Wednesday, March 21st, 2012
I think you know by now that we are not complainers. We have enjoyed every port, even the very very hot and sunny time in Recife, Brazil, which was our least favourite. Today we found a new least favourite. Initially we were pretty excited about our excursion, which we had changed on the recommendation of Gary and Linda. We were going out to see the famous Phi Phi Islands (pronounced Pee Pee). This is where beautiful great giant formations of limestone rise from the sea in weird and wonderful shapes, and where there are little secluded bays. One location is where the Leonardo DeCaprio film, The Beach was filmed. James Bond films have also been filmed out here.
Phuket is a Thai island, some 500 square miles large, which is really just a big tourist destination. Our ship was tendered in this port, in Patong Beach. which always causes delays. HAL had rented large tenders to supplement theirs so we really racked and stacked a lot of us on the tenders, which were very hot and humid, by the time we set off for the 10 minute ride to shore. An extremely long gangway was in place on a huge long white sandy beach. We were to bus to a high speed speed boat that would take us to Phi Phi, swim, snorkel and have lunch at a resort. There was a very long walk to our bus, and it must have been awful for the handicapped among us.
We left by bus an hour later than we were supposed to. This little resort town, is pretty dumpy, although there were lots of billboards advertising luxury resorts and condominiums. We saw evidence, once again of money that is building new structures, but as through Asia, it is cheek by jowl with the old. After 45 minutes we arrived at the marina to get to our boat. First everyone had to use the washroom. By now it was 10 am. Then we climbed aboard the fast boat which had 3 x 200 hp motors and we made our way slowly out of the channel into the open ocean. This boat was designed so that we could not see out - only Jonathan and Barry who snagged 2 high seats could see where were were going. The rest of us were in a cargo hold like troops going to war, facing one another. That is when we learned the high impact ride would last at least an hour!!!!! Okay, it must be worth it right? We passed by an island where the guide told us we would come back later to snorkel for an hour. Finally we get to the Phi Phi island. No question this is a magnificent structure rising in the ocean, but as we sailed into the very sheltered lagoon, imagine our surprise to see hundreds of boats and thousands of people!!! We calculated at least 2000 or more all on this beach. Most of the beach was occupied by the boats moored in backwards and then we walked through the throngs of people to a small roped off area to swim. I wondered what the pee pee content was in the Phi Phi islands! We were so hot we plunged in, but Barry came in after me and told me he had just seen a bottomless woman walking toward him on the beach. We stayed there for 30 minutes, then we were off around the bend to see the "Waaking Caves" which turned out to be the "Viking Caves" where supposedly 1000 years ago Vikings had taken safe harbour and painted their story inside. Today the cave is the place where the natives collect bird nests for bird nest soup - which we did see them gathering. Then around another corner where they told us to get on our snorkel gear and dive off the back of the boat for 30 minutes on a coral reef. By the time we got in, the 30 minutes was vanishing, and we are completely spoiled by the Great Barrier Reef. Barry got another leg cramp, I think because they didn't have fins to fit him, and so lasted only about 8 minutes.
Then it was off to the "resort" for lunch.... which was ok, but not what was billed. We did have a good Thai lunch, but it wasn't the 1 1/2 hour relaxation we had been told we would have. Back in the boat he broke the news that we couldn't go to the main snorkel event because we were out of time!!!!! So another pounding hour back, then the repeat of the bus and we made the last tender.
Ok I have vented. We were all exhausted and drained by the heat and the pounding ride and Lynn didn't even make it to dinner. Others we met raved about their tours - like the elephants they saw so evidently this was just our mistake, albeit an expensive one . Never mind we are on to Sri Lanka.
I will close on a high note by saying that an Indian Ambassador Krishna and his wife Gita is the new guest lecturer. He has been an ambassador for 35 years, including 3 years in Washington, and he gave an amazing lecture yesterday. I was so taken with him, that when I ran into him we had a fascinating conversation about the importance of what is happening in South East Asia, India and China and about what we can learn and encourage in the West. He was excited about the discussion too and said he was so glad we had spoken and would change his talks to include what we should be discussing - What is life and how should we be designing our societies for the betterment of civilization. We have decided to invite them to our table for dinner.
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