A Week in Phuket

We’re back in S’pore after a relaxing holiday in Mai Khao on Phuket island, southern Thailand. A few highlights and observations from our trip:

• ‘Tho the Mai Khao coast wasn’t hit as hard as other parts of the island by the Tsunami, there was evidence of increased preparedness, like shiny new signs designating tsunami evacuation routes to assembly areas on higher ground. One of these areas, a large plot of land that doubled as a coconut plantation, was just behind our suite.
  
  
• Majestic domed mosques and ornate templates are a common sight along the main roads. The social unrest associated with regions further south doesn’t seem to have tainted the harmony among the Muslim and Buddhist locals who almost equally comprise the Phuket population.
  
  
• They drive on the left, with the left-most narrower lane reserved for motorcycles and bicycles. I dare say there may be more motorcycles than cars, many with side carts covered with umbrellas, some carrying additional passengers or laden with hawker wares.
  
  
• We learned to greet with “Sawatdee-ka” (or “-krap” if you’re a dude), accompanied by a sweet smile and a respectful nod, in imitation of our gracious hosts.
  
  
• We rode a 6-year old elephant on the beach, bareback! A real gentle giant, which we watched, amazed, as it frolicked in the Andaman Sea. Imagine a 1-ton beast allowing itself to be swept off its feet by the heavy pounding waves and rolling playfully in the sand. The bond between the elephant and her human companion (“mah-hute”) was also magical and touching, with him rubbing her face as she wrapped her swinging trunk around his arm.
  
  
• We “kids” went kayaking in Phang Nam and Krabi bays with Paddle Asia.Com and got quite a workout! The numerous karst islands resembled grazing and slumbering elephants, covered with dense forests except for the sheer cliffs. Vibrantly-colored herons, frenetically-pecking sandpipers, and a lizard as long and twice as thick as my arm greeted us as we paddled past them.
  

The ultimate highlight of the past week has been QT with my aged Aunts. I cherish those afternoons (during our escapes from the midday heat) when Eema and Auntie R reminisced about “war time” during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore and shared fond and still-vivid memories of family members who have since left us. I will never forget those moments.