Thaindia

The Laos Leg

2008-03-22T02:36:00.000-07:00

I have moved on from Cambodia to Laos now. These are some pictures of my journeys up through the rickety border crossing from Cambodia to Laos and on into the majestic mountains of northern Laos.
This is the morning of leaving for Laos, the sunset over the Mekong from Stung Treng.

Transportation

Biking the length of Don Det in 4000 Islands(See Pan Don) to see the rapids of the Mekong River. Joined later by the water buffalo

The sunset off of Don Det!

Champasak's soccer players and sunrise!

Hitchhiking from Champasak to Pakse.

The waterfalls of Beleven Plateau.

Vientiane's Golden Stupa, Laos most important national monument.

A funny reminder of back home!

Jimmy!! A semi-permanent resident of Maylyn Guesthouse. His breakfast consists of a BeerLao and 3-4 glasses of whiskey.

Coming down from some caves Kyle, Daniel and I biked to.

The Jumping Tree! Great fun!

A walk in Vang Vieng's rice paddies. The mountains here are like no other I've ever seen, they rise straight up out of the flat fields.

Todays journey to the top of the mountain overlooking the paddies. What a view! You can see the vegetation that follows the river beds.

Me on the summit!

Another snail, found on top of the peak!

I may have one or two more blog posts before I am home. Thanks for reading, see you soon!

Pai to Cambodia... no stops, Angkor Wat and The War Museum

2008-02-12T01:08:00.000-08:00

Hey all!
Im excited to share with you that I have successfully reached Cambodia! Ill give you a couple brief journal entries along with some pictures to update you.
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Sunday, February 10th, 2008
Time: 7:18am - On a train two hours outside Bangkok on my way to Cambodia
Sorry in advance for the messy writing that this train ride will produce...
So, to catch you up to how exactly I got here from Pai; 12:00pm yesterday I took a bus to Chiang Mai from Pai for 150B, 4:30pm we(being Shelley and I, a friend I'm traveling with from Pai) boarded the bus to Bangkok, 540B, we arrived at about 3AM today. We then took a taxi for 150B each to the train station in BKK and then purchased tickets on a 3rd class train to Cambodia's border for 48B. So the total costs for all of this is 888B or 28$CND, it took a total of 26 hours.
I am definitely excited to be on the "road" again. It feels good to have everything I need in one backpack. The only other thing that I took was my guitar.
As the train was leaving BKK I felt like I was in the movie Baraka (you should see it if you havnt already). The sounds of the train clicking and skipping over the tracks along with the imagry out the window to my left. Tin roofed "houses" line the tracks all the way out of the city. graffiti lining the houses walls. I also saw two of the most disgusting dogs I've ever seen. All of their hair bitten or scratched off except for the unreachable strip lining the tops of their backs. Mohawk dogs. Mange dogs.

These are the shots from the train ride!

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Monday, February 11th, 2008
Time: 8:36am - Angkor Wat
Amazed is how I feel right now. As I'm sitting along the outer fence of the Angkor Wat looking up at the main inner temples, 3 of them. The outer wall is in the foreground about 100ft away, on it sits Shelley. The temple looks just as amazing from this view (behind) as it does from the front. Perfectly symmetrical. The morning sun is stunning but the soft but vibrant light it casts onto the ancient sandstone of Angkor Wat is ever more brilliant. As the morning progresses more people begin to explore the temple and I feel relieved to be completely alone, hearing the many different birds calling to each other, quiet... haha, as I wrote that a circular saw cutting something far away pierced the silence. It goes off every minute or so, interrupting my quiet. I'm starting to get hungry now. I havnt really eaten anything today, since we got up at 6 and have been exploring ever since. Off to go do some more! bye!

These are the pictures from Angkor Wat and two other temples around it. There is also a picture of an ant carrying other ants on its back. It was one of the weirdest things Ive ever seen, they arn't attacking it either, the trail they were following had many large ants with small ones on there backs. Ant busses!

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Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
Time: 12:48pm - Our guest house in Siem Reap
This morning we had planned on going to a floating village that Lonely Planet said was 10$ each for the boat. I arranged a tuktuk driver to come pick us up here at the guest house at 8 this morning. When we arrived they wanted 20$ each for the boat, a "fixed rate" they said. Angkor Wat was 20$ and it is one of the wonders of the world so why would some random village cost the same??? We asked for the 10$ priced ticket, they then dropped there "fixed rate" to 15$. We said no, tried to get the 10$ price a little longer and then gave up and left. Definitely some sort of commission scam.
We then went to the War Museum. It was really neat, cost was 3$. We met a girl there from Australia, we went for lunch after words. The guy working as the guide for us was a very interesting person. He has been shot by about 7 different guns, has been injured by 5 different land mines and he has multiple pieces of shrapnel in his body including ball bearings to nails. He has also been fighting in wars in Cambodia for nearly 30 years and has lost his entire family through war, genocide and land mines. "it would be better if I was dead than life is right now" is how he put it. He was blind in both eyes but has not 80% vision in one eye and 20% in the other. He left leg was also blown off by a land mine. He has had a very tough life.
Right now in Cambodia there are two mines for every single person left out there. That is nuts.
Shelley and I are either leaving Siem Reap tomorrow or the next day to go to Phnom Phen, the capital city of Cambodia. That is where we will meet up with Kyle. A buddy of mine from Pai.
Today we are probably going to split up and then meet later to go to Beatocello. A free concert at the Children's Hospital. www.beatocello.com

Here are the pictures for this entry, they include the war museum and also one picture off the balcony of our guest house, BEAUTIFUL!

