Tuesday, December 10, 2019; Phuket, Thailand

Tuesday, December 10, 2019; Phuket, Thailand

Last night we got to move our clocks back an hour, but it was still hard to get up with the alarm.  These back to back port days are exhausting.  This morning the ship dropped anchor outside the Port of Phuket, which is situated on the southeast corner of the Island of Phuket, which is a State within the country of Thailand.  The ship was operating tenders to shuttle people to and from shore.  We followed the prescribed procedures and all was orderly right up until the point where we emerged from the Port  entrance, which was not much of a facility other than a small building containing a restaurant and office next to the dock.  Tents were set up for money changing and then there was a dirt road that was lined with vendor tents.  Tour guides were milling about gathering people for their tours, organized by the stickers given out to designate the tour and bus number. There was no bus loading area in the port, so the guides led mobs of people down the dirt road to a nearby road with narrow shoulders and moderately heavy traffic.  There were very narrow shoulders and irregular ground without a proper loading zone for buses.  The buses and guides were extremely disorganized- the whole situation had a very impromptu improvised feel to it.  We eventually managed to get everyone on the bus, but this was one of the most poorly organized and implemented tour embarkation process.  

We chose to do a ”Best of Phuket” tour, as did about 10 other bus loads of people from the ship.  This made all the sites a bit crowded, even though they did try to stagger the destinations between the different buses to spread the crowd around the Island.  

Our first stop as at the southern end of Phuket Island where there is a small automated navigational light with a naval memorial and shrine surrounded by all manner of elephant statues overlooking the Malacca straits.  It is called Sunset View Point, but we were obviously not there at sunset.  There was a bit of a stair climb to the viewpoint, but the viewing area was a large plaza so there was no problem with getting a good position for our pictures.  There are several small islands just off shore, including one featuring a huge golden Buddha statue visible on it’s shore facing Phuket.  There were numerous tourist shops along the street and a public bathroom. Princess had made arrangements with many of these facilities to prepay the usual toilet use charges so people booked on Princess tours only have to display their tour stickers to get into the toilets for free.  That doesn’t mean they have toilet paper, soap or towels.  That also doesn’t guaranty that they’ll have any western style sit-on toilets because squat hole toilets are the rule in this part of the world. So it’s always advisable to bring toilet paper and hand sanitizer on excursions anywhere in Southeast Asia.  

Our next stop was Wat Chalong Temple, the largest and most respected of Phuket’s Buddhist temples. This temple had several buildings including a 3 story tower with rooms full of Buddha statues in various poses on each floor.  A smaller but very elaborately decorated temple housed a relic of Buddah, an incisor tooth, sealed within a crystal egg.  

This temple site had a feature that looked like an odd beehive oven, but was actually a place to explode firecrackers as a form of worship. Someone manning the oven appeared to also sell firecrackers, and when they were lit and tossed into the oven through a steel door, they would explode with the sounds echoing throughout the complex, and smoke would then billow out of the holes around the top of the chimney structure.  

The most interesting feature to us were the number of bridal photo sessions going on around the complex, and the beautiful gowns the brides were wearing.  

We then had our mandatory shopping stop at a jewelry factory in what is billed as “The Largest Gem Store In The World”. There were some really nice geological specimens and shells in the reception area, and a large factory area where craftsmen were soldering findings at one station, faceting stones at another, and setting stones in  rings at another.  The show room was truly huge, looking a bit like a very expensive Costco sized showroom with salt water aquariums and banks of display cases with every imaginable type of gem stone in every imaginable setting.  There was also a side showroom with other merchandise including crocodile leather goods, and more tourist oriented items. 

Lunch was at a huge new air conditioned modern and upscale shopping mall.  They had a huge banquet room upstairs that looks like it was made specifically to handle large tour groups.  We had a buffet with a variety of Thai foods, salad fixings and desserts.  The food was just so, so, but nobody left hungry, except perhaps for a woman who was very unhappy that she had gluten allergies and had notified the tour in advance that she needed a special gluten free lunch.  While everyone was eating, she waited, and stewed about how terrible it was that her food wasn’t ready right away.  Then when her lunch arrived 20 minutes later, it was not much more than pickings from the salad bar and some dry chicken breast slices seasoned with salt and pepper. There were plenty of items in the buffet that were gluten free like steamed rice, steamed vegetables and fruits, but she was paranoid that she couldn’t be 100% sure there wasn’t any gluten snuck into any of those items.  There was probably no way anyone was going to be able to satisfy her.  

Our final stop was a Thai Cultural Center, which looked and felt like a low budget Polynesian Cultural Center.  There were exhibits and displays scattered around the site, but we were there just to attend a folkloric dance show.  The dancers and staff were all very friendly and courteous, but a bit overwhelmed by the size of the cruise ship tour group sizes.  The venue was a covered amphitheater with Fiberglas tiered seats and a stage. It was not air conditioned, and quite hot despite plenty of fans circulating air around the room, and we were all handed rattan fans to use during the show.

The costumes were beautiful and the dancers very attractive and talented, but the stage and sets were very low budget and simple.  Since it was so hot, and we had just had lunch, it was a struggle to stay awake at times during the show.  In addition to several dance pieces and demonstrations of some ceremonial traditions, they had a mock Thai kick boxing demonstration that was amusing.  In their mock fight, one of the fighters knocks out one of the referees.  

After the show completed, we filed back onto the bus for the journey back to the port.  When we had left, the ship’s All Aboard time was 4:00PM, but the dance program finished up just before 4:00PM.  Since we were on a ship’s excursion, and there were at least 5 other buses on the same schedule, we weren’t concerned.  The buses had to unload along the road, and we had to walk about 2 blocks to the dock where the tenders were boarding, but we boarded without delays, and made it back on the ship right at 5PM.  

We got cleaned up while we watched the end of Die Hard, one of the “Holiday Season” selections on the ship’s video system, and then had a nice dinner in the dining room.  

Tonight there was a 1960’s name that tune.  We saw another couple sitting at another table near us and invited them to join us. They were experienced cruisers who thought they had sworn off trivia, but thought they’d do this one since there wasn’t much else going on at the time. Turns out they were really very good at 1960’s music.  After the first 3 songs, another younger couple came in for swing dance lessons that were to follow the trivia, and they also sat with us.  We ended up winning the trivia, and gave the couple a pile of bottle stoppers since neither we or the other experienced cruising couple were eager to pack any more nick nacks home.  Janet ended up donating ours to some of the waitstaff in the lounge.

We finished the night watching Die Hard 2.  We’re looking forward to a few sea days as the ship heads to Bali.