Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/280.html



Sawatdee Khrup!

We've been in Chiang Mai for over two months now and the weather has been pretty consistent: warm and dry. The temperature hovers around the high 20s/low 30s and not humid at all. And surprise... only 2 or 3 days of rain in all the time we've been here. I know, right? I feel like we've accidentally stumbled into someone else's blog - we're now trundling around on their tiny 250cc motos and savoring their dry weather for weeks on end.


But whoever's blog we stumbled into kicked us out and we're back in RideDOT.com weather

Thailand has been hit by a freak cold spell. In Bangkok, where temperatures rarely drop below 30C, the mercury plummeted to 16C. On the news and in social media, we saw schoolkids wrapped up in blankets in classrooms, scooterists riding through the city streets also wrapped up in blankets. No one in Bangkok owns cold weather clothing!


Some pics from the news. They bundled the temple dogs up in monks robes! 555!


Here in Chiang Mai up in the mountains, it's even colder: it hit 11C and to top it off, it's raining as well. First time in weeks.

At least here in the mountains, people actually have a cold-weather wardrobe. In fact, we see people in coats and jackets even when it's 30C outside! I guess when the summer temps top 45C, cold is a relative term. Still, 11C is unheard of here in Chiang Mai.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Our motos are our only transport, so we have to ride rain or shine, hot or cold

On the motorcycle front, we've submitted all the paperwork to get our ownership and plates, just waiting on the government to rubber-stamp everything. Despite this wet spell, I'm glad we've got bikes. We hibernated for the first couple of months in Thailand, recuperating from travel fatigue so we didn't really need to go anywhere. But now that we've rested for a bit, we're eager to explore once again. Well, at least one of us is. Neda's getting ants in her pants and she's started to get involved in the Chiang Mai community. Me, I'm still feeling a bit lazy, so more couch and TV shows on my menu.


Neda joined a hiking club!

Every Sunday morning, the hiking club meets up and they bus out to the Thai wilderness outside of the city to go hike some trails. Needless to say, I don't join the Chiang Mai Hiking Club. I'm fearful that all that exercise will endanger the little pot belly I'm cultivating while lying on the couch chomping down on fried spicy seaweed strips (my new favorite snack). Gaaaahh... so good...




I'm so proud of Neda though. Ever since we made the decision to try to make a home in Chiang Mai, she's really made an effort to integrate into the community. Every Sunday is hiking club, plus she's joined a yoga studio and works out four times a week. We also joined a pick-up beach volleyball club together and Neda signed us up for a digital photography club as well. We are also looking for a place that offers Thai language lessons. There's probably a club for that too...

Amidst all this preparation for settling down, we talked about what we would do here in Thailand. I've already got my end figured out. I like to do nothing, and I'd like to see that continue here. That would drive Neda crazy though. She's doing some research into becoming an English teacher here in Chiang Mai. The cost to get certified as an instructor is kind of expensive, but one upside is that she will be able to obtain a one-year working visa and in turn, I can also get a one-year dependent visa. I could totally get used to being a kept man!


Crazy Horse Buttress

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Great views from Doi Langka Luang


View from Wat That Moei


Taking a break on the way to the Hot Springs Swedish Sauna


Neda is off to another one of her clubs. I am keeping the couch warm for when she returns.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Now that we have the motos, we're exploring the area outside of Chiang Mai a little bit more. One afternoon, we head out to the Grand Canyon of Chiang Mai!


It's not really a Canyon, but an old abandoned quarry less than 15 kms from the city


The quarry is filled with rainwater and is now a popular spot for swimming and sunbathing... at least for the all the farangs in Chiang Mai


Catching some shade under a fruit tree


The red soil looks like something you'd see in Utah or Arizona!

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Neda practices some yoga at the Grand Canyon of Chiang Mai


Doesn't look that far down, does it?


Actually, it's a 40-foot drop. I was totally planning on jumping, but chickened out. Next time!

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Peering into other people's homes, getting an idea of what's around the area...


