At Sea, November 1, 2007
We had a hot sunny day with smooth seas as we sailed south along the coast of Myanmar. Myanmar is ½ hour behind Thailand so we had set our clocks forward 30 minutes before going to bed. As usual the day was filled with lectures and games. We attended Theresa’s talk on PowerPoint since we just got it with Office 2007 and hadn’t created any PP files yet. Lunch on the pool deck had a huge array of selections beginning with shrimp, mussels, crab legs & stone crab claws. There was also Indian chicken, BBQ chicken, pork & sauerkraut, goulash, steak, sausage, fish, and a large variety of salads. It’s hard to eat lightly with such a delicious spread. An after lunch walk helps with weight control. There was a Viennese tea followed by trivia where we again tied for the win. The dress for the night was formal with the Captain’s farewell cocktail party and Krew Kapers. The evening entertainment was Kenny Smiles doing his thing.

Phuket, Thailand, November 2, 2007
We docked in Phuket at 8:00 and the ship was cleared by 8:30. Phuket is Thailand’s largest island and the most tourist oriented with a multitude of beaches, hotels, time shares & condos. It’s also the island heavily damaged by the tsunami in 2004, but it’s been rebuilt and tourism, which is 50% of its economy, is back to normal. We didn’t have a tour scheduled so we took the shuttle bus into Phuket City at 10:30. We wandered through the shopping center where the shuttle dropped us off and were going back out to walk the sidewalk when a man said “Your shuttle bus is this way.” We explained that we had just arrived and were thinking of going to Patong Beach for lunch. He said he had an air conditioned car and would take us for $10.00 which we thought OK for a ½ hour ride. When we got in the car he explained that $10.00 was to take us to the beach, anywhere else we wanted to go and back to the ship. He spoke excellent English and explained things like a tour guide. He suggested stopping at a Government handicraft & jewelry center and we said OK. It was ISO certified, new, well laid out and all the products were top quality. We were first directed to a small theater where we saw a few minute film on the Thai gemstone mining industry and then through the jewelry factory. The show room was huge, immaculate well laid out and the variety of jewelry was overwhelming. It was by far the finest jewelry sales room we’ve seen yet on this cruise and perhaps anywhere. We had no intent on buying but came across a small ruby & diamond ring of Thai design that needed to go home with Pat. There were also sections on Thai silk, pewter ware and Thai handicrafts that were of the quality you expect to find in the top designer stores. We next headed over the mountain to Patong Beach, the primary tourist beach where many hotels, restaurants, shops, bars and nightclubs are congregated. It’s a lot like Ipanema or Copacabana beach areas. We asked the driver to take us to a Thai seafood restaurant by the beach and we ended up at the Patong Seafood Restaurant, established in 1979. It was across the street from the beach and open air. The menu had pictures for everything and it was hard to narrow the choices. Pat had a spicy shrimp soup and shrimp cakes and I had a spicy seafood soup and lobster tails fried with garlic & pepper. I was presented with 3 live lobsters and quoted a price which was around $25.00 for the 3 and I went for it. They were the strange types that look like a lobster with no body between the head and tail (like a Balmain bug in Australia) and the taste of everything was exquisite. A bottle of Chilean chardonnay made the dining experience complete. It was one of the best meals we’ve ever had and we considered it our 3rd anniversary celebration (that's 3 months.) We wandered across the street to enjoy a few minutes on the beach before heading off to the guides recommendation of an elephant ride. The drive took us through several resort areas and Karon Beach to the elephant sanctuary. It was our first elephant ride and we loved it. 2 people sit on a bench on the elephant’s back and the driver sits on its neck with his feet behind the ears and steers somehow. The big beast walks slowly and it’s almost like going over a bunch of moguls in slow motion rocking back & forth and side to side, but it’s a great ride and well worth it. We went down dirt paths and through a rubber tree forest for 30 minutes and as we traveled the driver folded palm leaf strips into a grass hopper, fish and bird and gave them to us (pics on the AOL travelogue.) We didn’t have the urge to souvenir shop so we went back to the ship. $10.00 for 5 hours with the car was quite a bargain so we gave him a good tip.
We socialized in the Mariner Lounge before dinner and ended up going to dinner with Hal Fraser and Justin (Lynn Farmer’s assistant) and had a great time. There was local fresh Phuket lobster on the menu so we had to try it and it was wonderful. The show was a ventriloquist, Steve Hewlett, who is new to Regent and he was excellent so go see him if he’s on one of your cruises. There was a “Island Disco” in the Stars Lounge from 10:30 to late, but we passed.

Jim, I am pleased that Phuket appears to have returned to normal after such a terrible disaster.
Your on shore dining sounds as delicious as your on board dinner!

Karen,
On shore dining is one of the greatest pleasures of cruising. I only wish we had more late night sailings so we could have dinners in some of these exotic ports.
Jim

Jim I truly enjoyed reading about your day in Phuket! Gas prices must be dirt cheap there to get a driver for 5 hours at $10!

Thanks much for all of your Sea Mail!!!

Your posts and pictures are amazing!! Thanks so much for sharing!

What a day you had in Phuket! Was curious to see how you got on the elephant so was glad to see the photo. Much better than what Marcie had to do on 1st WC in India, I think -flinging herself up there!

Phuket sounded like an amazing day! I was drooling reading about your meal...yum!

(On my AOL travelogueI posted some photos of boy monks in Mandalay that were provided by my friend Wolfgang.)

At Sea, November 3, 2007

The clocks were turned forward 1 hour so many slept in and the breakfast restaurants were barely attended. This was the final day of this segment and a lot of guests were packing and there weren’t many events or lectures planned. One highlight was Kenny Smiles on the “hot seat” at 11:00 am in the Horizon Lounge. This is a standard treat at the end of a segment when Kenny is on board and he sits in a chair in front of all of us and we ask questions. This is when Kenny is at his best because his shows tend to have a lot of repeat jokes and stories but the hot seat lets him ad lib with his retorts and stories and it’s a hoot. Today’s was one of his best. He has a quick wit and it’s amazing the answers he comes up with. Our beef tartar group has a sea day lunch each segment where one of the food department staff prepares bees tartar at our table. There were 6 of us and Executive Chef Mike made a Swiss style tartar for us and it was exquisite. We all had second helpings and were still feeling full at dinner time. At 6:30 there was a pre dinner variety show which began with the resident trio Nature’s Rhythm playing a great rendition of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Even it’s only 2 guys with guitar and 1 with bass (or cello) they sounded great and the played the entire long song. Next came the Russian ballroom duo Igor & Natalia doing a couple of fast paced routines. (A ballroom dance couple is a new standard feature on Regent.) The alto singer in the new PGT cast Heather Clancy sang a medley of songs. Heather is an accomplished singer and equals any headliner we’ve heard before and seems over qualified for the PGT cast (unless they are upgrading their shows.) Igor & Natalia finished with an acrobatic tango. There was no show after dinner, just the usual dance music by Marty & Holly in the Horizon Lounge and listening music in the other 2 lounges. Tomorrow will be morning disembark in the morning and embark in the afternoon with a 4:00 sailing.
Jim