The largest and most revered of Phuket’s twenty-nine Buddhist temples is Wat Chalong, which houses a bone fragment of the Buddha. Don’t be alarmed when the quiet grounds are suddenly interrupted by firecrackers that are set off outside in a beehive-shaped oven. I’m not sure exactly why they do it, but people say it’s done as gratitude for answered prayers, to scare off evil spirits, or for prosperity – the more you light, the more your life will improve.
