Soi Romanee: Old Phuket Town’s Ex-Red Light District
Pastel stained Sino-Portuguese shop-houses, elaborate Chinese shrines, golden Thai temples and Sino-Colonial decaying mansions color the streets of Old Phuket Town.
This history rich pocket of the city traces back to Phuket’s tin mining boom. Nowadays, it’s a busy commercial center of cafés, restaurants, stores and tiny printing shops lit at night by Chinese lanterns glowing crimson between arches and shuttered doorways.
Soi Romanee, a lane of vibrant renovated buildings in the heart of Old Town, was the red light district for Chinese laborers working in the tin mines. Now, it’s mostly home to mixed Thai-Chinese families with a splattering of guesthouses and cafés.
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