NYC: Soooo...cold!

Despite best laid plans to document such things, one can never under estimate the power of weather and the need to travel light.

The flight into Newark was cake, and the bus to Grand Central was smooth, and the train up to my sister's in Connecticut was a walk in the park. I was only briefly going to be there until the next day when I'd head back down into New York City for the Comicon show.

When I arrived on Friday it was rather cold especially with the wind gusts. I thought I'd try walking from Grand Central Station to the Javitts Center. It started off okay, as I was walking south, but as soon as I started walking west the winds did everything to hold me back. I got about six blocks away from my destination before I hailed a cab and admitted defeat...de feet were tired too! My new shoes that I had purchased and worn for a week or so before the trip did not favorable support my arches on concrete. The shoes all around rubbed me the wrong way and made for difficult going. It's easier to jungle trek when the ground is softer it seems.

The New York City Comicon show was good because it was warm inside, and despite not having enough room for my big old camera in my day bag, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Well I did see overweight stormtroopers, and infantile Princess Leia's being carried by their Obi Wan Kenobi fathers but that's par for the course. There was a lot of great art and I met a few people I had conversed with online. So for the most part it was a recon mission at best.

I checked into The New Yorker Hotel later that day. It's a very simple typical hotel, nothing special really. A remodelled lobby, less than attractive rooms, with incredibly warm hallways, oh, and the same piece of art on various walls throughout the place. I hit a few cafes over the next day or so and didn't really make the effort to seek out fine dining. I think after so much travel in the last few days I was winding down.

More later...
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NYC Solo

Well I'm heading out tomorrow to NYC. Like the title says, The Jessie is not accompanying me. The reality is I've really only got a couple of days downtown, the other part will be wandering around Connecticut where my sister and brother-in-law live. I'm always curious what kind of pictures I'll capture each time I go. I debated again, whether or not to bring paint as it's been quite cold outside.

There are cafe's and other indoor areas I can explore...I'm sure of it.

Also I'll be attending the New York City Comicon, my first time. I like to dip in and get a headful of inspiration from time to time, and put faces with names. Not quite as exotic as Thailand but you'd be hard pressed to find an odder group of people crammed into one building.

Let's see what kind of blogging I'll be able to accomplish in the states, shall we?

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Last Post From Abroad

This is out last chance to post before a leisurely journey back to the Bangkok airport for a Friday morning flight back to Seattle. We'll be splurging on a short flight out of Chiang Mai tomorrow. Tonight we'll be checking out the commercial overload of the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar, and getting a real pair of designer running shoes, or maybe an authentic tribal carving, or maybe finally try those UFBs (unidentified fried bits). Talk to you all soon and thanks for the comments - made us feel less homesick!

SHARKTIP #3: Putting the Gain in Bargain

As Americans we have only a few opportunities to bargain with people in everyday life. But we've noticed it's a practiced art in some of our travels. Even at a general store that sells a variety of merchandise learn the phrase, "Is that the best price you can give me?" In most cases they can do better.

Sometimes, like in Guatemala, we often offered half the price they were asking and most would concede to that or somewhere close. You may also want to have in your hand what you're willing to pay for an item. Seeing the money is a sensory thing, that the merchant has to consider losing if they don't accept a reasonable price.

But be forewarned, never bargain if you don't intend to buy. The game can turn sour quickly.

Waterlogue

True love is carrying your spouse across a river 64 times.

So we got rid of the moped only to punish ourselves (me) on a ten mile hike. Jess's footwear of choice: sneakers, mine: sport sandals. Knowing full well the journey would require crossing the river a bunch of times I thought, why not be a sport and let Jessie keep the dry feet. Besides, sneakers take a long time to dry.

We followed the Mae Yen river along the valley floor, through banana groves and rice fields. The local farmers were happy to see us as not many a foreigner trekked out their way. Once we got into the canopy it was peaceful and quiet...and challenging. The river wasn't very high or moving very fast but the water was wet and the sand quite coarse.

