Street Art Phang Nga

Phang Nga town’s old tin-mining quarter carries three large murals by Patcharapol Tangruen — known across Thailand by his tag, Alex Face — painted in September 2019 under a Tourism Authority of Thailand campaign called “Check in Phang-Nga: The Charms of Kra Phu Nga.” All three feature his signature character Mardi, a wide-eyed child with a third eye in the middle of its forehead, recast each time to tell a piece of the town’s story.

“Mardi: History of Mining” has the character sitting among mining-era imagery, a nod to the tin trade that built the town before rubber and tourism took over. “Mardi: Lion Dance” puts Mardi in a lion-dance costume on a wall facing a Chinese shrine, a small tribute to the Hokkien and Teochew communities who settled here alongside the miners. “Mardi: Memory in the Bottle” shows the character peering at a Chinese junk sealed inside a bottle, a quieter piece about the trade routes that once connected Phang Nga to the wider region. Alex Face’s work also appears on a larger scale in Phuket Old Town, but this is a separate, smaller set specific to Phang Nga.

The murals sit among the same Sino-Portuguese shophouses that give Phang Nga’s old town its character — two-storey buildings with shuttered windows and shared covered walkways, less restored and less visited than their counterparts in Phuket or Takua Pa. There’s no formal trail or map; ask at a local shop or coffee stand near the old town centre and someone will usually point the way, since the murals sit a short walk apart rather than clustered on one street.

Insider Tip: Pair the walk with the Sunday walking street market if your visit lines up — it runs through the same old town blocks and gives the murals a reason to be more than a five-minute photo stop.

Watch out: Street murals fade and get repainted over. These have been up since 2019 without confirmed recent restoration, so don’t be surprised if the colours look more weathered than in older photos online.

Early morning or late afternoon give the softest light for photos and avoid the worst of the midday heat on foot. The murals are free to see, unmarked by any gate or ticket booth, and pair naturally with a stop at Phang Nga’s temples or a Phang Nga Bay boat tour departing the same day.