Okay, as you can see my body clock is still screwed up. I am down in the lobby (it is an outdoor lobby next to the pool) and I am writing another post for you. What a guy hunh 
Next was some pastry I bought off the street. It was breaded with sesame seeds and something sweet inside. I have found out if you like it and you don’t know what it is don’t ask:)
Next is a farm (I think) on my way to Chaingmai (on that super fast train)
Let’s see, since my last post I read some of my book and went to bed. Okay, done for now. Sorry, just kidding.
I noticed that the wonderful captions of my last group of pictures didn’t show up so I am going to go back and forth and try to explain them. I think the first ones are of a man making animals (this one is a dragon-of course) on the streets. He does it totally out of rope. It was great to watch him.
Next you see my new friend the Dr. and I outside of the train station in Chiangmai.
The last few are of my hotel room. It is beautiful, and the many delicacies from the market. (Cut up frogs, bugs, and fruits.) Today (or should I say yesterday) I just stuck with the fruits, but later today, who knows.
I am going on a trip around Chiangmai today. The whole day will cost me about 1000 baht = about $30.00 american. I should see many unique sites and have many pics to share.
I will try to go to sleep now. I have a long day of exploring tomorrow.
I think I will leave you with a few more pictures. Enjoy. Okay screw the pictures. For some reason they don’t want to download or upload or whatever the kind of He– loading they are supposed to do. Tucker or JJ, if you are checking this site let me know if there is something I can do to make them go on faster. They load, but when it tries to crunch the pictures it goes on forever.
rrrrride safe
UL
Bill
Last night I left for Chiangmai. I spoke with different people from my hotel in Bangkok. I was told they figured it was about 6 hours by train. Guess again bonzo breath. I understand missing the time by half and hour or even and hour, but I have to draw the line at a miss by about 7 and a half hours I left last night at 6:30 and got to Changmai at about 8:00 this morning. I also thought I had a sleeping car but my seat was like everyone else’s. I’m figuring, what the heck it is only 6 hours, no big deal. After I was on the train for about two hours a woman came around and started doing things to the passenger seats and in less than 5 minutes presto changeo I have a sleeping bed. Of course mine was on top. But it did have two seat belts from ceiling to bed to keep me from falling out:) Tucker, I should have thought of that when you were little so I wouldn’t have seen you on the floor from the top bunk. Thank goodness for the sleeping bed. It made the long (remember 7 and a half hours longer than I was told) trip okay. It’s all about the adventure right.
A great part of the trip was this morning. As I was getting up. We had two more hours to go. (I think someone told me we only had about 10 minutes left I met a medical doctor. We had a great discussion about modern conventional medicine, which he practiced, along with alternative medicine, which he also believed in. Troy and Chanda, you would love this guy. After talking for about an hour I know have a new friend. He is 72, but seemed as if he was much younger. He was going to Changmai on business and the woman (his girlfriend I think) who met him at the airport took me into Changmai from the train and took me to a wonderful hotel (The Lai-Thai Guest House) It is a great place. It only costs about 600 bht a night with free wi-fi (which I didn’t find out about right away because I did not ask–stupid American). This is about $20.00.
I went to the local market today. (I have pictures–you may not want to look:) They sold everything from fresh fruit/vegetables “with the ants still on them”:) to luggage, clothes, and just about anything else you can imagine. Hey Steven, I ate some Durian fruit today. If you all are wondering it was a fruit Steven said I should eat and then he would laugh about it. He also would say something to his friends here and they would laugh too. (I ate some Steven and it wasn’t too bad). I also ate litchi and mangosteen. These fruits all taste different from what we are used to but they were pretty good. Thank goodness the people are willing to show me how to peel them. Who knows how I would eat them if I didn’t get help:)
Let’s try some more pics.
Motorcycle taxi (mini van) in Thailand
I swear I have seen 5 people on a bike this size. It had a man a woman and three children. Just about what we Americans carry in our mini vans.
To all my beer drinking friends (my students I don't do this I wanted you to see that I may not drink light beer, but I do drink light coke.
A fruit from the street. It tastes very good. Kind of sweet. You peel it and eat the inside, but not the large seed or pit.
The fruit peeled. You eat the part to the right that looks like an egg.
Later today I will be trying another fruit. It only had a few bugs crawling over it. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to eat those too or just wash them off.
I will just do what they tell me.
Good bye for now.
ride safe
UL
Your weary, but happy traveler
I am adding more pics on a second post because they are taking a while to load and I didn’t want you to miss and of my “pithy” writing. Here are some more pics. I hope I have enough time on my card so you can see them.
a bunch of buses, taxis, mini bus taxis, but not the above ground subway
Something happened so I will publish this and try again.
