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Published: March 10th 2016
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Phuket
On the boat at Pang Nga Bay Phuket, Thailand Feb. 15
No, it's pronounced poo-ket. No idea why they add the h.
Both interesting and disappointing. The port area is undeveloped, with no terminal passenger services or wifi. A tourist market springs up upon arrival. They offer typical cheap trinkets. One enterprising soul hooked up a router and was charging astronomical (tourist level) prices, perhaps $4US for an hour of not bad bandwidth. If you didn't want to go drinking or get a massage in town, or go hang at a beach or buy a pass to a local resort for the day, interesting sights and places were at least two hours away. The west coast is dotted with beaches and resorts, and Padong beach is rated amongst the world's finest.
Because of the distance, we opted for a ship's tour to Phang Nga Bay, an extremely picturesque tourist resort and fishing area down the coast of the mainland. We first heard of this place during a presentation by the excursions staff. The boss was playful lady who, when she first pronounced the name, said it high-pitched and very quickly as, "Fangabai," which she said was an incomprehensible inside joke in the excursions office. Now
Phuket
Bond Island we are incapable of saying the words normally, giving them the same rapid inflection as the excursions staff.
Our guide was Tukta, a lovely young Thai lady who filled some of the ride time with language lessons along with some history of the region. Sawadi-ka if you are greeting a female, sawadi-cra if male. Thank-you is similar, kakun-ka and kakun-cra.
A long bus ride took us north up Phuket Island and east across the Sarasin Bridge to the mainland, and then south down the coast. As with all places since we hit India, a mix of the ramshackle and the modern line the main roads, with few open spaces between.
Jane noticed what looked like ornate birdhouses in front of most of the homes. Tukta explained that these spirit houses provided symbolic food and shelter, or hospitality, to wandering spirits. These forces would then protect the household in return.
The main industry is tourism, and judging from some suggestive signs and business names, seems to include the sex industry as well. Night life is ubiquitous and very popular, for both younger locals and tourists. Cooking classes abound, promising to teach newbies how to balance the five
Phuket
Bond Island...the gift shop! fundamental flavours.
It is a stunningly beautiful tropical setting. We were near the location where the movie The Beach was filmed (DiCaprio or Depp? Leo, I think) and our bay cruise took us past the island featured as the evil guy's secret base in The Man With the Golden Gun. Lush forests, mangrove swamps where the water turns from brackish to somewhat fresh, and fascinating geological striations and caves dot the sheer limestone cliffs which rise hundreds of feet from the water.
This has become a major tourist trap, and the boats jockey for position to disgorge their loads to take pictures, have a swim, and buy stuff.
Dozens of dozens of flat-bottomed boats of many lengths and widths are everywhere n the water, zipping back and forth. Most sport powerful outboards with prop shafts a third again the length of the vessel, balanced so that the far end can be easily removed and dipped back in as the boats glide over and through the shallows and sandbars. Many are small fishing boats. Most are larger passenger vessels for the tourists. One particularly elegant speedboat sported four 250HP outboards.
Our return cruise stopped at Koh Panyi,
Phuket
Long shafted motors. ostensibly a fishing village built by Indonesian and Burmese Muslims fleeing ongoing religious and several wars. The whole village is on stilts to accommodate the tides, and juts into the bay anchored by the small spit of flat land where they built the mosque. All else is seawater and sheer cliff.
While the men actually do fish, and the children attend the madrassa attached to the mosque, the women and younger males run the tourist kiosks and restaurants which cater to the constant tourist flow arriving and departing by boat. They are quite well prepared for tourists and their haggling and you know you've made a mistake when you offer just over half of their first asking price, and they say, "Sure!"
The same spectacular island scenery on the return trip and we ended with a good Thai buffet lunch at a local resort hotel. Then the long drive back. That pretty well filled all our shore time, but most of it was spent on our butts watching scenery go by. Jane had to plead with the guide to at least slow the bus to let us have a better look at some of the sights we whipped
Phuket
Muslim fishing village. past on the outbound trip, including an enormous reclining Buddha, another standing about 12 meters and wearing Thai garb, and another massive seated black one bearing a strong resemblance to Mahatma Ghandi.
The Two Heroines Monument stands at the center of a roundabout, showing two women with very short hair in army uniform. Thai women have always taken deep pride in their hair and historically would grow it as long as possible. A few decades ago, Thailand was at war with Burma and the Thai Army had advanced on Burma in strength, leaving Thailand severely underdefended. These two sisters led a group of untrained "warrior women" who cut their hair short and donned uniforms to parade conspicuously around areas vulnerable to a strike by sea. Burmese spies and lookouts spotted these "soldiers" and revised their invasion plans. Clearly, Thailand had not been left undefended, and Burma, fooled completely, dropped its invasion plans.
Back at the ship, the vendors were dropping prices but quality was simply not there. All in all, a gorgeous place for beaches and scenery. We can't say much about people and culture as we were pretty much kept in a bubble. A place to come
Phuket
Muslim fishing village. back to, but with a very different itinerary, one emphasising relaxed and curious rather than rushed, although awestruck.
Looking forward to our Indonesian excursions, none of which have been booked through the sterility of the ship. Tonight we head for the Straits of Malacca, the gateway to Singapore.
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