Japan Is Very Cool

I am enjoying my stay in Japan very much. Plus it is proving to not be as expensive as I had originally thought it would be. Thanks to Brian and letting me stay at his place for free and helping me to find a cheap place to stay in Hiroshima, from where I type this message.

If you ever decide to visit Japan I suggest that you get a Japan Rail Pass. You can only get them outside of Japan. It is fairly expensive to get mine cost $512 U.S. But you can ride any JR line train at no additional cost. This includes the Shinkansen/Bullet trains that can be expensive and I believe that a rather long trip will cost you around $250 U.S. and I have taken 4 Shinkansen train rides and multiple city train trips and all you have to do is show your pass and through the gate you go. But I suggest that you get a reserved seat, but all you have to do is show your pass at the ticket agent and tell them where you want to go and that is is. Too easy.

I have been pretty busy getting out and seeing as much of Japan as I can. Since I fing this place to be cool and interesting, it does not take much for me to go, Wow.

I went to the Himeji (him-ay-gee) Castle and that was very interesting as well as REALLY FREAKIN HOT. The castle was built I think in the 1400s and has been kept very well. There is a moat that surround the castle and with some very cool practices like arrow slits and secret places for troops to hide if the castle were ever taken, it never was, but it is 6 stories high and made complete of wood with metal nails and such like. Very interesting, but the big let down was after you climb 6 flights of stairs, that were fairly steep, you get to the top (there is no air conditioning in this place) where the emporor used to stay and all there was to see was this small monument to him and the view of the city. That bothered me, but it was still interesting to see regardless.

Outside the castle grounds there was the castle gardens and this was a very nice spot. Huge carp swimming in the ponds and streams and, as you might know, the garden was meticulously maintained and glorious. There were many different types of plantlife and it was a good time. Very very nice spot in the world.

The castle gardens.

The next day Brian took me to a free concert on the beach with live local bands and they were all just great. There were at least 3 different blues bands. Hear that Dale? All of the musicians played very well and could play the blues. No slouches. If you closed your eyes you would not think you were in Japan. It was kind of odd to hear blues music surrounded by Japanese people... and a few white dudes to.

At the beach concert.

The next day Brian wanted to show me around Kobe and I had met the lovely Konaco at a restraunt a couple of nights before and we met up to go shopping. She is a very nice woman and is studying to become a nurse. We had a very good time wandering around the shopping areas of Kobe, eating lunch and dancing to Jazz in the toy store. That night we had dinner and drinks too. I hope to see her again before I leave Japan.

Thom and Konaco

Yesterday I went to the Hiroshimma Peace Memorial Museum. Wow. If ever you think that Atomic weapons are the way to make peace in the world, come to this place it will make you think twice about war and the hideous weapons used on mankind.

Make no doubt that the Japanese are well aware of their buildup for war and that they were a warring country set on taking over parts of the world. They realize that the lead up to the dropping of the atomic bomb was one started by them and making war on the U.S. and other countries.

I think too as an American, I can see how more lives were probably saved, at least American lives, due to the A-bombs, as every Japanese person 13 years and older was being trained in how to fight. With a gun, a spear, a sword, whatever it took as the government was aware that their country could very well be invaded.

But the travesty of seeing in horrific detail the damage caused to innocent people; women, children, everyone and everything within the hypoblast zone, will remain with me for a long time. Seeing a woman whose burns from the radiation where in the same shape as the pattern of the fabric on her gown. Or the man whose hair, that was left, was in the shape of his hat and his skin burned as if with a blowtorch. People with skin hanging off of their body. Not unlike a bad sun burn and the skin peals, but here the multiple layers were dangling off the body. The pictures drawn of seeing people clamoring to get to water, any water, to drink and having to crawl over corpses and other wounded to shove their head into a trough.

Hiroshima has done a tremendous job of gathering itself together to become The City of Peace and ask for the abolishment of all atomic weapons. They know too well the horror that comes from being the target of such a tremendously powerful weapon.

The A-Bomb dome. Kept in, as much as possible, the condition it was in after the blast.

The Peach Memorial. Many people prayed and left flowers of burned incense here. It will put a lump in your throat for sure.

The good thing about the museum was that I met two lovely young women who were in Hiroshima on their days off. Junko and Mahwami were just waiting for a handsome American to wander through the museum with them. But they got me, and we had a good time exploring the museum and the city.

Mahwami and Junko in downtown Hiroshima.

