Phuket 30 May

Yesterday we went to Patong beach the road is not as good as some of the others and the drifts of sand that collect at the heat frayed lips of road where the tarmac disolves into rubble add to the sense of peril, I really hate those Thai guys who with no shirt or helmet blat on past (on the inside) at tremendous speeds, I guess they are hoping to die before they get old (I'm guessing I missed that boat already).

It was nice to have a swim about but the water is too full of jet skis and speed boats pulling along those paragliders. The paragliding experience costs 700 bhat for a 5 minute circuit of the bay, the tourist is wearing a life jacket and strapped into a safety harness but as the parachute lifts off the ground some Thai guy swings himself with agile ease into the strings of the chute and pulls the strings to direct it around the prescribed circuit to the left and then away from the trees on landing, it reminds me of nothing more than having a monkey on your back, I can't imagine it being an enjoyable experience, I eschewed.

We stayed into the evening and went to Soi Sea dragon and some of the other brightly lit streets that run back from Patong, we were too early in the evening really, the bars were full of girls playing connect four with each other or the odd farang, there is an air of expectation, some of the girls indulge in wriggling and writhing on the poles and platforms set up outside or on the roofs of the discotheques, many of them have no sense of rhythm (Whoever said white people can't dance has obviously never been to Thailand) and their seductive dances are exaggerated to the extent where they become a parody of sexuality, a farcical dance of sad desperation, just as weird in many ways (too me) are the tourists who bring their children into the street, they must realise what these kids are going to see by being here, I guess the Europeans have always been a lot more open about such things than the conservative mores the English (and subsequently those of her colonies) were brought up with.

Got busted by the cops on the way back for not having a drivers licence on me, they are in cahoots with the taxi mafia, Phuket is really organised to fleece the tourist every which way, it annoys me sometimes, maybe enough to make me glad when my contract ends in March, anyway time to go do some shopping.

Later guys, love N.J.