Phuket, Thailand December 15-19, 2014

Phuket, Thailand 

December 15-19, 2014

We had great winds sailing from Ko Phi Phi to Phuket.  

And then it was time to pack our bags, go ashore, and say goodbye to our new friend Captain.

We would all be going our separate ways…Captain to decide upon his Thailand plan, some of us to climb and some of us to head off to northern Thailand.

We loved Phuket Town.  

A common sight was photographers with huge cameras and Russian women striking poses amidst the columns of the coloured buildings. 

Night time of course, held its own special magic.

Our favourite street under lights.

Our farewell dinner In Old Phuket Town.

This man sold what we liked to call "happiness in a glass" right outside of our guest house.  It was iced cocoa.  The recipe…Dutch cocoa, sweetened condensed milk, milk and ice blended into a yummy concoction that we truly would have sometimes three times a day.  For how much…20baht a cup, about 40 cents.  

Waiting in anticipation of that chocolatey goodness.  We had these drinks in other places but none could compare to this particular stand.  We think he truly had the best cocoa.  Remember the price…check at the size of the cups…the big white ones in front of Jim.  

We visited the Big Buddha, a dream funded solely by donations, and still under construction.

The statue of Lord Buddha is 45 metres high and 25 metres across.  The body is layered with white Burmese marvel that shines in the sun.  It is regarded as a natural symbol of hope.

A smaller Buddha image, 12 metres high, is made of 22 tons of brass.  

We listened to the monks chant.

We received a monk's blessing.  

We passed elephants,

on the side of the road,

and had beautiful sunsets. 

We rode to Patong...

to the night market...

and the streets all lit in neon lights and music…

and entertainment of all kinds.

We visited the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project.

We met volunteers crazy excited about the work they were doing there.

 Our little friend here is stuffed.  The gibbons at the sanctuary are not allowed to interact with humans.  We are allowed to observe them from afar so that they will eventually be reintroduced into the wild, once they establish a family unit.  

(For those with keen eyes, you will see my Buddha blessing bracelet on my wrist.)

Jim and I adopted a young female gibbon.  Our money will help to support her at the sanctuary for one year.  We chose her in hopes that she would find a mate, they would start a family, and be set free to begin living in the forest.   

A rubber plantation. 

Rubber was once a big crop, but died down due to the introduction of synthetic products.  With the high price of petroleum, it has begun a resurgence.  Natural areas, like the home of the gibbons, have been cut to plant rubber trees, along with the oil palm tree.  Humans are historically guilty of thinking about today without the consideration of how those decisions will affect tomorrow.

Our guest house in Phuket.

It was one of our favourites during our time away.

From Phuket we invested many dive opportunities.  Without needing much convincing, the four of us decided we would jump on a live-aboard dive trip and visit the highly acclaimed Similan Islands.  

Crossing into Thailand, December 12-15, 2014

Crossing into Thailand

Ko Phi Phi Island, December 12 - 15, 2013

 We left the Tropicbird anchored offshore, and went to explore Ko Phi Phi Island.  Natalie and I had been 20 years ago, before the development, before the tsunami and then the new development (which seems to be fast and furious, and not welcomed by many of the local people).

We had conversations with many of the local people, sharing many perspectives of the disaster of the tsunami.  Lives lost, families changed forever, terror, sadness, opportunities.  I just cannot imagine what it would have been like when that wave came in.  

Jim happened upon a man at the beach around sunset.  He was alone.  They chatted.  He said he had lost his entire family in that wave.  He comes to the beach frequently to just be close to them.  They sat together, sometimes quiet, sometimes talking.  Then they walked back into town.

Our boat driver was out on tour near the beach from the movie "The Beach".  His clients were wanting to jump into the water.  He sensed something wasn't right.  Then, he glanced over and noticed the boats near shore were on sand.  Despite the negative reaction of his clients, he chose to go out to sea which saved all of their lives.  

We spoke with a young man who was on the beach at Ko Phi Phi that night.  He had an argument with his friend and left.  This saved his life.  He chose to return later to help out. This turned into great opportunity for him.  A safe filled with money was found, returned and produced a reward.  He was hired by a filmmaker who was doing a documentary on what had happened.  His friend also lived.  Their friendship survived as well.

Many, many stories.  All of them life changing.  

Turquoise water, white sand beaches, and dense tropical jungle.  The climb up was steep, incredibly hot…but oh so worth the effort.

After climbing up, we made the steep descent down the other side to the quiet beaches.  

We truly descended into paradise. 

The boat needed to move up the beach.  So all available hands were called in.  Do you see Omar and Jim?

Many hands make the work easy…okay, so I didn't actually lift anything, but it looked easy!  They are rolling the boat on logs.

It must have been tough work, because it required an immediate siesta.

Alison and I didn't want to miss anything in SouthEast Asia and were dedicated to experiencing as many massages as possible.  Our first was a foot massage in the Cameron Highlands.  We still ask ourselves, "what were we thinking? Why did we choose 45 minutes instead of an hour?"

 Rhiannon, Alison and I had our first Thai massage in Ko Phi Phi.  We laughed together as we were twisted and pulled and stretched.  We tallied up many, many massages in a variety of locations, and never was it performed in exactly the same manner.  But the constant was the smiles and the laughter, and of course the dreamy after effect. 

No pictures can truly capture the beauty of this area.

We hired a boat and driver for a few days and he showed us to his favourite spots.  We went to the beach where "The Beach" was filmed.  However, we only peaked and didn't get out.  Tours from Phuket and Krabi come here by the hundreds.  The boats were literally lined up side by side.  The people on the beach were standing side by side.  It was something you wouldn't believe unless you saw it yourself.  Nothing like the sparsely populated beaches of 20 years ago.  

Look at me…I am flying!

There are simply no words to describe this…it was hot, really hot…the water was so refreshing but not cold…it was clear and the snorkelling was awesome.

We stopped at this lonely beach.  Here we received fresh spring rolls from the Australian couple who had brought the boat.  They had a small tour group which had come for a picnic.  Lucky us to score the leftovers.

The caves, inside and out, were covered in this fragile, bamboo scaffolding.  Jim had read that someone lived inside and used the scaffolding to collect bird nests for bird nest soup.  Yes, the water was really that colour!

We snorkelled.

The views from our little boat were breathtaking everywhere you looked.  

Matt and Rhiannon were in this area, and around Krabi, to climb. It was a climber's paradise.  

We watched beautiful sunsets, and after three nights, we went back to Tropicbird to sail on.