week 14 (and whatever's left)

god it's cold in this country. this is the last post of this leg of the travel blog.. i hope it has in some way encouraged people to travel.

one last round of pictures is up from australia. thanks for reading.


Dec 3rd.

up early to switch guesthouses, i find something suitable and settle in. next is the famed bangkok chatuchak market. i barely had to navigate as the crowd simply led me straight to it. once inside, navigation became increasingly difficult. narrow passageways link the blocks of booths together in a rough grid pattern. traffic is stifling and footwork is key unless you're happy to push and barge your way to the next place. the variety of products is like nothing i've ever seen. art, furniture, trinkets, souvenirs, clothes, leather, food, even a huge pet section.

though i was lost by the end, i must have walked through at least two thirds of the place in 4 hours. content with my purchases, though they weren't much, i leave sweating and dragging my feet. it was heaven to lay back and put up my feet back at the room.


Dec 4th.

slept in and skipped breakfast. the first thing i ingest is a sip of heineken waiting for lunch to arrive. i head to the thai royal palace and pay a gouging admission fee. drifted around for and hour snapping photos of whatever captured my attention. the place was packed with tourists because the king's birthday was the next day. it all became tiresome and a riotous tuk tuk ride through traffic in bangkok took me back to the guesthouse.

a meal of spicy basil chicken cleared my sinuses and i relaxed back in my room watching the asean games.


Dec 5th.

i fly out of bankok without too much trouble and am in singapore by 3pm. danielle was still in hanoi at this morning after losing her passport. it's a toss up as to whether she'll actually make it and if she misses her flight from singapore it would cost her another fortune to make her way back missing a chain of flights. when i check in they ask if we're travelling together and they confirm that she is in fact somewhere at the singapore airport. hours later at the gate to our flight, we reunite and laugh out a sigh of relief. her story is one for the books, but it's really not mine to tell here.


Dec 6th.

served breakfast at 4:30 local time on the plane... or 1:30am as we felt it. i can't get to sleep and will greet melbourne with dry red eyes and a sick look on my face. while i fly on ahead to the sunshine coast, danielle is retrieving her belongings stowed in melbourne and we'll me later today in noosa.

with a heavy load on my back, i walk out of the small airport outside of noosa to the local bus stop. a few ginger beers and book shopping tides me over until danielle arrives with her friend G to pick me up.

at g's house, it was straight into the beer and we headed out for a late pizza dinner that was exquisite following our asian pizza experiences. later we hit a dirty dance bar that had a decent live band and celebrated our return to "western" culture.


Dec 7th.

i sleep in till about noon with the alcohol in my blood adding to the jetlag of a 4 hour time zone transition. danielle headed out with the crew from breakfast and surfing. we chill out, cook up some good food and crash at a reasonable hour.


Dec 8th.

a leisurely approach to the day, we head to the national park beach with g in the afternoon and i try surfing for the first time. i only managed to catch a few waves and made one poor attempt to stand up. the surf itself is incredible. long and straight, 3 feet high, curling over from left to right into shore. 50 or so surfers bobbing and paddling amongst the breaks in the perfect blue water.

those first few waves i catch surprise me with their power and speed, and it's enough to concentrate just on holding the board.


Dec 9th.

in no rush, we head to another suburb of noosa renowned for its weekend market. danielle bought a new handkerchief, but we were in shock over the prices and my wallet stayed hidden. when we ere ready to leave, the bus decided not to come as it was listed and danielle stuck out her thumb for a while before a kind local woman picked us up and took us back to noosaville. grabbed some groceries and booze and danielle unwittingly attempts to quench her thirst with a carton of mango/orange concentrate...


Dec 10th.

without so much as a moment to change my shirt, i was awake and getting a ride into town. had a wild breakfast of mexican eggs (avec jalepenos) and quesadilla. we checked out the surf and went for a walk in the national park to check out martin's "ladder tree". along the way there we stopped at a busy beach and did some crazy bodysurfing in big waves. by the end i was tired and lazy and the waves were sending me tumbling all over. try as i might to shake it out, the water in my ears never came out of my ears... but it poured freely from my nose.


