Typical photo. Here's a ruin in Ayuthaya, the old capital of Thailand before Bangkok. It's just about 80 miles north of Bangkok.
Yet another ruin... with a good reflection.
OK, enough of the ruins... here's what we came to Thailand to see... an ELEPHANT!! Wooohooo! This is one of those eco-friendly elephants. He's about 5 ft tall and lets you pet him.
Wow, some spirituality. A really peaceful feeling looking at this statue. In Lopburi, further north of Bangkok as we move north to Chiang Mai.
Now I understand what Mike was trying to get at in our update end-OCT 2007. His tree of enlightment. His posture. Om. Om.
The Enlightened One.
Sitting in this posture, he too will become a tourist's photo shot.
This photo has a story. See last photo of OCT 2007 webpage -- us at the airport. Tim had given me this shirt and... when I first saw him with this shirt, he had it on a hanger hung in his car. He was dirtbagging it, but still had the class to hang his nice shirts. So in respect, after a week's daily use (though washed frequently, hehehe) the hotel where we were staying had this hanger. But note the anti-theft setup of the hanger... the one hanger. "Tim, I hope I'm worthy of sportin' your shirt and taking care of it."
We finally made it to Chiang Mai (northern part of Thailand). Here is a street vendor selling sausages. I called him "Pork Sausage Man in Pink Crocs". We compared our Crocs to see which one was more cute. I think he won ..but he didn't have a shirt as cool as mine.
Here's where Chiang Mai is ...we'll be here until Nov 11th or 12th.
We continued up north to a city called Chiang Rai -- it's in the northern part of Thailand. We found a place where we just took some time and relaxed. Read some.
Christi relaxed and just chillin'.
And here's me chillin'... with a Chang beer..
The owner of the guest house (called Mae Kok Villa) has 10 dachshunds that roam around like sausages with legs. Here's one of them..
Another one. They are so cute.
Two of them have found Christi.
But this is a cutie... 2 and half months old.
We went north...
From Chiang Rai, we went further north to Mae Salong, a hill tribe area where opium was once the cash crop. Here's Christi (in pink, again) and the red arrow points to our room ($3/night!).
It was raining in Mae Salong -- use an umbrella if you're on a motorbike. I thought I heard her saying, "Under my umbrella, ...ay ...ay."
Here's a bicycle repair shop.
Here's the town of Mae Salong on a dreary, wet day.
The following day, it was better. We wanted to hike up to this pagoda/shrine.
Here's me on the stairway to heaven up to the pagoda/shrine.
Christi headin' up.
Ahhh, finally. You mean there was a road up to it?!&@*
Christi and Mae Salong behind her.
Movie clip from the pagoda/shrine.
The shrine for the King's mother.
Me as the dragon slayer.
On the way back down, we saw these ladies on the roadside.
Ooops, on closer inspection, it was a roadside nursing stop.
In this area there are "hill tribe" people. They are from this region and/or southern China centuries ago who have settled in this region. Though Thai, they still keep to their own language, culture, and traditions. You can see their particular dress here.
Another hill tribe lady. The head dress is key in identifying which tribe they belonged to.
Not sure which hill tribe he belonged to. Oh, ooops, he's of Chinese decent. Taking on the sage stroll... pondering, meditating... "life is good when trees grow to sky."
OK, THESE are hill tribe folks. The first one's saying, "pass me the ball."
Video of street market in Mae Salong.