PJ in Thailand?!

speed_lsd

     To avoid any misinterpretation, this isn’t some information on an east-Asian concert tour Pearl Jam is planning but a simple “found object” piece.

     We were spreading our diseased minds across Thailand last summer, which is a country I definitely recommend for anyone with a little ethnic tolerance, going just about anyplace we thought would satisfy our strive for cultural shock. Next on our list was Phuket bay, a well known –more family than party goer– tourist spot in the south-west, though not as famous as Koh Samui or Phangan; notorious for its monthly full moon party.

     Our resources being limited to those of any student earning, we roamed as cheaply as possible, sometimes driving us straight into the boondocks, warranted to bore the cr*p out of most people I know. But as things were, we had two months to get the best out of Thailand and didn’t fuss on these one-day pit stops as long as they helped us out with our economy and gave us an accurate narrative of the typical Thai lifestyle. Phuket town was one of them, and, if you ever decide on visiting it, which I really do not particularly recommend, it holds a pretty good jazz spot (because we all need to appreciate good tunes and Jazz is a rarity within Thai music) and a small hamburger parlor owned by some Steven Spielberg look-a-like English settler; for those of us who miss good old occidental food (which is doubtlessly prone to happen sometime during a prolonged stay).

     After having checked into a gloomy prison-like hotel/guesthouse for about $3.50, we amused ourselves by pretending to be inmates of this facility and then ambulated around the town. A few paces beyond and over one of many bridges, I spotted a small commerce, most striking for its bright colors, scarce around the area.

Click here to see Thai Pearl Jam shop!

     Unfortunately, I did not talk with its owner though can report that when opened, its main dealing was in women’s shoes. I do not really expect this store was named after the group itself and have no clue as to what meaning lies behind its baptism but seeing the sign, and, being an enormous fan, I automatically gave notion to some bizarre coincidence in my own mind.

     If anyone is at all interested in possessing the original 1MB photo, they may wish to Email me and I will be more than happy to send it. Furthermore if anyone has the luck of visiting Thailand, they may also wish to write me for information especially relating to places and tips (watch out for those scams!).

So stay cool; peace, tolerance, and solidarity for 2004!
Don’t forget to spend some of that extra $ on humanity: UNICEF or AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

- Jeremy B.

P.S. Sorry, I would have loved to embed the image; unfortunately the forum wouldn't allow it. :-(

who@ukfu.info

mulac

thats pretty cool

me and my sister went to Phuket when i was 14 and she was 19 and it was pretty bloody scary. but really good fun all the same

never came across any pearl jam though

speed_lsd

    What was so scary 'bout Phuket?

    Two scary things happened to me in Thailand:

    Firstly, when I tried to get some dope in Chang Mai. Woah! Now the tuk-tuk driver was totally flipping out as he drove us through the town to some lost and dark place to meet the dealer! It was like he'd cr*p in his pants! The closer we got, the more nervous he got and the more tensed he made us become. When we got the dope and he had driven us to some back alley, he looked around as if someone were gonna kill him and told us to get out of the tuk-tuk. We did and he sped off, leaving us to walk back by ourselves, without a clue where we were. (B.t.w. watch out for the dope scam; check the quality before buying and DON'T, that's DON'T, go after the guy if you fell into the trap)

    Secondly, in Bangkok. It was raining stones, as usual in August, and my friends and I took cover under a bridge, where a bunch of homeless were lying on rugs. One of them started to talk to me and I enjoyed the conversation, though his wife seemed to despise me from the beginning, telling me to; "go!". A Thai cop, who also waited for better weather, joined the conversation and we merrily chatted (though neither side understood half of it) for five minutes despite the wife. Suddenly, the guy grabbed a gun he had hidden under a bag as the policeman's temper immediately changed. He told me to run off and get out of there so I turned to my friends, who hadn't seen the weapon, and told 'em we had to leave. My friend said, "You're crazy, man! It's still raining!" That is, until I hinted to him the gun and he looked over to see it. Then we hit the dirt under the rain. Weird thing is that during the whole time the cop, did nothing to calm the homeless or tell him to put the gun away, just simply told us, "you have to go now.".

Note: Most Thais will not get violent; they're very tolerant and calm. The most problems I saw, occured with drunken tourists; especially English! (no prejudice here, only own experience)

mulac

Originally posted by speed_lsd
[B he looked around as if someone were gonna kill him [/B]

knowing their drug laws he was probably right.

when i went i was only 14 and my sister 19 and a lot of people had a lot of trouble dealing with it. in indonesia in particular my sister was told to cover up (she was wearing normal clothes, they wanted her to be head to toe) over and over and asked why she was allowed to take care of me. change in culture i suppose


at 14 i found it scary getting in a tuk tuk, especially when we came to this 3 way junction where there was a total bottle neck, someone. it was one road forking into 2 and people had all driven into the middle blocking everyone else because it had no line markings and there is no official side of the road to drive on in phuket. we sat there for about an hour before some policeman came along and made everyone reverse


but by far the scariest thing was the lady boys, they all looked like women and were very convincing. i saw so many western tourists getting in tuk tuks with them thinking they were women.


but yeah. avoid drunken english tourists at all costs.

speed_lsd

Oh! The lady butterflies, right!
Better watch out for those. I heard a story of someone who actually went to bed with one and still didn't find out until the morning that she was a he?!

If PJ goes to Thailand, they should definitely go get their picture taken in front of that store though. They should have a concert in Bangkok, hell I'd go!