March 31
During our approach this morning we passed numerous small islands before entering the channel and navigating the shallow waters of the harbor. The ship then maneuvered into the turning basin and docked at 7:00 a.m. We were up very early as we booked a tour, Betty just had to ride an elephant as it was on her bucket list. I was not too keen on the idea. Apparently a lot of people wanted to do this as we had 8 bus loads of passengers and crew throughout the day. Our tour bus left at 7:30 and we drove from the south end of the island to the north end, passing through Phuket Town on our way.
Upon arrival at Island Safari Park we first were given a ride in cart powered by oxen, a bumpy ride hard on the back and butt.
After the ride we were taken to a hut and shown how to prepare a Thai Papaya salad. Betty did this as she is the cook in this family. She had to mash various ingredients like rice, chilies, yellow papaya, green beans, tomato and rice wine. It came out absolutely perfect and it was delicious and very spicy, good thing she didn’t listen to me and put in 2 chilies.
After finishing our little meal we had a chance to sit atop a Water Buffalo. The buffalo are still used all over Thailand and Vietnam in the rice paddies. We never thought we’d ever do this but we did, not sure I’d do it again.
He didn’t seem to happy when I got on, could it be my weight?
We then had a demonstration on how rubber is made. It is sort of like collecting maple syrup. The trees are tapped at night due to the heat of the day. The rubber is white as it oozes out. Once collected they take the latex, remove the impurities and add formic acid to it, turning it into a jelly form. It is then put thru a rolling machine and hung on bamboo poles to dry for 4 to 7days.
Now it was time to ride the elephants, Betty was really excited and I was not so sure this was going to be fun. Well was I wrong, this was a thrill of a lifetime. We had a blast riding and feeding our elephant bananas. Whenever the driver would say the word word ‘banana’ the trunk would come back and we would have to fill it. Our elephant seemed to have a mind of her own, the others would follow each other on a path where as ours would walk through the mud and over the hills. She didn’t like to be in the back so she pushed her way to the front of the group. Our driver told us she did not get along with one of the other elephants so he had to keep them separated or they would fight. We rode for about 45 minutes through the jungle and it wasn’t touristy at all. Once off the elephant we then went to a Elephant Show where Betty had a Elephant Massage. (This was a young elephant and she was very gentle. I even got an elephant kiss and she whistled in my ear.)
We then left the park and were taken to the Wang Talang International Lapidary Store where they tried to sell us jewelry. Upstairs they had a craft store where we bought a Christmas ornament. Then it was back to the ship, where a market was set up on the pier. The good thing was they sold big bottles of beer for $3.00 US. It must have been the most profitable stand there.
Dinner was a new experience for us. We never go to the dining room on port days, but when we went to the buffet, it was closed, instead the Bistro was open. We’ve never taken advantage of the Bistro before, it was a nice alternative.
After sail-away we headed on a north-westerly course throughout the night through the Andaman Sea to our next port which is Chennai, India.
