Phuket Map, Phuket Beaches

On ancient charts, Phuket Map is referred to as Jang Si Lang, appearing on later maps, not too appealingly perhaps, as Junk Ceylon. Some maintain the current name derives from the Malay word 'Bukit' meaning hill, which seems the most likely, particularly since the transliteration from Thai was spelled Bhuket for many years. Others say it has origins in the Tamil word, 'Manikram' or Crystal Mountain, although any phonetical association here is unclear. Until it became recognised internationally, Phuket (correctly pronounced Poo-Ged) was mistakenly and mischievously included on the lists of the world's "naughtiest-sounding" destinations.
Located just under 900 kilometres Southwest of Bangkok, it is similar in area to Singapore, measuring 54 kilometers north to south, and 21 kilometers east to west at its most distant points. About 70 percent of the land area is mountainous, with the highest elevation at 529 meters. The terrain is richly varied, with rocky headlands, numerous beaches of differing sizes and character, limestone cliffs, jungle-clad hills, small estuaries, lagoons, and tropical vegetation of all kinds. It is surrounded by over thirty smaller islands of similar topography, many of them prime tourist attractions in their own right. The permanent population is estimated at roughly a quarter of a million, and Phuket is the only island in Thailand to have full provincial status. The Sarasin Bridge connecting it to the mainland was constructed in the mid-1970's, and a second one parallel to it, the 660-metre Thao Thep Krasatri Bridge, opened more recently. Phuket airport saw its first aircraft land in 1976.

Unlike tucked-away Samui off the opposing Southeast coast of Thailand, Phuket's strategic position as a trading post on coastal sea routes gives it a recorded history going back a millennium or more. This has nurtured an interesting blend of cultures and influences, including Burmese, Malay, Chinese, Indian, Portuguese and Dutch, mixed with the indigenous 'Chao Ley' or sea gypsies, dark-skinned peoples thought to have originated in India's Nicobar Islands. Although predominantly Buddhist, Muslims make up more than one third of the population. As a result, Phuket is a pleasantly strange mix of ancestry and ambience, a kaleidoscope of stunning tropical seascapes and forested hills, and a fascinating combination of tin mining, rubber, and tourism.One event in its history might have dramatically changed the island's future. In the late 1700's the British seriously considered establishing Phuket as a strategic base for their imperialistic presence in the Far East. As it happened, they finally opted for the island of Penang further south, a decision they doubtless regretted when large deposits of tin were discovered on Phuket, an asset which led to a huge presence of immigrant Chinese. These industrious people dominated the tin industry, and their subsequent generations still form much of the island's population today.If Phuket's history provides the traveller with a rich choice of pleasurable discoveries in edifices and customs, its size and varying altitudes endows it with a variety of meteorological variations. Weather conditions can thus change unexpectedly, often refreshingly, as you travel from one part of the island to another, particularly during the monsoon. Nearly a third of the flora consists of rubber plantations, which were first introduced in 1903, but the remainder of the vegetation is richly varied, and home to interesting wildlife, which in the past included tigers, rhino and wild elephants; reported by travellers as little as a century ago.Tourism awareness remained at almost zero until the mid 1980's when the combined presence of the newly opened Amari Coral Beach Resort and Club Med gave Phuket sudden and significant international exposure. Delighted holidaymakers from Japan, Australia and Europe spread the word, and the emerging regional "Tiger" economies saw newly-affluent Asians begin to experience Phuket's delights. The so-called 'rainy season' from May to October proved to be no obstacle to enjoyment, and by 1987 - "Visit Thailand Year" Phuket was on everybody's lips. More top class hotels followed, and the airport was expanded to take wide-bodied jets. Direct scheduled and chartered flights began to arrive from Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Europe, and tourism soon became the main source of income, eclipsing the coconuts, cashews, pineapples, fishing, prawn farming and pearl cultivation which had been the island's economical mainstays in the past. Most land-based tin mines have closed down due to the fall in global prices. Marine mining still continues on a small scale.

If Phuket Beaches is many people's dream of paradise, increasing numbers of foreigners are turning dreams into reality by settling here permanently, either for business or retirement, and enjoying the unbeatable blend of exotic tropical ingredients, excellent infrastructure, good educational facilities, and the reasonable cost of living. Phuket indeed, has always enjoyed high standards; by 1910, it already had paved roads and motorcars, long before other provinces in the Kingdom.