This is what has come out. I have to reduce the quality on some of them so it doesn't take so long to upload them, sorry. I left the snail shell picture large so you could see the detail in it. its amazing.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Photos
I've been doing quite a lot of playing around with my little camera in the last couple of days. I woke up at 630am and went for a walk and took photos. I also went to a damn with one of my buddies here.
This is what has come out. I have to reduce the quality on some of them so it doesn't take so long to upload them, sorry. I left the snail shell picture large so you could see the detail in it. its amazing.
This is what has come out. I have to reduce the quality on some of them so it doesn't take so long to upload them, sorry. I left the snail shell picture large so you could see the detail in it. its amazing.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
the event from January 13th to the 16th...
This is the events of the last 3 days of my life, I went on a visa run.
Sunday, January 13th, 2008
Time: 4:04pm - Tha Ton
I just checked into my guest house, 200 Baht (6$) per night, private bathroom, classic hard ass bed!
The drive was stunning! It was so nice to take my bike (so far anyways...). Ill get up around 8am tomorrow then drive to Mae Sai(Burma), it takes 4 hours there and then 4 hours back to Tha Ton as well. Ill just keep this room for two nights and come back here tomorrow night. Then after that it's back to Pai!
Time: 7:57pm - Tha Ton
Since I last wrote I ventured up the road to the temple here. This one was beautiful, there was a giant Buddha image as well as many small statues and there was also this area below the temple where the stairs were built into the rock, very maze-ish. Fun being alone here too.
(some pictures from Tha Ton Temple)
(the view from up on the temple)
I then came back to my guest house, got some warmer cloths on then took my motorbike out to explore a little bit around Tha Ton. I found a field that had a wonderful scent blowing off of it with the wind towards me. It reminded me of Thai soup, well, it actually reminded me of a herb they use in the soup, as well as in many Thai dishes, I cant put my nose on it though.
I then came back to the guest house and ordered some food, Pad Gai Gratiem, which translates directly to Fried Chicken with Garlic. I sat and ate and talked to the owner of this guest house and some other people that were around. The owner is a funny Thai lady, mid-forties, fun and high-strung! Speaks good English as well. She complimented me on my Thai.
I also heard from those people that it only takes two hours to get to Mae Sai from here. So tomorrow I don't have to be in a rush to leave early or drive fast or anything. That will be nice as I was expecting 8 hours of driving in total. Now it will only be 4 hours! Woo!!
I am so tired right now, wow...I think driving just saps the energy our of you, which doesn't make sense because your just sitting on your ass doing nothing! Maybe it's the constant concentration on the road, who knows.
Monday, January 14th, 2008
Time: 8:20am - Tha Ton
I was the strangest feeling when I woke up this morning. I had no idea where I was but the feeling that I got screamed Gimli!! The bed, the sheets, the pillows, the morning light being filtered to a comforting red glow by the blinds, and the allergy attack! They all seemed to bring good memories of my family up at Gimli. I definitely miss my family right now, not sure why I'm feeling it now, but I'll welcome it. It feels to to miss home a little, gives me something to look forward to for going back home.
Today I'll go grab some breakfast then head out to Mae Sai to get my new visa stamp in my passport. Then it's "shoppING" tune (as the Thai's say it, they put the accent on ING in most words like that, eatING, runnING) then it's another two hours back to Tha Ton.
On the was back to Pai I'm going to try not to rush it. Try stopping along to was lots to see caves and cool stuff.
Breaky time!
Time: 6:12pm - Tha Ton
Just got back from Mae Sai! I had a blast today, definitely one of the best days of my trip so far! I drove straight to Mae Sai just to get it over with, the drive was beautiful. Once in Mae Sai I crossed the border, payed the 500B (10 bucks) entrance fee to enter Burma, then I went shopping in the vast Market.
(pics from Burma)
There was this one Burmese guy that was selling Cigarettes, Viagra and Porno dvds. He followed me around for about an hour. It actually started to be fun after the initial annoyance wore off. Nice chap! There are so many of those guys selling the same stuff. They have baskets attached to there bellies with numbers attached to the baskets. I think they might get there stuff form the same source and then get commission based on daily sales. I thought of a funny joke about what they sell. Kinda dirty tho...
You go to one place for all your needs! You get your Cigarettes to make you impotent, then you get your Viagra to bring 'er back into action then you watch your pornos! All your problems AND solutions from one Burmese basket salesman!
After shopping I left Burma to re-enter Thailand. I hopped on my bike, filler her up with 91 octane fule and then continued on my way back to Tha Ton. I took a different was home however, a much more curvey, elevated, and scenic route! I'll draw it out for you!
