Oops! I sent the cart before the horse.
2457c The number of electric lines here on Phuket rivals any I have ever seen, except maybe parts of Rio
2470 The Promthep Cape Elephant Temple. In this picture you can see the south entrance and its golden elephant guardians. Further in is the second row of elephants and yet more around the base of Buddha's platform. You can see the ring of much smaller elephants on the ledge just behind the golden elephants.
2474 D with a golden elephant that has received several offering necklaces.
2476 These elephants are in the inner circle. Some have a multitude of flower offerings.
2480c The main Wat Chalong Temple building. It's easy to see that the third story, with the small buildings in each corner is much smaller than the first two. Most Buddhist temples I've been to are all one floor, or an outer perimeter with a slightly raised inner platform. This three-story structure is the first I've ever seen in the Far East.
Feb 15 – Phuket, Thailand. This is the first port in a while that is not new to us so you won't have to slog through all the historical stuff. Last time we were here it was just 9 months after the tsunami hit the western side of the island pretty badly. It was amazing how quickly the Thais were recovering. Much faster than some of the surrounding areas.
We are taking a tour around the island. Last time I was here I opted to take a boat out to the outer islands and their stilt villages so I didn't see much of Phuket.
The first thing that struck me while we drove around the island was the jumble of electric wires. I got a picture of some of them but not best examples. The wires appear to be strung in such a way that would make finding a problem very difficult. Maybe if they encounter a problem, rather than find it and repair it they just string a new wire to replace it.
Our first stop was at Promthep Cape, at the extreme southern tip of the Phuket Island. From here we could see Rawai Beach and it's only resort, the Siam Phuket Resort. You had to climb some steps to get up to the viewpoint.
Another stairway led further up the hill but in a direction away from the sea. I decided to go up anyway and discovered a temple apparently dedicated to elephants. It has a Buddha at its center but it is surrounded by elephants of all sizes and colors, gold, bronze, stone and ceramic. Some of the larger inner elephants were draped with numerous colorful flower offering necklaces. The perimeter of the temple has a large golden elephant on either side of the two stairs leading to the temple platform. Between these 8 large elephants are hundreds of small elephants of various colors and materials. Across the wide prayer area surrounding the Buddha is a rough square of larger elephants interspersed with incense offering sand filled stands and bowls. Some of the outer golden elephants had received flower offerings as well. No offence to Phuket but I've seen beaches, resorts and oceans all over but a little shrine or temple like this I've never seen before. I love these little, unexpected discoveries.
From Promthep Cape we headed north again past Chalong Bay and the city of Chalong to see the island's most famous temple Wat Chalong. The Wat Chalong temple complex is important because it holds a bone from The Buddha that was given to the King of Siam during one of his trips to India. The complex has 7 major buildings but we'll only have time to visit the most important one that has the relic.
The main temple has three stories. The first floor holds and array of golden Buddhas, some reclining, some seated and some standing. I am not able to distinguish the marks that identify the various Buddhas and since there were no signs I'm lost on who they all were. They were arranged in a U shape to allow space in the center for prayer and offerings. There are stairways on both sides of the back wall that have dragons for banisters. At the lower end of each stairway is the dragon's large, very ferocious looking head. The walls along the stairways are painted with scenes from Thai history especially the king who brought the relic and the two priests that are honored here.
On the second floor you are greeted by a white marble Buddha flanked by golden statues of the two honored priests. I'm sure the guide told us about them but I was off exploring at the time and don't know who they are or why they are honored. There are arrays of white flowers in front of the Buddha and a small table where offerings can be placed.
The third floor is very small compared to the first two which are the same size. Here the in center of a large carved marble lotus flower is an elevated crystal globe with the Buddha's bone in it. There's a gold and glass stupa shaped spire atop the globe. White lotus flowers and lotus buds are arranged around the base of the marble lotus. The view from the third floors balcony is worth the trip up. You can look out over the complex's other buildings and the grounds.
After visiting the main temple we walked around the grounds before heading to downtown Phuket Town. Not much is open today as it is Chinese New Year. They are going to take us to a jewelry manufacturing center, which (just coincidentally) has a sales showroom the size of two NBA basketball courts. Unfortunately, every Chinese person who can afford the vacation has headed to Phuket and decided to come here as well. It was jam packed with Chinese people and in true Chinese fashion as well. The little hospitality area where we were supposed to get some refreshments was totally clogged with Chinese families sitting on the chairs, tables, benches and planters. I took one look inside and decided it was not for me and headed out the door.
We noticed that some people were coming out of the building next door so we decided to go in. I'm not sure exactly what the building was but it had aquarium tanks all around the large lobby. We stayed in there until almost the time our guide said we should be out in front of the jewelry 'manufacturer'. They had a wide variety of fish from butterflyfish to sharks and skates. They even had a loggerhead sea turtle and a huge grouper. Everything was lit with blue light so pictures were hard with all the glare from the lights.
Next stop, Phuket Thai Village for lunch and a cultural show. Lunch was great. I heard a lot of grumbling that some of the food was too hot. Actually, based on true Thai spicing it was merely warm and I loved it. We ate in an open pavilion that had some fans to stir the air. It was very comfortable. The food was delicious.
The cultural show was very nice. It was narrated in English and went through the main sections of Thailand and performed dances from each area. They also had a demonstration of Thai boxing, kicking allowed, and Thai drumming.
After the show it was back to the ship and dinner. Our waiters surprised us with a Happy Anniversary cake and the singing of the Indonesian celebration song. Since we were at the Pinnacle Grill last night they didn't want to be cheated out of their chance to celebrate. Years ago we had our table captain, Andy Bali, translate the song for us. "May you have a long life! May you have a long life! May you have a long life and be glorious…and be glorious…and be glorious!!" Repeated twice. They sing it at every celebration, birthdays, anniversaries, whatever.
Feb 16 – At Sea-Strait of Malacca. This area of the world was known for centuries as a pirate ridden stretch of ocean. In modern days the folks around here have given up that profession for other more stable work. In the days of sailing ships the Strait of Malacca, which connects the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean was a heavily traveled way to get from the East to India. In fact it is still one of the most heavily traveled waterways but the pirates are gone.
As we are sailing towards Singapore we are continuing to have the calm seas and fair weather that this cruise has been blessed with.
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