Day Trip to Big Buddha and Wat Chalong, Phuket!

Hello from hot and beautiful Thailand! 

This week we took a half-day guided tour to four nearby attractions: Big Buddha, Wat Chalong, Old Town Phuket, and Monkey Hill. We want to share the (loads of!) photos with you! 

Remember, we’re not professional photographers, so what you see is what you get! We do our best 🙂 Also, I’m not doing a pile of writing on the area. Maybe I’ll add more information later about the history of the places, etc. Right now, I just want to get my photos online so you can see them!

It was a wonderful trip! Our guide picked us up outside our hotel in the morning in a large, ultra-clean air-conditioned van, and surprisingly were the only two people on the tour. An unexpected private tour! We assume it’s because of Covid that they didn’t have too many customers.

(As a side note, it’s been just over a week since our tour and we’ve really noticed a difference in the number of tourists we see on the street and the number of tour vans picking people up…both have increased pretty dramatically! And we definitely see more tourists in each van as they pass by. Thailand is opening, people!)

Table of Contents

• Phuket Big Buddha
• Wat Chalong
• Old Phuket Town
• Khao Rang (Monkey Hill)
• Conclusion

Phuket Big Buddha

Anyway, the first place we went was to the famous and revered Big Buddha Statue, situated on the Nakkerd Hills to the south of the island. It’s around a 40-minute drive from Patong Beach along the coast, so we passed by Karon and Kata beaches before leaving the coast and going inland. Once we left the main roads, we drove up a 6 km-ish winding road that ended up twisting and turning and climbing up the mountain (holy, you need good brakes!).

We drove by many little restaurants and roadside stalls (the Buddha statue is a big tourist attraction) but many were closed due to Covid. There were lots of rubber plantations…rubber is tapped from trees, similar to how we tap for maple syrup in Canada! Apparently, Phuket is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of rubber.

Onwards! Our guide led us to the statue and left us to wander. The view from this location is amazing! You can see 360 degrees, back to Karon and Kata beach and up to Phuket Town, and out to little islands I can’t remember the names of. Stunning!

And the Big Buddha, there are almost no words. There are steps with amazingly detailed serpent/dragon rails on either side which are still under construction; you can see the rebar of the reinforced concrete, and how they’re laying the Burmese white jade marble. And the detail of the dragon head and tail…just wow.

At the top sits the 45 meter tall image. I’m not sure if the 45 meters includes the stairs or not, but either way, it is an absolute marvel, 25 meters across at the base.

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

And the obligatory tourist image! We hadn’t planned on taking our picture here, but a couple from the Netherlands asked us to take their photo, then they offered to take ours. We obviously need posing help…and no, I’m not pregnant lol. This is what I call my “temple dress”, by the way – it covers my shoulders and knees, so I don’t need to borrow a cover-up.

In front of the Buddha statue is a smaller, white Buddha statue:

All around the base of the Big Buddha are smaller brass statues. One side has revered monks; here are just a few of them:

While the other side has brass statues of the Buddha in 7 poses for each day of the week (well, 8 actually, since Wednesday has a pose for both day and night)!

And in front of the Big Buddha are these statues; they’re all so intricate!

Most of the information is written in Thai, so that’s all I know about them.

Behind the Big Buddha is a smaller golden Buddha, although it’s still massive at 20 tonnes of brass! And so incredibly beautiful:

The Big Buddha, the smaller statues, the view… this spot is spectacular.

Wat Chalong

After visiting the Big Buddha we headed to a nearby temple, Wat Chalong (Chalong Temple), around a 15 minute drive. Wat Chalong is the largest temple in Phuket, and is honestly beauty overload! There are a series of buildings, each more beautiful than the last. The colours and ornamental detail have to be seen to be believed; we hope these photos give you some idea of the beauty.

Here are some photos of one of the first buildings you see coming in, on the left. There were a lot of people in here; many believe that if you make an offering and a wish, then your wish will come true! Here, people pay their respects to the founders of Wat Chalong, the monks who helped the people overcome the Chinese Rebellion of 1876.

And another building, to the right. We don’t know the history of this building, but it is gorgeous!

Here’s a “tiny” building, small but elaborate:

The largest temple is, just, wow. It’s incredibly large. Three stories tall (60m), each story is a room with two staircases to the next floor. We can’t even begin to describe this building, the details. See for yourself:

The walls and ceilings of Wat Chalong are covered (literally) with brilliantly painted murals detailing Buddha’s life, and the temple contains many statues of Buddha. There were many people, and we didn’t feel comfortable taking photos when people were praying or meditating, but we did manage to sneak these two photos when one room was empty for a moment:

The very top floor surrounds a glass display, which holds a splinter of Buddha’s bone. Many people come here to contemplate the splinter and make offerings; we didn’t take a photo.

And here is yet another photo of another majestic building on Wat Chalong:

Old Phuket Town

After visiting Wat Chalang, we went to Old Phuket Town, specifically Thalang Road and Soi Romanee; it was maybe a 20 minute drive. We didn’t stay here too long, just long enough to get a fresh Avocado Smoothie (made from avocado, a young green coconut, and a tiny bit of sugar…yummers and refreshing) and to pose by one of the super-large plants while enjoying it:

We also wandered up and down the street looking at the many vendors and amazing Sino-Portuguese architecture. What a cute, bright area! We expected the shops and cafes to be very overpriced because it’s so touristy, but were surprised at how reasonable the prices were overall.

Khao Rang (Monkey Hill)

After our visit to Old-Town, we finished our tour by driving up a very steep, curvy mountain to the lookout at Khao Rang (Rang Hill, also known as Monkey Hill) where we saw our first monkeys! You’re not supposed to feed them but some people do, and they can be pretty pushy when they think you have food.

There were more stray dogs here than anywhere we’ve seen yet, which we found surprising since it seems to be a more rural, out-of-the-way area. We’re used to seeing individuals or maybe a couple of dogs at a time in Patong, but here there were strays everywhere. We even saw one dog scrapping with a monkey (the dog ended up running away…these monkeys are big).

From the khao rang lookout you have an amazing view over Phuket Town.

You can even see the Big Buddha in the distance.

Conclusion

And that was it! After such a busy morning in the heat of Thailand (which we’re starting to get used to, but definitely aren’t acclimatized to yet!) we were both ready to head home for a nap.

We hope you enjoyed our photos from our day trip to the Big Buddha, Wat Chalong, Old Town Phuket and Khao Rang! Is there anything around Phuket that you’d like to see photos of, or have questions about? Let us know below!