Dec 11th.

making our way back to the airport for our flight to sydney, we're dropped off by the local bus 2km from the terminal and we hike in with 50kg between the two of us. i've never looked so fondly at a luggage cart. in sydney we check in and head to the harbour to see the opera house and bridge in the rain. a "cheap" meal of singapore noodles holds me over till morning.


Dec 12th.

AC34 leaves sydney international 20 minutes late as we wait for all passengers to make it through security check and re-check. come lunch time danielle and i are into the booze. at this point we'll be in canada in 12 hours. i watch for the sunset from our midsection seat but as the plane flies east, away from the sun at 900km/h the sky goes black in an instant.

week thirteen

sunshine coast is living up to its name.. it couldn't be more beautiful and breezy on the central east coast of australia.


Nov 26th.

day trip to a cuc phuong national park. a leg-numbing 45km moto ride takes us to the park with beautiful views of the rural landscape and agriculture. the attraction to the park was a primate rescue centre which houses displaced or orphaned langurs and gibbons. we weren't allowed to linger too long, but it as mezmorizing to watch the amazing creatures swing skillfully through the air back and forth in their cages.

from the park we moved on to the ancient vietnam capitol from around 1000 years ago named hoa lu. the area had many industrious children who gave us impromtu tours through the ruins despite speaking little english.


Nov 27th.

slept in till 6:35am but had to catch a bus to halong city which we were assured would leave no later than 7am. arriving by moto with minutes to spare but had a surprisingly difficult to explain that we did not in fact want to go to hanoi.

in halong bay, without a map.. we bump into a guesthouse owner who hooks us up with a room and an immediate boat tour of the bay which is reknowned for its rock formations. $35US not only gets both passage on a 6 hour voyage, but as we later discovered, charters the entire 40 seat boat just for the two of us.

we forgot books and cards, so the ride gave danielle and i a chance to catch up on a few of the finer details in each others' lives. the bay was spectacular and it was dark when we finally returned to land to wander around town.


Nov 28th.

on to hanoi via a bumpy back-of-the-bus ride that takes us into rush hour in the city. a couple of motos get us to our seedy hostel and a we take a walk to get to know our area of town.


Nov 29th.

an extensive search for more tailored goods yeilds nothing, and instead we find a $10 bottle of bacardi that was tempting enough to purchase. hanoi is a smaller copy of ho chi minh city in its wild moto traffic and intricate back alleys packed with action.


Nov 30th.

visited the temple of literature dedicated to confucianism, one of the first universities in vietnam. the ho chi minh museum turned out to be one of the most interesting of all southeast asia. the elaborate display style and symbolism used were very impressive... an unexpected treat.


Dec 1st.

headed to a free-trade craft store. danielle buys an interesting piece for over 1million dong and we pick up a few other trinkets.

caught a performance of water puppetry which was intensely interesting at the beginning, but i lost the ability to keep my eyes open at some point.

we browse a lively street market but nothing catches my eye -- we head back to the guesthouse to tap the rum.


Dec 2nd.

******** ******.

it takes 3 hours of wandering around the streets in bangkok before settling in a cheap room, and one of very few available. it's musty and uncomfortable, but it does the job for the night. of course on the first night back in thailand i went straight back into the pad thai and devoured it at an inhuman speed.

week twelve

more pics from vietnam up.

Nov 19th.

the vietnamese national history museum was closed until we'd planned to be on the road.. so we skipped over to the war remnants museum (formerly the museum of american atrocities). a massive collection of vietnam war photos immersed us in the horror of combat. an equally large collection of photos showed the effects of agent orange, napalm and other substances that affected innumerable civilians.


