Mae Meoy Tak

... it didn't feel fun at all to be packing up our bags and handing them over to be stored for the day, but alas! his is the nature of travel and Chiang Mai is one place we will most definitely be making it back to.

We spent most of the day lounging around and drinking coffee, I still can't get over how good the coffee is up her and wished that I had of picked up a bag, although we are ...

... the job. At this point I realize I might have dropped the phone out of my baggy pockets on the bus.

8:12 am – I call our phone and talk to a man who can only say "I have it" but all other efforts of communication are useless. I grab a taxi driver who can speak decent English off the street and get him to translate for me. I know already I’m going to pay extra for this. We settle a long debated deal for a cab ride there (and back) to the man with my ...

... br>A few days in, my initial culture, heat, sensory and emotional shock were subsiding and I couldn’t stop smiling, I was back in the country that I love so much, and am truly ecstatic to be back. My focus is reappearing and my mushy brain affected by the heat was thinking clearer again. I had my meeting with the Thai Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), the main aid organisation that works on the Thai-Burmese border. The meeting went brilliantly well, and it looks ...

... the other love of her life, cake. And I, my dear friends, am Mono. I need not explain this nickname to anyone with an ounce of intelligence, but alas WE ARE THE SUPER FRIENDS. What's that? You think it's "corny" do you? Well... yeah. You're right, but **** you. So, in our two nights in Bangkok, the world was still refusing to be our oyster, which prompted a quick move. We left our hotel early in order to catch the quickest bus to Pai, a hippy mecca in northern Thailand. Its known ...

... and ensuring everybody gets a fair cut. 'We' are about trying to prepare the local communities for tourism and how to utilize it to their advantage and spread the benefits equally. 'We' are about helping local communities lift themselves out of poverty by making a livelihood, its cliché but its true of what we're doing out here "teach a fisherman how to fish for a day and he feeds himself for life". Having ...

... some Pad Thai noodles from and this ended up being up one of the best Pad Thai meals yet - and only for 40 baht (less than $2!!). At least we thought it was good until Debbie discovered the dried shrimps that were mixed into the noodles. I wish we hadn't seen them. We are now finding we can eat very cheaply with most meals being under $2. And we have decided that it pays to watch too hard as they cook your meal ...

... painted faces roam the streets. There is lots to see and do there, and maybe a way our two can give a little back to the local people. HE SAID: Everywhere we go we seem to enjoy ourselves. We were a little nervous heading out to Mae Sot, as it is definitely more of a "fringe" town... and we had been in more major destination up to this point. Mae Sot is located right on the Myanmar border (ah... Summers in Rangoon... we used to make meat helmets...) and apparently ...

... can only do this twice due to new visa regulations. But it saves us $100 and two trips back to Bangkok. Maesot is right on the Thai-Myanmar (Burma) border and our guidebook said it is a frequented crossing point. We hung out for a few days, enjoyed a decent hotel room with hot water and good water pressure, and a town with readily available food and people willing to serve us. We had initially thought about spending a week or two in Myanmar and ...

... in the moving water. We saw thick jungle with pockets of rice paddies and grazing cattle. Aside from the dangerous dirt roads, inclines that were terrifying while both ascending and descending, and the various brushes with death, it was a beautiful afternoon. We rode back into town jostled to exhaustion. Lindsey had spent the last several hours alternating between walking down hills that terrified her too much to attempt on the bike, and squeezing me and holding on ...

... There were several dozen mosquitos hovering in clouds around the room. Lindsey started clapping and stomping her feet, East Texas hoe-down style, and sending many of the tiny insects to their death. I inspected the bathroom, which was full of standing water and provided a nice home for a plethora of insects. I quickly retreated back into the bedroom, carrying with me many of the mosquitos that had attached themselves to my flesh. I did ...