Information: The most enjoyable part of visiting the Phuket Rare Stones Museum is that after the brief look at all stones, you select 5-6 your most interesting ones. Spending 5-10 minutes with each of the selected stones, the picture will be floated out from the stones as you imagine.

Each stone can conjure up a different picture in each person's imagination. That is the art part. The deeper you imagine, the more you will see, and that can be the life part.

Information: International shell collectors would sell their mothers for even half of the remarkable collection on show at the Phuket Seashell Museum, on Viset Road, near Rawai Beach. The exhibition features more than 2,000 species, including the only left-handed Noble Volute ever discovered, giant clams, 380 million-year-old fossils and one of the worlds rarest golden pearls.

A labour of love for the Patamakanthin brothers, it has taken over forty years and visits to the four corners of the earth to bring together this extraordinary exhibition.

Information: Phuket's national museum contains ancient artifacts from Phuket's long history and exhibits detailing the famous Battle of Thalang where the Two Heroines, featured in a monument on the main road nearby, defended the island against the Burmese in the 18th century. It also has information and exhibits about daily life in Phuket, tin mining history, the indigenous Sea Gypsy culture and the island's Chinese heritage.

Information: Eclectic and eccentric are the two words that best describe the small museum in the lobby of the Thavorn Hotel in Phuket City. An assortment of artifacts and photos, gathered by the Chinese-Thai family who run the Thavorn group, are displayed erratically in a rather dingy and dim setting.

In addition to an extensive collection of photos of old Phuket and Thai royalty, there are traditional Chinese wedding hats, tin mining equipment, toy trains, opium smoking beds and pillows, and movie posters. Stepping into this place really does feel like entering another era.