Nov 20th.

joined a tour to see two sites in the area around saigon. the first was a caodai temple (more like a compound) that houses a young religion/cult founded in the 1920s. the cult appointed the long deceased french poet victor hugo as "spiritual chief of the foreign missions of caodaism".

the second site was the infamous cu chi tunnels which were used by communist guerillas to fight the americans and south vietnamese. the tunnels were extremely effective in sneak attacks but were bombed to smitherenes after they caused enough casualties... parts of the 200km network have been reconstructed and we ventured in. tiny crawlspace, difficult to breath and really dirty.


Nov 21st.

day trip to the mekong delta. we see a boring floating market as well as the popping of rice which then forms the main ingredient in some home-style rice crispy squares. free snacks preceded a fried fish lunch which we're sure must have been from the dirty mekong.

arriving back in saigon, we're ready to move on and our overnight train to danang awaits.


Nov 22nd.

watched 4 hours of landscape go by as we arrive in danang in the afternoon. the train food is nasty so we relish our banana crisps bought at the mekong delta. a quick ride takes us to hoi an, a small town known for not much other than a beach and custom tailoring. if you tossed a stone half heartedly in any direction, you'd hit 3 different tailoring shops. they line the streets and the workers sometimes try to rope you in to their stores from across the street.. it's unfathomable.


Nov 23rd.

and so we oblige. i get a blue shirt done up and we head to the beach on rented bikes while they work on our stuff. the sea air is great.. the water is gorgeous and we get some sun. danielle has a chuckle with one of the old ladies selling snacks about her "ooh la la" painted toes...


Nov 24th.

a cab takes us to the marble mountains near danang on our way to the train station.

the mountains are aptly named as huge marble sculptures line the streets around the site. one after another, literally hundreds of marble carving souvenir shops are selling seemingly the exact same designs at "foreigner" prices.

the hike up the mountain is aided by a stone staircase completed entirely without a level if any measurement at all. and it shows. at the top, there are caves cut into the mountains that display the natural, colourful rock. after climbing a bit higher, we're afforded an incredible view of the south china sea and the never-ending beach streching across the horizon with the city of danang far below.

at the train station, the only available train is at 5:40 and its sleeper section was mostly sold out. we would be on the top bunks in a 3-level, 6-person cabin. no problem. and then we saw it. 6 feet in the air -- lateral with the fan on the celing, 2 high steps, a handle and a deft ass swing up.

the other 4 bunks were occupied by 7 people including 3 loud children. fighting back both laughter and tears, we climb in, and crawl into position, with me completely unable to sit up. leaning back on one elbow to eat our dinner of a cheese baguette, we surveyed our surroundings more intently with silent dread.

the bunks were a steel frame filled with a wooden slab and a thin straw thatched mat to hold that old crooked spine in shape. the fan provided no relief from the sweat that took us, but it did kill hundreds of bugs in its blades that were congregating in the flourescent light positioned at our midriffs.

if i hadn't been coughing due to a flu bug, rather, healthy like danielle, i may have slept for half of the 15-hour trip. as it stood, i have no idea how much sleep i had. i tossed and turned and it never provided any relief from the previous arrangement.

i stumbled of the train at ninh binh, more sick, exhausted and now, sore.


Nov 25th.

after checking in, we jump on the back of our umpteenth moto of the trip and headed out on a tour of the area around ninh binh. we were dropped off at a row boat that took us down a waterway set between huge rock bluffs and it made for a very peaceful afternoon.

the town children were amazingly friendly when they saw us riding by on the bikes. some waved from the roadside, and others yelled hello from the fields or their doorways.

week eleven

it's gorgeous day in danang as we wait for our train to arrive this evening... (new photos up)


Nov 12th.

make our way in the afternoon to a famous park containing hundreds of hindu and buddhist statues. the most amazing piece is a giant sphere topped by a bodhi tree. and containing 3 levels within, each with hundreads of statues inside. the lowest level seems to depict hell, with statues impaled, hung and being eaten by others.

