Last day shopping and relaxing

I started the day as usual with exercises in the pool before we all headed off to Delish for coffee and breakfast.

After our breakfast and on the way back we stopped for some clothes shopping. Don with Di’s help found a shirt to replace his shark shirt which had torn and shorts. Then everyone got into the swing of it. We bought items for our children and grandchildren and Jim and I bought shirts.

Then it was off to the German Bakery to buy croissants for lunch.

Phi Phi island cruise

The alarms were set for 6.00am as we had to be up at the main road by 7.00am to be picked up and taken to Rassada Harbour. We were on board early so found very good seats with lots of leg room.

We left after 9.00am and headed off into the Andaman sea.

There were a few decks and the air conditioned lounges from which to take the sights.



Some of the islands in the Andaman archipelago seemed be sheer rocks covered with vegetation.





The vertical cliff faces were striped with many different colours.





This was called the Viking cave.



There seemed quite a few interesting caves and rock formations.





It took some time for everyone to get off the cruiser at Phi Phi Don island.

I saw this pirate ship at the pier.

We headed for the beach on the other side to the pier and Di and I had a swim.

The water was warm and beautiful aqua colour.

People from many different cultures were enjoying the beach.

A lovely lunch at the Phi Phi Hotel was included in our tour. We met some Australians, English  and Nigerians at our table.

Coffee was needed after that but I had to have tea as they didn’t provide soy milk.

These are the Thai boats. They have flat bottoms and outboard motors that are at the end of a long metal tube. This allows them to move around in quite shallow water.

Because we took our time getting to the boat after our lunch all the best seats were taken in the lounge so we had to sit down below.

Finally our trip back home was a disaster as the traffic was horrendous. Some of the lights at intersections were out and there were no police to manage the traffic. While we were on the return trip on the boat there was a storm so at one point the road was completely flooded and a car was stuck in the water. It took us 3and a half hours to get home!

A dip in the pool was needed to cool off and regain our sanity after sitting still for 3and a half hours.

Buddha and Boss

It was a slow start to the day and Jim joined us at the Delish cafe for good coffee and breakfast while Di continued to work on chapters for her book.

For the third day in a row I had this super breakfast of a frozen banana raspberry smoothie with granola and fresh banana and frozen raspberries on top!!! YUM

Don and I then walked up to the artists colony and had a look around.

None of the artists were around and none of their works either appealed to us or looked like they could travel home with us.

The snails are much bigger here.

After a lazy morning and early afternoon swimming, reading and sleeping we went to see the big Buddha on the top of the mountain. The road up was steep with many sharp corners but the view from the top was spectacular.

Much of the island is still jungle.

They are in the process of making this huge Buddha from marble tiles. You can make a donation and have your name written on the back of the tile.




In under the Buddha they have some information about European Buddhists.






They had signs telling people not to touch, catch or feed the monkeys.

This Indian goddess reminded me of Anna and her long hair.

We headed back home for drinks and then walked out to have dinner down the road.

It turned out to have Thai, European and German food. Next we moved on to the tailor’s.

Don was trying on his first shirt and pants and checking the fit.

With Di there to egg him on he decided to buy 2 pairs of pants and 5 shirts (and get one free).

When we walked home we saw some of the wildlife.

The Chinese influence in Thailand!

Our day started as usual with Jim and Di hard at work and Don waiting for me to finish my water aerobics in the pool so I could go up the street for coffee with him.

On our way down the street we saw these large creatures which we thought would appeal to Aneirin and Lowri.

We had coffee and breakfast at delish. Don even has a loyalty coffee card.

We did some shopping on the way back.

We headed off to explore the most visited Buddhist temple in Phuket. 

One of the monks revered here helped stop the tin mining trade being taken over by the Chinese.













We saw this amazing flower growing out of side of a tree.

Suddenly a burst of loud noise had us putting our fingers in our ears. A large number of crackers were set off in this beehive shaped building.





The next place we visited had been the first Chinese speaking school in Phuket and is now a museum devoted to the Chinese participation in Phuket.

It lists all the poor rural Chinese labourers who mainly came to work in the tin mines and who made good becoming successful businessmen of influence in Phuket.

Some became governors of the area, building roads and buildings and establishing schools. 

Of course after all that history we needed a coffee. Don said Rachel would have approved of the colour of this cup.



While organising a taxi to take us back to the villa we saw this house painter not following Australian health and safety procedures!