PHUKET will have a great year-round tourist attraction with the opening of the Tin Mine Museum on November 21, Loy Kratong Day. Museums are often dry and dusty places. Not this one.
Set in landscaped gardens that recreate a tin mine with the visual impact of a theme park, this museum really does deserve to be seen, and believed.
At long last, after 50 million baht has been spent, Phuket finally has a unique museum that celebrates an era in the island's spactacular past.
It will probably come to rival Chalong temple, sunset at Cape Promthep and the Big Buddha as a must-see on Phuket for many visitors who aren't obsessed with beaches and reefs, and an interesting rainy day diversion for those who are.
The tin mine has been long in the making since 2006 and its opening will come as a revelation to many. While the tin mine era played a vital part in the development of Phuket, very little has been preserved to celebrate that period.
Dredging destroyed irreplaceable near-shore reefs. But on shore, the wastelands that were created by mining have been adapted to lagoons that many visitors take to be natural, and that actually increase Phuket's much-needed dry season water supplies.
Inside and outside, the museum recreates life on and around the Phuket tin mines. Red dirt glints through the green hillside.
Of Phuket's three great transitional eras, the first two, tin and rubber, have not had nearly as much irreversible impact as tourism.
With a sensible strategy, Phuket may yet avoid the necessity of one day creating a jungle theme park to remind Phuket residents that their city-island home once contained trees and hills free from concrete.
The museum can be found in the Kathu region of central Phuket by turning uphill near the Loch Palm and Red Mountain golf courses.
Secret Phuket: Lifting the Veil on Heavy MetalSet in landscaped gardens that recreate a tin mine with the visual impact of a theme park, this museum really does deserve to be seen, and believed.
At long last, after 50 million baht has been spent, Phuket finally has a unique museum that celebrates an era in the island's spactacular past.
It will probably come to rival Chalong temple, sunset at Cape Promthep and the Big Buddha as a must-see on Phuket for many visitors who aren't obsessed with beaches and reefs, and an interesting rainy day diversion for those who are.
The tin mine has been long in the making since 2006 and its opening will come as a revelation to many. While the tin mine era played a vital part in the development of Phuket, very little has been preserved to celebrate that period.
Dredging destroyed irreplaceable near-shore reefs. But on shore, the wastelands that were created by mining have been adapted to lagoons that many visitors take to be natural, and that actually increase Phuket's much-needed dry season water supplies.
Inside and outside, the museum recreates life on and around the Phuket tin mines. Red dirt glints through the green hillside.
Of Phuket's three great transitional eras, the first two, tin and rubber, have not had nearly as much irreversible impact as tourism.
With a sensible strategy, Phuket may yet avoid the necessity of one day creating a jungle theme park to remind Phuket residents that their city-island home once contained trees and hills free from concrete.
The museum can be found in the Kathu region of central Phuket by turning uphill near the Loch Palm and Red Mountain golf courses.
Take the Tour One of Phuket's most surprising features is a hidden valley tin smelter and refinery where links with the island's mining past are forging an environmentally friendly future.
Secret Phuket: Lifting the Veil on Heavy Metal
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I think you guys have lost the plot: 'A great year-round tourist attraction', rivaling Wat Chalong etc. - a Tin Mine Museum, right. That'll get thousands of tourists to flock to Phuket, I'm sure. And let me guess: admission for Thais 20 Baht, for foreigners 200 Baht?
Posted by Karoshi on November 14, 2010 00:26