wandering around we're approached by a monk who speaks some english and he's happy to show us around and provide the mythical context of the art. his name is bang (pronounced bong) and he invites us to his monastery to continue our conversation and practice his english.

when we arrive after dinner, he is waiting for us and takes us into his quarters which he shares with one other young monk. there is a desk and one chair with a tiny wood frame bed. there is no indication of his roommate apart from a small stack of linens as he sleeps on the floor, and uses the same desk. bang's belongings are stored in a row of buckets along the wall and he has a stack of books on english grammar and translation dictionaries -- he wants to teach english when he graduates university and is clearly passionate about it.

we're joined later by 2 other monks who spotted us through a crack in the door and at 10pm we say a farewell as the monks all awake at 4am and we didn't want to overstay our welcome. we left with smiles on our faces and agreed it was a milestone evening for the trip.


Nov 13th.

having decided to change our route to head to cambodia on the chance of catching a wedding we'd been invited to in siem reap, we fly from vientiane to phnom penh, the capitol of cambodia.

we took a luxurious vehicle with four wheels that was labelled "taxi" to our guesthouse.. something we hadn't seen since malaysia and briefly in bangkok. our room had cable tv and the restaurant attached delivered us dinner in our room while we watched the movie/discovery channel.


Nov 14th.

the national museum of cambodia, much like that of laos, was poorly organized and lacked any comprehensive documentation. many of their relics were defaced with numbers, whether painted or engraved for indexing. and most surprisingly, there was no recent history included at all (from the past 2 centuries).

from there we head to the chillingly dubbed "killing fields of choeng ek. a disturbing tour explained to us the executions and mass graves found at the site. an estimated 20 thousand people had been subject to brutal murders with axes and bamboo stalks while babies were bashed against one huge tree trunk that was marked to that effect. this was all done by the hands of the "ultra communist" khmer rouge soldiers in the mid 1970s. it was uplifting however, that the area seemed flooded with butterflys.

at the internet cafe, i become engrossed with technical difficulties and leave my camera unattended for 20 minutes on one of the desks and i'll never see it again. at least 50 pictures lost.. mainly nisha restaurant, buddha park, and the killing fields of the same day.

on our way home we got totally lost, both jumped on the back of a motorbike with a man who didn't speak a word of english and somehow arrived back at the hostel after a thorough tour of the rest of the city.


Nov 15th.

determined to move on to siem reap, we visit a detention camp in the morning and plan to take a bus in the afternoon.

formerly a high school, the site bears a chilling account of what horrible acts we are capable of inflicting. at tuol sleng, under the khmer rouge, tens of thousands of cambodians were interrogated, abused, raped and tortured until they provided all information about their lives as well as false testimony against themselves. afterward, they and their entire families were sent to be executed at killing fields.

not wanting to visit angkor without a camera, i use an hour before our bus trying to find something suitable. as if a gift from buddha or vishnu, i find the exact same model i lost, and switch from black to silver for the cost of a new camera. c'est la vie.

as i pay, i realize i still have our room key that danielle must have needed to check out of our room. the clock was ticking on our bus and i frantically find a motorbike back to the hostel to find danielle waiting. our room had no spare key and she'd been out looking for me in the market, but there was no time for talk and we arrived back at the bus station by moto right on time to sit on the bus and wait as it departed 30 minutes late.


Nov 16th.

at 4:50am we snap to and toss ourselves out of the room. why? to get to ankor wat for the highly recommended sunrise. our tour involved the largest sites of the ancient city of angkor including the temple (wat), the royal palace (in angkor thom), the university (preah khan) and a few others.

the stone structures are enormous and intricate, but are only a shadow of their former glory. the restoration of some parts gives an impression of the majesty in the detailed stonework. i make immediate use of my new/familiar camera and in 5 hours, i'm already running on low battery.


