Yukhari Tak

... starting to get lot's and lot's of random stuff to bring home.<br><br>We were back at the guesthouse at about 1730 and at about 1815 the mini bus rolled up to take us to the bus stop. Everyone inside the mini van looked just as sullen as us about making the journey overnight in what was sure to be a bust struggling to stay on the road driven by a 12 year old wearing a back to front.<br ...

... puddles, motor squealing, passing UN trucks and refugee clinics&#8230;.yes I was back on the Thai-Burma border in the frontier town of Mae Sot. It really is an Asian version of a Wild West movie. Thailand is already a country of extremes, where most things go; where you can smoke and drink next to the pumps in a "bar&#8221; that is a Shell petrol station by day. Where there seemingly is lil law but so much tradition and custom. Yet on the border all these things seam ...

... thought that 7eleven could only be found on a random street corner in New Jersey you were dead wrong. 7eleven has become our American embassy, providing us with the closest similarities to sustenance (i.e. junk food). They do, however, carry a variety of weird, bizarre and somewhat disgusting/inedible things, but I'll save that for a tad bit later. So, the "Super Friends," as we like to call ourselves, had reunited and it was fantastic. Yeah, we all have nicknames. Collin is known as ...

... 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 ...

My $6 bus ride to Chiang Mai was coordinated with a few new German friends staying at the same place. Not too much pain on this ride given the A/C and limited stops. A few hours after reaching the city, I ventured out to the popular and jam-packed night bazaar with a British girl I met in the guesthouse lounging area who already knew her way around the city. There were at least 300 stalls, selling all types of ...

... not our problem and asked to be moved. It was a shame really because our new room and the rest of the place was spotless. In the morning we headed to Old Sukhothai Historical park and rented bicycles to get us around, a bargain at 20B! There are a number of ruins at the park, which also hosts the Loi Krathong festival around this time for the end of the monsoon season, so ...

... I can get him a school uniform from Mae Sot. A strange request, I think, wouldn't he prefer a book? But anyway I promise him I'll look for one his size. We walk around and I realize I've missed the last bus home. Foreigners aren't allowed to spend the night, but my new friend invites me to sleep at his house, provided we can get permission from his district leader. His house is high on the steep hill. We eat some rice and take showers, which consist of a bucket ...

... in the mud. Young men play volleyball or guitars. Women mind small shops selling out-of-date canned goods, various vegetables, and mostly warm soft drinks. We walk to Khangsai's brother's house to meet her family. They offer me a heaping bowl of rice and fish paste and I try to politely explain that while I'm grateful for their hospitality, I really shouldn't be eating from their rations. But it's always the poorest who seem to give the most, and they insist. I give her ...

We took a song thaew, (a sort of truck/bus) with barrels of fish up the aisle, to Old Sukhotai (we were staying in New Sukhotai). When we got there we hired bikes and cycled around a big 'park' area that contained the ruins of about 20 temples. There were more Buddhas than you could shake a ...

... Mae Sot would find any one to share the 800baht fee with us (Which turned to 600 pretty fast, but still much to expensive for our taste) We debated sleeping in Tak or hanging out at the bus station, Internet, food, all options came to mind. Eventually we got motorcycle taxis to take us to the Internet, then went for a bite to eat. Tak isn't as bad as the guide books make it out to be and we found a rather nice night market with a ...