stoopid censorship

the last time i was in china, they shut down blogger and i was unable to view or update any of my posts. because of this, this may be my last post in asia. I will update the moment i can, but until then it has been a pleasure, and thanks to everyone who read. I'll do a better thanks later, kinda like they do at the oscars only without the music.

I had to play

Day 155

Okay, i lied. I played ultimate today... right on the BEACH! that's for you jon. My initial plans were to fly back to Shanghai by connecting to Bangkok first on June 6. I would later find out that there was a beach tournament in Cha-am... only 2 hours away from bangkok...on June 7. So of course i changed my flight so that i could be reunited with some of the most awesome people in Asia, the soidawgs of Bangkok! 

It was a one day beach tournament and boy am i glad that it was only one day. I had never played on beach before and it is truly a totally different game. Have you ever tried running on sand? Ever try running, stopping, running, cutting, jumping, running, and then diving on sand? It ain't easy. My team was called, Beach Dawgs and we rocked. We played 3 games of intense beach ultimate before lunch and luckily didn't have to deal with too much sun or overheated sand. After a sleepy lunch, we continued our play and the dawgs were 5-0 heading into the finals, but a long tiring day of constant running and cutting and running and jumping and running some more can really make me tired. We lost in the finals 15-11, but it was all for fun and i had a great time. Ultimate has been a huge blessing for me because i have seen asia in ways i could only imagine and i've met some amazing people along the way. Thanks soidawgz!!

Day 150

Today was a really exciting day because i made it back to Chiang Mai yesterday and didn't get sick from the ride back, and today i decided to learn how to cook Thai food! I started the day around 9:45, where a group of 6 of us went with this lady named, Rad (aweseome name) and toured the local food market and then went to her cooking class/house which is called: Thai Orchid cookery school. We started off with a spicy coconut soup, then made my favorite thai dish: pad thai with big noodle, which they just called Fried Big Noodle (pad in thai means fried, so that makes sense). After the awesome first two meals we continued to learn Red curry with roast duck, then fried chicken with basil, spicy pork salad and then ended with our dessert, water chestnuts with coconut milk. It was an awesome day and one of the most tiring because of all the cooking, but especially because of all the eating! The great thing about learning to cook is also the eating. So the next time you need an awesome thai meal, don't be afraid to ask...actually be afraid a bit.

How long is your neck?

Day 148

Today started off as another lazy day. Wake up around 8am, chat a bit on skype, waste time on the internet, take a nap, you know, the usual. I had planned on going towards this place my friend in Laos told me. The place is called: Lod cave. It is supposedly this spectacular cave and is one of the top sites in Pai. The only way to the cave is via bus, car, or in my case, motorbike. I set off for Lod cave because she told me that there were cool sites and villages that I could see on the way there and that it wasn’t just a stupid trip. I’ve wanted to see villages since I’ve been in SE Asia and so the prospect of seeing one was making me really excited. Lod cave is about 60 km away from Pai and so I set off with high hopes and a sense of openness. I didn’t know what to expect and I was excited about that. I rode for about 30 minutes before my butt fell asleep and I had gone about 10 km. The road to the main cities and towns are incredibly windy and it takes forever just to go 1 km. Luckily for me the roads were pretty open because it is the low season, however…it is the rainy season. The rain here is soft for a minute and then a torrential downpour for about 4 minutes and then soft for another 3 minutes and then it stops. It is pretty easy to tell when it is going to rain because the temperature dramatically drops. I admit that riding in the rain isn’t the most fun thing to do on a motorbike, especially knowing my track record with two wheeled machines. I continue to ride along the highway looking for signs for Lod cave and eventually see some. Now signage in Asia needs help. Arrows point to sides of roads or cliffs or to each other. I have no clue what some of the signs mean, and that is not good when everything else is in Thai and when I have no clue where I am. I think we know where this is going. I pass Lod cave without me knowing, but I had a clue that I did, but just like Dorrie said in Finding Nemo, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…” In my case: just keep going.

Eventually I arrive at a police checkpoint. The police officer stops me and starts talking to me. I’m not sure in what language because people here speak multiple sometimes. Probably Japanese though. He asks me in English where I’m going. I just point forward and say the next city, Mae Hong Son. He smiles and says, “OK, just 55km.” I’ve already gone 60km and that took me about 1 ½ hours. I say what the heck and keep going…without checking my fuel tank. About 10 minutes into my journey, I see that my fuel is dangerously low and I make an immediate U-turn and plan to head back about 20km to refuel. I reach the police checkpoint again and he tells me of a station about 6km away. I jet towards it and see a nice quiet little village. The buildings are simple, almost trash-like but there are all efficient, and their gas station is a woman with 3 barrels of gas. After a quick drink, I set off to Mae Hong Son again.

I arrived into Mae Hong Son without a clue of what I was going to do. I gave myself about 3 hours of time in the city before I would have to head back to Pai because I had to return my bike. I had a quick lunch and remembered seeing flyers for a tribal village called the Longnecks. Their tradition is to have their women bind their necks with brass rings in order to make their necks longer. Cool. I ask the owner of the restaurant which way to go and I set off.

Their village is about 10 km away from the town and is a series of windy side roads and brings you deep into their wilderness. Crossing over steams and such was cool but then I arrived into the village and was stopped by a tourist information dude. I had to pay 250 baht to see the village and my sense of guilt came back again. I’m all for taking pictures, but I’m not into taking them when I make the people just feel uncomfortable and I get a feeling that I am intruding. There were little vendors set up as I made my walk down a path towards the village and came to the bottom to see my vendors. The tourism totally changed the people of the village and now they make most of their money by selling their goods to tourists. It was sad to see, but I tried to make the most of it. It was cool to see their homes up close though. They are simple timber framed and their roofs are made up of wood and boat load of leaves. I ask a few of the women for some photos, and that made me feel much better about intruding, but not totally.

