[YEAR 7!] Quit our jobs, sold our home, gone riding...

[lightcycle]

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.

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.

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

Some are professional, some are beginners...

 

[lightcycle]

Umbrellas and elephants, two of Thailand's most well-known symbols

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

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.

Who will be crowned Miss Umbrella Festival 2016?

Wonder if these umbrella girls also work at the motorcycle races?

 

[lightcycle]

More handpainting

The general public is invited to handpaint their own umbrellas

Neda is loving all the vibrant, pretty colours!

This pose is called the "Closed Umbrella"

Awesome road trip! Getting ready for the long ride back home!

 

[unkamonkey]

Perhaps more American than Canadian but you gots to do what you gots to do. Carry on

 

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/280.html

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.

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!

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

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.

 

[lightcycle]

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.

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...

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!

Crazy Horse Buttress

 

[lightcycle]

Great views from Doi Langka Luang

View from Wat That Moei

Taking a break on the way to the Hot Springs Swedish Sauna

Neda is off to another one of her clubs. I am keeping the couch warm for when she returns.

 

[lightcycle]

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!

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

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

Catching some shade under a fruit tree

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

 

[lightcycle]

Neda practices some yoga at the Grand Canyon of Chiang Mai

Doesn't look that far down, does it?

Actually, it's a 40-foot drop. I was totally planning on jumping, but chickened out. Next time!

 

[lightcycle]

Peering into other people's homes, getting an idea of what's around the area...

I saw a T-shirt I want to get for Neda. On the front it reads, "I'm just here to pet all the dogs"

Heading back home after a fun day of playing at the Grand Canyon of Chiang Mai

 

[comptiger5000]

It's good to see the updates flowing again! I have to wonder: if you guys end up settling down in Thailand long-term, would you bring the big bikes down there?

 

[lightcycle]

if you guys end up settling down in Thailand long-term, would you bring the big bikes down there?

We would like to.

Unfortunately, there is a huge import tax if we try to permanently bring the bikes in and get them registered as Thai vehicles. We will have to pay 300% the value of the motorcycles... cheaper to buy brand BMWs in Thailand!

The alternative is to temporarily import them and keep riding them out and back into the country, like a visa run for bikes. I read that you can extend the temporary import permit for up to 6 months, so we'll do visa runs twice a year by bike. That's a viable option.

 

[comptiger5000]

We would like to.

Unfortunately, there is a huge import tax if we try to permanently bring the bikes in and get them registered as Thai vehicles. We will have to pay 300% the value of the motorcycles... cheaper to buy brand BMWs in Thailand!

The alternative is to temporarily import them and keep riding them out and back into the country, like a visa run for bikes. I read that you can extend the temporary import permit for up to 6 months, so we'll do visa runs twice a year by bike. That's a viable option.

That works. Otherwise, I wonder how little you can convince them the bikes are worth with all those miles on them...

 

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/281.html

Elephants have had a long history in Thailand, and not exactly a happy one. From very early on, they were captured and domesticated for military and logging use. But in 1989, due to rampant deforestation, the Thai government banned logging, which put many of the elephants out of a job. This coincided with the rise of tourism in the country, so these unemployed elephants were retasked and put to work in camps as entertainment.

Neda has done a lot of research into this because this is something we both wanted to see while we were here. We discovered that elephants in these camps are horribly tortured to break their spirit in order for them to be obedient enough to train. Baby elephants are taken from their mothers at birth and are confined to a tight space, like a cage or hole, so they cannot move. They are then beaten with clubs, sticks and bull-hooks, deprived of food and sleep until they become broken. Then they are trained to allow people to ride them and perform acts which are unnatural to them ie. circus tricks like painting.

Everyone wants to ride elephants, thinking that they are large creatures and they should be able to bear the weight. After all we break horses and ride them, right? This is only partially true, though. Mahouts (elephant trainers) ride their elephants on their neck where there is less strain. But the elephant in the tourist work camps are forced to carry tourists in a saddle right on their back, which was never meant to bear that much weight. This puts considerable strain on their spine and causes irreversible damage over time.

"How do I make myself irresistible to elephants?"

We've decided to visit a rescue centre called Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. Their mission is to purchase elephants from the surrounding tourist work camps and provide a safe place to live out their days. Their number one rule is "no riding elephants". We like this a lot better, despite knowing that these are "broken-in" elephants that have been mistreated in a past life, that we are not causing further harm to them.

The most popular elephant at the Sanctuary is baby Ni-Na. She's only three years old. Neda fell in love with her

Ni-Na's mother died so she was being looked after by her aunt. She worked at two tourist camps before being rescued by the Sanctuary. There were five elephants at the location we were at. Elephant Jungle Sanctuary owns three locations with about 17 elephants in total.

 

[lightcycle]

Two very happy buddies

I read up that elephants flap their ears to express excitement or joy. I think Ni-Na is very happy to see more bananas in Neda's hand!

These Thai elephants are Asian elephants, which are smaller than African elephants

Why are elephants cute? I think it's all in the eyelashes...

I've never spent any time with an elephant this up close before. Just by description alone, elephants should not be cute animals. Tough, grey wrinkly skin. Sparse, prickly hair. Lumbering around ponderously. They're like fat, old men. But it's all the tiny details, the comically floppy ears, the incredible dexterous trunk that is as agile as any human hand, the little fly swatter on their tail and the adorable eyelashes... it's totally the eyelashes that make you fall in love with them.