Thailand's island gateway — Sino-Portuguese old town, Patong night markets, and Andaman Sea seafood at the Sunday walking street
Phuket is Thailand's largest island and most visited beach destination — a place of dramatic contrasts where the Sino-Portuguese architecture of Phuket Town (a UNESCO-listed historic district of pastel shophouses built by Hokkien Chinese tin merchants in the 19th century) sits 40 minutes from Patong Beach's neon-lit chaos, and where the Andaman Sea changes from emerald in the dry season (November–April) to dark jade during the monsoon. The island's food culture is one of the most distinctive in Thailand: southern Thai curries (kaeng tai pla — fermented fish kidney curry, intensely fishy and n…
Phuket's wealth came from tin, not tourism — the island was one of the world's major tin producers for over three centuries, and the distinctive Sino-Portuguese architecture of Phuket Town was built by the Baba Chinese (Peranakan) community who controlled the tin trade and married into local Malay-Thai families. The first European contact was with Portuguese merchants in the 16th century; Phuket was later incorporated into the Siamese kingdom. The most celebrated moment in Phuket's history is the 1785 Thalang War: two widows of the deceased governor — Chan and Mook — led a successful 33-day d…