Tja und weil wir immer Glueck haben, ist morgen Geburtstag des Koenigs und heute Generalprobe!

Gestern war der Moment, auf den wir so lange gewartet haben: Yee Peng in San Sai: Himmelslaternen. Ich bin hin und weg.

Weil das Adrenalin in unsren Venen pulsierte (und weil es am guenstigsten war), mieteten wir uns fuer den Tag ein Moto. Und entdeckten eine Ueberraschung: nicht ueberall faehrt man saumaessig und hupt viel. Und es konnte klar erkannt werden, dass Linksverkehr herrscht. Was man nicht alles lernt, wenn man unterwegs ist. Nach einigen Umstellungsschwierigkeiten ging es dann auch los ins Central Plaza, einem grossen Einkaufszentrum, wo zufaellig zeitgleich der Canon-Photomarathon Thailand stattfand. Leben ist da, wo wir sind. Teilnehmen konnten wir leider nicht mehr, da wir zu spaet dran waren. Aber lustig anzusehen wars trotzdem. Und es gab eh keine T-Shirts. Im Hostel war uns gesagt worden, dass es fuer den Abend einen Dresscode gab, weisses Oberteil und lange Hose. Als Backpacker hatten wir nichts dabei, was weiss war. Bei einem Teil waren wir uns zwar ueber die Ursprungsfarbe im Unklaren, aber es mussten neue Oberteile her. Die wurden dann auch fuer wenig Geld im Einkaufszentrum erstanden und jetzt bin ich stolzer Poloshirt-Besitzer. Passend dazu habe ich heute versucht, mich fuer eine BWL-Vorlesung daheim anzumelden. Erschreckt davon ist das Poloshirt danach wieder im Rucksack gelandet. Wer weiss, vielleicht schreib ich mich sonst noch fuer Kommunikationswissenschaften ein. Gruslig.... Zusaetzlich davon stiessen wir im Einkaufszentrum auf mehrere running Hotpot plus Sushi-Kombinationen. Das musste natuerlich ausprobiert werden. Auf dem Band neben dir laufen Fleisch und Gemuese, die koennen eingesammelt und in die heisse Bruehe in dem Topf vor dir verfrachtet werden. Ausserdem gabs Sushi, soviel man wollte. Das hat fuer Mittag und Abendessen gereicht ^^ Im Plaza stand uebrigens auch ein Weihnachtsbaum. Bei 38 Grad draussen irgendwie unwirklich.

Gestaerkt und mit weissen Oberteilen versehen gings auf dem Mofa 13 km nach San Sai. Dort war schon die Hoelle los.

Und dann war es endlich soweit: die Laternen wurden angezuendet und steigen gelassen. Besser, als ich es mir vorgestellt habe. Ein echtes Erlebnis. Fast wie im Rapunzel-Film.

Und was passiert, wenn man es am wenigsten erwartet? Richtig, etwas Unvorhergesehenes. In unserem Fall bemerkten wir auf dem Heimweg zum Parkplatz, dass der Motoschluessel nicht mehr da war. Da war auf einmal Leben in der Bude! Gluecklicherweise schien sich die Meditation positiv auf unser Karma niedergeschlagen zu haben, denn der Schluessel wurde uns auf dem Parkplatz von einem Rudel kichernder jugendlicher Parkplatzwaechter uebergeben. Buddha sei Dank! Und die Parkplatzwaechter konnten so gleichzeitig was fuer ihr Karma tun. Gern geschehen!

Da waren wir also, auf dem Heimweg, gluecklich. Und auf einmal fing es an zu regnen. Nein, nicht zu regnen. Zu schuetten. Wie verrueckt. So kurz vor daheim. Verdammt! Also unterstellen und warten, bis es vorbei ist. Es folgten 30 Minuten auf die Strasse starren. Als es besser war, wagten wir uns weiter. Und erlebten eine weitere Ueberraschung. 25 cm Wasser. Mofa unter. Nix Strasse. Tuempel. Spannend.

