Laying Back

Thailand - Phuket, sun, sunburned on the first day - duh - beaches, massages, prawns the size of your fist, oysters, fish, Thai spice, lots of old white guys with small Thai girls who they buy things for, transexuals on the corners, all very risque. Yesterday we rented putt-putt scooters and bombed around the island, got lost a couple of times but always with good results. Twice we ended up on top of mountains for amazing views and then we found Lotus Land! Actually, it's a mall with all manner of decadent western treats so we had a coffee, of course, and met some folks who are boating around the world dry-docked in Phuket having their boat fully refitted as it's cheap here. They told us if we want to go to Malaysia to come down to the dock and put up a sign and see if we can share costs on a yacht or other boat. We are going to go for it. They say we can crew or Ivan can play his way but we do want to be careful on this one, as there are some real dicey people travelling about - not to mention the various perversions that abound in this neck of the woods.

We've been hanging about at the local Harley bar called Fatboy Saloon. They had a big ride here last year with thousands of bikes, they showed us the video, it looked amazing. The bar is very quiet now and run by a Brit with a Thai wife and a very cool kitty Marawa. Ivan was going to gig at the bar but it's too slow so Simon (the owner) is going to take us to Patong tonight to some clubs to hook up with some local bands and we shall see what comes of this. There are some very nice Harleys on the island but they are few and far between and with the hairpin turns and steep grades it seems a bit of overkill, but there are some very cool roads to travel and even putting home last night watching the sun go down on the ocean was a blast.

As for the tsunami situation, things have very quickly come back to life. They have rebuilt most of everything that was gone and even improved living conditions for many. Of course there was, and is a land grab scenario but overall things are back to normal and the prices will attest to that. Last year was when it was cheap to come but while some properties are still suffering, it's mostly business as usual. We will probably trip to some of the islands like Ko Phi Phi which was hard hit but back to life and want to also do some real quiet places but for now we are hanging about Phuket and getting De-China'd.

In the daylight all is sweet and nice here but we have been hearing some real grisly stuff about the night. Across from the Harley bar is where they keep the elephants (that tourists ride) where the body of a girl (white) was found trampled to death but they said that her body was abused in ways other than a trampling, so it seems likely she was dumped there. The bars are dicey as well and there have been rapes and murders. If the island could talk. On the corner down from us where you have to slow to make a corner, the he-shes (trannys) hang out and push people off their scoots and rob them. Not to worry, we are safe so far and making friends here and there. Will post photos soon cause we want all you snow bounds to be envious - Ha! Actually, there are days when home seems like a good place to be under the covers and safe. Cheerio.