Phuket is the largest island in Thailand and is only slightly smaller than Singapore at 222 sq. miles. Approximately 70% of the land is mountainous, which isn’t surprising when you look at the skyline. The word Phuket actually means “mountain jewel” so that makes sense. Another estimate I saw was that forests, rubber, and palm oil plantations account for as much as 60% of the land. In fact, Phuket’s rubber production contributes to the country’s reputation as the world’s largest producer of rubber. On our way to and from the elephant camp we saw many rubber trees.
The clear highlight of our day was the elephant camp. Elephants are synonymous with Thai culture, and they once roamed wild on Phuket. We got to see these extraordinary creatures up close at an elephant camp, a sanctuary of sorts for the elephants. We began our time at the camp making some food for the elephants. It was mushed up banana mixed with some other ingredients to form into a ball for the beasts.
We put the food in some buckets and made our way to the elephants. We were greeted by half a dozen elephants of various sizes and ages (the babies were so cute!) that we took turns feeding. The elephants would grab the food directly from our hands with their trunks, quite delicately actually. Ryan even fed one directly into its mouth, getting an up close perspective of their tongues!
After we fed the elephants, we wandered along a path until we came to a muddy spot where two adult elephants and one baby elephant were cooling off by splashing themselves and rolling around in mud.
There we got to ‘hug’ one of the elephants – definitely a highlight of the trip.
We also saw some elephants cooling themselves in a pool, getting a nice reprieve from the heat. There were handlers in the pool with them, playfully splashing them. One of the elephants had a goofy look on its face the whole time, which was cute.
Getting to see and interact with the elephants was such an incredible experience for us. When we got to the end of our time at the camp, we had an opportunity to buy some souvenirs, the proceeds of which would go back to caring for the elephants. With that, we couldn’t resist and each of us got a t-shirt to remember the camp.
After we left the elephant camp, we headed to Wat Chalong, the island’s largest Buddhist temple. The most unique thing about this temple was the giant beehive-looking structure, which was where worshippers would light firecrackers to express gratitude for answered prayers. There were firecrackers constantly going off, as people strode the grounds and visited inside the temple. We spent a little over an hour here, wandering around and just taking in the sights. Ryan had a smoothie here, that he counts as one of his favorite smoothies of all time (pineapple and watermelon).
Cashew nuts are a main source of income, so it makes sense that a cashew nut factory was included in our tour for the day as our final stop. We went to the Sri Bhurapa Orchid Company, a company that is devoted solely to the production of cashews.
Products range from cashew juice said to have medicinal qualities to raw cashews flavored with butter and sweet chilis. When we arrived, we saw a brief demonstration of how they prepare the cashews.
Then we tasted a wide variety of samples, flavored with things like coffee, chocolate, sour cream and onion, and so forth. Ryan and I both got some cashews to take back to the ship. I got one that was flavored with “Tom Yum” – basically a local soup that is known for its strong hot and sour flavors that make it very popular in Thai cuisine. It was by far my favorite, with just enough spice to make your tongue tingle but without being painful. Ryan got the BBQ flavor, which was also quite good. Then we split the cost of some wasabi flavored cashews. They definitely make my nose tingle, but in a good flavorful way.
In the evening, we had a world event (one of the events the cruise puts on for all of the around-the-world travelers). For this event, Ryan chose to stay behind after viewing the likely menu online. It just wasn’t his thing. So I went alone (with others on the ship, of course) to the Blue Elephant, a restaurant and cooking school in Phuket.
There, we were treated with dinner and a show. I saw a fun fact somewhere that said that food in Phuket is spicier than in other parts of Thailand, and the tour guide on the way to the Blue Elephant said something similar. So I was expecting the food at dinner to be quite spicy but it wasn’t. We all agreed that they probably made the food more “Western” for our sensitive taste buds. I don’t know if I’m more relieved or disappointed given I was hoping for a more authentic experience. Either way though, the food was tasty so I can’t really complain.
What I will complain about for a second is how uncomfortable it was in terms of temperature. Wow. I mean, Phuket is HOT and it doesn’t cool down in the evening. Every now and then we’d catch a breeze and we’d all sigh with relief, but mostly we were just uncomfortable. Thankfully we had hot soup as part of our meal to ensure we didn’t start to get too cold… (It was yummy… but wow it was hot outside.)
The show was lovely, a combination of music and dancing. The music was lively and upbeat, and something I would actually listen to on a regular basis. They interspersed the show in between the different courses.
After a fun (albeit hot – did I mention that?) evening, we headed back to the ship. The wonderful day of elephants – from the elephant camp to the Blue Elephant restaurant – in Phuket was complete!