The Leader of the Pack (Vroom, Vroom)

I think it's seriously, seriously funny how when you first arrive in Asia, you're so overly cautious about everything. You worry about weather the fruit at breakfast is safe, you scrutinize every water bottle (sure, it's bottled, but is it the right kind of bottled?), you avoid touching potentially-rabid stray dogs and ordering any drinks with ice cubes in them. And that all lasts about 3.7 days and the next thing you know you're provoking likely-rabid monkeys, climbing treacherous cliffs and jumping off them, and popping wheelies on uninsured mopeds. OK, that's a lie, I never popped any wheelies, but Blair, Ange and I did rent mopeds with no collision or third-party insurance (and that's why I don't tell you about these things until after I do them, Doug and Lucy) and drove them around Phuket for several hours over two days. Patong Beach on Phuket is exactly the kind of place you want to leave pretty much the moment you arrive, and on Phuket, apparently $6.00 Canadian buys freedom.

It was a pretty terrific day, heading up North to try to find a beach where sea turtles are supposed to lay their eggs at this time of year. We may or may not have found the beach and we never found the turtles, but it was a fantastic day nonetheless, cruising along the coast and through little Thai towns where there were no tourists in sight (and if you have seen Patong, you know why that was incredibly refreshing). We did find a beach where there was no one in sight for kilometers, save lots and lots of hermit crabs.

There were definitely some incidents of confusion over which side of the road to drive on and of being in situations where strange Thai traffic rules were a complete mystery to us. At one point, I found myself in the middle of an intersection with cars waiting to turn in all directions, and I had no idea who had the "right of way", which is a bit of a foreign concept to Thai people...so I once again set women back 30 years and pulled out that winsome facial expression combining helplessness and sheepishness that always gets me out of speeding tickets--knock on wood--and the Thai motorists all laughed and waved me through. There were definitely a couple incidents where my life flashed before my eyes a bit, and in retrospect the idea of driving a vehicle with no protection for yourself or others is a little dodgy, but I'm glad we did it.

What's the worst that can happen, right?