Nov 17th.

not having heard from the friends we made in luang prabang about where we could find their wedding, we decide to leave the very expensive, posh city of siem reap in favour of extending our time in vietnam to 2 weeks. a bus takes us back to phnom penh and we stay the night to catch the morning bus to ho chi minh city (saigon).

on our way to phnom penh, our in-transit entertainment is a music video dvd featuring cambodian(?) r&b and hip hop. a local man on the bus offers us fried frogs and we chow them down like troopers.. when i declined on seconds, danielle picked up the slack and ate another.


Nov 18th.

a long, but comfortable bus ride sees us into HCMC by 3pm. we are quickly snagged by a hotel pusher and wisked into the backalleys between the streets. the narrow passage is lined with people cooking, lounging, gabbing... doors to the street are wide open and provide glances of the male domain either lying on the floor, hammock or couch, invariably watching football (soccer to you).

for just over $7/night, we take a gorgeous room with 2 large beds and french doors opening to a balcony overlooking the alleyway with a view of the sunset. we test out the local beer with dinner and call it a night.

week ten

good morning saigon.. it's a sunny 35 degrees here and we're trying not to enjoy it too much.

the bad news is that i've had my camera stolen and had to buy another. this means about 1 week of photos were lost and some jerk in cambodia is wondering why anyone would want a picture of nisha restaurant. (you'll understand shortly)


Nov 6th.

three of us and our guide, vong are hung over, and we head out on a tour of the plain of jars sites. the jars are mystifying but repetitive. at one site 2 jars have been split open by a tree growing inside. some bear engravings of human form and other designs.

for the 3rd night in a row we go to nisha restaurant for indian food. this made possible because nisha has 3 branches across laos run by relatives from india. the third of the set is located at our next destination, vang vieng.


Nov 7th.

the bus to vang vieng leaves at 7:30am and we arrive at 2pm. famished because we skipped lunch, we stumble into the street in search of nisha... and miraculously, it appears right in front of us.

afterward we head to the internet cafe for a session and head to bed early to prepare for a big day of river tubing.


Nov 8th.

river tubing may seem like fun depending on the river but in our case it was downright dangerous. if not for the steady current and hidden rocks beneath the surface, then by the insane number of bars encouraging heavy drinking and sporting enormous booms to swing out over the water from high platforms.

it was all laughs and beers until dusk. when darkness set in, the river was suddenly black and difficult to navigate. the stress of figuring out where and how to dock in the moonlight may have sobered us up a bit, but not for long.

at the guesthouse we continued headlong through more laolao and beerlao being passed to us insistently by the locals. danielle was completely immobilized by 10pm and i headed back out in search of food. instead i ran back into the locals and drank more with them as they quizzed me on canada and english. at some point i found some pad thai and made my way back to the room after 12 hours of booze and crashed.


Nov 9th.

Danielle is stationed in bed until the evening. i get up around 1pm feeling queasy, but peckish. i make a slow recovery and spend a few hours on the net.


Nov 10th.

in the morning, take a local bus to the capitol of laos, vientiane. the bus is in terrible shape. the seats are either mounted crooked or are nearly not bolted to the floor at all. even the seat pads are sliding around freely as they are not properly secured to their frame. worst of all, the road is littered with pot holes and construction and our bus has no shock suspension system to speak of.

in vientiane, we run into our friends from the yukon who also joined us river tubing. it seems our paths will diverge soon so we leave saying we're sure that we'll see them again some place.


Nov 11th.

the national museum of laos in vientiane is a basic history record with short descriptions in english and takes us no more than an hour to view in full. the highlight, sadly to say is some confiscated narcotics on display for no clear reason which includes a kilo of heroin, a package of opium and a brick of marijuana.

that evening we drop into an english pub for beers and a game of pool. i'm challenged by a local woman and i choke on a free shot on the 8 ball after she'd already scratched on it. i am now 0-2 in international play.

week nine

another hangover day to kill so it's time for another typing extravaganza.

