When we got here yesterday, we were all hot, tired and hot. We threw our stuff in our rooms, put on our suits and went to the pool. It has dark blue tiles on the bottom so the temp is about 90. Not real refreshing but there is a bar in the pool so we sat on stool and had some cold ones. Ahhhh…. Then it was off to a death nap for a few hours, then we tried to stay awake during dinner at the hotel restaurant. Some of us almost fell asleep in our plates, and then stumbled back to our room for another sleep of the dead. ZZZzzzzz.......
This morning we were in much better shape and divided into groups right after breakfast. Betsy and I, with two others in tow, went to the Sunsail Base to get out chart briefing early. The Manager offered us a 46' catamaran if we wanted it for the same price as the 50' monohull that we thought we were getting. After looking both boats over, and lots of thought, we went for the cat. It comes with a bigger dinghy, 2 kayaks, AC and lots of shade. It's basically flat seas here so the odd motion of a cat won't be a bother. There are lots of shallows here to so I think we made a good choice. As soon as we decided, we were able to get checked out on the boat as well so that when we get the boat, we will be able to depart right away. All the other boats will have to wait around and deal with a lot of mayhem on the 9th, while we just wave and get going! What a great deal!
The other gals in our group decided to go shopping instead of the checkout and elephant ride. Six of us went to see the elephants. These elephants and their mahouts came from Burma where they retired after the lumber industries were shut down. The elephants were used to haul logs and do all the heavy work. Since they were moved to Thailand, they live in the mountains with their mahouts and their families. The people all live in bamboo huts near the elephants and work with them all day. They get washed twice a day, eat mountains of food and poop where ever they want. We were able to ride them with the mahouts for 30 minutes around the hills.
It is a bit cooler in the mountains where they live, the views are great and the elephants are wonderful. Ours was 22 years old and the mahout has been with him all 22 years. He just spoke quietly to the elephant and they worked together like old friends. I took off my flip flop so I could feel the elephant through my foot. After reading the book Modoc: The Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived, I had an almost spiritual experience. If you haven't read the book, go do it. I can't stop thinking about it...
We're all back now and comparing notes over a few coldies, and planning dinner somewhere. This is even better that I thought it would be and we're not even on the boat yet! Woo hoo!!!!!
And now a few words from our shoppers...
Holly
The shoppers were June, Jane and Betsy & ME (Sherry) big surprise! The shuttle from the hotel took us to the 'mall' ugh...so we jumped into a taxi for 'old Phuket Town' and had a great experience. We saw an old apothecary store just like the movies, pearls, gold, silk...you would think we were in Thailand..or yeah, we ARE! The architecture is very colonial and I feel like we are going to see Anne walking down the street from 'The King and I'. Beautiful temples and so colorful. We hailed a 'tuk tuk'(open air mini truck) back to the mall to catch our ride back to the hotel. We are now enjoying a couple 'coldies' and thinking about dinner. We are getting excited about getting on the water.
All for now.
Sherry
No comments:
Post a Comment