Quit our jobs, sold our home and everything in it, gone riding... | Page 90 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Quit our jobs, sold our home and everything in it, gone riding...

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A tuk tuk driver finds some solitary shade from the hot sun of the Vientiane morning

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This roaming bicycle vendor laughed when I took a picture of her then she turned around and tried to sell me some drinks :)

I think the locals find it funny when tourists take pictures of the most mundane, everyday things in their lives.

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Looks like another reclining Buddha

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Here's a small one

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And here's the larger version - not as big as the one in Bangkok though
 
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Taking a moment to pray

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Nice details on the outside of the temple

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Vendors outside Pha That Luang

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Scooting around Vientiane

Okay, we're off to pick up our visas. Hopefully we're allowed back into Thailand.

It's a major bummer that we don't have our bikes with us, but we've resolved to make the best of it and we'll see the rest of the region by some other means. And I'm sure there will be lots of beerlaowdark along the way!
 
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/278.html

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Ok, we got our Thai Visa.

Although it was always assumed that we would be allowed back into Thailand, there was still this sliver of doubt that they'd deny us re-entry. We've heard that the Thai government are very picky about who they let in. We did so much research to increase the odds of getting our visa application approved.

We read online that they don't like foreigners who can't pay their way through the country and then take jobs away from Thai people when they're here. So for some visitors, there's a solvency test where they check your bank balance. Also, as of a few years ago, they started scrutinizing Russian nationals because they are starting illegal businesses in the tourist areas (Phuket, in particular) and taking money away from Thai businesses. They also don't like hippy backpacker tourists, because they bring drug problems into the country and don't spend a lot of money. I even got a haircut and wore a nice shirt with no BeerLaowDark stains on it specifically because we were afraid of that... :(

At the Thai Embassy in Vientiane, there were hordes of dread-locked, sandal-and-tie-dye-singlet wearing hippies in line and all of them got their Visas approved. I bet some of them were even Russian! Wat Dahek! I got a haircut for nothing! Bah, not listening to the Internet anymore. -555.

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Patuxai War Monument

So with our freshly minted visas in our passports, we went back out into Vientiane to see more sights. Our plan is to relocate away from the Embassy which is in the outskirts of Vientiane and move to the downtown area. We had to negotiate with a tuk tuk driver to get us there. It seems like haggling is as much of a national sport here as it is in Thailand. One that we are no good at... I hate backpacking.

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Patuxai War Monument is similar to the Arc de Triomphe in France, but this one celebrates Laos independence from... France.

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The Patuxai is decorated with our old friend the Kinnari, which we last saw at the Royal Palace in Bangkok
 
Our tuk tuk brought us to the centre of Vientiane's busy downtown core where we checked into another hotel. The ladies at reception greet us with a "Sabaidee!" A bit different from the "Sawatdee Kah" greeting in Thailand, but almost the same.

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More reminders of Laos' connection to the Soviet Union

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Stupa right around the corner from our hotel

The days are too hot to go venturing out, so we wait until the temperatures cool in the early evening, whereupon our activities mainly consist of eating out. The prices here are surprisingly expensive, about one and a half times more than Thailand, despite Laos being not as well developed. Maybe it was because we were in the capital city? Would it be cheaper in the smaller towns?

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Go home, Camera. You're drunk.

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We did a lot of this while in Vientiane

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Scooter hangouts at night

Vehicles drive on the the right side of the road in Laos. Our bus from Thailand had to briefly switch sides to drop us off at the border and I found that after only two months in left-hand-side-driving Thailand, I had already switched over mentally. Here in Vientiane, I had to constantly remind myself to look left when crossing the street and traffic looked odd to me. I kept thinking, "Everybody's driving on the wrong side of the road!"

Can't wait to get back to Thailand.
 
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These spirit houses are everywhere in South-East Asia

Spirit houses are tiny ornate temples located on the premises of a residence or business. A priest needs to be consulted as to the location of the spirit house - never build one in the shadow of the building! After the spirit house is constructed, it provides a shelter for the spirits that live on that piece of land. Only then can you build your house or business, without fear that the spirit of the land will inhabit your building.

