Port 27 Phuket, Thailand

by Ed · Published October 1, 2025 · Updated November 5, 2025

Greetings and Swasdi-khub! (Greetings in Thai!)

It is Saturday, Apr 27th, 2024! We approach the port of Phuket, Thailand – our home for the next two days! As we pull up to the dock, it feels like we’re in the middle of nowhere! This deep sea port feels isolated.

Today we have a tour to visit “Spectacular Phang Nga Bay.” Our tour guide is Bunkwin, but he asks us to call him “Bob.”

In the cruise terminal I see one of the most descriptive sets of assistance signs I’ve ever seen!

We pass this interesting shrine – it is a shrine to the Hindu god Brahma.

As the bus arrives at the boat docks, I see this gate announcing “James Bond 007”! It’s difficult to read, and the plane clearly needs a little help. We aren’t going through this gate, but we’ll be seeing the “James Bond” island!

Off the bus and walking to the boats, here is our sign!

We are led to a large version of the James Bond boats! These are called longboats.

The gunwales are high – it’s difficult to climb into the boats. Joy and I start to look for seats at the back of the boat, but after seeing the boat’s monster engine we move to take the very front seat! We don’t need that motor roaring in our ears!

We reach the wide river, and the immense rock islands surrounding Thailand appear before us! Beautiful! We are told there are 59 of these islands here.

It becomes apparent these islands are not all solid rock! There are “caves” under many of these islands!

Going through one of the caves we can see the stalactites that form – classic cave formations!

The view on the other side of the cave is stunning!

We see the famous Poodle Dog Island in the distance!

Then we arrive at the James Bond Island! You probably recognize this skinny formation that was used in “The Man with the Golden Gun.”

The far right-side of this island group has this interesting monster rock with its mouth open wide!

As I’m photographing the rock, the monster spits out a boat!

We continue on to the floating city of Koh Panyi. The city’s Muslim mosque anchors the city to the island.

Here is the Google Earth view of Koh Panyi. It is an amazing collection of floating barges and stilt houses! We head to the New Fern Restaurant for lunch!

We dock and disembark at the New Fern Restaurant for lunch!

This gives a good view of the floating and stilt components of the city!

A wonderful buffet is set out. Hundreds of people are here! Far more than just our tour group!

After lunch we get to tour the floating city. We reach the soccer field (a.k.a. floating football pitch) at the school of Koh Panyee.

The view from the school’s soccer field is beautiful! These are fishing huts with a gorgeous backdrop of the rock islands!

The school sits in the shadow of the mosque! This is such a unique city! It is a pleasure experiencing this place!

Fast forward to being back on the bus, we stop at the Gems Gallery for a brief visit.

This fabulous carving is in the entrance to the Gallery. We are not allowed to take photographs in the Gallery, so I want to share some of the details of this carving! You can see the depth of the carving here. This art is about two feet tall and five feet wide. Let’s examine the details!

Here is the monkey section, bottom center. Amazing detail!

The elephants are at the bottom right!

At first, I thought these are deer in the lower left, but the short legs made me dig a little deeper. I believe these are mainland serows – goat-like animals in the Asian region.

The eagles are here!

And Peacocks, too!

And the squirrels! Fantastic!

Heading back to the ship, I see this – a Selfie Museum! Really?

And then there is this handyman shop – reminiscent of a Bed, Bath, and Beyond?

We have plans to dine on shore with Tom and Judy Kline tonight! Tom arranges for a driver to take us to L’Arôme. We have a wonderful meal, and the driver is waiting to return us to the ship!

Seamless outing! Excellent food! Great company! Nice!

Back at Insignia, I still get the feeling we’re docked in the middle of nowhere!

Tonight’s show is The Great Gatsby! We find ourselves surrounded by the cast! They’re not chewing on toothpicks with olives – those tan balls are their microphones.

To prove they’re cast and not strangely dressed passengers, here they are during the performance!

Great show!

Now it is Day 2 in Phuket, Apr 28th, 2024. Today we have another tour, “Highlights of Phuket’.

Today’s tour guide is Juliet!

Heading up the island, I love the serene feelings I get seeing these colorful boats along the waterfront!

The first stop today is a rubber factory! We walk through rows of rubber trees, their canopies interlocking and giving us filtered sunlight. Collection bowls hang on every tree!

Juliet, on the left, explains what is going on as we watch a demonstration on how rubber sap (latex) is coaxed out of a tree. A hooked knife pares away a half-inch strip of bark, and the rubber sap dribbles down the slanted bark line and follows the bark strip that leads into the collection bowl. New strips are cut every day!

The trees are allowed to drip all night – the cooler temperatures at night slow the latex coagulation. It’s a very slow process!

The latex is collected in the morning and is filtered and processed into sheets. Then the sheets are hung to dry into the brown sheets you can see on the left.

The next stop is Laem Phromthep, or in English, Phromthep Cape. We are greeted by this lovely landscape clock!

Phromthep Cape is the southern-most point of the island of Phuket! It is advertised as the most stunning sunset viewing point in Thailand!

There is a fabulous Hindu temple at the Cape! This is the Lan Phra Phrom Hindu Temple! It has a gold four-faced Buddha in the center, surrounded by animals comprised mostly of elephants. Hundreds of elephants!

Here’s a closeup of the four-face Buddha in the center of that circle.

There is also a beautiful lighthouse at the Cape! The light at the top of the tower is very interesting!

The light has two elephants holding it in place with three interesting tree-like tiered structures.

From the Cape we can see the island pair of Ko Kaeo Yai (in front) and Ko Kaeo Noi. Ko Kaeo Yai has Buddhist monastery, a yellow pagoda temple, and a stone at the water’s edge with the footprint of Buddha! I believe that latter item is what the large structure at the near center of the island is enclosing. It has a large Buddha figure on top!

We move on to visit the oldest temple in Chalong – we are visiting the spectacular temples at Wat Chalong! (Note: I learn this is not the oldest temple compound in Phuket, just the oldest in this part of Phuket.)

Here’s another view of that temple, showing the depth of the roofline and the stunning detail in the gables and corbels! This is a far more dramatic view of the same building above!

There are several fascinating buildings in this compound without any map or information about the purpose of each building. Here is the centermost and largest temple. This temple is open for touring, but we don’t have time. Bummer – it has a lot of beautiful, golden Buddha figures inside!

We witness a firecracker explosion in this oven!

Juliet tells us this is a ritual to give thanks for prayers that have been answered! It is also used for other seasonal rituals, but this event is a thanksgiving ritual.

A few women were dressed in beautiful traditional dress, but I am particularly amused by this young lady with the duck slippers waiting on her mom!

This temple is at the far end of the compound, and it has a very different building style.

On the side of the compound is this interesting gray and gold temple! It looks similar to the temples of Angkor Wat, but with highly stylized elements!

I close out the Wat Chalong set with this ceremonial drum.

Our day continues with a visit to a cashew factory!

The fruit below is on a cashew tree. Unlike other fruits, the cashew nut itself grows out of the bottom of the fruit! Each tree only bears 300-360 fruit.

This is what the nut looks like after being removed from the fruit, dried, and roasted. No, you can’t eat this! Shelling is next.

They use a special cutter to open the shell around the nut. Then they can remove the cashew nut. The shell is highly acidic and can turn the skin black. This is why the gloves are required.

Closer to ready, the cashews still have an inner skin to be removed, and then the nut can be cleaned for eating! We are admonished to remember how much work each nut requires. “Eat cashews slowly. Savor them!”