We met a hiker 2 hours and some change into the hike who mentioned a short cut over a ridge that would save us a bunch of time. So we took it, which was great as we the scenery changed and we were walking amongst giant groves of bamboo. By the time we got to the waterfall we'd hiked for 2 hours and 45 minutes. We were ahead of the guidebooks estimates by a longshot.

My feet however were cut and rubbed raw.
So on the way back I decided to have Jess carry me instead.

Of course that didn't happen.
Luckily I had some dry socks that buffered the sting a little and made the sand a little less abrasive. And true to chivalry I again helped to keep her sneakers dry. Looking back now I can say it was worth a little bit of pain. We'd gotten soft with all that relaxing.

It was just a reminder to us that the good stuff is just around the next bend, if you're willing to take that extra step.

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Ticklish

Massages are cheap and available everywhere in street-side parlors. If you don't mind the noise of the scooter and tuk-tuk, you can lean back and relax for a mere $4/hour. The signs out front show a diagram depicting all the "regions" of the foot (and presumably what body function or part they relate to).
After the hike to the waterfall, I had tender tootsies and stiff legs. Time for a foot massage! No frills here - one large room has several thin pads and pillows, so you'll be right next to your fellow massag-ee. The lady assigned to me started out with a foot wash, then I laid down on the pad. She did a lot of unusual things: drawing knuckles across the top foot bone, raking a stick down the sides of my foot, drawing a figure-eight on the sole with her fingernail. Although a few felt weird at first, it was very relaxing overall.
She finished up by walking her hands up my leg bones, putting her full weight on them, and having me sit up and do something similar to my neck and shoulders. I think this was a taste of Thai-style massage - less kneading, and more pushing and pulling the limbs around (described as "passive Yoga"). I may have to give that a try before I leave as well.
I vote for this kind of low-budget walk-in approach in the States! I don't always need the luxurious spa atmosphere to get the kinks out...
Kapoot
We've had a few items give up the ghost - my camera refused to turn on yesterday and no new battery combinations made a dent, so looks like we are done with pictures for this trip.
Shane's sunglasses hinge fell apart as well, so he is now sporting a nifty new pair of silver shades, with raised skull and crossbones on each earpiece (pickings were slim in the market).
I'm posting a few interesting pics we got before the camera blow-out here...

Pai III

Moped Diaries

The traffic laws around here are pretty simple: If you see a stop light you stop, other wise it's go-go-go and try not to hit anybody.

Knowing this didn't make renting a moped any easier. In fact I didn't sleep a wink as I kept reminding myself the whole night, "Drive on the left...drive on the left!" In Thailand everything you know about driving is flipped and I was constantly challenged to drive against instinct. I fumbled a little as the sole driver of this thing, and with Jessie the Navigatrix on the back we got around quite well. Pai is the perfect little town to try this in, because the surrounding countryside was relatively traffic-free and stopping frequently was a must.

First and foremost, I realized how much of the area we really weren't seeing. The rolling countryside seemed to roll away into misty blue mountains as far as the eye could see. Very ghostlike in a lot of ways. The small villages where the roads narrow and are frequented by children, chickens and underfed dogs were often not as far away as the map indicated. The people there too seemed genuinely curious as not too many foreigners ever venture outside of Pai.

It was just what we needed to break away from all the pre-packaged "tourist adventures". We got to move at our own pace and hang out in out of the way open-aire restaurants overlooking the serene valleys.

The scary part however came when the bridge was out.

We had wanted to get to the elephant camps so I could paint me some elephants. The bridge to the backroad to the camps was being worked on and the secondary bridge collapsed under the weight of a cement truck which was about to capsize. That meant we had to hit the dusty highway and go the longer route. Route 1095 is gravel, dust and cement shared with every other vehicle...and did I mention how steep the hills were? Breaking was scary, steering was scary...the whole thing had me on pins and needles. Luckily we chose to ride out to Pai Canyon early to avoid heavy traffic. Stupid me forgot to where a bandana to keep from breathing the red dust.

After that leg of the journey it was rather easy, and we were back on the backroads through the elephant camps.

Jess seemed to enjoy it as much as I did, and even though we were racing the clock to return the thing, I think it would have been fun to keep it another day.

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