Today we woke up and were already in our 14th country of Thailand. What a way to travel while sleeping in one of the most comfortable beds. We got going pretty slow this morning and headed down to breakfast at the 2 70 cafe. Whilst we were there a guy was running a morning stretch session so we did some of them too.
To get from the Royal Caribbean boat to shore we had to use a tender today. Which means a boat from the boat. These were running from the boat to shore all day and all night as the ship was to be docked in Phuket all night. The only hitch in this plan is that the Royal Princess was due to visit Phuket today and was using the same dock as us so out tenders had to be suspended between 10-11am and 5-6pm to allow for the royal boats and parade. This only affected us as we wanted to be out before the early closure so we didn’t miss our tour.
Taking the tender across it was so cool seeing the beautiful Patong Beach in one direction and then looking back at the Anthem of the Seas.
We arrived in Phuket got through the gaggle of locals asking if you want a taxi and then made our way to a restaurant to have the first thing I wanted try in Thailand, Mango sticky rice. I am an avid watcher of the YouTubers Kara and Nate and have watched them from the start. Early on Kara would go on and on about Mango sticky rice when they were in Thailand. So of course it was first on my list to try. We ordered sticky rice and a smoothie from a local restaurant and it was amazing. I had a pineapple smoothie and I think it is up there with one of the best drinks I have ever had.
Full we decided to walk the street of Patong which was interesting. There are so so many weed and cannabis shops here. There are also shooting ranges and just mayhem everywhere. The beach area is stunning though.
We made our way to a shopping centre and found a bubble tea place as I really wanted to have Thai tea in Thailand. These are the stupid things I like to do. It was good!
We made our way back to the main city to get ready for our tour. I had spent a very long time researching Ethical elephant sanctuaries as I wanted to see elephants but I do not want my tourist money to go to a place that is not ethical and hurts the elephants. This is not a easy task as most sanctuaries say they are ethical but the are not. Responsible Travel Website was a great site to use. I happened to come across Hidden Forest Elephant Sanctuary and got very interested in learning their story. elephant speciasts Kong and Louise Rogerson, opened up the Sanctuary in Nov 2023. Louise was actually doing the tours with us. This elephant sanctuary is nestled in the hills of southern Phuket and is home to eight beautiful female elephants who are all rescued from the tourism riding industry. They are now able to roam freely, socialise with each other, and play naturally in the ponds, streams and muddy wallows throughout the land. I follow them on Instagram and the conditions some of these elephants have been in are appalling. There latest rescue is so malnurished and injured she won’t be out with the others for a few more months as they try and get her back to good health.
Our first stop was down to where the elephants can come for snack from the guest. We were given strict instructions about no touching or hugging or loud noises and then we could feed any that came down. Ton Oi who is 43 years old (the youngest) came barreling down first her Mahout way back behind her. Each elephant has there own Mahout but they are there to keep them safe and try to keep them on property. They mostly bribe them with sugarcane I think. We got to feed Ton Oi (when she got down she gestured her trunk to her mouth which was so cute)
The others eventually came down slowly. We got to feed the 2 best friends Gaw Boon (Good Luck) 53 yrs and Nam Paerng (Honey) 59 yrs. These 2 are inseparable they are never more then 3 m apart and absolutely best friends they were so cute.
We then went over to feed Sudjai (The deepest love at the bottom of your heart) 60 yrs she is the oldest elephant and she is also known as Granny from how she chews. It was such and amazing experience. Anthony kept trying to feed Granny but another elephant Wassana (Destiny) 48 yrs kept trying to grab bananas to stash.
We then walked up to the observation deck to sit and see the elephants as after snack food they normally like to head up to more food. Elephants are always ready for the next meal. We got to sit down and watch as some of the elephants made their way up to an area with grass, leaves and green veggies. When the walked past us they were so close and some of them really took their time. A few were snacking on sugar cane as they went and the cracking sounds were crazy.
We got to go to a couple more observations huts and just got to watch them live their best life. Seeing them up close you can see a lot of scars from saddles, chains and other not so great things.
We finished up near the water hole and were treated to a very delicious lunch. After a fair while a couple of elephants came to have a quick dip in the pond and then walk around causing mayhem. It was such a amazing experience. If you are in Phuket I would strongly recommend spending your money visiting this or another ethical sanctuary. Elephants should not be ridden or bathed with, this is something I wish I would have thought about when I was younger.
We arrived back for tropical night on the ship and spent all of dinner chatting with such a nice family from Sweden. We also had the best server’s in the world again.
The last thing was a magic show on the ship. Pontan is a magician from Taiwan and he was amazing. He had great humour and magic making it a very fun show all round. We fell into bed so tired from such a big hot day.