(now at this point if you were actually reading my journal you would gaze upon a pen drawn map, as i cant draw on here you get nothing so use your imagination!)
So yeah! That's my route! Doi Thung was neat, I love how they built temples on top of mountains here, they all have such amazing views from way up there!
(Doi Thung)
I absolutely loved Mae Salong, it was really interesting because it is on the ridge of a mountain range, the houses all sticking out from the side of the mountain, stilts making them level. I stopped at a little restaurant and guest house for some food (I didnt actually end up getting breaky!) it was called Little house. Totally reminded me of Little House on the Prairie but this was more like Little house of the mountain. I ate Pad Ka Pow Moo, Kai dow suk nit nawy (which translates to fried basil chili and pork with a sunny side up egg on top, I have an egg with every meal.. mmm) I also had a coke and some complimentary tea. I also chatted with the owner of the place for some time, a nice Thai fellow. He complimented my Thai as well!
(Mae Salong, my food and a funny sign!)
I was so impressed at the condition of the roads! Perfectly paved banked turns! The view was so good too, I can't even describe it properly. The best I can do it "vastly green, long stretching views, rolling mountains" The whole drive was a workout for my eyes, and nose! I saw cows, and mountain goats with there kids. The whole time only one other white person passed me on motorbike going the opposite way, all others were locals. I also passed a load of school kids, quite young, on there way home from school. They screamed with happiness as I passed them! I have them the peace sign.
Wow I had fun today, I'd love to take my bike all over Thailand and maybe to Cambodia and Laos but I am not sure if I can do that or not. Ill check into it. I think it makes traveling easier cause your not forced to take buses, which don't stop for hours on end. On bike, if one town looks stay worthy then you stay there, if not you keep on the road. You can play it by ear, while on bus you have to make up your mind where your going before you go there, no fun!
Tonight I'll probably go to bed relatively early because, as said before, driving saps you. Plus it's already dark outside so I can't really go out and see anything. Tha Ton shuts down early.
I'm going to go get a shake now. bye
p.s. - my nose still feels funny, same as this morning... it's one of those deep sinus plugged up feelings, almost painful. I hate those.
Time: 8:53pm - Tha Ton
I think it's bedtime now. I ate a crappy banana shake and a plain roti. I also realized that I no longer like roti. the late night snack that I tend to fancy these days is fried black sticky rice. mmm. Well it's actually barbecued, then they put raw sugar and sweetened condensed milk abd cut it up into bite sized pieces. It's a very strange looking food but the blandness of the rice and the sweetness of the sugar is such a nice combination. I'll get one when I get back to Pai tomorrow. I'll also be playing at Phu Pai at 8pm and bebop at 9:30pm.
After being so amazed at how fun today was I am going to try to make an effort to get out of Pai more, maybe take my bike to Mae Hong Song for a weekend. Cambodia will be a blast next month!
Bed is calling out to me, time to hear it's call!
night
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
Time: 6:50am, Tha Ton
I had the strangest dream tonight. One about invisible men that could control your mind. I was in this town and everyone didn't know it but they were invaded by invisible people that could control what was happening. Everything from your decisions to what the weather was like. I found out that you could see them in mirrors. I also found out that they were starting to build houses in the town also only visible in mirrors. A girl that also found out about the people had started looking for others that knew. She found me. It was like everyday was exactly the same, the weather, what people did. It was scary. The girl helped me get out of town, out of the range of the mind controllers. We got the army to come and help which didn't really work because some of them were taken over by the mind people. That's all I remember.
I'm going to take off now, and head back to Pai. Good thing I payed for my room last night or I would have to wait around for the owner to get up so I could pay. I should arrive in Pai by about 12 or 1 o'clock today! Well, depending of how many stops I make along the way, either way, should be a fun day. Hey, the last new sentences rhymed quite well, if I don't say
Time: 10:15am - On the side of a mountain in a cave!
I am so glad that I took the time to come to see this cave, the pictures and videos that I took can not do its beauty justice! The view from inside this thing is breathtaking! The sign at the base of the mountain where I parked my bike said that the tribes of this area used to bury their dead here. I can see remains of that, there are wooden coffins everywhere up here. Definitely a cool place to get laid to rest.
I don't think that I realized how high up I came until I reached the cave, now that I'm here I can see so far across the valley. I can see the other side, the mountains that make it up.
Time to head down now, I'm getting hungry and I need to go to the washroom! hahah
Oh I also hid my bag along the way because I was getting so exhausted carrying it up such a steep incline. I hope it's still there! My passport is in there, ahhh! I'm not worried though, I hid it good, and I haven't seen ANYONE of this hike yet today.