Als es nicht mehr nasser ging, waren wir zuhause. Da es eh schon egal war, wurde geduscht. Und sich dann darum gestritten, wer jetzt Plants vs. Zombies spielen darf. Das haben wir vor ein paar Tagen (Dank des Tipps von Anne) fuer uns entdeckt und ist ziemlich grandios. Das war also der erste Tag. In Kuerze folgen weitere :)]]> Fri, 23 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=192510 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=621320 0 18.7902778 98.9816667 First of all let me start by saying I'm very sorry that I haven't updated my blog in about a week. I did about 36 hours of traveling to get from Phuket to Chiang Mai a little over a week ago. The train portion of the trip wasn't too bad, but if you read my last blog post you know that the bus trip from Phuket to Bangkok was horrible, but all worth it in the end.

Chiang Mai might actually be my favorite city in Thailand. I'm so thankful I was able to make it up here.

When I first arrived in Chiang Mai I took a tuk tuk to a guesthouse someone in Phuket had recommended to me only to find it was closed. I asked the tuk tuk driver where to go and she took me to a place that was right near by. It was OK, but a little bit of a hole. Not super clean, but about 250 baht for a room with hot water ($8). I woke up late the next day so I wasn't able to check out and had to book one more night. During the day I walked around and ended up researching places to stay, and I'm so glad I did.

I did end up getting a freelancing job on the way up so while I've been here I ended doing about 30 hours of work programming some websites, which took up some time, but it's nice to be able to have some money coming in rather than going out while traveling.

The people up here in Chiang Mai are so nice. It's different than in southern Thailand. Some times in the south I would feel like I was viewed as an ATM not a person, like people were approaching you trying to see what angle they could play to get money out of you or sell you something. The people aren't really aggressive up here, and they're very polite and kind. So I've done my part to give the same respect and love back.

While driving the motorcycle though I took a corner wrong, going slowly, but I ran into a steel door on a wall. I ended up busting one of the plastic outer casings of the bike near the foot rest. I had got insurance, but was still worried, because I would still have to cover a huge deductible. Luckily everything is cheap in Chiang Mai. I went to store and the guy gave me a name of his mechanic shop. To fix the bike it cost 345 baht, about $11. I was shocked.

One of the real beautiful things about this city is to just walk around. They have a huge moat and pieces of the old city walls going around the original town of Chiang Mai.

Finally one of the other thing I love about this city is the price. It's so cheap, and filled with amazing restaurants, and street food. I found these street deserts they make where it's cooked cups of sweetened coconut milk with corn or green onions in it. They're amazing, cheap and delicious. I fell in love with this dish local to the area called Khao Soi. It's a dish made with curry filled with vegetables, noodles, topped with crunchy noodles garnished with lime and onions. Sometimes it has chicken, but always really crazy good.

Comparatively to the south of Thailand things are a lot cheaper here. Like 60 baht for a 1/2 foot massage ($1.50), 120 for a full hour massage ($3), food ranges, but is generally pretty cheap like around a buck / buck fifty to eat.

I'm so thankful that I was able to make it up here. After coming here I can't imagine going to Thailand and not traveling this way. I guess everything works out the way it's supposed to.

I'm leaving tomorrow night to head to Nong Khai in north eastern Thailand for the Naga Fireballs festival. I'll update you all shortly after that. I hope everyone's well.

If you want to see the pictures there at :
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4457541553293.180530.1132242665&type=1&l=a870dd5573]]> Thu, 25 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=191066 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=619698 0 18.7902778 98.9816667 We stayed in Somphet Market which is THE place to buy all of your fresh produce, meat & fish etc so walking past here every day was such a treat, seeing all of the locals eating & buying. And the smells we nearly always amazing :-)

We visited quite a few temples, but to be honest by now we were pretty much templed out, and our favourite pastime (as always) was just to wander the streets & find some great local street food.

However the main highlight was our 2 night/3 day trek to the Jungle & Elephant camp. The actual trek was great, the scenery changing between paddy fields & 'in the thick of it' jungle.....but the best bit was rocking up at the Elephant Camp & sleeping literally with them! Our bed for the night was a mattress under a gazebo, about 200 meters away from them, so close that they actually woke us in the night with their trumpeting. It was great!!
We got to bare back ride them and wash them, and then the next day whilst in the jungle we had to hide from a wild one. In between walking we visited some amazing waterfalls that you could actually slide down, and we got to do some white water rafting too. The people we met on this trek made it a fab experience too.

