Tea Vana Chiang Mai

... br>After an hour of this we'd done our bit of hard work for the day and set off on our morning walk. We took off this time with some food buckets as a morning treat for the ele's. This was good fun as they were all feeling mischievous. It was a bit of a nature trail as we had to save a cow from a dog that wouldn't stop barking in her face oh and lj spotted a snake slithering in the grass causing the aussies in the group to panic. We sat out ...

Mae Sot has a lot more too it than initially meets the eye. Last time I was in Thailand I only passed through for one day. This time I discovered the town a little more. It is an odd fusion of East meets West, Burma and Thailand, local and foreign, a market where you don't know if it’s a grocery stall or a pet shop, food that jumps at you, and makes noises, from gem dealers, to drug and people trafficking. Walking past "impoverished" thatch ...

... plaza, havnt been doing much sight seeing yet, plan to go doi suhtep again soon to show kris the scenery

weekedn of the 4th october we went to party on a Buffaloo farm, Full Moon Party, very fun

have seen lots of crazy bugs, including a rhino beetle, centapeid, scorpian, atlas moth

... or was determined to get more money, cos she bought me a Jack Daniels and coke when I ordered a diet coke. Still, it went down a treat! There were about six matches in all. The first fighers looked about 12! The boxing is intriguing - very ritualistic - they do dances and bless the ring before the fight. Most of the rounds are very quick and frantic. The girl fighers were particularly amazing and very scary looking! They had one girl over from the UK to fight ...

... hill of the city so we got some great views. We also went to Wat Chedi Luang where the Intakin festival was on - there were lots of school parties wandering around offering flowers and ringing the bells around the beautiful old temple building. Then in one of the buildings there was a dead monk in a box, apparently preserved because he did a lot of meditation during his life, that was just a little creepy!
We also visited the beautiful Wat Phra ...

... were doing relatively very well, about 13th team from 32 and looking reasonably happy considering. Run back up the mountain, past a waterfall. This was really tough again, with cramping starting to set well and truly in for Hamish (after drinking 8 liters so far and no toilet stops required). Some rock climbing using ropes and bamboo ladders then a run back down the mountain) and Gav's knee waiting for pain killers to kick in. Swim for a few hundred meters back to our bike and ...

... that I have a bathing suit on and did not bring my shoes. Well, one Dutch guy (Guava) was on our raft and the other (Strawberry) was with the guys from England (Apple and Lychee), so it became an all out water war whenever we were close. Strawberry had a paddle, so he was really able to soak us. There were a few attempts to tip the other raft, but was never successful. Our own paddler tried to tip us out a couple of times too. At one point we were able to steal Strawberry's ...

Woke up and immediately made a split decision. While I enjoy SE Asia a lot, the 'been there done that' feeling has kicked in big time, and I'm already getting sick of being herded about like tourist cattle, as feels somewhat unavoidable in this part of the world. With that in mind, it was clear that the best option would be to forget Muang Sing (regrettable) and get to Thailand and therefore to Nepal as quickly as possible. Completely ...

... Viet Nam, you will find guesthouses in villages and an equal amount of Westerners as Thais. Recently coming from Luang Prabang, Lao, where the tourism is both eco- and culturally friendly, I found Chiang Mai to be a disappointment. However, we still found some good times. Sarah, Mary and I made our way to Chiang Mai from Vientiane via the overnight bus. Other than my reflections on Brad/Esther and Lao (discussed in the previous entry), this ride ...

... with a lady who came to clean up the dirty dishes. When I walked out Vicky was telling everyone that she had what I though was a godson that age. Now Vicky did look about 30 and had spent the last year traveling all over the world, from South America to China and Tibet. There was a weird silence and it then registered that she had said that she had a grandson that age. She explained after that she got pregnant very young, always wanted to go traveling and once her daughter ...