Note to Self: Never do Thai Massage after Strenuous Activity...

We woke early in Mae Hong Son to find that all our clothes were still wet, BUT, it's a beautiful, clear day! After a quick breakfast of spicy noodle soup and fruit smoothies, we made our way back to Pai. We could finally enjoy the scenery and the winding roads that this route is so well known for.

Upon arrival, we noticed an increase in activity and influx of people in Pai. There was new bar/lounge opening that night and a lot of people came for the event. The bar called Red Leaf, featured a live band, free tapas, cheap drinks, and lots of people, both travelers and locals alike. After the band, Em the owner opened up the stage for his guests. One of the local hippies comes up with an instrument I have never seen before and it produced some of the most serene sounds I have ever heard. Two large metal shell-like bowls with holes of different sizes were put together to form the instrument. The musician would tap one of the holes to make each unique sound. As he played his music, two other people came up with guitars and they hypnotized everyone in the room with their impromptu jam session. They played till close and everyone migrated to Bamboo, the late night spot in Pai, for the more socializing, drinking, and eating.

The next day we all woke hungover to dark skies, humidity, and rain. Thankfully, Richy and I had a 5 hour ride back to Chiang Mai in the cold rain. Just as we left, it began to pour, making the roads super dangerous. We both rode tense, pissed off, soaked, and cold, stopping only when the rain finally let up to get food, warm up, and relieve our nerves. The rest of the ride was fine minus my drive chain falling off on an uphill hairpin. Of course...

It was a great relief to return the bikes and we both rewarded ourselves with street meat, Cha Yen (Thai iced tea), and a Thai Massage. Now I never get massage's so I had no idea what the difference was between a Thai massage to any other. It turns out, Thai massage is a very deep tissue massage and the masseuse's are known you put you in various funny positions in order to stretch and loosen you up properly. My masseuse KICKED MY ASS!!! Richy and his masseuse were laughing constantly as he pushed, pulled, slapped and punched my arms, legs and back.

There was one position where he sat on one of my quad's, pulled my arms up and kicked my other leg out into a near split. I was screaming in agony! The entire time I was thinking this has to be a big joke that Richy had planned, but no, this is the real deal. When the final position came around, he had both my arms crossed behind my back while sitting with my legs straight forward. As he pulls my arms back and up, he jams his knee's into my back and arches my spine over and over until he thinks I have sufficiently suffered enough. After that, he slaps and punches me all over, puts his hand's together, bows, and says thank you. WTF!? I respond with a smile and say, "No, thank you for kicking my ass!" He laugh's not having a clue what I said, and leads us out. I am now more physically sore than I was going in and I feel completely abused.

This week has truly been an adventure of many types but please get me on the plane to Bangkok!

Adventures in the Rain

What unfolded today was one of the more unique experiences of my life. We set out for Mae Hong Son around 1pm scheduled to arrive around 4pm. We didn't make it until 6:30pm. Here's what happened...

The first 30 minutes of the ride we had clear sunny skies. Then out of nowhere, a torrential down pour moves in. I have never seen rain like this. We pulled out bikes under a Boddhi Tree, unhooked all our gear, and ran to a small shack off the side of the road to keep dry. This shack sucked! After a few minutes we realized we are getting just as wet under the shack as we would outside in direct rain fall. So we ended up finding a deserted, shut down fire station further up the road where we could finally keep dry.

After an hour of waiting we made our way back out onto the wet snaking roads. About 30 minutes in, both our bodies and all our gear were soaked though. Aside from being wet, cold, and at this rate hours away from our destination, we had no idea of two major obstacles ahead of us.

The first was a flooded road with water up to 2 1/2 ft deep. We trudged though the thick, muddy water on our bikes with our feet and shins completely submerged. The next was just up the road where a massive land slide knocked several trees, big rocks, and tons of mud onto the road. Keep in mind its still dumping rain, and now harder than before! We park our bikes and I made my way over to the site to help break up the mess and clear the road. Richy watched.... After, I was making my way back up the hill towards Richy and the bikes, and another landslide begins just 30ft beside me. This one was carrying mud, rocks, and lots of bamboo. For a brief second I thought, "So this is how my trip ends," but then bamboo gets caught and jams the rest of the slide just before wrecking the road. Once a small space was cleared, we kept moving in search of another shack to keep dry.

