Phuket, Thailand

Phuket is Thailand's largest island - 30 miles long and 10 miles across. A popular vacation spot for people from around the world, we were anxious to see it for ourselves. We negotiated a taxi ride around the island for four of us, for four hours, at a super rate (or so we thought!). We zoomed around the windy streets past loads of cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops. Our first stop was a pier on the southern tip of the island, where many small boats take folks out to yet smaller outlying islands and secluded beaches. It was such a picturesque stop. We then drove to a view point, and worship site surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of elephants made out of wood, porcelain, pewter, or whatever you could imagine. The view down to the beach below was gorgeous. At Ko Man Beach we could see the impact the tourists have made - a town not resembling Thailand at all anymore - just loads of shops, hotels, etc. The beach itself was stunning though, and we stopped to cool off and take it all in. We had to be back on board by 1:30 pm and we've now set sail for Sri Lanka. As we sailed out, we could see the bay where the Tsunami had come in and resulted in so much death and devastation. Hard to believe it could have happened in such a tranquil setting.
It will be nice to have a few days at sea after six days of touring! Time to relax, read and digest everything we've seen. We're crossing the Andaman Sea, and so far the water has been incredibly smooth.