Phuket, Thailand (Itinerary)
 
For orientation, Singapore is its own country/city south of
Malaysia. Our next two ports were in Malaysia.: Port Klang,
the port for Kuala Lumpur, and Georgetown. Now Phuket is part
of Thailand. We had stopped
there in 2012, but on the other side of the island. While
our visit was quite different from three years ago, the sunrise
looked nearly the same.
A pleasant sail in...
A floating pier ripples as waves roll in.
The port should pay Holland America for dredging services given
all the mud our ship stirred up. Some locals create a rooster
tail with their long-shafted outboard motor.
 
A supply boat heads out to an island. We were looking for a
water taxi here, but none were available.
So we hired Ali, an older taxi driver who waited outside the
port gate. The utility wires, probably mostly phone lines, were
amazingly messy.
The deal we made with Ali was that in addition to the list of
attractions, he would stop when we saw something interesting.
Our first unscheduled stop was for a market.
Little pancakes were cooked in cast iron pans with semi-spherical
indentations.
The chickens were very yellow and still had their feet.
Motorcycles were lined up outside the market space.
Siray Island with its Sea Gypsies was our first
planned stop.
Over a decorated prow of a fishing boat we could see the Amsterdam
from here, but it was a world away.
Drying blowfish and drying laundry...
The gypsies are known for their bent wood fish traps.
Here is how they create the bent wood frames: they tie green
wood to their lean-to supports until they harden.
Boat maintenance...
 
As our cab was leaving the village, these structures caught
our eye. We stopped Ali to investigate.
This used to be a museum dedicated to the gypsies and their
way of life, but it had been abandoned. We guessed that the
money used to build it had not included ongoing maintenance.
It might have been interesting...
This display of monkey sculptures which were still on Siray
island made us scratch our heads. Why were they here?
Across the street from the monkeys someone had constructed a
nice river walk with patterned tile and a dozen or more built-in
benches. Now the river is trashy and the benches are falling
apart.
From the bridge back to the mainland...
...and the other side is a colorful fishing fleet. It was Sunday
so the boats are not working.
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