Penang

Fri.Apr.15 Drove through george Town,lovely city with Chinese and Indian temples and high rises.We went to where Batik is made and saw how the special wax is applied with a very fine brush in various designs.

Applying wax to make batik

Various dyes are then applied within different parts of the design by brushes and then water is added by another brush to spread the dye which runs rapidly along the fabric,being prevented by the wax from bleeding into other areas.We each got to choose a pattern with the wax outline on cotton.I took a picture of my choice,only partially completed

My half finished batik

I did have a lot of drips which were covered up by the dark blue background.This will be dried,boiled to remove the wax,which will lighten the colours,and it will be mailed to me.I'll be anxious to see how it turns out.The partially done piece took me over an hour in horrible heat and humidity.I cant tell you how I longed for Holland!

Sat.Apr.16 Phuket,Thailand.The ship was to dock on the eastern side of the island,where there is a cruise terminal,but the taxi drivers were blocking the pier so the tour buses couldn't get in,(not sure what their argument was about) The ship anchored on the west side in Patong Bay and we were tendered in to shore.

Resort beach

The west is the resort side with miles of white sandy beaches and calm blue water.Hotels and shops lined the street and our tour buses had some difficulty picking us up.I was on bus number 15(there were 17 in all)and we got little purple fish to pin on our shirts so our guide would recognize who belonged on his bus.We went directly to an elephant camp where two at a time rode an elephant,very rocky,rather like riding a camel.
One mahout fell off his elephant and the elephant just raised a leg and the mahout stepped on it and climbed up.

Elephant ride

We saw a baby elephent and a slightly bigger one perform some tricks and the bigger elephant gave a "massage"A person lay down on a mat,was covered by a small blanket and the elephant moved her foot(they are all female)up and down the back and then put her trunk at the person's neck. this was a kiss.I couldn't believe how many people lined up for this "massage".

Elephant massage

The elephants did not look very healthy,they had areas of depigmentation on their ears and trunks.I felt sad that these magnificent animals were treated like this.

Monkey in elephant camp

We saw how rubber is made.The latex is treated with formic acid to render it malleable.
Formic acid is from bees,unless there is another form,and I wonder if people who are allergic to bee stings are also allergic to latex.
We visited a very ornate Buddhist temple and I climbed to the top and took a picture of a
statue of Buddha on a mountain top.

Buddhist temple

Buddha on mountain

Our last stop was to a cashew factory.We saw the cashew trees with their bright fruit which contains the nut in a hard casing which has to be boiled,dried then cracked open to
extract the nut.

Cashew tree

Cashews,before and after shelling

We sampled every flavour of cashew imaginable.
I couldn't wait to get back to the ship to take off my clothes and put them in the laundry.
We now have two days at sea before we reach Sri Lanka.

George Town, Malaysia