june-2011

fl ame by the neon-lit bar signs, ever-fl owing
cheap alcohol, and promise of hospitable
company for the evening. However, Phuket
off ers a wealth of attractions that are far
away from the well-worn clichés; places
where the island’s colourful history is not
the distant, forgotten past, but instead a
living, breathing part of the present.
There is no better example of this than in
the provincial capital, Phuket Town. With
its lanes lined with Sino-Colonial style
shophouses, the city’s architecture will
seem familiar to travellers who have spent
time in either Penang or Malacca. The link
between the three goes beyond the mere
structural, as the Chinese immigrants of
all three settlements have a shared history,
and are collectively known as the Baba
Nyonya or Peranakan. Indeed, the children
of many wealthy Phuket Chinese were sent
to the Penang capital, George Town, for a
British education, and even to this day links
remain between their Thai and Malaysian
descendants. While the fortunes of Phuket
OPPOSITE (TOP/BOTTOM): Sino-
Colonial buildings in Phuket
Town; a China Inn welcome;
THIS PAGE (TOP/BOTTOM):
Casa 104 makes everyone
feel at home; the façade of the
Blue Elephant Cooking School
receded over time, as the tin that had fuelled
the 18th- and 19th-century boom lost its
lustre, the splendid buildings remained,
although many of them slowly fell into
disrepair. However, in recent years Phuket
Town has experienced a renaissance, with
the appearance of Blue Elephant.
The global culinary group recently
opened its latest cooking school and
restaurant in the ochre-hued Italianate
Governor’s Mansion (known in Thai as
the Phra Phitak Chyn Pracha), which has
been described by Thai historian Ping
Amranand as “the grandest angmor-lao
[foreign mansion] in Phuket Town, and to
many, the most distinguished”. Already a
regular stop on the tourist route, it is just
one of many restored heritage properties
attracting new custom. On nearby Phang
Nga Road is Siam Indigo, a French-run
bistro and boutique that occupies two
adjoining 80-year-old shophouses, with
their distinctive ngon-kaa-kee, or fi ve-foot
way, the covered archways that link one
building to the next. However, perhaps the
best examples of the town’s unique cultural
heritage lie along the narrow Soi Romanee.
CONSERVATION //
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