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Thanks for reading these posts guys. love you all
bye

Photos

2008-01-17T23:41:00.000-08:00

I've been doing quite a lot of playing around with my little camera in the last couple of days. I woke up at 630am and went for a walk and took photos. I also went to a damn with one of my buddies here.
This is what has come out. I have to reduce the quality on some of them so it doesn't take so long to upload them, sorry. I left the snail shell picture large so you could see the detail in it. its amazing.

the event from January 13th to the 16th...

2008-01-16T00:04:00.000-08:00

This is the events of the last 3 days of my life, I went on a visa run.

Sunday, January 13th, 2008
Time: 4:04pm - Tha Ton
I just checked into my guest house, 200 Baht (6$) per night, private bathroom, classic hard ass bed!

The drive was stunning! It was so nice to take my bike (so far anyways...). Ill get up around 8am tomorrow then drive to Mae Sai(Burma), it takes 4 hours there and then 4 hours back to Tha Ton as well. Ill just keep this room for two nights and come back here tomorrow night. Then after that it's back to Pai!

Time: 7:57pm - Tha Ton
Since I last wrote I ventured up the road to the temple here. This one was beautiful, there was a giant Buddha image as well as many small statues and there was also this area below the temple where the stairs were built into the rock, very maze-ish. Fun being alone here too.
(some pictures from Tha Ton Temple)

(the view from up on the temple)

I then came back to my guest house, got some warmer cloths on then took my motorbike out to explore a little bit around Tha Ton. I found a field that had a wonderful scent blowing off of it with the wind towards me. It reminded me of Thai soup, well, it actually reminded me of a herb they use in the soup, as well as in many Thai dishes, I cant put my nose on it though.
I then came back to the guest house and ordered some food, Pad Gai Gratiem, which translates directly to Fried Chicken with Garlic. I sat and ate and talked to the owner of this guest house and some other people that were around. The owner is a funny Thai lady, mid-forties, fun and high-strung! Speaks good English as well. She complimented me on my Thai.
I also heard from those people that it only takes two hours to get to Mae Sai from here. So tomorrow I don't have to be in a rush to leave early or drive fast or anything. That will be nice as I was expecting 8 hours of driving in total. Now it will only be 4 hours! Woo!!
I am so tired right now, wow...I think driving just saps the energy our of you, which doesn't make sense because your just sitting on your ass doing nothing! Maybe it's the constant concentration on the road, who knows.

Monday, January 14th, 2008
Time: 8:20am - Tha Ton
I was the strangest feeling when I woke up this morning. I had no idea where I was but the feeling that I got screamed Gimli!! The bed, the sheets, the pillows, the morning light being filtered to a comforting red glow by the blinds, and the allergy attack! They all seemed to bring good memories of my family up at Gimli. I definitely miss my family right now, not sure why I'm feeling it now, but I'll welcome it. It feels to to miss home a little, gives me something to look forward to for going back home.
Today I'll go grab some breakfast then head out to Mae Sai to get my new visa stamp in my passport. Then it's "shoppING" tune (as the Thai's say it, they put the accent on ING in most words like that, eatING, runnING) then it's another two hours back to Tha Ton.
On the was back to Pai I'm going to try not to rush it. Try stopping along to was lots to see caves and cool stuff.
Breaky time!

Time: 6:12pm - Tha Ton
Just got back from Mae Sai! I had a blast today, definitely one of the best days of my trip so far! I drove straight to Mae Sai just to get it over with, the drive was beautiful. Once in Mae Sai I crossed the border, payed the 500B (10 bucks) entrance fee to enter Burma, then I went shopping in the vast Market.
(pics from Burma)

There was this one Burmese guy that was selling Cigarettes, Viagra and Porno dvds. He followed me around for about an hour. It actually started to be fun after the initial annoyance wore off. Nice chap! There are so many of those guys selling the same stuff. They have baskets attached to there bellies with numbers attached to the baskets. I think they might get there stuff form the same source and then get commission based on daily sales. I thought of a funny joke about what they sell. Kinda dirty tho...
You go to one place for all your needs! You get your Cigarettes to make you impotent, then you get your Viagra to bring 'er back into action then you watch your pornos! All your problems AND solutions from one Burmese basket salesman!
After shopping I left Burma to re-enter Thailand. I hopped on my bike, filler her up with 91 octane fule and then continued on my way back to Tha Ton. I took a different was home however, a much more curvey, elevated, and scenic route! I'll draw it out for you!
(now at this point if you were actually reading my journal you would gaze upon a pen drawn map, as i cant draw on here you get nothing so use your imagination!)
So yeah! That's my route! Doi Thung was neat, I love how they built temples on top of mountains here, they all have such amazing views from way up there!
(Doi Thung)

I absolutely loved Mae Salong, it was really interesting because it is on the ridge of a mountain range, the houses all sticking out from the side of the mountain, stilts making them level. I stopped at a little restaurant and guest house for some food (I didnt actually end up getting breaky!) it was called Little house. Totally reminded me of Little House on the Prairie but this was more like Little house of the mountain. I ate Pad Ka Pow Moo, Kai dow suk nit nawy (which translates to fried basil chili and pork with a sunny side up egg on top, I have an egg with every meal.. mmm) I also had a coke and some complimentary tea. I also chatted with the owner of the place for some time, a nice Thai fellow. He complimented my Thai as well!
(Mae Salong, my food and a funny sign!)

