Welcome to a new feature for Asian Meanderings, something I am calling “Daily Phuket” (as opposed to, say, “A Photo A Day”). I will try to post one (and only one) photo each and every day, taken on my walks around Phuket. That will usually mean the older part of Phuket Town as this is the area where I work and live but I hope that it will prompt me to go farther afield during my rare days off. For example, I have not visited any of our west coast beaches in just under a year; last March, I took a trip (risking infection) to Patong in order to track down some face masks as they were a distinct rarity at that time. I have not been further west than Central Festival shopping center since then.

I believe that having this series will force me to post much more regularly to this blog as well as force me to snap at least one photo each and every day. Lately, I have gone days and days without taking any photos other than of occasional meals. While I will do my best to post a picture everyday, I may or may not write (much) about them every time.

Without further adieu, this initial image is one I took this morning shortly into my daily 30-minute walk to work.

This is the eastern edge of Phuket Old Town, looking west down Thalang Road. For more than a century, this was the commercial heart of Phuket but in recent years that has shifted south and west to the produce whole-sellers and fresh markets lining Radsada Road. This is more of a tourist road than anything else although local residents do explore the ever-changing small boutiques and eateries along the road. On Sunday afternoons and evenings, the street closes to vehicular traffic and there are many food vendors and souvenir stalls to explore. The tented structure surrounded by traffic cones on the left is a police checkpoint where pedestrians have their temperatures taken and check-in using a Thai contact-tracing app. I believe that it’s only manned in the afternoons at this point.