Phuket and environs present a range of scenic landscapes — everything from sweeping white-sand beaches backed by coconut groves to the giant granite boulders of the Similans, sculpted by wind and wave and rising from vivid coral gardens beneath the sea, to the soaring limestone ramparts of Koh Phi Phi and Phang Nga Bay and the cave monasteries and hidden lakes of Krabi.

Less often remarked are the spiritual dimensions of the cultural landscape. Not as accessible to outsiders, perhaps, these elements of Phuket nonetheless manifest themselves in the fine variety of colourful local temples, shrines and rituals.

Today, the Chinese are the largest of the minority groups that make up the population of Phuket. People of the town and commerce, they have tended to settle in the island's interior.

For many centuries traders from Arabia, India, China and, finally, Europe stopped on Phuket to trade for timber for masts and other necessities. The first British contact, for example, was in 1592, when the 250-ton merchant ship Edward Bonaventure put in to repair its hull. The ship was supplied with 100 kilos of pitch, and also traded for ambergris and rhino horns. (In those days, Phuket was covered with rain forest and home to rhinos, tigers and wild elephants.) Even then, in the 16th century, Phuket was known as a rich source of tin; and the Portuguese, among other Europeans, came to have a long history of association with the island partly for that reason. But it was the 19th-century boom in tin, following late 18th-century wars with the Burmese that left the local population decimated, which proved a magnet for large numbers of mainly Hokkien Chinese from both Malaya and China.

Many ethnic Chinese themselves went on to become successful merchants. Their influences are still evident in the Sino-Portuguese architecture found in Phuket Town, around 150 examples of which, because of their historical interest, have been declared preservation sites. These Chinese traders also contributed to the construction of Chinese temples such as Bang Niew and Jui Tui. Quite distinct from the ethnic Thai varieties, Chinese Buddhist temples offer especially colourful glimpses of an ancient culture at the time of the Chinese New Year, in late January or in February, again depending on the phases of the moon. The Wat Chalong Temple Fair, held at this largest of Phuket's wats, is one centre of festivities, with live music, beauty contests and a bustling outdoor market. The event kicks off with the full moon and continues for several days.

The Chinese settlers also established traditions such as the annual Chinese Vegetarian Festival, adding even more colour to the local cultural mosaic. This truly exotic occasion falls in late September or October, depending on the time of the full moon; and it owes far more to Chinese animistic and Taoist beliefs than it does Buddhism — even though local Buddhist temples host some of the ceremonies. For nine days every year, many local Chinese test their spiritual strength in a series of bizarre feats that seem to defy pain and, perhaps, good sense. Both individuals and the community as a whole enter the eternal contest between yin and yang, where the forces of life, prosperity and happiness contend with the yin of death, darkness and misfortune. The rituals, in some opinion, have tended to become more a show of youthful machismo than a test of spiritual health. Where body piercing used to involve long, thin needles, for the most part, the occasion has become an opportunity for individuals to try and outdo one another in shocking the spectators. It remains a mystery to most observers, however, how people can perform these acts of body-piercing and fire-walking without showing evidence of pain or real injury.

About 30 percent of Phuket's population is Muslim. Originally Malayan fisherfolk who migrated by boat, some of them as early as 1100 years ago, Phuket's Muslims for the most part remain people of the coast and the sea.

Archaeological evidence suggests that Phuket has been settled since about 100 BC. The first inhabitants, it is thought, were negritoes, followed by Mons from what is today known as central Thailand. A later migration from western India brought Dravidians to Malaya, the mainland north of Phuket and, almost certainly, to Phuket itself. Sometime after that, mainland Thais settled on Phuket, and Muslim fishing people from Malaya came north to establish coastal villages on Phuket — especially on Kamala, Surin and Bang Tao beaches — and on neighbouring islands such as Koh Racha and Koh Phi Phi. Their descendents are also still to be found in Phang Nga Bay, just north and east of Phuket, where Koh Pannyi — inappropriately referred to as the "Sea Gypsy Village" in English — a community built on stilts out over water, is a popular tourist attraction.

But all up and down Phuket's west coast, charming little mosques, their domes and minarets set amid coconut palms and rubber trees, are one more element of the island's appeal, the call of the muezzin adding a gracious note to a quiet evening in the countryside. Local community ties are strong, and the moderate Sunni form of Islam is very much a living, positive religious force.

As it often does in Buddhist and Christian practices, animism also plays a part in the lives of the Muslim fishermen, and intriguing seaman's shrines are found in caves and on beaches throughout Phuket's neighouring islands and coastlines. You can visit an animist shrine in a cave at one end of Krabi's famous Phra Nang Beach.

