Phuket

PHUKET

Thursday - 26/06

We travelled from Koh Phi Phi to Phuket on Thursday afternoon. Our ferry was the best we had been on thus far. It had comfy seats, a real toilet (with toilet paper) and, to our absolute delight, free doughnuts and fruit! Best ferry ride ever!!!!
Although we knew that Patong beach was the tourist/party place to stay in Phuket, we were looking for a place to reboot and reload after our island shenanigans so we opted for the cheaper and quieter Old Phuket Town area.
We needed to catch up on a little admin, researching our upcoming Malaysia trip and updating the blog (our fans were getting restless - especially Griff, Tiss and Robs), so we went in search of an internet cafe. All the internet cafes we have been to thus far have had a maximum of 3 computers, with slow internet and an old lady (who doesn't even know what Twitter is) at the front desk so we were expecting much of the same here...but boy were we wrong! We walked into a cyberspace battle field where an army of nerdy Asian teenagers had armed themselves with mouse-swords and keyboard-shields and were lan'ed up, ready for war against fantasy characters from other galaxies! The whole room was a buzz with keyboards being smashed and mouse buttons being frantically clicked - it was fantastic! At the front counter instead of an old lady, sat The King of the Nerds! They had everything an avid gamer could hope for - fast internet and food - chips, coldrink and even pot noodles (hot water and everything)! Needless to say we were able to get all our technology related activities sorted and even made it to the 2am closing time - yip, we be white and nerdy!

Friday - 27/06

Tiger Kingdom

Joy was so super excited to meet her favourite animal in the world - the mighty cat that swims - the tiger!
Her love for these striped kitties had stemmed from watching the Disney movie Aladdin in her youth (and maybe even once or twice in adult life).

  

Jasmine and Rajah

You may remember that in the movie Princess Jasmine (Aladdin's love interest) owns a pet tiger named Rajah, and it was their relationship, which was obviously totally realistic, inspired Joy's love for these mighty beasts. 

We had to make Joy's childhood dream of becoming Princess Jasmine a reality. Roxy, the dress-up party queen, sprung into action as costume designer and make-up artist. We used whatever material, jewelry and accessories we had to make Joy look as princessy as possible!

         

The transformation - Before and After

We had reviewed Tiger Kingdom and it seemed like the best tiger sanctuary that we could find in Thailand. They had all different sizes of tigers that you could meet ranging from the smallest (3-6 months old) to the big cats (1.5-2 years old).

 

The smallest ones (which weren't really that small) were so playful and were always chasing one another or play fighting. They were so curious and any little leaf or fluffy toy needed to be attacked and ripped to shreds. 

 

 

 

We were able to walk around the area and watch all the different sized tigers in action, but we really wanted to meet the big ones! They were truly massive! Joy was so excited! Her dream was finally going to come true!!!

Roxy's favourite Tiger 

Smile for the camera

We had heard that some places drug the tigers to make them docile for the tourists, but as you can see by these eyes, this big guy is fully alert

As tigers are just big cats it is perfectly normal that they would want to spend most of their day snoozing in the sun

Tying out the tiger moustache style

Aah...it moves by itself!!!

 

Living the dream

 

Hmm...tasty tiger tail!

Grrrr...we be wild

Sleepy face!

Cuddles...

Legs up! Our photographer had some alternate ideas for posing.

 

Poi Poi -the only big female tiger - getting away from the four lazy, horny boys by going for a little swim in the pool

Girls doing what we do well - chilling by the pool 

 

Poi Poi taking a poo poo in the pool! 

Tiger Pillow

Tiger pillow selfie!

It was truly one of the most incredible experiences and we both absolutely loved it!

We chatted to our tiger handler, Bond (James Bond), who gave us a little insight into the way the establishment in run and how the tigers are cared for. He usually looks after the new born tigers (less than three months old) which are not yet allowed to be seen or touched by tourists as they are not yet vaccinated and could get sick from contact with humans (but he did show us a few pics of himself with the babies). He also told us that the big tigers we met, were only half grown at 2.5 years old. He also advised that they can live up to 15 years but that at around 3 years old they are retired from Tiger Kingdom and taken to a tiger sanctuary in Chang Mai were they live out the remainder of their years in wide, open spaces and fed to their hearts content. 

On our last afternoon in Thailand we did a little shopping and then went for a traditional Thai massage. We hadn't had any pampering this trip so we decided that it was time we treat ourselves a little! We didn't really know what to expect so went in with visions only of the massages we had had in the past - the sounds of soothing pan pipe instrumental music, the smell of aromatherapy oils and the gentle rubbing of back muscles as you drift into a state of complete relaxation.

NOTE: A Thai massage bears no resemblance to that whatsoever!!!

We were led into a little room where we lay on the floor and waited anxiously. There was no smell of incense and the only music came  from the advertisements on the TV in the other room! This was going to be interesting! 

During the massage we got yanked and pulled and beaten and slapped and squeezed and clicked and twisted into all sorts of positions! To Joy's horror a Thai massage also encompasses some foot action - not ideal for someone with an intense foot touching fear. After visibly exhibiting this anxiety the violent lady, I mean masseuse, forcefully told her to "Lelax" and continued with the torture. Not quite the relaxing situation we had envisioned!  [Note: in South East Asia, so far, we have found that most people battle to pronounce the letter "R" and the letter "X" and it is for this reason that Roxanne has mostly been referred to as "Lock-shan."].

We left the 'beauty' parlour feeling like we had just gone 3 rounds in a Muay Thai fight but strangely refreshed! 

Our last dinner in Thailand consisted of large cocktails and absolutely no Thai food at all! 

 

        

Delicious pizza and fried rice sushi - treats!!!!                  

On our walk through the park we came across this interesting dragon statue that was beautifully lit up!

 

That evening we packed our bags and prepared to leave our backpackers at 4am the next morning to catch our early morning flight to Malaysia. From the plane window we witnessed our final sunrise over the land of beaches, coconuts and curry!