lots of cool islands

Phuket is mostly a beach area with day tours to islands I had already seen from the dive boat, so it wasn't too obvious what to do during the time, but after enough research (most pointing to the same island tours that were not that interesting to me). I did some research and mostly found the same island tours taht were not that interesting to me, but eventually found enough fun things to fill the 48H and settled on a private driver to get me around and keep my luggage, which was convenient (it's cheap enough that it was worth it).

I started with 2 aquariums:

After going to the two aquariums, we went to Monkey Hill Viewpoint. The monkeys were reasonably well behaved :)2103*

sex is both a greeting and a currency. Something for us to learn? :)

I first started walking up to the viewpoint, but in the end it was a long walk that would have burnt too much time (driving was not allowed), so I got this small view and went back down:

Next, I went to Phuket Bird Park because birds can always be fun:

cute little fellow

my favorite, sulphur crested cockatoo

not bird related, but rabbits!

bird race

pretend math

I always have bird seeds when I travel abroad, and this is why :) they were a bit pissed because they were sellnig seeds and I had my own :)

Next was Chaithararam Temple - Wat Chalong, one of the nicest temples in Phuket:

From there, walked around Phuket Old Town:

The driver then dropped me by my hotel and I had a bit of time for a walk outside to see the nightlife in Patong Beach:

For Day #2, my driver helped me find the right elephant sanctuary where the elephants were rescued and abused elephants (which includes riding them, and that's quite bad for their back and neck):

I then got help put mud on an elephant (they like it)

then got to wash it

got a thank you ;)

I'm normally wary of things where you can drive quads, because drivers and groups are always way too slow, but I asked them if they could give me a real tour that wouldn't suck, and they nicely obliged me. The guide did his best to lose me, including during very tight turns last second, and sure gave me a workout ;)

Next door was a karting track. Normally I'm also warry of those as they often have speed limited shit tracks: [rigimg:1024:3289*|they actually had "maximum fast" karts, so that's what I took :)]

eh, you can damage them and you know what to pay

Next stop was the big buddha with good views from the top:

Then it was time for dinner and a show at Phuket FantaSea, which I only fount out about at the last minute:

For next time, I can go see the other show, carnival magic:

The next morning, I only time for a very quick walk before going to the airport for flight home through Vietnam:

medical care :)

And I finished with Phuket Up 2 You Cat Cafe