Phuket, Thailand

I enjoyed the day on Phuket island because it was all about agriculture and nature and even though I have seen all of the things I saw today already at other places on this cruise I learned a few new facts. I have come to realize that the countries here in Southeast Asia all look very much alike in that they have the very poor areas and the very rich areas so I won’t bore you with lots of picture of the same today; just a few to nail down where we are.

Our ship anchored in the bay and we tendered in to this beautiful beach, one of many around the island where tourists come from all over the world and help keep this economy going. Dale’s tour went into the big city on the other side of the island and he said it was modern and pleasant but mine went only to the smaller villages and more rural areas.

I enjoyed seeing this “lumber yard” full of wood for very different projects than Home Depot’s would be but this shrimp farm made me a little nervous, especially when I figured that I had eaten some of them at lunch. We had Pad Thai at an outdoor restaurant and it was a disappointment. Pad Thai in Thailand, I thought, can it get any better? It’s better in AZ. But the view of the low tide flats was nice.

The coconut farm was interesting in that we watched them use a very long pole to harvest the coconuts (monkeys are no longer allowed to be captured in the jungle and trained to pick the coconuts!) and different tools from what we saw in other countries to open and shred them. Then we helped make candy that was new to us, and very good, too.

I’d really like to have one of these!

The rubber plantation had young trees just getting old enough to tap and even though we’ve seen this before it was interesting to watch. The lichen was beautiful, too. To me at least.

The pineapple plantation was growing the small but very sweet type of fruit and we enjoyed eating fresh from the field and drinking some of the juice. The termite mound around the tree and the tunnels they make up the trunk were also interesting to me as we ate the pineapple there in the shade beside the old local “bus” in which we had been riding all morning.

During covid when the country was more closed down than ours was many people had to find other ways to survive and many started their own new businesses. The family who we visited today started a large garden and have made it into a tourist stop where they serve tea and sweets made from local products out in the garden. It was very pleasant and I imagine they do better with that business than whatever they did before.

They were growing eggplant and bananas, papaya, dragon fruit and the tiniest peppers I have ever seen and even though I was skeptical when I saw the dishes being washed I seem to be OK so far. It occurs to me that the longer we are on this trip the more questionable things we are eating but maybe our immunities are increasing as we go. I hope so because India is next!

Dale got to a cashew factory but I only got to see this branch with the fruit on it. He said the work of taking the nut from the shell was done by hand and it’s no wonder they cost so much. I will think of those hard working people now every time I buy cashews.

I saw two elephants wandering around near the highway but couldn’t get their picture. Apparently there are a considerable number of them in Thailand although it wasn’t clear (because I could barely understand the guide today) if they are all roaming free. But I did see these water buffalo which reminded the guide to tell us about the one she had as a child which took her to school every day for years.

I’ve seen lots of these birds nest ferns recently, many growing up in the trees, but I hadn’t seen the fronds opening before.

It may be a while until I can post again (maybe once more in three days but maybe not) because we are going on an overland trip to India and won’t have a computer with us. But hopefully we’ll have lots to share when we get back on April 2nd.