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Phuket Town is the provincial capital. It is quite a charming city with Sino Portuguese shop houses, markets, hotels, car dealerships, hospitals and government offices. The town is fast becoming a bustling, commercial city supported almost exclusively by tourism compared to mining industry 20 years ago.
Tin mining boomed at the beginning of the 20th century creating a very positive environmnet for grown. The very capable and benevolent governor, of the time Governor Rasada Korsimbi, helped diversify the economy that hearlded the start of modernisation as witnessed by new roads and modern buildings.
Today, the main attractions are the old Sino-Portuguese buildings, the elaborate Chinese and Thai temples, and the wet markets. Most of the buildings in Phuket's inner city were constructed nearly a hundred years ago, during the period of the first great tin boom. These buildings show mix of Chinese and Western influences - architecture more commonly know today as "Sino-Portuguese". Characteristics include slim long frontages that are usually adorned by fancy latticework. This style is common to all coastal tin-mining settlements on the Malay Peninsula.
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Many lovely examples can be found on Dibuk Road , and include popular establishments such as Phuket's Town Hall, the Provincial Court , and the Nakorn Luang Bank. Phuket's Town's oldest public structure, Government House, is a wonderful example of this architecture.
People interested in real estate will want to take note that the Provincial Land office is situated in Phuket town not far from the provincial Governing and Administration offices. The land office is where official land titles and records are held for all land parcels on Phuket. If you want to conduct due diligence on a piece of property, this is where you can obtain information about title deeds, numbers, and surveyed areas. It is also the place where you register and transfer tiles and leases. (Take a Thai person with you if you intend to ask information as all documents are in Thai and most government officers do not speak English.)
There are a couple of worthy property developments in Phuket to consider including Baan Dhamarkasa - large Thai Style homes on Rang Hill and the other Baan Rommai - offering a variety of homes large and small overlooking Phang Nga Bay .
Being the provincial capital, if you're prepared to spend some time exploring - you will find that there are also a number of homes and houses for sale that do not form part of an estate or community for sale by Thai's and can be bought or sold at very affordable prices.
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