It turns out we weren't the only ones with this notion. We came to a small, deserted hillside market shack where there were several other bikers and few village people. As we sat and waited, waves of local villagers emerged from the forest. Dozens of them! The men were all armed with machete's and other blades while carrying 10ft to 15ft bamboo stalks, and the women all carried kids and huge bags of produce on their backs. These were some hardcore villagers! Some stopped to talk with us and others smiled and kept moving on to their village. Once the rain stopped, we rode for about 1 1/2 hours on slick, wet, winding roads.

And just to top it all off, when we got to our guest house, the entire city had a black out for the next hour.

So that sums up my adventure in the rain. Hopefully our ride back to Pai tomorrow is very, VERY different.

Day 1 in Pai

Wow what a day! My first real ride on the 150cc Honda and it absolutely blew my mind away. Feeling the raw power of a motorcycle is so different from any form of transportation I've every experienced. The vibrations and the screaming of the engine, the wind pressing against your body, and the adrenaline that's is rushing through your veins creates such a unique full body experience. On our 4 hour ride to Pai, the weather was a cloudless, clear sky, 95F, and virtually empty roads. We scaled mountains, hooked dozens of hairpins and switch backs one after another, and on the straight aways, we opened the engines up to 120kph. At that speed I am scared out of my mind but Richy took off ahead of me and topped out at 140kph By the end of the ride, we both were left with an incredible rush and ridiculous tan lines. We both have extreme tank top tans.

We arrived in Pai around 3pm and I walked around the city until dinner minggling witht he locals and other backpackers. This has to be one of the chillest town I have every been in, more so than Chiang Mai. There is a very dominant hippie culture in Pai and this yeilds for a lot of cool clothing, a thriving local art and music scene, and a super chill atmosphere. At night there of plenty of options for everyone. There are lounges with funky music, bars with live music and comedy, billiards, and hostel hangouts. At night the mix of backpackers and locals is about 50/50, so the its a great way to get a real feel of the local vibe and meet all different types of people.

Tomorrow we head to Mae Hong Son which should be a similar ride for both terrain and time. If the weather is anything like today then it will surely be another amazing day of riding.

Chiang Mai

Today I woke at 4am to fly up north to Thailand's wonderous city of Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is known for its scenery and laid back atmosphere. Today was critical to the rest of my entire trip because I am going learn how to ride a motorcycle. My ride was a150cc Honda Ninja, which is a small "crotch rocket" that can rip through the roads. So my first attempt was not so good...more like terrible. I was reving the engine to high, let go of clutch, and took off out of control down the road heading directing towards a wall. I hit the wall head first and now I have a broken arm. KIDDING! Well kinda. I did almost hit the wall, but I turned just a few feet before hitting it and finally braking to a safe stop. After that adrenaline pumping first attempt, we decided to find a big lot to practice in and now I got it down. Tomorrow I head off on a beautiful 3 hour ride to the cities of Pai and Mae Hong Son.

Inshalla, I return safely....

Bangkok Touring

Over the past few days, I have been touring many of Bangkok's wonder and mysteries. My favorite thing to do when traveling is wondering through a few layrinth-like markets. These markets are essentially micro-cosm's (thank you Don Carr) of Bangkok ancient culture. I explored several food markets where there are large varieties of fresh produce, live and prepared meats, and of course delicious street foods. However, my favorite market types are the the antique markets. In the antique markets, which happed to be some of the biggest and most confusing I have ever experienced, you can find everything from the ancient art and cutural relics, to more modern and cross-cultural accoutrements. It was so facinating talking to all the different dealers to talk about the objects and meanings to which they apply.

After getting lost in the markets, I arranged for a tuk-tuk (a small taxi that has three wheels and two seats behind the driver) to take me around the city and explore some of the more famous buddha's. I got to see the worlds largest standing and reclining buddha's and the famous lucky buddha. I'm never unimpressed when I enter these temples and observe the fine craft that has shaped its society.

Very standard day of tourism if you ask me, but all-in-all it is always interesting to explore some of the famous heritage Bangkok has to offer.