Oct 31st.

our second day with the rental motorbikes, we head to a hot spring where we're turned away by an expensive entry fee and head to a waterfall instead. on the way, the paved road turns into dirt, the dirt into pot holes and then turns into a winding footpath that is no longer navigable on the bikes.. so we abort and head back to the gorgeous canyon to catch the sunset.

great indian food for dinner and we lazed the rest of the evening away.


Nov 1st.

game plan is to head to lao as soon as possible which turns out to be the overnight bus tonight to the northern border.

we spend our time waiting around in different stores and cafes as we have already checked out of our room. i am compelled to have one more good pad thai before leaving thailand and danielle burns a lay of skin off her mouth on the "thai spicy herb salad".

couldn't resist a grand opening of an ice cream store where we're amazed by their home made recipe.

when it comes time to board our bus we're happy to see it.... 6 hours of winding road and discomfort result in sleep deprivation and irritability.


Nov 2nd.

at 5am we're dumped at some guest house near the border and sleep on mats in a common area until awakened by activity. the border crossing was confusing and expensive, but went smoothly. faced with the option of getting to our destination by 14 hours more bus or riverboat, we choose boat. and what better way to travel down a large, winding, choppy river than at top speed, white knuckled and wedged into a space no bigger than 18 inches deep, 20 inches wide and 30 inches long. another 6 hours and a sore ass later, the lao city of luang prabang is reached where our river joins the infamous mekong.


Nov 3rd.

breakfast is served at a well built restaurant and everything comes with a baguette. bakery shops and european style alleyways are of distinctively french influence.

we take a walk to the royal palace museum and take in some history and contemporary art. after a siesta, we grab a bite to eat and go out for a few beerlao in search of another canadian we met on the boat.


Nov 4th.

a bit burnt out, we have our brunch baguette sandwich and rent bikes to explore the area some more. it seems there is a temple/monastery every two blocks and we stop for a closer look at the ones in good repair.

the last order of business was to head to the top of a large hill in town on which an impressive golden temple sits. the 300 some steps were worth the view of the city perched on the bank of the mekong.


Nov 5th.

bus leaves at 8:30am so we're in a rush and i forget to turn in our room key after paying for the hostel. a panicked guesthouse rep knocks on my window on the bus, much to my confusion.

having sorted out the key, we're off at a painfully slow rate climbing and weaving through the beautiful hills of northern laos. curious eyes fall on us as the bus storms through roadside villages in the hills. some of the children smile and wave and some look sullen.

8 hours pass before we arrive at phonsavon into a frenzy of guesthouse pushers offering free rides and hot shower. a canadian couple from the yukon whom we met in thailand are on our bus, so we all head out for some spicy indian food.

afterward my memory gets hazy.. 4 large beerlao between us at dinner, then we're invited by some locals and our tour guide to drink laolao (rice whisky with all sorts of herbs, mushrooms, insects, etc swilling around inside).

shots and beers and shots and beers... armwrestling.. and when it was all said and done, we were locked out of our guesthouse. banging on the door didn't help so i got the phone number off the sign and had someone call for me and open sesame.... SLEEP

week eight

greetings from laos. the latest of the typing exercises for your indigestion. (pics up)

Oct 23rd.

our new guest house is run by a friendly crew who run their own cooking classes and jungle treks. danielle and i are immediately sold and we sign on for both. tomorrow is cooking and the day after we plan to do a 3-day trek.

with the afternoon we make our way to a temple that overlooks chiang mai from a mountainside. it is packed with tourists and the main attraction is an entirely gold spire in the centre of a square lind with statues and donation bowls.

danielle craved chickpeas and naan for dinner and we combed the streets until we came across the perfect place playing indian music and decorated with rock posters including kiss, jim morrison, zeppelin, etc.. danielle got her chickpeas and i the chicken korma... exquisite meal and we were stuffed and feeling great about life and our luck.

downed a couple of beers before making our way just down the street to see the heavily promoted local muay thai boxing match. the fighters were wirey and young but tenacious and brutal. we picked our boxers and wagered shots. from our front row spot we got the real experience with spray from the punches hitting us as the local fans yelled out in time with the landing blows.


