Well... Where to begin? Maria made an interesting observation about vehicles here. Though lots of people drive motorbikes, there are still many many many people that have cars... and though there are some clunkers, she pointed out that 90-95% of them are VERY nice cars... Are vehicles very cheap here? Or have the followed the American tradition of being able to buy a nice car because they didn't spend much on their house? You do seem to see really nice vehicles parked in front of not really nice homes a lot.... Maybe not so strange, but interesting.
I have to withdraw my previous statement about driving laws in Thailand after having done a lot more driving. Apparently in our little corner of Phuket, it was mostly locals that ... well, drove like locals. After further exploration, I've found that most everyone follows laws like wearing helmets, and the road habits have made more sense to me after driving enough. The left lane is for motor bikes; the right is for larger vehicles. You are allowed to use the other lane, but only when there is a lack of the other already using it.
Everyone always uses turn signals... always. It puts a slight buffer on the craziness of people swerving all over the place in and out of lanes if you at least know they're about to do it. If you're passing someone, never assume they're paying attention to their mirrors... honk first before passing. The center lines however... well, they do seem to be more of a suggestion than a law.
I was also wrong about driver's licenses not being required though... Though it doesn't seem heavily enforced unless you go on the highways between cities. We ran into a checkpoint where I had to show mine, though they didn't pay much attention to the fact that I'm only authorized to drive cars and trucks, not motorcycles.... so no, not strictly enforced... Though they were ticketing an Australian that didn't have his license with him.
Which brings me to my next point. As for most of Thailand, I can't say... But if you only speak English, Patong beach in Phuket is the place to go. It seemed initially that Russian was the only alternative... but down by the beach there's a half-mile long road called Bang-La Road.. You'll hear some people call it walking street, because after 6pm, you're not allowed to take vehicles down it. Why? Because it has 12 million Australian bars and night clubs. Everyone goes there at night, and you can always bet you can easily find someone that speaks English there. It seems like this is a relatively close and inexpensive place for Australians to vacation, and they hold a strong permanent influence over the city near the beach.
Through an interesting turn of events, after Maria returned to Samara, I got stuck in Thailand a further 2 weeks after missing my flight for complicated reasons. They couldn't return my money so I could buy new tickets for a later flight the same day.. they could only exchange them for a later flight to the same destination with the same airline ... and the next flight is in 2 weeks.
So I booked into a hostel in Phuket Town that costs basically the same as my previous hotel, but cost less to get here because there are busses that run from the airport regularly. Planning to lay low and spend my time watching Russian tv and reading all the Russian I can to try to improve my language skills before I get to Russia.
Got my hotel in Samara rebooked for 2 weeks from now since I obviously won't be using the time there I had booked for .. well, yesterday. Can't say I'll have anything terribly fascinating to share for the next two weeks, but I'll keep you updated on any further developments))
I have to withdraw my previous statement about driving laws in Thailand after having done a lot more driving. Apparently in our little corner of Phuket, it was mostly locals that ... well, drove like locals. After further exploration, I've found that most everyone follows laws like wearing helmets, and the road habits have made more sense to me after driving enough. The left lane is for motor bikes; the right is for larger vehicles. You are allowed to use the other lane, but only when there is a lack of the other already using it.
Everyone always uses turn signals... always. It puts a slight buffer on the craziness of people swerving all over the place in and out of lanes if you at least know they're about to do it. If you're passing someone, never assume they're paying attention to their mirrors... honk first before passing. The center lines however... well, they do seem to be more of a suggestion than a law.
I was also wrong about driver's licenses not being required though... Though it doesn't seem heavily enforced unless you go on the highways between cities. We ran into a checkpoint where I had to show mine, though they didn't pay much attention to the fact that I'm only authorized to drive cars and trucks, not motorcycles.... so no, not strictly enforced... Though they were ticketing an Australian that didn't have his license with him.
Which brings me to my next point. As for most of Thailand, I can't say... But if you only speak English, Patong beach in Phuket is the place to go. It seemed initially that Russian was the only alternative... but down by the beach there's a half-mile long road called Bang-La Road.. You'll hear some people call it walking street, because after 6pm, you're not allowed to take vehicles down it. Why? Because it has 12 million Australian bars and night clubs. Everyone goes there at night, and you can always bet you can easily find someone that speaks English there. It seems like this is a relatively close and inexpensive place for Australians to vacation, and they hold a strong permanent influence over the city near the beach.
Through an interesting turn of events, after Maria returned to Samara, I got stuck in Thailand a further 2 weeks after missing my flight for complicated reasons. They couldn't return my money so I could buy new tickets for a later flight the same day.. they could only exchange them for a later flight to the same destination with the same airline ... and the next flight is in 2 weeks.
So I booked into a hostel in Phuket Town that costs basically the same as my previous hotel, but cost less to get here because there are busses that run from the airport regularly. Planning to lay low and spend my time watching Russian tv and reading all the Russian I can to try to improve my language skills before I get to Russia.
Got my hotel in Samara rebooked for 2 weeks from now since I obviously won't be using the time there I had booked for .. well, yesterday. Can't say I'll have anything terribly fascinating to share for the next two weeks, but I'll keep you updated on any further developments))
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