Berry's SEAJ trip Day 44: Picking up the blazer – final day in SEA (7/19/15)

Met Alys and then grabbed lunch at a vegetarian restaurant (Taste of heaven) cause I wanted to try their Kao Soi; they were out somehow.

Berry likes the blazer as do I. Good call Alys! 

After eating we head to tailor to see the blazer and it looks great and I can tell it is red; I don't understand my eyes. After hanging a little bit more, we part ways as Alys has a train to catch. I go back to my hostel to hang out and meet Tomas, a dutch student who graces me with his presence for the night. We get food at a restaurant near the sun night market and explore that area for a little bit before walking around the city and winding up at the jazz place for just a few songs before heading back to the hostel.

Berry's SEAJ trip Day 43: Blazer conquests day 2 (7/18/15)

After sleeping in a bit, I dropped off my laundry then head out to try and find some curry requests for Takao. The hostel lady sent me to central plaza as I have not been able to find these things as I walk around the city. I get to the place and find versions of the items Takao asked me to bring them. I decide to get food there and they have this weird system where you pay a cashier who puts the money on a credit card and then you go to the window you want to order from and give them the credit card. Get back to hostel and do some planning for the rest of my trip as I wait to meet up Alys for dinner and blazer check up. After that we walk to the sat night market so she can do some shopping. As is normal while roaming these markets, we nibble on food here and there and eventually we grab some beers from the 7/11 and return to my hostel to chill in the lobby for a bit before heading to bed.

Berry's SEAJ trip Day 42: Seeing Red (7/17/15)

Slept in a bit and decided that being in SEA I should get something made. I meet up with Alys for lunch and then we head to some tailors (I would never do this alone as I have learned over the years I cannot be trusted buying clothes without a stylish eye with me).

Become a Jedi they said. It will be worth it they said. This is us trying to figure out a color for the jacket.

Get to Ambassador Fashions and the guy comes and starts showing us different swatches of cloths and trusting Alys' judgment, order a red blazer to be made. After he gets my measurements, we head over to green bamboo to get a massage but they have a wait, so we make appointments for later and walk around. We are walking down this alley and stop at a place with about 10 people in it and the longer we sit there, the more peculiar this place is to me; all the patrons are older white expats drinking a bit, and all the servers are pretty local ladies sitting and chatting with the guys as they check on the other tables. My guess was that this restaurant had something else going on other than the food/drink service. I brought this up with Alys and she had similar thoughts. After we get out of there, we head back to get our massages and I get an oil massage, which is more my speed. It was pretty good and definitely what I expect when I go to get a massage. After this massage, we head back to the tailor for a first fitting where he drapes a vest over me to get a feel of how it fits to see what needs to be adjusting and what not. The weird thing is the cloth looked black to me when he put it on; but they both say its red so I go with it. We leave and she goes to a boxing match and I head back to my hostel where I run into Ryan, so we chat for a bit. We decide to go grab some dinner and check out the jazz coop. So after grabbing some grub at the south gate food area, we get up to the jazz place which had the same flutist as last night playing with other people. Second band was jazz music with vocals. They really do a great job at this place. After they finished we went back to our hostel for the night.

Berry's SEAJ trip Day 41: Back to Mai, my final stand in SE Asia (7/16/15)

Started the return trek to CM after packing up the bike. On the way back, I stopped when I got hungry for lunch and it turns out to be a resort called cabbages and condoms. I thought they mislabeled the sign or it was graffiti, but nope, that is the name of this resort; they have giant wooden cutouts of condoms all over the grounds with messages.

Definitely not a typo. Berry doesnt know what to think.

One of the signs on the resort's premise. Saw family eating together, such a weird place to bring kids I feel.

Found the kitchen, had some OK food and then got back on the road. I get back into town and return the bike with no hassles; this was by far the best bike I rented on this trip as it had really good breaks (some hardly have breaks to begin with) and mirrors and was just a pleasure to ride. Makes sense it was in such good condition as the rental place shared a wall with a mechanic and as soon as I dropped it off, the mechanics took it over and started working on it; I am not sure if the previous bikes I rented in my trip ever saw a mechanic. After that I got a fruit shake from the bamboo lady across the street and checked back into the hostel (capsule south gate hostel) before heading out to sell my lonely planet at a nearby used book store (he was impressed with the condition of the book and I told him I probably opened it 3 times – I found out the days of using travel books is on the decline for me). After that had some more tasty Kao Soi before heading back to the hostel to chill for a little bit before meeting up with Alys for dinner. We ate at the south gate food market before grabbing some beers and heading up to the Jazz coop; tonight featured instrumental jazz bands, the second of which had a jazz flutist which I thought was a joke from anchorman but this dude tore it up and was awesome to watch/listen to. After we closed that place down, we started walking towards her hostel and made the horrible/awesome idea to eat a the burger king there at the east gate.

