We had a very busy few days Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Friday we had our hike to the Big Budda tour and on Saturday we had our full day tour to James Bond Island. Sunday morning was taken up with finding Stu a pharmacy to get something to treat his heat rash and me a doctor to get my foot X-rayed. As it turns out I fractured my toe – on the other foot from the one I did on Great Keppel.
Friday morning we were picked up about 8:30 it was absolutely pouring down when we got picked up. We were taken to CC’s Hideaway to start our trek to the Big Buddah and then bus to Wat Chalong.
The rain actually stopped long enough for us to hike from the resort to the Big Buddha. This was about 5 km almost all uphill. The scenery was beautiful but it was very muggy. We through rubber plantations and up to an elephant camp where the bus picked us up and took us to a little roadside café to have coconuts, local Thai sweets and watermelon which was very refreshing after the hike.
The Big Buddha is currently under renovation so all of the items they have inside it are around the outside of the statue. It had started to rain again so we all ponchoed up and walked up the stairs to the statue. The view from the top is quite breathtaking. They try to make you walk back through an area where the monks give you blessing but it was muggy and rainy so we just went back down the main stairs.
We made our way to Wat Chalong and of course it had stopped raining and the sun came out (I’d forgotten a hat). We went in to the main temple which is very beautifully appointed and has illustrations about the Buddha and how he became enlightened.
We ended the tour at CC’s Hideaway to have a delicious lunch. The food was prepared by the owner who is a chef. He is hoping that this resort will become a wellness retreat with the organic farm to table ingredients being the thing that brings people to the hotel. As Jayenne and I have some dietary requirements he updated the menu to make sure we could eat pretty much everything presented to us.
After lunch we got back in the van and returned to our resorts. I had booked a massage for Stu and I but it ended up being Luke and I get massages (Stu has a very bad heat rash). I had a full body Thai massage. When I went back to the room to change, I wasn’t watching where I was going and kicked one of the suitcases – that was how I broke my toe. No tough stories like I rode a moped and came off breaking my toe or I jumped into the water breaking my toe – I kicked a suitcase.
Day 10
On Saturday we had booked the James Bond Island Tour. We were picked up at 8:50 for what I thought was a private tour, however once we arrived at the Jetty we realised there were about 20 of us on the tour (9 of them were our group). This turned out to be a very small group compared to the ferries we saw moving tour groups around.
Our first stop was to go sea kayaking through the islands. When we came here 12 years ago this was snorkelling but there is no coral and the water was pretty silty so kayaking is the best way to do it. The best part was a local paddled. We had a bigger canoe and had Molly, Stu and I in it. You go through the island and int an interior lagoon, the guide shows you some interesting rock formations and at the end paddles you under an overhang that is so low you have to lie down. I thought I was still going to hit the rock with my big Aussie gut.
From here you go to James Bond Island where they filmed scenes from Goldfinger. There are of cause many hawkers and tourists. As we had been there before we opted to stay at a small beach. The others had a swim, I decided not to because I was worried about my toe. We managed to get off the island without buying anything more than a calypo and a coconut.
We had lunch at the sea gypsy village. Getting here was a very wet affair as a massive storm blew over as we left James Bond Island. The captain drove the boat mush faster than he had previously trying to beat the worst of the storm, which meant the rain was basically coming in to the boat horizontally. The water tight lockers we put our backpacks in turned out to not be water tight but most of our stuff was ok when we got them out at the end of the day (Stu’s dry clothes weren’t dry).
The sea gypsies are from Indonesia and are Muslim so no alcohols is served with the lunch. The meal was ok but could have been hotter – the bain-maries were left open so really only the tray was warm. After lunch we walked around the village and saw the floating soccer field that the village is famous for (watch Travels with My Father).
On the way to our last destination and Island we could swim at and have afternoon cocktails we stopped at some old cave painting made with animal blood (3000 years old) and a cave formed by water running through the limestone islands.
We had some very strong cocktails and a bit of a dip then headed back to Phuket. It was almost 6:30 pm by the time we got back so we used our vouchers and just ate at the resort – it was a very long day.
Day 11
Today Stu and I need to get some medical assistance. Stu’s heat rash is very bad and my toe, while the colour is changing back to a more normal colour, has started to swell up.
We found a pharmacy that could sell cortisone over the counter for Stu, then I found a tourist doctor’s clinic. When I walked in there was a guy playing a guitar by the door and I asked if there was a doctor here, which as it turned out was him (little embarrassed). I was the only patients and within 20 minutes I had had two X-rays and my toe splinted. I’ve been given two types of anti-inflammatory to reduce the swelling in the toe. Luckily for me it is a greenstick fracture but I have to reduce my amount of walking to make sure it doesn’t get worse.
We met everyone in the afternoon and went into Old Phuket Town to see the Sunday market which has a mix of food and local arts and craft. It was very busy with locals and tourists alike.
We were amazed that the rain held off while we were there – although there was a massive storm we could see over Patong way.
Pool villas at our resort.
davstuholidays 