Singapore Bound

Posted under Southeast Asia 2009

It seems that this being a return visit to Thailand, the desperate need to wander about daily, looking at all the touristy things, also limits the items that I  have to talk about. This would partially explain the infrequency of the blogs.

One thing that I forgot to mention from Phuket was the big coincidence. Yes, there I was ,in a Seven-Eleven, and there in front of me was my old friend “Johnnie Black” 😀 Apparently he also enjoys being in Thailand, and I, of course, invited him back to our hotel. for a bit of revelry and reminiscing.. We all had such a good time, and as Johnnie had no intention of going back to Scotland, I invited him to join us in Ao Nang. An offer he graciously accepted.

Actually, Johnnie was not the only one who we ran into from Scotland. Well — nearly Scotland. This fellow was from Newcastle where they seem uncertain as to where they are Scottish or British. The gentleman was sporting a dandy new “Phuket Tattoo”. Any of you who have traveled to Asia will have noticed the multitude of establishments offering tattoos. These are generally applied by needle and ink, by some very gifted artists. This body canvas, on both men and women, is quite noticeable on the beach. The “Phuket Tattoo”, however, has more the appearance of road rash. I guess that this is because it is road rash, and generally indicates an error in judgement whilst trying to control a motor bike. The Brits seem particularly succeptible  to this condition as they normally drive on the wrong side of the road, as do the Thais. The Brits  thus believe that they are well versed in the rules of the road. Wrong — there is only one road rule to remember in Thailand, and that is that there are no rules. Traffic merges, it must as there are no traffic controls, so it appears that whoever has the largest cajones has the right of way, and everyone else just makes way and smiles. Also, any motor traffic has precedence over pedestrians. It would seem that those from the U.K. have not caught on to this yet, and so get to sport dandy new body markings.

We are now in Bang Tao, on Phuket Island. We must do our visa thingy, and so are off to Singapore, tomorrow a.m.. This will be a new adventure for us as we have not been to Singapore and nearly everyone must go there. Even my buddy Verne has been to Singapore! We did have a really good time in Ao Nang, staying at the smaller, family-run hotel, the Royal Nakara. The family was extremely kind and helpful to us, and we certainly enjoyed their hospitality.. It is people and places such as this, that keep us coming back to South East Asia.

Actually, it is not just Bonnie and I who are leaving Thailand tomorrow. Our luggage was starting to vigorously complain about the weight which we expected them to contain, and I was loudly whimpering myself, so yet again we sent a couple of large packages back to Canada. This ain’t cheap, and what is really scary is that we still have a couple months of holidaying yet.

Will keep you posted.
T