I was so impressed at the condition of the roads! Perfectly paved banked turns! The view was so good too, I can't even describe it properly. The best I can do it "vastly green, long stretching views, rolling mountains" The whole drive was a workout for my eyes, and nose! I saw cows, and mountain goats with there kids. The whole time only one other white person passed me on motorbike going the opposite way, all others were locals. I also passed a load of school kids, quite young, on there way home from school. They screamed with happiness as I passed them! I have them the peace sign.
Wow I had fun today, I'd love to take my bike all over Thailand and maybe to Cambodia and Laos but I am not sure if I can do that or not. Ill check into it. I think it makes traveling easier cause your not forced to take buses, which don't stop for hours on end. On bike, if one town looks stay worthy then you stay there, if not you keep on the road. You can play it by ear, while on bus you have to make up your mind where your going before you go there, no fun!
Tonight I'll probably go to bed relatively early because, as said before, driving saps you. Plus it's already dark outside so I can't really go out and see anything. Tha Ton shuts down early.
I'm going to go get a shake now. bye
p.s. - my nose still feels funny, same as this morning... it's one of those deep sinus plugged up feelings, almost painful. I hate those.

Time: 8:53pm - Tha Ton
I think it's bedtime now. I ate a crappy banana shake and a plain roti. I also realized that I no longer like roti. the late night snack that I tend to fancy these days is fried black sticky rice. mmm. Well it's actually barbecued, then they put raw sugar and sweetened condensed milk abd cut it up into bite sized pieces. It's a very strange looking food but the blandness of the rice and the sweetness of the sugar is such a nice combination. I'll get one when I get back to Pai tomorrow. I'll also be playing at Phu Pai at 8pm and bebop at 9:30pm.
After being so amazed at how fun today was I am going to try to make an effort to get out of Pai more, maybe take my bike to Mae Hong Song for a weekend. Cambodia will be a blast next month!
Bed is calling out to me, time to hear it's call!
night

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
Time: 6:50am, Tha Ton
I had the strangest dream tonight. One about invisible men that could control your mind. I was in this town and everyone didn't know it but they were invaded by invisible people that could control what was happening. Everything from your decisions to what the weather was like. I found out that you could see them in mirrors. I also found out that they were starting to build houses in the town also only visible in mirrors. A girl that also found out about the people had started looking for others that knew. She found me. It was like everyday was exactly the same, the weather, what people did. It was scary. The girl helped me get out of town, out of the range of the mind controllers. We got the army to come and help which didn't really work because some of them were taken over by the mind people. That's all I remember.
I'm going to take off now, and head back to Pai. Good thing I payed for my room last night or I would have to wait around for the owner to get up so I could pay. I should arrive in Pai by about 12 or 1 o'clock today! Well, depending of how many stops I make along the way, either way, should be a fun day. Hey, the last new sentences rhymed quite well, if I don't say

Time: 10:15am - On the side of a mountain in a cave!
I am so glad that I took the time to come to see this cave, the pictures and videos that I took can not do its beauty justice! The view from inside this thing is breathtaking! The sign at the base of the mountain where I parked my bike said that the tribes of this area used to bury their dead here. I can see remains of that, there are wooden coffins everywhere up here. Definitely a cool place to get laid to rest.
I don't think that I realized how high up I came until I reached the cave, now that I'm here I can see so far across the valley. I can see the other side, the mountains that make it up.
Time to head down now, I'm getting hungry and I need to go to the washroom! hahah
Oh I also hid my bag along the way because I was getting so exhausted carrying it up such a steep incline. I hope it's still there! My passport is in there, ahhh! I'm not worried though, I hid it good, and I haven't seen ANYONE of this hike yet today.
(me exhausted just before reaching the cave, a beautiful view from inside, the old wooden coffins)

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
Time: 1:20am - home
Well, if you were wondering why this journal is so battered up, now is the time where you will find out why! On my way back home I... (pen dies)
Time: 10:43am - home
Hahaha, thats pretty funny, the pen I was using died. I put it standing on its tip all night so I'm not sure how long she'll last me. Ill continue from where I left off last night...
One my way back home (on Tuesday) I saw a tiny little sign that lead me to a hike to a cave... oh wait you know of that already...
so after the cave I was driving on my bike really enjoying myself, (I really want to get a bike in the future) there was a downhill straight-away, I picked up a little too much speed. I was going to fast I'll admit. I was going about 80km/h coming around a right hand turn, I didn't see how sharp of a turn I was on. In the area at the time there is a lot of construction on the road, tons of gravel everywhere. The patch of gravel was on the left, basically the side of the road and I slowed down to about 40 or 30 maybe (I wasn't really staring at my speedometer at the time) before I hit the patch. I was breaking so hard, my back tire started fish tailing then I went down of my right side. I slid for about 10 or 15 feet, my bike sliding along beside me. At least I didn't hit the guardrail, that would have been really painful...
I stood up after and brushed myself off, looked at my body and I was basically perfectly fine! I did have some cuts and scrapes but nothing crippling and nothing of my face. My left hand got a decent dent it it from the stones and now it's fairly swollen, I couldn't play either of my gigs tonight (though i did sing some tunes with Chart at the 9:30 set, really fun just singing actually, not having to play an instrument!) My left knee is also fairly swollen, sometimes it hurts. My backpack has a strap around the middle of my chest that got pressed hard into me, I've got some road rash there. Those are the only places that I am visibly damaged. I feel a little banged and bruised. Im lucky...
Where my journal being damaged comes into play is here, my small bag with my journal, camera and some other stuff in it was in the basket of my bike (the basket is on top of the from wheel) The basket took a beating, it got pressed in, the journal was crushed in the process, my camera...... is fine!!
After the spill, I stood, standing felt okay. I sat down on the guardrail beside me, my bike still laying on the ground. A few vehicles passed me and kept on going, a couple passed as the crash was occurring, no one stopped. But Whatever, its okay.
I picked up my bike, it took a while to get it started, I guess it was just because it had been laying on its side for a couple of minutes. I didn't feel the scrape on my chest till I started driving again. Or the one on my knee.
The alignment on the steering is off now and the bike does feel a little shaky, I'm glad it didn't fall apart on the way back.
So yeah, thats my day yesterday, an interesting day...

