Saturday - Fanta Sea

WEATHER
Sunny and hot all day

We met for breakfast and it was so nice to chat to the girls face to face. Jane and Jason didn't make breakfast.

We went to check out excursions and decided to wait to speak to Jane and Jason before booking anything.

We then went to the pool and enjoyed a swim as it was so hot. After a couple of beers Jane and Jason finally appeared and we went to book the excursions. One to Fantasea, tonight, which is a theme park type thing a bit of a cheap Disney and one for the elephant trekking on Monday. We decided not to do any boat trips to the islands as it is monsoon season and you never know what you will wake up to and I don't fancy a rough boat trip!.

Went off for lunch and found a nice pizza bar, all made fresh as we watched. Really hot and the cold towels were very welcome. For pudding I had a half a coconut filled with ice cream which was very good.

Back to the room to cool down and then get ready for our 5.30 pick up.

Our mini bus took us along the coast road to Patong where the park is and it took us about 30 minutes.

When we arrived we looked around the shops first and then went in to see the white tigers. The enclosure was not very good, poor things, not sure how much outside time they get. I think it is probably better not to think about it.

The restaurant where we ate was huge, 3000 seats. It was a buffet of Thai food and very, very good. To be able to cater for so many people and so well is amazing, very pretty the way it was decorated. Heather loved the puddings and ate a lot!.

After dinner we went into the Elephant Palace for the show. We had to leave our cameras at security and although we were not happy about it the 'system' for doing so was very efficient.

Once inside you can see why you are not allowed cameras. They do all the photos and you can have photos taken with all sorts of animals and characters. We all chose the tiger but it was a bit like a conveyor belt. Bottle in tigers mouth, sit, smile and you are done. I went with Heather but she was really quite nervous but the photo is good and the tiger quite big. Soon after our photo the tiger was taken away as he was getting too frisky.

Inside the main theatre was, thankfully air conditioned and huge. The show was amazing and all about Thai folklore and included about 14 elephants on the stage at one time so the stage was big and strong.

After the show we went to collect our photos and cameras. Outside we were able to have photos taken with all the elephants from the show - for free and then a quick walk back through the park to our bus and back to the hotel and bed. Still very hot and the air conditioning was very welcome.