In Bangkok I was often slightly shocked by the differences in culture between South east Asia and America. I never really wrapped my head around the difference in having friends here. Like somehow everyone I met would speak English and we would fall into friend love immediately! Call me stupid but over the course of one year of prep to move here I NEVER considered this aspect.
It got lonely sometimes, ya know? I have an amazing dude and we pretty much rock the world together and worked it out fairly well. But we also came from a big "family" back in Colorado and it was a drastic change to be forever together.
Now in Phuket with jobs where we go separate directions in the morning we are meeting different and new people from all over the world. I have never realized how much I love to be social, thank god I have a job that deals with people and includes me talking!!!! Hopefully y'all don't get sick of hearing my voice. Either way the social aspect is beginning to work itself out quite well.
This leads me to the next thing I never considered in all my time day dreaming about when we settled in.... transportation! In Bangkok it was easy.... walk, bus, sky train, ferry, express boat, METERED taxi, underground train, tuk tuk, motorbike taxi..... the list goes on! No wonder I never really thought about it, if Bangkok has this much transportation then everywhere in Thailand must be that way. Ha, ignorance is glorious!
So we get to Phuket the first time ever and, I will spare you the lame details, but we find out that there are very few METERED taxis, the Tuk Tuks cost an astronomical amount, and the hills are so steep that getting a push pedal up them might just kill you. There is a bus type thing called a songtheuw, (songtwo), but they leave from the beaches into Phuket town and then you switch to go to any other beach.... it takes an easy hour to get into town so you are looking at some serious travel time.
You are probably thinking "They should put in a more efficient bus system". Well, they tried that years ago and the Tuk Tuk drivers blocked the road so they could not get through. I have heard that they are looking at doing this again but who knows what will happen. This is Thailand. Period. Beautiful and with out reason.
When I found a job on one side of the island and that awesome dude of mine found a job on the other side of the island transportation became a problem. He has rode a motorbike for many years and scooters are abundant here so it was a bit more obvious of a solution. Me, sheltered little Colorado girl, I have driven a scooter once or twice long long ago. The first week as I traveled Jeremie would ride me out there and back, again can I say he is awesome?! Then we decided that I should probably learn to ride one myself....
One day at the beach I decided I would wonder off and take the scooter to 7-11 for a snack and get the feel for it. I came within inches of a wreck.
Riding a scooter is not such a big deal, it is more the conditions in which you ride.... hence the name the gauntlet. Between riding on the left side of the road and right turns becoming harder than back home you can throw in some torrential rain every now and then. Then the surprise appearances of people riding on the wrong side of the road. The stray dogs that meander all about and in general are quite good at looking both ways before stepping into the street but sometimes they get caught up in their heads and forget. You just have to honk at them. The best part is that once in a while an elephant will stroll out into the road, and even if they don't come in the road they are along side it and fascinating to watch eat and play.. "keep your eyes on the road for that dog, you can stop and watch the elephants later" I always have to say to myself.
Now we have the hills that make you feel like you are about to tip over backwards they are so steep and the 10,000 other motorbikes on the road. (And sometimes they Thai's ride motorbikes 4 deep. Another fascinating sight!) This time of year there are so many butterflies out and about flying in your face as you ride... It really is an incredible place. And I figure that if I can learn to ride here then I will be a master wherever I go. Needless to say you have to be on the ball all the time.
When it was time for me to ride a scooter Jeremie rented one and I followed him, for three days we did this until I felt comfortable with the trek myself. Then one fine day I found myself waking up and climbing on my rented scooter and departing for work. I made it safe and sound. So now comes the need to purchase one of the contraptions and we are finding out automatics are a lot more expensive, relatively speaking. I decided to rent one for a month while I look around for my perfect ride and low and behold the only one the woman had for me to rent was a manual. And I thought that the hardest part was over just riding an automatic to work. Wrong again.
I flashed back to years ago when my dad bought me a manual transmission honda, he dropped it off and gave me a few rides around the neighborhood and then took off with my automatic and I was left with the stick shift. I figured I would use this same tact to accomplish the scooter ride. Had it dropped off and rode in circles and then rode to work. You can add to the above list of distractions operating a pedal and down shifting... at least there is no clutch, and talk about being present!
Overcoming challenges and being surprised by the challenges that come up, all part of the journey! I feel stronger every day that I am here. Everyday my excitement and confidence grows about my life. Most of the time I want to burst out of my skin with glorious sensations of accomplishments. It is good, life is good.
The last thing I want to mention is the missing of holidays, it being Thanksgiving and all back home today. Even though we were never big celebrators of holidays back home I miss the thought.
In celebration these are the things I am grateful for and the things that still sit in my heart:
The bike parades and thanksgivings that we celebrated with our "family" the past couple of years, how I will miss the "roll" (I know there is another name for it and you ladies know what I am talking about) Have me there in spirit!
The parents that I have, the mom that would have bought me new clothes to wear and had us celebrate a day later or earlier so that I could spend time with my friends too.
The day my dad dropped of the manual transmission honda, 10 years later that incident still gives me confidence to do new things.
My brother visit at Christmas. I love you Ehren!
Whiskey!!!! All good things come with whiskey!
Having incredible friends and family that are easy to talk to.
Being able to ride my bike to work everyday for two years and never having to think about it beyond that.
This journey and the people on it with me, the supporters and the contributors, and the companion.
Learning to ride a manual transmission means that most likely one day I will be taking a motorcycle journey with a dear friend of mine, though she doesn't know it yet.
Life is beautiful and glorious everyone, so enjoy the small things, slow down your breath and if you are ever fed up with traffic think about Thailand! It is pure chaos!
No comments:
Post a Comment