The Tuk-TuK: A Brief Introduction

So, what exactly is a tuk-tuk, you say? Well, funny you should ask. A tuk-tuk is actually a golf cart like machine that’s been modified for futuristic post-apocalyptic battle in a gladiatorial arena constructed of nuclear blown scrap iron and filled with chanting, dirt-covered hairless people, or… a motorized rickshaw. Whichever description you choose, the basic visual image will be about the same.

So, why the title -- Tales from the Tuk Tuk? Well, funny you should ask. You see, whilst riding home from work one day in the back of the above machine, crouched over due to my freakishly tall 6-foot (180 cm) white-man figure, I had a premonition, realization (or whatever the word is) that I do some of my best thinking in the back of a tuk-tuk. Thus a simple tuk-tuk could serve as my muse for bringing wisdom and glorious intellect to the outside world.

You see, I am bit distanced from my roots at the present. A native of the mystical land of Oregon, USA, I have now found myself calling a little city on the Thai side of the Malay Peninsula -- known as Songkhla -- my home. While still back in the states battling the doldrums of everyday life, I got an original idea – teach English overseas! This has never been done before. And being the trailblazing, vanguardish kind of guy I am, I would soon set sail for the east. Only to find out upon arrival that everyone else and their pot-head/alcoholic buddy had already beaten me to it. Damn it! Knew I should’ve flown.