Shrine of the Serene Light

Phuket Town is full of history, full of interest. I keep stumbling upon new places... I wish there was more time to explore and less time in the office! On Friday I headed into the old town before work, in search of a Chinese shrine called the Shrine of the Serene Light or Ting Kwan Tang. There's not a huge amount of information about this shrine online, and if you are walking around old Phuket Town, as I have done many times, you'll probably miss it. The shrine is on Phang Nga road, just a hundred meters west of the On On Hotel... but it's well hidden. There is an entry off the road leading to a narrow alleyway. The shrine is not yet visible. If you were passing, you'd see the entrance, but the alley does not look like it leads to anything exciting...

 

(Note: update 2011. The entrance to the Shrine of the Serene Light is being widened. Read more here).

I read about the shrine on the "Phuket Town Treasure Map" which you can pick up at various locations around the old town. The main office that produces this map is on Soi Romanee. I was happy to know that there are always some hidden treasures to discover! As you walk down this meter wide alley for about 40 meters you come to a second entrance and can finally see the shrine.



I was the only visitor. The shrine is built amongst the houses in the old town, the treasure map says it was built in 1889 by a local Hokkien Chinese family. The late 19th century was a boom time for Phuket, with money pouring in from the tin mining industry. Chinese families became very important here around that time. The old town is full of Chinese influence - check the shops, the shrines.. the people.



I'll have to go back to get some more pics... it started raining and I really wanted a nice blue sky with sunlight on the elaborate roof decorations. I concentrated instead on the details.

 

The shrine is well cared for, candles and oil lamps were lit, fruit offerings laid out. Only after about 15 minutes did I find that someone lives at the shrine. I did leave 100 Baht in the donations box. The old carvings around some areas certainly need more restoration. I have read that the shrine was all but forgotten for a while, but is now cared for by the local Chinese-Thai community, who do a good job looking after old town.





The walls are covered in murals showing old stories - the walls look old. Alone in the shrine, I certainly felt a sense of history.



The shrine has many prayer points, marked with numbers to ensure you pray in the correct order. Behind the first set of gods you find more...





As the rain fell more heavily I looked for more details to photograph. These shrines fascinate me. So much detail and so much history, most of which I do not understand at all. The Chinese-Thai community in Phuket is very important. Festivals like the Vegetarian festival and Chinese New Year are big events here in Phuket. I enjoy this history, and hope that more visitors might realise that Phuket is so much more than beaches and bars!







This little serene shrine is well worth finding if you are in the old town. Nearby you can also find Jui Tui shrine and it's maybe a 15 minute walk to Bang Neow shrine. I do like the old part of Phuket town, always something new to find.
And even now, I know I have to go back to this shrine, having just read something about a secret passage in the back which leads out to the next street.... I'll be back!