Its all about food now!

While in Bangkok, I parked the BMW and rented this little 125cc.  Its much more suitable for the horrendous traffic here, allowing me to zip thru rush hour, which is all the time.  
My peers from the school.  Everyday we each learned and created four dishes, than ate it.  I have gained back much of the weight lost at detox.  
Food, lots of delicious Thai food.  This school rocks.  I am learning so much.
"TOTAL CONCENTRATION"
The Blue Elephant Restaurant and Cooking School. 
Immediately after checking out of detox, I bee lined it straight to the best seafood restaurant on the island.  I was suppose follow the detox with 3 more days of just fruit but ate this instead.  Wow, a meal never ever tasted so fresh and delicious.  But then my stomach was sore.  The next day I left for Bangkok and enrolled in a five day Thai cooking course.  Its all about food now.  

Detox/FastI

My trip was quickly approaching the 3 month mark and I was almost ready to go home.  I decided to try a detox/fasting program to eliminate any toxins and or parasites from my body that I may have accumulated during my trip.  I was also physically and mentally exhausted and was hoping to recharge my batteries.  I booked a 7 day detox program at "The Spa Koh Change".  They informed me that I should eat nothing but fruit for 3 days prior to checking in, which I did.  Then it started.  No food, no caffeine, 5 psyllium and some herb pills 5 times a day plus 2 coffee enemas per day.  The program was designed by Dr. Richard Anderson from the USA and suppose to totally clean out your internal organs, especially the liver, intestines, colon etc.  
All that money I paid and all I can eat is this really crappy broth soup.  Two days after checking in, I started feeling really bad.  No energy, head aches and emotions from my past started to arise.  And I thought about food alot.  I wanted to quit but took it one day at a time.  After three days there, which including the three days of pre cleanse equaled six days of nothing substantial to eat, I experienced difficulty just walking to the clinic. The only other time I felt like this was climbing Mt Kilimanjaro at 19,300 feet of elevation.  
Here I am in the lobby area, SPENT.  
A photo of me towards the end of the program, 13 pounds lighter.  The Spa Koh Chang was definitely one of the highlights of my trip.  I felt sooo clean, light, spiritually and mentally re-energized.  My physical energy would not return until a few days of eating.  

Durian or stinky fruit.  Its not bad at all, just taste kind of like a custard.  Andrew Zimmer, your a wimp.  

This is Bun, which kind of means good blessing .  I think hes a Shiba Inu, very smart.  
Friends in the province of Petchabun.  SomChai and his childhood best friend.  We all celebrated Sonkran, Thai New Years, a few days early.  

Drinking and eatings for hours upon hours.  The Thai people really know how to celebrate.  

THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE

Self portrait somewhere in the Golden Triangle.  


Mai Sai: Thai/Myanmar Border.  Motorcyclist are prohibited entry.

My Garmin Zumo 550 at night. Its been very helpful traveling with this GPS. The Zumo was designed specifically for the motorcyclist. Its waterproof, vibration proof, has a big bright screen and touch screen controls that can be activated with gloved fingers. It has many features such as a fuel calculator, compass, elevation, trip data etc. Its also an mp3 player and I can hook up a mobile phone thru the unit and rout it to helmet speakers via bluetooth.

But theres no substitute for an old fashioned map. You need both for a quick and accurate portayal of your location and destination.

I followed this road northwest of Chang Rai, hugging the Mae Nam Kok river thru Lum Nam Kok National Park.

I couldn't resist a good dirt road when the pavement ran out.

I eventually ended up in a village called Op Sun Wen. There are dozens of Karen, Lisu and other hill tribe villages in the vicinity.

A Karen elephant camp. I fed them sugar cane and bananas which was fun. I was too lazy to rotate this pic in my camera prior to uploading so you'll have to rotate your head. haha

Well I'm in Chang Rai now after a beautiful ride here from Chang Mai on route 118 thru the mountains and am staying at the Chat House. After riding around for 40 minutes, I asked an American Expat on a motobike where to stay. He led me to this place. ITS A BACK PACKER place and cost $9 a night with cable TV, air con and great food.

My room.

Chang Rai is like a very small version of Chang Mai. Many options for Treks to hill tribe villages, rafting etc. Its also very close to laos and many tourist use it as a jumping off point into laos. Its relaxed here and the people are very friendly.

I've logged 4200 miles so far. I go thru periods of intense homesickness, fatigue, excitement and joy. I wanted to go home a little early but my wife called the airlines who said nothing is available. I purchased my tickets using my air miles and got business class, which was wonderful. I don't think I want to scrap the return ticket and buy a new one just to go home early. I was gonna go into Laos but now am thinking I won't since I was there on motobike 9 years ago. I'm pretty sure its still the same. Instead, I may head down the east coast of Malaysia but I can't say for sure. My plans change daily and even hourly sometimes. Many times I don't know where I'm going until I'm on the road. Its a wonderful way to travel and the ultimate in Freedom.

Cocking fighting on the side of the road.

Doi Suthep, Chang Mai.

My bike towers over other motos in the hotel parking.

The interior of Doi Suthep.

Chang Mai is a wonderful city in Northern Thailand. After traveling thru rural Thailand for many days, its a great place to recharge your batteries. I could easily spend two weeks here.

The stairs of Doi Suthep. Yes honey, I climbed it 10 times but it wasn't as hard as the Lyon Street Steps. But very magical in the early morning.

I get coffee every morning from carts like this throughout Thailand. They usually have both nestcafe and a thick, fresh brewed concoction made to your specification. Less than 50 cents.

This is what I normally eat for breakfast. "Jok", a rice porridge with things like pork, ginger, scallions and sometimes pieces of intestines from some animal. Its delicious and very healthy, kind of like oatmeal of the east. About 80 cents.

Lunch is very often soup noodle on the side of the road. Its also delicious, very healthy and cheap.

A young yellow lab I met in Pai. Very nice dog!

Well, I'm in Pai (pronounced bye) in northwestern Thailand after traveling several days thru the mountains. The place has grown quite a bit since I was here 9 years ago and remains a laid back hippy/artist retreat. Their are many things to do including trekking, raftings, massage, cooking classes, elephants etc.
But I'm here just to recharge my energy. I'm pretty worn down and quite homesick from being on the road.

My bungalow cost $12 per night.

I have to push my bike over this bamboo bridge to get to my bungalow. Very cool.