This post is on the second part of our Phuket Adventures, that include elephants and tigers and Buddhas–oh my!

After a lot of sun and fun, we really wanted to fit more cultural activities in, especially because we didn’t really have many days left in Phuket.  Day 3 was dedicated to doing as many things as we could within a 30 mile radius of where we were staying, and I have to say, thanks to our driver/tour guide, นก or Nok (which means bird in Thai), we were set for the day.

Day 3 began with a little elephant trekking, which was pretty surreal.  I never thought that I’d ever ride an elephant, and I was really surprised to find that the ride is anything but smooth.  I grew up riding horses, and a horse’s gait is waaay different than an elephant’s. I think elephants may be more stubborn too.

The reason I say stubborn is that the second this little lady’s owner was off her (to take this picture), she veered towards this ledge and it took a while for her handler to get her back onto the trail.  Once she listened to him though we were back on track and overall it was an incredible experience.

After our elephant adventure, Nok took us to see the Big Buddha.  I was able to see it from our elephant trek, and you could even see it from the highway down below the mountain, so I knew we were in for a treat.

The Big Buddha is built on a patch of virgin rain forest, the best part is this statue was built by donations, and it stands at about 147 feet tall.  Even the white marble that covers the statue was donated, it’s quite beautiful.  There is also a smaller brass Buddha statue on the site, that measures about 36 feet tall. The story is that the smaller Buddha is dedicated to the Queen of Thailand, while the bigger Buddha is dedicated to the King of Thailand.

They also have an area where a Buddhist monk can bless you, and there is also an area where donations can be made, and certain items can be bought to benefit the temple.

Next stop after checking out Big Buddha was Wat Chalong, or Chalong Temple.  This is apparently the largest and most visited temple in Phuket. The most recent building is about three stories tall, and is said to shelter a splinter of a bone from Buddha.

The central temple is where most people will go in to make their offering to the statues of the monks, most often taking in lotus flowers and attaching small gold pieces of paper to the statues.  Around the corner from the temple there’s a row of little tents with artisanal goods and souvenirs.  We hung out there for a little bit, then got back in the car and asked Nok to take us to our next stop: Tiger kingdom Phuket!!

Sadly, the name sounds like a type of Walt Disney World attraction, and it kind of is—where else do you think you may be able to go into a tiger cage and pet some tigers?? You have the chance to choose to go in with tiger cubs, adolescent tigers, or full blown adult tigers, and because of the nature of the animal, I decided on the tiger cubs.  They are quite adorable, and I’ve been told they sedate them during the day so that they’re a little bit more tame :/

We really packed a lot of activities into the third day, which included a little venture into Patong Beach to check out the night life.  Patong Beach is one of the more congested areas of Phuket, which includes the very popular Bangla Road.

Bangla road is like Bourbon Street but on steroids—with everything from Lady Boys (remember The Hangover Part 2) walking up and down the street and in and out of bars, prostitutes propositioning men, and countless bars and night clubs that line the street.  You’ll also even see people with their kids there, because this street is such tourist attraction.  It’s a great place to people watch, and it’s interesting to see what happens as the night progresses.

We ended up having dinner at a restaurant that was recommended to us by some locals, that had Thai and Middle Eastern food.  We enjoyed some papaya salad, some thom yum soup, hummus, and some pad thai.  We sat near a balcony so we could check out some of the activity that was going on below.

On average the alcoholic beverages we enjoyed were a bit on the light side, but since prices were comparatively cheap compared to what we’re used to in the US, it wasn’t too bad.  We were glad we stayed in Kata rather Patong, as our hotel and the surrounding area was significantly more quiet. I believe we ended up heading back to Kata around 1 am, and it seemed as though things in Patong were just getting started.

Day 4 was dedicated to doing some shopping in Old Town Phuket.  We checked out one of their higher end shopping malls, as well as Old Town itself, along a street that was lined with various different fabric stores.

We found some incredible leather and crocodile skin goods, that were a fraction of the cost of what you’d get here in the US.  I ended up buying some souvenirs that day, and was prepared for my departure the following day.

For dinner that night, my friend Sarah and I decided to have dinner at our hotel restaurant.  They recently opened a new rooftop restaurant, serving a tasting menu of incredible thai dishes. There are essentially five tasting menus to choose from, I went with the Lan-na: Thai style crab cakes, chicken with lemongrass and coconut milk, panang curry paste with sliced beef and coconut milk, charcoal grilled King Prawns with spicy Thai sauce, stir fried chicken with cashew nuts and dried chilies in an oyster sauce, and stir fried Chinese broccoli in an oyster sauce.  All of this was 500 baht or just under $17!!

I apologize for the poor picture quality, it was pretty dark outside and I took the picture with my camera phone.  It was a great way to end the trip, with some authentic and delicious Thai food.

I couldn’t have asked for a better experience in Phuket, the people were so incredibly nice, the food was phenomenal, and the sights were spectacular.

I hope to go back to Thailand soon, I’d really love to check out Bangkok, the Festival of Lights in Chiang Mai, as well as Ko Samui.  If you have any questions about my trip or would like to hear more about it, feel free to email me and let me know!