A Day in Phuket

Dear Readers:

I want you to see all our pictures but it is going to have to wait for most of them. Here on the Nautica, I am paying $0.50 a minute for the slowest internet in creation. Uploading pictures here is so frustrating because it takes so bloody long. The saddest thing about this is that we both know that I am having fun with this blog and the incorporation of the wonderful images into my stories is of paramount importance. However, I will need to get to a coffee house or hotel lobby somewhere before I do anymore serious uploading. I promise you though that as soon as I can get this stuff to you, I will, and the longer you wait, the better, because I am getting to be pretty damn good with the iPhoto software. For instance, the Singapore pictures have been sewed together in a grand slideshow that you will love.

Today’s Blog:

In the meantime, we have seen the island of Phuket.  Now our daughter Nicole preceded us to this place in 2005 between her grade 11 and grade 12 years at high school. A contingent from her school went there after the tsumani in 2004 to build houses for victims of that disaster. I envied her then but now her parents have caught up and can pass on to Nicole that we met a couple of your Phuket buddies yesterday. You still have quite a following here.

Today we also met Hathi a 45-year old beauty with dark skin, freckles and lovely toe nails.  Her hair was a little wild and she was a little rough around the edges but was a very kind and accommodating soul.  She was very generous and we responded with gifts of our own which resulted in a very satisfying bond between Hathi and the two of us. And thank God we brought those gifts because Hathi carried us through a swamp and up a hill on a 20-minute trek through the jungle. If we had not had a basket of green bananas with us we would have felt bad because Hathi worked hard for us in the 36 degree C heat. The whole elephant camp was a thrill. It included a ride on Hathi and a really cute baby elephant show in which the littlest elephant stole the show. The baby elephant gave people massages with her left foot while slobbering kisses from her trunk on the fortunate few receiving the treatments. She and her pals also threw darts at balloons, played basketball and soccer and did some posing for us. After each trick the smallest elephant would bow and bleat just like the baby elephant in the 1967 version of the Jungle Book whose name just happened to be Hathi Junior and you may recall he reported to his father Col. Hathi.

We also visited another Buddhist Temple while in Phuket, the Chalong Temple. It was very beautiful. This time I made an offering. And said a prayer. Voila! Last night and this morning the Indian Ocean is like glass. I hope that the rest of my prayers come true. The temple was the richest on the island. There was gold leaf and jewels everywhere and as in every temple complex there were relics from a real Buddha that were placed high up on the third story of the largest building.

Next we went to see a Cashew factory and you would never had thought that there was so much trouble producing those nuts that we all love to eat. It is quite a process getting the pit out of the fruit when it is ripe and then removing the nut from its shell. It is all done by hand and then it is boiled and baked at incredibly high temperatures for many hours.  The fruit and the hard outer shell of the pit are not thrown away. The fruit is made into juice or jam and is delicious. The hard outer shell of the pit is used to surface break pads!  I am not kidding, look it up. Then it was on to the tasting room. I have never seen so many flavors of cashews. There are the flavors that we are familiar with on potato chips like BBQ, Sour Cream and Onion and Garlic but there are also Wasabi, Tom Yum, Sesame, Honey, Sesame & Honey and Spicy Mix (very hot!) We tried them all and now our cabin is full of cashews. However they are so good, I do not think any will make it home. Sorry!

Finally we went to a jewelry store. This was no ordinary jewelry store it was Wang Talang. It specializes in lapidary, pewter and knock-off handbags. The deals on pearls, rubies and sapphires seemed very good and the displays were the largest I had ever seen. The main floor was like Tiffany’s on steroids. The entire store though was more like Ikea though because you could not go out the same door you came in. You had to find the exit. The salespersons were very nice and not the least bit pushy.  The best news though was that Linda restrained herself and we came out empty-handed. I am so proud of her right now.

On the way out of port tonight I saw some beautiful resorts perched on the hills at the southern end of the island. They looked nicer than most I’ve seen in Hawaii. And by the way there was no evidence of the Tsunami that we saw. Many people were swept away on that island but it is all cleaned up and although I am sure that the people have the scars, they seem to have moved past it. They are a strong people and they also have to thank the international community, including Nicole who stepped up and helped in their time of need.

Last night we went to the Grand Dining Room and had one of Jacques Pepin’s Canyon Ranch Spa inspired meals. It was a delicious 3-course affair that was healthy too. The food and the service aboard Oceania are exceptional. Mr. Pepin has just recently agreed to conspire as Executive Culinary Director with Oceania cruises and there is a channel onboard that runs his cooking shows over and over again. He is pretty cool.

We are currently steaming north to Myanmar in the Bay of Bengal and the surface of the sea is like glass this morning.  It is 9:30am and the temperature 28 degrees C. The humidity is 79% and the barometer is steady. We have another day at sea today and then we dock in Yangon until Saturday.