(me exhausted just before reaching the cave, a beautiful view from inside, the old wooden coffins)
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
Time: 1:20am - home
Well, if you were wondering why this journal is so battered up, now is the time where you will find out why! On my way back home I... (pen dies)
Time: 10:43am - home
Hahaha, thats pretty funny, the pen I was using died. I put it standing on its tip all night so I'm not sure how long she'll last me. Ill continue from where I left off last night...
One my way back home (on Tuesday) I saw a tiny little sign that lead me to a hike to a cave... oh wait you know of that already...
so after the cave I was driving on my bike really enjoying myself, (I really want to get a bike in the future) there was a downhill straight-away, I picked up a little too much speed. I was going to fast I'll admit. I was going about 80km/h coming around a right hand turn, I didn't see how sharp of a turn I was on. In the area at the time there is a lot of construction on the road, tons of gravel everywhere. The patch of gravel was on the left, basically the side of the road and I slowed down to about 40 or 30 maybe (I wasn't really staring at my speedometer at the time) before I hit the patch. I was breaking so hard, my back tire started fish tailing then I went down of my right side. I slid for about 10 or 15 feet, my bike sliding along beside me. At least I didn't hit the guardrail, that would have been really painful...
I stood up after and brushed myself off, looked at my body and I was basically perfectly fine! I did have some cuts and scrapes but nothing crippling and nothing of my face. My left hand got a decent dent it it from the stones and now it's fairly swollen, I couldn't play either of my gigs tonight (though i did sing some tunes with Chart at the 9:30 set, really fun just singing actually, not having to play an instrument!) My left knee is also fairly swollen, sometimes it hurts. My backpack has a strap around the middle of my chest that got pressed hard into me, I've got some road rash there. Those are the only places that I am visibly damaged. I feel a little banged and bruised. Im lucky...
Where my journal being damaged comes into play is here, my small bag with my journal, camera and some other stuff in it was in the basket of my bike (the basket is on top of the from wheel) The basket took a beating, it got pressed in, the journal was crushed in the process, my camera...... is fine!!
After the spill, I stood, standing felt okay. I sat down on the guardrail beside me, my bike still laying on the ground. A few vehicles passed me and kept on going, a couple passed as the crash was occurring, no one stopped. But Whatever, its okay.
I picked up my bike, it took a while to get it started, I guess it was just because it had been laying on its side for a couple of minutes. I didn't feel the scrape on my chest till I started driving again. Or the one on my knee.
The alignment on the steering is off now and the bike does feel a little shaky, I'm glad it didn't fall apart on the way back.
So yeah, thats my day yesterday, an interesting day...
Thanks for reading my post people, I really hope you enjoyed it.
Until next time,
Matt
Sunday, January 13th, 2008
Time: 4:04pm - Tha Ton
I just checked into my guest house, 200 Baht (6$) per night, private bathroom, classic hard ass bed!
The drive was stunning! It was so nice to take my bike (so far anyways...). Ill get up around 8am tomorrow then drive to Mae Sai(Burma), it takes 4 hours there and then 4 hours back to Tha Ton as well. Ill just keep this room for two nights and come back here tomorrow night. Then after that it's back to Pai!
Time: 7:57pm - Tha Ton
Since I last wrote I ventured up the road to the temple here. This one was beautiful, there was a giant Buddha image as well as many small statues and there was also this area below the temple where the stairs were built into the rock, very maze-ish. Fun being alone here too.
(some pictures from Tha Ton Temple)
(the view from up on the temple)
I then came back to my guest house, got some warmer cloths on then took my motorbike out to explore a little bit around Tha Ton. I found a field that had a wonderful scent blowing off of it with the wind towards me. It reminded me of Thai soup, well, it actually reminded me of a herb they use in the soup, as well as in many Thai dishes, I cant put my nose on it though.
I then came back to the guest house and ordered some food, Pad Gai Gratiem, which translates directly to Fried Chicken with Garlic. I sat and ate and talked to the owner of this guest house and some other people that were around. The owner is a funny Thai lady, mid-forties, fun and high-strung! Speaks good English as well. She complimented me on my Thai.
I also heard from those people that it only takes two hours to get to Mae Sai from here. So tomorrow I don't have to be in a rush to leave early or drive fast or anything. That will be nice as I was expecting 8 hours of driving in total. Now it will only be 4 hours! Woo!!
I am so tired right now, wow...I think driving just saps the energy our of you, which doesn't make sense because your just sitting on your ass doing nothing! Maybe it's the constant concentration on the road, who knows.