I saw a T-shirt I want to get for Neda. On the front it reads, "I'm just here to pet all the dogs"


Heading back home after a fun day of playing at the Grand Canyon of Chiang Mai

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Thanks for another great update!
Once you get paperwork for your bikes can you travel outside of Thailand without too many problems? Any idea which countries are OK and which are not? When I was in Chiang Mai (ages ago) I rode dirt roads up to Myanmar border but could not enter.

But what about entering Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia?

Any updates regards your new Hondas? How are they going? Lots of interest in those bikes here. I know they are made in Thailand. What's the price there converted to USD? Are they available for rent? (sorry for tourist questions!)

(I rented 125 two strokes when I was there ... fantastic)

Good luck, looks like Thailand agrees with you guys!

In 1982 I was on a rented XL250, wandering as you are, I found a spot near to Chiang Rai and fell in love and decided that if my wonderful job and life in Europe fell apart I would live there, reading your blog has reminded me of that promise.
The mountains and trails are worth the effort of the teaching certificate, just so you can stay, (forever) lovely people too, totally envious.

Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Singapore are all non-carnet countries, so theoretically it should be possible to roll up to the border and obtain a temporary import permit at the border.

However there have been lots of reports recently about a scam the Cambodian border crossing guards are running at the Laos border where they demand a carnet despite all official government documentation stating that one is not needed. So most people arrive at the border without one. They ask you for the carnet after you exit Laos at which point you're stranded in No Mans Land between countries if you don't have a Laotian multiple entry visa and can't turn around and go back. Then "conveniently" lots of hustlers pop up and offer to buy your vehicle for a ridiculously small sum so you can enter Cambodia and continue your travels by foot...

I've read that some travelers don't get officially stamped out of Laos until they confirm on the other side that they can get into Cambodia without a carnet. They say that the Laos border guards are hip to this scam and are sympathetic to overlanders and will allow this. Best to check as it would suck to get caught out like this.

Malaysia requires a carnet if shipping, but one is not needed if you're crossing by land.

Vietnam has an engine size restriction for motorcycles: nothing over 175ccs is allowed in, I've seen a couple of ride reports where people just fly in and rent a scooter. Indonesia officially requires a carnet.

Myanmar requires a guide to accompany you around the country and these have to be organized at least a couple months in advance. At the Honda dealership we ran into an Australian rider who recently rented a guide for his crossing through Myanmar on his way from India and he gave us the contact info of the company that provides this. If you are interested, I'll try to dig up the information for you.

So on our Thai bikes, we should be good for most of SE Asia except for Vietnam and Indonesia, and figuring out a way around the crooked Cambodian border crossings!

List price for the CRF250L is 140K baht, which is about $4000 USD. This includes all licensing and plating and taxes + insurance for 1 year, which is not bad. The forums brag of some dealerships offering as low as 120K baht ($3400 USD), but I don't know anyone firsthand that got that price and also not sure if that includes all the extras above.

They do rent CRFs all over Thailand, especially in Chiang Mai. I've seen them go for about 800-1000 baht ($22-$28USD) a day, slightly cheaper if you rent them out for a week or longer.

The Hondas are holding up well. Obviously, coming from Big Beemers, they can't compare in terms of power, comfort, quality, features, etc. But for the price and the kind of riding that we are doing, they are a good bike. We plan on doing some off-road, but if you are only doing tarmac, then a better choice would be a CBR250/300/500. I think they used the seat on the CRF as a torture device during the Spanish Inquisition!

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Thanks! Hope you can make it out here as well soon!

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/281.html



Elephants have had a long history in Thailand, and not exactly a happy one. From very early on, they were captured and domesticated for military and logging use. But in 1989, due to rampant deforestation, the Thai government banned logging, which put many of the elephants out of a job. This coincided with the rise of tourism in the country, so these unemployed elephants were retasked and put to work in camps as entertainment.

Neda has done a lot of research into this because this is something we both wanted to see while we were here. We discovered that elephants in these camps are horribly tortured to break their spirit in order for them to be obedient enough to train. Baby elephants are taken from their mothers at birth and are confined to a tight space, like a cage or hole, so they cannot move. They are then beaten with clubs, sticks and bull-hooks, deprived of food and sleep until they become broken. Then they are trained to allow people to ride them and perform acts which are unnatural to them ie. circus tricks like painting.

