Snorkeling is high on the agenda for this tour, so it was another opportunity to practice with my waterproof housing.  My shots were better this time, but it’s still very hard to track a subject, and the with pressure the housing still presses buttons it shouldn’t.  I might have to work out some sort of foam buffer to sit around the button area.  I also chose the wrong snorkeling set to take it down.  Later in the day we dived a fantastic reef and I left it in the boat.  That decision did allow me to enjoy the views, and practice my equilisation techniques whilst diving as deep as I could.

Monkey beach is one of the few places in the world where monkeys enter the sea.  These guys come out to meet the incoming hordes, in the hope of food. Whilst most of the clan are not that keen on the water, and running away shreaking whenever a wave breaks near them, one little guy was showing off near me, performing duck dives and somersaults under the water.  Despite multiple warnings not to get too close, two people were scratched.  You can’t tell some people.

One of the most enjoyable things to do when in Asia is collect examples of bad English. I didn’t get a photo of the “Sham” motor workshop, but I would go so far as to say that this particular business would not be out of place in some parts of Australia. This expensive speedboat hasn’t had a comparable budget put aside for the sign-writing…

Leonardo DiCaprio’s leading role in The Beach did more for this particular bay than any other marketing exercise.  You can, in fact, book the very disgusting room in which he stayed in Bangkok.  This is The Beach, and these are some of the long-tail boats used for short trips amongst the islands and for fishing on calmer days.

Phi Phi Island was beautiful, and these huts look very tempting for a later return.

I don’t remember what island this is, but it is indicative of the hundreds, if not thousands, of nature’s dramatic punctuations in the otherwise  vast, crystal blue ocean of this region.

The boat dropped us onto an island for one last swim and a cocktail before heading home. I decided to do some rock-pool exploring, and stumbled upon a nest of three, maybe four Banded Sea Kraits.  I’m told that these are the most poisonous sea snakes in the world.  These guys were resting in tiny pools of water during low tide.

I have been rushing from one place to another so far, and haven’t had a great deal of time for R&R.  To prove that I actually did stop and take a break, here’s my first Singapore Sling for the trip.  I was supposed to drink this in Raffles in Singapore, but time didn’t allow me to get there.

On my final day in Phuket I realised that I hadn’t captured much of the daily lives of people here, so I snapped a few views out the front windscreen of our bus. Almost everyone gets around on small motorbikes, and you’ll often see families of three or even four crammed in tight onto one. This little girl looked like she was doing the steering and having a great time.

Mornings and nights will find hundreds of trucks loaded with workers, ranging from factory and farm laborers to hotel staff. This is one of the smaller ones. I’ve seen them loaded with up to 30 people.

The last few days I’ve been island hopping, finishing with my last one tomorrow, and I’ve seen a Muay Thai kickboxing event. This was the real deal as opposed to those shows put on for tourists.

I took a full-day speedboat tour to Krabi and a few islands to get a feel for the beautiful water and sands. Although the weather was pretty bad the water was very warm and the snorkeling fun. I will say that the quality of the reefs we saw was very average. Perhaps the tsunami made a real mess of things, perhaps I’ve been spoiled with what we have back at home – even in Port Philip Bay – or perhaps there is better to come. What made the tour great was that I shared it not only with the obligatory United Nations of Tourists, but with 6 off-duty guides. These local Thai’s were taking a rare chance to see the sights they don’t get to see when they are working, and were an absolute riot. Even with the bad weather we were all smiling, all day long. And to top it off they bought me beer for the return trip. Just me, mind you. I guess I look more thirsty than every other tourist in Phuket…

The trip out to the first island took about 90 minutes, during which their cameras didn’t seem to stop clicking. Mine was grabbed halfway through, and I was forced into this shot (Can’t you tell?). For the benefit of those who like to see me in photos (are you all nuts?) …

On the way out there were some interesting sights.  I can see how the tsunami was so devastating, as there is a very long shallow area, and the tides are quite dramatic here.  This guy is collecting “clams” (we call them pipis, whelks and cockles) whilst the tide is out. He pushes the box along, which apparently somehow “calls” the shellfish out, then grabs them and throws them into the box.

