First we went to Thailand. We left San Francisco Airport on December 11th 1985 on our way first to Japan and then Thailand. In Thailand we flew to Bangkok where we stayed in Sweety's Guest house there on their top floor. Fans spun all night because even in December it is still very hot there. There was a miniature Thai Buddhist Pagoda on that floor on a balcony that was beautiful.
It was sort of quiet at night and we arrived at 1 AM at Sweety's Guest House from the Airport. The Taxis drove us across town to Sweety's at around 90 mph for some reason. not sure why this speed.
We woke up to thousands of cars and trucks and motorcycles without mufflers the next morning around 6 am which was deafening. We could not believe the brown air from all the exhaust from diesel and gasoline engine vehicles. We had never seen the Tuk Tuks or three wheeled scooters for transporting people and goods before this moment in real life. Also, glass bottles were expensive so if you bought a soft drink at this time they poured the drink from the bottle into a plastic bag and gave you a straw to drink it. Very strange experience!
After a few days of Bangkok and the cacophony of no mufflers we sort of felt like we were going deaf like most people in Bangkok then and so we took a bus to visit an Island nearby off the coast called Koi Samed island near Bangkok. On the way to the boat that would take us to Koi Samed Island we saw two men on a motorcycle carrying lumber on one shoulder driving down the freeway. This seemed perfectly normal to them but seemed really dangerous to us from America. But, people died a lot there when we were there too. Life seemed really cheap in some ways there in Asia many times. Like for example, the girls who were sold to hotels to be lovers and caregivers for men from all over the world. In other words you could rent a young beautiful woman to take care of you like she was your wife for a month or more and many younger and older men did this from all over the world then at that time. Very Strange also for an American to see this.
On Koi Samed Island we rented Masks and Snorkels and at one point I rented a wind surfer with a sail. (basically a surf board you stand on while holding a sail in the ocean there.
They told us when we rented the Masks and snorkels about the poisonous sea snakes which are little green snakes to watch out for and to watch out for giant clams that if we stuck our hands or feet into them likely we would drown as the tides rose. They also told us to watch out for poisonous rock fish that if we stepped on them we might die or temporarily be paralyzed from the sting of the spines on their backs. We saw all three of these things in the ocean off of Koi Samed Island so we all had to be very careful to survive snorkeling there at that time in December of 1985. We had hired Nairosee from Southern Thailand who had studied English and Arabic so he was conversant in English. He traveled with us to Koi Samed Island to bargain for us and to stay with us because almost no one spoke English at that time in Thailand while we were there. Or if they did they didn't want to talk to us in English because they were embarrassed that their accent was not good. There is this embarrassment factor in many Asians (except for Indians) regarding speaking English with English Speakers. At least this was true in 1985 and 1986. Many things could have changed by now here in 2024.
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