When we got back to Chiang Mai to be honest we were knackered. So the next day we took a visit to the Women's Prison - we'd been recommended to have a massage here as 6 months prior to the women being released they train to become masseurs & receive a percentage of monies taken to set them up in their life after prison. Not only is it a commendable scheme the massage we got was incredible!! They use their elbows, feet, bend you over their knees........all for a grand total of 7 quid for 2 hours massage!! It was so good we went twice :-)

An unexpected night out took us to Doi Suthep lake. We were taken here by some locals, after we'd sampled many glasses of the lethal Sangsom whisky with them! There are lots of food stalls & bamboo huts situated all around the lake & it really is only known by the locals, so much in fact I think we were the only white faces there :-)
It's definitely not a luxury set-up, more like a picnic area but it was great fun just sitting around on mats in these makeshift huts. Was was a bit scary though was the food.....especially what is known as 'dancing shrimp' which is literally a bowl of live shrimp that jumps around in the bowl. So we didn't eat a great deal that night!

I also took a Thai cooking class & I managed to create some of my fave dishes, the more traditional ones like Massaman curry, Tom Yam soup & Pad Thai noodles. Not a shrimp in sight thank goodness! And even if I say so myself they really were as tasty as what i'd ordered in restaurants - so I really don't have any excuse not to cook these when i get back home.

All in all I think we spent about 10 days here in between the jungle trek & our little trip to Pai (see the next instalment!) and to be honest we could have stayed longer.

]]> Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=30773 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=572061 0 18.7902778 98.9816667
Lots of tobacco

Lots of stuff I have no idea what it is though

Nice unbrella to cover the hole!

Enjoying a G&T

The bar

View from the bar

Chris chatting to his mum

Bustling, chaotic, insanely busy market

Jam-packed market

Lots of people getting a foot massge

Ancient Ice-cream? Yuck...

One of the many temples

A temple

A temple

A huge wall

A temple

Nice gold temple

Another day of walking about Chiang Mai, possibly seeing more tourists than locals…
Also, another thing we’ve noticed is how many temples there are here for one city?!
Chris guesses about 50.
I gave up counting and taking photos of them.
Good day though; just uneventful to write about…

]]> Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=30536 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=235834 0 18.7902778 98.9816667
Dicen que Chiang Mai es la capital cultural de Tailandia, imaginamos que es por la gran oferta de actividades que ofrece tanto para la gente local como para la gran cantidad de visitantes que acuden para unos días, semanas, meses e incluso años (más de uno que se ha quedado a vivir). Nosotros hicimos menos que más intentando ser turistas responsables, así que nos gustaría empezar a contar lo que no hicimos y su porque. No hicimos ningún “trekking” a ninguna de las tribus originarias que residen en el norte del país primero porque está todo montado de tal manera que, o lo haces con guía a través de una agencia o no lo haces, claro, a precios astronómicos y segundo, porque imaginamos que cuando llegan los turistas empieza el espectáculo. Tampoco visitamos el Tiger Kingdom (Reino del Tigre) al que acuden muchísimos turistas para sacarse una espectacular foto a escasos centímetros de un tigre. La verdad es que nos hubiera encantado estar al lado de estos felinos, pero leímos y leímos críticas de gente que había ido, muchas positivas y también de negativas… y luego volvimos a leer para auto convencernos de que es imposible estar al lado de semejante criatura majestuosa sin que ésta haya sido manipulada (no sabemos cómo) para aceptar la presencia de las decenas de extraños que se les acercan cada día para tomarse dicha fotografía (15 minutos 15 dólares).

Otra “gran atracción” a la que hicimos caso omiso fue el poblado de la tribu de los Karen, más conocidos como los cuellos largos, esa imagen que todos tenemos de mujeres con argollas en el cuello que hacen que desde antes de los diez años se les empiece a estirar hasta llegar a más de 20cm de largo. Pero esto no es del todo cierto ya que con la colocación progresiva de estas anillas lo que se consigue no es que se les estire el cuello si no que sufran un aplastamiento de las clavículas y la caja torácica. Este desgraciado pueblo fue expulsado de Birmania (Myanmar), de dónde son originarios, y fueron en su día acogidos por Tailandia, aunque el gobierno tailandés ya no los ayuda más y ni si quiera los deja salir del conjunto de chozas en el que se han agrupado así que su única fuente de ingresos es gracias a los turistas que acuden a verlos. Creímos que esta brutal práctica en decadencia no merecía seguir siendo alimentada como reclamo turístico así que no fuimos.

