Drive across the island

Here are some more details about what we saw on Monday, the day of our all-day excursion. We got up early and left the hotel by van 10 minutes or so after 7 a.m. Our hotel is at the very southern part of Phuket Island (the base of Kata Beach), and the pier where the junk was moored is at the very northern part of the island, so we had a 45-60 minute ride up the whole island, which was cool. One of the things we saw was a bunch of families taking their kids to school, as we passed a school about 20 minutes into our drive, and it was just before classes started. Many, many people ride motorcycles here. I'd say more than 50% of the vehicles we passed on Monday were motorcycles. So when we saw people taking their kids to school, it was often whole families squeezed onto a bike, the kids in white shirts and navy trousers or skirts. There was one family with a chubby middle-school aged-looking boy at the very front with his arms extended over the headlight area, dad behind him actually driving, and chubby mom squeezed right behind dad. On another bike, there was a little boy in front, dad behind him driving, and a little girl behind dad, holding onto a big posterboard. Must have been presentation day. :-) The most I saw on a single bike was five (yes, five!) people: 2 little kids, man, 2 more little kids. All on a single crotch rocket-style motorcycle. So cool.