Tour in a “chicken bus”

Posted under Deja vu Asia 2010

OMG — I am morphing into some type of vegetable. Perhaps a “couch potato” without a couch. I remind myself of an old Otis Redding song, “Sittin’ on the dock of the bay”. I guess that any Otis Redding song would be a bit old, but this one seems particularly suitable. It tells of a man just sittin’ in the morning sun and he’ll be sittin’ when the evening comes. That pretty much says it all. Describes my day to a “T”. Goes on to the lively part where he watches the tide roll in, and then watches it roll out again. Who can stand the stress? Maybe it is time to get back to our world as we know it. This really could become habit forming. Did manage to muster up sufficient ambition to snap a couple of photos in front of our hotel.

 

In truth, our day is not totally filled with a void. “She who shops” and I took the “chicken bus to Phuket town, the other day. This is a bus that will take you from Kata to Karon, then on to Phuket town, in any order, for 30 baht. This would be one dollar, for anyone trying to put this in perspective. From Kata, where we are at present, to Phuket, is about an hour trip. Not that the distance is so great, but we are not talking “hair straight back” speedy transportation. Plus, the bus will stop and pick you up anywhere along the way, if you just wave it down. The bus, itself, was, I believe, hand crafted from a 1926 Hino three-ton chassis. You then take whatever lumber is handy, and construct an enclosure.

Well, at least a roof and some half sides. Windows are a luxury that we can’t  afford, but there are tarps that will roll down, for use in the rainy season. Place a wooden bench down each side, and a moveable wooden bench down the middle, and you have our bus. I am certain that the trip is open to livestock as well, as long as they pay their 30 baht. Hey, it was an experience, and helped to use up another day. I fear that I am making this sound as though we have absolutely nothing to do, but that is not really the case. We still take our walk, once the sun is directly above us, and has reached it’s hottest point. This allows us to perspire buckets of water, and complain about the heat. It also allows us the opportunity to search out new and additional eating establishments. Sort of a “hunter gatherer” thing, in our quest for survival. (As if starvation might ever be on our list of things to do.)

I believe that I have determined what special appeal Thailand holds for Bonnie. It is one of the few places in the world where the clothes that she buys are marked “large”, and she is just on the tall side of “average” height. Methinks that it gives her a sense of empowerment and enjoyment, when adult people are actually looking up when they are speaking to her. That, and the fact that they are most always smiling. Not only when they are desperately trying to sell you something, but even after you manage to convince them that you really are not going to buy the item. We have become quite friendly with a young lady who operates one of the small market stalls just down from our hotel. She is one of those individuals who constantly smiles, and loves to chat.

She is actually from Myanmar, (Burma), is eighteen years old, and has worked in Thailand for three years. She has a room not far from where she works, that is large enough to sleep in, and a shared washroom with five other ladies, who also have their own room. She works every day from 9:00 AM, until 10:30 PM, eating lunch and dinner at work. On the up-side, she does get about a week off each year, but not all at the same time. Other than that, her work week is seven days. Her mother and younger brother also live in Kata, but she doesn’t get to see them too often. Her mother works as a housekeeper seven days per week, so their schedules don’t allow for much visiting. Her father is no longer living, and her younger sister, who is now fifteen, lives with a grandmother back in Burma. As the grandfather is also deceased, both she and her mother send money home for the care of those back in Burma. Now I ask you, what is not to smile about? However, along with her cheerful disposition, she has become conversational in English and Russian, and passable in Swedish. This, as well as being fluent in her native Burmese, as well as Thai, and I am still struggling with just English.

It seems that as Thailand becomes more prosperous, more foreign workers are allowed in to fulfill the work requirements in the low paying jobs. Much like Canada and it’s immigrant policy, or the US and Mexicans.

I took a snap of a house, built in the Thai style.

Most of these are quite old, dating back over a hundred years. They were built with very high door sills, to keep the evil spirits from entering the houses. This was carried on from room to room on the off chance that some of the spirits managed to sneak past the outer sills. Although most of these dwellings were built before windows were available here, they were fitted with shutters. These could be opened to allow for cross breezes, if they were available. They  were also built upon pilings, to allow the air to circulate beneath the building, and to allow for water during the rainy season.  As most of these buildings were constructed of heavy teak planking, they, for the most part, withstood the test of time. Unfortunately, these buildings are rapidly disappearing. As teak wood is now getting in short supply, these houses are being dismantled for the timber inside. The makers of furniture have found that the wood that has seasoned for this long, makes superb furniture, much more stable that new, dried wood, and so the teak takes on a new life, in a new place.

I suspect that  new found affluence that Thailand is enjoying, may be taking a setback, due to the political climate here. The tactics of a small percentage of the demonstrators, has apparently affected this years tourism, which had already suffered from previous political unrest. In a country that depends so heavily upon the tourist trade, the incomes of much of the population is greatly reduced. But the Thai people seem to be very resilient, and will bounce back, still with a smile. It is one of the things that do keep the tourists returning. I know that it is one of the things that keep us coming back.