Later that night we went to eat at this cool restraunt where they grill up your food right in front of you. Such gooood food. And then the kareoke! You can go to a Kareoke bar and get a private room that has a sound system, a couple of microphones, and a huge catalog of kareoke songs, there were a lot in English too. At this place, you rent the room for 500 yen and hour, but if you rent for 2 hours you get 2000 yen (about 20 bucks) worth of drinks free. So we had a great time drinking, singing, dancing and being goofy and letting our inhibitions go as we made fools of ourselves to each other. What a great time I had with them. But, like all good things the stupid last train was coming and they had to go. ---The trains in Japan end around midnight and if you miss your train, you either find some place to stay, take a taxi home (which aint cheap), or sleep on a bench somewhere, or stay with Thom. I like that option. But they went back to their hotel but not without a good parting peck on the cheek for each of them. Did I say I had a good time with them? Good. Because I did.

Pictures From Japan

My new friend Brain. He is letting me stay at his home and I only know him from the cigarbid.com forum. He is one helluva guy. Plus he gave me cigars to smoke. Wow.

I love the toilets here. Although there are still squat type toilets in public areas these type clean you up without wiping. Just a nice warm shot of water until clean. Awesome.

I do not know the name of this building but it sure is cool looking.

Pepsi Nex is all the rage around here. It tastes like diet but a little different. Plus in vending machines soda comes in these cool oil can kinda things.

This is the very pretty Yuka. She is an elementary teacher and was a lot of fun to talk to on the Shinkansen (bullet) Train from Shin-Yokohama to Tarumi, where I am now. I asked her out for coffee the next time I come to Tokyo, where she lives. Starbucks are e v e r y w h e r e.

At an Imported Groceries shop. It is funny to think that what we find in stores every day is actually an import in Japan. That was a reallity check.

Thank you blogger for allowing me to upload picutres today. Good job!

After A Few Days In Japan

On the Sea Bass ferry

I am really liking it here. It is not as difficult to get around as was my original impression. There are plenty of people, at least in Yokohama who speak excellent English. Many of them pay 6,000 yen, $60, for English leasons a day, in a classroom no less. But there are still many people who just do not want to try to speak in English. When I go places they will sometimes even say Hello in English.

The department stores here are absolutely amazing. There are several in the area near my hotel. Sogo is one of the bigger ones. It has 14 floors of shopping craziness. If they do not have it. Then you probably do not need it. It even has a kind of small but very nice art museum with artworks from as far back as 1882, that I could see. They have one whole floor of dishware, glassware, 3 or 4 rows of chopsticks, 1 floor of books, and cds, and DVDs. Which reminds me of Yodabashi Camera.

Yodabashi Camera has just about e v e r y t h i n g electronic. 8 floors of the stuff. Almost an entire floor just of TVs. What brand do you want? They got it. What size? What color? How about a camera? Or a thousand? I spent several hours just wandering through all the stuff for sale here. I wanted to just give them my credit card. `Here. Take this and max it out for me. OK?`

Oh, did I mention that there is also a floor of just food? Western style food, Japanese (of course) Chinese, you name it. Crazy.

The city of Yokohama, and Yokohama Bay.

The other day I took the Sea Bass ferry, which departs from the 2nd floor, there are 2 sub floors, of the Sogo shopping center. From the ferry I was able to get a view of the whole city and it took me to the other side of the city to Yamashita Park, which was put into place in memory of the victims of the Kobe earthquake. An absolutely very nice park, with fountains, and sculpture. I would have spent more time here if it were not so freakin hot. 90+ and 90+ humidity. It is even worse here than on Koh Samui, and I thought that was humid.

Some of the architecture in Yokohama is amazing. I tried to upload some more photos, but alas, stupid blogger is not letting me. Anyway, I will leave here soon and head to Kobe. I have an internet friend who is letting me stay with him and his wife over the weekend. Fun! Another local guide.

Yokohama, Japan

Night time in Yokohama.

I made it to Yokohama, Japan after a very long and tiring 12 hours of constant travel, and less than 4 hours of sleep. It took 1 6.5 hour plane ride, then a 1 hour train, then a 40 minute train, then trying to figure out where the heck is the Exit to the train station. Yeah, you would think it would be easy to find, but it was all in Japanese. Luckily I found a couple of, who I think were, Japanese High School kids and asked them if they spoke English, and they used their finger and thumb to show a little. But they were great and even showed me right to my hotel. I was so tired I plopped down on the bed and took a nap almost instantly, then decided to go out and take in the evening.

