Wat Phra Nang Sang

Wat Phra Nang Sang was built more than 500 years ago and therefore is the oldest temple in Phuket. This unusual temple was built when Cherngtalay in Thalang was the main city of Phuket Island. Wat Phra Nang Sang is a bit quirky and seems to be permanently under construction. As long as I have lived in Phuket there always have been unfinished buildings… and no one working on them.

Each of the many buildings is decorated with a multitude of intricate ornaments, then surrounded by a multitude of statues of diverse origins, often not in the same style or not with a big picture in mind. The front area of the temple, very visible from the road as your drive to Phuket Airport, appears to be half under construction and half abandoned. Next to an immense and severe dark statue stands a tall unfinished concrete pagoda surrounded but derelict buffaloes forever pulling broken carriages.

Everything was designed with mixed Chinese and Thai mythology influences, largely influenced by the mood of the day. The grounds consists of several main building. The central one is more classic in style but of course extremely ornamented with gold and red main colours and a lots of paintings inside featuring Lord Buddha’s life and other significant historical events.

Further in the back, a concrete human size statue of a cop standis next to a lion and a tiger. The cop misses an arm so the the first thing that come to mind is to blame the lion! But it probably just fell off 😀

Behind that red and gold temple is another building designed in an entirely different style and which gates are defended by god warriors holding automatic weapons. Quite… surprising. The temple is also renown for a small reclining Buddha (much smaller than the huge one  at Wat Sri Sunthron on the same road) and two large Buddha heads made of tin.

See the list of most Temples and Wats in Phuket

Wat Phra Nang Sang Map