That is it for now, take care —
T

Back to Bang Tao

Posted under Deja vu Asia 2010

Well, we’re back in Thailand and back at Bang Tao Beach, staying at the Kris Resort. Made it back to Thailand between Olympic hockey games and you should have seen my pouty face when I found that the coverage at the Kris did not include ESPN. Now towards the beach from our hotel, is an interesting restaurant called Nok and Jo’s. What is actually interesting is how it came about. Jo is from cowboy country in the foothills of Alberta, and as he was experienced in log building construction, he decided to come to Thailand after the Tsunami, to help them rebuild. During this period, he met and fell in love with a Thai lady. After their marriage, they returned to Alberta for a period of time, but decided to return to Thailand and open a restaurant.

Being Canadian born, I thought that if anyone knew, Jo would know where the gold medal game could be viewed. Not only did he know, but was picking it up on his dish system and showing it in the restaurant. Over here the live game was actually at 3:00 in the morning, Monday, but that could matter less, he was opening the restaurant and inviting any one to attend who wished to watch. We, (yes I said we) got up in the middle of the night, along with a couple dozen other individuals, to watch one great hockey game. It is seldom that one can watch a game that is that evenly matched, but of course, having Canada win, on home ice, was a special thrill in itself. YAY CANADA !!

Bonnie suffered a slight trauma from being subjected to a sunrise, but I suspect that some proper Rip Van Winkle time will set things straight again.

I have been somewhat remiss in updating my blog, and I will quickly blame the Kris for this last lapse. They have been having a terrible time with their internet service, but managed to get the system all up and running today, which leaves me without an excuse.

You may have heard that Thailand is experiencing it’s annual political unrest period, so allow me to verbalize Thai politics as I perceive it. There are basically two parties in Thailand, split approximately down the middle. The something, something party for democracy, who support the Monarchy and wear yellow shirts, and the something, something democratic party, who don’t support the Monarchy, and wear red shirts. A couple of years back, the red shirt party was in power, but the president was deemed to have been dipping his beak in the public purse. He was previously involved in the communication industry, and very wealthy as a result. As in most democracies, the members of parliament are required to divest  themselves of company shares, wherein a conflict might be deemed possible. Supposedly, the man had done just that, but after the company, (his) was awarded many, many valuable government contracts, it was found that he had retained his shares, which had earned him an additional 2.7 billion US dollars. Yes, that is with a “b”.

Rather than face a trial, he elected to skip bail and flee the country, so he now spends time in Dubai, Cambodia, England, and any where he won’t be shipped back to Thailand. The supreme court of Thailand found him guilty in absentia, and recently reclaimed slightly over half of the assets which had been seized, or about 1 ½ billion US dollars. A billion here, a billion there, soon we have some serious money, but the lifestyle of the missing president did not appear to be greatly affected. The interesting part is that all of this didn’t seem to alter his position here in Thailand, as his “red shirts” remain totally loyal, and want to overthrow the current government. I guess that having a crook in power is a good thing, if he is your crook. It must be a political thing, as I recall Richard M Nixon, assuring the American public, that “I am not a crook”, just before the poo hit the fan.

On the other hand, the “yellow shirts”, who are in power, love their king, and like the Brits, blindly  support their monarchy.  King Rama lX, became king in 1950, making him the longest ruling monarch, but as with most monarchies, there is a high cost involved. There are several palaces to maintain, and a lifestyle to support, but as a gracious king, Rama lX does return a portion of this funding, by supporting public venues of his choosing.

In the background of all this, is a rumbling about the cost of the monarchy, as the country is actually run by a parliament, and although they love their king, that possibly the situation may require another look at such time as the king is no longer able to rule. This would possibly shift some power over to the “red shirts”, who would love to get their dude back in power. This period in time may not be that far off as king Rama lX, made a short public appearance the other day, his first in over five months. After a couple of hours, he returned to hospital, where he has been for the previously mentioned five months. Actually, from his appearance, I am not certain that he didn’t leave this land five months ago, and the hospital is trying to mummify him for public display. All in all, the political situation in Thailand looks a bit bleak in the near future. On the upside, the confrontations seem to be in the area of Bangkok, and at present seem to be confined to tossing the occasional small bomb into banks. Although the “red shirts” claim no responsibility for these actions, they do claim that the banks have the 1 ½ billion  that was scooped from their guy, and that this money grab was strictly political.

In the meantime, we will hang out in Phuket and relax. We will keep an eye peeled on the politics, but don’t expect a great deal of excitement for a while. It is hard to believe that we are in the final leg of our holiday. I don’t know if it is just this age thing, or maybe it is because we are a day ahead, but time has scurried by.

I will try to be a bit more punctual re the blog, but “chillin out” in the hot, hot sun, doesn’t give a lot to talk about.

Chat you soon.

T