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Thailand/Narathiwat Round the world trip 2007
7/29 Armed police escorted us for 20-30km out of Pattani. The day was hot, humid and both Art and I struggled with sore bottoms; Judee with a cold and sore throat. We saw prawn/shrimp arms and scenery water-logged by last night’s storm .
We have to get use to the Thai roadway systems. Often a turn is marked but blocked by the divided highway. Instead of placing a break and turn, the traffic is directed to several U turns in order to allow those wishing to take the road a place to turn around and access it. Motorcycles and even a few cars anticipate the turn and will change to the other side of the divided highway, driving against traffic to make the turn. We didn’t understand the concept when we missed one turn and ended up going on a bypass around the city we were trying to get to. Asking for directions using our map is worthless. As we learned, it is because our map is written with English characters. Main roads and tourist attractions are signed both in Thai with English characters below, but the Thai’s don’t read English. I try to read the Thai letters by matching them to my map, but I can’t seem to make out the words. Could the Thai letters be like English letters, where there are different type styles, like Times Roman, Courier, or Old English? If so, I will never be able to read Thai letters. We are reminded of our friends, the Bockmans, who arrived in Greece. Joann climbed behind the driver’s wheel and Carl opened the map. “Great! It is in English!” Until they drove out of the airport and were confronted with road signs all in Greek Characters.
By the time (101km) we got to Sangkhla, we were both ready to shower and nap! We checked into a five star resort hotel with every amenity possible for $43US including breakfast. We are going to stay a day or two, enjoy the pool and rest a bit before pushing on. The sea views are superb from our 6th floor room: decadence at such a decent price. East, drink swim, read and stroll the beach. A slow day in the Thai sun and fun. Hotel resort kick back!
August 05 Thailand Weltreise 2007 >
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July 28 Thailand/Pattani Weltreise 2007
We have to get use to the Thai roadway systems. Often a turn is marked but blocked by the divided highway. Instead of placing a break and turn, the traffic is directed to several U turns in order to allow those wishing to take the road a place to turn around and access it. Motorcycles and even a few cars anticipate the turn and will change to the other side of the divided highway, driving against traffic to make the turn. We didn’t understand the concept when we missed one turn and ended up going on a bypass around the city we were trying to get to. Asking for directions using our map is worthless. As we learned, it is because our map is written with English characters. Main roads and tourist attractions are signed both in Thai with English characters below, but the Thai’s don’t read English. I try to read the Thai letters by matching them to my map, but I can’t seem to make out the words. Could the Thai letters be like English letters, where there are different type styles, like Times Roman, Courier, or Old English? If so, I will never be able to read Thai letters. We are reminded of our friends, the Bockmans, who arrived in Greece. Joann climbed behind the driver’s wheel and Carl opened the map. “Great! It is in English!” Until they drove out of the airport and were confronted with road signs all in Greek Characters.
By the time (101km) we got to Sangkhla, we were both ready to shower and nap! We checked into a five star resort hotel with every amenity possible for $43US including breakfast. We are going to stay a day or two, enjoy the pool and rest a bit before pushing on. The sea views are superb from our 6th floor room: decadence at such a decent price. East, drink swim, read and stroll the beach. A slow day in the Thai sun and fun. Hotel resort kick back!