Klong Chillin

Yesterday was a very special experience that has really set this trip off right...

My brother Richy has lived here in Bangkok for the last three years and since then has established some good connections and made some great friends. Yesterday we went to chill with a friend of his named Nu, (sounds like new), and he took us to an emerging artist community on one of the outer Klongs (a labyrinth of river towns) of Bangkok. The Klongs are what Bangkok and the old cities used to look like before the modern road. This Klong in particular is one of the oldest remaining clong communities in the region, dating back over 500 years.

So about 45 outside the city, the landscape changes from crowded streets and skyscrapers, to winding dirt roads, lush vegetation, fresh air, and dozens of stray dogs. We were led to a small shack where we met all Nu's friends who happen to be artists and designers in Bangkok. Though most of them did not speak much English, it would not prevent us from enjoying the adventure we were about to endure together. Oi (pronounced like the "oy" in "Oy Vey") was Nu's friend who lived on the property, and arranged for a boat driver to pick us up and take us around the Klong to watch the sunset, relax, and get dinner. The boat is a long and narrow vessel that is equipped with NOTHING but an old car engine that has been rigged up to a propeller. Everyone is this region has similar boats with recycled engines and no seating. Aside from the engine, this style boat has been used for centuries. So the eight of us made our way down the Klong sitting indian style in a single file. There was so much weight in the boat that the top of the boat was only a few inches out of the water. Each time the driver completed a turn we would all cheer and clap. It was only mildly unsafe....

On the river we passed lots of houses that had amazing fishing rigs and naturally made docks. One of the fishing rigs was a netting system that was operated by a lever system made entirely from bamboo, that lowers a massive net to catch lots of fish at once. Another rig was for night fishing and used a bright light at the end of a net to lure the fish in. Lastly, the docks were all floating on a mass hundreds of empty coconut shells that had been cages in.

We would stop periodically to talk and take in the surroundings and after a little over an hour of sitting in the cramped boat, we came back around to our place for dinner. We ate dim sum, fried rice with pork and crab, noodles with prawns and pork and something else that I'm glad I didn't ask what it was.

Before I knew it, nine hours had passed, our stomachs were full, our butts sore from the lack of chairs, and it was time to leave. This was an amazing adventure and cultural experience that I know I'll have more of soon.

Flight to BKK

Highlights of my flight to Bangkok:

1. I met a guy with a great FML. He had a first class ticket to Bangkok leaving Sept. 17th. It turns out his passport expires in 2 months which he didn't know makes it illegal to leave the country unless your passport is good for 4 months minimum. The authorities made him miss his 1st class flight, get a new passport at 7:30am the following day, and gave him seat 60E, the last middle seat in coach. FML

2. Watching the Cambodian guy sitting next to devour and enjoy an enormous pepperoni pizza Hot Pocket. He kept looking at me with a big smile while pointing to his "molten lava" Hot Pocket.

3. Watching all the Asian's do "blood flow" exercises in the Anchorage layover. Then elderly caucasian couple came over and joined. This ended in both of them being seated and massaged by three people each.

4. All they had in the Anchorage gift shop was a duty free, Moose antlers, and a separate room full of various smoked salmons and salmon jerky's.

5. There were video camera's all around the outside of the plane and on each of the personal screens, you can shift through the cameras and see all the different views of what your flying over. This was especially cool during the take off and landing.

6. Meeting a man from Boston who just had a titanium plate put into the back of his head. I would say the plate was about 5in by 6in and left a gnarly scar. The doctors told him it would NEVER go off on any metal detectors... Sure enough, it goes off EVERY TIME!!!

24 hour Countdown Has Begun

So here I sit making all my last preparations and checks for my trip and it has FINALLY hit me that in 24 hours I will be on a plane with a destination to the other side of the planet. My double connection flight leaves New York City on Sept. 16th arriving in Anchorage, Alaska, then connecting to Taipei, Taiwan, and finally settling in Bangkok, Thailand on Sept. 18th.

Just to fill everyone in, my itinerary in its simplest form goes as follows...

3 weeks in Thailand

4 days in Angkor, Cambodia

1 month in Laos

1 week Katmandu, Nepal

7 weeks in India

11 days back in Thailand

Stay tuned for the first post from Thailand!