Even though I was so exhausted, I had to at least walk around the block. I had not eaten in hours, so I found a soup place but could not even finish it, as my stomach was just not in for food, I guess, but I feel better now, but still physically worn out. I did not leave my hotel until 3:30 PM.

The Yokohama Bay Sheraton is by far the nicest place I have stayed on my entire trip. Marble bathrooms, room service, a consistantly hot shower, TV, and a stocked mini-fridge, plus conceirge service. I love it. It is costing me $122 a night, which is about $40 more than I have paid for any place to stay on this trip, but I am loving the comfort and I can afford it at this stage, so I will stay another 2 nights. Heh heh.

Outside my window at the Sheraton

I have been getting really homesick lately, as traveling in countries where English is not the first language makes it tough to get around. But I know that I only have less than 3 weeks left on this, almost, 6 month journey and I am in one of the countries that I have always wanted to visit and now is my chance. So I will do some site seeing around Yokohama, then move on. I have an internet friend who is willing to put me up for a couple of nights in Kobe. I look forward to that.

Douglas B.

I need your e-mail address. Send me a quick e-mail. thomkokenge@gmail.com

Do you need a gmail account invite?

Expensive Country Shortens Journey

I've been doing my research on Japan and holy cow is it an expensive country to visit. Almost every traveler I've talk to about heading to Japan all say that they can't afford to go there because it costs too much, and now I see why.

An average hotel in Japan, nothing fancy, just the basics, with a smaller than, what Westerners are probably used to, room goes for about $120 or 13800 Yen. FYI, the exchange is about 115 yen for 1 dollar. $120 is my average daily cost for traveling in all of Thailand, which includes all the in country flights, motorcycle and motorbike rental, laundry, gifts, and souvenirs, eating, drinking, and the broken bike parts. Everything. And I am living VERY well here, you can travel in Thailand much, much cheaper.

Looking at how much money I have left to spend, and seeing as Japan is a pretty expensive place to visit, I will need to shorten my journey by about 1 week, than originally planned. You know, that is pretty fucking good if you ask me. Travel for about 6 months and then come up a week short on money. Well, heck, I'm pretty proud of myself for that. Even if I spend too much in Japan and have to come home 2 weeks early (which I doubt), well I still think it is pretty damn good budgeting.

Although at this time I have not actually gotten my ticket out of Japan, my new tentative arrival date will be September 9. As always, I will do my best to keep all 4 of my readers up to date.

Just thought y'all should know.

I'm On Koh Samui

Lamai Beach on Koh Samui

I made it to the island of Koh Samui, which is just jam packed full of tourists from Europe. Mostly from Russia and Italy, and one American, me.

Since my last post I went to the Pahd Thai Cookery School and got my certicifcate of completion. We cooked up some Pahd Thai, Green Curry soup, Spring Rolls, Chicken with Cashew Nut, Prawn in coconut milk, and Mango with sticky rice. It cost me 800Baht or $20 for a 9 hour cooking course, and we got to eat everything we made. I was stuffed by the end of it all.

Me at Pahd Thai Cookery School. I dun grad jeeyated.

The instrutors were very fun and laid back and always cracking jokes. Like when they were showing us the different types of vegetables that go into Thai cooking we came across Galangal, which is sort of like ginger but not, and she called it "Get rid of honey." Why? "Because you eat just a little bit of this and you will burt and fart so much your will get rid of your honey."

Prawn in coconut milk. I made it.

Positive stuff

**Holy shit I can upload a couple images. Now that's a positive.**

Last night I went to a Buddist temple with Kris, the owner of the Krisada Guest House where I am staying, to participate in the full moon ceremony. It was a new and interesting experience.

Kris gave me a couple Lotus Flowers, 3 sticks of incense, and 1 candle. We got into a Tuk Tuk and went to what is called "The Mountain Temple". We arrive and there are lots of people kind of milling about. Kris is explaining to me the different buildings and that there are other fahlong here too who you can ask questions to.

Anyone can come here and stay for free if you want to stay for 10 to 26 days and learn and do meditation from the head Monk. The other monks too will teach you the basics and try to guide you along.

3 of these fahlong are from Germany. There were a few women here too.

