Motorbike Tour, Part Deux

I decided to rent a motor bike again today to see parts of island I hadn't seen during tour 1. Of course my first stop was to see my baby elephant - she was fine and still fascinated with my mustache. No pics because you have already seen her.

#198 - Wat Chalong is the best known and largest buddhist temple on Phuket Island. This is me in front of the wat's major temple - it is dedicated to a famous monk who help establish buddhism on the island and its first temple here - very unique temple structure and impressive!

#199 - Wat Chalong is really a complex of temples. This is a typical temple structure (unlike the one above) that is somehow dedicated to elephants. All the elephants you see in the pic (as well as many others not shown in the pic) were all brought and donated to the temple by followers - most are large wood carvings!

#200 - wow - I can't believe I'm up to pic #200! I decided this one should be something momentous! So here it is - me and the BIG GUY! He was HUGE - over 200 kilos which means 400+ lbs! Although I've been close to tiger cubs - I have never been this close to an adult, unneutered male tiger before - who had NOT been de clawed or defanged!! This was a "tourist gimmick" offering at the Phuket Zoo. The experience was really intimidating - I couldn't stop thinking about TV shows such as "When Animals Go Wild"! In hindsight - this was probably a dangerous thing to do and I probably wouldn't do it again! But he acted friendly and kinda purred when I petted his side.

I hope all had a nice Thanksgiving feasting with friends. Tonight I am going.out to dinner with some folks I met and treat myself to a famous Phuket lobster!