The Big Trucks of Thailand. Being in Thailand last year, far away from California, I was always looking for cultural similarities to reference. It was the vehicular culture of Thailand that made me feel most at home, that I found comforting, even though vehicles take different forms in Thailand, I felt like I was in a car culture. Here’s the trucks.
Above - A mobile movie theatre seen in Eastern Thailand. These go from town to town, playing the latest movies.
Above - Sitting in a truckbed, I saw tons and tons of these huge piles of sticks being transported by truck in Eastern Thailand. These would be piled shockingly high on the trucks. Also, almost all of the trucks I saw were either Isuzus or Hinos. I saw a lot of beautiful Hino grills in Thailand. That’s Danoi on the right, who’s great company in the back of a pickup when there’s a bottle of whiskey to be shared.
Above - A dream fulfilled. These guys gave me a sour look when I took their picture, but I had to shoot this awesome truck with deployable escape motorcycles. Maybe it’s too many Knight Rider re-runs, but dream of driving a vehicle of any sort off of our out of the back of a truck.
Above - The one weird place I asked to be taken while in Thailand was a port. Because I live up the street from a port, I’m kind of obsessed with their operations. My host Jessada was able to take us not only to Kerry Siam Seaport, but deep inside their security cordon, as he talked up the security girl in Laotian, since they’re from the same province. The big difference between the port I live next to is that in America, ports are places where goods arrive and are distributed, but in Asia, ports are surrounded by smokestack cities of manufacturing plants that cluster around to reduce transit costs for the exportation of goods.
Above - Not only is it kosher to ride in the back of a pickup in Thailand, which is something I sadly cannot do in California, it’s totally normal to ride on top of pretty much anything. Any vehicle with a roof is essentially a bus when it needs to be.
Above - These buses are all over Thailand. Lots of people move to Bangkok to work, but maintain regular connections to their families back home, so these buses are everywhere, covered with supergraphics, maintaining the tight family and local connections in the country. Most of these buses also have a little store up front that sells snacks on long rides.
Technorati Tags: trucks, Thailand, travel, bus, movie theatre, mobile theatre, Siam Kerry Seaport, vehicles
