Phuket – Being a tourist, alone.

It’s sometimes awful to be alone, but often it’s great. Today was one of those days. I’m in Phuket now, in a very nice room (with a jacuzzi) of an excellent hotel. I’m shamelessly going soft – recharging before I hit Malaysia.

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.