Thanks for reading my post people, I really hope you enjoyed it.
Until next time,
Matt

Running, to Mae Sai

2007-12-23T01:13:00.000-08:00

On the 15th of this month I left the security of my little town and ventured to Chiang Mai. I met up with some friends in Chiang Mai, Norbert a guitar player in a band that I'm in, Joe Cummings the chief editor for Lonely Planet, and Marie a girl that Joe is in a band with called The Tonic Rays. We hung out, had pizza and talked then Norbert and I left the next morning for Mae Sai for my first visa run. Mae Sai is the city on the border of Thailand and Burma (Myanmar), a very common spot to go for visa runs for "farang" (the Thai word for "westerner") living in Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai or surrounding areas. We took a V.I.P. bus to Mae Sai because it's not much more money, it's faster, and WAY more comfortable of a ride.
Upon arrival in Mae Sai I was informed that I had overstayed my time in Thailand by one day so I needed to pay a fine of 500B, roughly 15$ CND. After paying the fine I continued across the border and went shopping because it is ridiculously cheap there. I bought a couple of seasons of t.v. shows: Lost, and Heroes. (Fook brought a T.V. over to my place!) and I also bought some movies. 30B for each one, I got some Eric Clapton dvds, Jack Johnson, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and some others.
I got a hoodie, sunglasses and some other clothes also.
After shopping I met Norbert back on the other side of the border, Thailand, and we hopped on the bus to go back to Chiang Mai. A busy day.
The next morning I headed back to Pai! All is well!

I also went for a run the other day, 45 minutes, into the mountains on a trail that keeps going for about 8km. Me and some buddies intend on doing it soon as a day trip. It leads to a waterfall! My friends Trudy and Katie, both Canadians, go almost everyday for a bike ride of a run at around 5 or 6 pm., when the sun starts to set. I'm going to try to accompany them as much as I can!

Have a great Christmas everyone, miss and love you lots! From across the world, your friend, Matt.

Fook, Me and the Waterfall

2007-11-29T00:59:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures of Fook and I's trip out to the waterfall near Pai town. Very nice relaxing place to go and read a book or swim. Later we came back for a BBQ.

Loy Kratong

2007-11-29T00:43:00.000-08:00

Loy Kratong is a very big festival that occurs on a full moon in November. If your really interested in the meaning behind it Google it for yourself.
During the festival people gather by the river to put Kratong's in the water, little boats made from banana tree stocks and leaves, decorated with flowers, candles and incense. From what I heard from friends and people here is that you put a few pieces of hair, 3 Baht, and finger and toe nail clippings in the Kratong. Light the candle and incense and let it float away with a prayer of thanks to the water gods. They also are supposed to give you good luck from your angel.

Here is some pictures of me and my little family of white people putting our Kratongs in the river. We also sent 4 lanterns up into to sky. During Loy Kratong lanters fill the sky, making little moving constellations. They go amazingly high up, becoming mere specks of light in the midnight sky.

Here are the Kratongs:

Here is Boz and I sending up our lantern:

]
Here is Giw, her daughter Guide and I putting KraTongs in the river on the second night of Loy Kratong.

The sunset on Loy Kratong

Loy Kratong street festival, and Boz, Katie and Trudy:

Musical Pai

2007-11-29T00:03:00.000-08:00

Hey there all, after not posting for a while I received some emails and such from people wanting me to post again, so here you have it.
This is what I've been up to for the last little while.
Since Pai is such a little musical metropolis there is much opportunity to partake if you know your way around an instrument. The places that have live music are mainly BeBop, Phu Pai, and Buffalo Exchange. There are some other that have live stuff on some nights too. BeBop has the aim to make people move, to make those hips shake and those arms flail! Phu Pai caters more towards the sitting coffee, tea, but mainly beer drinker, offering many tables and couches to sit down and listen to some nice music. Reggae, world, blues and recently some acoustic music fill the air and your ears (the sound system here is the best in Pai in my opinion, BeBop a close second).
Buffalo exchange has more folkish stuff playing, some funk also. I had played at Buffalo for nearly a week straight before starting to play BeBop and Phu Pai on occasion. Buffalo is just a really fun place to sit and sing along to some good Jack Johnson or more popish stuff.
I have been playing a little drums with my friend Pu playing guitar at Buffalo doing some America (horse with no name) or Neil Young. Always good fun.
I've been playing bass at BeBop for the last 3 nights. I now realize how much I miss playing in a band, it's so much fun! We play blues or rock and roll, the owner Chart on guitar, he plays a mean slide. Sometimes I will sing a couple of songs such as Crossroads, Sitting on top of the World, Little Wing, Red House, Let it Be. You get the idea, we play classics. Now, BeBop doesn't really start "bopping" till about 11:30, before that time imagine a darkly lit pub, couples sitting around tables sipping beers and bobbing there heads to the music.
Last night however there was a guy named Mitch Woods in town, he is a blues singer and pianist from the U.S. (http://www.mitchwoods.com/)
Luckily during high school I played in a good jazz band for a number of years, learning to play with many styles and acquiring the skill to site read music. These skills came in handy, we played so much walking blues my fingers were falling off! I had an absolute blast! Also playing with us was a guitar player names Joe Cummings, also one of the chief editors of the Lonely Planet!! His picture is most likely inside the cover if you have one of the books handy.
Playing at Phu Pai was an awesome experience since the sound is so crisp. A friend of mine from England, Boz, also a singer-songwriter, has been coming to Pai for a number of years now for about half of the year. He has played at Phu Pai before and asked me to go halfers of an hour long set there for two nights. It was quite enjoyable! I played 4 originals and then 1 cover, High and Dry by Radiohead.