Halfway to the first island we passed a boat which seemed to be on fire. Seeing as our captain made no comment or radio call, I can only assume that someone was brewing local coffee or cooking up a storm inside.

My first attempt at snorkeling with my underwater camera housing was a mixed affair.  Whilst the camera didn’t get wet, I wasn’t able to see what I was shooting very well, and the PVC often pressed the function buttons whenever I dived deeper and the pressure increased.  It remains to be seen how successful I’ll be at shooting whilst scuba diving.

We stopped at Chicken Island.  I can’t remember why it is called that, but it’s a nice little sand atoll that has a shallow tidal crossing to another island.  On the landing area was a group of people repeatedly playing a snippet of Indian music.  I didn’t think much of it until someone explained to me they were filming for a Bollywood film.  This was a love scene, and I realised eventually that the two actors were lying on the ground kissing for each take, and that they had been filming the same take for the entire time were on the island – that would be about 45 minutes!

Around the Krabi region are small islands with caves in which people live. They set themselves up to collect birds nests for a period of time after which they set sail back to the mainland to sell their harvest.  Looks pretty peaceful, but I don’t suppose there’d be any wireless internet.

The trip home was very much a different experience to that going out. A storm hit us, and we all got extremely drenched.  Whilst this didn’t bother me at all the locals are not used to anything below about 28 degrees, and they were clearly suffering, even under their ponchos.  They still managed a painful smile, though.

Not too much to share photo-wise on this one, as I don’t want to throw up endless images of blue skys, green water, and impressive tall mountainous islands. You can Google “Phuket” for those shots.

The fabled light at the end of the tunnel. I should send this to those left working for Coles.

Inside this cave were a stack of fruit bats hanging from the ceiling. (What’s the correct term for a group of bats? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? I reckon it’s an Ozzy of Bats.) They stunk, and you can imagine how little air there was in there as the tide rose.

One of the cutest things in the ocean is the mud-skipper. This one looks like she needs to reapply her lipstick though.

Each of the boats had a guide to tell us about what we were seeing, as well as do the actual paddling. One of them was nick-named King Kong, for very obvious reasons. He was a huge for a young guy, and a riot. He fell out of the canoe at one stage, showing off for the two girls in his boat by trying to balance standing up. My guide told me in an earnest voice that all the other guides encouraged him to exercise regularly, and they assisted by doing so with him every day during their breaks.

This was their exercise – hackysack. Everytime you miss the sack, or kick it badly, you have to do a lap of the group. He was terrible at it, and they kept kicking it to him. That’s him messing another one up right now.

There were a surprising number of bouts featuring kids – I mean under 12 kids. However, they took it very seriously, and it was amusing to watcht the mums urge their boy on to hurt the other, whilst complaining that the other boy used some illegal tactic to harm their own son. This was another one of those times when I wish I had my fast lens and DSLR camera.

I’ve booked a bunch of tours so I can see as much of the islands as possible. First thing I thought of when flying in to Phuket International Airport was the amazing view of the islands! Of course, my camera was in my overhead luggage instead of my hands, so no pictures. I’ll have to do it on the way out.

Next thing that hit me as I exited the airport is that this is definitely the most humid place I’ve been to so far. Thai paper money doesn’t really suit this place. No paper does.

Driving into Patong Beach (totally destroyed by the tsunami) I felt a little more like I was in Fiji again. Poor local village housing combined with tourist-related shops, agencies and hotels, and to my total surprise a place called Rock City. More of that amazing place in the next post.

As soon as I reached my hotel the heavens opened. Tropical rain has been constant since I’ve been here. We’re possibly feeling the effects of the Philippine typhoon. I hope it clears up before my tours of Phi Phi, Krabi and something else start (June 26).

Today I decided to be a real tourist and chose to do the Phuket adventure tour.

Heavy storms stopped half of the activities from being available (many snakes are out and roads are blocked by fallen trees and flooded rivers), but instead of being unhappy about it (no refunds) I was perfectly OK because the remainder of my tour group had canceled thinking it wouldn’t go ahead, leaving me in the unique position of being able to stay at locations for as long as I wanted and ask any questions I wanted. The tour guide was rapt (and surprised?) to find out I was easy going, and opened up to me about everything. So in the end I got a personal tour guide which, after Bangkok, I’m learning is what I really need to be comfortable. Whilst the entire 5-hour tour was entertaining and informative, a few locations really stood out, and I was able to photograph most of the day as I had put my camera into it’s waterproof housing beforehand.

The ATV ride was supposed to be about getting the guest to a spot on the mountain where the view was spectacular. Today it was more about riding on an open four-wheeler, through driving rain, on wet main roads followed by very dodgy dirt tracks that looked more like rivers with canyons running through them. My guide hated it (they think 25 degrees on a wet day is cold) and was shivering terribly, but I loved it! Got a bit hairy at one point on the way down the mountain, as my brakes became fairly useless in the slippery mud. I’m only showing you a photo of these things in case you don’t know what an ATV is, because I can shoot in the rain, and so you can see the conditions.

During the day’s activities we checked out rubber tapping, which was freaky. Rubber being poured straight out of a tree? I know that’s where it comes from, but actually feeling it turn to rubber in my hands was weird. Another local industry is cashews. Did you know they grew at the top of an apple? I didn’t! The apple juice is really nice, too. We also dropped into a massive jewelry designer showroom. I bought Mishka and Mushroom a small cat statue made from fish bone or resin (depends which lady you asked) each.

The elephant ride & monkey show was a lot of fun, especially when you could interact with the animals so intimately. My ride (below) was very happy to raise her trunk onto the platform and watch me as I stroked her tough skin and thanked her for the gentle ride. Watching her eyes move around to match my movements, I could instantly see that within that massive frame is a very gentle creature that trusts humans and enjoys their company.

This baby elephant is brought out to “massage” guests. She’s three and makes the most adorable squeals. I was allowed to hang around with her for a while after the massage. I think she liked me too, as she kissed me for quite some time! Her kisses threatened to suck my entire ear off at one stage.

It seems that Thailand is full of attractive women just wanting to spend time with you. After the baby elephant came Samlee, who is apparently the reigning Miss World. She loved to hold my hand, have her belly rubbed, or if she was feeling shy, cover her face with my hand. For a creature that spends it’s entire time running around rough ground and climbing trees on all fours, she sure had soft hands!

I’m not a temple fan, but it is interesting to watch how the many Buddhist tourists interact when they visit these temples. This is Phuket’s most important temple – Wat Chalong. You may not have seen inside one before, but they allow photography here.

Finally, the snake show was excellent. Once again, improved out of sight because of the fact that I had everyone’s undivided attention. Holding a large python was really quite nice, and I wouldn’t mind one. Patting a King Cobra was thrilling – apparently the chances of seeing one around town are quite good right now. Hearing the story about the guide’s friend who lost a baby to a python last week wasn’t so good.

Gold-ringed cat snake

I was photographing this King Cobra (not realizing I’d be a lot closer to one later) when it saw me and raised it’s head in a defensive pose. It was quite unnerving. It turns out he could see himself in his reflection on my camera housing.

I think this is the mouth of a python.

Snake kissing. He also allowed it to latch itself onto his finger.

Kissing an Asian cobra

The fangs of an Asian Cobra

The King Cobra about to turn my direction.

A general observation – the world is a very strange place. In Melbourne we have the cleanest drinking water you can get, yet it hardly ever rains. Here in Phuket it buckets unimaginable amounts daily, yet they can’t provide a natural, clean drinking supply. Whilst on the ATV I collected about a litre a minute in the lap of my poncho, and one giant raindrop actually dislodged my right contact lens, reducing me to one eye for crevasse and flash flood negotiation. I’m writing this, so it must have been perfectly safe.

Finally, after a wet day being a tourist I headed off to Rock City. On my way out I saw this large green creature on the wall of my hotel room.