Out and about day. We hired a local driver and mini bus for the day, it cost us $17 each for the six of us. A cheap day's entertainment. The mini bus was modern, clean, air conditioned and very comfortable. The driver spoke English and was an excellent guide. We left at 8.30 and got a txi to where we had to meet the driver, apparently there are territories involved and this complicated matters, but worked all right for us. We headed off on our tour and soon arrived at the Tin museum. A lot of Portugese and Chinese influence in the museum showing the history of the mine, it was very interesting and very well done. They are still working on the museum, as they are on most things in Phuket, it seems they get halfway through something and lose interest and move onto something else, it may be financially driven, of course.
We called in at a lookout and it had a beautiful view of Patong and they bays and mountains, you could see the big buddha on the top of the mountain. We called in to see the big main temple, can't say I am a fan, just big gold statues with lots of stuff around them, see one and you have seen them all. While we were there they were preparing for a funeral. It must have been someone important because they were setting up marquis and hundreds of chairs. Apparently if you die they set off fire crackers about every five minutes until after the funeral, it brings good luck apparently, fine for the dead guy, but what about all the other people who have a heart attack because they are not expecting it. They also have market stalls along the side of the temple to catch all the tourists while they are there and sell them junk, hey a captive audience and a nervous one at that with all those fire crackers going off.
We have been very lucky, we have always managed to find clean or fairly clean toilets, always carry tissues, you never know when you might need one, and the food has been amazing, just be careful and sensible about where and what you eat. The people are fantastic.
After the temple we went to the big buddha and checked him out. He is not finished yet, so it was a bit like the buildings in Europe, covered in scaffolding. We got our first glimpse of the monkeys, friendly little fellows, but stole a coconut from a lady. It really is very big, though and it will be very impressive when it is finished.
On the way down the mountain we stopped for Gerard and I to go for an elephant ride. What an amazing experience, they are so high up and they really don't walk along gently, you know when they sort of sway from side to side, well, when they do that and you are up on top of them, the sway is magnified a 100 times and you swear you are going to fall off. Hanging on for grim death springs to mind. It's not too bad when they go up hill, but on the way down you just feel like you are going to slide off and end up on your face on the ground with an elephant about to step on you. When the elephant decides to eat he doesn't care that he has passengers, he heads off into the bush as far as he can, you get covered in tree and scratched by branches, while he has a snack, well the poor thing has to eat to get up the next hill with these heavy people sitting on top of him and its very hot!! Halfway back the guy driving the elephant reaches in to his bag and brings out souvenirs to sell you. I figured we would be dumped in the bush and told to find our own way back if we didn't buy anything and we may never see the minibus or the others ever again, so buy we did. Arriving back Nick and Michael were waiting with the cameras, so they have some good shots of us on the elephant. We made it in one piece, but I have some bruises from the rough ride and holding on so tight. It was fun though. The baby elephant was so cute!!
We left the elephants to go and have lunch and our driver took us to a seafood restaurant on the beach and we had the experience of choosing your fish and pawns live from the tank to have them cooked for you. Gerard ate Kevin the schnapper and I ate Patsy, Paula, Pam and Penelope the prawn sisters. Kevin came out in a dish on top of a small fire and he was boiling away in a sauce of ginger and vegetables, he was cooked beautifully and Gerard managed to get him on the outside as well as the inside. Another shirt to wash, oh well!! The pawn sisters were deep fried, head on, but butterfly filleted with salad. They were yummy, but I couldn't bring myself to eat the head, they were looking at me! Let me tell you about pineapple juice, it is lovely here, not too sweet and so refreshing, loving it. It is very different to Aussie pineapple juice.
We drove back along the beaches and stopped at Patong beach for Liz to have a swim, the rest of us didn't take our bathers and just went for a walk along the beach. We got back in time for happy hour and free cocktails. I had never really had much to do with cocktails, but they are yummy here, not too much alcohol and very refreshing. Pad Thai for dinner.
