A new country!

How exciting :)

Thailand was a trip. What people say about Thailand... well I would believe them.
Finding what you want in Thailand is a very easy thing to do.
You can party.
You can relax.
You can sleaze.

(We chose option (2).. relaxation)

Looking back. Karina and I had spread our time around Thailand fairly evenly.
6 days at Krabi.
5 days at Phuket.
2 days at Koh Samui.
10 days at Koh Phangan.
4 days at Bangkok.
3 days at Lampang.
7 days at Chiang Mai.

And in Chiang Mai I did manage to participate at my usual standard.

Chiang Mai Day 1

Karina and I arrived at Chiang Mai on a Saturday evening. As is our custom we settled for the first room within our price range (which is usually 300-400B; $12-$16 per night) and looked for a decisively better room for the rest of our stay. We didn't have to look far. The guesthouse next door was cheaper and offered cheap internet. A winner.

Chiang Mai Day 2

Sunday evening was interesting.
Night Markets. A 1000m stretch of shop fronts and street vendors. Here is a mere sample at the east side gate:

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670762

Karina went into her 'zone' and demanded that I walk behind her (Note: when I walk infront of her I walk at a pace that is a little too fast for her tortoise like browse of the shop fronts). A night of shopping ensued. I can't say that I didn't enjoy it. I managed to spend around $100 (which is quite a bit in Thailand)... and bought myself some treats to take home..

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670763

Yes Ladies and Gentleman, that is a packet of insects. A packet of bugs. A packet full of nutritional content. What happened to them?

Before...

A worm
http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670764

A grasshopper
http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670765

A cockroach
http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670766

After.......
http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670767

Mwhhahahahahahahaha! What did it taste like? They tasted like insects. Did I enjoy it? No. Would I ever enjoy it? No.. it must suck to be a bird whose diet consists of these insects.

Chiang Mai Day 3

Ahh! The next day... This was the day where I began to vomit. Food poisoning?! Coincidence?! I think not! In hindsight though I don't think it was the bugs that poisoned me. I believe I was poisoned by an oily fish burger. You can see the burger to the right of this shot:

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670768

You can see why I ate at this place. The humour got me. SHUCKS. Hahaha! If you don't receive your order in two hours or less. IT'S FREE!! I couldn't resist. :(

Before the upheaval I did manage to squeeze some entertainment in.

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670769

That's right. Muay Thai boxing. The time had finally come.
I was ringside commentating. And my trusty photographer Karina by my side. We had a blast. I wasn't much of a commentator..

Me: Ohh.... Did you see that Karina? Did you see it!!
Me: Hit him with your elbow. Cut him. CUT HIM.
Me: Get ONG BAK ON HIS ASS.
Me: ONG BAK!
Me: Kick his head. KICK HIM.
Me: KILL HIM. KILL. Elbow his face.

Hahahhahhhahaahaha.

What more could my masculine want? Two hot and sweaty men touching each other with there feet, elbows and knees. Fabulous!

Here's an action shot that my fantastic photographer, Karina, took:

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670771

The night ended.. and a new day began.

Chiang Mai Days 4 & 5

A day spent in the bathroom. Shucks. Where was the positive? Well.. I spent the next two days catching up on TV that I had missed out on. The usual buffet of Lost, Prison Break and Scrubs... Downloaded 10GB worth of TV in 3 days. All for the price of 80B. $3. Nice :)

Chiang Mai Day 6

The city hadn't finished giving. We explored the realms of Chiang Mai Zoo... There were your usual selection of elephants, hippos, rhinos, big cats, little cats, deer, reptiles, penguins, peacocks.. and then there were pandas..

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670778

Well she wants to be a panda.. but sorry Karina.. maybe another lifetime. ;)

Here's the real panda.

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670777

They gas it to keep it asleep. It's name is 'El Diablo'.. which is spanish for 'fighting chicken'.

And there was the monkey..

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670775

I called out to it.. and it gave me it's ass.

It's OK. Not all monkeys are rude..

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670780

Hehe. As soon as Karina took this shot I began to sing:

"Meech out and dutch..
Dumbody's and..
Make de whirl a betta pace..
Ip doo tan!"

