Thai Update: May 12th 2009 - Patrick

Sawat-de-krup. Respectful greeting in Thai, masculine version. I have no idea how to spell it though. It's sometime in the afternoon and the majority of us are sitting around in a cafe enjoying that national dish, Pad Thai.

I'm not sure what the previous bloggers have shared so I will assume that the slate is blank.
I'd like to catch you, the Victorian viewers, up to date with our Thai excursion thus far. A recap.
We arrived after a 24 hour journey here in Phuket . We drove in awesome Toyota vans for about an hour and a half into the heart of the city. The first drive was perhaps the most intense and eye opening to Thai driving style. Traffic laws is almost an oxymoron here. I suppose there are some rules but more or less the laws of physics are the primary governing laws; specifically, two objects cannot occupy the same place at the same time. Imagine any scene from Jurassic park where big dinorsaurs are running with little ones amongst their legs. Basically very fast scooters(100+cc) zip in and out of the four lane highways passing on both sides. Vehicles can go anywhere there is a gap. It's actually kind of awesome. Apparently this island has (tragically) one of the highest accident rates and consequently fatalities in motor vehicle accidents. With that said we've seen nothing to validate that, thankfully.

Anyways enough with the crazy antics of scooters. This place is beautiful. There are no socks in this country. If I were a hobbit I'd just travel about barefoot; however, I don sandals as I am not. The heat is not so overwhelming as we imagined. It's completely barable. Ac is an amenity that is afforded to most buildings here. And who doesn't enjoy a good sweat here and there? The smells are constantly changing and morphing together to create an immense job for the nose. Briefly as my timer on this computer is flashing. Sweet thai food cooking on the sides of streets, pungent fruits hanging off of canopies, and putrid open sewers every couple of blocks. All together creating a wonderful blend for the senses. 2 minutes to go. So the sounds, basically the general hustle and bustle, but definitely a cacophany (sp?) that keeps you constantly alert to the dangers that lurk, primarily cockroaches and scooters and funny dripping water. I love everyone in Victoria and Thailand. God bless talk soon, must end now. Bye bye, Pajoi Wei Paon.
Written by: Patrick Nolan Labels: ,