The road we took from Chaing Mai to Mae Hong Son has over 1000 bends (one way). I am glad we were on a motor bike and not a car. Lots of people complained of motion sickness (some turns were well over 180 degees). It was an incredible ride going up these mountains on switchbacks. Even at the beginning of the dry season it was still green and lush all over. Banana trees right on the edge of the road. Lots of little bamboo huts in the middle of rice patties. It looks so peaceful and simple.
Out of the 15 hours we were on the bike I drove 5 minutes (longest 5 minutes off my life). During this time I managed to bend the little front basket, break off part of the break lever, scratch the muffler, and crack the break light cover (I think she is trying to kill me). On my own accord I remained in the back seat for the remainder of the trip, and Rob didn't object (send help). Both of us were unscathed and the repairs only cost us $15.
Time for a little teeth cleaning. Two cavities, and two cleanings set us back 45 US dollars (Leah had both of the cavities, I had several inches of coffee/tea stains to be removed)
Tham Lot is one of the largest known caves in Thailand. In one of the chambers we saw a teak coffin. It looked like a hollowed out canoe and was about 6 feet long. I am not sure why they needed such a long coffin for a Thai person but they are dated back 1200-2200 years old. Maybe they were taller then! At dusk the bats leave the cave to hunt and millions of swifts enter to find a nice sleeping spot. It is amazing to watch hundreds of thousands, of birds circling around till they choose their time to enter the cave at a really fast speed! It sort of reminded me of a round-a-bout ( cover your head though, because they dump a lot of crud, looks sort of like rain in the water).
We took a day off from our motor bike and took a little walk in the beautiful Karst landscape. (We got lost, and got cut up by thorns, at one point we were climbing a hill side, pulling on vines)
Rob is so good at being a Buddha look alike. The other day a Thai woman asked if he was Buddha it took him off guard for a moment till he realised she was asking if he was Buddhist.(Aummmmmmm)
I couldn't resist this perfect round frame! This was taken in the same temple as Rob's meditating picture. We had just rented one speed bicycles and attempted to bike up this momentous hill. Part way up Rob discovered that his bike, apart from it being Thai size (Leah hardly fit on her bike) and way too small for him, the handle bars twisted every time he pulled them (going up hill this can be a problem). We felt pretty accomplished to get to this spot and we chained our bikes outside this temple hopped on a cab for the rest of the way up the mountain.
"Dr. Fish" is how these little bottom dwelling sucker fish are advertised (sorry we had to kill the video, it just wouldn't come out). They nibble away at your dead skin on your feet and leave your feet feeling clean and silky smooth. I guess they have a unique property of continuing to nibble even when they are full! The feeling of these tiny fish is like electricity all around your feet. Also when the tails get in between your toes the tickling is almost unbearable...almost. We think we might do it again... $3 for 20 minutes is hard to beat.
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