Thank you Eddie Murphy for your hilarious antics on Saturday Night Live.

Chiang Mai Day 7

One-day trek.. which involved no trekking whatsoever. BUT. There were ANIMALS. Haha.

An Elephant Show.... I'm doing pretty well in letting the pictures tell the story. No point stopping now!

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670782

The highlight of the show.. an elephant that paints?

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670783

This is where I began to molest the elephants.. or was the elephant molesting me?

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670784
http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670785
http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670786

Fun. Fun. Until.. we got to ride on the elephants through the jungle ;)

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670792
http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670793
http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670794

I don't know why.. but I seemed to be the only one allowed to ride on the elephants head. I rationalised that I was given priority because I am good looking. Thanks Mum. Thanks Dad. Your DNA (well now MY DNA) is serving me well.

The last scheduled activity on the tour was a bamboo raft. I was hoping for some adrenaline. Did I get my adrenaline? NO. We crawled down the river. I could have dog paddled faster. Me being me. I had to make the most of things.

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670795
http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670796

After 5 minutes of me in control of the raft.. the tour guide decided it wasnt such a good idea. Hahahahhaa. If only someone was there to appreciate my 'Mortal Kombat' impressions. If only. Christian.. I needed you! Raiden. WINS.

The unscheduled activity of the day: a Monkey school. Unfortunately the pictures dont do the school much justice. I have footage that is hilarious. There was a Chinese monkey who looked like the most egotistical monkey I have ever seen. I will call him. Donald.

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670797

YOU'RE FIRED.

Hahahahahhaa. Donald could do backflips. Donald could ride a tricycle. Donald could shoot hoops. Donald could do Pushups. Situps. And overhead shoulder presses!

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670798

Oh man. Something about a monkey weights training that just sent me into hysterics.

And with that we left Thailand. The next morning we began our long trip to Luang Prabang. We passed through the gate to Indo-China..

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670800

and into Laos!

From Chiang Mai it took almost 3 days to get to Luang Prabang. An overnight stay at the border town of Chiang Khong, Thailand. Then the next two days on this slow boat:

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670801

Ouch. Wooden seats and an extremely loud motor. Not for the faint hearted. The slow boat stops at a small village along the Mekong River, Pakbeng.

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670803

With my 20kg backpack and a water bottle in each hand I had to climb my way up the sand dune. Oh man. We paid 150B ($6) to stay overnight and were awoken by a rat that was trying to get at some of the food we had bought the day earlier. I dealt with the rat (I now have its head as my trophy.. I'm *kidding*). But still had broken sleep. Argh!

The comforts of Luang Prabang and city life were welcomed. What was not welcomed was the air quality. Double Argh! Local Laos farmers have been slashing and burning the forestry. The result. Smoke. Everywhere. Meaning: deep breaths few and far between. :(

Luang Prabang would be a magnificent city minus the smoke. The views would be just as amazing as any other city... and the culture can't be missed. There are temples on just about every major corner (as opposed to 7/11s on just about every major corner in Thailand)!

Luang Prabang is probably best explored on a bicycle. Karina and I explored and bumped into hundreds of children making their way back home from school. Karina secretively took a few photos while riding the bike (and I am secretively thankful for it ;)).

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670804

Yes. That is me in the pink shirt. That is me redefining the heterosecksual rainbow. ;)

Luang Prabang is built around a mountain. And atop of this mountain lies a temple. 328 steps.

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670806

And once at the top of the mountain..

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670807

On the way back down there are many cave inlets where you can find renewed Buddhist shrines. I felt nostalgic. :)

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670808
http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670809

Luang Prabang also has its share of natural wonder. Tat Kuong Si Waterfall.

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670811

A multi-tiered waterfall which offers different views at different heights.

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670812

And also incredible opportunities for me to pose.

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670813

Photos came out so well.. some even looked like we had photoshopped ourselves in..

http://www.statravelblogs.com/klopez/albums/chiang-mai-thailand-to-luang-prabang-laos/1670814

Luang Prabang caters for the tourists needs. Except for the smoke. And I've had enough of the smoke.

Now it's time for me to sign out. The mist beckons.

Chau.

Lopez.