Por el contrario para conocer un poco más la cultura del país hicimos un curso de cocina en el que nos lo pasamos genial y descubrimos algunos de los secretos de esta rica y sencilla gastronomía. Sí, tranquilos, ya os prepararemos algunos de los platos que aprendimos cuando volvamos. También invertimos nuestro tiempo y nuestro dinero en alquilar una motocicleta y salir fuera del centro de la ciudad. Llegamos al Templo sagrado Doi Suthep que se encuentra a unos pocos kilómetros de las afueras de la ciudad. La historia cuenta que un elefante vagó con una estatua de buda hasta que finalmente se detuvo en el lugar entendiéndose éste como el elegido para construir el templo. Con la moto llegamos también a un poblado de la tribu Hmong dónde no esperaban visitantes. De hecho tuvimos que buscar a alguien para que nos abriera el pequeño museo en el que uno puede conocer sobre los tejidos artesanales tradicionales de esta tribu fabricados a base de cáñamo.

El peligro de las ciudades con gran afluencia de turistas es que gradualmente pierden su personalidad (véase por ejemplo Barcelona) y todas acaban siguiendo un mismo patrón

Night Bazar

Sup had found that although the town had a lot of lovely places, it was not a lovely place in itself. The nightlife was seedy throughout and it was hard to escape this, even in seemingly ordinary restaurants. The gentle Thai vibe seemed to have been lost here and seeing a young guy parading a scared baby elephant around the busy town on a chain for money further added to the general dubious atmosphere we felt here.

Then came the final fight of the night, and the one we had been waiting for – a tough looking Thai facing off against one hulking great beast of a man from England. We had watched him prepare throughout the night, being spurred on by his little Thai lady, smearing Tiger Balm all over his muscles and generally strutting like a true boxing champ. And that he was. Within a couple of rounds the brave Thai was pulverised into a heap on the floor and the crowd went wild.

It was a hilarious experience, as were the tricks we were shown by another mahout and his elephant. Using her trunk as a lift, she hoisted her master up onto her almighty back, and then scooped his flip flop up from the ground and passed it up to him without even being asked!

There were times when our awesome ride became a little scary – the mud made the elephant slip occasionally and we had to duck from the heavy branches that came crashing towards us as he wrenched down the trees, all the while clinging on for dear life.

After shooting down a vertical rock face at 100 miles an hour into a freezing waterfall pool, I was ready for more and we set off for a double rafting session. Our first rafting experience was in an inflatable dinghy on a rapid river – kind of a tame version of white water rafting that left us wanting more. After bouncing over a few gushing waves, we then transferred to a traditional bamboo raft for a lazy float down the river, with Sup as the captain. No waterproof camera = no photos unfortunately, but we were left with some fun memories.

We visited a local village on the way home and gained some insight into the simple life, meeting some of the residents and admiring their homemade crafts. Further on down the road we stopped by a huge swing made by the villagers and we both jumped on for some good old-fashioned fun!

The next day we finally moved on from Chiang Mai on an overnight bus crossing the border to the land of Laos. Thailand was officially done - the islands had introduced us to the stunning beauty of Asia, the town had suggested something darker lurking underneath, and we were about to enter the emerald realm of luscious Laos, an Asian backdrop of epic proportions...]]> Sat, 02 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11169 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=155838 0 18.7902778 98.9816667

Somewhere in Laos - Does my hair look alright!

We arrived at the Laos town of Houay Sai at around 11am, it was then a tuk tuk ride to the border itself to check out of Laos, followed by a boat ride across the river to get stamped into Thailand.

Houaysai - Lao/Thai border

Chiang Khong - Thai border

We were horrified when the guy trying to sell us a (very expensive) mini van ride to Chang Mai advised that the public bus took a further 12 hours. Ignoring him, we got another tuk tuk into town and paid £12 quid for the public bus (instead of £90 for a mini van), a further 7 hours later we eventually arrived in Chang Mai. In total the journey took 26 hours and involved 7 different vehicles/boats!

As you can imagine, we were exhausted and extremely hungry when we arrived. Polly’s face lit up when we decided fast food was the order of the day for dinner!
The next day, as we were still jaded, we just had a stroll round. We went to have a massage by blind masseurs to try to rub away some of our aches and pains from the previous days travelling. In the evening, we found a really great place to eat where you can pick your food from a number of different stalls – you choose from Thai (obviously), Indian, Japanese and Western dishes. We mixed and matched from various places and had a right feast. On the way back, Polly spotted a CD/DVD stall. After about 15 minutes we walked away with 6 CD’s of dubious legality!

