The 1995 On-Road Gas World Championships were held at the Phuket Country Club in Phuket, Thailand. I was unable to make the trip at that time, due to family and work commitments. However, ever sine that race, I have been hearing about the wonders of Thailand, and what a fantastic trip everyone had. Eventually I decided I just had to make the trip myself.

I had the pleasure of taking this first trip with a good friend, Doug McNeely, who had attended the 1995 World Championships.   Since that time, Doug had made many return visits, eventually moving to Thailand in 1997. Doug bought a business establishment, the Black Rose Bar. He rented a large bungalow, and lived there for a little over a year. Doug returned to the USA, but his heart was still in Thailand.

Phuket is an island, located a little away from most of Thailand.  The airport is in the northern part of the island, and there are two main cities, Phuket Town (on the east side of the Island) and Patong Beach (on the west side).
 

Arrival in Phuket
Doug’s good friend, Pia, met us at the Phuket airport. For Doug and Pia, meeting again was a nice reunion - they hadn’t seen each other in over half a year. Years ago, Pia had worked with Doug in running the Black Rose Bar, and when Doug returned to the USA, Pia took over the operation of the bar.

Doug mentioned to Pia that this was my first visit to Thailand, and maybe she could take the scenic route on the way back to Patong Beach, rather than the quicker direct route. Pia did more than that - she drove all over the island, stopping at many beautiful places along the way. These included a large temple complex, scenic view locations overlooking the coastline of the island, and a beach side resort where we had a delicious lunch of fish, prepared in the Thai manner, with lots of special sauces and seasonings.

Pia has quite a sense of humor, and started playing some tricks on me, supposedly giving me the Thai name for some local animals such as the buffalo, which she said in Thai was "rat". Doug must have been chuckling about all this, but for quite a while he never said a word, as I tried to learn a few things in Thai… Eventually I figured out what was going on, and joined in the game equally enthusiastically, yelling out "rat!" every time we saw a buffalo, and "buffalo!" every time we saw an elephant, and "dinner!" every time we saw a dog or a cat. Of course if it was a puppy or kitten, it was "yummy, dinner - hungry!". Pia just smiled at me. :-)

Eventually we arrived at our destination, the Sand Inn Hotel, where Doug and I were given rooms across the hallway from each other.

The electricity in hotel rooms at hotels in Thailand is switched on when you insert the room key in a special slot near the door. When you leave the room, the electricity shuts off about 20 seconds after you remove the key. I assume this greatly cuts down on the hotel’s electric bill. My room was overlooking the intersection of two major roads, so had an exciting (and noisy) view. Doug’s room was overlooking a quieter area. We took about two hours to rest, wash up, and so on, and at about 8:00, we headed over to the Black Rose Bar, just a few blocks away.

Enjoying Thailand
Along the way, Doug gave me a crash course in Thailand 101. He explained the street names, which bars were which (beer bars, lady-boy bars, go-go bars, kareoke bars, and so on), pointed out some of the local landmarks, and explained how to safely cross the streets - look for a gap in traffic, and try to blend in. The streets are narrow and crowded and the traffic is rather wild, with cars, trucks, busses, motor bikes, carts, and mini taxis (called Tuk-Tuks) each using as much of the road as they could. The background music was loud, non-stop, and very exciting.

Doug showed me which places were easiest to change money at. The exchange rate is about 40 baht for one US dollar, and some places are much more convenient to change money at than others. Some only exchange money and/or traveler’s checks, and others will allow you to use your Visa or Master Charge card, which Doug had suggested as the easiest way to do things. Because of the recent financial crisis in the Far East, and the recent devaluation of the baht, the current exchange rate allows American currency to go a long way).  Although it does cost a lot to get here, once you’re here, your expenses are less than expected. I hope I won’t offend anyone by saying this, but to me, Thai money almost seems like monopoly money - you go to the bank, spend about $100, and get 4,000 baht.  How far will this go? Well, a full dinner for five or six people costs about 1500 baht ($30). The hotel we’re staying at is 600 baht a night (about $15). The bus from Patong Beach to Phuket Town cost 15 baht. Jet Skis, Parasailing, Elephant riding, Horseback Riding, and other "tourist" stuff typically cost about 600 baht. I think you’ll get the picture.

