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**lightcycle** · #**886** 13 Feb 2016

Along our travels, many people have asked us where we're going next. While we normally tell them that we make our decisions in the moment, that it always changes, and that we don't have any grand master plan for our route, that's not true at all.

Actually, since the very beginning of our trip, our route has been laid out in detail in a single song. I'm surprised nobody's noticed yet, because we've followed it to the letter religiously. Our grand master plan for Riding the World was penned in 1976 by a fellow BMW-GS-rider-to-be, Neil Peart, in the Rush song, "Passage to Bangkok":

Okay, so it should have been "Passage FROM Bangkok..." Anyway, if you're wondering what's next for RideDOT.com, you can skip ahead in the lyrics to find out. YouTube won't allow this video to play in some countries (we're banned in Germany!), so if this is the case, you can view it by clicking here.

**lightcycle** · #**887** 13 Feb 2016

End of the line in Chiang Mai

Almost immediately we could feel the difference in the air at our destination. It's a little bit cooler, and much less humid in the mountains. We sat in the back of a pick-up truck/taxi as it ferried train passengers to their hotels and BnBs all over town. Watching the traffic and people around Chiang Mai, it seemed a lot less touristy than Bangkok. I think we're going to like it here!

Our new digs! For the same price as camping in Norway! Unbelievable.

Our plan is not to do much for the first little while. We've not been taking care of our travel fatigue at all since we got here, sightseeing first with Iva and then Thomas and Eva when they arrived. I know what I want to do: nothing but eat and sleep. In equal amounts preferably!

There's a shopping mall close to us and every weekend there's a little market that sets up in the evenings

Always lot of interesting and cheap food to try out

Most of the dishes here cost about $1. You literally cannot spend more than $4 on food here or you're bringing home leftovers. For the rest of the week...

**lightcycle** · #**888** 13 Feb 2016

In the evenings, we explore the area a bit more. Only because of dinner...

We're in an area of town called Nimmanhaeminda (or Nimman for short). It's a vibrant and trendy part of town, full of restaurants and bars with young people milling around everywhere.

We've gone out to eat every day. Even found our favourite restaraunt which we go back to often

Neda has fallen in love with the Northern Thai cuisine, especially the Khao Soi, which Chiang Mai is known for. It's a spicy, coconut curry soup with two kinds of noodles in it: flat noodles which sit in the soup and a crispy, and deep fried noodles which sit on top. At this place, I finally found a Pad Thai that's good. It's a bit expensive though. $2.50... LOL!

In some bizarro twist of economics, it's actually more expensive to make your own food at home than it is to eat out.

But because Neda loves cooking so much, we decide to splurge sometimes and buy her some ingredients so she can make food at home. We did the calculations, it costs 3-4X *MORE* to cook at home than it does to go out to eat. We're told that the kitchen is the most underused room in the Thai household.

Thankfully, my stomach has settled from the Bangkok incident, so our washroom has become the most underused room in our household.

So we go back to eating out... *gahhh* so yummy *drool*

**lightcycle** · #**889** 13 Feb 2016

Neda sits outside on the patio and catches up on her cross-stitching

I'm doing nothing but lying on the couch and watching lots of TV shows. The only time I leave our apartment is to go out to eat. They say you are what you eat. I look down and see a lot of Pad Thigh. And Pad Gut. And Pad Manboobs. I went too far there, didn't I?

As usual, Neda gets bored of doing nothing way earlier than I do, so she goes out to explore the city a bit. Some pictures of her walk through the nearby park:

Street market

That doesn't look very friendly

Suan Buak Haad Park

Part of the reason why I'm not doing more exploring of Chaing Mai is because I'm saving my energy. I'm preparing for the hurricane that's about to blow into town.

Her name is Iva.

**Bucket1960** · #**890** 14 Feb 2016

We love the Chiang Mai area, for it's great food, people & riding of course

Bangkok, a great place in the rear view mirror

**lightcycle** · #**891** 21 Feb 2016

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/273.html

Well, the year 2558 is coming to a close. No, we haven't time-traveled to the future, although the blog is so far behind, it might as well be a history book. As we've noticed in all the dates we see on the newspapers and flyers around town, the Thai calendar is measured in the Buddhist Era, which is 543 years ahead of the Christian Era of the Gregorian calendar.

In the Buddha Era Calendar, the most important days are the full moon days. That's when all the Thais and tourists come out to celebrate. And of all the Full Moon celebrations, the most visually spectacular is the one celebrated on the 12th month of the lunar calendar, Loi Krathong - the festival of lights.

Normally in the western world, this means werewolves. In Thailand, it means PAAAAARRRRTTTTEEEEEE!!!!

Loi Krathong celebrations in Chiang Mai take place over several days. We heard the monks at the Wat Phan Tao, right in downtown Chiang Mai, were throwing a huge party the day before the full moon, so we dropped in.

This is how the Buddhist monks celebrate. Wat were you expecting?

**lightcycle** · #**892** 21 Feb 2016

It does get livelier though. Outside the temple, the monks were carrying small ceramic bowls of wax with a candle inside. They were placing them all over the temple and the grounds.

