The ship arrived in Phuket Region, Patong Beach, just after sunrise at 7am where we dock for 2 days.
After a quick breakfast, David and I check out of the ship (Graham and Di were on a recovery day) and board a ferry tender to Patong beach, 15 minutes later we fight our way through crowds of taxi drivers, outing touts, tourist agents and street traders and wander along the beach. Ten minutes away we encounter a less frenetic taxi driver who is willing to negotiate and we secure his services for the next 6 hours.
Two cruise ships pulled into the bay today, ours first, and as we were up and out very early, it certainly helped. Parts of the town, and various tourist attractions, were heaving. Zip lines, honey making factories, jewellery factories, crocodile farms and elephant jungle rides….
Our driver Jit agreed to take us on a round trip, steering away from the chaotically busy Phuket city. The area reminds us of India, but without the noisy chaotic driving, street mess or dry dusty atmosphere.
He drove away from the beach up into the hills, telling us where every school was along the route, proud that they all spoke English, and advised that the minority of schools were free and the majority were private and very expensive. More money = nicer uniforms! However, English schools are full of mixed race children, old English fathers and young local mothers 😂
He also kept referring to the jungle on both sides of the road, in his broken English he kept saying “many slake ching kobla”! Then he pointed out a sign for a popular tourist activity, cuddling King Cobra’s, we kindly said no thanks.
First stop was an elephant sanctuary, where 17 elephants were looked after, mainly youngsters under 4 years old. One 12 year old mother, mama to several of the babies, was currently in an animal hospital bring treated for leg issues, so her youngest daughter was playing up being very playful and active. The handlers brought the elephants out of a pen, we were all given a basket of bananas and ample opportunities to feed any of the elephants wandering about. Some were encouraged into a pool to be scrubbed, some were just hosed down, we opted for just feeding them.
Its always been a wish of mine to do this but once alongside them for a photography session with David, the naughty daughter starting dancing, moving her head and feet from side to side, frightening me a little, so I retreated and went to feed another quieter elephant. They are such gentle giants, very hairy and yet obviously so very clever. They only respond to their handler and forget nothing, apparently!
We then stopped at Wat Chalong temple complex, a group of temples where locals still pray and visitors pay respects to several revered monks (well, their efigies) who were the founders of Wat Chalong, among them Luang Pho Cham and Luang Pho Chuang, two monks who led local citizens in a fight against the Chinese rebellion in 1876 and with their knowledge of herbal medicine helped cure the injured.
The most recent building on the grounds of Wat Chalong is a 60 meters tall ‘Chedi’ sheltering a splinter of bone from Buddha himself. Walls and ceilings are decorated with beautiful painting illustrating the life of Buddha, as well as many golden statues of other revered icons who protect him. Wat Chalong Chedi is built on three floors so we climbed all the way to the top floor terrace to get a nice birds eye view of the entire temple grounds.
Few more steps lead you to a glass display where the fragment of bone can be contemplated and revered, as it was by many during our visit.
Next stop was up a mountainside, the tall concrete and marble statue of Big Buddha Gautama that can be seen for miles around, 45m high and 25m wide. Sadly we couldn’t get up close as recent bad weather had washed away the entrance steps. Entertainment was provided by several monkeys.
However its position on the hilltop gave us fantastic views of the island, Karon beach (famous as being the beach badly hit hy the 2004 Tsunami) one side, Chalong Bay the other side, Phuket city in the distance with the big Buddha in between.
We had lunch overlooking Chalong Bay, a small restaurant recommended by our driver and run by two young girls who tried very hard to speak English before breaking into giggles. We had a fantastic meal of green Thai chicken curry, jasmine rice, chicken pad Thai and two cokes for under £7. Fresh, delicious and so tasty!
Jit then took us back to the ferry terminal in Patong Bay via Karon beach and our day was wrapped up with cold wet flannels and orange water before getting back on the ship.
The evening was spent relaxing, eating and crowned by David & Graham winning the evening’s quiz – subject was Motown Music! We are all back to feeling 100%, and fully recovered, thank you for your messages x
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