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Wednesday, December 16, 2009

WOW


I parted ways with Nate in Chiang Rai, he took off towards Lao, and I headed south to Bangkok. In a few hours I will catch a flight to San Francisco. Life is good. I've been in southeast Asia for over eight months now, and all of a sudden this chapter of my life is coming to an end. It's been wonderful, some of the best eight months of my life.

I feel like I could write a bunch of stuff right now, you know, to kind of sum up all that has happened in the last eight months. But that's not really my style, I guess. I like to keep these blog posts nice and short, and maybe have a nice picture, or a short video, or something. Anyways, I chose this picture for this blog post because it kind of sums up my traveling. But actually, I didn't really travel here to Thailand, I moved here. I lived and worked here. My dad shared a quote with me not too long ago, by the travel writer Paul Theroux, that said, "I sought trains; I found passengers." And I guess that's what this has really been about for me. I've posted a lot of pictures on this blog of a lot of beautiful scenery, but really, the best part about traveling, or living somewhere, is who is behind the camera with you. Because whoever that is, they are the ones that really help make the experience. This is a picture of me and Oot playing the guitar together. I've probably spent more time with him and his daughter since I've been in Thailand than with anyone else. I will miss them terribly.

I'm going back to San Francisco now. This blog isn't done, really. Perhaps I can find some way to keep it interesting. I hope people have enjoyed it, my stories, the pictures, the videos, and my excessive use of reggae music in my videos.... anyways, I've had some beers tonight, and I'm about to catch a little van to the airport so I can fly home...

Monday, December 14, 2009

CHIANG RAI


It was a two day trip to Chiang Rai from Chiang Dao, with a night spent in Tha Ton, a lazy river town on the border of Myanmar. We made our way up and over some mountains, and through some small villages and towns, until we reached Chiang Rai. Chiang Rai is a pretty big city, with an awesome night bazaar, and an even more awesome outdoor food court slash beer garden. We had a great time hanging out and eating...

THAI WHISKY


There's not really much explaining to do about this one...

CHIANG DAO


Two days out of Pai and Nate and I found ourselves in Chiang Dao. It was a real nice little town, we stayed for two nights. Chiang Dao sits at the bottom of Thailand's third largest mountain, which seems to just come out of nowhere, I mean the area is pretty hilly, but the mountain just seems to pop out of the horizon. It's quite stunning. We explored a cave, ate some great food, drank some of the local liquor, and just relaxed for a day in small-town Thailand...

ON THE ROAD WITH NATE


I left the islands a couple of weeks ago and headed north to meet my friend Nate. Nate's on a massive bike tour of southeast Asia, and flew into Bangkok mid November to start his ride. By the time we joined up he was in Pai, and after a few days of hanging out, I rented a motorbike and joined him on his trip...

NICK


Nick flew out to Thailand in early October to join me in my travels, and I couldn't have asked for a better travel buddy. We didn't have much of a plan going into our journey, but it didn't take us long to realize that whatever we did, we would have fun doing it. Two months together, wow. And every minute of it was awesome. We parted ways a little over a week ago, I journeyed north to meet up with with my friend Nate, while Nick's girlfriend Izzy flew out to join him for a week in the islands. It was the end of an epic journey, but only a small chapter in the story of our friendship. I am very lucky and thankful to have a friend like Nick.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

LANTERNS


A night on Ko Lanta with some of my bestest friends...