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Scooter Helmets
It's not easy to see but all of our helmets said "Porn" on them. After almost two weeks in Indonesia we were all excited to get to one of the countries we had been anticipating the most; Thailand. Ever since American GI's "discovered" Thailand as a tourist destination in the 1960's, it has been steadily growing in popularity. We had heard the stories of endless white sand beaches and all night full moon parties, and we were looking forward to creating our own memories.
Our two days on the island of Phuket were dominated by the scooters we rented for 24 hours for 200 Thai Baht ($7). These scooters were sort of like Vespa's and could reach speeds of up to 80 km/h. This made our first ten minutes driving through Phuket Town scary as hell. After a very rudimentary lesson I got on the scooter and tried to accelerate slowly, but ended up shooting forward as my sandals dragged along the hot pavement. Then on one of our first turns, Duncan went a little too wide and came very close to crashing into a parked car. Since I know both of our Moms read this blog I should report that I am writing this entry in good health in Bangkok. After the early
Just Some Guys on Scooters
Also please note how my scooter was hot pink. scares we stopped to get something to eat, and tried to slow down our heartrates. After this break we seemed to get the hang of it and ended up having a lot of fun. The scooters also allowed us to see more of the island than we would have if we just rode in taxis.
The other highlights of Phuket were the cuisine and our one night out there. After the surprising blandness of Indonesian food, the spices of Thailand were exactly what I desired. At the first place we ate in Thailand, me and Curtis were asked what percentage of spicy we would like. We both said 80% after some hesitation and posturing and we were both left with runny noses. As for the nightlife it is surprisingly sparse in Phuket Town. We had a couple beers and watched, "The Beach" with some people at our hostel, and then headed to the local Irish bar. Our time at this bar was spent almost entirely in competitions. We started with Jenga, which is EVRYWHERE in Southeast Asia, then moved to darts, then to pool, and finally to beer pong. We also met some cool British people and a South
Irish Bar in Phuket
I assume the "Number Ones" represent some sort of victory but I can't be sure. Also of interest is that we ran into these girls again in Ko Phi Phi and during the time between our meetings they got robbed bad. Lost everything; passports, wallets, IPods etc. African guy during these competitions. The South African guy was particularly interesting as he had spent a year working in Toronto and absolutely loved Canada. As soon as we told him we were Canadian his eyes lit up and he basically spent the rest of the night ignoring his girlfriend and telling us how great Canada is. This made me realize just how good we have it in Canada and was definitely one of the things I will remember most from my time in Phuket.
The next day we played around on the scooters some more before catching a ferry to the legendary island of Ko Phi Phi. Our time on the Thai islands had officially begun. The pictures in the next few entries are pretty amazing so I suggest you check them out when they are eventually published.
P.S. Expect short and sweet for the next few entries. We did a little island hopping and only spent a couple of days on each island. I was going to combine them into one entry, but then I realized that in order to appeal to the ADD generation I would need to separate them.
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rebecca
non-member comment
safety first!