Sunday, November 8, 2009

2 Days in Bangkok

At first, Bangkok was a little intimidating, and our original plan was to book it for the South of Thailand immediately, but, as we were packing up to go, we decided we'd take things a little slower, and spend a day in Southeast Asia's, "City of Angels." Second travel lesson: Create some type of game plan in a "safe" place (i.e. room or restaurant) before heading out onto the street! As soon as you are looking at the Lonely Planet guide, your another floating Dollar sign out there to be taken advantage of. We were mildly "touted" by a taxi cab driver who seamed all so helpful. He also was not running the meter on his cab. He took us to a few different places, all of which were super expensive tourist traps. We reisted, and took matters into our own hands after parting with about 200 b, or $6 USD. At the train station, we purchased our own tickets for the following day. We also got some great advice from the railway staff, and set out to see some wat's (buddhist temples.)




After visiting the temple, we wandered about central bangkok for a bit, taking in the sensory overload in all it's glory. Crossing any street is an excercise in critical mass. It's a delicous banquet for the senses for certain. We wandered back streets, took in amazing and cheap street food, and explored for the better part of the day. We started negotiating public transport. We found our way to the river and took the public ferry back a stop near our guest house on Rambutri road.

That evening, we ate a delicoius little Thai Muslim Curry restaurant in the bangpaulu district of Bangkok. Incredible dining, very little english understood, and a grand total of 169 b.

Yesterday we toured bangkok once again using Tuk Tuk, high speed Sky train, and river taxi. We visited the MBK "mall" which is like an american mall, but you can barter, and the whole experience is absolutely ridiculous! The Thai food court however, was awesome, Jolene particularly liked the iced coffee. I was glad to leave after getting some provisions for our trip!

Last night we began a 17 hour journey south. We started with the overnight sleeper train from Bangkok to Sarat Thani, then got on a 3 hours bus, then a taxi, and we're now oh so close to our final destination, Railay beach. It's been an excerise in Chaos to say the least, but we're reveling in the experience, and filled with the rush of doing something that we've dreamed about for so long.

This internet connection is poor, and we've still got to get on a long tail boat to get to Railay, and then secure accomdation for the evening, and there's only 3 hours of daylight left, so that's it for now. Hopefully Railay will have a better internet connection, but, likely not.... I'd like to put more photos up, but, it's not working to well right now..... More to come.... lah gorn kap! Grant & Jo.





Thursday, November 5, 2009

Welcome to Bangkok!

Woah! We arrived in Bangkok around midnight local time, which is 15 hours ahead of Mountain time. We decided to go "adventure" style, and didn't book anything in advance. We managed to get our visa's, a taxi to Rambutri, and a guesthouse. Our friend Anna recommended the Four Sons, and low & behold, we found it! 450 baht per night gets us a decent little room, with a shower over the toilet. We had two tiger beer each, and went to bed somewhere around 3 am local time.

First lesson, don't use the towels provided. They've got bugs in 'em, and the bugs bite! I'm greatful we decided to bring the 'lil travel towels.

Our original plan was to rush to Krabi town via the overnight train, but, we've decided to hang out in Bangkok today, and leave tomorrow night. This place looks like it has so much to explore! Today's agenda includes visiting a temple, a Thai market, and hopefully a real Thai dinner somewhere. I'm looking forward to leaving the Tourist ghetto that is the Khoa san road area.

That's all for now, I'll start posting photos soon!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Alright, I'm really going to try to update more often. I know I've been slacking, but I've been redlining both figuratively and literally at work.



Literally redlining at work......

Mountain Animals 2009 Winter Rendevous

Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween Grip

Jo and I went and rode, "The Grip" in the Brule community paster today. Started out right at freezing, and then warmed to plus 3 or so. It's great, as the trail starts just a few clicks from the house. It's then a nice 22 km loop that includes an ascent of Solomon hill. The trail is all unmarked, and it's mostly singletrack. I was shown "the goods" last weekend. This was my 3rd ride on it this week. Super fun XC ride. Also cool that only a hanfull of souls know about it.


Looking towards our home.


Jo enjoying her aluminum steed.


Still a horse woman at heart....

Super fun ride. Great to get Jolene out for a torturous climb. She was railing the downhill after getting warmed up!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

New Hecklers

Jo and I both got new Hecklers. It's absolutely the best bike I've ever ridden. I can take it to the bike park and hit drops, ride all the skinnies and enjoy the dirt jumps. It also pedals trail oh so well. It's got me pedaling through sections that I was braking on with my hardtail. It seems to truly be the do it all bike.

Test riding the new rigs.





Today we went and rode the Holloween trail, nice little loop near Hinton. There were a few jumps and skinnies along the way. Between the bike park and the new steed, I had the confidence to enjoy a few stunts. Loving the new Hecklers!

Hitting the gap jump on the "Just Giver" trail.



Jolene on the Halloween Trail.