I'm not trying to brag but I have a tremendous amount of freedom in my life. I can travel any time that I want to really, yet for the most part I choose not to. This isn't because I don't like excitement I just feel like a lot of the world or at least that parts of it that I have access to, no matter where you go most things are going to incorporate a lot of hassle to get anything done. I think that this is particularly evident in where I am visiting my friend in Phuket, Thailand.
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I recall that it was kind of like this back when I lived here around a decade ago but now, I can say with absolute certainty that it is much worse. There are far more people here than the roads can possibly accommodate and due to poor planning or perhaps because they were kind of overwhelmed at how quickly the popularity of this island absolutely blew up, the roads are highly inadequate for the level of people that live, work, and visit here.
I am here to visit my friend so obviously he wants to take me to do some stuff which of course I am happy to do. The problem is that no matter where we go it is likely going to take an hour in the car in order to make it happen. If we are going somewhere nearby it isn't so bad because the motorbikes can zip through traffic but if you are in a car? Well, you are going to have a bad time.
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Phuket is a relatively large island but the problem here is that almost all of the land is already used. We can sit here and complain about how "they need to build more roads" but honestly, where are they going to put them? Unless they were to take away people's property in long stretches of paths, there isn't anywhere to put roads anymore. They have already used everything that there is. Some of the more wealthy people that live here that are near the water take speedboat taxis to get from one end of the island to the other because going by road, ANY ROAD, is going to take forever.
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Nowhere is this most evident than a point in the south called Chalong where 5 different busy roads all convene on a single traffic circle. The above image was either doctored or taken with a drone during Covid because I can assure you, it doesn't ever look like that in the daytime. You have no choice but to use it as well because all the other possible shortcuts are occupied by properties.
The day before yesterday we were stuck in line at this traffic circle for at least 20 minutes as the traffic police have to get involved to do their best to keep things moving. It simply isn't possible and whoever's idea it was to have a traffic circle like this where 5 major roads all convene... that was a really dumb idea. There is no possible way to avoid it and if you are going anywhere you must go through here.
There are a lot of really nice beaches here in Phuket but if you want to go from one to another go ahead and get strapped in and prepared to be in the car for a long time. Public transport is almost non-existent and there is no mass transit of any sort. years ago they spoke of installing a light rail system here but once again, the question of "where the hell are you going to build it?" came up. I suppose they could build some sort of sky tram but even that would involve massive pylons that would have to be built on someone's land.
I sometimes complain about how there are too many people in Da Nang, Vietnam, which is where I live but at least in Da Nang they seem to have gotten ahead of the traffic demands that were eventually going to come. Here in Phuket it seems as though almost all traffic "solutions" were created after the fact and it was already too late at that point.
I guess you could say that visiting here has given me a new appreciation for Da Nang because even though there are over a million people living there, the roads are very good and aplenty. Here in Phuket however, the population continues to grow year by year and honestly, I don't think there is any possible solution.
I return to Da Nang tomorrow and although it has been nice visiting my oldest friend I have in SE Asia, I am ready for it to be over. Today he is at work and left me the keys to a motorbike but I have no intention of actually going anywhere. I just can't deal with that level of extreme hassle that is around every single corner here.