We arrived at the Black Rose Bar, and Pia introduced me to Too (the bartender), Yat (Pia’s nephew and the bar’s cashier), and to many of the girls who work at the bar. Doug spent this time re-acquainting himself with many of his old friends who were there waiting to see him again. I spent the time talking to many new people, trying to remember who was who, and what their names were. Of course, all this was accompanied by several Singha beers, an excellent beer that is made right there in Thailand.

After an hour or so, we headed over to Bangla Seafood, a local restaurant, for an absolutely delicious dinner. For a foreigner (A "Fahrong"), the spices can be quite hot, so I stayed away from the bright red or green thingies that I was told would set off fireworks in my mouth. Later on, I found that despite their reputation, they were pretty good. Dinner for the whole crowd (with many courses, beer, and coffee), came to only 1600 baht. After dinner we headed back to the Black Rose Bar, for some more talk, bar games, drinks (of course!), and so on.

Earlier, Doug explained to me how the bar scene works in Patong Beach. Rather than compete against each other all night, the bars in different areas of the town open and close at different times. The bars along Bangla Road (where the Black Rose Bar is located) open in the early evening. They don’t really get going until 9:00 or so, at which time they are pretty packed with people. Somewhere between midnight and 1am, things start closing up, and everyone wanders over to a new group of bars a few blocks away, on Soi Sunset (Sunset Road). Things continue on as before, only starting to quiet down near sunrise.

By 10:00 or 11:00 we were having a good old time, drinking, and playing the various games with the girls who work at the bar. This is where my story starts to differ from the official travel brochures, so you may want to jump ahead to Elephant Riding or something else with a PG rating.

Earlier it had been explained to me that one of the better (and most pleasurable) ways to learn about where to go and what to do in Phuket is to find a friend who will spend time with you and show you around. If you’re a newcomer to Patong Beach, the bargirls want to be that friend. One of the purposes of the bar games is for the bar patron to get to meet all the girls who work at the bar. You play bar games with each of them until you get to meet one who you especially like. If the appropriate arrangements are made, when you leave, the girl goes with you. If this is before the bar closes, you pay a "bar fine", and then the girl leaves with you. This is the way it’s done at the "beer bars". At the "go-go bars" all the girls are wearing a number, and if you want to spend time with one of them, you are given a "menu" explaining how much it will cost you to be with them for an hour, an evening, or perhaps a week.

By this time I was playing games and talking to "Jay". It was explained earlier that if I wanted, for 1000 or 1500 baht, Jay would spend the night, and spend much of the next day doing whatever or going wherever I wanted. Meanwhile, Doug met up with one of Jay’s friends. So, around 1am or so, it was time to close up the bar, and for the whole group of us to head off to Soi Sunset.

The bars on Soi Sunset are if anything, even louder than the bars on Bangla Road. The bar we went to had a band, with live entertainment. The sound was tuned up so loud that most of the time it was almost impossible to talk to anyone. Food showed up from who-knows-where, and everyone seemed to be having a great time. I guess I was sort of a party pooper - by that time, my get-up-and-go had gotten-up-and-went, and honestly, I just wanted to go to sleep. Nobody else did though, and it wasn’t for another two or three hours later (by which time I was sleeping on my feet) that we headed off to the hotel. Doug explained to me that usually people didn’t leave the bars on Soi Sunset until near sunrise, which this time of year was around 6am.

