A Shock

Today, Tuesday, I took Judd and Lillie into Pattaya for their play group.  I decided to go the back route for two reasons, 1 the cops where all over the highways this morning and I am scared of being pulled over and probed for a bribe.  And 2, I wanted to see if it was quicker using the back streets.
Well it may be quicker but today it was more dangerous. If anyone has ever been to an Asian country they will know about the crazy way they do their electrical wiring.  In Thailand it is taken to the extreme.  There are cables and wires everywhere, all bundled together, criss crossing and hanging all over power poles and sometimes the on the ground.  In Bangkok I saw a man with a bamboo ladder leaning on this huge mess of cables sitting, actually sitting, on the wires, and it seemed he was attaching another cable for a new shop that was being built.  How on earth he wasn't killed I don't know, but there he was perched up there like a bird.  Some of the newer areas, like where we live now, it is organised and the power lines look like any western country, but as you head into the older parts it gets progressively worse and worse. 
Today I was in an old part of Pattaya taking a back road and all of a sudden a power line fell right in front of my car!  I was quick enough to swerve into the dirt and through a makeshift car park and went around, but as I drove the cable kept unravelling and seemed to be falling in the same direction as I was driving.  I came up to a big puddle of water and decided to quickly drive through it and just seconds later the cable hit it.  There was a loud explosion and sparks flashed everywhere as I looked back in my rear view mirror.  Wow, my heart was beating so fast.  I don't know if driving over it would have sent any electricity through the car but I sure as hell didn't want to take that chance.
When I arrived at the play group I told the ladies there and one Irish lady said quite calmly, "Oh I live down that way, that probably means the power will be out when I get home".  Just like it is an everyday occurrence.  This country is an amazing mesh of crazy and beautiful, but at the moment I mostly see the crazy stuff.  Like the other day we were driving down to Sattahip and we passed a pick up truck with no less than 11 people riding in the back, 4 of which were small children and 1 grandma was eating her lunch, flying along at 100kms p/h!  Or the small tiny truck with 8 huge fat pigs all crammed into the back, jumping over each other to get some room.  I had to speed up so Judd could have a look.  Then there are the men who put so much weight, whether it be dirt, wood or big chunks of steel, that their tiny ute is about to split, literally in 2!  One guy had 4 or 5 meter long planks of wood balanced on his truck and since it was so long, he just drove along the motorway with it dragging along the road!  Or the little truck with an ELEPHANT of the back!  Or the little scooters with 3 adults and 2 kids all balancing together dodging in and out of heavy traffic.  Also the man with the big van who took a U Turn to sharp and rolled his van onto its side and then just stood there looking at it wondering what to do.  Oh and the funniest thing, but quite clever really.  When someone stops or breaks down on the road, just to make sure another car doesn't run up his ass, he walks into the bush on the side of the road, tears off the branch and places it about 5 meters behind his car, just like a traffic cone.  So as you are driving along you actually notice the branch first then see the stopped car and change lanes.  Not a bad idea. 
Something that I really dislike though is the way they disregard the traffic signals, they run red lights as if they don't exist, just yesterday morning I drove Marcus into work and on going back I was just missed by a white ute, wheels screeching as he ran the red light and flew around the corner.  Thankfully I was alert and saw him coming, he then went to the next red light and wove in and out of the stopped cars until he got to the middle of the intersection, ran that red light as well and took off.  What an idiot, that is how people die, from stupidity.  And that is why I am always very alert when I drive anywhere, its not the crazy rules its the one crazy nut bag who thinks he is faster and better than everyone else.  They exist in every country not just here in Thailand. 
Oh and to mention one last thing.  It is perfectly acceptable to double park in most places around here, as long as you leave the car in neutral and the hand brake off so the person who needs to reverse out just pushes all the cars in his way along until he has a space big enough to get out.  I don't know if it is legal, just like is it apparently illegal not to wear a bicycle helmet, and of course no one does.  They laws here are fluid, it depends on the mood of the police officer on duty I suppose.  In saying that, since I am a foreigner I will be good and abide by the rules as I am not ready to argue with a police officer in a language I don't understand, I could end up locked up or broke!