Chang Mai is a kind of Mecca for mountain biking so the following day we went for a ride. We were taken by pick up to the top of a mountain outside of Chang Mai – 5400 ft according to the marketing material. Once the leader had cleared a baby Cobra from the forest floor (I jest not), we had a bit of formal instruction and they assessed our riding abilities – this consisted of riding over a branch! We then jumped on our bikes and set off.

Chiang Mai - Biking before the rain!

Chiang Mai - Mountain Biking

Ancient temple guards

Ancient temple

In the afternoon we were meant to be boarding an overnight train to Bangkok...but things didn't run quite according to plan. We should have known something was going to go wrong when, as we boarded the coach to take us to the station in the middle of a storm, there was a huge bang and a flash of light as a lightning bolt struck a building directly across the street! It was a warning that we foolishly ignored...

Outside the Parasol Inn

No sooner had we boarded the train with all our bags than we had to get right back off again. Turned out ISV had booked tickets for the following night by mistake...as we watched another group of students taking what should have been our seats, we wondered if we'd be getting to Bangkok in time for the cultural dinner show the following night...

Of course, ISV got it all sorted, hiring a nice coach and even organising a stop-off at a fancy hotel for dinner! We got to our hotel, the New Siam Riverside Guest House, earlier than planned and had time to catch a few hours sleep before morning.]]> Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=10876 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=99343 0 18.7902778 98.9816667 After lunch came rock climbing, when I managed to get myself stuck just a few metres from the ground, as all the strain of the last few days' activities finally caught up with me and my muscles completely gave out...half way up a rock. Couldn't go up, couldn't come down. Great timing, muscles.

For our last night in town we went out for dinner and then some of us hit the Rooftop Bar, yet another one of those supposed 'reggae' bars with the pictures of Bob Marley but the music of a dance club. The best thing about the bar, though, was that it was, as the name suggested, on a rooftop and open to the stars. My personal favourite part of the night was when I discovered a cockroach...on Kim's back.

Last dinner in Chiang Mai

Rooftop Bar

Rooftop Bar

Last night in Chiang Mai

Trekking

Awesome bug

After lunch, we were rewarded with white water rafting: one of the highlights of the tour! I shared a raft with Team We're Not Going to Die, which included tour leader Steph, Lauren, Kirsten and Ginny. Sure enough, we didn't die, but there were some pretty hairy moments when we had to hit the deck to avoid being thrown overboard...On a calm stretch of the river, each boat tried to take as many hostages from other boats as possible: we quickly lost Lauren and had to initiate a sea Battle in order to get her back.

White water rafting!

Back at the good old Parasol Inn, we hit the walking street Sunday market, a huge market that spans several streets around the hotel, much less touristy and tacky than the daily night bazaar. At one point, the Thai national anthem was played from speakers in the street: everybody froze where they stood, in silence, until the song had finished. It was a surreal moment but just demonstrates the huge amount of respect people in Thailand have for their royal family.]]> Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=10876 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=99339 0 18.7902778 98.9816667 House for some lychee wine and a bit of a sit-down. Our trekking guide, Charlie, also showed us the giant swing, which represents freedom to the tribe, and the spirit gate, which we were forbidden to touch in case we released evil spirits into the world: the punishment for touching it is "to buy a pig and sacrifice it", as our tour leader May put it. Since pig slaughter wasn't on the intinerary and our budgets didn't really cover the purchase of livestock, we stayed well clear of the spirit gate!

Lisu giant swing

Lisu spirit gate

Hilltribe children

Lisu shaman

The trek itself was uphill torture until lunchtime. I've honestly never sweated so much in my life, it was pretty much free-flowing for the first hour. Talk about attractive. Luckily, we had a chance to recover during our eco-lunch, packed in woven grass baskets and wrapped in Banana leaves. We all felt slightly guilty eating our cooked Chicken in front of a bunch of live Chickens...until they turned cannibal and tucked into our leftovers.

After lunch, the temperature dropped a little as rain seemed to be on the way, making the going a lot easier, but I was still very glad to reach our camp, the Lahu Outpost ,at the top of our third hill - even if it had no electricity!