Monday, January 14th, 2008
Time: 8:20am - Tha Ton
I was the strangest feeling when I woke up this morning. I had no idea where I was but the feeling that I got screamed Gimli!! The bed, the sheets, the pillows, the morning light being filtered to a comforting red glow by the blinds, and the allergy attack! They all seemed to bring good memories of my family up at Gimli. I definitely miss my family right now, not sure why I'm feeling it now, but I'll welcome it. It feels to to miss home a little, gives me something to look forward to for going back home.
Today I'll go grab some breakfast then head out to Mae Sai to get my new visa stamp in my passport. Then it's "shoppING" tune (as the Thai's say it, they put the accent on ING in most words like that, eatING, runnING) then it's another two hours back to Tha Ton.
On the was back to Pai I'm going to try not to rush it. Try stopping along to was lots to see caves and cool stuff.
Breaky time!
Time: 6:12pm - Tha Ton
Just got back from Mae Sai! I had a blast today, definitely one of the best days of my trip so far! I drove straight to Mae Sai just to get it over with, the drive was beautiful. Once in Mae Sai I crossed the border, payed the 500B (10 bucks) entrance fee to enter Burma, then I went shopping in the vast Market.
(pics from Burma)
There was this one Burmese guy that was selling Cigarettes, Viagra and Porno dvds. He followed me around for about an hour. It actually started to be fun after the initial annoyance wore off. Nice chap! There are so many of those guys selling the same stuff. They have baskets attached to there bellies with numbers attached to the baskets. I think they might get there stuff form the same source and then get commission based on daily sales. I thought of a funny joke about what they sell. Kinda dirty tho...
You go to one place for all your needs! You get your Cigarettes to make you impotent, then you get your Viagra to bring 'er back into action then you watch your pornos! All your problems AND solutions from one Burmese basket salesman!
After shopping I left Burma to re-enter Thailand. I hopped on my bike, filler her up with 91 octane fule and then continued on my way back to Tha Ton. I took a different was home however, a much more curvey, elevated, and scenic route! I'll draw it out for you!
(now at this point if you were actually reading my journal you would gaze upon a pen drawn map, as i cant draw on here you get nothing so use your imagination!)
So yeah! That's my route! Doi Thung was neat, I love how they built temples on top of mountains here, they all have such amazing views from way up there!
(Doi Thung)
I absolutely loved Mae Salong, it was really interesting because it is on the ridge of a mountain range, the houses all sticking out from the side of the mountain, stilts making them level. I stopped at a little restaurant and guest house for some food (I didnt actually end up getting breaky!) it was called Little house. Totally reminded me of Little House on the Prairie but this was more like Little house of the mountain. I ate Pad Ka Pow Moo, Kai dow suk nit nawy (which translates to fried basil chili and pork with a sunny side up egg on top, I have an egg with every meal.. mmm) I also had a coke and some complimentary tea. I also chatted with the owner of the place for some time, a nice Thai fellow. He complimented my Thai as well!
(Mae Salong, my food and a funny sign!)
I was so impressed at the condition of the roads! Perfectly paved banked turns! The view was so good too, I can't even describe it properly. The best I can do it "vastly green, long stretching views, rolling mountains" The whole drive was a workout for my eyes, and nose! I saw cows, and mountain goats with there kids. The whole time only one other white person passed me on motorbike going the opposite way, all others were locals. I also passed a load of school kids, quite young, on there way home from school. They screamed with happiness as I passed them! I have them the peace sign.
Wow I had fun today, I'd love to take my bike all over Thailand and maybe to Cambodia and Laos but I am not sure if I can do that or not. Ill check into it. I think it makes traveling easier cause your not forced to take buses, which don't stop for hours on end. On bike, if one town looks stay worthy then you stay there, if not you keep on the road. You can play it by ear, while on bus you have to make up your mind where your going before you go there, no fun!
Tonight I'll probably go to bed relatively early because, as said before, driving saps you. Plus it's already dark outside so I can't really go out and see anything. Tha Ton shuts down early.
I'm going to go get a shake now. bye
p.s. - my nose still feels funny, same as this morning... it's one of those deep sinus plugged up feelings, almost painful. I hate those.
Time: 8:53pm - Tha Ton
I think it's bedtime now. I ate a crappy banana shake and a plain roti. I also realized that I no longer like roti. the late night snack that I tend to fancy these days is fried black sticky rice. mmm. Well it's actually barbecued, then they put raw sugar and sweetened condensed milk abd cut it up into bite sized pieces. It's a very strange looking food but the blandness of the rice and the sweetness of the sugar is such a nice combination. I'll get one when I get back to Pai tomorrow. I'll also be playing at Phu Pai at 8pm and bebop at 9:30pm.
