World Cruise - Day 80 - Apr 1 - At Sea (and Phuket, Part 2)

So I’m trying something new with today’s post.  I usually stay up rather late on the evening of a port day sorting and organizing my photos, then posting them with comments in the blog.  But last night I got about halfway finished and decided to go to bed and finish up today, on a sea day, when I had more time.  I stopped with my last photo of the wild monkeys on the mountain and am picking up from there:

After seeing the wild mountain monkeys, we took a break at one of the more secluded beaches along the west coast of Phuket:

Krissie looks wonderful and tan.  I need to spend some more time out in the sun:

There was a local fisherman on the shore nearby who framed out nicely with the sailboat in the background:

We ate lunch in a great restaurant right on the beach.  Jim and Pat had Thai food for the first time.  Most of us had Pad Thai:

I took this pic as we walked out of the restaurant of three kids playing nearby:

Back on the road, this is a typical local bus, truck frame with what is often just a wooden frame and wooden seats:

Very common sight in Thailand (and other parts of SE Asia) to see the jumble of electrical and phone wires at each junction.  No wonder there are so many power outages:

Look closely at this pic and you will see that the guy on the back is carrying a wheelchair (presumably his?) on this scooter:

I love this sign.  I have no idea what it means, but I live this sign.  And I’m not sure if Auuuu is good or bad:

Viewpoint of Phuket City:

Check out these lamps.  Yes, that is actually blowfishes made into lamps:

I liked this photo for two reasons:  the girl with her mom and the price of gas (91 octane, 40 bhat, about $1.30 for a liter for your scooter):

Walked by a local fish market:

That fish at the bottom of the pic is a cuttlefish.  They had it on the menu onboard and we wondered what it was.  The waiter told us it was a whitefish, but since we didn’t really know what it was, we didn’t order it:

Side street near the market, you can get an idea of what the local homes look like:

Five little boys walking along the street:

There were quite a few kids playing in the water, including these on a raft:

The local kids playing at the beach near the local market:

These girls were playing a game together near the market:

Local bus, the girl with the sunglasses is not a local, but traveling like one:

We didn’t see the actual accident, but this scooter was turned over with a lot of broken glass and plastic on the pavement, although we didn’t see a person (or body or blood):

This guy had a sidecar (very common in Thailand) loaded down with several baskets:

Look closely and you’ll see a toddler with a red hat and sunglasses holding onto the rear view mirrors:

She had her entire market stand attached to her scooter and ready to set up easily:

I love this pic, just caught it on the go.  We debated whether the driver (on the left) was a man or a woman, finally decided it is probably a woman.  And I love the guy in the sidecar with the construction helmet:

Three people, driver, girl sitting sidesaddle and little kid in the sidecar basket:

Look closely and you’ll see that there is a toddler sleeping on a blue blanket in the sidecar:

More pics of the king.  Everyone in Thailand loves him.  They said he is their second father and the queen is their second mother:

As we sailed away from Phuket, you could see some of the resort developments on the hills overlooking the sea:

Look closely at this pic, the two people on the left just caught a fish and are hauling it out of the water:

I liked the color contrast of the two boats and the faded island scenery in the background:

Ken and Sara arrived back on the ship yesterday after being stranded in Kuala Lumpur airport overnight due to the tight connection (they had an hour between flights, but they were required to go through immigration and customs before boarding their next flight to Singapore).  So they went on the next morning to Phuket and stayed in a nice hotel there the day before our ship arrived and were able to join up with others for the planned tour, so all is well, after a difficult night spent sleeping in chairs in an airport lounge.  As Ken said, they are glad to be back in “the bubble” onboard.  We really do live in a bubble here.  This is not reality, although it is our present reality.

Patti, Krissie did do some shopping on both Orchard Street (where the nice stores were located), but actually preferred the shopping at the local markets, since you can get more local and original items there.  Shopping on Orchard Street is pretty much like shopping at those stores in the US (or anywhere else in the world).  Nice stuff, but not local.

Julie, Krissie bought the dress in the photos above in Singapore at one of the open air markets.  It has orchids and butterflies on it and reminds her of the orchid garden we saw in Singapore.

We had our Cruise Critic meeting this morning, which included the Meet & Greet for the Singapore joiners for the last segment as well as the awards for the best photos for segment 3.  I will post the winning photos tomorrow.

Today was Sunday, so that meant another wonderful Sunday Brunch:

I always look at the dessert table:

Tonight was formal night:

The entertainment tonight was the Pacific Princess Singers and Dancers in I Got the Music:

Ketsia Poitevien and James Campbell, the two singers in the troupe:

Tomorrow is sea day #2 of 2 on our way to Chennai, India.