I just wanted to see some elephants...

The Bay of Phuket

Phuket, Thailand, (pronounced Poo-ket, not the other way), is located in the Bay of Phuket and the island is in the Andaman Sea. It borders Kuala Lumpur to the south and Cambodia to the north. It has a reputation for beautiful scenery, museums, shops, temples, amazing sunsets, pristine beaches, and dense jungles. Thailand is a bit smaller than Singapore and was much fought over for its rubber and tin resources. There is a lot to see in Thailand, but nothing was more important to me than the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary. I had done some research on the excursion offered on the ship and was concerned about the well-being of the elephants in that program, so I did my own planning and set up a trip to this sanctuary in Thailand. I offered it to others on the cruise and ended up with 30 people signed up.

We had another fiasco getting off the boat at this water-shuttle port. The water was rough and the captain called in an assist from some larger water shuttles in the area which held 350 passengers (as opposed to our little lifeboats that hold 100). But that delay caused EVERYONE to be late for their trips and tempers were short, to say the least.  In my group, there was some confusion about where and when to meet, so people were getting off in dribs and drabs rather than in one group. After the ship finally called the second group of independent travelers, I told everyone to just come along and we would lie our way through if needed. We were supposed to meet our guides at 8:15 am and didn’t get off the ship until 10. Then I realized that the little old lady sitting next to me didn’t get off the ship when everyone else did (though we told her to). I had no way to get hold of her except to email her husband. We had to wait for the next shuttle for her and ended up starting at 11:45 so the whole schedule was screwed up. A few people got fed up and dropped out. I was sorry for the delays and confusion, but it was out of my control. I just wanted to see some freaking elephants!

Since we were so late, the sanctuary switched us to the afternoon program so we first went to the Big Buddha to take some pictures. I knew it was big from the name, but this thing was mammoth when you got up close. It was an interesting drive to get there on tiny roads in our van through local neighborhoods, and reaching the top of the mountain to see the Buddha was very impressive. After a quick photo stop, we headed back down the mountain to the sanctuary. 

Big Buddha and Little People.

Playing the prayer gong at the Big Buddha Temple

Just after I took the top photo, one of the women in the red shirts walked over and just handed me her camera. I must have a trustworthy aura because this is not the first time this has happened to me on this trip. So I took a picture of her group (I hope - the camera was in Chinese so I don't know if I took a photo or a video of them or me) and handed it back with a bow and a smile then ran away in case I had screwed it up.

After traffic and paperwork at the sanctuary, we finally got to see elephants!!! I had them give us the express tour since we had to be sure to get back to the dock for the last tender at 4:00 pm (we were an hour from the port, and traffic was like NY traffic). If you don't make it back on the ship on time they will leave without you unless you are on a ship excursion.

We went to feed the elephants first. How adorable they were – they knew the drill. Stick out their trunk and a human will put a piece of fruit in it. I fed them cucumber, watermelon, bananas (they ate those with the skins on), and pumpkin, and got some great closeups. 

Mixing up some elephant food balls

Nom Nom Nom

The Phuket Elephant Sanctuary is the first ethical animal sanctuary in Thailand, it set a model for others to follow. Established about 10 years ago, they currently have ten elephants at the sanctuary that have retired mostly from the logging industry. They are all “middle-aged” (they have life spans like humans, about 70 or 80 years), and enjoying their golden years. Most have a best friend they hang out with all the time, and the sanctuary does not force them to perform tricks or interact with people if they don’t want to. The Mahouts (the elephant carers) live on the property and are assigned one elephant to care for. They carried nothing in their hands, just walked next to their charges and encouraged them to go a certain direction with their voices or a hand gesture. While the elephants have real Thai names, the guide referred to them by their personalities: the Drama Queens, Lady Boy, Lazy Girl, and Big Daddy.

 This lady was blinded on the job, so we were allowed to get close and pet her on the trunk. So sweet! She just kept moving her head towards me to get more rubs.

Lady Boy was enjoying some sugar cane

This girl's expression of bliss is because she loves eating and is savoring all the treats.

Folks that wanted to have lunch went to grab something quickly and the rest of us walked out on the boardwalk through the canopy to meet some elephants. Our guide pointed out the different residents who were just enjoying the afternoon, hanging with their friends and eating some delicious things. He then led us down to the jungle floor, where we got to meet one of their elephants who was blind in both eyes from cataracts. We were able to pet her and get some great close-up pictures of her. Then we walked over (but not as close) and got to get some pictures with some of the other residents. The folks that had lunch got a golf cart ride out to join us, so everyone had a great time and saw lots of elephants.

Turns out the ship made some tours there too, so I didn’t have to do all that work myself. We were nervous about getting back in time so the ship wouldn’t leave without us. But after we saw that some of the ship tours were still there, we knew they wouldn’t leave without us. We made it back in plenty of time, but with all the delays of the morning, the last water shuttle pulled away from the ship at 7:00 pm, so we probably could have stayed a bit longer. 

I cannot say enough good things about the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary and its staff. Each and every person I encountered was happy, helpful, courteous, and caring for their charges. The lunch was excellent, they had drinks and snacks and cold towels for everyone. If you ever have the opportunity to go, please do so. They do good work.

So happy to finally be here!

Lesson learned: no more tour planning for me. But I will happily be a tour guide for the day. These were some of the sights on our way back to the ship.

This family was out shopping for the day. Mom on the back was holding a big box from a Walmart-type store, Dad had the grocery bag on the other steering handle, and Son was hanging onto his Happy Meal. And the Flip Flops! I can't even imagine the burns from the bike on that, let alone road rash! At least they were wearing helmets! Most people were wearing helmets; the exceptions seemed to be the young and invincible.

This was the view as we got closer to town. I told our driver he would do well in New York City - he had the skills to drive on extremely rural dirt roads and heavily populated roads at rush hour, dodging pedestrians, motor bikes, other cars, and traffic jams. I'm getting used to this left-hand driving finally. So many British colonies!