1 U.S. dollar = 31.585597 Thai baht

The dollar is slipping! I got 34 baht to the dollar when I first arrived. Dwight said he was getting 38 to 1 when he was here in the Spring. Oh welll, whatcha gunna do (buy euros?). Well my bus leaves tonight at 10:00pm to Chiang Khan where I cross the boarder/ Mekong River into Laos. I hope the internet services are as good there, but i doubt it, don't stress if I'm out of contact for a bit. I had some delicous banna pancakes for breakfast this morning, I'm uploading some pictures right now, then will burn my memory card onto a CD and start Laos fresh, I hear Laos is a traveling photographers dream come true (so long as he/she doesn't step on one of the many UXO that the US so graciously left these people to deal with). Lets just say I'll be sticking to the beaten trail...Grrr the pictures failed to go, somehow I got one of the rafting up, but can't get the others up. Some other time =]..Adios for now, Adam

Moving on to Laos...

After soaking up Pai for a couple weeks I'm going to push on (it would be easy to stay). Next stop Luang Prabang, Laos. The place is supposed to be incredible. I'll get a two week visa at the boarder crossing and plan on staying the full time. I plan to see Vientiane (the capital), Luang Prabang, do some toobing down the river in Vang Vien, who knows what else, before moving into Vietnam.
Pai has been good to me. I met a local brother/sister who are awesome and know everyone in the place, Fook and Jane. They showed me around the nightlife and know whats going on. The town pretty much closes around 1:00am with the exception of a few late night spots that really aren't that special. I've been pretty much lazy and loving it. Yesterday I got back from a two day river rafting trip that was fun, but much slower paced than the pictures in the pamphlet would have you imagine.
This is day two of a three day celebration over here, I'm still not clear what exactly is being celebrated, but it has to do with Buddha, last night there were hundreds of these lanterns floating around in the sky, pretty cool sight (they work like mini hot-air balloons), and the streets are packed full of locals, tourists and the likes milling around. There are three stages set up, live music and of course incredible food. I guess that about wraps it up, I can't get the picture uploader to work, I might try again tomorrow...love you all. Adam

Where is Pai//Pictures

Click on Pictures to Enlarge

Pai

This is a great little spot, growing rapidly. Laid back, clean, set In a tropical farming valley. My favorite thing so far is getting on my rented 125cc motobike, and go cruisng out the main road, up these winding roads and soaking up the views. In the surrounding countryside, it's strage being surrounded by agriculture that probably hasn't changed much for thousands of years. You really get that feeeling except from the clothes and the moto-bikes, that is place has been opperating off the land for a very very long time in a similare fashion. Thats out-side of Pai, Pai it's self is a liberal sort of place, and at night the streets come alive. Streetside bars just start pulling chairs out and sitting people around. Live music, and lots of stray dogs. Or at least pretty wild dogs with homes, they run around in packs of five or six wagging thier tales sniffing up and down the street, looking for handouts, they're not out to cause trouble. I'm staying in this great little spot, I'll post some pictures of it. I paid for another four nights, then I'll be doing some rafting and a trek before likely moving on into Laos. Yesterday I took the bike out to this massive cave and for five bucks paid a guide and a bamboo raft man to show me around. So a river flows into the mouth of this cave, and to get in you hope on a bamboo raft and have a seat while a local polls you through to a shore inside the cave. It definitly feels out of a some pirate movie, the light source being some old gas lantern. Pretty cool spot. I guess at night some 300,000 birds come flying into the cave, replacing the population of bats that live in it during the day. I wasn't thier for the changing of the guards but can only imagine it's quite the sight. Don't have any realy plans for the day but after lunch I might investigate the pool thats supposedly around here, other than that I'm in the middle of a couple books and saoking it up..
Hope all is well, Adam.

P.S. The beg bugs stayed in Bangkok and the itchy rash they left me dissapeared a couple of days ago.

More about Pai click HERE

Pictures: Muay Thai Boxing in Chiang Mai // Having a drink on top of the state tower with Peter in BKK // A cat with a sense of humor //
Elephants chained to at thier post, waiting for a passenger, Elephant rides are a big deal around here.//A short hike off the side of the road led me into "Pai Cannyon."//A stop on the way to the canyon for a cup of coffeee//...more to come

Chiang Mai

Click Map to Enlarge

Just arrived in Chiang Mai this morning...12hour train ride up here was really good, the train left BKK at 7:45 last night and got in 1o:oo this morning. The "sleeper train" had really comfortable beds and I slept like a baby. I'm not sure what I'm going to do next, I think I'll stay here one more day, then go to nearby Pai for some out-of-the-way but highly recomended down time. Everyone's trying to sell treks out into the hills around here, which is something I really want to do, but I want to find a good outfit, and its hard to tell what your signing up for. I'll shop around a little and hopefully run into people who had an awesome time on their trek...We'll see. I've officially been bed bugged, I'm not sure if they followed me here or not, but I'm not going to use my sleeping bag till it gets washed. The bites are itchy lil bastards but no real big deal. I'll try to get some CHiang Mai pics posted here in the next day or so, all is well, bye for now, Adam

Click HERE to learn more about Chaing Mai

BKK!

Hello from Bangkok!~
All is well over here, been having a great time. I finally feel calibrated, just a slight change from home..It's been so good to have Peter and Andrew around, I wouldn't have seen half of the sights of Bangkok without them. The markets are unreal! Never ending, everywhere, I'm not even a shopper but I'm in heaven, I walk around for a while, find somethign that catcehs my eye, try my luck at bartering (which is sort of addicting) and walk away with whatever. The place I'm staying right now is prety nice, I have my own room with bathroom and shower, walk downstairs in the morning for some coffee and breakfast. The food is delicious and cheap..the downside is I'm pretty sure MSG is the new salt. I explored Grand Palace yesterday, walked around for hours taking pictures and soaking it up.Last night Peter and I went up the state tower for a beer at the rooftop bar, 64 floors above Bangkok..Gorgeous! My plan is to hang out here till thursday before heading north to Chiang Mai, I'll keep posting... Well I'm off for now, Adios!
PS. You can Enlarge the pictures by clicking on them

Off to Asia

Thu Oct 4 2007	875	SEA-NRT	12:41	14:55	F
Fri Oct 5 2007	837	NRT-BKK	18:30	23:10	F
Sat Dec 15 2007	838	BKK-NRT	6:40	14:15	F
Sat Dec 15 2007	876	NRT-SEA	16:55	8:22	F