I only have pictures of me jamming with Chart and some others guys, unfortunately I have none of Mitch Woods and us.
This is Chart, Norbert, Bim and I jamming some blues!

Permanent-Pai

2007-11-10T01:40:00.000-08:00

Hey friends and family. I hope you are all doing well as it gets colder by the day. It's always hot here during the day, but night is a different story. It actually gets close to freezing here at night time, and when your spoiled constantly with wonderful rays of sunshine during the day, it feels cold.

As the title of this post suggests, I have decided to stay here in Pai for the majority of my time here in Thailand. I just can't deny how happy, content and free I feel when I'm here. It really feels like I have found a home. I do not think I have felt this care free, relaxed and content as I do right now.
In the past couple of weeks I have gotten to know a lot of people here in Pai, it's a wonderful feeling when you are meeting new people. The most influential person I have met in ALL of my travels is a guy named Fook. He is 21, and has lived here in Pai for 6 years now. He grew up in Chiang Mai and spent some years in Sukothai.
One night, I was sitting around a bonfire at a outdoor bar called "Don't Cry" when Fook approached me. The next day he came over with his motorbike and took me around town, we at lunch, met some of his friends here and then later grabbed some supper. Over the following week after meeting Fook things just started happening. We hung out literally every day. I decided to stay in Pai for at least 3 months. Fook introduced me to Katie, his friend from Canada. She introduced me to Norbert. Norbert was looking for a singer for a band he wanted to start, he had a bass player and a drummer but none of them had been in a band together before. Later we got together, decided on a list of about 8 songs to start with and soon we will be practicing them with hopes to play out here in Pai.
Fook also helped me find a house in Mae He, a little village just outside of Pai, 7 minute drive. I pay 3,000B or $85 CND per month for rent, plus electricity. The house has a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and living room! When we originally saw it I thought it wasn't anything special. But in the last few days I, with the help of Fook, picked out pillows and tables, the works! I spent 2,500B to furnish it. Not bad at all. I also rented a motorbike for my stay here. A Honda Dream was my choice, 4 gears, manual, dark green. Remember, even Martin Luther had a dream! Now I do!!! I pay 1,800B or $50 CND per month for it, plus gas.
I have not taken any picture of the house of bike as of yet but I will post them on here when I get around to it.
Love you all!
Here are those pictures I promised:
Here is Fook making covers for the florescent lights cause there so ugly.

My living room after I put the cushions and table in, but wait, it will get better!

My living room after putting some fabric up to cover the dirty walls.

My room, I'm still not quite done with it yet, but it will do for now.

My house from the outside.

The view from my house!!

My kitchen and bathroom, the bathroom isn't green by the way, the light is covered with that green tissue paper.

My mirror!

For Readers of this Blog who Wish to Comment...

2007-11-04T00:59:00.000-07:00

I have just updated the settings on this blog so that ANYONE can comment on any post they wish. Before it was enabled so that only registered Blogger users could comment. So if you have something to say about anything posted on this blog don't hesitate.

Traditional Thai Massage

2007-11-04T00:40:00.000-07:00

I just got back from my first Thai massage. I paid 150B for one hour of sweet ligament stretching, bone cracking and muscle... massaging. The lady put soothing music on in the background to set the mood just right, I then lay down on my back and she spent about 15 minutes on each leg. The pressing her thumbs deep into the muscles made me laugh at times, wince at others but it generally felt amazing. She hooked her foot under my leg then pressed with her other foot, my leg the meat in the sandwich of her feet. She then spent about 5 minutes on each arm, using similar procedures. She cracked each finger and massaged them. She then got to my back, which is pretty much always a mess of knots and tense muscles. Her thumbs pressing hard into the sweet spots, it hurt a lot but the pain was definitely worth it. She then twisted and contorted me till I cracked and was stretched in every single part of my body. I couldn't be more relaxed right now...

Things around Pai

2007-11-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

This is my little bamboo bungalow right by the river in Pai, its called Pai River Lodge, I pay 120B per night for it:

This is me playing my guitar a hammock near by:

This is a crazy big bug I saw land on the street by my place, use my hand for scale!

This is me, Nadav and Itamar on our motorbikes:

This is Paun cooking us some food on his little bbq:

This is some of the best pizza I've ever had, besides our homemade stuff back in Winnipeg:

I am loving it here in Pai!!! The population is about 3 or 4 thousand, and 80% of the people living here a musicians! Live music and jam sessions every night. I don't wanna leave... so I wont, for a while.

