Phuket, Thailand

Phuket is a small island on Thailand's west coast. It is well-known for it's sandy beaches and upscale resorts and is a popular holiday destination for Asians and Europeans. The interior of the island has a number of rubber plantations.

Albert and Betsy visited Phuket with Albert's parents, who we thank for a lovely holiday. We stayed at the Marina Cottages on Kata Beach. Our "cottage" was fairly far up the hill from the beach - in order to get there we had to walk along wooden walkways and had to climb several steep flights of stairs. Happily, someone from the resort carried our bags! In the picture at left, Albert is walking from our cottage to the beach. The small town around the beach really caters to tourists. The signs are mostly in English, German, and French, and many of the restaurants feature Western food.

The beach really was beautiful. The sand was white, the water was turquoise, the sky was blue, the palm trees were green - just how you imagine a tropical beach should be! Although Betsy is squeamish about swimming in anything other than a pool, Albert enjoyed snorkeling. Albert also went parasailing (that's him in the picture at right). Since we quickly reached our beach limit, we rented motorbikes and rode into Phuket town. At the first major intersection we came to, the traffic cop pulled us over and told us to follow him to the police station, where he issued us tickets for not wearing our helmets (which had broken chin straps). We were a little concerned about that until we realized that our fines came to a total of US$15!

We also went for an elephant ride. We climbed a flight of stairs, and stepped onto the elephant's back from there. The seat was an uncomfortable two-person bench that didn't feel very stable. Our guide sat astride the elephant's neck, and we set off for a short trek through the jungle. We quickly came to the conclusion that a long elephant ride would induce sea-sickness. It's not a stable ride, particularly up or down hills. Adding to our anxiety was the fact that our elephant did not seem to be happy about going for a walk. She made a variety of odd elephant noises that made our bench vibrate. She was happy to come across a coconut on the ground. She stepped on it to open it and then carefully pulled the tasty parts out with her trunk. We were impressed with her dexterity, although we had a hard time watching from our perch on her back.

On one of our days in Phuket, we got up early and headed to the north end of the island to join a cruise through the bay. The bay is filled with fantastic rock formations and interesting islands. After several hours, we arrived at James Bond Island, where we are standing in the picture at right. This beach with it's strange rock protruding from the water was featured in The Man with the Golden Gun. Although it seemed as though we had traveled quite far from civilization, the beach was packed with vendors selling postcards and shells and was crawling with tourists. It was a little disappointing. However, it was a beautiful day and a beautiful place, and we thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride.