Canadian Chopper...well..more like scotter....-Phuket Jan 1st
Phuket, out of all the places that we've travelled to so far, is a bit pricey and it's noticeable by the people (travellers) that walk down the street and by the amount that the locals are willing to barter.
Dan and I, feeling like we're old hands at the bartering, helped Arnie get his first taste of shopping for serious knock-off goods; namely watches and glasses. We walked by one guys shop and Arnie goes "I'd love to have an Omega like the one in James Bond". "No problem Arn", I said as the shop owner approched. "You got Omega, the good ones?", I asked. "Yes, follow me", and we walked to a back room to see the 'merchandice'. Arnie was like "where we going??". We just kept walking and he laughed his ass off when we entered the room. "This is how it goes bro...pick out what you want". He never did buy the watch (costs too much here) but he's in for a treat when we hit Bangkok. The locals won't deal here because they know that at least one of the visitors in Phuket (older crowd that don't haggle; they just hand their money over) will pay what they want. One things for sure, Arnie better not buy a Bulgari exactly like mine 'cause that would just kill me...I bought the real deal years ago and it would bug me to no end if he picked up something similar for $35.
Today was a good day! The first day since we arrived that I rented a bike (really a scooter). It was also my first time, essentially, that I've ridden a motorized 2-wheeler on the road. In no time at all, all three of us we were tearing down the high-ways on our bikes at 60-100km. I always used to ignore Hartzells stories at work about him on his motorbike..."this one time, on my motorbike....". Yeah ok Hartzell, shut up! I now am starting to understand what he meant about driving behind a big truck, pulling around someone, and then driving in front of a big truck. Trucks suck!
It was a fun day though...we tooled around and went to a national park here that has a Gibbons sanctuary. Gibbons, apparently, are the closest apes to humans in the evoluntionary chart. This is according to our resident scientist Dan. It was a funny conversation with him when we talked about going to see them:
Harvey: "Hey Dan, we going to go see the monkies today?"
Dan: "They're not monkeys, they're apes! Do you know why they are apes Harv?"
Harvey: "...no Dan, why are they apes and not monkies??"
Dan: "Because they have vestigial tails. Do you know what a vestigial tail is?"
Harvey: shaking my head..."no Dan, what is a vestigial tail?"
Dan: "It's a genetic holdover...their tails are disappearing...monkies have prehensile tails."
Harvey: "You're a nerd!"
Dan: "You're a Neanderthal!!"
Harvey: "Hey Dan...you know what a genetic holdover is??...it's a vestigial"
Dan: Dan just sat there with his patented shaking of his head and rolling of his eyes....if you know Dan, you know the look....
hahaha...I adlibbed a bit....the conversation didn't really go like that but was pretty darn close....
After all that, I think I'm going to try going for a motorcycles license this summer...it could be fun. I enjoyed tooling around on that bike today so who knows.
We never made it Patong yesterday night though we did drive through it today. Kind of a big area, lots of bikes and shops and stuff. Lots of old guys with the young Thai women too! Kata beach, which we just tried out booking first, turned out to be the nicest area in my book. Just the right amount of 'busy', not as sleezy as or overly crazy as Patong, and way cleaner and more amenities than 3rd beach (can't remember the name for the life of me - I'll update later) where we were thinking of staying.
Well, I better head off. It's 7pm and gotta meet the guys for dinner....tonnes of good eats around here....
Harvey
Dan and I, feeling like we're old hands at the bartering, helped Arnie get his first taste of shopping for serious knock-off goods; namely watches and glasses. We walked by one guys shop and Arnie goes "I'd love to have an Omega like the one in James Bond". "No problem Arn", I said as the shop owner approched. "You got Omega, the good ones?", I asked. "Yes, follow me", and we walked to a back room to see the 'merchandice'. Arnie was like "where we going??". We just kept walking and he laughed his ass off when we entered the room. "This is how it goes bro...pick out what you want". He never did buy the watch (costs too much here) but he's in for a treat when we hit Bangkok. The locals won't deal here because they know that at least one of the visitors in Phuket (older crowd that don't haggle; they just hand their money over) will pay what they want. One things for sure, Arnie better not buy a Bulgari exactly like mine 'cause that would just kill me...I bought the real deal years ago and it would bug me to no end if he picked up something similar for $35.
Today was a good day! The first day since we arrived that I rented a bike (really a scooter). It was also my first time, essentially, that I've ridden a motorized 2-wheeler on the road. In no time at all, all three of us we were tearing down the high-ways on our bikes at 60-100km. I always used to ignore Hartzells stories at work about him on his motorbike..."this one time, on my motorbike....". Yeah ok Hartzell, shut up! I now am starting to understand what he meant about driving behind a big truck, pulling around someone, and then driving in front of a big truck. Trucks suck!
It was a fun day though...we tooled around and went to a national park here that has a Gibbons sanctuary. Gibbons, apparently, are the closest apes to humans in the evoluntionary chart. This is according to our resident scientist Dan. It was a funny conversation with him when we talked about going to see them:
Harvey: "Hey Dan, we going to go see the monkies today?"
Dan: "They're not monkeys, they're apes! Do you know why they are apes Harv?"
Harvey: "
Dan: "Because they have vestigial tails. Do you know what a vestigial tail is?"
Harvey: shaking my head..."no Dan, what is a vestigial tail?"
Dan: "It's a genetic holdover...their tails are disappearing...monkies have prehensile tails."
Harvey: "You're a nerd!"
Dan: "You're a Neanderthal!!"
Harvey: "Hey Dan...you know what a genetic holdover is??...it's a vestigial"
Dan: Dan just sat there with his patented shaking of his head and rolling of his eyes....if you know Dan, you know the look....
hahaha...I adlibbed a bit....the conversation didn't really go like that but was pretty darn close....
After all that, I think I'm going to try going for a motorcycles license this summer...it could be fun. I enjoyed tooling around on that bike today so who knows.
We never made it Patong yesterday night though we did drive through it today. Kind of a big area, lots of bikes and shops and stuff. Lots of old guys with the young Thai women too! Kata beach, which we just tried out booking first, turned out to be the nicest area in my book. Just the right amount of 'busy', not as sleezy as or overly crazy as Patong, and way cleaner and more amenities than 3rd beach (can't remember the name for the life of me - I'll update later) where we were thinking of staying.
Well, I better head off. It's 7pm and gotta meet the guys for dinner....tonnes of good eats around here....
Harvey
posted by Harvey at
4:00 AM
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