The 1000 Day Holiday

Asia is the only place in the world where its super cheap to hire a motorbike and enjoy the freedom, exhilaration and the feel of wind blowing through my hair (SIC). $2.20 per day gets you on a scooter, out and about exploring the countryside.

Now about the way they drive in Asia. I actually prefer it to the western style.Lets compare them:

Western Driving

• Drive to the left of the line
• Don’t let anyone get in front of you – e.g a merging car
• Speed up on the straight sections where people might overtake you
• If another driver is in the wrong, don’t adjust your driving. Scare them or give them the finger. e.g pulling out in front of you.
• Get angry if motorcyclists split lanes to get to the front at stop lights

Asian Driving

• Generally drive to the left, but the whole road is there to be used.
• Motorbikes turn corners early, running up the inside of the corner
• Toot your horn/flash headlights on tight corners to alert others you’re coming
• Toot your horn if you need more space or to alert cyclists/pedestrians to move off the road
• Lanes are a guide only. Splitting lanes, smaller vehicles weaving through traffic is efficient
• Do whatever you want to do. Expect everyone else to do the same. nothing is a surprise, just adjust and carry on.
• Use indicators to show the edge of your vehicle to an oncoming vehicle in tight spots

The only downside is that they never check what traffic is approaching before joining from a side road. This screams of natural selection. Other than that it works pretty well.

Its a great feeling when you arrive in a new town, and instantly like the vibe. In this case  Pai, Northern Thailand.

Then all that remains is to find the perfect hostel/Guest house/ Hotel.

You would think this would be easy and happen a lot. Its a simple formula, yet it seems in 500+ days theres but a few hostels/guesthouses that really do rate as a 10 out of 10.

• A decent common area, cushions, hammocks  etc
• Friendly staff
• Clean rooms
• Bonus points are great food or a view.

clean rooms are easy enough to find. Nice people running the place is a 50/50 hit and miss. The thing that is usually missing is the lounge/relax/hang out space.

not having one is like living in a house that has no lounge. you dont hang out in your room.. thats just where you sleep.

So I’m glad in this town I did find such a place to stay.

Perfection!

 

516 Days down, 484 to go…
01/06/07 Yangon
02/06/07 Yangon – Overnight bus to Bagan
03/06/07 Bagan
04/06/07 Bagan
05/06/07 Bagan
06/06/07Bus to Kalaw
07/06/07 Kalaw – Hiking
08/06/07 Kalaw – Hiking
09/06/07 Inle Lake – Bike ride to the Thermal Pools
10/06/07 Boat Tour of the lake
11/06/07 Overnight bus to Mandalay
12/06/07 Puppet Show
13/06/07 Flood!
14/06/07 Moustache Brothers
15/06/07 To Yangon
16/06/07 Yangon
17/06/07 Yangon – Platinum Club
18/06/07 Shwedagon Paya
19/06/07 Fly Yangon – Bangkok
20/06/07
21/06/07
22/06/07 Train to Chaing Mai
23/06/07 Chaing Mai
24/06/07 Chaing Mai
25/06/07 Chaing Mai
26/06/07 Pai
27/06/07 Pai
28/06/07 Pai
29/06/07 Pai
30/06/07 Pai

They love to cover western songs in the local language.

So far we have heard: Bon jovi, Coldplay, Savage Garden, Westlife, Korn.

And in other music news, Ronan Keeting of Boy band fame recently ‘toured’ Cambodia. his excuse for poor ticket sales was that locals thought he had ripped off the local artists tunes. not the other way around.

He did add that now that hes the first ‘superstar’ to tour here in 30 years, it paves the way for other great acts

Spent the last 2 days hiking in the hills around Kalaw.  Stayed at a mountain top lodge run by a Nepalese family. Top spot.

But you’ll believe me as the pics wont be up till im back in Thailand.

Flew into Yangon, Myanmar on the31st. After an overnight bus we are now in Bagan. The Myanmar version of Angkor Wat in Cambodia

Have to love net censorship… all web based email is blocked..

Joys! Pictures from Myanmar are here

485 Days down, 515 to go…
01/05/07 Musashi, yummy Japanese tastiness
02/05/07 Fly Sydney to Phuket
03/05/07 Exploring Phuket.. its a hole
04/05/07 Phuket
05/05/07 Bus to Bangkok
06/05/07 Grand Palace
07/05/07
08/05/07 BKK, Train to Chaing Mai

09/05/07
10/05/07
11/05/07
12/05/07
13/05/07
14/05/07 Thai Massage Course
15/05/07 500 DAYS THRU HOLIDAY
16/05/07 Thai Massage Course
17/05/07 Thai Massage Course, Riverside Bar

18/05/07 Thai Massage Course, Spicy Niteclub
19/05/07

20/05/07

21/05/07 Thai Massage Course
22/05/07 Thai Massage Course
23/05/07Thai Massage Course
24/05/07 Thai Massage Course
25/05/07 Thai Massage Course
26/05/07
27/05/07 Overnight train to BKK
28/05/07
29/05/07
30/05/07
31/05/07 Fly to Yangon, Myanmar

Deet melted my last calculator watch, and to think we put that stuff on our skin.

I finally replaced it with the bees knees of calculator watches

Schmick.. Well I like it

That is all.

Last year when I was in Chaing Mai, there was 2 Candidian girls getting thai sanscrit tattoos on their wrist saying things like “Compassion” on their wrists. Their tatoo artist had lived in the UK and had a good grasp on english, so hopefully the translation worked out well.

This year, theres another Canadian. She wanted the thai sanscrit for “independant” on her wrist.

Her tattoo artist doesn’t really speak english, so she would have ended up with it meaning a countrys independence. Luckily she checked with a few other thais.

What I dont get is why they get a tattoo in a language they have no knowledge of.

On a funnier note:

One of the guys at the hostel met a thai girl and one thing led to another… she had THAILAND in big block lettering across her lower back.

I said he should have taken a photo so when people asked where he was for his holiday he could show them and say in thailand

In my travels I am developing my own cult religion. This will be a pyramid trapezoid in hierarchical structure. 

My Commandments 

• Be good
• Thou shalt never wear fisherman pants
• Thy Chilli Sauce is thy Holy Water, and may be added to anything.
• Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do
• Hippies cannot be trusted

Now I need a name, and then I will open membership.