Glimpses of the pearl of the Andaman

I visited Thailand in October 2015. It was a badly needed holiday. I spent most of my time in Phuket.

Some of the subsequent photographs may give you the impression that Phuket consists only of electric poles or I have a fascination with electric poles. The former is not the case and I am fascinated by technology which is significantly more than electric poles. Electric poles formed interesting shapes as I zoomed past them in a rented mini van.

As for the rest of the images on this blog, I took them while wearing the the vOICe. I was using a prototype of the vOICe rendered on the raspberry pi. See After-sight unit 1 for details.

Finally, thanks to my cousins Janak and Suhani for a fantastic holiday and image descriptions

These images relate to the Big Buddha.One warning, be careful around the base of the temple as there are several dogs in the vvasinity. They did not appear to be aggressive when I was there but there were enough of them to make me uneasy. They were everywhere especially where you have to take off your shoes. In addition, if you have sensitive ears, be warned about the fireworks that are let off every evening or so I am told< Electric poles with wires, and on the right side, a white sign with red lettering and a big red arrow pointing to the left. The arrow says Big Buddha.[/caption]

The approach to the Big Buddha shrine. Red and white barricades, a road, and trees. On the left, you can see a red arrow with white lettering (in Thai).

The parking lot (on the left). A clump of trees on the right. — A view of the parking lot (on the left). A clump of trees on the right.

View of the hills from a vantage point near the entrance of the Big Buddha structure.

Paved floor below the vantage point — View of the paved floor directly beneath the vantage point.

We now come to the beech. Phuket is crowded and you should read the tourist literature before venturing on to them. To paraphrase the literature, keep your sense of humor handy. We will start with some street scenes.

Electric pole on street corner with parked cars and an old building — Phuket street corner with an electric poll. Part of the street and parked cars are visible on the left. View of an old building with a protruding thatched roof above the sidewalk on the right side of the photo.

Electric pole with wires running across the middle of the photo. Sky in the background and a low building in

The front part of a white truck. Clouds and electricity poles and wires in the background.

The front of a seafood restaurant in Phuket. Seafood displayed on ice. The signs say “rock lobster,” “fish” and “phuket lobster.” A water tank with large fish is visible behind the seafood display.

We ran the gontlet of Bangla Road and emerged in an oasis of calm namely the Wine Connection. The thing with Bangla road is to keep moving. Show that you have a purpose and maintain high situational awareness. This is difficult to do due to the cacophony created by all the outside bars and restaurants. No taking pictures unless you are prepared to be propositioned. This is one place where the crowd will not leave you alone.