Phuket, Thailand

We were in Phuket, pronounced Foo-ket, today. We had to tender ashore. It wasn’t too long a ride and we used a local tender. We had a Panoramic tour of the city. When we were by the water, there was a nice breeze so it wasn’t too hot. We got off the tender and had to walk quite a ways to the parking lot for the buses. We had a very nice guide, not that they all haven’t been nice. Our first stop was about a half hour away up in the country to an overlook. They even had pretty nice bathrooms there. We had to walk up a loooong stairway to get to the overlook. At the top level, up another flight of steps, there was a memorial, surrounded by elephants of varying kinds and sizes. I’ve never seen so many elephants, alive or ceramic. There was also a lighthouse a bit further up the hill. It doesn’t look like any lighthouse I’ve ever seen. The top part of it was painted gold. After looking around a bit we walked back down all those steps again and got to the bus. Our driver, a very young man in an LA hat, always managed to get the bus in the closest position for us to get back on. When I mentioned his cap, he had no idea what I was talking about. He spoke no English. From the overlook, we went to a large temple complex. By this time it was pretty hot out but there was a bit of a breeze to help cool us off. One of the buildings in the complex was a place to give offerings. One of the offerings they like to give is firecrackers. We could hear them going off several times. I can’t imagine what they sounded like inside the temple. Of course there was a shopping area, but they wouldn’t take US Money or credit cards so we didn’t even look.While I was standing in front of the largest temple, our guide was talking to 2 young men in uniforms. I asked if they were policemen. He said yes, they were tourist police. When I said my son is a policeman, one insisted I take a picture with him, so we did. They asked where I’m from and I said California. After the photo, the other one came up to me and said ‘Levi’s, 501’. That’s what he knew about California. They were very nice young men.
‘From the temple, the guide said we were going to the highlight of the tour-cashews! We went to a place that processes cashews and sells them. There was a young lady that showed us how they have to open each nut by hand.The cashew is actually part of a fruit. It sticks out from the bottom of the fruit. The fruit isn’t really usable because it spoils very quickly. The shells were once dried, ground up and made into brake pads for cars. Now the extract the cashew oil from the shells. We got to taste all kinds of flavors of nuts. I bought several jars. We will probably eat them up on the rest of the trip. They also had bars which we bought to have as a snack while we’re out on tours. From there we drove back to the drop off point. We went by a beautiful beach we could see between the trees. I managed to get one decent picture of it. When we got off the bus, we were offered a ride back to the jetty for the tender. We decided to go across the street to get a cold drink and use the facilities. Then we decided to tempt the fates again and order an Hawaiian pizza again. It was delicious. We watched the waitress make it and put it in the pizza oven across from where we were sitting. We have 2 days at sea, so if anything goes wrong we won’t miss any ports!
‘Then I just had to get my feet in the water, so I found a stairway down to the sand and waded in the warm ocean for a bit. I gathered a few shells and got my little bag of sand. Bunny waited in the shade. Then we got on the tender back to the ship. We both worked on photos when we got back. I had some problems uploading them from my iPad to this program. I got frustrated and decided to go take a dip in the infinity pool. We were just taking off when I got there. It’s always fun to see the sail away. I took my dip for a few minutes, got cooled off, had a big glass of ice water with lemon and I was a new person. When I came back, most of my photos had uploaded. A little neglect did the trick!
‘We had a quick dinner in the Cafe so we didn’t have to get dressed up. The entertainment tonight was really good. He is a pianist who plays Elton John and Billy Joel songs. The theater isn’t as crowded since we lost 200 people in Singapore but everyone there tonight was singing along and clapping hands. We set clocks back another hour tonight.
‘Photos; sunrise in Phuket. My finished batik, a glimpse of the beach. I call the next photo, I hate steps! The elephants around the memorial, my new best friend, the tourist cop, the temple, the young lady shelling the cashews and the shelves of nuts. The last photo is the beach where our tender arrived.
Tomorrow is the first of 2 sea days, you may not hear from me until the second day unless something worth reporting happens. We have a new art class starting. Hope it’s good. Good night from me, good morning to you.
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