I now had a 110km journey to look forward to in order to get back to Pai and about 3 hours to do it in. No problem. Today’s trip started around 10am and ended at 7:15pm. I had traveled about 230km and had leveled up my motorbiking experience by about 12 levels. I was getting way more comfortable and found myself averaging about 50-60km/hr instead of 30km/hr. I had seen a cool culture and had been so cold from riding in the rain all day that I actually had the shivers and goosebumps. Overall, a great trip.

Fresh Air

Day 147

I didn’t sleep to well this morning. Mainly cuz I just feel so sticky. SE Asia is so hot and it was so difficult to get comfortable. Along with the stickiness is the massive amount of bug bites that have invaded my skin. The mosquitoes don’t bit my body, but just my legs and all night long and all day long I’m just scratchin away at my bug bites. I'm starting to learn why so many people here wear pants instead of shorts. So because I didn’t sleep too well, I had a huge headache and my plan of going to see some waterfalls took a huge dip and I didn’t feel like doing anything all day. I was fine with doing nothing, that’s why I’m here in Pai, but I had to at least eat something. So I got ready and stumbled out of my room and almost immediately started to feel better. Fresh air is beautiful, but so is riding a scooter in the fresh air. It was amazing at how alert and awake I became once I was outside and away from the stink hole room of mine.

Nothing too exciting today. I got kinda lost, but that’s what I like doing. I saw a semi-“Olympic”/ Field day event at the local community center. There was loud music playing, people playing soccer and it looked like a ton of fun; and totally ridiculous. I saw a waterfall, drove through a village and a Chinese sanctioned village and basically just rode around Pai. I’ve started to really love it here, but there is no way that I could stay longer than a week, I think I would just get too bored and plus being alone doesn’t help. I’ve fallen in love with pineapple shakes and I can never get enough of Pad Thai, and yes I am eating the vegetables.

Blowin in the Wind

Day 146

Today I cheated death…I rode a motorbike and didn’t crash or have a horrific accident. It is only a work of God that I didn’t crash into anything… or anyone. Today was my first time and attempt at riding a motorbike (scooter). Being in Shanghai since January, one of the things that you notice is the massive number of people that drive motorcycles and motorbikes. It is efficient and really cool. I have always wondered what it would like to have my hair blowing in the wind and to be riding down a road in the open air. Well today was the day where that dream came true. My hair is quite long, if you haven’t seen pictures, it is almost touching my shoulders. Hair long enough to blow in the wind: check. I paid 100 Baht for 24 hours on a 100cc automatic motorbike and then paid 40 baht for the insurance (a necessity for me). I paid 140 baht to drive a motorbike for 24 hours. 140 baht = about $4. Holy moly, Thailand is awesome. Now keep in mind that I have never ridden one of these before and so the lady points to a bike outside and says that that one is mine. So I’m thinking to myself, “Ok self cool. There’s our baby, but I have no clue what to do.” Luckily, there was a staff person nearby who taught me how to turn it on and then asked if I have ever ridden one before. I tell him no and he just chuckles and smiles. Just like my first time in the car, it’s hard to gauge just how much power is a lot and how much is a little. My heart is racing and nervous because I am not the best person to be on two wheels. After a few jolts of throttle, I finally get the hang of it and I’m off. At a speedy 20mph! It’s funny to say that now, but for my first time, it felt fast; but more importantly safe and AWESOME! I had such a rush and it felt so good to drive around and to have my Japanese looking hair blowing in the wind. Pai is a pretty lazy place.


After I moved out of my guesthouse I checked into a different one near the Pai River and saw a little place called Edible Jazz. Sweet name. I read that it is a hot spot for musicians to just jam out and is a nice place to just relax. I go there around 8 and talk with a few other travelers and then a guitarist grabs the mic and starts jamming. This guy is awesome. He has a raspy and scratchy singing voice, but it is “real”. It is one of soul and he sounds awesome. It has been some time since I’ve had live music and this was a great time. I stayed till about 11 listening to just the kind of relaxing music I like. Pai is a sweet place and I’m definitely getting my share of relaxation.

Just Reeeelax

Day 145

Yesterday I arrived into the lazy town called Pai via a crazy minibus driver. We had to drive over this mountain, which forced the people to build the windiest road I have ever been on. After being tossed and turned and nauseated, I stumbled out of the bus into Pai and felt a sense of relaxation. The mood around here reminds me of hippy/ pot-heads. Tons of Bob Marley paraphernalia and tye dye shops. As I was walking around, I heard some foreigners ask a local for some opium! Ahhhh Thailand. People around here love their dreads and it is the first place that I have been where the local people actually dress in the clothing that the market people sell. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, let me explain:

When many foreigners travel to places in South East Asia, they get this feeling of being cool and to wear the natural clothing. The natural clothing consists of loose pants that are colored to be subtle and are very stripy; and to wear shirts that are also loose and are designed to I guess show off the chest hair that no one here has (people here don’t really grow hair on their bodies). Usually only foreigners wear these type of clothing and the locals wear their khaki pants or jeans and wear t-shirts. It is quite funny to see foreigners think that they are truly part of the culture by wearing these things, when in fact they are the only ones wearing these things. HOWEVER, in Pai I have seen a good number of people wearing these natural fibered clothing. I will admit that it is cool looking and looks incredibly comfortable, I’ll just have to use my judgment on this one.

My friend in Lao told me to spend about a week in Pai, but I’m not sure how long I’ll spend, but I do know that it will be very relaxing.