Sunday, March 04, 2007

Land of Smiles






Just back from Thailand. Good times, very good times. Have you ever been? It was my first time. How nice is it to leave rainy and cold (well, not that cold...) Vancouver and pull into a zone where evening is comfortable in a t-shirt and mid-day is scorching hot? The truth is we got mild sunstroke on a big day of riding and nearly died at the beginning of the trip which sucked. From Bangkok we went straight north, flew into Chiang Rai and did a loop further north along the Burma and Laos borders. Our trip consisted of about four days of riding off and on road, a few days of dirt biking, an elephant ride, a long-tail boat ride and some van driving. We were blown away by pretty much everything. What stood out about Thailand from all of our travels that we've logged were the people...they don't call it the land of smiles for nothing. They were laid back and happy all the time. I love it. Thailand is one of those places that when you leave you think...man, i could stay here for awhile...maybe forever. It's good living over there. The riding is great but the heat is intense from about noon to 3:30 each day. Unless you live for heat, a mandatory siesta is what will keep you healthy. The dining was all time and the hotels too. Oh yea, and the massages too...

Paulo and Wade are riding down in Costa Rica on our Pura Vida DH trip as we speak. The trip is off to a great start and they are finishing up Day 2 of riding...I'll keep you posted!

Chris.

1 comment:

Rolly R. said...

Winter - like I said before - you are one lucky basthard!! Thialand sounds great - a must do I think. Just got back from Negril - I think you would like that place too. They had a Fat Tire Festival in early Feb.

Hey man - I loved your cameo in ROAM. Took me a while to figure out what 'nugs' were.

I'm doing Crankworx this year. I keep checking your site - kind of a vicarious thing. I am going to do another B.M. Trip someday soon. Hope you will be on it.

Keep on ridin' big!