Another coastal people — with settlements at Koh Sirey, Rawai, Sapam, Laem Tuk Kae, Laem La and Nua — the Chao Le, or "People of the Sea", have inhabited Phuket for at least two centuries, and quite possibly for much longer. Also known as Sea Gypsies, they are often seen (as are many of the Thai Muslims) fishing in the picturesque "longtail" boats that are one iconic image of Phuket. The origins of these traditionally nomadic people remain obscure, but they are affiliated culturally with the Moken of southern Burma and other Southeast Asian sea nomad groups. The Moken remain almost purely animistic, for the most part, while Phuket's Chao Le have been more influenced by the Buddhist mainstream culture. Nevertheless, they maintain their own distinctive beliefs and spiritual practices. Loi rua, for example, is a twice-annual ceremony, its occasion governed by the moon. Two-metre wooden boats are floated out to sea bearing hair and fingernail clippings and, with them, all the troubles and evil of the months past. That ritual is followed by the feasting and drinking needed to usher in a fresh beginning.

On remote islands in the south of Burma, a sea nomad shrine might consist of no more than four twigs pushed, according to some arcane design, into cracks on a seaside boulder. The casual observer wouldn't even notice it. More noticeable — except for the fact that these villages are becoming extremely rare — are the totem poles that stand in the centre of southwest monsoon-season settlements inhabited for only a few months of the year. (Traditionally, Moken families spent eight months or more of the year aboard their distinctived live-aboard boats.)

More than two dozen Thai Buddhist temples, or wats — each with its own special character — are to be found around the island.

Traditionally, the Thai temple/monastery has been the centre of village life, serving as spiritual centre, social centre, school and chief welfare agency. Among the colourful occasions accessible to visitors are ordination ceremonies, where men take vows initiating them into the monkhood. Khao Phansa, or "Buddhist Lent" — one of the most important festivals on Phuket and around the rest of Thailand — occurs in the middle of the rainy season. Schools and communities across the land join in candlelit processions to monasteries, delivering supplies for the use of monks during their monsoon retreat. Maka Puja is another important Buddhist holy day, this one falling on the full moon in February or March. It celebrates the occasion when 1250 of the Buddha's disciples gathered spontaneously to hear him preach. Merit-making activities include triple candlelit circumambulations of monastery chapels.

Wat Phranangsang, in Thalang, owing much to the large local Chinese minority, represents a fine blend of Chinese and Thai design. This second-oldest of Phuket's temples retains the vaulting lines typical of Thai temple architecture, together with the gabled and tiered roofs, while incorporating distinctively Chinese decoration, including a large image of Kwan Yee, the Chinese goddess of mercy, standing on a lotus blossom and guarded by fantastical dragons.

First-time visitors to Phuket and the rest of Thailand invariably remark upon these ubiquitous structures. Miniature buildings, ranging from fantastical temple-style structures to clapboard shacks, stand on pedestals or poles in the gardens of homes, public buildings, and businesses around the country. These spirit houses, or saan phra phoom, allow people to pay their respects to the animistic spirits of the place.

This belief system is neither strictly Thai nor Chinese, and it predates Buddhist and all other mainstream religions. Traditionally, local people believe that such things as hills, trees and particular plots of ground are inhabited by jao thii, or spirits of the site. When you build something in such a place, supposing you want a trouble-free domicile, you have to provide alternative lodgings for the jao thii. According to some accounts, the spirit house should be grander than the adjacent human dwelling, thus discouraging invasion by a dissatisfied jao thii. And fresh offerings of food, drink, incense and flowers should be proffered every day. More elaborate spirit houses may include figurines representing servants and entertainers, further ensuring the comfort and goodwill of the jao thii.

Christians, both foreign and a small minority of local Thais, are able to worship in style on Phuket.

And Christmas is celebrated, as it is over much of the world and even though Thailand is a Buddhist country, out of respect for the occasion. Of course it has nothing to do with the fact that department stores and suchlike have long since noticed that a few bars of "Jingle Bells" induces a Pavlovian buying frenzy in your average Westerner visitor. In any case, you can find a traditional Christmas feast with all the trimmings in any number of local hotels, though the chances of experiencing a white Christmas are nil and, rather than glass balls, the Christmas tree is liable to have bunches of bananas hanging from it. Still, between the expat Christian community and the hospitality of restaurateurs and hoteliers, there's little reason for aficionados of the festival to feel homesick.