Armchair Traveler: Phuket, Thailand

The gateway to a tropical eden, Phuket is Thailand’s biggest island and is on the western coast. A steady stream of tourists looking for the idyllic beach has helped bolster Phuket’s economy; it is now one of the wealthiest provinces in all of Thailand. Even after the December 26, 2004 tsunami devastated the area, the resilience of both its people and economy helped rebuild the tourist infrastructure. It took less than a year for the island to bounce back. Discover Phuket through cinema, and check out Museyon’s photographic tour of Phuket.
The variety of options in Phuket and its neighboring islands have attracted a plethora of filmmakers. The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) and The Beach (2000) were filmed here. In addition to them, The Killing Fields (1984), Casualties of War (1989) and Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) were also filmed in Phuket. As filmmakers sought to portray the harshness of war in stark detail, the actual locations in Vietnam and Cambodia presented political and logistical impasses. So it was Thailand that offered itself as the canvas for these stories and proved that paradise is still paradise, even when staging a war.

To learn more about famous—and surprising—film locations around the Asia, pick up a copy of Film+Travel Asia, Oceania, Africa from Museyon Guides.

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