Fifth Day in Phuket

On our itinerary today was a full day of touring Phuket Island. Our first stop was at an elephant camp where we had a short ride on an elephant. While at this camp we found out that another camp up the road had a brand new elephant baby! He was born on Valentine's Day and appropriately named Valentine; he was thus only 8 days old. It was quite special because normally the mother will not let you touch the baby, but this mother was very generous and let us pet him. He was sooo cute! From here we took a scenic road to Karon View Point. We then carried on up the mountain to see the new Big Buddha. He is 45 meters tall and made of white jade from Burma, his eyes are black jade from Burma and the white if the eyes are made of Mother of Pearl from Phuket. He is seated on a marble lotus and is supported by 76 pillars representing the 76 provinces of Thailand. He is still under construction because he went over budget! Quite impressive nevertheless, not to mention the views from the site are outstanding. A bronze model is situated next to the jade one (but smaller) and will remain there even after the big one is completed.

Having visited the Big Buddha and the temple up there, we continued to Chalong Temple, the largest and most famous temple in Phuket. One of the differences between a Chinese and a Thai Buddhist temple is that the Thai construction uses real 24 Carat gold leaf in its decorations. After the temple we went to a state controlled jewelry and hand craft place. There was a nice sapphire ring that I liked, but did not buy. Next stop was a cashew factory. Here we were shown how they harvest the nuts one by one. They actually crack open each nut by hand! Amazing. The fruit looks a little like a pear and the nut sits at the end of it. Only one nut per fruit. No wonder they are expensive in the US. We were given numerous samples and also bought some. Our last stop before lunch was a Chinese mansion over 100 years old. It contained items from many parts of the world and scenes from several movies, such as The Killing Fields, The Young Indiana Jones and Good Morning Vietnam were filmed there. Surprisingly a family still lives there on the upper levels, but have kindly opened portions of the mansion as a museum.

We were supposed to have lunch inside a waterfall, but unfortunately due to climate changes it has dried up and they moved the restaurant to a different location. The ambiance was less than spectacular but the food was good, except the beef was tough as shoe leather. Our last stop was at a farm cooperative - it was run by the entire village. Here they grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers such as orchids and Birds of Paradise. They also have water buffalos and they had a white one. Quite rare - only one in a thousand born. In addition they grow and harvest rubber trees. We saw how they tap the trees and process the natural latex. One of the highlights was the coconut picking monkeys. Our demonstration was given by an 11 year old, female pigtailed macaque, named Linda. After our demonstration she was rewarded with fruit. We were told that she also likes candy and I had some toffees from the cashew factory that she loved. She took the paper off herself and was really happy with the fruity and milk variety, but she dissected the peanuts out of the coconut/peanut one because she only likes cashews! Very funny! It was quite a day!


Back at the hotel we had a swim in the pool and later went to the Owners' Party here at the resort.