We get to the temple, take off our shoes, then sit on mats on the floor and we must sit crosslegged or with your feet out to the side. Since the foot is the lowest part of the body, it is considered very rude to point the bottoms of your feet at anyone, especially a Budda image or a monk. As soon as everyone is seated there is a some bowing and then the head monk starts to speak into a microphone and asks specific people to speak about their experiences from meditation, mostly spoken in Thai, but some in English. After people speak and the monk makes comments or offers guidance to them and those seated there was some chanting/praying and some more bowing. Suddenly after the last bow everybody gets up and we go outside.

The head monk leads everyone around the main temple (to the left) and a large spire like object (it's just outside the image to the left), I don't know what it is called, 3 times. But first we light our candles and incense.

The first walk around you are supposed to think about Buddha, second round his teachings, and third... I forget but it has something to do with Buddism, I'm sure. After your last round you stop, then ask for a wish. Whatever it might be. Then you place the candle, incense and lotus fower, someplace around the spire like object or around the area. Then we went back inside the temple for about 15 minutes of mediation and saying some prayers or chanting (basically the same I think). It was all very peaceful and a couple of the locals looked very happy to see me and one guy (you can see his forehead in the lower left corner) grabbed my arm and smiled and said something to me, but he looked and acted very happy that I was there. A very nice ceremony in all.

Then we got our shoes and back on the Tuk Tuk and came home.

Chiang Mai

I am AGAIN unable to upload photos. Sorry.

I am currently in the city of Chiang Mai, which is the oldest city in Thailand with history dating back to 1236. City Center is litterally surrounded by a moat that was put in by a king to protect the city centuries ago. You can see and visit and walk on the very large brick wall that is on the inside of the moat, but there is plenty of city outside the moat as well. It is a sprawling city with not many skyrises but, as I've noticed with all cities in Thailand, there is a great deal of smog. It was so bad the other day that my throat hurt. Tuk Tuks are big polluters.

Tuk Tuks are 3 wheeled vehicles, open with roof, that are basic taxis that zip around the city and know where just about everything is located from the nearest 7-11 to where to go for a good steak. They know everything, just ask them. Speaking of tuk tuks. I had to get one to take me to the Police Station.

I am renting a 125cc motorbike and I am on an outting to go visit a mall, not too far from the city center, so I park outside a 7-11 where I need to get a telephone card and some cash at the ATM. I park on the street with 2 other bikes. I go inside and complete my transactions (BTW a pay-as-you-go cellular phone card costs 300Baht and costs me 7B a minute to call the U.S. which is cheaper than a land line phone card at 10B a minute) and I come back out to see a Motorcycle Cop putting a chain going throught he back tire and around the top of the seat, and padlocking it in place.

As I approach him he tells me "No park, no park." What? I can't park here? There were 2 other bikes parked here when I got here (of course mine is the only one left) and he continues to write the ticket. So I ask okay, how much is the ticket? He says "200 baht" 200??!! Okay, well can I just pay you so I can get my bike back and be on my way? "No no. You go staion, pay ticket." Fuck. Right, okay, where is the station? "Take tuk tuk." and he waves to a tuk tuk driver, who just happens to be waiting about 50 yards away. I'm saying I don't understand, you want me to go with the tuk tuk man, go to the police station, pay the fine and then how do I get the lock off the bike? "You pay fine, I wait for you." You will wait for me? "Yes, yes I wait." Wow. Okay. So I ask the tuk tuk man, how much to the Police Station and he says 60 Baht. I have come to find out that if you are a white guy you pay 60 Baht for any trip in the city center, but if you are a white woman you pay 50 and if you are a local you pay 30.I get into the Tuk Tuk and I see that the Cop has ridden off. Fuckin' great, thanks man. Now, how do I get that bike back?

We get to the station and Tuk Tuk Man sort of shows me how I have to give this guy, who is sitting at a desk with 2 other guys, my ticket and they will call me when it is my turn. So the waiting begins.

Tuk Tuk Man sits and waits with me and the whole time he is telling me that I should hire him for the day for only 400B. He will show me the sights, he knows of a great place to eat. He also knows of a place where you "get massage, and then the boom boom *wink wink*". No dude, thanks for the tip, but I just want to pay my freakin' ticket and get out of here. Plus I already have a motorbike I do not need a tuk tuk. "Motorbike no good. Tuk tuk take you." For 45 minutes I have to listen to this guy try to get me to hire him. But thankfully they call me in.