Today I Sliced My Big Toe and Then Went on an Adventure!

2007-10-31T01:27:00.000-07:00

Well, as the title suggests, today I sliced my big toe. Here is the story:
As previously posted, I had rented a motorbike yesterday. This morning I was planning on returning it but when I got up I decided to rent it for one more day. I was to meet some friends at Angie's Kitchen here in Pai for breakfast. When I got there I parked on the wrong side of the road and was kindly asked to move my bike to the other side of the street. When I went to move it the kickstand was still down, I moved the bike backwards and the kickstand sliced deep into my big toe. Blood started pouring everywhere, my sandal was covered. I continued moving my bike to the other side of the street though. Might as well finished what I sent out to do right?
I came back into the restaurant after, the lady that runs it ran over with spray to stop the bleeding and we put some antiseptic cream on it to draw of any bacteria in the wound. The cut was right below my toe nail, I'm so glad that it didn't break the nail.
After we finished eating breakfast there I took off to the hospital to get it properly checked out. Luckily I didn't need stitches! They charged me 428B for the service and then I was out the door.
The funny thing is behind this whole toe cutting situation is that if I had of returned the bike I wouldn't have the cut on my toe. But now that I have cut my toe I am relying on the bike to get me around Pai and surrounding area! The very device that caused me so much pain is now my toe's savior!
After finishing at the hospital I took off on my bike to the countryside of Pai to take some photos. I'll post those as well.
If you don't like blood or seeing cuts then don't look at these photos:
Bloody Toe

Me ordering on the floor!

Field Workers

Hill Village

Me and my bike... man it's a love hate relationship...

Matt and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

2007-10-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

Hey there everyone!
This post's title takes after a book that I am reading right now, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I thought it to be quite fitting that I am reading this book at this time. In the book the author talks about how being on a motorcycle is so much more beautiful than riding in a car. You are out in the open air not behind a frame. He describes it like when you see something with you eye and you think to yourself "man, this would make the best picture ever!". Then you take the photo, go get your film developed (or nowadays just look at it on your little screen) and it looks so unimpressive. Nothing like what your eyes saw. This is what it IS like driving on a motorcycle in the middle of northern Thailand, surrounded by beautiful mountains and surreal imagery. It was like nothing I've ever experienced before. I was IN the scene not just observing it. I will try to post pictures of our adventures but I am sure they will not do it justice.
I did this little venture with four other from here in Pai. Cat, Jenny, Itamar and Nadav. Cat and Jenny and from England, we met in the park in Chiang Mai and ended up going to same way at the same time. We came up to Pai together and have since been traveling as a sudo unit. I quite like them! The other two guys are from Israel, they are pretty cool guys, it was their idea to get the bikes and head to a cave one hour out of Pai.
Me and Jenny split a bike, the total cost: 270B for the bike, insurance and gas there and back. We split this cost so it was quite worth the bill.
The cave... breathtaking. I have never been in anything like this before. We entered the cave via bamboo raft and then walked around within it. There were bats and stalagmites, stalactite, and pillars. It was pretty much awesome!

What wasn't awesome:
On the way back, Nadav was driving with Cat on the back of his bike, and they took quite the spill on the side of the road. The bikes mirror came off, and Cat flew down into the ditch (not a grass ditch but a concrete one...). She injured her arm quite badly, we thought it was broken but when we eventually got back to Pai and went to the hospital we found out it was a sprain. I was super worried for her, I felt so bad... and I'm sure Nadove didn't feel to great either. Ill post some pictures of the whole adventure (including the crash... I felt bad taking photos of it but it will make great memories down the road... she also had three others attending to her at the time so it was okay... I think)
Here they are, in no particular order.

Thai Cooking School

2007-10-26T04:01:00.000-07:00

Hey all!
Today I went to a cooking school with two girls that I met from England. It started at 9:30 with about 10 other people that joined us. We began the day with a tour of the local market. I saw all sorts of weird veggies and stuff, things I've never seen before in my life! We then took off to the teachers house to do some actual cooking. We got to choose from quite a lot of dishes that we wanted to prepare and learn about, everyone can pick what they want. I started off with making Coconut Milk Soup, sooo good, and I don't even like coconuts at all! I then made a dish called Cashew Nut Chicken, also amazing. After I made a Green Curry with Chicken dish (Mom, you would LOVE this, and you will love it when I cook it for you when I get home!). Then we all helped out in making spring rolls and some other app's. Then we all pretty much learned how to make Pad Thai, it was some of the best stuff I've had in all of Thailand so far. We prepped all the food, cooked it all ourselves and everything! It was quite the experience. The best part was that I got to take a recipe book of ALL the recipes (even the ones I didn't choose to cook) home with me. I'm very excited to make all of these dishes when I get home. It should be quite fun, not to mention tasty beyond belief!
Here are some pictures of the day:

2 more pictures

2007-10-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

Pictures to catch you up!

2007-10-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

Playing Bass Randomly in Chiang Mai

2007-10-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

Hey there friends and family! I hope you are all doing very well at home.

