We had a scheduled half-day tour for our last day in Phuket, so we woke up early, thankful that we had not gotten sick from our crazy night last night, had buffet breakfast and checked out of our hotel rooms before waiting for our guide to pick us up in our hotel lobby.
They stowed our luggage in their van because they were bringing us straight to the airport after our tour. We shared the van with just a couple other mini groups.
Our first stop was an overview point where we could get a good view of Phuket.
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| An overview point |
The next stop was a complex where we could have a pick of several activities like ATV driving and elephant-riding. Drew had never ridden an elephant before and wanted to try it, so I accompanied him because Kes had just recently gone on an elephant tour last December when she was here with her family.
We slathered on a lot of sunblock because the sun was so angry that day, and off we went. Our guide, the elephant driver, actually asked if Drew and I were on a honeymoon, and once again Drew was reduced to a fit of giggles as he hysterically protested, “NO!!!” We walked around for about an hour, at one point descending into a forest in the mountains.
After that we went to visit some chinese temples and it was very beautiful, both outside and in. There were so many golden buddhas inside.
Then we stopped at several shops where we could go shopping. We even had a tour of a place where they had rebuilt what the vikings cave looks like, but photography wasn’t allowed so we don’t have pictures. They also sold the actual birds’ nests in there but we didn’t buy any.
We were also brought to a jewelry place where I ended up buying an amethyst ring.
Kes actually asked the salesman if he thought Drew and I were a couple. The salesman said, “No.” Kes asked, “Why not?’ to which the salesman replied, with a knowing smile, “I know.” When we asked him to explain himself, he pointed to Drew and me and said, “You are the same.” Hahaha dear salesman, how astute you are! 😀
There was one point where we saw a hut selling fresh fruits. When I saw that they sold my favorite fresh coconut drink, I just couldn’t resist. It was so delicious that I bought two.
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| Sipping my favorite drink – fresh coconut juice from the shell. I bought two. 😛 |
Our very last stop was a cashew factory, where they showed how they plucked cashew nuts from the fruits and shelled them individually before they got processed into cashew nut goodies. Oh the effort. No wonder cashew nuts are more expensive than other nuts!
We were able to taste all sorts of flavors, and our favorites were the bbq and the chocolate-covered ones. We also tried the cashew juice, squeezed from the cashew fruit and bragging about all sorts of health benefits. It tasted a bit weird, like it burned a bit going down.
Our best discovery in that place, though, were the spicy tamarind balls. I had been looking everywhere for those!
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| A trip to the cashew factory |
After that, our tour guide drove us to the airport, where we had ample time for a belated lunch before checking in to our flight. We were running low on Thai baht by then, so we had to pool everything we had and see what we could afford. We couldn’t even afford three separate meals at Subway so that we had to share an order of a 12-inch sub and two bottles of mineral water. Poor us. But instead of lamenting it, we just laughed about it.
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