On the bike

Went for my second ride in Phuket today. The words chaos and carnage come to mind. There are no give way signs or lights, just watch out. Seems to work tho.

I started on the western side of the island and it was great, narrow roads winding up and down into and out of the bays. Its like being in the Able Tasman only roads and houses. The roads are really steep tho and at times my back tyre was slipping.

You can't ride that far as it is hot and tiring. Just like in NZ any other rider wants to say hello is a form of camaraderie. The other traffic is vary courteous and it is generally best not to look behind as it unbalances you and gives the wrong impression for traffic approaching from behind. Straight lines and go with the flow.

After about 15Km I hit the south end of the island and went across to the east coast. There is one major highway going north south on the east coast. It has three lanes each way. Two for cars and the third for motor bikes. Sounds great until you have cars and buses parked on the third lane and motorbikes going the wrong way.

I turned on it and looked up the long straight road. Nuts and chaos is all I could think and see. A sea of craziness. I took a deep breath and carried on. Generally not bad and I cruised along with the motorbikes. Never really feeling safe enough to go really fast but 26Km/hrs seems to work.

Then I came across a school. Kids, motorbikes, police signalling, cars turning in all directions. the traffic slowed the further north I went. Eventually I found the main road crossing back over the hills to the east coast. Soon the traffic decreases slightly and things are great again. I slug it up the hill and cruised down to more familiar roads and bays.

I think I will stay on the East coast from now on. Beautiful scenery and friendly people. The amazing thing is that you can look back across where you have just come from and it look like it's all bush. They have a few major roads and everything is crammed on them shops, houses, resorts and everything else you could think of, with very few minor roads.

Henry

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