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April 2005

Phuket

Jeremy Koh
2005-11-05 11:45:47

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the folks going about their daily chores like fishing, watching television and cooking. There was also a mosque but that was about all the time I had and I had to turn back after seeing the mosque.

From here, we went back to the pier and proceeded by land to a place where we could do some elephant trekking. This wasn't part of our itinerary and we did it because our guide kept bugging us. Anyway, the ride itself was pretty bad. I didn't know that riding an elephant was this uncomfortable. As it was a trek through the jungle, it was very bumpy and luckily, it only lasted for fifteen minutes because if it went on any further, I would have gotten elephant sick. The ride was made scarier by the fact that our elephant was clearly hungry. She kept stopping to grab some foliage off the ground but the handler kept poking her with a sharp stick to prod her to move on. At one point, she even pointed her trunk at him and bellowed. Fortunately, nothing else happened after he allowed her to eat eventually. Though it wasn't a fantastic ride, I guess you really got to try it to experience elephant trekking for yourself. Also, it looks as if the place is in need of some tourist dollars so if you could spare 400 baht, why not?

Our last stop was at Wat Suwan Khuha or Suwan Khuha Temple. It is in a limestone hill with various caves. The big cave is the lowest and it serves as the entrance. Within the cave itself, there are various Buddha images including one big reclining Buddha statue and there was even a monk in there who looked like he was meditating. As we proceeded further into the cave, we went on into smaller caves which went by the names of Bright Cave, Dark Cave and Crystal Cave. Within these caves, we could see beautiful stalactites and stalagmites. However, there was also a distinct smell due to the bats who inhabit the caves. Outside the caves, there are many monkeys and you can buy bananas for just 10 baht to feed ...