Phuket, Thailand

We decided Phuket deserved it’s own blog entry because the Hubers did different things! Betsy went to cooking school. Rick’s not crazy about Thai food and definitely not crazy about cooking, so he opted to see the sites around Phuket City.

Cooking class was held at the Blue Elephant Restaurant and cooking school (Picture 1). It’s housed in a mansion that was built in 1903 and was used as a governor residence in the past. The restaurant/school started here, but has grown and is now found in many large European and Asian cities.  Our first job was to visit the market. Picture 2 shows just one of many sellers—this one selling dried fish and shrimp. There were dried and fresh betel nuts, chickens with head and feet, curry paste, shrimp paste and lots of very interesting fruits and vegetables.

We cooked 4 dishes. They were first demonstrated by the chef and tasted by us, then it was off to our individual cooking stations, where we created the dishes by ourselves. Picture 3 shows Betsy hard at work making her soup. While others used only part of one chili, Betsy would use 3 or 4. Thank heavens for Sinha Beer to cool things down! She’s not a bad Thai chef!!!

Finally, we all sat down and enjoyed eating the food we cooked. Picture 4 shows the 4 dishes. On the plate is a bowl of the soup: Tom Kha Kai Sai Mapraow Orn, or Coconut Milk Soup with Chicken and Young Coconut Flesh. Starting at the left side of the plate there’s Kai Phad Prik Tua Fak Yao, or Stir-fried Chicken with Red Curry & Long Beans. In the center behind the plate was her favorite: Toong Tong Keaw Waan, or Crispy Golden Bag stuffed with Green Curry Prawn and Chicken. On the right is Yum Ma-Muang Plaa Krob, or Spicy Green Mango Salad with Crispy Fish. Shall she try these with the Aycocks when she gets home??????

Rick’s Turn.

Located on Promthep Cape, a headland with stunning vistas, Picture 5 shows a site of Buddhist offerings. In this case, most offerings made are elephants and represent something wonderful that happened in their lives.

Next stop was at Big Buddha Phuket, shown in picture 6 (Note at the lower left of the picture, the actual name is “Big Buddha”!). It’s on the top of one of the mountains, providing gorgeous views from the base of the statue. Big Buddha is 75 meters tall, covered in white marble and hollow, with only structural supports, inside.

As you’ve probably noticed, these 2 stops offered great vistas and yet there are no vista pictures. It was a very hazy day and the pictures weren’t noteworthy.

Finally, I visited Chalong Temple (Picture 7), which was filled with golden Buddhas. Outside there was a large oven where worshipers placed boxes of bullets/firecrackers and made a wish for something they wanted. I watched one couple place a large box of bullets ($20/1500 bullets) In the fireplace and covered my ears. It was amazing.  This couple was  on our ship, and hoping to find a new house when they get home, so they were covering their bases.

To top off the day, I got my first decent sunset picture of the trip (Picture 8).