Phuket day one

Thailand has been on our must-see list for years, so we approached Phuket with a good deal of anticipation. We arrived in the pre-dawn hours and were thus unable to see any of the surrounding islets, but as the sun rose it showed us a beautiful environment.

Our plan for the day was to visit Phang Nga Bay. The tour left just before 8:00 for a 2-hour bus ride to the bay. Part of this length was simple distance: we had to go from the port all the way across the island of Phuket, take the bridge to the mainland, and then go southeast down to the bay. Part of the time was dealing with Thai traffic, which was plentiful. The drive did provide some interesting views of Buddhist temples, Islamic mosques, huge government buildings, farms, and a good number of super-sized 7-11 franchises. Apparently Asian 7-11’s are quite a Thing, and we look forward to exploring these over the next few weeks.

Once at the dock we piled aboard long, flat-bottomed boats specially designed to deal with the shallow waters of the bay. There was a definite jungle cruise vibe to the operation as we headed out among the mangroves to the open bay. We had always wanted to see this landscape and had come for the beauty alone. But the locals lean in hard on the fact that “The Man with the Golden Gun” was filmed here back in the early 70’s. The film location is dubbed “James Bond Island” and is a focal point of the tour. While the island is very cool and nice to see, it seems odd that this factoid would be what drew someone there. To each their own.

After zooming around the bay we stopped at a tiny floating village for lunch. There is an Islamic school and mosque in the village, and we saw the kids going about their daily routine. It was stiflingly hot among the maze of buildings, but the locals seemed not to care. We enjoyed a buffet lunch – which was rice and vegetables for us vegetarians – but were ready to get back out on the water after sitting in the motionless air.

On the way back to the port we made a shopping stop. We wound up buying some cashews and a couple other snacks. We’ve been enjoying the cashews in south Asia. These weren’t a great price as we were no doubt paying tourist prices, but they are good. Then back to the ship for a much-needed shower. We capped off the day with a nice dinner in Toscana with Jennifer and Ken.もっと詳しく