Phuket, Thailand

Thursday, December 14. Phuket, Thailand

The ship docked at Phuket at 6:00pm this evening, giving us one last day at sea for our trip. Quite a relaxing day with an interesting lecture at 10:00am on Singapore.
After an early dinner at Sette Marie, the Italian restaurant, we set out on a 1 hour bus ride to see the Simon Cabaret. I don’t think any of us had any idea what we were in for. It turned out to be a spectacular cabaret performance with colorful costumes, lively, but very loud music performed entirely by the most gorgeous women you have ever seen…….. except they weren’t women........they were transgender men! Had we not been forewarned, we would never ever have realized that these women were men (or is it the other way around?). What they go through what with implants, surgeries and hormone treatments must be incredible. Following the show, they were all lined up and for a couple of bucks you could have your picture taken with them which many people did. Even being up close to them, you would never ever have guessed that they were men. That was too creepy for me so I didn't move in for a picture..
On the way back at 11:00pm the streets were all lit up and there were hundreds of open air restaurants, some big, some small and all of them were very busy. Our guide told us that partially because of the heat, not many people cook dinner at home. He also said it’s less expensive to eat out on the street than to buy your groceries. During the day most of the stores and restaurants would be closed and wouldn’t open again until nighttime. Everything was very clean and tidy.
Late arrival back and in bed by 12 o’clock.Read more