Traveling with Jennifer Lopez

No not that Jennifer Lopez, but a thirty-five year old Thai lady who was our guide for our visit to Phuket.

Apologies if you have been waiting with bated breath for this update on the holiday, but for some reason the ship's server went down on Wednesday and did not get restored until late today Friday.

We started the day with breakfast in the Club Restaurant, for details see the food and drink section below. I then did my last blog entry and would have sat on the Balcony, but since we came into the Andaman Sea it has been pouring with rain. Still it had eased by the end of the morning and by Midday it was crystal clear again. We eased in to Phuket harbour by 12.30 p.m. we had a beautiful view of the island as we approached, it looked lush and green.

Having disembarked from the Ship we joined our coach for a scenic drive. Most of the people who know about Phuket are aware of the west coast, most famously for the beaches at Patong, but we stayed on the Western side of the island. Port Phuket where the ship was berthed, is also on the west of the island.

Phuket, a large island off the coast of Thailand, was badly hit by the Tsunami of 20 months ago. Our guide, Ms Lopez, was keen to highlight how quickly Phuket had restored its hotels and resorts and how we should tell all our friends to come to the island not just for cruises but for longer holidays. Do you know folks I think she is right. Not only is the island clean and well presented, but the relaxed nature of the Thai people and the lovely Thai food makes it an absolute most for anyone who can manage to get here. The villages with all their local stores, small restaurants, and quaint bars, are well presented. The locals have worked hard to make this place an idyll of sunshine and relaxation, and I think they have succeeded.

The first stop on our trip was to the Southern most part of the island, called Phromthep Cape, it provides a lovely view of the myriad of small islands which surround Phuket. Including the delightfully named Phi-Phi islands (pronounced pee-pee). The camera had a small incident with a bottle of water which, given to us cold, was heating up and dripping onto the lens, so some of today's photos are fuzzy, though the weather was really sunny and the sky beautifully clear. The temperature was in the early 90's Fahrenheit and humidity about 86%. Very sticky as my three shirts in one day indicated!

After the cape it was on to a fantastic Thai temple called Wat Chalong. Again the pictures can speak for themselves, but Jennifer talked to us about the way the Thai people love to give more and more to Buddha to celebrate their own wealth. This they evidently did at this temple. There was gold leaf everywhere.

We then went to a cultural centre called Wang Talang where dancers, both male and female did a superb demonstration of Thai culture, using dances from each of Thailand's regions. Following the exquisite dancing, four of the men took part in Thai boxing which is also well worth seeing. A final celebration of the local culture followed, then we walked out through the performers, who are all trained in a local Arts and Dance College, and being able to thank them, as they thanked us for the celebration.

The bus took us for the usual shopping stop, I stayed on the bus and read my book, and then back to the ship where, as usual we watched the ropes being untied and pulled back on to the ship from the Balcony, as we left the beautiful crystal clear Andaman Sea and made our 160 miles journey towards Penang.

As we moved south we saw an explosive thunder and lightening storm, but while this raised the winds it did not effect the stability of the ship.

Food and Drink

For Breakfast we had the usual juice (cranberry for me, orange for Drew), the fruit (orange segments for me, half a grapefruit for Drew) I then had a Cheese Omelette with Bacon and Canadian Ham and Drew had a strawberry yoghurt.

We had another, at home with Haydn and Drew, tonight. Another group we had become friendly with, two people from Liverpool (Paul and Mary), Fred from Toronto and two New Yorkers (Rich and Russ) had been on a few of the day trips with us, so we had got to know them well. They came up for drinks and nibbles. Which was as pleasant as those we had, had yesterday.

Tonight for Dinner we decided to have a night away from our 'gang' and eat at Sabatini's the Italian specialty restaurant on the top deck of the ship (we had a great view of the Thunder and Lightening from here).

This is a fascinating restaurant where they only allow you to choose your soup course and main course and serve you all the rest. And I mean ALL the rest. It sounds gross but it is really, really lovely.

We began with some tiny piece of Brusetta with tomatoes, onions and olive oil. There was a lovely red pepper bread and olive bread to nibble on. We then were given little dipping plates of Olive Oil and Balsamic vinegar, to use up even more of our bread. Then it was time for the Antipasto, this included deep fried cheese, cockles, aubergine, crab cakes, Salami, proccittio, melon, bresola, cooked ham, peppers, tomatoes, cauliflower, cheese, olives and Parmesan. Then came the pizza dish - this had four types of, small, Pizza we had margarita pizza and a olive and coriander pizza, then came the soup course I had a lovely Minestrone Soup while drew had fish soup that also looked nice. Next followed a median course of artichokes, prawns (shrimps to the Americans) and courgettes (zucchini to the Americans). Then the main course arrived. I had Poisson in Rosemary sauce, with carrots and potatoes which was delightful. Drew had the largest plate of Langoustines I have ever seen cooked in garlic and cilantro. Wow we were almost fit to burst. Though while I declined desserts (even a cheese course) Drew did manage a small piece of Tiramisu.

This was washed down by a bottle of Gavi De Gavi and a Chianti and plenty of San Pellegrino!!

No bar for us tonight, full to the gills, it was time to check the Internet (it wasn't working) and to head to bed at around 11.30, the earliest night so far!!