I’m staying in a Caravan (European word for camping trailer) in a camground outside of Amsterdam called the Lucky Lake Hostel. The hostel and the folks that run it are really great! I highly recommend this place for a cheap way to ‘do’ Amsterdam.
It’s cold and rainy here! Yikes! Amsterdam is interesting to say the least, not the least of which is the Red Light district (sorry guys, they won’t let me take pictures of the girls) and all the coffee houses with legal pot smoking in them. Apparently, the Dutch were trying to address a problem with harder drugs like Cocaine and Heroin, so they legalized soft drugs like marijuana. It’s an interesting experiment. I’m not sure I really get Amsterdam, aside from people coming here for the obvious reasons mentioned above. They definitely have some nice museums…maybe that’s why folks come here.
Having a great time and looking forward to Costa Rica and warmer weather!
I know…I’ve really been slacking on my updates, so here’s another flurry of them.
I’m currently on the Island of Santorini in the Greek Cyclades. I never even knew these Islands existed…this place was suggested to me by some other travelers and I like it a lot! I’m going to tour the volcano today and watch the sunset from a magical little place called Oia. Good stuff!
I’m moving on the Mykonos, another Island in the Cyclades, then Athens, Nice (French Riviera) and then Paris, Amsterdam and we’ll see after that. There’s so many cool places in Europe. I feel that I could spend a year just in Greece alone!
I’ve put a whole bunch of new photos of Northern Thailand out there on Flickr…just click on the Badgr Badge below or sit back and watch the slide show. I also have a great LightBox photo gallery interface on my site here. Enjoy!
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Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep is on the Doi Suthep hill right next to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Some folks might call it a mountain-I, being from Colorado, call it a hill. There are very nice views of Chiang Mai from both the Wat itself and also from the viewpoint coming up the hill. The temple is very large and nicely kept. It has two huge dragons for handrails going up steep stairs to the temple itself.
I borrowed Jonn Serrie’s music for it, I hope he doesn’t mind. It fits so well. Sorry again about the jumpiness of the video…hand-held is tough at best and the monopod I brought is next to useless. I’ll have a tripod next time I’m guessing, but who wants to carry it?
I am still staying in the Inner City of Chiang Mai in one of the best bang-for-buck places that I stayed in Thailand, Pachkit House. I literally walked all over the inner city and this was the best deal that I found. They have AC and Internet (wired) for cheaper than the other places were with a fan. This is a hi-tech backpacker’s dream! Before moving here, I was staying at The Chiang Mai Thai House which I liked very much, as well. I was able to stay in a fan room there because they have a very nice pool to cool you off on those hot afternoons. They also have wireless Internet for a small extra fee. However, I wanted to be within the Walls. I have a friend who stays without fail on the Ping River which runs through Chiang Mai on the East side of town.
Also, you might notice the haziness that is in all of my long-range shots. This is because April is not only the hottest month, it is also the month that they burn all of the brush in the jungle to keep it thinned out. It was explained to me that they do this to avoid full-blown jungle fires that would kill everything. Northern Thailand is dry in the Summer and I could see how this would easily happen if they didn’t set these fires.
Basically, when you go to Northern Thailand in the Summer, everything is on fire. This is alarming at first but then I noticed that the fires couldn’t get out of control because the trees were totally immune. Since they burn every year, the fire isn’t big enough to cause much damage. Their strategy of jungle management seems to work quite well but my Tourist pictures suffered!
I hit the Phra Mahathat Stupas in the Doi Inthanon National Park around sunset…and it was eerie! When I left there was myself and two other photographers there. I’m not sure how to explain it, but it was quite magical. On first inspection they look like another set of Wats (Temples) that Thailand is quite famous for. However, these are Stupas, which means that some personal object of Buddha’s has been placed inside the structure to make it very special. I have to say that I was in awe, even before I knew that part.
To quote another site:
These two monuments to the king
and queen of Thailand were set up by the Thai Air Force and supported by the
general Thai population. The name for the king’s stupa “Napamethaneedon” means
“the stupa that houses the great Buddhist relics”. The name for the Queen’s
stupa “Napaponphumsiri” means “divine power from the high sky to the earth”. The
king’s stupa was built as a dedication to honour him, while the queen’s stupa
was built later to commemorate her birthday.
Doi Inthanon Mountain is the highest mountain in Thailand at 2,565 meters above sea level and is part of the Doi Inthanon National Park. It was very nice and cool up there and a real shock to come back down to the heat of the lower elevations! This is the ‘hot’ season of Thailand, but the nights are cool in Chiang Mai, so it’s very pleasant. Perfect, really!
From the jungles of Northern Thailand, here’s another video I’ve titled Motorcycle Diary I…
It’s a personal interest piece of me sitting on my Supercool Honda Phantom motorcycle (all 200cc’s of mean machine). It’s unedited to add to it’s charm. I took several motorcycle trips on the Phantom from Chiang Mai, Thailand. One up to Doi Inthanon (highest point in Thailand and site of some amazing Stupas), another East of Chiang Mai to Muang Pan and Lampang on the back roads. Another trip took me West of Chiang Mai to Ban Mai Viewpoint took me on some roads that aren’t really roads, they’re carriage tracks through the jungle.
It was all good fun but I discovered I’m not built to ride a motorcycle for a long ways…it’s tough on a old guy!
I’m currently geeking out in a place that if rented monthly is about US$150. It’s half as big as my apartment in Lakewood, CO and has A/C, CableTV and wired Internet in the room. It’s cheap to live here and yes, there are many, many Thai ladies to go out with. I was asked just today if I wanted a girl that was selling me an electronics item. I’m leaving in two days or I would have said ‘yes’. They’re very nice…and they’re not all shy!
Where’s Craig? I’m still in Chiang Mai. I really like this place, it really reminds me of home a lot.
I just got back from a quick trip up to the Golden Triangle where the Mekong and Mae Sai rivers converge. It’s really hard to believe that it was recently a very dangerous place to be. It was magnificent! Thailand has really done a great job of eradicating Opium. I’m very, very impressed.
Where’s Craig going? I’m going to Pai, Thailand to hang out with the hippies! Then it’s off to Cave Lodge for caving and rafting and Mae Hong Son for Karen Hill Tribes!
This video was created by a friend of mine, Michael Friedman, who is also the Dive Instructor that certified me. It stars yours truly, his fiancee’ Jessica and Michael himself. He shot some of the pictures and video and I shot some of it with his underwater digital camera. The three of us went on a Liveaboard diving boat called Queen Scuba. It was an unforgettable trip. We did 14 dives in 4 days…basically just ate and slept and dove. The diving included two night dives, one where getting back on the boat was quite an intense experience (it was too stormy to come pick us up in the dinghy)! I think my favorite thing that I saw was the Leopard Shark. Diving is just something I was born to do.