Journal Entry - Thursday, October 25th, 2007:
Time: 1:30pm
I just got back from my nights journeys! Things went really well tonight. I started off the night by going to a little place called UN Irish Pub, I had a pot of tea and talked to the manager there, very nice fellow. After I started randomly walking the streets of Chiang Mai and eventually came across a little place near Daret's house (my place...right now). There was a guitar player playing along with a little beat machine, I bought a beer and sat down to watch. Then the power went out! Hahaha. The guitarist started talking to me and eventually, long story short, I ended up on bass once the power went back on! We jammed for a long time, it was quite fun. Then i played three songs on guitar; Blackbird, High and Dry and The Oak Tree. Once done I sat down at the bar to chat with the bar girl. We talked for a long time until a guy (must have been 30ish) sat down beside me to chat. Then a girl as well about a half hour later. From Scotland and Germany respectively. The bar girl, Yeing, once done her shift asked me to come to the disco bar with her, how could I say no to such a lovely young lady. On the way she kept telling me how very beautiful I was. Well she didn't say beautiful but I forget the word she used... it was one of similar meaning I assure you! The disco bar was very fun, we had a drink and talked the whole time. Good thing she can speak fairly good English. Thai girls seems to love white guys, you have to be very careful with what you get yourself into here. I think the main reason, besides our stunning good looks, is because if they marry us we are able to bring them back to Canada, America, England, wherever. She told me to come visit her tomorrow during her shift, 1-10pm. I said yes, so I probably will. Being alone made all of tonight happen. If I were with any other person I wouldn't be able to do what I did tonight. People don't approach you when your in a group, when alone it is very easy. I'm excited to travel alone.

That was my night yesterday. Good all around!
Bye everyone. post comments cause I love to hear from you.

Ko Samet to Chiang Mai

2007-10-24T05:52:00.000-07:00

Hey there friends! I'm now in Chiang Mai at the little internet cafe that is close to our place. This is the first time I've used a system like this before. How it works is; you buy a certain amount of time (such as 5 hours for 100B {which is amazing by the way!} and they give you a user name a password that you can use until the time on your account expires!), I rather like it this way. I am then not forced to use an hour every time I want to post.
Well, as you can tell by the title of this post, I am not in Chiang Mai! How did I get here you ask? Well, thanks for asking by the way. We took a ferry back to Ban Phe for 70B, a taxi for 20B to Rayong, a bus to Bangokok for around 130B, then another overnight bus to Chiang Mai for 400B. The overnight bus was air-conditioned which was very nice! I slept and wrote in my journal about some issues of my own that I will not bore you all with! I also wrote a new song... well the lyrics to it anyways. I didn't want to wake up the others on the bus with my "stellar" guitar playing...
When we arrived in Chiang Mai it was morning, and a beautiful one at that! Absolutely perfect temperature!
When we got here we found a room at a place called Daret's House, a VERY cheap little place. Only 150B per night, so only 75B for me and the same for Ben. Now remember that our dollar is worth about 35B, so this is "cheap cheap" as the locals say. Another expression that they find funny and they use a lot is "same same" hahah. I'm not sure why it's funny but it is apparently.
I wanted to go to the Zoo here in Chiang Mai, so we did so. 100B entry fee. Cool animals. I will post the pictures that I took there if I can get this memory card reader that I bought today working... it doesn't seem to be though. 190B price tag on that little item.
Today we went to the elephant camp and watched a show, a little touristy I must admit but still cool. Then we went for an elephant ride for about 40 minutes or so. Fun, but slow... hahaha. price tag - 700B total... a little pricey but whatever.
We then took off to a snake farm and saw all kinds of snakes, poisonous and non, this was accompanied with a 200B fee and a snake show.
That was my day today.
I'll get some pictures posted once I get this card reader working... I may have to take it back, if that is indeed possible. I'll post pictures for all of my posts.
sorry for the delay.

bye now

matt

Bangkok to Ban Phe

2007-10-22T20:54:00.000-07:00

Journal Entry - Thursday, October 18th, 2007:

What a day! We made it to Pattaya but then so much farther. After stepping off the bus onto the streets of Pattaya we refused the usual taxi driver requests. Sometimes I just humor them and kind of go with it then end up leaving. Cruel I know. We were told to just start walking down the main street and look for a bus that would take us to Rayong, where we wanted to get to . All of a sudden a bus came out of no where with no english writing on it at all, only Thai. It stopped beside us and a little Thai man popped out.
"Where you go?" he asked.
"Rayong" we answered.
He nodded and shuffled us into the bus. He asked us for 20B from each of us, we complied and then say down. About five minutes later he came over, asked again where we were going and then forced us out of the bus along with two other young Phillipino men. AFter we were out one of the two others said:
"He's a bad man."
We were the victims of a scam. Luckily only 20B but it definatly opened my eyes a little bit. The Rayong bus came five minutes later (clearly marked in English). We got on along with the other tow guys and were in Rayong two hours later.
We found a taxi to Ban Phe for 20B each and then a ferry to Ko Samet for 50B each. We had come from BKK fo Ko Samet in one day and for a total of 266B. Not bad if I do say.
We are now going to bed in a small concrete room with one bed, a toilet, sink and cold shower that we paid 150B each for.

