20100720 - 20100724 Phuket Trip Day 3

Day 3....

On the 3rd day... we made an arrangement with the guy who picked us up on the first day (his name was Thosar) for a day trip at 1000baht for about 6 hours.  However, his car broke down and his friend Panny came instead.  Panny works a few jobs, teaching English to hotel staff, freelance tour guide, etc.  She told us that Phuket is still largely dependent on tourism, so it was not surprising that all her jobs are tourism related.

this is a picture taken at the hotel lobby while waiting for Panny.

We first went to the Phuket Town, then to the View Point to see the scenery.  The weather is very hot which makes us very sleepy.  Kate even slept a few times in the car though she had awakened only a few hours earlier.

Picture taken from the view point

Then we went to some gems factory, then to Central Festival for shopping and lunch.  Papa bought a pair of shoes while mommy bought NOTHING!!!!!

After that, we went to Wat Chalong... there are figurines of past abbots and many statues of the Buddha.  In some of the wats they provide free sarong for the visitors to wrap around their shoulders/waist if the person wear too skimpy/short (according to Panny, other places might charge for the use of the sarong).

Next, we went to see the big Buddha.  The car can only reach a certain height, and then we have to walk up many flights of stairs to go up to the top of the hill to reach the foot of the statue.  there are many bells and countries' flags on the way up, and Kate had fun touching them.

The Big Buddha is 45meters tall, and had been under construction for many years and there are still many years of construction to go.

At the site,they have samples showing how the Big Buddha is tiled (yes, its using tiles on the outside, cement/clay on the inside).  You can even write your name on a tile if you donated a amount.

Chalong Bay as seen from the foot of the Big Buddha.  There are many yachts near the beach.

There is also a smaller Buddha statue which is about 10+ meters tall.

And of course,even smaller ones for photo taking...

Some bells tied to the trees.  For good luck?

Last stop of the day was Promthep Bay , which is supposedly 'the place' to see spectacular sunset.  But we reached too early and its too hot!

A hot hot day.... am glad when we are back to the hotel....

Here is a picture of Kate doing the usual naughty stuff, asking papa to lift her up so that she can use the room card to open the door (and subsequently to slot it into the slot just behind the door so that the electricity will be connected).