FantaSea

A little tired of island tours we have decided to take it a bit easier here in Phuket. A must see, however, is the FantaSea show. We booked the show including the buffet dinner.

Just getting our tickets was an adventure and of course we were encouraged to pay extra for seafood, extra for a souvenir book, extra for a souvenir pack including a DVD, all which I said no to. Not only do I not have enough room in my suitcase for any souvenirs but this was already a pretty expensive luxury and I was trying to avoid spending any money. Unfortunately we were not able to bring our cameras into the show so I don't have any photos. They have a website, so if you're interested you can check it out: http://www.phuket-fantasea.com/eng/index.php

We arrived about 7pm and the show started at 9pm so we had some time to kill before we went to dinner. But the place is like a little Disneyland full of little shops, places to have your photo taken in Thai costumes, Swarovsky statues, pop the balloon and win a prize games, elephant rides, and much more. So we actually didn't have enough time to see everything before we went to help ourselves to the buffet which was pretty darn good.

To watch the show we go into the "Palace of the elephants" which looks like a palace but with elephant stone (fake) carvings. Once in you turn a corner and what seems to be a Thai statue comes alive and scares the crap out of you, then they try and convince you to get a photo taken with them which of course you pay out of your arse for. Further down are two baby elephants only one year old already doing little tricks to entice the public to take more photos. And finally baby tigers only one month old suckling on their bottles yet again enticing the public to purchase their photo souvenir. It was all so very tempting, but they were charging about €25 per photo and of course leaving the best till last, emptying the pockets of parents whose children just couldn't go without touching the baby tigers. I asked if I could just touch the baby tiger, or even how much I would have to pay just to touch it, but naturally it's a photo or nothing.

The show was a brilliant combination of stories, with costumes and music representing the difference provinces or regions of Thailand. Overall it was fantastic, but I wasn't crazy about the magic show part. There was one story from the region of Isan where we saw elephants, water buffalo, goats, chickens, and doves. They all walked from one side of the stage to the other completely on their own - talk about well trained!