After being so amazed at how fun today was I am going to try to make an effort to get out of Pai more, maybe take my bike to Mae Hong Song for a weekend. Cambodia will be a blast next month!
Bed is calling out to me, time to hear it's call!
night
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
Time: 6:50am, Tha Ton
I had the strangest dream tonight. One about invisible men that could control your mind. I was in this town and everyone didn't know it but they were invaded by invisible people that could control what was happening. Everything from your decisions to what the weather was like. I found out that you could see them in mirrors. I also found out that they were starting to build houses in the town also only visible in mirrors. A girl that also found out about the people had started looking for others that knew. She found me. It was like everyday was exactly the same, the weather, what people did. It was scary. The girl helped me get out of town, out of the range of the mind controllers. We got the army to come and help which didn't really work because some of them were taken over by the mind people. That's all I remember.
I'm going to take off now, and head back to Pai. Good thing I payed for my room last night or I would have to wait around for the owner to get up so I could pay. I should arrive in Pai by about 12 or 1 o'clock today! Well, depending of how many stops I make along the way, either way, should be a fun day. Hey, the last new sentences rhymed quite well, if I don't say
Time: 10:15am - On the side of a mountain in a cave!
I am so glad that I took the time to come to see this cave, the pictures and videos that I took can not do its beauty justice! The view from inside this thing is breathtaking! The sign at the base of the mountain where I parked my bike said that the tribes of this area used to bury their dead here. I can see remains of that, there are wooden coffins everywhere up here. Definitely a cool place to get laid to rest.
I don't think that I realized how high up I came until I reached the cave, now that I'm here I can see so far across the valley. I can see the other side, the mountains that make it up.
Time to head down now, I'm getting hungry and I need to go to the washroom! hahah
Oh I also hid my bag along the way because I was getting so exhausted carrying it up such a steep incline. I hope it's still there! My passport is in there, ahhh! I'm not worried though, I hid it good, and I haven't seen ANYONE of this hike yet today.
(me exhausted just before reaching the cave, a beautiful view from inside, the old wooden coffins)
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
Time: 1:20am - home
Well, if you were wondering why this journal is so battered up, now is the time where you will find out why! On my way back home I... (pen dies)
Time: 10:43am - home
Hahaha, thats pretty funny, the pen I was using died. I put it standing on its tip all night so I'm not sure how long she'll last me. Ill continue from where I left off last night...
One my way back home (on Tuesday) I saw a tiny little sign that lead me to a hike to a cave... oh wait you know of that already...
so after the cave I was driving on my bike really enjoying myself, (I really want to get a bike in the future) there was a downhill straight-away, I picked up a little too much speed. I was going to fast I'll admit. I was going about 80km/h coming around a right hand turn, I didn't see how sharp of a turn I was on. In the area at the time there is a lot of construction on the road, tons of gravel everywhere. The patch of gravel was on the left, basically the side of the road and I slowed down to about 40 or 30 maybe (I wasn't really staring at my speedometer at the time) before I hit the patch. I was breaking so hard, my back tire started fish tailing then I went down of my right side. I slid for about 10 or 15 feet, my bike sliding along beside me. At least I didn't hit the guardrail, that would have been really painful...
I stood up after and brushed myself off, looked at my body and I was basically perfectly fine! I did have some cuts and scrapes but nothing crippling and nothing of my face. My left hand got a decent dent it it from the stones and now it's fairly swollen, I couldn't play either of my gigs tonight (though i did sing some tunes with Chart at the 9:30 set, really fun just singing actually, not having to play an instrument!) My left knee is also fairly swollen, sometimes it hurts. My backpack has a strap around the middle of my chest that got pressed hard into me, I've got some road rash there. Those are the only places that I am visibly damaged. I feel a little banged and bruised. Im lucky...
Where my journal being damaged comes into play is here, my small bag with my journal, camera and some other stuff in it was in the basket of my bike (the basket is on top of the from wheel) The basket took a beating, it got pressed in, the journal was crushed in the process, my camera...... is fine!!
After the spill, I stood, standing felt okay. I sat down on the guardrail beside me, my bike still laying on the ground. A few vehicles passed me and kept on going, a couple passed as the crash was occurring, no one stopped. But Whatever, its okay.
I picked up my bike, it took a while to get it started, I guess it was just because it had been laying on its side for a couple of minutes. I didn't feel the scrape on my chest till I started driving again. Or the one on my knee.
The alignment on the steering is off now and the bike does feel a little shaky, I'm glad it didn't fall apart on the way back.
So yeah, thats my day yesterday, an interesting day...
Thanks for reading my post people, I really hope you enjoyed it.
Until next time,
Matt
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