When our ship landed in Phuket, Thailand on May 14 (Day 121), I was looking forward to the first of many days in Thailand. Our ship was scheduled to return to Thailand for three additional days (including an overnight in Bangkok) at the end of May. The ship did indeed return to Thailand as planned, but I was recovering from a bad cold. As it has turned out, Phuket was my only stop in Thailand, and it gave me a good taste of the country. I will cherish my visit there.
Phuket province is located in southern Thailand. It is the biggest Island of Thailand and sits on the Andaman sea. The nearest province to the north is Phang-nga and the nearest provinces to the east are Phang-nga and Krabi. (reference from tourist authority.)
My day in Phuket started with one of those beautiful sunrises.
My excursion in Phuket was by bus, and from the window of the bus, it was clear that this is a land full of Buddhism.
We visited a pretty amazing Buddhist elephant shrine. There were elephants.
More elephants.
And more elephants.
There were temples.
More temples.
Lots of representation of the Buddha in his various positions.
We started by visiting these temples and shrines that are part of the Thai Buddhist tradition. In that tradition, the Buddha in various positions is the representation we saw the most.
Phuket is also interesting because there is a Chinese Buddhist tradition of worship there as well. We visited one of these temples.
And noticed the very different kind of statues involved in the worship.
There are many places I would like to revisit. Thailand is certainly high on that list.