Okay folks. Sorry for the delay, but it has been an eventful first day and a half. Let’s start from the beginning. My flight out of MPLS was of course delayed because of “mechanical difficulties”. At first I was a little perturbed until I realized I’m glad they found it on the ground and fixed it instead of some guy looking at it and saying, “Aw heck, I think it can make it to Tokyo.” So after a 2 and a half hour delay I finally took off for Tokyo and arrived about an hour late. I thought I would be in Tokyo overnight, but they held the plane to Bangkok (I’m sure just for me–they must have known who was on their plane) Right now a guy from Australia is cutting into the minutes I bought because he wants to talk. I hate to be rude but I semi-ignored him to keep on typing before my time runs out.
Now, where was I. Oh yeah the flight to Tokyo. Tucker and Brianna, you can appreciate this. You know how bad I dry heave when my stomach is upset. Well try covering your mouth and dry heaving for about 3 minutes because “it won’t come up so to speak”. Let’s just say I had a lot of unique looks from passengers thinking I was surely making all of them ill My quesiness passed and I made it to Tokyo. Had to get right on the plane and took off for Bangkok. All went well, but I thought it was a 3 hour flight (wrong again Bozo) It was a 6 hour flight. By the time I got to Bangkok I had been traveling about 25 hours with maybe an hour of restless sleep. I went to my hotel in Sukumvit (sp) and tried to sleep, but it was about 2:30 pm USA time so my body clock didn’t know what to do.
I slept a little and then the first days adventures began.
I will put up pictures of things. I may not know what they are but I think you will enjoy seeing them. If not pass them by and check out my next set of nuggets of wisdom.
After waking (I guess) I traveled around and outside of Bangkok on about 5 types of vehicles. I hit the above ground subway (is that an oxymoron?) Then a bus, next a taxi (by meter Steve), next some kind of taxi bus. I didn’t get the motorcycle taxi (maybe tomorrow)
I think you might remember that last year I said the driving was rather unique to say the least. I received the joy of experiencing it again.
They should change the name from “speed limit” to “speed suggestion” and the white stripes for lanes are also suggestions. How 5 or 6 vehicles can take up the space provided by 3 lanes of stripes is beyond me, but I saw it yesterday. Let’s just say that sometimes we were so close I could have been sitting in either vehicle. Also, one way streets mean nothing when you are on a motorcycle. It is rather unnerving to see a motorcycle coming at a bus the size of a greyhound going the wrong way. I didn’t see a single accident. How they do it is beyond me. I don’t think you take a driving test in Thailand. I think you take a “stunt driving test”
Again because of motion sickness in the bus cab it was time to drive heave some more. I don’t think I am making a lot of friends in Thailand with this “cute little quirk” of mine.
I made it back to the hotel after a day of excitement and that was just from the rides on the streets.
I feel great today. I think my body clock is set to Thailand time and I am doing well.
Time for pictures.
me yesterday trying to get online. No such luck
a street of Bangkok outside my hotel
Okay folks. Sorry for the delay, but it has been an eventful first day and a half. Let’s start from the beginning. My flight out of MPLS was of course delayed because of “mechanical difficulties”. At first I was a little perturbed until I realized I’m glad they found it on the ground and fixed it instead of some guy looking at it and saying, “Aw heck, I think it can make it to Tokyo.” So after a 2 and a half hour delay I finally took off for Tokyo and arrived about an hour late. I thought I would be in Tokyo overnight, but they held the plane to Bangkok (I’m sure just for me–they must have known who was on their plane) Right now a guy from Australia is cutting into the minutes I bought because he wants to talk. I hate to be rude but I semi-ignored him to keep on typing before my time runs out.
Now, where was I. Oh yeah the flight to Tokyo. Tucker and Brianna, you can appreciate this. You know how bad I dry heave when my stomach is upset. Well try covering your mouth and dry heaving for about 3 minutes because “it won’t come up so to speak”. Let’s just say I had a lot of unique looks from passengers thinking I was surely making all of them ill My quesiness passed and I made it to Tokyo. Had to get right on the plane and took off for Bangkok. All went well, but I thought it was a 3 hour flight (wrong again Bozo) It was a 6 hour flight. By the time I got to Bangkok I had been traveling about 25 hours with maybe an hour of restless sleep. I went to my hotel in Sukumvit (sp) and tried to sleep, but it was about 2:30 pm USA time so my body clock didn’t know what to do.
I slept a little and then the first days adventures began.
I will put up pictures of things. I may not know what they are but I think you will enjoy seeing them. If not pass them by and check out my next set of nuggets of wisdom.
