Phuket, Thailand

yesterday's sunrise from our balcony

Yesterday was a “stay on the ship” day by choice. Between the heat, my stamina level and a lot of “going and doing” we decided that we would just enjoy a day of catch-up and rest. Actually, we had an excursion that got cancelled and we didn’t bother to book another. Last night we spent the night off the coast of Phuket as our itinerary allowed us a second day here. We booked an excursion for today to make up for not doing anything yesterday. Through a process of elimination, we chose “Scenic Phuket and Elephant Camp.”

First, a bit about Phuket. It is a large island, located in the Andaman Sea in the southern part of Thailand. The island has a central mountain range running all the way from North to South covering 70% of the land mass. Much of its wealth comes from tin production which started back in the 1500’s. The tin industry enabled Phuket to have the first paved roads and cars in all of Thailand. Most of its visitors come for its beautiful beaches, especially on the West coast. The number of tourists exceeds the population of 460,000 by far.

Our first visit was to the Elephant Camp. Activities included an introduction to the elephants, making vitamin balls, feeding them bananas and watching them bathe and play in the mud pool. Asian elephants differ from African elephants (ear shape and size, shape of head, lips, etc). In Thai culture, elephants represent the strength and power of Buddha. Buddhists don't view elephants as animals, but as spiritual beings. They believe that placing concrete elephants at temple entrances guards against bad spirits and brings good luck. 

 

note small ears and head shape

 

 

 

"horsing" around in the mud pool

Buddhism is practiced by the majority of the population, while somewhere between 20-35% are practicing Muslims.  Our excursion also included a visit to Wat Chalong Temple. Wat Chalong Temple began as a monastery in 1837 and has grown into a large complex with various buildings. I won’t attempt to label them but the complex includes a Grand Pagoda that houses a splinter of the Buddha's bone, a sermon hall, ordination hall, mondop, monk’s residences, bell tower and crematorium. https://www.wat-chalong-phuket.com/ 

 

aerial photo lifted from internet

I took about 20-30 minutes to snap some photos while Ronnie napped on the air conditioned bus. We’ve seen temples in different places and in all honesty, it’s sad to watch people worshiping a dead “god”. Many places in scripture the one true living God warned his people not to make idols or bow down to "gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell."  

 

 

worshipers must remove socks and shoes and wear modest attire 

 

At the Wat Chalong Temple, firecrackers are lit in a cone shaped kiln on the temple ground whenever a person thinks their "prayers or wishes came true." They can be purchased at a nearby table. The salesman throws them through a small door in the kiln. They make an extremely loud racket and smoke bellows out the top. This happened a couple of times while I was there. 

fireworks show gratitude when a "prayer or wish" comes true

 

Wat Chalong Temple (holds a splinter of Buddha's bone)

There are a number of rules of etiquette when visiting a Buddhist temple. In addition to proper clothing and removing shoes and socks, you may not turn your back on a Buddha statue or take a selfie with one. If sitting, one must not point your feet toward one (legs should be tucked under you), one must walk clockwise, etc.

 

many paintings and statues representing Buddha's life

 

From there we were taken to a huge souvenir shop. And I mean HUGE. This is a business that depends totally on tourism. Ronnie said they had more employees than most stores have customers. You name it, they had it. From magnets all the way up to expensive statues.

 

Next we were taken to Sri Bhurapa Orchid cashew factory. In the courtyard, we saw cashews growing on a tree and being opened by hand before roasting. Inside we saw women demonstrating the traditional method of roasting and processing cashew nuts. We were offered free samples of probably 20 different flavors. Good marketing since it was after noon and we were all hungry! We bought the plain (Ronnie), BBQ (me) and honey sesame ones. 

I've mentioned this before, but raw cashews (not roasted) have a certain toxin in them that is poisonous. According to AI, “Truly raw cashews, still in their shells, are toxic because they contain urushiol, a poisonous resin also found in poison ivy that can cause severe skin irritation and is dangerous if consumed. However, ‘raw’ cashews sold in stores are actually steamed or roasted to remove this toxin, making them safe to eat. Once you understand how time consuming it is to process even one nut, it's easy to understand why cashews are one of the pricier nuts.

hand shelling the cashew nuts

 

The pear shaped fruit of the cashew nut is called a cashew apple. It is first green, then yellow (like the one above) and red when ripe. The flesh can also be eaten. The nut is the dark part that protrudes out of the bottom.

We were off the ship before 8 a.m. and didn’t get back until 2:30 or so. We had skipped lunch, so we were hot, tired and hungry by the time we returned to the ship. The commercial tender we rode over to the island on this morning was super hot – no windows to open and only one blow fan at the front! Thankfully, the tender coming back had AC and was quite comfortable. It held around 200 people. 

Tomorrow is a sea day which we will need to recuperate. Our days in port are enjoyable but the heat is not. We’ve now crossed the equator again (that makes 4 times due to change in itinerary). Tonight we set our clocks back so tomorrow we’ll be only 11 hours ahead of Texas time.