Thailand Trip

It's been a long time since the last post.  I know many people blog daily but I really feel like I should only post when I've got something worthy of sharing.... I actually wrote this on June 1st then saved to post till I added photos.

I have wanted to visit Thailand for most of my life, in fact I credit Thai silk with my love of textiles.  My Dad was stationed in Thailand in the late 60's early 70's.  I don't know the exact date, but I know at the time I was still playing with barbies and I was sewing their clothes so that puts me between 8-12 years of age.  My Dad brought the girls back dolls from the countries he visited and I got a Thai dancer, she was so exotic!  When he visited Thailand he brought all of the females in the family yardage, they were supposedly dress lengths (for little Thai women).  I received a gaudy green cotton print and a beatuiful, irridescent piece of Thai silk.  My barbies had an outift out of the green print :)  I still have the piece of Thai silk, I've used small bits for things but not the whole piece.  Even at a young age I treasured beautiful fabric. 

Peter and I traveled to Phuket, Thailand on May 20th.  The 21st was Peter's 50th birthday and our 27th wedding anniversary.  Some Canadian friends were vacationing in Phuket and invited us to join them, it seemed like the perfect way to celebrate.  Phuket is an island, off of penisular Thailand, the part shared with Malaysia. It is a vacation destination for Europeans, particularly Scandanavians and of course for those living in SE Asia.  It is knowns for it's beautiful beaches and great diving. Many in the US had not heard of Phuket until the tsunami of 2004, when pictures of the tsunami's devastation were broadcast around the world. 

I was surprised at how big the island is, we stayed at a Marriott resort on the northern end of the island on Mai Khao beach.  Mai Khao beach is protected because it's where the green sea turtles come to lay their eggs.  Apparently quite a large number of tourists come to watch the turtles!

Day One - (celebration day) we went on a sea cave tour.  The tour started in the afternoon and as soon as the boat left the dock they fed us, just a light lunch but it was yummy.  Thai food is one of my all time favorites so I was a happy camper! The scenery on the way was stupendous.  One of the islands the locals refer to as "James Bond Island", it's where "Man With Golden Gun" was filmed. We stopped 5 times and got on small inflatable kayaks. There was one guide per kayak and two guests.  The guides did all the work.  The guides have to watch the tides to determine which caves are accessible on any given day.  All of the caves we entered had such low entrances that we had to lay down in the boats to get in.  I being the big weenie was rather proud that I did not squeal or embarrass myself in anyway!  After 3 caves we were fed dinner, yummmy!  We then had craft time and made offerings out of bannana leaves and flowers.  In the last cave (after dark) we lit the offerings and put them in the water.  This cave was inhabited by bats (again no squealing) and the water had luminescent plankton in it, very cool indeed!

Day Two we hired a cab for the day and went to Phuket town.  We first went to see the Big Buddha (really, that's what it is called).  Then we went and visited a Buddhist temple.  The temple was beautiful but what intrigued me was the quantity of dogs on the property that apparently live there.  There were several people filling bowls of food and water and several dogs were sleeping on benches.  Interesting. 

Our next stop was to find a textile shop I'd read about, Ban Boran.  The guidebooks said they have the best selection of Thai textiles on Phuket island.  It was a lovely little shop with a good selection of Thai textiles, scarves, shawls, ready made garments, ethnic costume and some lovely Laotian supplementary weft pieces.  I did manage to pick up a few lovelies to add to my growing collection.  We ended our day at the "Night Market", think of a flea market full of all sorts of interesting food and not so interesting other stuff.  We went back to the hotel and had a lovely, yummy Thai dinner at one of the restaurants at our hotel. 

Day Three we decided to bum around the resort.  We put on swimsuits (we had not been to the beach yet!) and walked down to the beach to get a massage.  They have small huts where you can get an hour long full body massage for about $12 US.  After being totally relaxed we headed down to the beach.  The currents are strong on Mai Khao so it's not the best beach for swimming.  We stood on the beach and let the waves crash around our feet.  During monsoon season it's supposed to be good for surfing.  We did a little shopping at the local shopping center.  There is a small Jim Thompson outlet there.  I honestly could have had one of everything, really lovely high quality work.  Back to the hotel to swim in the pool and more eating and then back to Singapore.

Visiting Phuket was a great  way to celebrate Peter's birthday and our anniversary.  The last picture is to demonstrate that Peter will try anything, once!  He is eating grilled shrimp at the Night Market.

Tracy