Phuket Gibbon Rehabilitation Center, Bangpae Waterfall and Old Town Street Market

So far we experienced most of the things we wanted in our trip to Thailand: Khao Lak friendliness, The diving (Part I and Part II), The Thai food, and the most of the Phuket island. To round up our vacation we wanted to visit Phuket Gibbon Rehabilitation Center, Bangpae Waterfall and Old Town Street Market.

We started with Phuket Gibbon Rehabilitation Center. The Center lies in the northern part of the Phuket island. We used our valuable scooter skills and found the Center easily. It was very simple and descriptive place. The center was founded in 1992 and is based on volunteering and donations. People working there take care of gibbons, that were taken from the forest illegally. Mainly they are used as a tourist attractions or pets. After rehabilitation the suitable candidates are released back into the forest.

There was a billboard with pictures and description about particular (well-known) lady who is using her captured gibbon to get money from tourists. She is a regular visitor in night clubs in Phuket where tourists do all sort of things with this gibbon for a money exchange.

Behind of these sad stories there was a hope. A hope for better life of gibbons on the Phuket island.

Our guide (volunteer)

We were lucky enough to get close to some of the gibbons in the rehabilitation center. Most of them are kept in another location far away from human, where they have potential to be released back to the nature. Our tour guide (volunteer) explained us some stories about gibbons kept there. We immediately fell in love with a female gibbon called Tam. She is a permanent resident at the center due to her physical disabilities. Tam was previously kept as a pet and when her wild instincts caused her to disagree with her human owner. He beat her and left the resulting injuries untreated far too long. By the time Tam received help, the only way to save her from dying of blood poisoning from the infected wounds, was to amputate a hand and a foot. Subsequently her new owners tried to house her with other gibbons. An attempt that failed when Tam was attacked and lost 3 fingers on her remaining hand. Shortly after this event Tam was brought to the center. Despite all this, Tam gets on with her life as everyone else. As a matter of fact she seemed to be very happy and full of life now.

Tam

Tam (copyrights Phuket Gibbon Rehabilitation Center)

Tam's best friend Bo

Like in Elephant Nature Park 3 years ago, we learned again that supporting any kind of animal show or activity as a tourist is not a good idea. Whether it is about elephants, tigers, gibbons or any other wild animal think twice before supporting such behavior.

With sadness in our eyes we hope for better future. Nevertheless we moved on to the nearby Bangpae Waterfall.

On the way to the waterfall we encountered some local people...

The path was rather easy, yet very humid and it took us about 20 minutes to reach the waterfall.

We were not in a mood to put our swimsuit on. Hence we went back to the hotel to get ready for the evening street market. The Street Market was on the west side of Phuket Old Town. Despite the rain there were a lot of people. The market was all about clothes and food.

In the last evening we headed back towards the hotel where we packed our stuff for the next day fly back home. The next day we had just enough time to visit The Cook again and taste some great pasta.

Jerneja and The Cook

At the end of the trip to Thailand we were again not disappointed. This part of Asia is such a great place to be. Let's see what comes next!

Greetings until the next time,
Boris & Jerneja