As I do every Sunday morning, I got up early and took a motorbike taxi to Central Festival in order to teach a 2-hour class to a pair of 10-year-old girls. The time really rushes by and they are always a joy to teach. Afterwards, I tend to linger and do some shopping but today I headed home earlier than usual. The photo is my view from the back of the porthong — a kind of local bus modeled after the three-bench songteaw that is ubiquitous throughout most of Thailand. The so-called “pink buses” have operated since October 2008 or so and they have been my regular means of transport around Phuket Town as far east as Siray Island and as far west as Central and Big C for nearly as long. Today, there are four routes (north-south extension is the new provincial bus terminal all the way down to the start of Panwa Cape with a change or two). They used to cost just 10 baht per ride but that increased to 15 about 5 years ago, causing all sorts of problems as the conductors often run out of change after the first few 20-baht notes are tendered. In recent years, I have not used them as often due to the unreliability of the schedules; going home isn’t usually a problem as I don’t care how long it takes then.