A SIM card, a seafood dish and a humid summery night marked our arrival in Phuket. The next morning started with a swim and a second forray to street restaurants. We’ll have what they are having, we told ma, plus an omelet to be safe.  A stroll around the area revealed coffee shops, construction of a fancy charter flights terminal, and a vendor driving with literally a pig’s face on offer.

We were suppose to be off to a remote island, but we read it might rain and read a review of a fellow traveller having to wade with their bag through the mangroves; suddenly we were rebooked to Khao Lak whose past weather made it famous as the tsunami survival town.

Turns out Thais drive on the left, which I associate with having been colonized. But this kingdom has its own ways, its own king and his picture around to prove it.  We arrived in the middle of the three Khao Lak towns to a lovely auntie with a warm manner to match the warm day.  Her inn has been here 4 years, the tsunami was here 10 years ago, and aside from the tsunami warning signs, I’m not sure I would have known.  An English newspaper had an article on how the tsunami warning app is still only available in Thai, which I relayed to T as his potential volunteer project.  I still had questions about how the large trees survived, whether there was a Thai FEMA that facilitated the regrowth and how locals viewed their present safety.  But I always have questions.

T had answered his own with the help of his friend Google. Apparently, the prophet Mohammed deemed dogs unclean and those who touch them as needing to wash seven times, which was why we enjoyed cats’ company in Dubai.  However Buddha seems to have no such concerns, and T walked with some vaccination confidence as dogs followed, including a mom with 5 pups.

I will leave out beach details today out of respect for the readers in the deep freeze!