26 October - Phuket

Phuket!  Was very pretty coming in at dawn despite being foggy.  Is about 30 years since we were here when the girls were young.  We anchored at about 7am and those on our tour assembled by 7.15 ready to get off the ship as quickly as possible. As it turned out we were on the first tender which meant our tour got away to a good start.  We were divided into two buses of 9 with a guide on each.  First stop was a walk down a beautiful little street known as Romanee St which was famous for prostitutes and opium back in the tin mining days.  Arrived at a tourist information place where we were given the lowdown on what we'd be seeing and while there the mayor walked in accompanied by photographers!  She was a really beautiful lady, dressed in a black suit with lovely jewellery and apparently she lives close by.  She spoke to the group and we'll probably be in the Phuket Times in the morning LOL.  Most Thais are dressed in black and shop displays have all kinds of black outfits and t-shirts in their windows.  The official mourning period for the King goes on! Black & white bunting adorns most of the buildings. 

On to Chin Pracha Mansion, a privately owned house built for the family in 1903.  It was  great, the family still live upstairs and they allow certain tour operators to view the downstairs rooms.  The furnishings were older than the house as most of it had come from Penang and was a mixture of both Chinese and British.  Most interesting. This house has been used for at least 3 films including The Killing Fields and Heaven and Earth with Oliver Stone and for Indiana Jones.

Then we visited a Thai Buddhist Ordination Temple and from there went to a restaurant for lunch.  We were all looking forward to some spicy food and weren't disappointed 🌶🌶There was green curry, prawn cakes, calamari, chicken, fish, rices  etc etc. and watermelon, which all went down nicely with a cold beer!!!

Next stop was a gypsy fishing village - some of us opted to remain in the air-con of the bus but the others walked for ages through a very downmarket area to view a boat come to shore with a load of fish!!!  After an experience in a shanty town in South America earlier in the year I'm not going there again!!!!

Back now on the ship, we were tendered in a large local boat and all should be aboard by 5.30.  We are anchored near Mariner of the Seas which must have arrived this afternoon.  Dinner might be a cool G & T!!!!