You can donate some money to the temple and receive a Buddhist votive candle.
Then you write your name on a tag that you stick on the underside along with a wish or prayer

You can hand them to a monk for them to place your candle up on the walls of the temple

Neda made a wish. Like a birthday wish, you're not supposed to share it with anyone else

**lightcycle** · #**893** 21 Feb 2016

Loi Krathong is a special occasion, so at Wat Phan Tao they organize an outdoor ceremony where novice monks practice the light waving rite.

Novice monks slowly walk out onto an island of candles

As a Buddhist sermon is delivered, they close their eyes in deep meditation

With paper lanterns above them and a carpet of candles around them, it's a spectacular setting for a religious ceremony

**lightcycle** · #**894** 21 Feb 2016

The next evening is the actual full moon ceremony, and tens of thousands of people will spill out into the streets of Chiang Mai to celebrate. Iva, the whirlwind traveler has arrived in town from her densely packed itinerary just in time to celebrate Loi Kathrong with us. We sat down with her during the day and she regaled us with stores of where she had been in the last 10 days: the temples of Angkor Watt in Cambodia, the ruins in Ayutthaya, the beaches of Phi Phi. "So what have you guys done since I last saw you?" she asked.

"Um. We took the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai... Oh and we ate a lot of food. Like, A LOT of food! And... we're seeing Loi Kathrong tonight!"

This is the main event, releasing the Krathong into the river

A Krathong is an offering made of banana leaf and wood shaped into a lotus flower. They are typically decorated with a candle, an incense stick, perhaps a coin and a lock of hair. The idea is to place all of your bad fortune into the Krathong and release it into the river away from you.

When a few people release krathongs, it seems like a deeply personal affair

But it's not a Festival of Lights if only a few people do it...

When thousands of people line the shores of the river and release thousands of these lit-up krathongs, it is quite a sight! That's a lot of bad luck floating down the river...

**lightcycle** · #**895** 21 Feb 2016

No party is complete without a parade

And floats. Each year there is float dedicated to the Queen Noppamas Beauty Contest

The first person to ever create a Krathong was Noppamas, the daughter of a Brahmin priest in 1850AD, she presented it to the King of the Sukhothai kingdom and he released it into the river. Then he married her. Then came the floats.

During the parade, we glance up at the sky...

It was breathtaking. Thousands of orange lights, like fireflies rising up into the dark clouds of the night sky. It all seemed to be coming from Wat Phan Tao temple, so we quickly headed over there to see what was going on.

**lightcycle** · #**896** 21 Feb 2016

At the temple, there was a crowd of people all releasing paper lanterns balloons

Although Loi Krathong is Thai holiday, Chiang Mai has put a special twist on this celebration. Because Loi Krathong also coincides with the Lanna (Northern people) festival called Yi Peng, this tradition also launches thousands of paper lantern balloons into the sky like embers rising from a flame. So along with the thousands of Krathongs floating down the river, you have the mirror image of the paper lanterns floating up in the sky. It truly is a Festival of Lights!

How do you get yourself a paper lantern? Well one way is to donate some money to the temple...

The lantern is called a Khom Loi, and like the votive candles, you write your wish or dreams on the side of the lantern balloon

Here's a Hello Kitty Khom Loi. Not sure what the wish here is... Maybe a pink bowtie for Christmas?

**lightcycle** · #**897** 21 Feb 2016

The Khom Loi are lifted up by a wax disc that's set on fire. It is also capable of setting your head and hair on fire if you're not careful. True story...

You hold the lantern upright until the candle has filled the inside with hot air, then as it becomes light, you let it go...

Looking up, it looks like something from an astronomy textbook!

If you think this is not entirely safe for airplanes, you're right. On the night of Yi Peng, you're only allowed to launch lanterns within a small window of time in the evening of the full moon. During that time, all flights are routed around the Chiang Mai area. If you launch a lantern outside of this window, you face stiff penalties up to and including the death sentence. Yes, you can actually be put to death for having too much fun.

But nobody here is thinking anything remotely close to that

**lightcycle** · #**898** 21 Feb 2016

Iva launches her own wish up into the sky

Although Loi Krathong is the main national event, in Chiang Mai Yi Peng is by far the more popular activity

Throughout the night, thousands of these lanterns are released

After all the tourists leave at the end of Loi Krathong, it's up to a cadre of local volunteers mostly made up of university students, to scour the dam's reservoir of Krathongs and hiking up the hills around Chiang Mai to collect the landed Khom Loi. It's not a job that's much-publicized, but an essential part of the lifecycle of the festival.

Fireworks explode, providing a brilliant backdrop to the rising khom loi

Paper lantern hopes and wishes
Held high with both hands
Lit up from inside with
equal parts imagination and willpower

Dream hard and let go
And let's see where it flies off to

- Yi Peng, Chiang Mai 2558 BE / Toronto June 14th, 2012

**Rondelli** · #**899** 22 Feb 2016

Hey Guys, It appears your a bit behind in real time on your reports but I can recommend Tony's Big bikes in Chiang Mai if your still there for bike rental and tips for routes, we rented 2 x 650 Kawa's there Nov 2014.
Enjoy

Gino & Fiona

**TheMoose** · #**900** 22 Feb 2016

Epic trip guys! So jealous every time I see this thread pop up!

Would you mind if I ask how you fund your trip - by all means tell me to bugger off!!

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