Pearls, Peranakan culture and rare rituals

Pearls, Peranakan culture and rare rituals

It’s not yet light, but Jui Tui, a Chinese shrine in the Old Town of Phuket, is already a hive of activity. I’m standing in a massed crowd of devotees, sheltered beneath canopies of vermilion and jade and surrounded by eclectic religious statues: Taoist deities, Hindu gods and Buddhist bodhisattvas. It’s 5.30am, and the sunrise…

Songkran

Songkran

Phuket Island is 48km long and 21km wide at its widest point, so you are never far from the sea in any given spot. The weather is best from March to early May and wettest from May to October, although mornings and afternoons are still generally sunny and clear.