The next morning, Jay, Jay’s friend (who had gotten up early, as Doug continued to sleep) and myself discussed what to do. My first desire was breakfast, and they took me to a nice English-style restaurant that serves an English Breakfast (eggs, bacon, beans, toast, and coffee) for a little over 100 baht. It was delicious. About then it started raining, and we played pool for an hour or so, waiting for the rain to stop. Doug had told me that this was the rainy season, and that each day it was likely to rain for a while. Unlike in the USA, a "while" might be anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, but the rain quickly passes and it’s back to good weather. By 5:00 or so, it was time for Jay and her friend to head home and get ready for the next night’s activities. They made sure I made it back to the hotel safe and sound, then headed home. For me, it was time for a quick shower, then a few hours of walking around, after which I met Pia and Doug, and we headed back to the Black Rose Bar. Shortly afterwards it was back to Bangla Seafood for another delicious dinner with a different group of Doug’s old friends. We all went back to the bar afterwards for more talk, games, and drinking. (P.S. - if you don’t drink that much, the bar also has coffee and a tasty mix of orange juice.)

Around 10:00 ore so, I said goodbye to everyone at the bar, and headed in the general direction of the hotel. I walked around for a couple of hours, talking to several of the local people on the streets, saying "no thanks" to the many, many bar-girls (and/or ladyboys), all of whom wanted me join them for a drink. I knew by then that the one drink was just a starting point. Sometime around midnight it started raining again, and I headed upstairs to the room for a much-needed night’s sleep.
 

Shopping
Shopping here is fun - there’s a lot to buy, and compared to prices in the USA, everything is VERY inexpensive.  You need to keep in mind what you’re buying though… You can get a Rolex watch for only $20 or so!  ...and you can get the fancy Rolex, the one with diamonds all over, for about ten bucks more!  I’m sure there are slight differences inside from what you buy in the states, but they sure do look like a Rolex!  You can get some super-digital watches that do just about everything a watch could do, for about the same price.  As to prices, I found out something the hard way - never ask for the price of something you want to buy, as the price instantly skyrockets.  Instead, ask for the price of something similar, and after hearing the inflated price, say you don’t want to spend that much. Only then ask for the price of what you really do want, as if it’s a not very appealing alternative.  If you do this, an item that has an "asking price" of 1,500 baht, and is selling for 1,000 baht at the same store, can often be bought for as little as $500 baht.  I bought a watch this way, and went back the next day to get another...   I offered 400 baht, and got it.  Bargaining is not only expected, it’s the "fun" thing to do.  Remember that 100 baht (which seems like a lot to many of these vendors) is really only a two and a half bucks.

Clothing
If you come here to visit you hardly need to bring many clothes - what you can buy on the street is just fine, and for very low prices.   Next time I come, I’ll just bring some traveling clothes.  What you can buy at the local shops is plenty good, comfortable, and will surely last you the duration of your stay, if not much longer. Do bring comfortable shoes. There are many places around to get your laundry done, so that’s not a problem either.

Internet Access
I found that there are many shops in Phuket that offer Internet access.  The best, is "Pizzadelic", where there are several computers to choose from, a scanner, a color printer, and so on.  Most of the time I found access to the USA about as good as from right at home, although when the US Navy came to town, the system got so overloaded that I could rarely access web sites in the USA. If you want to send e-mail to people back home, an almost guaranteed way of getting mail through, even when things are busy, is to use AOL. It’s quick, easy, and but for all the garbage e-mail you constantly get, it’s an excellent service to have.

Weather
During my trip, the weather in Phuket was very consistent - it was always hot and humid, but less so than Miami.  Being the rainy season, it rained several times a day, almost every day, but unlike the USA, it rains here for a little while, then the storm goes away, and it’s nice again.  From my point of view, at this time of year (September and October), the weather is just fine.

Traffic
Traffic in Phuket is pretty wild. For starters, everyone drives on the wrong side of the road (by US standards), and secondly, everyone more or less just "goes", with traffic (autos and pedestrian) somehow merging as if everyone knew in advance what everyone else was going to do.  On many streets there is a painted "center line", but it’s just a guide, really - people drive wherever there’s space for a car or bike to fit in. Even walking across the street can be hard. Eventually I learned that the best way is to just start walking, aiming for gaps between cars, trucks, bikes, and so on, and they just go around you like it’s supposed to be done that way.  During the whole time there, I only got to see two accidents, and neither resulted in anyone getting hurt.

