The saying “All work and no play” is what we’re living. Currently; we are stuck, stuck in one of the most sought after tourist places in the world. The boat is here, on the hard and we have others doing the work because we don’t have the tools nor the place to perform these tasks, We’ve hire Nai’s team to oversee and handle the project. Ton is the owner of the welding company and they have been doing a knock up job. We check in with him everyday and look the work over every evening. The new fuel tanks look gorgeous. As gorgeous as any Aluminum tank can be. We’ve moved a couple of return and vent tubes making them accessible once the flooring is back down. Floor hatches will provide access. We’ll have new valves for the fill and tanks that will not leak. We hope forever but hey… things happen.
While here; readers will know we’ve secured a room in the local resort with a long term vastly reduced rate. All is good. Except I’ve not found life all that “interesting”. Well, interesting might not be the correct term; maybe fulfilling or rewarding. We’re not on the water, we’re not sailing; we’re not seeing new things. We are kind of; locked down. Kind of !
W/ decided to break out. She scheduled a land trip to visit the Big Buddha, the Southernmost viewpoint on the island, a temple, and the old city. Early one morning we arrived for our trip in the hotel lobby. The driver found us and herded us into his vehicle. W/ and I surmised the two of us would be grouped at another spot and then boarding a van with several guests. Nope! Wrong again. We had; maybe our luck is improved, we had a private tour. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and accommodating.
The first stop the Southern tip of Phuket. There, there is a lighthouse and Buddhist shrine. Individuals from the world over bring elephants and leave them for good luck. Eventually the elephant figurines take over. The local municipality collects them, grouped them and was loading all of them in dump trucks. ALL for burying. Seems a waste to me. I asked about securing one as a souvenir and was told that would be bad luck. Not believing in bad luck; not really, I still didn’t want to insult their culture. I stood back and watched them tossed into the back of a truck. I was told they would be taking all of them; I am not sure where, and buried. I can only imagine some archeologists, millennia from now digging up one of the burial sites and finding hundreds or thousands of crafted and decorated elephants.
Our next stop was high on my list of places to see; on land. When one arrives at Chalong Bay to clear into Thailand, a Buddha statue on top of the mountain is very visible. From miles away it is visible. And for much of the previous year the statue has been closed. Rains caused a mud slide that killed several people and needed to be cleared up and reinforced. Having opened a few weeks prior we can now visit.
Not sure it ought to be called “Big Buddha”. It is HUGE standing about 150’ tall. There is no climbing on it and no ascending to the top of it. One can walk the base and learn a wee bit about the faith and religion. Our guide was Buddhist and assisted in answering any questions we had.
After our ear popping tourist visit on top of the mountain we headed to the valley to visit yet another religious site. For some reason; in all our travels; religious sites tend to be high on tourist lists. If it were up to me; I would have skipped it. I am amazed how much religion has merged into every culture we’ve shared time with.
This temple and grounds reminded me of Trump. Gold, here, Gold there, Gold everywhere. I think the Donald would feel right at home here. Except; I saw no female monks nor any golf ! 🙂
There was one building of which I had not come across before in any of the world’s religious sites we’ve visited. A crematorium. I understand that is more along the lines of Buddhism merging with the world instead of wanting to be the world’s overlords. Not really like Taoism but a combination of Christianities world view and the Taoist. We were told (I’m not wagering how much this is true) that they may remove one bone or part of a bone of the deceased and place that bone inside a wall piece; probably with a smallish donation, and then the progeny of the deceased could come when they wished and pray for, and be thankful to their kin. Perhaps likened to a cematary marker. Amazing to think that in the walls in and around the site there are bones of many of Phuket’s ancestors.
In retrospect, they might feel that burying people in boxes and building monuments or putting markers in the ground is repugnant. I’m reminded of a fellow cruiser that had the ashes of one of her parents with her in the boat. In every ocean she traveled, and many of the countries she visited she spread some of the ashes. Then she would send a post card from her parent to the family say “Wish you were here” ! A fun way to respect one’s loved ones who have passed. But too; I was amazed and appalled at the bones of the deceased being in an underground open pit in a cathedral in Peru.
Breathing a sigh of relief we left and traveled to the next stop: the old town of Phuket. There the time and atmosphere reminded us of Concubine Lane in Ipo, Malaysia. However, I saw no concubines! So much disappointment ! 🙂 What we did see was the Chinese and Portuguese influence in buildings during the founding of Phuket. Most were currently inhabited by clothing / tourist shops with a few restaurants and bars scattered between. An interesting place to visit, not one place for me to hang longterm. And we didn’t hang out there. Less than an hour later we were whisked off to a touristy Cashew factory.
Yeah, we know, no one makes Cashews. They are grown. Not like Apples or Plums, the meat surrounding the seed is toxic. The seed is the nugget. The liquid surrounding the seed affects the skin; and not in a good way. The nuts are carefully extracted by hand. Our guide said there is no machine that can do this successfully. I did find one on line but it does not result in high quality whole nuts. Then the seeds are moved; where we didn’t see, to be cleaned and roasted. Those two processes make the nut edible and delicious. After which a coating is applied and several different tastes may accompany the nut. As per the tourist instruction book, we paid good money to haul several different cashew tastes back to our room.
Back at the hotel we departed with our bag of goodies, some great pics and good memories. That statue is HUGE !
That evening brought us to the boat; again, to check on progress. All is moving forward. We hope to be out of here before the next millenia begins. Just kidding. Maybe one more month. Maybe….
Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long