Wat Phra Nang Sang
Wat Phra Nang Sang is the oldest temple in Phuket, dating back more than 200 years, and was built on the site of the famous battle in 1785 between the people of Phuket and the Burmese invaders. A statue of Thao Thep Kassatri and Thao Sri Sunthon (known as Chan and Mook before the King gave them these names for their valiant defense of Phuket) lies in the temple grounds - a larger one can be seen at the so called "Heroines Monument" - a traffic circle on the main road between the airport and Phuket City.
The temple is close to the center of Thalang town which was once the principal town in Phuket (see location on Google Earth). We have already visited Wat Phra Tong (which lies a bit further north) and Wat Sri Sunthon (a little south of Thalang), but this was our first visit to Wat Phra Nang Sang. Will no doubt go back - we could not enter the main temple as it is undergoing restoration work, so there's still more to see! The grounds are quite large, it's worth taking your time.
There's a lot of history here. My daughter was amazed to see a mummified Monk who died about 50 years ago I think. Not sure she could believe she was seeing a dead Monk. There is another building with 3 large Buddha images made of tin - one of these being the largest tin Buddha in the world. Phuket was until recently a major tin mining center and this helped to make Phuket quite wealthy.
Another story says that the temple was built (or ordered to be built) by a princess who was due to be executed, although she had been framed and was innocent. When she was executed she bled white bood, thus showing her purity. There is also said to be (buried, I guess) an ancient manuscript showing the location of treasure - what the Burmese were after in 1785.
Well, if you like temples (as I do) you can spend a day out in the Thalang area visiting Wat Phra Nang Sang, Wat Sri Sunthon and Wat Phra Tong.
The temple is close to the center of Thalang town which was once the principal town in Phuket (see location on Google Earth). We have already visited Wat Phra Tong (which lies a bit further north) and Wat Sri Sunthon (a little south of Thalang), but this was our first visit to Wat Phra Nang Sang. Will no doubt go back - we could not enter the main temple as it is undergoing restoration work, so there's still more to see! The grounds are quite large, it's worth taking your time.
There's a lot of history here. My daughter was amazed to see a mummified Monk who died about 50 years ago I think. Not sure she could believe she was seeing a dead Monk. There is another building with 3 large Buddha images made of tin - one of these being the largest tin Buddha in the world. Phuket was until recently a major tin mining center and this helped to make Phuket quite wealthy.
Another story says that the temple was built (or ordered to be built) by a princess who was due to be executed, although she had been framed and was innocent. When she was executed she bled white bood, thus showing her purity. There is also said to be (buried, I guess) an ancient manuscript showing the location of treasure - what the Burmese were after in 1785.
Well, if you like temples (as I do) you can spend a day out in the Thalang area visiting Wat Phra Nang Sang, Wat Sri Sunthon and Wat Phra Tong.
Wat Phra Nang Sang | Jamie's Phuket Blog
Comments on Wat Phra Nang Sang
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Hi jamie, I love your blog. I'm doing some research for a local community arts festival in the far west of Cornwall, whose theme this year is "Looking East". I'm researching ideas to work in collaboration with our local Tin Mining Heritage site and museum here, so its been great to find your blog and particularly with the tin miming info and pictures. What I would like to see is an image of the "Monks in the Belly" or "Three Kings" tin Bhuddas at Phra Nang Sang but can not find any images on the internet anywhere. It's written about but no images.You wouldn't have an image you could post up would you? We're looking for an visual character we can work on that would work well as a large scale proccessional image and thought it sounded very relevant given the tin connections. Or if you could direct me to any websites that I might have missed . So great to see your kids getting interested in the tin museum. I'd never have believed it until I got involved myself but geology has got to be one of the most fascinating subjects ever. Thanks in advance for any help you could offer..and for the blog.
Diane
Hi Diane,
I must have missed the 3 Kings, we visited this temple over 4 years ago, though I do intend to go again since the place has had some renovations done. The 3 big tin Buddhas are covered in gold - there is a photo of one of them on this page. I found this:
http://www.phuketjoy.com/forum/index.php?topic=245.0
and
http://touronthai.com/gallery/placeview.php?place_id=71000023
if I go back sometime I will take a lot more photos - looks like maybe these heads were once inside other statues, but not now...
Phuket's wealth was largely based on tin (and rubber). The older parts of Phuket Town were built on tin money. My area (Kathu) was the center of the mining industry - have you seen the photos of the local festival?
Kathu Village Cultural Festival
or on Flickr:
Kathu Village Festival Slideshow
As you can see, they did some tin mining demonstrations showing old sluicing and panning techniques.
Hope that helps!
Cheers
Jamie
Hi Jamie, your blog is awesome! I am landing phuket airport at around 3pm and flying to bangkok at 10pm. I was thinking of using that afternoon time slot to catch the airport bus to visit the phranangsang temple. Is there an opening hour for the temple and are there any food markets near by? Thanks heaps!
Hi Nicky,
Yes, thats possible, get airport bus south to Thalang, the temple is quite obvious and by the main road, you could also fit in Wat Pra Tong same afternoon - maybe stop there first as its on the southbound side of the road (from the main road you'd need to walk about 400 meters up a side road to Wat Pra Tong, then walk back out to the main road, turn left (south), then about another 600m to reach Wat Pra Nang Sang.
Not sure if you will pass a local market but you will have a lot of local shops around. Thalang used to be the main town in Phuket a couple of hundred years ago.