The Thai People
The local people in Phuket are really easy going.  Nothing ever seems rushed, and everything just more or less happens, without it seeming planned out.  If you tell someone you’ll meet them at 6pm, the meeting can happen anywhere between 4 and 8 - nobody seems to follow their watches too closely.  After a week of this, I’m quite used to it too - there’s no setting of alarm clocks, you just wake up when you feel ready to.  If you’re taking part in the night life, you might find yourself going to sleep when the town finally quiets down, which is more or less around sunrise.  While walking around, everyone smiles at you, and you don’t really feel like a "stranger".   Speaking of sunrise, I eventually changed to Doug’s time schedule, which means it’s time to go to bed when the sun starts to rise.  :-)

Parasailing
Parasailing is fun and exciting. You’re strapped very tightly into a harness. The harness is attached to the parasail with several hooks. A rope, several hundred feet long, connects the parasail and harness to a powerful speedboat. When you’re told to GO, you start running towards the speedboat, with your "pilot" running behind you. The speedboat picks up the slack in the rope, you accelerate a bit more, you are lifted off the ground, and the pilot climbs up into the parasail, from where he can control it. As the speedboat accelerates, you soon find yourself a couple of hundred feet up, with a spectacular view of Patong Beach. It might be scary - I don’t know, as I was far too busy taking photographs and enjoying the view. I had a really excellent flight. The speedboat went from one end of the beach to the other, then turned around and headed back to the launching point. The landing was also interesting - the speedboat pulls in near shore, slows down, and the pilot glides in to a landing. The proper procedure is to hit the beach "running". I wasn’t nearly as coordinated as I’d like to have been. :-(

I headed back to the hotel, washed up and showered. The plan for the evening was to go to dinner at a special restaurant over on the other side of the island. Pia, Doug, Doug’s girl friend, Yat, Lei (Yat’s girlfriend), and myself took the half-hour drive. We had a fine dinner of a huge fish and all the trimmings. Lei made sure that everything went well, wiping off the plates and silverware before we ate, explaining to me what to avoid eating, and constantly placing shrimp she had cleaned on my plate. The fish was served "whole". You clean and scale it at the table. The restaurant’s reputation was well deserved - this fish was delicious! One thing I should not mention about dinner… Apparently fish-eyes are a delicacy in Thailand, and after enjoying one of them, Yat gave the other to me, with a big smile on his face. I looked over at Lei, and she was smiling too. Well, why not, I figured. Yes, I ate it. No, never again. Eeyuck! I understand that it is supposed to give you "big power"…. I think Yat was rather surprised that I actually ate it. After dinner, we took a leisurely drive back to Patong Beach, where we cleaned up, eventually heading back to the Black Rose Bar. It was a wonderful evening.

The following day Pia, Doug, Doug’s new girlfriend, and I headed off for Phuket Town in Pia’s car. We stopped at a tire store, where Doug got Pia new tires and alloy racing wheels for her car, and then at a Car Audio Store where Doug got Pia an enhanced sound system. We also stopped at several large stores in Phuket Town, including one large, ten-story apartment store that looked just like one from back home.

On the way back, we visited one of the places I very much wanted to see, the Phuket Country Club, where the 1995 R/C Car World Championships had been held. We searched and searched, but all that remained of the racetrack was the "PCC" sign, sculpted into the lawn, and a weedy, wooded area where the actual track used to be. It’s all gone now, with only the memories remaining. I snapped a few photos anyway. We then returned to Patong Beach, where we had yet another delicious dinner, and then again headed over to the Black Rose Bar.
 

After spending an hour or so at the bar, I again wandered off, to walk around town, taking in the sounds, sights, and smells of Patong Beach. I sat down in front of a bar near the hotel, to relax and watch the world go by. This bar is only half a block from my hotel, and has a combination store/restaurant next to it. It’s not a tourist restaurant - it’s one for the locals to stop at, and get meals that they enjoy eating. One of my favorite pastimes is "People Watching", and people, cars, motorbikes, trucks, busses, tuk-tuks, bicycles and carts were going back and forth, with a never-ending number of people coming and going to the bar and the store next door. Many of them said "Hi" or "Hello". Almost all were curious about where I came from, how long I was staying, and if I liked Thailand. Some spoke a little English, but many did not. Each of them seemed to want to know if I was just going to smile at them and say something brief, or if I would actually want to talk to them for a while. If I kept on talking, they got an even bigger smile on their face, and sat down next to me.

