Thailand
Day 10: Phuket
No.
It’s pronounced “poo-KET”, no matter how much I would like it to be pronounced the other way. Le sigh. I had so many puns and double entendres ready to go, too.
It was our first time here and the only thing I really knew about it was they have popular beaches and massage parlours. We saw both, but didn’t make use of either one. But let’s back up to the awesome sunrise this morning.
After brekkie, we headed down to the Star Theatre and waited for our group to be called, since we weren’t docked this time, but anchored. Local tenders came to the ship and escorted us to the shore.
First things first: it was HOT. The announcement this morning said they expected it to get to 39C (102F) this afternoon, which is why all of the excursions were in the morning. It was about a half-kilometre walk from the tender to the bus. We were pretty obvious as a group, so we would’ve been pretty easy to find if you got turned around.
Once on the bus, we were off to the first stop, a hilltop shrine of some importance. Honestly, I only caught about half of what the guide told us, due to his accent and rapid speech. And that’s fine. Up on the hill, the shrine was covered in elephants that people leave there.
The view from up there was pretty, though!
Next stop was a Buddhist temple with several buildings. They were all very ornate and open to go inside, but it was crowded and ungodly hot, so we opted to just see them from the outside.
We did a bit of window shopping in the little market next to the temple and while the clothes and souvenirs were the same as in the other places we’d been, they did have one item that I was pretty excited about:
I love trying familiar foods in unfamiliar variations, so “Hot & Spicy Grilled Squid” flavour Pringles is right up my alley. Also, Thai food is renowned for bringing the heat, so if they are warning a Thai consumer that it’s hot and spicy, then this should really be a treat. The first thing I noticed is that they’re smaller than at home - the chips have a lot of room in the can.
They’re also a lot thicker than what we get at home. These are Ruffles-thick, but without the ridges.
The flavour? They did taste vaguely like grilled squid, but there was no hint of ‘hot and spicy’ at all. Not even a little bit. Ah, well.
The next stop on the tour was a cashew production facility. Out front was a large cashew tree.
The yellow bulbs are ‘cashew apples’ and when they ripen, they produce a single cashew nut below the apple. Just one. Now you know why cashews are so expensive! Once the nut is picked from the tree, the outer shell must be cracked and the nut extracted. This is done by machine now, but this particular place still employs people to do it the old-fashioned way to keep those jobs alive for the locals. Notice the gloves - the sap from the cashew shells will burn the skin, so gloves are for protection.
There was a shop also, selling cashews with a crunch coating in a myriad of flavours. Some predictable - BBQ, salt, butter - some more interesting - tom yum, corn, wasabi. We tried several of them and ended up getting a can of the wasabi ones. These had the heat that I thought the Pringles might have. Sneaky heat, too, that hits a few seconds after you swallow them. Delicious.
The drive back took awhile, due to the traffic.
It wasn’t a problem, really. The bus had air conditioning and it gave us extra time to appreciate the absolute bonkers madness of Thailand’s unique method of stringing electrical wiring. We noticed this in Bangkok on a previous trip, too: absolute massive amounts of wires, right out front in the open, with no attempt to conceal them or make it less obvious.
…and while that is strange compared to what we’re used to, the award for ‘strangest thing we saw today’ had to be this helpful sign posted in the public washroom:
It’s not just that someone felt they needed to have this sign professionally made and posted, but they even made sure to post it in three languages. What the hell happened here in the past? I have lots of questions, but I don’t think I want the answers.
Anyway, we made it back to the tender and got back on the ship for lunch. Rob had his favourite Norwegian open-faced sandwiches and Success cake. I had a “Pancho Villa burger” (with blue cheese, arugula, and habanero mayo) and a Thai salad with shrimp and squid. All was very good.
Back to the cabin for a nap, which I realized I needed when I was writing this earlier and dozed off at the keyboard waiting for a photo to upload. Got dressed for dinner (Viking requires slacks and a collared shirt for dinner in the main restaurant) and headed up to our favourite spot at the front of the ship for pre-dinner martinis. Our favourite waiter Suta brought them up to us. He’s been a real joy so far on this trip.
Dinner was Thai food (yay!) because Viking does their menu around local cuisine. I love Thai food, so I was pretty excited for this evening, and it did not disappoint. Started with Tang Kay, a fried beignet with corn, shrimp, and calamari with a sweet chilli sauce (very good) and Tom Yum Goong, a soup with shrimp and mushrooms in a tomato, lemongrass, and coconut milk broth. One of the best soups I’ve ever had, honestly.
Main course was a lobster pad Thai with tamarind and peanut. Very good, also.
Dessert was durian cheesecake. You know I love durian. And I love cheesecake. To have a way to eat durian without the odour AND get a cheesecake too? Perfect. I expected a traditional cheesecake with a hint of durian. I was wrong.
This was the most challenging cheesecake I’ve ever had. It was in no way subtle. It was full-on, punch-you-in-the-face durian flavour and a hint of the odour came through in the flavour from time to time. I’ll be honest, the first couple of bites were so intense, I almost didn’t continue. But I did… and ended up getting a second slice. That was some hard-core durian, but you didn’t need to hold your breath when you ate it. Wonderful!
Pianist Adam Johnson returned to the stage for another terrific show to end the evening. The highlight was his rendition of “Summertime” from ‘Porgy and Bess’ that showcased his command of the instrument and all the nuances that can be achieved with it. Great show.