Eco-lunch

Recovering at the Lahu Outpost

Lahu Outpost

Nom

Elephant Nature Park

Elephants!

We then spent one night at the beautiful and tranquil Lisu Lodge, run by the Lisu hilltribe, before setting out on our hilltribe trek the next day. I felt a little sorry for a couple of honeymooners whose quiet holiday was interrupted by 26 students, but atleast it was just for a night! During our dinner buffet some of the Lisu kids appeared to perform some dances for us - it was very touristy, but still fun.

Lisu children

Musical instrument

Jenni at the massage spa

Cup of tea?

Afterwards, we checked out a shopping mall, but the chances of me fitting into any of the Thai-sized clothing in those shops was…nil. Especially since I’d just scoffed a large Dairy Queen.

In the evening at our cooking class we cooked and ate five Thai dishes – pad Thai (mine was pretty delicious if I say it myself), Spring rolls, something with cashew nuts, Thai green curry and sticky rice with mango. Meanwhile Steve, in an attempt to woo Sarah (in the absence of Tess), bought her a rose from a street seller, then felt guilty and bought the rest of the girls one too. Such a gentleman.

Thai cooking class!

The finished product

Because of all of this, we took a warm up ride that climbed a steep road to the top of a mountain where a temple and an enormous Buddha sit. This is a very popular ride in Chiang Mai and it was packed with other cyclists. It started out great as we rode past rice patties towards the start of the climb. Slowly the road started getting steeper and one girl kept getting slower and slower. Soon, she could not power the bike up the incline anymore and just fell over.

She had not been on a bike much before and didn’t really know how to shift gears, balance at slow speeds, or how to wind up a hill well. This would all be fine except that Brooke and I knew what was in store the next day and what a disaster it could be. Every time the girl fell of the bike it was harder to get started again. The road was getting steeper and there was no way to build up momentum to start. I would hold up her bike and run behind her pushing the bike until she got enough speed. I would watch her ride off like a proud parent who has just taught their daughter how to ride a two-wheeler for the first time only to watch her fall again, and have to start the whole process over again.

Needless to say, this 15 year girl was quite embarrassed that both of her guides had to stay back with her and teach her how to ride her bike up the hill. Especially because she knew what she had to ride over the next couple of days.

That night, Brooke and I were both worried about what was going to happen the following day and were anxious to get out on the road. In addition to the girl that couldn’t ride the bike, we had a sick girl who really wanted to attempt riding even though she was feeling terrible and couldn’t keep any food or water down.

We took off over the lake, still anxious, with all five students and our bikes. The hill was tough coming off the water and heading straight up into the mountains. We dreaded what was to come, and started up the hill. Surprisingly, the girl who couldn’t ride her bike the day before was pushing through. She and the others were weaving up the hill like a snake and conquering the hill with high spirits. The sick girl was right in there with the group as well, pushing up the hill. It was an amazing turn around from the day before and was a great start to what would be an amazing journey by bicycle, foot and raft across the entire Northwest portion of Thailand.

]]> Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=7380 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=81925 0 18.7902778 98.9816667 Thailand have Nuttter wandering around Chiang Mai absorbing the local customs and snapping away at the amazing world she is now part of.

Unfortunately I could not get any photos from her as the internet cafe she is at is powered by hampsters. I have it on good authority that there are roughly 300 temples in Chiang Mai, they just sneak up on you! The humidity is so thick that you can cut it with a knife, Nuttter is working hard to retain moisture and drinking lots and lots of BOTTLED water.

Tomorrow, Nuttter heads for Chiang Khong, on the border of Thailand and Laos. Chiang Khong is a popular border crossing for backpackers and has many guest houses and some fantastic waterfall views along the famous Mekong River. Not sure if she will be staying there for a day or so or continuing into Laos.

MOZZIE BITE TALLY: 1. (Mozzie=Mosquito)

AT HOME:
Hindered by an unwarranted, unannounced and very rude 12hr day at work, nothing was done on Monday. Spare Um is 3/4 prepped for sheet-rocking, I have decided to do the walls as well, stupid not too when going so far. Once I am clear and clean and ready for sheetrocking, I jump into the Office and get that to the same stage.]]> Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=8130 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=76353 0 18.7902778 98.9816667