If you start from Patong or another of the southern beaches, drive past Phuket Town on the highway No. 402 (the airport road) in the direction of  Thalang. About 50 meters before Thalang`s main intersection you will find Wat Phra Nang Sang, on the left side of the road.

Wat Phra Nang Sang is 200 years old (which makes it the oldest temple on Phuket Island). It has a tall white Chedi and two Bots. The Bot (ordination hall) on the right has a special reputation among the locals as a site for white magic rites, like the blessing of weapons. The building is old, about 200 years, and it is very plain and severe, without windows or back doors. Inside are several stucco Buddhas.

The Bot on the left, on the other hand, is relatively new, and it is decorated  with lots of golden chofahs and little bells. Outside are many signs on posts with buddhist maxims, in Thai script as well as (probably for the sake of foreign visitors) in English. The walls inside are decorated with colourful paintings that show scenes from the history of Phuket and the fall of Ayuthaya. The carvings on the front door portray Chan and Mook, two local heroines from the eighteenth century.
 

 One of the painting inside depicts the story of the famous golden Buddha statue of Wat Phra Thong, which you will visit next: one day, a Phuket farmer boy tethered his water buffalo to metal shaft in the ground. Soon after that, the boy fell ill and died and his father had a dream that told him to go to the metal shaft and unearth it. He did so and discovered that the metal shaft was the top of a huge gold Buddha statue. He tried to dig the image out, but it was too big and so the father left it half-buried and built a temple around the shiny golden statue. When the villagers learnt that their golden statue had attracted the attention of the Burmese (an ever-present danger in the sixteenth and eighteenth century), they coated it with plaster.

After visiting Wat Phra Nang Sang return to the road and drive on in the direction of the airport until 1 kilometer north of Thalang. On the right is a sign for Wat Phra Thong. Follow it and after some hundred meters more you will find the Wat. This Wat is famous for its Buddha images. The Bot houses in the middle the strange-looking big, half-buried Buddha image (still covered with plaster), and along the walls seven Buddha statues, one for every day of the week, each in a different posture: one reclining (the posture the Buddha assumed when he died), another meditating, sheltered by a Naga, a third one walking, etc. In front of each statue (all of them are covered with flecks of gold leaf) stands a donation box with a tablet that describes the  good effects that a donation put in this particular box will have: one will help solve family conflicts, the other will attract riches, a third promises good health ....
 

From Wat Phra Thong return to the airport road and drive north until the intersection with highway 4031. Turn left and drive on until you see a sign (also on the left side of the road) that says "Nai Yang National Park". Follow it and you will find at the northern end of the casuarina forest the Nai Yang Park Visitor`s Center. Leave your car in the parking lot and walk through the tall casuarina trees to the beach.

Nai Yang  is very lovely, a long, gently curved bay  with fine white sand and crystal clear blue water. Swimming is allowed and you can also rent a chair and an umbrella from one of the many vendors. Or walk along the beach from one end to the other. Along the small road that runs parallel to the beach you can find a lot of open-air shops that offer clothing or souvenirs and also a number of small seafood restaurants - if you need some refreshment after all your sightseeing and swimming and beach combing, pick one of them and enjoy the beautiful sea view!