PHUKET, THAILAND
We chose to spend our day in Phuket visiting the Siam Elephant Safari compound. On our way there we were treated to a panoramic view of the island giving us an idea of the many beautiful beaches that attract so many visitors to this 
paradise. As we drove through the town we were surprised by the number of small alters to Buddha we saw everywhere at the sides of the road in 
front of shops, vendor’s stalls and restaurants -- even our bus driver had a tiny Buddha with small offerings of nuts and flowers on a shelf beside him! Transportation was about equally divided between cars and motorbikes and the streets were quite clean. How this young man delivered his cargo of stuffed animals without a mishap is a mystery!
We chose to spend our day in Phuket visiting the Siam Elephant Safari compound. On our way there we were treated to a panoramic view of the island giving us an idea of the many beautiful beaches that attract so many visitors to this 
paradise. As we drove through the town we were surprised by the number of small alters to Buddha we saw everywhere at the sides of the road in 
front of shops, vendor’s stalls and restaurants -- even our bus driver had a tiny Buddha with small offerings of nuts and flowers on a shelf beside him! Transportation was about equally divided between cars and motorbikes and the streets were quite clean. How this young man delivered his cargo of stuffed animals without a mishap is a mystery!But back to our adventure! When we arrived our first activity was a short tre
k through the jungle of 
rubber trees to see how the trees are tapped, the liquid latex collected in cups and then processed into sheets of flexible rubber that is sold to manufacturers for various products like tires, shoes, household items etc. Much to our surprise, rubber trees look nothing like our potted rubber plants, but look more like tall birch trees.
Next we were introduced to several monkeys in various stages in their training. They demonstrated their p
hysical fitness routine by doing pushups and sit ups, scrambling up poles and ropes 
to bunches of coconuts they were to pick -- it was interesting to see them use their front and back feet to spin the coconut until it was loose and they could push it down. They also rode a bicycle, took bills from us and gave us a gift in return, dove into a pool to retrieve an object (monkeys don’t like the water) and even correctly selected a number we called out from several lying face down on the ground!
The gods must have decided that we were enjoying ourselves too much and again sent torrential rains to dampen (rather soak!!) our ride on the ox driven carts. No photos of this one!
Preparation of a curried chicken cashew rice stir fry was demonstrated and then served as our lunch. Then, the highlight of our day -- the elephant ride! Each elephant had a metal seat for two people with a single loose seat belt for security. We climbed up a high platform to load and we were off! Our elephant was 35 years old and had freckled pink areas on its ears and trunk. He lumbered slowly through the jungle, up and down various trails and we rocked back and forth and slid forward and back as he moved. Our ‘driver’ joined our cries of, “Oh my God!” whenever we felt that we were going to slide forward off of our seat all the way to his ears! What a fun experience! 
We were sorry that we didn’t have enough time to travel to the other side of the island to relax on the beach at one of the 5-star hotels, but certainly wouldn’t have missed our unique excursion! However, we did have time to shop at the stalls on the pier before boarding the ship.
k through the jungle of 
rubber trees to see how the trees are tapped, the liquid latex collected in cups and then processed into sheets of flexible rubber that is sold to manufacturers for various products like tires, shoes, household items etc. Much to our surprise, rubber trees look nothing like our potted rubber plants, but look more like tall birch trees.Next we were introduced to several monkeys in various stages in their training. They demonstrated their p
hysical fitness routine by doing pushups and sit ups, scrambling up poles and ropes 
to bunches of coconuts they were to pick -- it was interesting to see them use their front and back feet to spin the coconut until it was loose and they could push it down. They also rode a bicycle, took bills from us and gave us a gift in return, dove into a pool to retrieve an object (monkeys don’t like the water) and even correctly selected a number we called out from several lying face down on the ground!The gods must have decided that we were enjoying ourselves too much and again sent torrential rains to dampen (rather soak!!) our ride on the ox driven carts. No photos of this one!
Preparation of a curried chicken cashew rice stir fry was demonstrated and then served as our lunch. Then, the highlight of our day -- the elephant ride! Each elephant had a metal seat for two people with a single loose seat belt for security. We climbed up a high platform to load and we were off! Our elephant was 35 years old and had freckled pink areas on its ears and trunk. He lumbered slowly through the jungle, up and down various trails and we rocked back and forth and slid forward and back as he moved. Our ‘driver’ joined our cries of, “Oh my God!” whenever we felt that we were going to slide forward off of our seat all the way to his ears! What a fun experience! 
We were sorry that we didn’t have enough time to travel to the other side of the island to relax on the beach at one of the 5-star hotels, but certainly wouldn’t have missed our unique excursion! However, we did have time to shop at the stalls on the pier before boarding the ship.
So ends our South East Asia chapter.
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