Wat Chalong Fair

Posted by Andaman Sam on January 20th, 2012 filed in Activities, Family fun, Festivals, Shopping, The locals

The Chinese New Year will kick of this coming Monday, and with it comes the Wat Chalong Fair. This is Phuket’s biggest temple fair and was started by the local farmers in 1933. It began as a way of celebrating the long hard work that had been completed during the harvest time and later was moved to coincide with the Chinese New Year.

The fair lasts for seven days and of course takes place at Wat Chalong, which can be found on Chaofa Road in Chalong. During the seven days there are numerous stalls selling anything fried you can think of, as well as stalls selling plenty of goods, clothing and souvenirs that can be had for great prices. The fair comes alive each night with live entertainment that includes dancing, music and Muay Thai among other things, and like all Thai festivals there will also be contests and raffle draws.

Wat Chalong is one of the most important temples on the island and is extremely beautiful, so it is worth visiting regardless of the festival. But I do ask all tourists to please respect the Thai culture and Buddhist religion by making sure that your shoulders and knees are covered once entering the temple grounds. Otherwise just have fun and mingle with the locals.