Ko Samui: Temples and Monkeys

Ko Samui, Thailand was another one of those "where's that?" ports!  We've taken to getting a picture of the TV showing where the boat is at the time.  We had departed Singapore (at the very south end of the Malaysian peninsula) and headed north.  The arrow in a circle is the position of the boat and the green dot the arrow points toward is Ko Samui.  This was our first of two stops in Thailand.

Arriving Ko Samui,  the terminal building awaits us.  This was an anchor port versus a dock port so we arrived at the dock by tender.

This was the first of many boats we'd see, boats with the strange looking motor off the back.  We later learned they're called long tail boats.  The motor itself was placed similarly to most US outboards, however it had a long extended shaft with the propeller at the end.

One of two temples at our first stop.

A closer look at the snakes decorating the stairs up to the temple.

The doors were locked, however, they were glass so we could get a look inside at the big statue.

These whimsical "speak", "see", "hear" no evil statues were sitting on a wall at the entrance of another temple on the property.

  

The altar of this structure.  At the top, in the glass case, was the mummified body of the meditating monk "Luang Por Daeng".  He is in the position he was in when he died in 1973.

A closer look at the monk… he really looked like Michael Jackson!  The sunglasses were a recent addition to cover the eye sockets.  It is hard for the camera to "see" through the glass with all the reflections but if you look closely you might make out his right arm.  The body shows virtually no signs of deterioration.

Next stop, the "monkeys" part of the trip.  Ko Samui is known as the island of coconuts.  Harvesting the coconuts takes special skills.  Pig-tailed monkeys are trained to work with a handler to harvest the coconuts.  The monkey was on a rope, you can see it hanging down below the bunch of coconuts.  At the cue of the handler, he scurries up the tree, finds a ripe coconut and spins it until it drops to the ground.  At a gentle tug from the handler, he scurried back down the tree.

  

My new buddy!

We stopped for a refreshment break and a view over Chaweng Beach, the longest, most popular and most developed on the east coast of Ko Samui.

At the Big Buddha temple.  The Buddha is 35-40 feet high and sits on a small island connected to the main island by an unpaved, and rough!, road.  A dragon stairway leads up to the top where the Buddha sits.  The pavilions at the bottom, on either side of the stairway house smaller Buddhas.  We chose not to climb the stairs!

A look at the Big Buddha straight on.  There was a dragon boat positioned behind it.

 

Market stalls around the Big Buddha area.

These statues were at the other end of the islet from the Big Buddha.  Tom like this one better!

Not too far away from the Big Buddha was our next stop, Plai Leam Temple.  It has three depictions of Buddha, this one is the Happy Chinese Buddha.  Note the huge ears hanging down on his shoulders.  Big ears denote a long life!  Guess I now don't mind that my ears are getting larger and larger!

One of several prayer pavilions in the temple.  Note the intricate decorations.

A closer look at the the golden elephant, trunk up turned for good luck and the dragon stairway up to the building.

Another of the buddhas, this one an 18-armed Hindu style Buddha, Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy.

 From here we returned to the ship, thus our visit to Ko Samui.

Yes, I'm still very behind on the blog.  Instead of three ports behind, it is now four!  As I write this, it is Sunday, 2/24 and we are sailing from Hanoi (Ha Long Bay) to Huang Pu (Canton), China.  This segment of our trip is quite port intensive so we've not had the free time to do updates that we had on the first two segments.

rf

Singapore: First Day on Mainland Asia

Yesterday was the official beginning of the Chinese New Year and we spent a delightful day at Sea.  The ship set up a Chinese Buffet on the pool deck to mark the day.  Today, the 34th day of our cruise marked our first arrival on mainland Asia as we docked in Singapore at the very end of the Malaysian peninsula.  

In 1819, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (British) landed here and saw this to be a potential strategic geographical trading post in southeast Asia.   On behalf of the British East India Company, Raffles signed an agreement with the Sultan to develop the southern part of Singapore as a trading post and settlement.  In 1824, through appropriate agreements with the Sultan, the entire island of Singapore became a British possession. It was 1965 before it attained sovereignty.  The map below from the TV shows its location.

Approaching the Singapore docks.

Singapore has an incredibly busy harbor.  At the bottom of the photo, right in front of the ship, actually on the other side of the terminal building not visible here is the ferry docks.  There were about a dozen off to our starboard side waiting to come in.
 

Across the pier, a Hard Rock hotel!  They seem to be in every major tourist city!

And passing by overhead, cable cars.  After our tour we considered riding it, however, we looked at the line that was several hundred feet long and changed our minds.

Our tour for the day was "Spirit of Singapore", a 4.5 hour trip that might be considered a highlights tour.  The first stop was at Mount Faber for a look down on the city.  The tall buildings in the front are all public housing.

With the celebration of the year of the snake continuing, this vendor was picking up a few extra dollars.

Around the outside walls of the building there were murals depicting the history of Singapore. 

Folks meditating on the open lawn there.

A view of our ship.

Singapore has its own version of the London Eye off to the right in this picture.  On the left, the building with the pointy, jackfruit looking roof is the Singapore Arts Center.

Our bus made a photo stop for us to go see the Merlion, however, I found it too crowded so found this little park.

And, from there, a great view of the "boat" building, the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Resort.

A quaint little bridge perhaps from the earliest days of Singapore.

And no tour of Singapore would be complete without a stop at the Raffles Hotel, probably best known for the Long Bar and the world renown Singapore Sling.  We didn't go in (guests only allowed) but some friends whose tour took them there for High Tea did have a Singapore Sling for an additional $34!

A look at the courtyard.

Sultan Mosque in Singapore

Shopping and eating area near the Mosque.

Another look.

One of the many pedestrian over passes in the city.  Note the flowers along the sides.  That too is quite common. 

Streets that are normally jam packed with cars and motor bikes were devoid of vehicles because of the New Year holidays.

Sri Mariamman Temple is Singapore's oldest Hindu temple.

The temple and the surrounding Chinatown streets were highly decorated for the New Year.

One of the altars inside the temple.

Folks don't have clothes dryers as there is not sufficient electrical power so they dry clothes by hanging them out the window on flag pole like poles.

Contrast between the temple and the modern buildings beyond.

Chinese lanterns had been shaped into a dragon shaped display.

Just an example of the clean and lushly foliaged streets of Singapore.  Singapore strictly enforces its no littering laws.  Even discarding chewing gum on the street is a huge "no-no"!

The next stop was at the magnificent National Orchid Garden in the Botanical Gardens.

The seed pods on this tree / vine were quite fascinating.  I don't recall ever seeing anything like it.

One of the hundreds, perhaps thousands of varieties of orchids in the garden.

  

And, another.

Headed out, we walked under this beautiful archway covered with orchids and ferns.

We only had time to see about 1/4th of the orchid garden and none of the rest of the Singapore Botanical Gardens.  Wish we'd had a full day to visit there.

We had one more day in Singapore however, it was a "turn day", the end of one cruise and the beginning of another, and only  two shore excursions were offered.  One was the tour described above, the other was one that went to the orchid garden and then to Raffles for High tea.  We chose to stay on board and it turned out to be a perfect day to get laundry done!

rf

PS:  As I write this, it is Feb 19th and we are cruising the South China Sea off the coast of Viet Nam.  All my good intentions of getting caught up with our travels have gone awry!  Tomorrow, 2/20, we'll be in Da Nang for two days, thus probably another port behind in my scribing.