From Day 1 in Thailand

Ok. Its actually day 6 in Thailand, but we havent had the internet (we actually kind of did) but to be quiet frank neither Ross nor Barb really cared. The wireless hotel internet is a little expensive and has poor reception in our room. We’ll have to explain the “expensive” comparison. Everything in Thailand is cheap so although the internet price by home standards is quiet acceptable, by Thai standards we were mortally insulted.

At the moment one Australian dollar buys about 31 1/2 Thai Bhat at the dodgy street exchange, so you very quickly start to see things in multiples of 1 Bhat being the same as 1 Australian dollar. It becomes frighteningly easy to fall into the trap of seeing something that costs 30 bhat as being 30 dollars instead of the 1 dollar it actually is.

We have discovered that if we blog offline we can take the laptop to a local coffee shop and use their wireless to upload … or that is the plan because we are yet to do it. Actually, if you reading this, then we have managed to do it.

Day one was comprised of a late check out of our Singapore hotel, quick trip to the airport and like moths drawn to bright lights, we were mesmerised by the sheer size and amount of offerings in the place. Like most duty free airport venues, price is dictated by the captive audience.

It was dark by the time we arrived in the hotel at Phuket. The drive was longer than expected due to our arrival coinciding with what is loosely described as peak hour road kaos. Thai traffic simply cannot be described. It is like stomping on an ants nest and watching the confusion and kaos that follows.

Where we might pick up a mate or car pool, they load 20 people into the back of a tip truck, 8 or 10 in the rear of a ute or squeeze 4 people onto a scooter. You dont even take a second look unless the number of poeple on a scooter exceeds 4. And the road serves no real purpose other than to display the general direction everyone should generally head, unless of course you dont want to and ride in the opposite direction.

One thing that Ross is obsessed with is the power lines. They are bundled into masses of tangled spagetti everywhere you look. The live of an electrician would be either a nightmare or heaven, we cant quite work out which

A lot have changed in the time since our first trip to Thailand. We can only assume that the tsunami has played a big roll in that. The night “girly” bar area has exploded and is much bigger and much more confronting. The bars are just endless and run off each side of the road in continuous arcades.

There appears to be no real reason to venture further into the “arcade” than is the first few bars are full. The last bar offers nothing any different to the first …….. and they are building more. Tansvestites and protitutes roam the steet along with 5 years olds selling flowers, and street sellers offering $1 toys to non interested buyers. The sprukers for the street shows are thick on the ground all offering a vast array of “talents”, but each one offers the same, but they just keep on coming

Drinking in street, playing Connect Four is a fantastic way to spend an evening. Although the score certainly reflected the amount of alcohol consumed

Our hotel, like most Phuket hotel, is large and multi storey (which puts Barb’s mind to rest in the tsumami stakes). We are opposite the beach and at the southern end of the Patong Beach area. The room is Superior pool view room, but with 3 humungous pools and the loose way hotels throw around the term “Superior”, we think a lot of the rooms are the same. The pools are fantastic and the view of the main one from our room is pretty good.

Our hotel has two restaurants, one at either end of the resort. Both have live music every night. Most resorts along the beach strip have open air bars which Ross is pretty sure he has been in every one. The one problem is rain. We have discovered by experience that tropical rain doesnt build up with threatening dark clouds, it just explodes from the sky with little warning, and drenches everything. If you were caught 20 feet from shelter you might as well be a mile.

It comical to watch the Thai’s running around trying to cover everything without any concern for themselves. The bars and restaurants simply stop trading until it passes. When we got caught by a storm in a trishaw in Singapore in the stiffling heat, the perfusely sweating rider said that 1 hour of hour makes for humidity, 2 hours drops the temperture. We can agree with the humidity comment.

We have had so many massages that our skin is becoming translucent. We have managed to have 2 massages in one day, and on more than one ocassion. Even with the obvious trade on sex and use of sex as a tool to ply western dollars, it’s still sad that genuine massage businesses have to advertise “No Sex” on the windows and signs.

Ross and Barb went for a run along the beach early yesterday morning before breakfast. They were greeted by another perfect if not hot day. The run was followed by a swim in the emerald green temperate sea, followed by an incredible buffet breakfast, followed by walk along the beach for a relaxing coffee, enroute to thier preferred massage practitioner to work away the runs aches and pains. Then more booze later that night. Whoops. At least we started out well intentioned.

Thats a tid bit so far. Ross makes a loose promises to post some more