48 hours of Chaing Mai----and a MOTORBIKE....

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  Chiang Mai, Thailand
Monday, November 10, 2008

OK .. I am wide awake right now from a little afternoon nap, and you all back at home are waking up for the start of the work week, so I hope this little story will start your work week on a good note, and each day or so you can start your day by reading this blog, rather than an email from your boss asking you to answere a question you probably already answered at the end of the week .. just a little thought from Thailand....
"Remember the power of a mustard seed...." As I wake up each day I read a little script to start my day off on a good note and that was todays, short and sweet and the story is even from a tiny mustard seed you can move a mountain...pretty cool to wake up to while I am overseas and feeling a little lost even with Tighe, I still can say I wouldnt mind being back in the states, especially to see how those GIANTS took down the eagles .. yes sir , what a way to wake up to jumping online and seeing that score ... ok back to yesterday ...
After settling into Chaing Mae, and walking all the way from the train station to our hotel, a solid 15 KM walk with 30 lbs bags on our back without really sleeping on the train, as we are walking the fact that we really havent anything kicks in so so look up in the rough guide book where to go and found a place that is a favorite with locals as well as backpackers which was on the way so we find it and drop in and eat a nice breakfest and now ready to continue to walk our way to the hotel ... after walking around the city in a circle we come across eagle house 2, and get to the counter and they say we emailed you so we could pick you up at the train station....yea tighe and i sometimes do make things a little more difficult than they really have to be ... 
 we drop the bags off and made our way out for the day and right now i am drawing a little bit of a blank of what we did right away but the major item was to get to the top of the largest mountain as there is the most religous buddhist religous shrine at the top of it (DOU  SUTHEP) ... and we thought what better way to get there but by renting motorbikes and taking them for a little ride .... so we find a shop to rent them, before that though I knew it was time to check in with the parents back at home...so we run into this shop to use the phone and its the gayest guys I have come across in my life, including my time working in chelsea .. so he tells us to go to 7-11 and get a LANSO card and that is what is needed to use the yellow payphones all over the street so that would be the next step and I go get the phone card and get to the phone and made the call ... and it was exactly what I expected when my mom picked up the phone .. so much excitment to hear my voice .. once again making me feel so good to hear her voice and then she hands over the phone to my dad and he starts the conversation, with whatelse but a joke..just like pops always does .. and i felt like i was back at home, and i cannot wait to get to florida for thanksgiving to show them the pics and tell them the stories .. now it was back to work and time to get the bikes and figure out how this is going to work .. we find a place to rent the bikes for 200 baht for 24 hours .. (35 baht/dollar) .. they hand us the map and take my passport and i was like oh hell no you aint taking that and he said ill take care of it .. so i say oh well im losing this battle ... so i hand it over and begin to start our journey and just like in australia you are driving on the other side of the road .. and not soon enough did one of us end up where we shouldnt be....at the major intersection there is tighe on the other side of the road as i am laughing my ass off he ends up on the sidewalk with a tour bus coming his way ... i see him trying to cross the street and i just cant stop laughing knowing that he is ok .. we fill up with gas now its a straight shot up the mountain .. of course like any mountain the roads are nice and windie (spelling??) just to my expectation there are numeours stops along the way with views on downtown chaing mai unreal 20 minutes ago i was in streets like manhattan and then i am overlooking it all, as well as the mot that surrounds the city ... we cont to make our way up the mountain and not soon enough here comes this hairpin turn and im shit and i give it gas to make it and i am clear and then im looking for my partner on my journey and i see tighe making and then he doesnt....haha...after making the turn he decides to look back to admire his work and he ends up dumping the bike and jumping off it so he doesnt fall .. then i see some gas coming from it and im like are you serious .. he tries to start it and nothing .. tries again and nothing .. shit .. andthird time is a charm .. it works and we make it to the top of the mountain where the temple is ... park the bikes and walk 206 steps to the top and take our shoes off in respect the temple .. we walked around the temple admire the beauty of it .. spent a solid hour or so up there and then knew it was time to start heading back as time was ticking to get to the night safari ..so we head back and along the way there is a sign for a waterfall so we decide to go in, the sign says close .....we say real quick why not .. so we continue in as night begins to set .. and another small winding road is in front of us .. we make our way through and get to the waterfall rush to take a quick pic and back to the bikes .. and now we are heading back to the city for last part of the night ... on the way back we knew woudl want to eat so we find a place to eat...and its only italian food .. you think my italian ass would eat italian food in thailand ... NOPE ... so we get back on our bikes and find a street festival and get 4 plates of food and bottle of water for $1.50(us) yes thats right and it was fresh pad thai .. so finish up our dinner and jump on our bikes only to find out all the streets are blocked for a big festival and now its night time and no street signs so we are in for a little journey(big surprise!!)  we get a little help from some locals walking around and before you know it i scream eagle house 2 tighe!!! we pull in and see our friend from canada who we met during the day waiting for us as we told her we would be back between 645-715 and it was 705, yes for once tighe and i were on time ... we clean up and take off for the chaing mai night safari ... i give my helmet to the girl and she gets on tighe's bike and we are off with some directions ... as we go the two of us separate and i look back i dont see him at all so i stop and wait and wait and wait wait a little more .. then i decide to turn around and look for him while trying to avoid being killed withour a helmet on ... i get to a major intersection and there they are ... i scream tighe !!! he tells me we have to turn at that specific intersection so i wait for a green and drive straight through the intersection and we continue to the safari ... this time not loosing site of them ... we pull in and what a site a major spot in chaing mai(look online fore information on it, chaing mai night safari) for specifics, time is running out now I have to be ready in 20 minutes for a dinner cruise,) so we spend a solid amount of time there with the temp. dropping and knowing that getting home would be a little colder than i would have liked ...
ok ill post this part now and tomorrow before leaving for laos i will sit down and fill you on the rest of the night and what has happened today, ....thanks again for all the support and enjoy your week at work, ...
peace and love
 Paulie T and ....Tighe "crash" Burns

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