Day 2

Armed with our own clean clothes and bunch of cameras, we set out on day 2, a tour of the island and the city. It was nice, but it was more like a few of the nice viewpoints, a couple of tourist traps, an amazing temple, and an interesting dinner.

 Warning: Elephant crossing. Don't see that in the states! To clarify - there are no wild elephants in Phuket. There were trekking companies, though, whose paths crossed the road.

 This eagle was available for holding and pictures, if you paid. To give you a clue - 100 Thai Baht is worth $3.21.

 Three beaches along the west side of the island.

 

The travelers at a lookout point.

 This is the lighthouse we saw. 

 

 We were requested to take our shoes off to enter. We went in and climbed to the top.

This was the view from the top.

This is the small pagoda that was surrounded by elephants.

I love the little ones.

 There were like little sets and families of elephants. I did not take a picture of the center because we have been told not to take pictures of Buddha. Although in Thailand and Cambodia it seems we could have. But we didn't just be respectful and the sign at the airport kind of scared us too.

After that we headed to Wat Chalong. A Buddhist temple in Phuket. It was beautiful.

 I'll post more on that tomorrow.

Our bay cruise

We went out and around the bay on a dinner cruise. It was really nice. the weather was really pleasant.

 We boarded this boat. It was nice.

 

 Daniel chilling on the ride.

 My father-in-law enjoying the rest.

Some of our nice views of the sunset as we ate our dinner.

Enjoyed our ride.

It was an awesome first day. And when we got back to the hotel our luggage had arrived.

To Continue my trip.

I am skipping back a few days. After riding the adult elephants, we went over the babies and watched them perform for us. I say babies, but they are 3 and 5 years old.

They were so cute. Then I got to feed them.

I had so much fun. If I was in love with elephants before, now I am enamored.

They posed for pictures after their little show. Do you like our mini-mart clothes? I actually do love the linen shirts. The dress was a spaghetti trap so I felt more comfortable with the shirt over top.

After the elephant stuff we were shown a few things. Like rubber tree tapping.

 They cut a small rut around the side of the tree and the rubber sap runs down around and into that cup. It is the oddest feeling stuff. It's hard to believe that rubber is a natural occurring substance.

 While watching the presentation about pressing the rubber this cat decided it needed Daniel's full attention and hopped up on his lap.

Then they showed us the plowing of the fields with the water buffalo.

 They use water buffaloes because they can thrive in the mucky moist swamp lands that they use to farm rice in.

 

Then we got to ride in the cart. Daniel just kept hoping the animal wouldn't pass gas.

This was our view:

Cute, huh?

 

Rice in various stages.

We also saw how they work with coconuts, how they shell the rice and we got to taste some coconut pancakes. They were very good.

Then were driven down to Chalong Bay port and ride the boat and eat dinner while cruising the bay.
We rode in an open jeep. It was awesome.

Today was great.

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, here are 5,000 words for you.

 Yes, that's a real elephant.

 My new babies.

 Our new kitty.

Beautiful Sunset.

And my favorite:

Elephant kisses from Charlie.

He painted that painting I bought.

What do you think? Good vacation? I think so.

It got better.

After one more mishap, things have gotten better. We knew our tour was to start at 12:30 where they would pick us up in the lobby. So after lunch when the guy in the lobby asked us our name and for our voucher, we thought we were good. Not. About 15 minutes out from the hotel he asks us if we did our Safari (the one scheduled for today) yesterday. I said no, this was what we were reporting for. He said, no, he was picking us up for the city tour. So he pulled over and called his boss.

Daniel talked to the boss and I called the other tour company to let them know there was a problem. After a few demands we headed back to the hotel. The city tour company was being kind of ornery because Daniel was not the one who had booked the tour and so they wouldn't be helpful, but I was on the phone with the Safari people for today letting them know we were going to be late back to the hotel. So we got back, out of the wrong van and into the right van and were on our way.

(I have to say here THANK YOU to my father-in-law who was the only one who had his camera on his carry on. We had 2 iphones between us, but the camera was nice. So glad he got new batteries and let me carry it through the day.)

We drove about 40 mins. through seaside roads and up and down steep hills and into Chalong Bay area. We were taken to the base area of the Siam Safari camp and then embarked on a wonderful adventure. 

 The happy campers in their  souvenir shop clothes headed to the Thai jungle. 

 Riding the tractor up to the elephant part.

 I felt about as tired as I look. I love my new pink shirt though. It's got some really nice embroidery on it. Daniel is also digging the linen clothes.

We rode behind this tractor up a steep hillside.

 I think we were moving about 1 mile per hour. Very slow.

 

We were introduced to Tin Tam who is a 34 year old Indian (Asian) elephant. the pink you see on her ear and truck develop as they age. In the late 1980s Thailand outlawed using elephants for logging and they have all been taken care of in sanctuaries like this one. This one is 18 years old.

This is what you ride on. It's a two person bench atop the elephant's back.

Daniel and I then "boarded" our elephant, "Bho So." She was 25.

 The jungle pathway that looped around. You can see the hat and back of the mahut who is in charge of Bho So. Each elephant has one mahut and each mahut is assigned only that one elephant and they are companions for life.

This is the view from the top of our loop. It Is Chalong Bay at the south end of Phuket Island.

 This is the green of the mountain side.

 The mahut uses his feet, or that hook you can see in his hands, to direct the elephants. Left ear means go right, right ear means go left, and a bonk on the forehead means back up. Their skin is about 1 inch thick. When he bonked her forehead it sounded like hitting a hollow coconut. Didn't really phase her.

 Our mahut took this picture. Excuse the flash and the leaning back. And can you see the little cold sores I'm fending off? Oddly enough tiger balm helps as well as the abreva every two hours.

I'm sorry this is a little fuzzy. But there you have it, we are on elephants. Daniel and I each took our shoes off at one point to feel their skin with our feet. It was amazing. Not really dry or leathery at all. The few hairs that are on their skin feel like a lot more when you touch them. Oddly enough, you can't feel any heat radiating from them.

Then it was time to treat our elephants to thank them for our ride.

 Of course you have to buy the basket of food for your elephant. Pineapple, sugar cane, watermelon, small bananas (which are very good by the way) and banana leaves. They get greedy as soon as they see that basket. It was pretty funny.

 Here we are with Bho So and her mahut. It was an awesome experience.

 This guy would tell Tin Tam "action" and she would pose with her mouth open and her trunk up and then he would flip her ear around your head. It was funny.

"Action"

Well I need to go to bed now so I have energy for the day tomorrow. I'll keep posting as we go.

And the best part of the day was when we got back to our room our luggage was there waiting for us. Drugs, cameras and clean clothes. Yay. we'll sleep well tonight.