Regent Seven Seas Voyager Bangkok to Dubai Day 12 - Phuket, Thailand - Living our secret agent dreams
We spent the day in Phuket, Thailand. And no, it is not pronounced like it is spelled. It is pronounced like poo-KET.
Phuket is a small island just off the Thai mainland. It's known for beaches and vibrant nightlife.
Our tour today took us to the mainland and Phang Nga Bay for a Thai wooden long-tail boat tour.
The bus ride was quite long to our starting point.
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| In this part of the world, wiring like this is common - what could go wrong? |
After more than 90 minutes, we arrived and boarded our long-tail boat.
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| A little foreshadowing |
Long-tail boats are very long wooden boats.
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| A little more foreshadowing on the sign |
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| Heading out |
They mount a huge motor on the back with a very long shaft and propeller. The propeller sticks out of the shaft about ten feet behind the boat. The driver raises and lowers it and moves it side to side to adjust speed and direction.
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| Our Captain |
The scenery was lovely. We were surprised at the lack of birds or other wildlife.
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| Another long-tail boat, cruising along |
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| You can see how far behind the boat the propeller hits the water |
The highlight of the tour was Khao Phing Kan, more commonly known as James Bond Island. It became famous as the location in the James Bond movie, The Man With The Golden Gun.
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| Seeing the island with the distinctive monolithic islet really helped visualize 007, Francisco Scaramanga, and Nick Nack |
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| One side of the island had a cool cave up high on the face of the rock |
After circling the island, we continued to our next destination, Ko Panyi, a remote island village. We walked to the school on the island.
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| More cool islets |
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| Approaching Ko Panyi |
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| Many of the buildings were built on stilts |
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| We walked to the school on the island |
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| Because the school is landlocked, they built a floating soccer pitch |
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| Lots of stilts |
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| We caught a view of the mosque on the island |
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| We had been shocked at the complete absence of birds - then we saw this guy a long way away |
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| It was a beautiful Brahminy kite - a bird native to this area |
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| We arrived at our lunch venue, where a nice Thai buffet was waiting for us |
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| We boarded our boat for the return trip |
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| Sailing away |
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| The sky turned ominous, and we bobbed in and out of showers and dodged a thunderstorm |
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| We made a quick pass through the mangroves before returning to the pier |
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| After another long drive, we made a stop at a shopping venue to let folks shop for souvenirs |
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| Then had some interesting art outside |
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| I'll bet she hates shopping for pants |
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| I can't decide if this is fun or scary |
We continued to the Phuket Deep Sea Port, where Voyager was waiting for us.
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| Coming back into Phuket |
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| Hey, look - pickleball! |
We met friends in the Observation Bar for a drink and then went to La Veranda for dinner. Tonight, they offered a Southeast Asian buffet. We sampled ribs, Vietnamese spring rolls, Pad Thai, sweet and sour fish, and more. We had a nice dinner, getting to know a nice couple from Daytona Beach.
As I type this, a few big claps of thunder sounded not far from the ship, so it may be a loud night. We don't sail until 8:00 tomorrow morning. Counting tomorrow, we'll enjoy three days at sea.
We stayed at Phuket for a beach vacation while we lived in Korea. And one day we did a tour to James Bond Island. And then we rewatched the movie! Enjoying your blog
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