After waking (I guess) I traveled around and outside of Bangkok on about 5 types of vehicles. I hit the above ground subway (is that an oxymoron?) Then a bus, next a taxi (by meter Steve), next some kind of taxi bus. I didn’t get the motorcycle taxi (maybe tomorrow)
I think you might remember that last year I said the driving was rather unique to say the least. I received the joy of experiencing it again.
They should change the name from “speed limit” to “speed suggestion” and the white stripes for lanes are also suggestions. How 5 or 6 vehicles can take up the space provided by 3 lanes of stripes is beyond me, but I saw it yesterday. Let’s just say that sometimes we were so close I could have been sitting in either vehicle. Also, one way streets mean nothing when you are on a motorcycle. It is rather unnerving to see a motorcycle coming at a bus the size of a greyhound going the wrong way. I didn’t see a single accident. How they do it is beyond me. I don’t think you take a driving test in Thailand. I think you take a “stunt driving test”
Again because of motion sickness in the bus cab it was time to drive heave some more. I don’t think I am making a lot of friends in Thailand with this “cute little quirk” of mine.
I made it back to the hotel after a day of excitement and that was just from the rides on the streets.
I feel great today. I think my body clock is set to Thailand time and I am doing well.
Time for pictures.
me yesterday trying to get online. No such luck
a street of Bangkok outside my hotel
I can’t say this trip hasn’t had an “exciting” beginning. I woke up this morning, went down to get the one long pair of pants for my trip and felt wetness attacking my socks. My first thought is (okay I can’t print my first thought here). My second thought was, you’ve got to be kidding me. I checked in the laundry room and yes my sewer had backed up. How ironic, I make it through the flood unscathed, but the day I leave for my trip the water decides to give me one heck of a going away present. The Laney’s man is downstairs as I write working on my “situation”. Also, this is purely unsolicited. These guys and gals are great. I called at 7:45 and told them of my problem (leaving for Thailand in about 5 hours) and they had someone here in about 45 minutes. Thanks Laney’s.
Now for what I really planned to write for today.
I take off in a few hours and I learned from last year how prepared and how much stuff is necessary for a trip of this “magnitude” I spent hours (okay, minutes) deciding what to take and how to pack everything. I am now adding some pics for you to see all I needed to make it for 24 days in Thailand.
All I'm taking
Packed for Thailand
I leave today at about 1:00 pm and I get to Bangkok about Midnight their time tomorrow, which is noon our time tomorrow, which means that I will be living 12 hours into the future of all you guys. If that is correct and any of you want to know the future I can help you with it by about 12 hours.
It’s easy to remember: I will be 12 hours ahead of all of you in Fargo. Everyone else reading this can figure it out on their own.
Let’s hope they get my clog figured out before I leave. If not, I’m going anyway. It will all work out in the end.
My schedule for today. Leave Fargo at about 1:00 pm–Mpls about 2:00
Leave MPLS about 3:00 Arrive Tokyo, Japan about 8 days (okay I exaggerate) 16-18 hours later. Then leave Tokyo about 9:00 pm and get to Bangkok about midnight on Saturday. Noon for you guys on Sat–I think.
I hope to have many exciting adventures and sites to share with you.
Take care
Ride safe
Bill
Hello everyone. This is my first post for my trip to Thailand. I am freaking psyched. I have been doing some research online. I will be going to a city called Chiang Mai. It looks amazing. I can’t wait to see it. From the site I found it is a “hidden gem” with access to mountains, jungles, ocean, beautiful waterfalls (my favorite) and the excitement of a city. Looks like I can book a room at the equivelent of a 4 star hotel for about 20 bucks. Yikes, that is awesome.
This pic has nothing to do with my trip I just wanted to see if I could add a pic easily. I figured, why not put in a pic that has a good cause attached to it.
wear pink to wipe out breast cancer
I hope this has worked. If it does I will show you my packing and all of the stuff I’m taking with me on this trip. I learned a lot from last year about all the stuff I should take. Rob, you’ll get it.
ride safe.
As I stated before, we are back in LA. It is supposed to be hot in Southeast Asia, but this is nuts. It has been over 105 degrees the last two days. It was almost too hot for me to get in my 10 mile run We are driving around in some of LA to get some more ideas for locations for the movie. For those who know him I was able to have a late lunch with Don Kress, I’m meeting Andrea Ehnert tomorrow for lunch and I hope to see Timm Sharpe sometime tuesday or Wednesday. I also hope to hook up with Brent Moon too. It’s great to see all these people. Everyone of them is having success in their chosen field. I can’t wait to see them and what they are up to.
No real pics from LA. Maybe I’ll take some tomorrow and put them on the site.
I hope all of you are doing well and I’ll see you after Thursday when I get home.
ride safe
UL
Bill
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