World Adventure

Hi All,

Sometimes we need to check our reality. I realised this tonight. The trip from Chang Mai to Mae Hong Son is about 8hrs by road and we had found some cheap airline tickets which reduced the time to 35 minutes. Then it would be a matter of heading back towards southern Thailand by road to enjoy the scenery. I always get us to the airport much too early and outdid my normal estimates today as the tuk tuk driver, Pas, was already waiting outside the hostel and didn't take long to deliver us. The airport processed us quickly and then we had a delay due to bad weather in the  Mae Hong Son area. So even more waiting around but it didn't bother us as we are so conditioned to hurry up and wait with transport. We were looking forward to flying with an airline than has a yellow beak painted on the nose of the plane but unfortunately the flight was subcontracted to Thai air but at least it was a propeller driver plane! It was quite a rough ride at times but not too uncomfortable but still there was time on the short flight for the host to run around and dish out water and packkages of macadamia nuts. Good work!

So we arrived at the airport, grabbed our luggage and went to catch a tuk tuk to the guesthouse . Hmmm. Only one tuk tuk...a little waiting and it returned and we grabbed it for a quick ride. Mae Hong Son is in northern Thailand and it is not a particularly interesting town but we have nice accomodation and there is lots to discover around the local area. It is quite hot during the day with the temperature rising to 37 deg C so we just hid away until the sun lost it's harshness then went for a walk. A pretty boring town when compared to Chang Mai or Bangkok but that is exactly the mistake. Comparing. Different places have different appeals and when we have enjoyed the previous place then it is initially a great dissapointment when the next place does not have the same appeal. Not really fair...

Our accommodation is located next to a lake and next to a magnificent temple which was highlighted after dark. We ate a a place overlooking it and I said that the food was expensive as the green curry was 80 baht but in reality that is AUD$2.5! A very cheap meal indeed. So sitting there in the restuarant with Vanessa next to me, an excellent guitar player singing classic 70s songs, eating a nice green curry, sipping on a Chang beer, looking at the illuminated temple, it struck me. Get a grip. Life is pretty good at  the moment.

Tomorrow we will be trying our skills on a motor scooter to head to the fish cave.

Bye,
David and Vanessa