Phuket - Turtle Village at Mai Khao Beach

It is quite surprising that for such a touristy place, Phuket doesn't really have big shopping centres. What is does have are lots of street vendors and small tourist-oriented shopping arcades. Some of these are quite nicely done. Like this small shopping arcade at Mai Khao Beach near JW Marriot.

The shopping arcade is called Turtle Village. It has a large turtle sculpture right in the centre courtyard. The design bears some signatures of the Bill Bensley Design Studio, so I suspect that they might have a hand in this project.

The design is vernacular mixed with neo-classical elements.

Turtle Village is an upscale arcade with an interesting mix of art galleries, fashion boutiques, souvenir shops, cafes and restaurants. The most popular outlet here seems to be the Coffee Club - an Australian chain cafe. When I was there, the place was packed. There is even a small supermarket with lots of Japanese groceries.