We rushed down to catch the shuttle to “Central Festival” from there we caught a taxi and went to Phuket Town Markets! The Phuket Town Markets are so much better than Patong Markets in many ways, firstly it doesn’t smell as bad (haha!) secondly it is so much cheaper and you don’t need to fight really hard for a good price.
It can get really hot under the tarps so make sure to take lots of water or buy lots of water and stay hydrated. Like many markets in Thailand, these are night markets. They sell almost everything from clothing, “designer” handbags, DVD’s, electronics (10000s of remote controls), make up, tourist gifts and much much more.
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The right end of the market is the food area including things like buttered corn on the cob, Pork balls on a stick (Yummmm!!!), grilled chicken & grilled fish, exotic Thai fruit, deep-fried insects, Fried octopus (large and small!), Chocolate coated Banana’s and anything you feel like! I think I ate my body weight in Pork balls..
We did lots of shopping of course, why not when the markets are so cheap. I got nails painted, $150 Baht for something I would have to pay $3 AUD per nail in Australia! These girls are really talented!
We were a little shopped out and super hot, so we headed out to the parking lot to sit down and have a nice cold beverage in the fresh air! While sitting there we watched local kids playing with each other, chasing each other and riding on little scooters, it reminded us of our childhood and how no matter where you are or what you have, as a kid you can have fun anywhere with anything! While we were sitting there watching the kids a “pimped out” minivan pulled up. Nothing like this would be legal in Australia, it was very cool! Neon lights everywhere and each seats were race seats.
When we were done we decided to catch a taxi back to the hotel as we had missed the hotel shuttle. We lined up at the taxi stand and had a guy come up to us asking if we needed a taxi, we told him where our hotel was and walked towards his car… I thought the guy looked familiar and when I saw his car I knew we had caught the exact same “taxi” the year before from the exact same spot! What a small world we live in. We had a good chat on the way to the hotel.
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This looks really cool. Agree that Patong is not that great; Phuket Town was a bit of a ghost town when we went in the low season but after reading this I’d love to go back. Great blog!
Thanks Jon!
Im all for a ghost town rather being dragged into stores or hassled when we are looking at an item
I am looking to go to Phiket on honeymoon this coming January, what resort are you in?
Hi Coral,
We are not based in Phuket. We are travellers and travel around the world.
Currently we are in Australia.