The first guy looks at my ticket and starts writing stuff down on paper with a carbon sheet between duplicates (there was no computer in this process), and he says "Sign." and points to a spot on this paper, that I cannot read because it is, of course, written in Thai. So I begin to sign as, you do, in cursive style. But he says "No, no write." And I'm like, I AM writing my name, and he says "No, no, write..." and starts writing down A,B,C in block letters. So I "write" my name in block letters. He passes that sheet on to the guy sitting next to him, and so I move one chair down and the first guy calls out another name, and this second guy writes some more stuff down on a longer form and he asks me to sign, so I do, and he says "o.k. 200 Baht." So I fork over 200 Baht. He takes the money and fills out another form and has me sign that one too and he gives it over to the third guy who looks at me, says "OK we call officer and he take off lock." Awww, so that's how I'll get the bike back. He hands me what appears to be some kind of receipt, and I leave with Tuk Tuk Man. Who is still trying to get me to hire him.

We get back to the bike and Tuk Tuk Man says, "Okay I wait 5 minute." So we wait for the cop and we chat some more about boom boom places and how motorbikes are no good, and I pay him his 60 Baht plus 10 for his time. 5 minutes go by he says "Okay, bye bye, bye bye." Am I'm all, you want me out. He just nods vigorously. A couple more mintues go by and here comes the cop.

The cop is all smiles. But as one other traveler put it. "The Thais will smile to your face while they stab you in the back." Copper man asks for my paper, the receipt I'm guessing. He takes it, writes something in his ticket book, and unlocks the bike. Hands me back my paper and I say "Thank you for the 260 Baht lesson sir." He just smiles and nods. Then I ask him where it is okay to park? Not here on the street, but how about here on the sidewalk where these other bikes are parked and he says, pointing to the street, "No here." Points to the sidewalk. "Okay here." Wow, it's okay to park on the sidewalk but not on the street, at least right here on this street. Okay, whatever buddy. It's your city. He puts the lock and chain away and heads off into the smog of the city.

One thing is that for me this is a 270B for this leason in parking, which is only about $7. But I'm positive that I got a ticket only because I'm a Fahlong (their word for a white person) and not a Thai. So they know that I can afford it. The other thing is that no one ever asked to see my passport or my license. Thailand is truly a land of contradictions.

What Can I Say

Thailand continues to blow me away. Each day a new experience is ready to check my reality. I want to thank Bob for all of his help and friendship on my travels. Bob lives in Pattaya and has shown me around, been there for helping me find whatever I need to find or do whatever I need to do. He has been a true friend to me and I look forward to more encounters with him in the future.

Bob and I on the ferry to Ko Chang

Bob his girlfriend Bia (by) and I rented motorcycles and went to the island of Ko Chang. From the beggining the trip was besieged by difficulties. Firstly the bike that Bob had wanted, and put a deposit on, was not available (this seems to be common here) and he had to try 3 different bikes to find one that ran well enough for the trip. He settled on the V-Max. My bike was there it was an Yamaha FJ1100. The price for the bike rental was 500B a day or about $13 a day. After getting started about 2 hours later than we wanted we got on the road. Not too far in the trip, we pull off to the side of the road where Bia burns her leg on the exhaust pipe. OUCH!. She is a trooper though and after a brief rest we were back on the road.

The weather to the island was overall pretty good. Overcast but hot. I got sun burned on my arms and face, even with SPF 50. We take a ferry to the island and we get to our first place to stay; Lek Bar and rooms for rent. The music here was thumping ALL NIGHT LONG and I got veeery little sleep, Bob slept fine. There was finally silence after 5 A.M. and just as I was dozing off it started up again. I had had enough. I got out of bed and went to the bar where the owner and some other drunken S.O.B. were there and I let them know that I wasn't happy and to please turn the music down. Oh, sorry, they say and turn the music way down. I go back to bed. The song finishes and then the next song BOOM back up to keep Thom awake volumes. I packed my stuff and was ready to leave that shit hole at 6 A.M. when after my shower the music stopped. Finally. But too late. Bob and Bia get up and after breakfast I am very anxious to leave.

We then leave here for another place. A nice place. A new resort that has only been open for a couple of months. The Garden Resort. We get here fine but it is raining off and on very hard. So much of the day was spent hanging out inside or under cover. Bob gets back to his room and finds Bia in such pain from the burn on her leg that she is crying. They go to a doctor and she gets some pain meds and bandaged.

