NOT REALLY THAILAND, BUT WHAT WAS IT?

Sunday - 22 March 2015 - Phuket, Thailand

Despite an interesting multicultural history with Chinese and Portuguese influences dating from the 9th Century, Phuket Island is essentially a resort. The Singapore-sized island was developed in the late 20th Century for its beautiful white sand beaches. The shoreline is full of condo high rises and luxury hotels. I visited Phuket three times in the 1990s always spending the day on the beach. As Silver Wind's port stay was scheduled for a morning visit only, a beach stop seemed inappropriate. We decided to see what else the island had to offer.

Phuket has some unspoiled areas worthy of exploration

Locals enjoying a beach nowheres near the tourist center. Tourists didn't appear to be welcome.

The reference materials stated that there were some beautifully scenic areas away from the developed beaches and some interesting cultural sights. This was our first port on this cruise in a predominantly Buddhist country. Rather than book a tour, we hired a taxi from the most thoughtful sounding driver at the dock exit and negotiated a ridiculously low price for three hours of transportation. We had a photo stop or two, most notably at local beach that looked most inviting. The driver immediately advised us that the water was "not as clean as the tourist beaches". I believe he was discouraging us from encroaching on the locals' territory. We moved on.

Phuket Town is has interesting Sino-Portuguese architecture.

Phuket residents being transported to work

We asked to see the more out of the way scenic and cultural areas and well as Phuket Town, the only real settlement on the island. Phuket Town is the retail area for the people who work in the resorts and in the island's tin production industry. I can't say that the town looked like a mining town, but we did see what appeared to be hotel workers on their way to their jobs. Thailand in general, and Phuket in particular, is pretty prosperous judging by the number of smartphones in use. It occurred to me as I attempted to take pictures though the taxi's windshield that I might have chosen this driver for the stuffed whale hanging from his rear view mirror.

The Big Buddha Image sits atop a mountain. At 1,300 feet above sea level, it is visible from quite a distance

The Thai government has left little doubt as to what you are looking at

All the tourist materials stated that the Big Buddha Image on Narkerd Mountain (love that name) is a "must see" for any visitor to Phuket. Indeed, the 150-foot statue is most impressive. Located in the center of the island atop a 1,300 foot-high mountain, it is visible from a large part of the island. We climbed to a large parking lot. The driver pointed at a long flight of stairs and said he was staying with the car.

The Big Buddha of Phuket is 150 feet high

The seven Buddhist days of the week beneath the Big Buddha are prayer stations

Tourist information didn't sound all that good on my portable American FM radio

Up close it was clear that the Big Buddha was not an historical site by any means. In fact it is still under construction. Apparently the Thai government was concerned that beach tourism in Phuket was getting saturated and wanted to provide additional "attractions" for Western visitors. There are only so many beaches that can be developed. The bare concrete plinth was not very appealing, and the informational sign (visible above Barbara's head in the picture above) seemed to me to not be worthy of a 2,500 year old tradition. The FM channel is not clearly tunable on American FM radios anyway.

We concluded our visit to Phuket with a visit to the other "must see" tourist attraction, the Seang Tham Chinese Shrine. It was crowded with tourists from China who were primarily taking selfies, but this stop was pretty much what we had been hoping for. There were numerous Buddhist shrines decorated with flowers, statues of elephants, and even the mountain top lighthouse/antenna tower had small temples on it. I recalled that many years ago I knew a marketing VP who had a sign over his desk that read, "Give 'em what they want." It worked for the Thai government and for us. Perhaps the Chinese shrine was the most fun during our short visit to the interior of Phuket, but I was sad that this stop didn't allow for a beach visit. Barbara hadn't really experienced Thailand. After we sailed she advised me that she enjoyed seeing the undecipherable Thai language alphabet on the signs. So at least she saw something that was legitimate.

We got back to the ship for the early afternoon sailing. Tomorrow was to be a sea day, most welcome after the four back to back port visits. Then we would visit Myanmar for three days.

Monday - 23 March 2015 - Andaman Sea enroute Myanmar

We were ready for a sea day after six days exploring various places in the 90+ degree weather. Silver Wind usually sails full in the Mediterranean with a revenue passenger load close to the 300 bed capacity. The Singapore to Oman segment of our cruise instead was at arguably the best load for the ship's excellent service. We had not much more than 220 "guests" as they are called in the cruise industry. (I've been a true "guest" on cruises. My AmEx Card account can attest that we were definitely fare paying passengers on our recent cruises.)

The beach bags were unopened and most of the library books had no bookmarks in them on the first sea day

The Andaman Sea is known for calm seas but very hot weather. We were not disappointed. It was hot. Apparently the primarily English passengers on this leg had felt it necessary to mark their territory, as is their wont. This was despite numerous notices that "pool chairs were not to be reserved" and assurances provided that additional chairs would be provided upon request by the most accommodating deck staff. On some chairs there were unopened library books in the German language as well. No one was using the pool. The Customer Service Manager on board was most amused by the above shot when I showed it to her. There was a new"no reserve" notice each evening in the ship's newsletter for the remainder of the cruise segment.

Tea time on Silver Wind with my bespoke lactose free mousse and scones

With a leisurely day on board we enjoyed the food and service on this wonderful if aging ship. Although Barbara was going to cooking demonstrations and enrichment lectures, we were finally able to enjoy the traditional "tea time" at 4pm. To my surprise the chef had prepared lactose free confections for me even including some dairy free scones. Also this evening we were invited to dine with the Captain. We had sailed with this captain before and were assured that the staff was aware that we prefer to have only one other couple at table.

Captain Micala Macaroni Palmieri wearing his custom embroidered baseball hat taking the ship out from its berth in Phuket.

Captain Palmieri was on the last cruise of his current contract and no doubt after four or more months at sea was thinking of home. Despite his somewhat flamboyant dress--he wears a baseball hat with his full name on one side and "www.silversea.com" on the other as well as technicolor eyeglass frames--he is essentially a bit shy. He only began to open up when I mentioned my previous cruises with him. The captains on Silversea remember every port visit they have ever made, recalling weather, itinerary, and any problems encountered. Our technical discussion of some of the port stops during previous years amused the other couple no end. A matter of fact they were speechless especially when I mentioned my earlier life as a ship's lecturer on Song of Flower years ago. Captain Palmieri got even more interested and asked who the captain was on Song of Flower, the first ship of what was to become Regent Cruises. Regent is possibly the closest competitor of Silversea. When I told the captain that it was "Captain Dag" he got into a loud and somewhat animated story of some recent encounter with a ship captained by Captain Dag. Dag didn't come off looking good. The other couple slid under the table. All and all, Barbara and I had an excellent time that evening.

Tomorrow we would dock for three days in Yangon. I was most interested in seeing Burma, now Myanmar, after having visited once many years ago.