Oh, It's Kind of Like Home...On Acid

We have now visited a variety of large stores here in Phuket that are comparable to America's Walmart and we also found the Thai version of a mall.  At first glance, there is very little that stands out.  It doesn't take long though for your mind to catch up and then it goes on a magical ride.  Though i've never dabbled in acid myself, I can't help but wonder if a day in one of these stores isn't comparable to the drug induced high one experiences whilst tripping.   

We hit The Big C first thing Saturday morning.  No, we do not know what the C stands for because the store is only called "The Big C."  They are everywhere.  They have everything.  This is our mecca.  We started here in our search for help with our phones.  After unsuccessfully managing the international sim card change, we were desperate to find someone with knowledge and a little bit of a handle on the English language.  What we found first was a very young girl who tried her hardest to help and then directed us to the mall.  Before we left, we picked up a few things though.  It was in this moment that both of us realized all of the money, time, and space we used on medicines, toiletries, and any other bathroom/personal necessities was a WASTE.  You name it, they got it.  Make sure you don't pick up face wash or face lotion with whitening agents.  Here in Thailand, we have discovered, lightening the skin is popular.  I think we've got that covered...

On to the mall, Central Festival, affectionately renamed by Carey and myself as "The Fest."  The usual suspects can be found here: packs of tweens giggling/flirting/gossiping abound, families with small children darting away from parents or throwing tantrums, and those people handing out samples and brochures at every turn.  The large intersection outside of The Fest, obviously, is The Fest Intersection.  

We have given special names to several major roads and intersections because we can't read 90% of the street signs and much of the time there are no street signs at all.  We find things via landmarks, much like the south, "Just head down that road that runs by the K-Mart, take the fourth turn at the abandoned mobile home, and its down there on your left just next to the cow field.  The house has a red door and there's no more mailbox.  If you get to the river, you done gone too far.  Turn around."  In the mall we found a section for mobile phones much like the jewelry and watch section in a department store, only every kind of phone cover, accessory, and gadget you can think to need.  We spent a lot of time waiting.  Just waiting for someone to show up who might be able to help us.  After waiting for close to 30 minutes we were asked to return in 20 minutes.  This required lots of pointing at numbers on watches.  Time to kill meant time to eat.

Carey read at some point that the mall had an awesome food court.  Any kind of Asian cuisine you can think of could be found here amongst all of the other foods we had never seen.  We picked out some traditional Thai noodle dishes and chased them with fresh fruit smoothies.  It was all delicious and we will definitely take advantage of this food court in the future.  Now that we know you pay up front on a card and get your napkins at their 'front desk,' we almost feel like pros.  Once we find some Thai friends, we'll be set.  Go ahead and google fish balls.

We returned to the phone counter and found a young Thai man with his giant Apple computer and three laptops.  It wasn't long before he explained we would need to leave our phones with him so he could get everything set up for us.  They are all your's, sir.  We were off to drive around the island and figure out where we really wanted to try and find jobs and live.  "Maybe your phone will be ready in one our, maybe one day.  I will call you?"  Umm, email would be better, we don't have phones.  Right.

Phuket is wonderfully diverse.  The coast is unbelievably beautiful.  The water, colors of blue that i've never seen in my life, stretching so far that it seems to just go on forever.  Lush green islands pop up in a variety of sizes and you can't help but wonder what is hidden amongst the trees, within those tiny lands, beyond the reach of your eye.  Along the west coast there is no shortage of resort spas.  The signs at the end of their driveways are all that you can see for most of them and then there are others perched on hills and built into the land that you spot from below far before you come upon them.  Once we find jobs, we are planning to spend a day or weekend at one of these fancy spots.  It must be sacrilegious not to partake.  There is an equal amount of poverty that can be found if you take any time to leave the comforts of the west coast.  Sheds and shanties house plastic chairs with three legs, laundry hangs from pole to tree, and because there are no beds, it can only be assumed that these residents sleep on their ground.  Huge mounds of debris exist at the bottom of the west coast hills.  We assume this is what was left behind by the last tsunami.  The shanties are what must have been rebuilt by the native people afterward.  How lucky we are to have come from safe, comfortable homes, to have received educations, to be in chosen professions, to have the ability to up and move to another country.  It was a day of perspective.  

In the end we confirmed that the southeastern end of the island is the best for us.  We got our phones set up and were able to pick them up that day.  We learned our way around and saw more of our new home.  I believe I speak for us both when I say that ultimately, things feel a little more familiar and a little less overwhelming.  We capped our day off with an awesome dinner and a few cold beers at a tiny outdoor restaurant at the top of our street.  The people working there were lovely, there were several groups of locals sharing dishes, laughing and taking their time enjoying one another's company and we had some four legged visitors throughout our meal.  It didn't even rain once.  Life is good.