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Phuket |
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Day 4 - package tour We signed up for a package tour and got picked up at noon in a big bus. We had a drive of about an hour and a half, first picking up more folks in Patong Beach and then driving north to the mainland. There is a bridge connecting Phuket and it is probably less than a quarter of a mile long. Our first stop was at a temple/cave/shrine know as Wat Tham Suwankhuha. There was a huge statue of a reclining Buddha, as well as many elaborate smaller Buddha's and shrines. There is active devotion at the temple, in fact a monk was praying while we were touring. The cave itself went quite deep and was impressive itself. Pictures were tough because of the dim light. The place was also overrun with monkeys. For some reason they are considered sacred, so no one disturbs them when they hang around the temple. Our second stop was for a boat tour of Phang Nga Bay. We were loaded into these longtail boats that were powered by huge truck engines that drove a propeller at the end of a long shaft. A weird arrangement, but the water was very shallow in spots and these boats had hardly any draft. We sailed out into the bay. There are these incredible rock islands all over the place. They have steep limestone cliffs, but even so are totally covered with vegetation, even the vertical cliffs. Amazing. Just beautiful. We stopped at Ko Phing Kan, a beautiful island but now a tourist trap called James Bond Island. It was featured in the old James Bond movie "The Man With The Golden Gun" because of its spectacular scenery. I don't know what was more impressive, the island itself (which does feature a totally unreasonable sea stack known as Nail Island) or the way they crammed tourists and vendors together on such a tiny island. Then we were off to Ko Panyi, known as the Water Village. It is built in the lee of an island that is a huge limestone pinnacle. But since there is no flat land, the whole village is built on stilts over the water. It was originally a fishing village, and there are still lots of fish farms built right into the village - pens where they keep and grow fish. But there are houses, shops and restaurants - a real functioning village built over the water. It was amazing to walk down the main "street" of the village. 1500 people live there. Absolutely incredible. We even had dinner at one of the restaurants there. The tour was a great one-time thing. We saw some truly amazing stuff. But the crowds were annoying. |
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 The entrance to the cave at Wat Tham Suwankhuha. |
 Inside of the cave. |
 Some of the Buddha images were quite large. |
 Many of the shrines had gifts. In spite of the tourists, it is a very active temple. |
 The temple is famous for it's large statue of the reclining Buddha. |
A Buddhist monk meditates before the reclining Buddha. |
 Here the ceiling was cut away to make room for a shrine. |
 Heading deep into the cave. |
 Many of the shrines are carefully cared for. |
 Handing out life jackets before we board the longtail boats for the cruise around Phang Nga Bay. |
 Knee deep in mud and mucky water. This guy was still happy. The shore here is very muddy and the water brackish. |
 The boats were all powered by large truck engines which drove a propeller through a long shaft. The boats had almost no draft for the shallow water - and they were LOUD. |
 Our first view of the rock islands as we come out of the swamps. |
 The bay is filled with incredible rock islands. |
 Most of the islands are just rock cliffs with virtually no flat land. |
 The islands consist of steep limestone cliffs. |
 It would be great rock climbing - if the cliffs weren't "fuzzy". |
 The group from our bus needed two boats. |
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