Hi there again!
As promised, today has a lot more action than the first three days and there might also be a bit of controversy about the way I decided to start out the day.
After a lot of internal debate, early in the morning I decided that it would be okay for me to go see the seal and dolphin 11 AM show at Dolphins Bay Phuket. Yes, I’m fully aware of the associated ethical issues and also fully aware that a lot of my readers will be upset that: (1) This show even exists, and (2) that I went to it. For those who are upset with me, if it helps, all I can say is that all of the animals seemed to be in very good health, and at least during the show itself, there was nothing that might remotely be interpreted as abusive behavior. With that in mind, once I decided to suspend my concerns, this was a really wonderful show.
It took me 45 minutes and 350 THB (9.26 USD) with inDrive to get there. I had “reserved” a deluxe seat online ahead of time, but that doesn’t really seem to be all that meaningful since you don’t pay until you arrive. Nevertheless, even though I barely arrived at 10:56 AM sharp, a worker immediately met me when the car arrived, quickly steering me to the ticket booth and ushering me smoothly until the performance area. I had a great seat, near the middle of the stage in the third row
I suppose ones luck may vary, but the only difference with the first two rows and the third row was that spectators were more likely to get wet in the first two rows. Also, I guess the most unobstructed pictures would also be from the first row. Regardless, I was happy with my deluxe seat which had a cost of 900 THB ($23.77). It seemed like the only way to pay was with cash, but they probably also accept local “Thai pay QR codes”.
The seal show was great, but clearly they were just meant to be the opening act. There was no doubt that the real stars here were the dolphins.
The show itself was only 35 minutes, but I definitely felt that it was worth what I had paid. Yes, there was a lot of shillling going on to get people to pay 400 more THB to have a picture with a dolphin but running a show like this, including the proper care of the animals and salaries of the trainers is no doubt expensive, and the crowd wasn’t that big. The 400 actually seemed like a reasonable amount given that a whole family could have a picture together rather than paying separately for each person. So IF you are the sort of person who would be okay with going to see a dolphin show, this is one which I highly recommend. If however you think I’m an evil person for going to see such a show, please just forgive my moment of weakness while on vacation.
Since it had been a very long trip to get to this area of Phuket, I decided to see if there was anything else reasonably close by that it seemed I might want to visit. I saw that there was another temple complex, Wat Chaithatharam, just three kilometers away. The temperature wasn’t too warm and it wasn’t raining, so I decided to walk.
Along the way, it started raining, so I decided “to shop” for awhile in a grocery until it let up. Unsurprisingly I didn’t actually buy anything, but I did like seeing all the different products. There were several snack foods that interested me, but I was afraid they might have shrimp byproducts in them, so I took a pass. Still, it was nice to see everything. Due to my shopping detour it took me 90 minutes to arrive to the temple complex.
It rained intermittently while I was there, but my umbrella was more than adequate. Admission to the area was free, and there was a lot to see. No doubt I would have appreciated things more with a knowledgeable guide, but even wandering around on my own, it was a very good one hour visit, and I easily could have spent more time.
It was 2:10 PM when I finished and then decided to return to Phuket town where I would be able to go to the Aquaria aquarium. I was a bit hesitant as I had already been to two different aquariums in Dubai less than a month ago. Still, it was more or less on the way back, so I figured that I may as well give it a try since my friend Elisabet would be busy at work until 5:00 PM.
It was 173 THB with inDrive to go to the aquarium, but I paid 200 ($5.28 USD) and by 2:30 PM I had arrived to the central Phuket mall, which is where the aquarium is located in the basement. There I paid a full price foreign adult entry fee of 890 THB (23.50 USD); I think I could have paid a bit less if I had bought the ticket through another online provider, but I wasn’t sure that I would be getting the “foreigner ticket” so I decided to just buy in person and go straight in. Again, as far as I could tell, it was either cash or “Thai pay” only; however, I didn’t ask.
The standard displays were nice enough but I was unfortunately comparing to my aquarium experiences from a couple of weeks ago in Dubai, so was not overly impressed. However, while the displays themselves were not outstanding as far as aquariums go, they did a good job with the two shows I saw, and that made it worth the visit.
Then at 3:30 PM was the “feeding show.” In this case there wasn’t any music, but it still was rather interesting since for obvious reasons. The fish flocked around the diver, guaranteeing much better views, in particular some of the large manta rays. This went on for perhaps a full thirty minutes.
By 4:15 PM I had exited the aquarium and started finding my way outside of the mall. It is worth mentioning that if you are into that sort of thing, the mall itself also seemed quite nice, but I just wanted to get back to Elisabet’s house so we could visit once she was done with work. This time the quoted inDrive fare was 271 THB, but I again rounded up to 300 ($7.92) and was back at the house by 5:05 PM.
At 5:40 PM we once again went out walking, this time to The Boat Lagoon. It was a great walk and we had a wonderful time chatting, continuing to catch up with many different topics.
We then headed back towards Elisabet’s area for dinner, arriving at around 7:45 PM, this time eating at a tasty pizza and pasta place called Da Moreno Pizzería and Italian Restaurant; it’s definitely a place worth visiting if you are in the Koh Kaew area. A tasty, ample meal (truth be told it was probably too much food) for two was 750 THB (19.80 USD).
We were back to the house at 9:25 PM and both headed straight to our separate rooms. Elisabet was to have an extra long day at work the next day and I was to have a rather early start myself since day 5 was to be my special tour day.
I was a bit hesitant about doing a full day group tour to places unknown, but it promised to have many exciting adventures covering everything from sea turtles to water falls. While I was trying to keep my expectations in check, I really was rather excited to see what was to come. Spoiler alert, day 5 was even better than day 4! But, you’ll have to read the next entry to get the full details.
Thanks for continuing to follow along, and I’ll see you down the path!!
Travels with Jay 