A person who I had earlier seen watching a display TV in a store window came by around midnight. He had one leg, and was watching the world go by. He was trying to sell cigarettes, but wasn’t working very hard at it. We got to talking - he knew a reasonable amount of English, more than enough for me to talk to him pretty easily. His name was Somchai, he was going on 19 years old, and sending the money he earned back to his family in Laos.  He told me a different version of how things worked in Phuket and Patong Beach, as seen from the "street" side, which was not quite the same as the "tourist version". I learned that Somchai lost his leg in a train accident when he was ten years old.  He came to Patong Beach for the same reason many other people do - with the tourist crowd, it's easier to earn money than back at home.  He showed me many of the interesting places around Phuket, and I told him about the USA.

Phi Phi Island
One of the most enjoyable things to do in Phuket is to take the one-day cruise to Phi Phi Island.  A bus picks you up at your hotel early in the morning. It's about an hour drive to the harbor near Phuket City. The trip to Phi Phi Island is a smooth, two-hour cruise, with a beautiful view all the way there. When the boat docks at the island, you get about an hour of free time to wander all over, after which you are served lunch. Then there is another hour or so of free time to wander around. At 1:00 you head back to the docks, where a smaller boat takes you to a scenic cove above a coral reef, where "snorkel gear" is distributed for those who wanted to go swimming. Tropical fish are all over, and came right up to the boat and the swimmers.  This island is one of the most beautiful places in all of Thailand.  The photos I took barely show off the beauty of the place.

Elephant Trekking
Later on, I made arrangements to go off to one of the elephant safari camps. I assumed it would be sort of like in the USA, where you ride the elephant around in a circle a few times, pay the people, then leave.  No way.  I got up on the seat on the elephant, and "To", the fellow who controls the elephant, sat on the elephant’s neck.  He "rode" the elephant for a hundred feet or so, explaining that the elephant’s name was Pokai, and that she was now 31 years old. He rode the elephant to where the road started, then dismounted.  He then walked alongside the elephant, controlling it with a special stick.  The road started to narrow, and also started to climb at a very steep angle.  At this point a Jeep would have trouble going up the road.  Eventually I was sitting on the elephant’s neck, which I found out is not only much more adventurous for me, but easier on the elephant as well.  The elephant has this "ponderous" gait, and its whole body switches from side to side as it walks. It’s hard to maintain your balance, especially so if you’re trying to take photos at the same time. Of course, the elephant has its own mind about what to do, and stops for occasional breaks, using the bathroom, or swishing water (or whatever it is) out its trunk and onto the back of its head. If you’re sitting there, you get wet as well.  Meanwhile, the road turns to a path, then to a trail, and eventually vanishes entirely, changing into pure Tropical Jungle.  The elephant is pretty sure footed, and never slipped - but I was getting a bit nervous.  We climbed up through the jungle to almost the very top of the small mountain we were up against, which gave me some beautiful photographs.  The elephant wasn’t always too pleased about this - it turned to a battle of wills with the elephant’s trainer for a while, but the trainer always won, and the elephant kept going.  We did finally get near the top, then turned to the side and went through some different jungle to eventually get back to the base camp.  By this time I was pretty well worn out, and climbed back into the seat. The seat is less "adventurous", but far more comfortable.

