Started the day with a 90-minute Traditional Pra Kob Thai massage then headed into Phuket City to be a "tourist." Our tour guide, Bam Bam (yes, his real Thai nickname) took us to see the tourists traps of Phuket. Our first stop was Thalong Road where we saw first hand the Sino-Porteguese archtitecture. The buildings on this street are half Chinese (the lower half) and half Portugese (the upper half). We then visited Chalong Temple--the largest Buddist Temple in Phuket. Learned that 60% of Thais are Buddhist, 30% are Muslim, and 10% are mixed Christian, etc. I had to cover my shoulders and legs with a sarong--reminded me of Istanbul. After Chalong Temple we drove up a narrow, winding roads to see a rather new site--the Big Buddha. It's actually still under construction. What is The Big Buddha you ask? Well, it's a big buddha! 45 meter tall and made from 135 tons of Burmese white marble. It overlooks Rawai Beach--not a bad spot to be with bars, restaurants and beautiful beachline. Then we drove over in our little Prius to the Phromthep Cape--apparently the most photographed site in Phuket. (see my pic here) Then on the way back to Naka Island we stopped at a street market--Grand Bazar Instanbul, Part 2...
What words did I learn today....let's see....."thud" is "lady boy." Accordinging to Bam Bam, there are a lot of these lady boys in Phuket. Seems that Phuket is the California of Thailand (aka quite liberal). I also learned what the Thai say when they greet you and bow: "Sawadee." (pronounced saw-waa-dee). So now I walk around saying"Sawadee kha" and bowing ... alot!
At the market Erik and I had our first beer in days. It tasted so good. I think I got buzzed after half the can. In an effort to relive our Duquesne years, we asked our tourguide to stop at the Seven Eleven so we could buy a six pack to sneak back onto the island. Just our luck, the 7-11 was Muslim owned..no beer! Luckily, the stall next door was Buddhist....lots of beer!
