We signed up for a “half day” tour today, but it ended up feeling like two days crammed into one. You’ll see why in a second.
After leaving the island, our first stop of the day was a small rubber tree plantation where we watched a demonstration on how rubber was made.
Note the white line of rubber running out of the tree and into the cup. There are miles and miles of rubber trees in Phuket and around it. Each and every one of the trees--now that I knew what to look for--had these small cups on them to catch the rubber from the incisions.
We didn’t linger long, though. Next stop: monkey caves!
After being assaulted on the Rock of Gibraltar by monkeys I knew to hold tight to my bag and not let go (as it happens, my picture on the sidebar is taken from an image of me with a monkey on my arm at Gibraltar). The monkeys were not the most interesting part, however: the caves house a temple with a large reclining Buddha on the inside.
Here’s the entrance to the temple:
And here’s the Buddha:
My camera didn’t photograph things well inside the cave, but you get the gist.
Again, we didn’t linger long. It was off to the water’s edge to explore Phang Nga Bay via long-tail boat and inflatable canoe. This took up most of the trip, but what interesting stops along the way!
First, Phang Nang Bay is a series of islands—the kind of islands you see in movies set in the tropics. The limestone rock creates some fascinating shapes. Mary and I saw these islands from the plane on the way to Phuket and were stunned. It was the first real glimpse of how far we were from home. Witness:
Crazy!
We traveled by “long tail” boat. I thought these were named because they were really long, but in fact the propeller for the boat is on the end of a pole about 10 feet long. It can be rotated in ways most props can’t, and because it is held like a rudder, it can adjust easily to shallow waters. Here’s some long tail boats bunched up a bit.
Our first stop on the boat was a Muslim fishing village propped up on stilts over the bay. It was certainly catering to tourists to support the 1,200 people that lived there. But during the rainy season especially, it is still a functioning fishing village.
(Note the distant islands too!)
We had a great lunch there and had a chance to look around a little before jetting off to the “crown jewel” of the Phang Nang Bay islands … James Bond Island.
Ever since The Man with the Golden Gun—in which this island is very visible during the final duel—this island has been called “James Bond Island” in an effort to get tourists out there to see it … tourists like us. So here were are, in the shadows and not well lit, in front of James Bond Island (AKA Ko Tapu).
Google Maps has an interesting satellite image of the island (it's the small thing in the bay of the big island). Check it out, and then zoom out a notch or two and you'll get a sense of the Bay.
After that the day closed with a much-too-long guided canoe trip through some of the limestone caves of one of the islands nearby.
We’re back at the Patong Paragon and are feeling exhausted. It was certainly an incredible ride and a great day out. But it zonked us a bit too. I think we're still both working out the jet lag kinks and I have a small head cold.
So bed time! Just as all y’all back home are starting the morning.
I hope everyone is surviving the rain and the weather. Good luck.
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