Next, a walk at the Spice Farm. As the name states, they grow spices. And snakes. It's a Pit Viper.
OK, so we went to Phuket (pronounced Poo-ket) after all, and spent the night. Day one, about 200 of us in six buses took an all-day tour, invading "Spectacular" Phang Nga Bay. This is kind of a cross between Ha Long Bay in Viet Nam and Milford Sound in New Zealand. Towering limestone cliffs and islands all around, and there is Panyee, a floating Muslim fishing village that dates way back to three original families. We guessed that since almost everyone's related, the whole village would be invited to a wedding. And there's plenty of restaurant space to accomodate it, too, because this is the place to come for lunch by boat.
Now, here's a story that we'll always remember. It's a two-hour drive from Phuket City on the island to Phang Nga on the mainland. That's four hours on a bus without traffic jams caused by construction, which of course we got caught up in on the way back. So, it's approaching 7:00 p.m., people were well-fed and well toured, but tired of the bus, and the guide is supposed to make a stop for shopping and restrooms. When she said we were headed for shopping, everyone on the bus said no shop. Ship.
Well, she's supposed to follow her itinerary to the letter or else. But when the bus turned in at the shopping venue, the entire gang cried out "no"! The poor guide said, well, we'll just stop for a few minutes so everyone can use the restroom. "NO!" Next thing, we all refused to get off the bus and started chanting "go! go! go!" Needless to say, we went, and everyone cheered. Mutiny on Bus 5! See? Even a politically diverse group can agree on something once in a while. We happily signed a release of sorts so she wouldn't get fired for skipping part of the tour.
We surprised ourselves when we actually got up the next morning and went on tour again, but it was worth it. We went to Elephant Camp for a show, beautiful Chalong Temple, a cashew nut factory (free samples!) and a rubber plantation. Who knew that rubber trees can be tapped almost every day for 35 years and the work is all done in the middle of the night? Why at night? Because the latex runs better when it's cool and it's never cool in Penang except at about 1:00 a.m, when it might dip below 85.
Everyone on board knew old Tom, who had his 102.5th birthday, and was feted in his favorite bars and awarded a new license plate for his walker. Heard from Tom every day as he passed through the Compass Rose restaurant with the walker: "plenty of room! plenty of room!"
