Phuket, Thailand

 

PHUKET, THAILAND

MARCH 6, 2025

Often called the “Pearl of the Andaman Sea,” the Thai island of Phuket has the most picturesque beaches, beautiful azure waters and emerald green hills. This island was long a major stop on trade routes between India and China.

Promthep boasts a shrine depicting the god Brahma as a “Four Face Buddha,” surrounded by more than fifty colorful elephant statues, each draped with garlands of flowers.  

Celebratory firecrackers in the square.

Then we toured Phuket’s largest and most sacred temple, Wat Chalong. 



Finally, we stopped at the Sriburapa Cashew Nut Factory to watch the process of extracting nuts from their shells by hand and, of course, made a purchase of fried nut cookies!

On the way back to the ship, we spotted this establishment in the bar area and got a good laugh. Probably sells more than liquor.



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