Front row center for some Jazz flute action. Didnt know this was actually a thing until tonight (only other time I had seen this was anchorman) but this guy tore it up. Berry approves of this message.

If you dont believe me, see for yourself.

Berry had a few of the local beers tonight and now we are listening to a guitarist. Great music all night.

Going into the burger king in Thailand. Never a good decision but it had to be done.

Found out the onion rings tasted exactly the same as I remember but the chocolate shake didn't taste right; either I haven't had one in so long, they changed the recipe, or they use different stuff over there. I make sure she gets to her hostel before making the trek (~30min) walk back to my hostel. I shower and try to sleep but some drunk ladies falling over themselves makes that hard but I eventually get to sleep as they pass out.

Berry's SEAJ trip Day 40: Chiang Rai FC match day (7/15/15)

Woke up and met up with Dani whom I had met a few days earlier and she expressed interest in joining me as I go to see a football match, so we plan to scoot around together and see a few things. First thing we go to is the Singha park to take the trolley tour (free) so that we can feed some giraffes and zebras.

Berry and I climbed a hill at our first trolley stop to get a lay of the land. Such a beautiful area!

Berry and I are getting ready to feed some animals.

You feed one giraffe and the rest of the animals get jealous and want some too.  Berry wants to try.

I am showing Berry how to feed  a zebra because we must treat the animals equally :)

Now berry is feeding them. Brave lil bear.

We are all out of food but Berry enjoyed feeding the animals. 

The tour doesn't have a lick of English (kind of expected that) so you just go along for the ride to see the views until we get to the animals and are able to buy buckets of food to give to them. After finishing up that tour, we head up to the Black house. The white temple and the black house are artistic temples that CR is known for among tourists. Get there and the main house is this huge temple looking building with tons of skeletons, furs, etc. (another temple of death) throughout. It too is a group of buildings with similar motifs, some of the buildings are pretty cool looking, ex. One group of them are orbs with furniture inside for viewing. They even have black swans in the water next to the buildings.

The main temple of the Black temple complex. Berry is ready to get inside and check it out.

This was a golden dragon throne thing. This temple was more about weird artwork and furniture than anything else (from what I got from it)

You may have a bear rug, these people have an alligator rug. Granted it is on a table but yeah - taking the rug game up a couple notches.

A really long table with horns on it. Oh yeah and another alligator skin.

One of the side temples as we walk around the grounds. Berry likes the dark wood on all the buildings.

Some different looking buildings in the area (with more to come).

Group housing? We enjoyed the look of these buildings.

Then we came upon this walkway to this spectacular lone temple. Berry says go see it so we walk down the sketch path.

Doorway to the temple. FANTASTIC! This might be my favorite temple doorway I have seen yet.

These were the homes that inspired the architecture from Star Wars. Not really but they looked odd (especially for where we were at) but the inside had similar dark furniture.

Cool place to stop and look around to see some different artistic endeavors. After this it is time for the day's main event, the Chiang Rai United's match against the Army team; their national anthem is a song with video accompaniment with pictures of their leader doing various tasks which I found pretty weird and to me had many hints of what I think about when I imagine of propaganda used in communistic societies. The stadium is minimalist (think high school football stadium) but with decent restrooms and food/drink that is not price gouging like in America Had a drink or 2 throughout the game. The play made me want to have many more; I really wish I was joking by saying this, but I honestly think the varsity team when I was in high school could have stood a chance and maybe even beat either of these teams. The ball movement/control was sloppy and the striker for the home team was a complete whiny baby anytime a defender was within 5 ft of him. In the stands, the concrete benches (no back rests or recognizable seats) rose up the side of the stadium and we happened to sit right in front of the cheer section for our side of the field; they have 3 chants that they constantly repeat, one of which is a lady gaga song that they have changed the words. Game ends at 0-0. After the game, we head back to the hostel and I chill a little before bed as I head back to CM in the morning.

Berry excited we get to be front row center (no seat assignments) for the local team's cheer captains.

Teams taking pictures and doing the anthems. It was around this time the super-propaganda video would play.

Panorama of a now decent day for a match. Time to rage.