The spirit that lives in this spirit house really likes Pepsi.

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Visiting more temples

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Laotian Bell tower

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Walking around Wat Ong Teu

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Monks catching a tuk tuk. Their transportation is free all over South East Asia

I have a solution to our tuk tuk haggling and general transportation problems. All we need are a couple of orange robes. I may need another haircut though...

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Hm... 555
 
We've been in Vientiane for five days now. Every morning we walk past the Sabaidee ladies in reception to grab breakfast. Then back to the air conditioning of our hotel room. Then in the evenings, more Sabaidees on the way to dinner. It seems like we're just dragging our feet in Laos, unable to pull ourselves forward.

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Cross-section of life in Vientiane

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Goofing around in Vientiane

We really tried our best to get out to backpack South-East Asia. Honestly. We spent a day or two looking over bus schedules, flight schedules, schedules schedules schedules. All of this traveling on schedules was causing us a lot of grief. When we started this trip almost four years ago, backpacking is not what we signed up for. We have brand new motorcycles waiting for us just across the border and wait... what do we have burning a hole in our passports? A permission slip to return back to those motorcycles?

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Screw this backpacker nonsense.

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We're going home!!!
 
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Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/279.html

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With our first Visa Run out of the way, we returned to Chiang Mai and immediately checked up on our motorcycles. *phew* Still there, right where we parked them a week ago! We were very relieved! We were feeling kinda nervous leaving them behind...

We're booked back into our amazing apartment in Nimman, and it's like we've returned home again, ready to resume our life of lounging and leisure. But this time with motorcycles! No more haggling with the tuk tuk drivers! There's still some paperwork to be done with the bikes. We're missing our ownership papers (Green Book) as well as our license plates. We're able to ride around Thailand legally by keeping a copy of the bill of sale, but we need the ownership and plates to take the bikes out of the country.

We've also extended our two month Thai Visa an additional month which gives us a total of 90 days to get our bikes sorted out. Then we're kicked out of Thailand yet again. But given our problems with getting the paperwork completed in time before our last visa expired, we decide not to delay things, and we're routinely shuttling documents between the various government offices and the Honda dealership.

In between all this administration, we take time to do our first road trip!

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Welcome to Bosang!

Bosang is just east of Chiang Mai... a whopping total of 20 kms! 55555. We are starting nice and slow with these bikes. Gotta get used to the absolute lack of power and the horribly uncomfortable seat. We even got them out on the highway to really flog those tiny engines. Every time we hit 100 km/h, with the bike buzzing like angry bees underneath me, I instinctively tug up on the shifter and my toe hits resistance... nope, no seventh gear on the baby CRF.

Every single time :(

I like riding motorcycles in Thailand. At every stoplight, we filter to the front of the lineup. Even though we think we bought tiny motos, we are still some of the biggest bikes on the road - our tall dirtbikes towering amidst a sea of 110cc scooters. To make us even more conspicuous, we're the only ones outiftted in full gear. Nothing screams "farang" like ATGATT. At the Stoplight Grand Prix, while waiting for the lights to turn green, all the local scooterists eye us up and down like we are aliens. I thought we were going to blend in with these bikes. I guess not...

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We are in Bo Sang for the annual umbrella festival!
 
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Thailand is known for many things and one of them is the Thai umbrella. Bo Sang is where it all started

It's said that a monk (why is it always a monk that starts these things?) brought the technique of making paper umbrellas to the artisans in Bo Sang, and they quickly turned it into one of the iconic symbols of Thai culture.

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The canopy is made from a special lightweight, durable paper called saa, native to Northern Thailand, and is oiled to make it waterproof.
The frame is made of strong bamboo.

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The handmade umbrellas are also painted by hand. All over town, there were artists decorating umbrellas

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Some are professional, some are beginners... :)
 
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Umbrellas and elephants, two of Thailand's most well-known symbols

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Neda the Thai-Lady says, "Sawatdee Kah!"