Journal Entry Saturday October 20th, 2007:

I'll start with what we did yesterday. Motorcycles, 200B each, we bough 2 for the day. They are so much fun but kinda dangerous at the same time. We basically just rode around Ko Samet the whole day, it was quite the journey. We left Na Dan to Sai Kaew, wandered west till we reached the VERY expensive beach of Ao Prao. Dead end. Came back and made our way south, slowly, having no idea where we were going or what was next! The lonely planet was in my pack back at the bungalo we were staying at in Na Dan.
This was one of the best days so far, the bikes were worth every penny! We eventually stopped at Saeng Thian to take a walk down the beach and I'm glad we did! This beach is PERFECT!! Quiet, with nice locals, not many tourists. We found a place to stay for 450B, such a nice little bungalo, right on the beach. The bed is big enough for two.
With a room secured we headed back to Na Dan to retrieve our packs then returned. Upon arrival we ran into another traveller from Canada. Brenden from Calgary. We say together and enjoyed a few beers on the beach. Brenden has been to Ko Samet a couple of times and has gotten to know a few of the locals and introduced them to us. Naam, a funny little Thai lady, okay English, very loud and talkative. Mein, Naam's little sister, very cute, no English.
After getting to know some of this beaches locals, us and Brenden went back to his place in Nuan to chill and then to a restaurant called Puay for smoothies and to watch its fire dancers perform. so cool.
We enjoyed a "bucket" of some local drink called Sang Som. Very tasty.
Today, I got up around 10 and went for breakfast down the beack at Naam's Aunties place. It has since become a regular place for us to eat and socialize with locals!
I'm excited but nervous to travel alone.
We also just secured a place to stay for the next two nights, 1000B in total. Not bad, not great. Some locals from Chaing Mai just moved in next door and I am them had a good chat, Ben was gone somewhere else. One very flirty eyed girl keeps looking at me...
Time for guitar now, bye!

TukTuk's and busy streets

2007-10-17T21:21:00.000-07:00

Hey there friends! Ben and I made it safely to Thailand after pretty much 24 hours of straight flying, crazyness i know.
Before we got on the final flight to take us into Bangkok (BKK) we met 2 other travellers. One actually making her way back to Thailand, her home country. Aom is her name. Pronounced Ohm. She and I talked the whole way from HongKong to BKK, quite a nice girl. She was living in Canada for a year taking english in B.C.! How cool is that. The other guy, Dylan, also from Canada just got an inheritance and is now travelling for a whole year! he is in Phuket(sp?) right now and he and I are planning on meeting up once Ben gets into his Muay Thai training camp. I am also planning on going to Aom's home town and staying with her for a week or so since she is out of school right now.

Journal Entry from this morning:

I'm standing on my balcony on the 5th floor of the New World Hotel. A rooster is cooing in the nearby streets about every 15 seconds. The sun has risen and so has Bangkok's people. We arrived here yesterday at around 2.30pm and checked in. After getting checked in we went on a walk, just us and our money belts, down the streets of northern BKK. There are stray dogs everywhere, and they all look so tired and hungry. They barely move, most of them laying lazily in the center of a busy street. I remember passing one when we left for our walk that was in the exact same position when we returned hours later.
The most surprising thing for me was the traffic. NO one signals or bothers to shoulder check. People make mover at their leisure. It is pure organized chaos, if that is indeed possible. 95% of the cars are Toyota.
Yesterday on our walk we passed numerous TukTuk drivers all of course offering us a "discounted" rate. A couple of times they offered us "free" rides, some sort of scam im sure.
We ate at a packed little restaurant on Khao San Rd. We both had Phad Thai for 80B, I a coke, Ben a Banana Milkshake. 25B and 45B respectively. The food was amazing!!! I also couldnt believe the price. Ben later bought a pak of cigs for 45B and a lighter for 10B
I see the occational monk walking barefoot down some of the dirtiest streets I've ever seen, wearing nice orange robes.
This morning I also witnessed about 5 police on motorcyles arrive, followed by a police truck to arrest three Thai people. I'm curious as to why.
Ben just got up so were going for our free breakfast downstairs. bye!
-end of entry-

p.s. - the breakfast was delicious.

ill post again soon. thanks for reading.

-Matt

1 Day...

2007-10-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

Hey there friends and family! My going away party went so well, and now I only have 17 hours left in Manitoba! All of my gear that was stroon around my room has now been crammed and jammed and alakazam! okay....so that last one didnt really fit, but you get the general idea.

The stuff is in the bag.

My little guitar will hopefully fit in the overhead compartment on the plane, if not ill be forced to check it...which I am a little scared to do. Its such a little fragile guitar, as well as my only instument that I'll have constant access to on this trip...

What is ahead? I have no idea.
Who will I meet? I have a slight idea...most likely dirty hippies and even dirtier locals. im sure ill also see a side of Ben that I didnt bargen for...
What will I think? POSITIVE THOUGHTS!!!! WOOHOO

Ive never been a huge blog reading fan, and writing in them is even harder for me. I'll be posting mostly my journal entries on here, and the occational photo.

And with that, I leave you.

3 days left!

2007-10-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

Hey all! with only 3 days left I clean my room, organize my various goods that will need to be packed away in a couple of days. It will soon journey with me far away from all my other possesions. Junk left behind in my room, car and life will soon be forgotten... temporarily. If you dont already know and are reading this post before 8 pm tonight, I am having a going away party tonight at 8 at my place. my cell # is 999-6953 if you need directions.
IM SO PUMPED!!!!

16 days left!

2007-09-29T14:42:00.000-07:00

Hey there, this is my first post on my new blog, an exiting day indeed! With only 16 days left until I leave for my first overseas trip ever!! If you are reading this and saying to yourself "Wow, am I ever gunna miss Matt!" then what you should do is call me over the next two weeks and we will get together before I leave. I am having people over on friday the 12th of october for a little going away party, hope to see you there.
Thats all for now. ill post more soon.