Phra Thong Temple (Wat Phra Thong Temple) in Phuket

Description and is it worth a visit

Phra Thong Temple in Phuket is one of the largest temple complexes Phuket Islands. It is so big that there are even signs on the territory, and at the entrance you can see the plan, however, it is completely in Thai. It is located in the northern part of the island away from the popular resorts of Phuket. It is also one of the oldest temples on the island. In 1909, it was visited by King Rama VI, who gave the temple its current name.

The temple is famous for the golden statue of the Buddha, called Luang Poh Phra Thong, which appears to be half a torso with a head. In our opinion, one could call this statue a bust, and of very impressive size. The legend of this place says that once a boy with a buffalo was plowing a field, and accidentally touched a plow in the ground for some pillar (you can see a statue of a boy and a buffalo in the temple). After that, he fell ill and died along with the animal. The unfortunate father went to the field and tried to pull out the ill-fated pole, but he did not succeed. Then he called the whole village for help, but even all the men of the village could not dig out the pillar, however, they found that it was a statue, which they managed to dig out half. A few years later, the Burmese warriors who came to conquer the Siamese lands tried to dig up the statue in order to return it back to their homeland, to Burma (according to many legends, at that time the Burmese considered almost every second statue in Siam to be their own), but ants crawled out of the ground and bit them, after which they died. Many years later, a random pilgrim monk saw a sign in the statue and suggested building a temple right around it on this site, and today only part of the Buddha statue can be seen, and the rest remains hidden underground.

There is also a museum on the territory of the temple, founded by the abbot and dedicated to Buddhism, as well as tin mining in local mines. There is also an operating crematorium, a monastery and ancient cannons.