I got a great nights sleep, but the breakfast that was supposed to come with the room and be ready from 7:30 A.M. to 10:30 A.M. was not ready. So at 8 Bob and I got for coffee at 7-11. Instant coffee in a tea type bag. Uhg. But it was coffee. We go back to the resort and while we are there we finally are able to order breakfast and get some better instant coffee, but at least the food was okay.

After breakfast Bob sends Bia home on a mini-bus taxi service (450B or $12 for about a 125 KM trip) back home and we will ride the bikes. The day stared off kind of rainy but as we began to ride it was a decent enough day and the ride around the island to the ferry was nice. FYI - when bike riding you must be very careful when going around corners as there could be anything in the road from a dog lying down, to a water buffalo, or a 125cc moped type bike with a metal frame side car going 1/3 of your speed. The ride was good and fine after the ferry until we stop for a bite to eat.

We stop to eat at a small place and as I'm turning around I hit a patch of sand and drop the bike. Not fast and I was not hurt, well badly, just a couple of very small scrapes and one small burn. But this happens when you drop a bike. I notice that I scrape up the handle bars, a mirror, and broke a piece of the weld on the tail pipe. Joy. We eat and are on our way.

After a few more kilometers Bob notices that there are some nasty dark clouds ahead and that it is starting to rain lightly. So we pull off the road and head for cover to wait for the rain to pass. We have a cup of coffee and wait, and wait. When we think it's okay it starts to downpour again. We wait, and wait. Then back on the road. Not too much further and it really starts coming down and we pull into a Shell station to wait longer. Eventually, after about 30 or so minutes we are again on the road.

I'm no sure how much further we get but as we are getting closer to home (Pattaya) my bike starts making some bad sounds. So we pull of to the side of the road and check out the bike. It may have run out of gas so we put the bike on reserve, eventhough the gas gauge says 1/8 of a tank left. The bike goes again but is sounding terrible.

We go just a bit further and pull into a gas station and BTW there are about 5 gas attendants, way overkill on the help, but this is Thailand. So after putting in a few litres of gas and we get a chance to look over the bike we find out that the exhaust pipe has blown a huge hole on the underside and the bike is running like shit. Well, after a breif rest we get back on the road and aside from sounding like a Harley the bike is going okay.

As we get closer to the city the bike loses power and eventually stalls out. It must be the way I was riding it, because Bob was able to ride it back to his house without it dying on him. But while I was riding his bike right at the intersection to his house, his bike runs out of gas. GAH! We make it fine to his house, but wait there's more.

We put his bike on to the reserve and park my bike and leave it for the rental company to pick up. At this time, Bia was already home waiting for us and we have had an interesting day of riding, to say the least. Now is a good time for food and drink.

Bia's leg burn needs some more attention so we need to go the clinic. After the clinic we are on our way to eat, but Bob's bike runs completely out of gas and we had only gone maybe 5 KM from his house that is not even enough in the tank for a reserve. Bia gets on their scooter and buys 3 ltr of gas and we use a makeshift funnel out of a drinking water bottle. Enough to get us to the gas station up the street.

Now, you'd think we'd be done, but noooo. After dinner, Bob's bike will not start and it sounds like the starter is really screwed up. It makes a nasty sound everytime you crank it, but it won't start. A motorbike taxi guy is watching us and tells us cho, cho. Choke? Yes, cho. So Bob plays with the choke and the bike starts, but not until we had the rental company on the phone and telling them that the bike won't start. We are now homeward bound.

After all this the next day we need to return the bikes. Bob calls the company and tells them to come and pick up the bike because it won't go. We return Bob's bike, go and get me a rental scooter, which is optimal for getting around the city, and go out and do some looking around at different shops for souveniers and things. Eventually the renatal company calls and we need to come and take care of the bike that won't go. The bike I rented.

We get to the shop and they are pointing out all the issues with the bike and they want us to sit and talk it out as to what they need done to the bike etc. What it comes down to is they want money to repair the bike's handlebars, mirror, dent to the gas tank and the exhaust. I am very gaurded but Bob is there as a good mediator for me so that I know I'm not getting ripped off. The company wants 9000B ($235) for the repairs but we settle on 8000B ($210) and I am thinking I'm getting off very very easy and finally this cursed bike trip is done with and we are out of there.

Dude selling food on the beach in Pattaya.

This is a message to Blooger.com

For the umteenth time I've uploaded pictures to this blog for them to NOT SHOW. What is the freaking deal? It takes time and money for me to create this blog and the least that Blogger could do is show my freaking pictures. I'm starting to get pissed off now.

Thank you,

Thom