Hua Hin

In Hua Hin, I spent a lot of time with Linda and her Thai boyfriend Nueng. He worked hard at the beach bar, while we relaxed in the cushioned chairs. I was set up with them through a man I met in Ton Sai, they were so nice and treated me wonderfully my entire stay.

I went up a lage hill to get this great view of the town. The hill in the far distance is Khao Takiab, "Chopstick Mountain".

This is also Khao Takiab, from a much closer perspective.

The mountain is home to over 100 monkeys. As I entered the monkey area I was eating an ice cream bar. One monkey wanted me to share and ran up to me, touching my leg. It frightened me a bit; enough so that I didn't want to try to feed the monkeys.

It was Motorcycle Week in Hua Hin, so one night we went to a huge biker rally. I had no idea that so many Thai people owned Harleys.
That night we also went dancing. Outside of the club there was an argument between the "Harley motorcycle riders" and the "New Age bikers" who ride smaller faster bikes like Yahama and Honda. Engines were revved, but no one was hurt.

At night we hung out at a bar that allowed us to bring in most of our own food and drinks. We only bought ice and soda water from them. The man in the back is Bew. He runs a shop at Chatuchak, the giant market in Bangkok. Linda met the blonde couple by over hearing them speak Swedish on the beach. She meets a lot of Swedish people in Hua Hin that way. It was often very confusing to me to be surrounded by two foreign languages at the same time.

When I first arrived, Linda and nueng were hanging out with two Swedes, Ericka and Lotta. Lotta's mom is Thai so she understood a lot of the language. They had a friend that I only met briefly. Her name was Anna Berglund!

Ericka

Lotta

Chang Mai Part II

To get to the hmong Village, we hiked up hill for 45 minutes. We had to cross this bamboo bridge over the river. Once at the top I was confused because the people at the top had trucks and motor bikes. So there has to be an easier way there. It was all staged for tourists, to make us think about how high up they live.

This hut was outside of the main village. I am not sure if anyone lives in it, but it made a great photo.

We rode elephants in a jungle area. We even got to go through the water. This is Jonah and his boyfriend in front of me. As we went it was 20 baht to feed bananas and sugar cane to the elephants. My driver always took some of the sugar cane for himself.


Our secound touristy village was the Karan peopel. They do a lot of weaving. I was able to give it a try. Wow is it slow going. At my speed it would take a month ot make a scarf.

Chang Mai

This is the panda at the Chaing Mai Zoo. It was the same price as Zoo admission to see the pandas, 100 baht. The donation of the panda has really helped the relations between China and Thailand.

This is me with the artificial pandas that can be seen for free.

I went to a monkey show. It was 10 baht (25 cents) for some great mosquito bite stuff and a monkey on my lap. After the show I was able to play with some small monkeys. One stole the orchid I had pinned to my shirt and ate it!


These are mid-sized umbrellas that are hand made at the factory I toured. The umbrellas are shipped around the world. I was told they make some that can actully keep off the rain as well as look beautiful.

This is one of my most artistic shots so far. The monk was at Doi Suthep Temple on top of a mountain overlooking Chaing Mai.


The Yang Tree was planted in 1796. I like how I am wrapped in a scarf and the tree is wrapped too!

When I first saw these 'girls' I swore they wern't lady boys. It wasn't until I stood next to them for a picture that I believed they were men. There are loads of lady boys all over Thailand.