Oct 24th.

thai cooking: our group of 7 travellers were escorted through the largest food market in chiang mai and introduced to the local produce. afterward we cooked a number of delicious dishes ourselves and were able to save them at the guest house to be warmed up later. the group consisted of the same people who signed up for the trek with us and we all took the opportunity to get acquianted and have a few laughs.


Oct 25th.

one of our comrades has fallen ill overnight (bad chef?) and we postpone the trip for a day. i take advantage by heading back to bed after breakfast and finishing jack kerouac's 'on the road' just as i came across catch 22 at the book swap here, which was on my list.


Oct 26th.

trek: day 1

after a 3 hour ride into the hills in north thailand we begin a 3 hour hike along a mountainous jungle ridgeline with spectacular views. came across some orchids, spiders and water buffalo along the way.

the hill tribe village was tiny and modest. there is no electricity but they do have running water and well built shacks.

our sarcastic guide, nai cooked a green curry for dinner and some squash with egg. after, the kids came to serenade us in return for various gifts we were advised to bring. between different thai songs, they sang happy birthday, jingle bells and even kumbaya. then their mothers descended on our table with all of their handicrafts of braclets and woven works for sale.

while we drank a beer i played a game of hearts with our new dutch friends and a goofy isreali girl who lost miserably.


Oct 29th.

trek: day 2

(chorus of rooster calls)

hard boiled eggs and toast for breakfast and a long day ahead of us. 4 hour trek with some big climbs and downhills but nothing compared to the gruelling hike we took on in malaysia. i spend alot of time chatting with nai about thailand and canada. i discover at lunch that i picked up a passenger stepping in a stream. the leech bite bled for about 20mins before it scabbed, but it reopened as soon as we stepped into the water again getting on our bamboo rafts.

rafting was exciting with our young tribal thai captain guiding us and signalling which direction to push with our long bamboo poles. it was all going very casual and smoothly until the raft slid half onto a rock a in a small set of rapids and we all clung to the high edge as the other side slid steeply under the water and then righted itself after the current pushed us over it. afterward we confessed it was a welcome shot of adrenaline.

the new village was more modern with a paved road, cold beer and some very curious children running around.

for dinner we devour a sweet and sour pork and curried potatoes. another market session ensued and our tired comrades headed to bed. danielle and i strike up a conversation with one of the hollanders about ethnicity and geopolitics.


Oct 28th.

trek: day 3

elephant ride after similar breakfast. our elephant is a delinquent old female who stops dozens of times and runs me through some nasty overhanging foliage (danielle somehow escaped incident on the left side).

next we're taken to an ancient cave with lots of interesting rock formations including stalactites and stalagmites. a sleepy hour ride back took us back to chiang mai to rest our heads but danielle made sure we were well fed as we headed back to the indian restaurant for more chickpeas.


Oct 29th.

as planned, we arise staggeringly early to give alms to the monks who roam the streets in the mornings with offering bowls. the apples and oranges seemed to go over well and we returned to our room for more shut-eye and end up checking out late. a bus takes us to pai in the afternoon and we search around pai after dusk for accomodation.

grabbed some good thai food for dinner and hit up a nice mobile liquor bar for our kicks.


Oct 30th.

up late and grab breakfast. drop off our laundry before renting some motorbikes to tour around pai with. only a few close calls to speak of, we manage to get to a beautiful waterfall and a canyon only a few km from town.

had my worst pad thai experience when we hit up a booth style restaurant and my "chicken" pad thai came mixed with chopped up shrimp bits, heads, tails, shell....

washed it down with a kebab on the street and later snuck a midnight snack of chocolate banana roti that saved us from the doom of the 2 thai buckets we drank.