 

This is located just south of Phuket Town and is certainly an oasis. There may be all of the above but there is a lake where there is sometimes paddle boats, Tai Chi exercising, Takraw, feed the cat fish and a lot of people running in the early evening.

There is also a geocache here.

Nai Harn Lake 

This (I would imagine) is not really a park but a stretch of land surrounded by a lake AND the sea is very close - the land in the middle and surrounding the lake provides the visitor with a number of different things to do. I have seen people camping on the land in the middle, there is also a small children's playground and a chance to have a go at the pedalos.

Khao Rang Hill 

I have had the fortune to visit this peak in Phuket Town a number of times. There is a park at the top but it is not what I might first call a park - BUT we are in Phuket, Thailand. I would admit there is a Fitness Park on the hill as well but I must also admit that I have not seen people use this.

There is a statue of Phraya Ratsada Nupradit who was a Phuket Governor in 1902 and is credited with bringing rubber trees to Phuket.

Come hare to take some photographs of the view or eat in one of the restaurants - Khao Rang Breeze, Tunka Cafe or Phuket View.

Bang Wad Dam

Well this doesn't really include all of the top items but what the heck - we like to go up here to watch the birds!

Thalang Park - Phuket Town 

We like this was because it is near to the Indy Market and close to Queen Sirikit Park.

In fact there are too many parks to write about them all - I think that I will have to think of another way...

Sapan Hin - more

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Sapan Hin is a place that I have posted about previously in the Cape Panwa blog and in this blog.

This area is popular with the locals and we do not see many tourists - there has been a Por Tor parade, a Vegetarian Festival blessing, a fair, a mangrove walk, a Chinese Shrine, a fresh food market, a musical fountain, a boules competition, a park, a Naval museum and more.

Today we found that behind the Teaching Establishment is a children's playground (adjacent to this is a Geocache), next to this is where you can learn ballroom dancing and next to this is a Tennis Court...

If you visit foursquare there are a plethora of things which happen here.

 

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Sapan Hin - Mangrove Walkway

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There is a lot more in Sapan Hin than I read and we choose to go here because it is relaxed, there is a park, street food and it is calm.

Why I choose to post here is the fact that there is walkway built through the mangrove. My daughter loves to walk along here and it is peaceful.

The mangroves used to cover a great deal more land on the coasts of Phuket that did have mangrove swamps but then there was a lot of development and mangroves are not always the best for investment so it is a pleasure to see the natural habitats allowed to prosper.

I would hate to see all the mangrove swamps be destroyed near my house - there seems to be a great deal of development at the moment...

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Sapan Hin - Naval Museum

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I have posted here previously about the multitude of things to do - in fact only last week there was the Por Tor Ceremonial walk into Phuket Town.

In the middle of this large expanse there is a rather rundown building. It is rundown to the degree that I am not sure exactly what it is - but I believe it to be a Navy Museum - you take a look?

The small building is surrounded a the front and the back by the aft and stern of a boat. Inside the small building seems to be a place where old Naval artifacts are stored and also a place where blessings can be asked for.

Then around this is the Naval Equipment - there is a flag, rockets, mines and other artifacts appertaining to this being a Naval Museum.

Then there is a small 'Shrine' where they light firecrackers - sometimes.


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Sapan Hin - there is so much to see here

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This is  known officially as the Sapan Hin Mining Monument, it is referred to in local parlance as “Wong Wian Hoi” which translates roughly as the Circle of Shell. Here there is an old dredger-shaped monument called, the “60 Year Mine Monument”, which was built on the headland at the southern end of Phuket Road in 1969. This commemorates one Captain Edward Thomas Miles, an Australian who brought the first metal ore-dredger to Phuket in 1909, hence the ‘60 year’ bit.
(text from windowonlifestyle)

Then there is a 'Nautical Museum' - it needs more investigation by me.

Then there is a walkway through a number of trees and mangroves.

Then there is a playground....

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Pay a visit.

Paramotoring at Sapan Hin

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I have written about the exuberance of the men - being politically correct I should say people BUT I have never personally seen a woman take part in this activity - whilst they are parasurfing but this is even more...

Last week I was with my daughter picking up shells (and putting them back) on the beach at Sapan Hin when the roar of an engine startled us both.

This is a sport that I almost tried…

I did not know that I could ‘take part’ in this activity from Sapan Hin – more magic to an already magical place.