- Getting ready to hit the road!
- Some thoughts on Hong Kong…
- A day in Danang and Hue, Vietnam
- Saigon River and Saigon, Vietnam
- Siem Reap and Temples, Cambodia
- The Floating Village — Kompong Phluk, Cambodia
- Phnom Penh and the road to Sihanoukville, Cambodia
- Bangkok, Thailand
- Day 2 in Bangkok — Ayutthaya, Thailand
- Singapore
- Langkawi Island, Malaysia
- Phuket, Thailand — or sort of…
- New Delhi, India
- Agra and the Taj Mahal
- The road to — and Jaipur, India
- India — a few closing thoughts.
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Oman (The Sultanate of)
- Luxor, Karnak, and the Valley of the Kings, Egypt
- Petra, Jordan
- Sharm el Sheik and St. Catherine’s Monastery, Egypt
- Cairo and Giza, Egypt
- Egypt — Some final thoughts…
- Zooming around Israel
- Bodrum, Kusadasi, and Ephesus, Turkey
- Corfu, Greece
- Dubrovnik and Zadar, Croatia
- Venice, Italy — the last hurrah!
Heading north from Langkawi, you quickly cross into Thailand again. Our stop for the day was Phuket, Thailand’s largest island, located in Andaman Sea. Phuket traditionally made its money through tin and rubber, but in recent years, it has been all about tourism – enjoying the white, sandy beaches. This has made Phuket the wealthiest province in Thailand. Unfortunately, in the 2004 tsunami, this also led to massive loss of life, with Phuket and nearby Phang Nga losing 4500 people (of which around 2300 were foreign tourists).
Given that we were only going to be here for a day, we chose to avoid Phuket city and head north to Phang Nga Bay by speedboat. It was an absolutely awesome trip. What really makes this a unique place is the 40+ limestone islands that were pushed up from the sea during various tectonic plate shifts. Over the years, these have partially eroded creating lots of interesting caves, overhangs, etc.
One of the islands we visited was Koh Tapu (it is also named James Bond Island since it was filmed as part of “The Man With the Golden Gun” [the movie is kind of cheesy, but the scenery is awesome]). Here you see a large number of sheer limestone cliffs that jut out of the emerald green water. It is pretty amazing!
We then headed over to Panyee Village, a “floating” fishing village (it actually is on stilts) that has been around for a couple of hundred years. This is primarily a Muslim community made up of hundreds of homes, shops, restaurants, shacks, etc. whose traditional means of income has been through fishing (they are known as sea gypsies). With the advent of tourism to the area, it seems like more and more of it is being taken over by tons of “craft” shops, which is somewhat sad. Having said that, it appears to bring in good income as evidenced by the large number of satellite dishes on the roofs.
Finally, we went over to Khai Island, a sandy little islet for a little swim and some snorkeling. There was a wide variety of fish, coral, sponges, etc. It was quite beautiful.
This all sounds like a wonderful day and, for the most part, it was. Unfortunately, it was hot that day — I’m talking 45 degrees Centigrade (or 113 degrees Fahrenheit). I spent much of the time in the open part of the boat and by the time we got to Panyee Village, I knew my core temperature was rising. Even though I was powering down water and an ice cream bar, it wasn’t really helping. Getting in the water on Koh Khai Island started to bring my temperature down and I felt better. Unfortunately, while I was snorkeling, I got caught in a 2-3 knot current that took me for quite a ride. It was impossible to swim against it (especially without flippers), so I swam perpendicular and was able to catch a set of floats that protect the reef. I literally pulled myself back to the beach area (nearly losing my bathing suit in the process). By the time we got back to the ship, I had overheated again (or more), and I ended up in bed with heat exhaustion that kept me out of commission for the next day.
The whole area around Phuket is really beautiful and, despite my travails, we would love to go back there someday.
Who, me?
Approaching James Bond Island
This entry was posted in Cruising, Thailand, Travel
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