Everyone wants to ride elephants, thinking that they are large creatures and they should be able to bear the weight. After all we break horses and ride them, right? This is only partially true, though. Mahouts (elephant trainers) ride their elephants on their neck where there is less strain. But the elephant in the tourist work camps are forced to carry tourists in a saddle right on their back, which was never meant to bear that much weight. This puts considerable strain on their spine and causes irreversible damage over time.


"How do I make myself irresistible to elephants?"

We've decided to visit a rescue centre called Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. Their mission is to purchase elephants from the surrounding tourist work camps and provide a safe place to live out their days. Their number one rule is "no riding elephants". We like this a lot better, despite knowing that these are "broken-in" elephants that have been mistreated in a past life, that we are not causing further harm to them.


The most popular elephant at the Sanctuary is baby Ni-Na. She's only three years old. Neda fell in love with her

Ni-Na's mother died so she was being looked after by her aunt. She worked at two tourist camps before being rescued by the Sanctuary. There were five elephants at the location we were at. Elephant Jungle Sanctuary owns three locations with about 17 elephants in total.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Two very happy buddies

I read up that elephants flap their ears to express excitement or joy. I think Ni-Na is very happy to see more bananas in Neda's hand!





These Thai elephants are Asian elephants, which are smaller than African elephants


Why are elephants cute? I think it's all in the eyelashes...

I've never spent any time with an elephant this up close before. Just by description alone, elephants should not be cute animals. Tough, grey wrinkly skin. Sparse, prickly hair. Lumbering around ponderously. They're like fat, old men. But it's all the tiny details, the comically floppy ears, the incredible dexterous trunk that is as agile as any human hand, the little fly swatter on their tail and the adorable eyelashes... it's totally the eyelashes that make you fall in love with them.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

I loved being around the elephants. However, I think they tolerated having people crowd around them and touch them

I'm not naive, I know the main reason why these elephants tolerated our presence was because the work camps had previously broken them. If these were wild elephants, they would want nothing to do with human beings. Also, I don't know how the sanctuary treats these elephants after the tourists leave. Are they still disciplined? Although there are fences around the very large space they can roam around in, are they still chained up at night?


The location we were at is called Tranquil Valley. The elephants have free roam of the compound which is 50 acres.

Despite my cynicism, while we were there, the elephants were very well treated. They basically ate non-stop, requiring about 150kgs (330lbs) of food every day. They were not beaten or ridden or forced to paint or perform for us. Their primary motivation to do anything was food, which is a good positive reinforcement over the threat of a bull-hook to the face (or other sensitive parts of their skin). I felt good about being there and feeding them.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

After lunch, we were taught how to make "elephant medicine". First ingredients: smushed bananas and tamarind


Then the paste is mixed with grains, rice and salt.


The whole thing is rolled up into bite-sized balls

These tasty treats help the elephants with their digestion. They are also sometimes used to hide real medication in case any of them get sick. Elephants have a very good sense of taste and smell and will refuse to eat any medicine unless it's well disguised.


Neda is about to become *very* popular...


These tasty banana/rice balls are like crack to elephants. When we brought the trays out,
the whole horde of them came bounding towards us to devour them (and any hands/limbs they were attached to)

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

I think rescuing elephants from the riding camps is a noble endeavour. It's uplifting to see how this new wave of ethical tourism rising is gaining popularity, allowing these companies to provide a service that doesn't cause any additional harm to nature. We saw the same thing in Iceland where old whaling boats have now been converted to accommodate whale-watching tours.

Obviously humans have displaced the elephant population from their natural habitat, but if we can at least alleviate the suffering that the tourist work camps have inflicted on some of these domesticated elephants, at least that's a start. And also spread the word about the damage that riding elephants can cause.


After the banana-rice ball treats, it was time for a roll in the mud


Elephant skin is sensitive to the hot sun, to keep cool and to prevent sunburns, they cover themselves with mud. Sometimes with a little help...


This little girl needed some cooling down as well


After a mud bath, they tromped down to the river to play in the water

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com