Kickoff the ball already. Berry wants to see some Thai football action.

Berry's SEAJ trip Day 39: White temple and CR exploration (7/14/15)

Woke up and head to the south side of CR to check out a few things, first of which was the white temple. It is a gorgeous white temple with surrounding buildings to match. The temple has a theme of death to it, which I did not expect since it is white (white = life, black = death), but was a cool surprise. In the main temple, there is a modern painting all over the walls with depictions of the 9/11 attacks, minions, and other paintings you wouldn't expect to be in a temple (the temple is more of an art installation than a place of worship so this makes sense).

Walking towards the main temple and the interesting structures begin. 

Berry loves how beautiful this place is. The main temple has a moat that surrounds it.

Berry is admiring all the different carvings at this temple.

I learned quickly that the white temple was not a temple of life but rather of death. Not what I was expecting.

Getting up to the temple and you must cross the river Styx. Berry is freaking out.

Couldnt take pics inside but this is the top of the bridge before the temple entrance. Berry survived the river Styx.

This was one of a few side temples to explore once done with the main temple.

Berry wanted to stop at the last temple on the grounds before heading out. Such a beautiful area.

Stopped on the way to Singha Park for lunch where the food was good but the iced coffee I got was served in a giant mason jar. Coffee lovers rejoice. Then got to the park where there is a giant gold statue of the Singha symbol out front on a huge lawn. After that I go check out the souvenir shop before entering the park and they have all kinds of interesting consumables made from the produce grown at the park.

Berry wanted an ice coffee with lunch so he got one. 

Berry trying to stare down a golden dragon. Dont think itll end well for him.

Went to the center of Singha park and enjoyed the view.

This park is a working farm where they grow things they then use to make the ingredients in the gift shop. Was nice.

A good panoramic view of the park from this central perch.

Explore what is capable of being explored without the tram (just one road inside the park) to get a glimpse of what the park has to offer before heading down to the Krong Koh waterfall. On the way there, a big rain storm catches me and makes me pull off the road in a little roadside hut to seek shelter and try to dry off a little bit as I am soaked to the bone. After it subsides a little bit, I get to the waterfall, which was a decent hike from the park where I was the only vehicle in the parking lot due to the weather. The waterfall itself is huge and raging, probably from the recent downpour.

We are stranded during a good rain. There were these wood huts along the road that I had to stop at and wait it out. Berry was really glad they had these places to seek refuge. 

View from the shelter of a village. Somewhat secluded.

Made it to the waterfall parking area and this is the lot. We are alone Berry.

Crossing the stream to get to the trail to the waterfall. Had to convince Berry not to swim yet.

We have found the trail head to the waterfall. Time to follow it.

We have found it. This thing was going crazy (probably from the recent rain).

As I was already wet and the color/force of the water coming down doesn't make it appealing to venture into, I opted not to go into the basin of the waterfall. I get back to the bike and head back to the hostel. Head to dinner and grab some bananas for breakfast and a beer for the night and head back to the hostel to chill for the night.

Berry's SEAJ trip Day 38: Riding to Rai (7/13/15)

Woke up and got what I needed for my trip to Chiang Rai and left the rest in the hostel main area. On my way out, I dropped the helmet at the place and get over to the road that'll take me to CR. It is a much easier/friendlier road to be on with a 115cc scooter. Drizzles a little here and there but nothing bad. Pretty views as you go through the mountains and as I vacate the national park that you drive through on that road, there is a geyser in this town with what I assume is a Khmer temple (similar to those of Angkor) and little stores here and there. I eventually make my way to CR and as I don't have specific instructions, I stopped and asked a person at a leather shop how to get to the temple near the hostel (Mercy) and got there soon enough. Check in and put stuff down before going to walk around town a little bit before returning to the hostel to hang out and chill until the night market.

While walking around town, we found a golden round-a-bout.

I walk over to get a massage from Anisara (highly rated and recommended parlor in the city). I was hoping to get my neck worked on and he did, but other aspects were also not my cup of tea; they spend a lot of time working on the feet and calves with some decent force and to me those are areas in need of TLC not the same strength as the back and thighs. Either way, it was a great massage and I then walk to find the night bazaar and the streets are empty. I am not sure if I read the map wrong, if it doesn't happen on the night I was there or what, but I cut my losses and go to a place that is open (my walk did not come across many places still open even though it was not even 8pm yet by now). Starlight has an acoustic guitarist playing some sets and a soccer match on the big screen outside so I get some food and drink and relax there until the end of the game before heading back to the hostel.