PHUKET, Thailand (DPA) - Phuket, Thailand's most popular beach
resort, now boasts a new draw - which critics have already dubbed a
"temple of kitsch".
A 3.3 billion baht (89.2 million dollar) theme park opened in Phuket, 580
kilometers south of Bangkok, in February strives to combine traditional Thai
culture with glitzy pyrotechnics and laser displays.
Called FantaSea, the park is a subsidiary of Safari World, which also operates
a wildlife theme park near the capital featuring animal stunts.
Kittikorn said FantaSea is "uniquely Thai" as it combines Thai food, fun and
culture.
While FantaSea's concept may have been noble, its design has unfortunately
manifested itself as a "temple of kitsch", critics say.
Based on the Phuket legend of the boy king Kamala, the park is modeled on a
Thai kingdom, comprising a village, a royal restaurant and a theater.
The kingdom's gates usher you into a Festival Village, lined with well-stocked
themed shops selling but rather touristy merchandise such as T-shirts, silk,
ceramics, handicrafts, leather goods and souvenirs with predictable Thai
motifs like elephants and its famous Siamese twins.
As you walk through the streets, you are suddenly faced with a giant gold
temple bursting with a riot of colors and surrounded by huge pink plastic lotus
flowers.
The temple houses the enormous 4,000 seat Golden Kinnarree buffet
restaurant, serving only buffets at 500 baht a head, which FantaSea claims is
the "largest buffet restaurant in the world".
Maple trees lead to a seating area engulfed by kinnarrees (half bird, half
woman creatures) flying across the blue wallpaper amid purple Styrofoam
clouds suspended in mid-air and fuchsia carpets swamped with fish-heads
and lotus flowers.
After dinner, a Las Vegas-style theatrical extravaganza, called "Fantasy of a
Kingdom" and priced at 1,000 baht, takes place at the Palace of the
Elephants, a sprawling theater built in the form of a Sukhothai-era stone
palace, with elephant statues spouting water from their trunks.
Some 500 Thai dancers and actors share the stage with a circus of 21
elephants, four water buffaloes, ten birds and a tiger performing stunts.
Meanwhile a futuristic aerial ballet is performed amid special effects, fireworks,
water effects and illusions.
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