Monday, April 8th
Photos taken when in Phuket, Thailand.
Sailing into the port for Phuket.
Long tail boat
Morning sun off water
Shopping stalls set up next to our ship
Our tour yesterday was to see Phang Nga Bay which was a 1 1/2 bus ride north across the island and over the bridge that links the island to mainland Thailand. Once there we boarded a motor boat that held the 30 of us on our bus for a 2 hour boat tour of the National Park. There are over 80 islands created over 300 million years ago when two tectonic plates pushed and rotated forcing limestone above the surface. These small islands rise vertically and have steep faces. Vegetation on them has evolved to withstand long periods of dryness and an almost complete lack of soil. The Koa Ping-Gan island is where they did filming of the James Bond movie, "The Man With the Golden Gun". It is now more commonly called, "James Bond Island" by the Thai people and is a popular tourist attraction.
Taken on our bus ride
Motor bike and SUV accident. Appears to be a woman lying on pavement.
We drove by several plantations. This is palm oil plantation.
Rubber plantation
Pineapple plantation
One of the two bridges that cross from Phuket island to the mainland.
Our tour boat for the Phang Nga Natioal Park.
Benches on it were not attached but it was fast and cool with nice breeze when moving.
Coming up on the mostly Muslin fishing village built on pilings out from the island of Koh Panyee. It is basically a small city in middle of the bay. Fresh water is piped in from mainland 3 miles away. There is a school for the children, market, restaurants, and homes all on stilts. It has a huge market that caters to tourists as does the restaurants.
The red roof area is seafood restaurants.
School area
Some of the homes
Wife of the boat driver pouring something on drive shaft every once in a while.
Our boat went through here too.
Not stalagtites but formed by water erosion of the limestone.
Island where "Man With The Golden Gun" was filmed, James Bond Island.
Big tourist attraction now. We did not get off our boat here.
Poor man's long tail boat???
We had lunch at local hotel after the boat tour. This is my lunch. OINK!!
Shrimp farm
Our next stop was at a rubber plantation for a demonstration on how the trees are tapped and the latex is processed. After planting the rubber trees it takes 7 years before they are ready to be tapped. The trees will produce the latex for around 25 years. During the 7 years while waiting to be productive they plant pineapples between the rows of trees and derives some money from pineapple production. The trees can be tapped just once a day. They start tapping about 5 feet up the tree from ground. A worker takes a sharp knife-like instrument and cuts in downward angle from left to right. One cut is made and the sap (latex) runs down in the black pot. Each tree will produce about half a pot per day. The workers start making the cuts at 3am before the heat of the day. They wear a light on their hats so they can see, long shirts so mosquitoes cannot eat them, and rubber boots because Thailand has a lot of poisonous snakes. One worker can tap about 400 to 450 trees in the 3 hours before sun up. They then have breakfast (rice) and tea before going back out to collect the latex in the black pots. They are emptied into a galvanized bucket, brought back and poured though strainer to get any leaves or foreign materials out. Then a type of acid is added to aid in making the latex set up. The set up latex is then run through a roller twice to squeeze the excess water out before hung to dry in the sun. Typically the plantation owner gets 60% of the revenue and the workers get 40%. Thailand is #1 in the world in rubber production.
Pan has latex in it before it is set up
Presses used to squeeze excess water out
Sheets of rubber latex from press
Hung up to dry
You could take an elephant ride. Elephants typically used in logging industry.
Two year old baby elephant.
Fish farm as we cross bridge to go back on Phuket island.
Brurmese workers who come here to do construction work. They will work for $5 a day which is twice what they would earn in their country. The Myanmar (old Burma) border is few miles from Thailand. Thai workers minimum wage is $10 per day.
The migrant workers built temporary homes near the construction site.
More workers homes
Pineapple plants between the young rubber trees during first 7 years.
Had to show you a temple
Last stop was at upscale handicraft shopping place. We did not go in but took shuttle directly back to the ship. Wanted to get back so we could take showers before everyone returned. Water pressure is nil when everyone is taking showers at same time.
See how vegetation grows out of the limestone
Kayakers
Check out the truck engine on this long tail boat.
Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas anchored. It is too big for the dock. So passengers have to take small tender boats ashore.
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