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Everywhere you look, there are umbrellas decorating the town. Even above!

To celebrate the Umbrella Festival, a beauty pageant was held. But instead of walking down a stage, these contestants rode bicycles up and down the main street in Bosang.

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Who will be crowned Miss Umbrella Festival 2016?

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Wonder if these umbrella girls also work at the motorcycle races?
 
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/280.html

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Sawatdee Khrup!

We've been in Chiang Mai for over two months now and the weather has been pretty consistent: warm and dry. The temperature hovers around the high 20s/low 30s and not humid at all. And surprise... only 2 or 3 days of rain in all the time we've been here. I know, right? I feel like we've accidentally stumbled into someone else's blog - we're now trundling around on their tiny 250cc motos and savoring their dry weather for weeks on end.

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But whoever's blog we stumbled into kicked us out and we're back in RideDOT.com weather

Thailand has been hit by a freak cold spell. In Bangkok, where temperatures rarely drop below 30C, the mercury plummeted to 16C. On the news and in social media, we saw schoolkids wrapped up in blankets in classrooms, scooterists riding through the city streets also wrapped up in blankets. No one in Bangkok owns cold weather clothing!

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Some pics from the news. They bundled the temple dogs up in monks robes! 555!

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Here in Chiang Mai up in the mountains, it's even colder: it hit 11C and to top it off, it's raining as well. First time in weeks.

At least here in the mountains, people actually have a cold-weather wardrobe. In fact, we see people in coats and jackets even when it's 30C outside! I guess when the summer temps top 45C, cold is a relative term. Still, 11C is unheard of here in Chiang Mai.
 
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Our motos are our only transport, so we have to ride rain or shine, hot or cold

On the motorcycle front, we've submitted all the paperwork to get our ownership and plates, just waiting on the government to rubber-stamp everything. Despite this wet spell, I'm glad we've got bikes. We hibernated for the first couple of months in Thailand, recuperating from travel fatigue so we didn't really need to go anywhere. But now that we've rested for a bit, we're eager to explore once again. Well, at least one of us is. Neda's getting ants in her pants and she's started to get involved in the Chiang Mai community. Me, I'm still feeling a bit lazy, so more couch and TV shows on my menu.

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Neda joined a hiking club!

Every Sunday morning, the hiking club meets up and they bus out to the Thai wilderness outside of the city to go hike some trails. Needless to say, I don't join the Chiang Mai Hiking Club. I'm fearful that all that exercise will endanger the little pot belly I'm cultivating while lying on the couch chomping down on fried spicy seaweed strips (my new favorite snack). Gaaaahh... so good...

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I'm so proud of Neda though. Ever since we made the decision to try to make a home in Chiang Mai, she's really made an effort to integrate into the community. Every Sunday is hiking club, plus she's joined a yoga studio and works out four times a week. We also joined a pick-up beach volleyball club together and Neda signed us up for a digital photography club as well. We are also looking for a place that offers Thai language lessons. There's probably a club for that too...

Amidst all this preparation for settling down, we talked about what we would do here in Thailand. I've already got my end figured out. I like to do nothing, and I'd like to see that continue here. :) That would drive Neda crazy though. She's doing some research into becoming an English teacher here in Chiang Mai. The cost to get certified as an instructor is kind of expensive, but one upside is that she will be able to obtain a one-year working visa and in turn, I can also get a one-year dependent visa. I could totally get used to being a kept man!

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Crazy Horse Buttress
 
Now that we have the motos, we're exploring the area outside of Chiang Mai a little bit more. One afternoon, we head out to the Grand Canyon of Chiang Mai!

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It's not really a Canyon, but an old abandoned quarry less than 15 kms from the city

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The quarry is filled with rainwater and is now a popular spot for swimming and sunbathing... at least for the all the farangs in Chiang Mai

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Catching some shade under a fruit tree

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The red soil looks like something you'd see in Utah or Arizona!
 
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