Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The tiny
Phuket Gibbon Rehabilitation Centre
( 0 7626 0492;
www.gibbonproject.org
; admission 10B;
9am-4pm)
, in the park near Nam Tok Bang Pae, is open to the public. Financed by dona-
tions (1500B will care for a gibbon for one year), the centre adopts gibbons that have
been kept in captivity in the hopes they can be reintroduced to the wild.
Park rangers may act as guides for hikes in the park on request; payment for services is
negotiable.
To get to Khao Phra Thaew from Phuket Town, take Th Thepkasatri north about 20km
to Thalang District and turn right at the intersection for Nam Tok Ton Sai, which is 3km
down the road.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Thalang District
A few hundred metres northeast of the famous
Heroines Monument
in Thalang District on
Rte 4027, and about 11km northwest of Phuket Town, is
Thalang National Museum
( 0 7631
1426; admission 30B; 9am-4pm)
. The museum contains five exhibition halls chronicling
southern themes such as the history of Thalang-Phuket and the colonisation of the Anda-
man coast. The legend of the 'two heroines' (memorialised on the nearby monument),
who supposedly drove off an 18th-century Burmese invasion force by convincing the is-
land's women to dress as men, is also recounted in detail.
Also in Thalang District, just north of the crossroads near Thalang town, is
Wat Phra
Thong
(admission by donation; dawn-dusk)
, Phuket's 'Temple of the Gold Buddha'. The image
is half buried so that only the head and shoulders are visible. According to local legend,
those who have tried to excavate the image have become very ill or encountered serious
accidents. The temple is particularly revered by Thai-Chinese, many of whom believe the
image hails from China. During Chinese New Year pilgrims descend from Phang-Nga,
Takua Pa and Krabi.