The Snake Farm
After Elephant Trekking, we stopped at the "Snake Farm" where we were treated to a walk-through of the various snakes they have on display. Several of them were taking out of the cages, so we had a better (closer) view of them. Mrs. Long, the operator of the Snake Farm, explained everything to us. We were then treated to the show, where the snake charmer, Mr. Shaki demonstrated how "snake charmers" had gotten that name. Three cobras were placed in a shallow pit with him; we sat around the pit and watched. There were no barriers between the snakes and us, and should we have been stupid enough to get too close, you might not be reading this report. :-)  At the end of the show, Mr. Shaki brought one of the cobras out where we all could hold it, although he kept a tight hold on the snake’s head. Mrs. Long came over pressed on the poison gland on the snake’s head, and "milked out" some of the poison. I asked her if it was dangerous, and she put some on my arm. It felt slimy and sticky, and dried to a milky residue. Mrs. Long assured me that on the surface of the skin, the venom is harmless, but if it were to get into the bloodstream, I’d have about half an hour to live, if not given anti-venom. We asked about the cobras - they are local to the hills of Phuket, but don’t cause problems as they stay away from people. Problems do arise when you’re living in a house up in the hills, where the cobras are likely to come in at night looking for food - eggs, whatever. If you’re walking around and don’t see the snake, and step on it - it’s light’s out, for good.

Doug’s Birthday
September 28^th was Doug’s birthday, and Pia was planning on going all out to have a party that we would never forget.
 

Around 8:30 or so, we headed off to the Black Rose Bar. Wow! We found the bar all decorated with balloons and stuff, tables of food, and on one special table, a whole pig (big!) all cooked. After many rounds of drinks, a fellow who was there for the occasion first decapitated the pig, and then started to change it into ribs, suitable for eating. We feasted.

As the evening went on, more and more people showed up, and the festivities accelerated. There was drinking, partying, toasts, eating, and more drinking. The crowd grew and grew, with Doug very much being the center of everyone’s attention. At times Doug found himself with up to four different drinks in front of him, that people had bought him. He could barely keep up.  Meanwhile, so many people had shown up that that the party grew to include much of the space in the road before the bar. There was drinking, partying, toasts, more drinking, lots of good fun, picture taking, video filming, more drinking, and so on. I did my best to try to show this in the pictures, but I really wished I had a better camera.

Around 11:30 Pia brought out a birthday cake and lit the candles. We sang Happy Birthday after which Doug blew out the candles, surrounded by Pia, his friends, the bar people, and I don’t know how many of the prettiest girls in Phuket. A bottle of Champaign was presented to Doug, who opened it and then sprayed everyone close to him with bubbly! Doug then "Rang the Bell". (This means he rang a small bell which hangs near the bar - ringing the bell means you are buying everyone at the bar another round of drinks! I think that by the time the evening ended, Doug had done this over a dozen times! I did it once, when the party was first starting - that one time cost me 1500 baht.)
 
 

Photographs
One of my many hobbies is photography, and during this trip I used about 15 rolls of 36-exposure film. I didn’t want to bring my big, heavy Nikon, so I instead took a bare-bones inexpensive camera, a small automatic Ricoh, with automatic flash. I found that one of the BEST things you can do to thank local people you meet, is to take their photograph, giving them a copy of the photo. This was true every place I went - the Elephant Safari, the Snake Farm, the Black Rose Bar, the local restaurants, and even kidding around with the local people out on the street and in the restaurants. Giving people a photo you took of them, or better yet, one you had someone take of you with them, was VERY much appreciated! I guess I went a little overboard about this - but it gave me just as warm a feeling seeing them so happy getting the photographs, as it must have been for them getting a quite unexpected present that they could take home and keep. I’ll do this again next time, but with a better camera.

I really didn’t want to leave. I hate saying "goodbye". I’ll miss the folks at the Black Rose Bar, but I know that I’ll get to see them again.

I spoke to Doug about my feeling sad about leaving - as he put it, why should you be sad you’re leaving? Having had a wonderful time, with people you enjoy being with, getting relaxed, having your batteries re-charged, and feeling really great, one should be feeling GOOD about how wonderful a trip it was, rather than bad that it’s over. I thought about this a bit. After realizing that it’s not really "good bye", but rather "see you soon", it doesn’t feel as bad. I did have a wonderful, thrilling, exciting, thoroughly enjoyable vacation. I went places I never knew of, did things I never expected to do, met some wonderful people, and undoubtedly had the best "vacation" I’ve ever had!