Thaistickyrice

Motorbike Accident!!!!

Matt — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:20:44 +0000

My third accident on the D Tracker and this time I wasn’t drunk! Robin, Blake, Jasper, Marc and myself all headed off on a planned three day trip to Chiang Rai and The Golden Triangle. Day one we left Chiang Mai and headed up towards Fang and Thaton we then took the fun moutain roads via Doi Mae Salong and Doi Tung, anyway it was a long day of riding and we were still in the mountains when night came. The roads were dark and narrow and this is where I came a cropper. I hit some loose gravel on a bend (which I didn’t see) and lost the bike from underneath me. Everything happened so quick I still am not sure how the injury happened but my best guess would be to do something with my foot being trapped between the foot rest peg and the tarmac when I came off. Oddly enough I there was absolutely no damage to the shoe or sock I was wearing. The left side of my body was in some pain where I scraped along the tarmac but the foot was the most painful I assumed I had bruised or at worst maybe broken something in there. I want even going to bother taking the shoe off until Robin suggested that maybe I should take a look. Anyway when I did get the shoe and sock off I wasn’t ready for the site of a two inch rip in the back of my foot! Despite the alarming gash in the back of my foot I dug out a clean pair of underpants from my bag and wrapped it around the wound (mainly as a buffer as I had to put the shoe back on to ride the bike to the nearest hospital in Mae Sai.

Anyway the nurses and doctors at Mae Sai hospital done a grand job sewing it all back together and I now have a plaster cast around the foot which I have to wear for a total of 6 weeks to give the tendons some chance of repairing m themselves.

Partially Formed Chicken Fetus Eggs

Matt — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:39:30 +0000

First time I have seen these in Thailand. I think they are a common snack in Vietnam and the Philippines. I was passing through Mae Tang a few weeks back and stopped by the market to pick up some barbecued eggs and saw these being prepared over the charcoals. Supposed to be quite tasty but couldn’t stomach one for my breakfast!

Short trip to Bangkok

Matt — Mon, 31 May 2010 14:59:44 +0000

Me and Tack just got back from a short trip to Bangkok. We had planned to go a couple of weeks back but thought it best to leave it a while as the red shirt protests were in full flow with the Thai army shooting off their M16′s in all directions. Anyway about a week after the protests had ended Bangkok really felt as it always had and (on the surface at least) everyday life really did feel as if is was back to normal , the traffic was back to its normal gridlocked state that was for sure. We passed by Central World and the Old Siam Square cinema and took a couple of snaps .

City Hall Chiang Mai

Matt — Mon, 31 May 2010 14:34:57 +0000

Tack had some business to attend to at City Hall (government offices) a couple of weeks back and snapped these pics while there. City Hall has been heavily guarded against any red shirt demos and attacks since the protests began in Bangkok. Also on the day she was there some of the local elephant camps brought their elephants to City Hall to protest against the red shirt protest which was scaring all the tourists away and ruining their business!!! Not only this their main argument was that if the tourists didn’t return soon then they can not afford to feed the elephants and they will starve!

Chiang Mai Zoo -Again!

Matt — Mon, 31 May 2010 14:20:06 +0000

We were back at Chiang Mai Zoo a few days back. It was the school holidays and Pinky had never seen the Pandas so we thought we would pay them a visit.

Songkran 2010

Matt — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 06:20:27 +0000

Over a week later and I am still recovering from the excesses of the annual 4 day Songkran bash….still loads of fun as usual!

Click to view slideshow.

A day out in Mae Wang

Matt — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 05:49:31 +0000

Well ‘work’ has taken me and Tack out into the hills again as we needed to get a few pics for a couple of new tour/homes tay programmes we are adding to our websites. We headed out with Tacks trekking guide friend Joe and a few of his friends who acted as willing models for our pics. These are a few pics from that day. For more info on this 2 day action packed programme check out the Travel Hub Site here

The Lost Hut Chiang Mai

Matt — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:07:46 +0000

Chiang Mai has more bars and night time venues than you can shake a stick at, you are never short of something to do at night time in this town. My favourite night time spot for the last four and a half years (and where I can usually be found on a Friday night) has been The Lost Hut. Run by its friendly owners Sai and Blake who are always welcoming to old regulars and new comers alike this laid back drinking spot is well worth seeking out.

To find this little gem of a bar head up either soi 1 or soi 2 off the Moonmuang road the bar can be found at the meeting point of these sois.

Off roading in Pai 2

Matt — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:29:15 +0000

The main reason why we choose Pai for this trip was to try some of the off road trails which head into the mountains. I ended up hiring a Honda XR in town as the street tires on the D tracker were not up to the job. Anyway we spent the day in the hills having loads of fun on the trails and we passed through a couple of Lisu villages. I planned to shoot a load of video clips for this trip so I could put together a 5 minute mini video for the blog but as I was having so much fun on the bike I hardly stopped to get the camera out. In the end this is all I managed.

Pai Lanna Resort

Matt — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 11:58:39 +0000

Every time I am in Pai I stay at a different place, I haven’t yet really found somewhere i really like but the Pai Lanna Resort wasn’t at all bad for its price. This was Robin’s recommendation and we grabbed 4 Bungalows, we ended up paying 400 Baht/night after a bit of mild bargaining,I guess rates vary a lot depending on the season and this rate was a low season price and a fare bit cheaper than what is advertised on their website.

The resort is about 5 minutes walk out of town set on a little hill overlooking the Pai River and Pai town. The owners and staff were friendly, the little wooden bungalows were in good order and the grounds were immaculately kept. I will probable give this another go next time I am in town.