Phuket, Thailand
Phuket is an island and a city. It sits on the Malay peninsula between Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, and Malaysia. On one side of the peninsula is the Gulf of Thailand and the other the Andaman Sea. The Mariner is tendering today. This means we are anchored off the shore of Pa Tong, in the Kathu District of Phuket. Here we are using the tenders supplied by Patong harbor.
The tenders are much larger and nicer than the Mariner’s. They have even attached a floating dock next to the ship making the transfer to the tender much easier. Not going to rain today, just be hot and humid. So, what else is new?
While the ride to the shore is very nice, the pier extended way out into the bay. So it is a long walk. Then, from then end of the pier to the motor coach is another good hike. We are walking by massage parlors, restaurants, trinket shops, and, most importantly, head shops. You see marijuana is completely legal here, in all forms. Apparently, the King believes that it cured his cancer. What is good for the King is good for his people.
Our first stop on this morning’s excursion is the Phuket Elephant Care Sanctuary. To get there we are riding up into the hills about Pa Tong. According to google maps where are approximately in the center of the island. The people here seem a little better off than in Indonesia or Malaysia. Not as many slumy looking areas.
One interesting thing that we keep riding by are the power/telephone poles. First, a number of them are made of cement. An obvious choice in a climate of high heat and humidity. Wood just doesn’t survive here. The second thing is that there are wires hanging everywhere. It is just chaos. They probably just run a new wire than try to figure out which one goes where. And by the looks of it they have been doing that for some time.
We finally pull into the elephant camp. No elephants in sight. First, they want us to make vitamin balls for the elephants. Th e give each of us a bowl with rice, powder, a ripe banana and some other fruit and we are told to mix it together. With our hands! They did supply a plastic glove, one person, so you mix with one hand. The one with the glove. It doesn’t smell bad. Just a gluey mess.
Here come the elephants. They seem to know what comes next and they are a lot more ready than we are. In addition to the vitamin balls, we have a bucket with bananas and sugar cane. They tell us to place the ball in the elephant's mouth. Oh, if you drop something – don’t bend over to pick it up. The elephants will take care it.
Even Nonna gets into the act of feeding the elephants. It is actually fun. Clearly they like the vitamin balls, which are second to the bananas. The sugar cane is a third. You put the banana or sugar cane, or both on the elephant’s trunk. They wrap the trunk around it and put it into their mouth. Nonna and I even got a hug from one of the elephants.
After feeding we are told to walk down the path leading to the mud baths and swimming pool. We watch the elephants take a nice mud bath, and then go through a car wash sized shower to wash the mud off before the enter the swimming pool. The elephants seem to be having a great time. It is however, hot and humid so we make our way back up the motor coach and the air conditioning.
We are headed back down the hill. We are on our way to the Sri Bhurapa Orchid Cashew Nut Factory. Not really thrilled about another market for tourists. But that is where the motor coach is taking us. For right now being inside in the air conditioning will be sufficient.
We arrive at the factory. Looks just like any other tourist trap. Ho wait, except they actually have a cashew nut tree. We have never seen a cashew nut tree or how or where a cashew comes from. The “nut” is sticking out of the bottom of the fruit. This is really interesting to see.
They separate the nut from the fruit. Then using a small device break open the nut and remove the meat from the shell. It is a fairly labor-intensive process. More interestingly there is one nut for each fruit. Once the nut meat is removed is has to be washed. You can eat them raw or roasted. They have samples of just about every type of flavoring you can think of. We walked away with Roasted, salted and BBQ. This is one of those touristy things which are actually educational and taste good.
Back on the motor coach we learn that our next stop is another temple. One one will are visiting today is the most important of the twenty-none Buddhist temples in Phuket. Wat Chalong or Wat Chai Thararam. It is dedicated to two highly venerable monks, Luanf Pho Chaem and Luang Pho Chuang, who lead the citizens of the Chalong Subdistrict in fighting against the Chinese rebellion in 1876. They apparently used their knowledge of herbal medicine to help the injured.
The guide is quick to note that if you hear firecrackers going off, we shouldn’t be alarmed. It is how worshippers traditionally express gratitude for answered prayers. He also notes that this is a good place to get Pad Thai. It has gone past one, and we might be a little hungry. We do love Pad Thai and what better place to have it than it Thailand?
As we get off the motor coach we ask him where should be get this great Pad Thai he suggested. He points to a small shanty next to the parking lot and announces they have the best Pad Thai! We venture in. It is a small shack made if corrugated tin, cardboard and whatever. There are but a few tables, the term being used loosely.
There is another couple of tourist looking people. We say hello and ask how is the Pad Thai? They confirm it is the best. We ask the woman who appears to be running the place for two orders of Pad Thai and two cokes. She nods her acceptance of the order and walks over to the chef. It is easy to imagine that it is her teenage son doing the cooking. There is a man, perhaps the husband, seemingly passed out on an adjacent table.
A few minutes later she arrives with the cokes and then the Pad Thai. It looks great. Served on a banana leaf, resting on a paper place. She offered us both chop sticks and forks. We opt for the forks. From the aroma you can tell it will be good.
The first bite confirms this is good Pad Thai. As we are sitting and eating it we watch the young man made additional things in his wok. His wok suspiciously looks like the hub cap from a VW. He is working it over a propane burner. He is skilled you have to give him that. We munch away at the Pad Thai. Just the proper amount of spice for two gringos. Eat tastes as good as it smells and looks. Our banana leafs are clean before you know it. There was a time another order would be called for, but we are trying to control ourselves.
We ask the woman how much we owe her. 100 Thai Baht, in my head a quickly calculate that at $2.75. We ask again but this time ask how much in US dollars. $2 US dollars. Now we are thinking each. Mary pulls out a $10 bill and hands it to the woman. She comes back with $8 change. Really? Mary takes a couple of dollars and tells the woman to keep the rest. We thought she was going to cry.
As we are walking out we ask the young man if we can take his picture. He says it is ok. This has been posted on Facebook should you want to verify what this looks like. The food on the ship is good but this was great. It just goes to show you, you that it isn’t your equipment but how you use it!
Afterwards we stroll around the complex. It is huge. Very beautiful and very much in the process of being restored. Despite the warning we are a bit startled by the firecrackers. They set them off in “stoves”. They are beehive shaped things about three meters tall and a meter and a half round. Bigger at the bottom and coming to a point at the top. The sound of the firecrackers is amplified by the “stoves”. It might be interesting to have a guided tour of the complex, but that will have to wait for another time.
It is time to reboard the motor coach and head back to the ship. There are a lot things we didn’t see here today. On the way back we saw the Phuket Big Budda. It was sitting off on a hill in the distance quite far away, but even though the haze you could see it. The guide said it is made of white Burmese marble, it is 40 meters high and has a base of 25 meters. It is only nineteen years old.
Back at the ship at last. Tired but not hungry. The heat and humidity continues to wear us out. It has been a good day and we have learned that Thailand might be another place to come back to. We’re going to have stay healthy and mobile another decade just to see some of the things we want to go back to.
Buonanotte e ciao, Enrico e Maria
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