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Cave Dwelling and Burning Piñatas

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No riding today. We are in Ninh Binh playing tourist at a gorgeous resort planted against a scenic limestone rock face landscape near the village of Ninh Binh. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site, and surrounding limestone “mountains”, are literally steps from our door. It’s been breezy, overcast, and warm but not hot—it feels just about perfect to be out cruising the water in a slow boat, and climbing into crevices of caves.

Our vessel for navigating the water under the caves was a shallow metal rowboat propelled by a Vietnamese lady who manually rowed us the whole way there and back. She (and the other boat operators) are clearly very adept—they use their legs & feet to expertly manipulate the oars into the desired direction with just the right speed. It makes our leg muscles sore just looking at them. She probably rowed for 90 minutes or more.

One of the places we visited was a temple.  Workers were busy assembling a very large (in both size and quantity) number of what looks like festive paper piñatas resembling royal horseman, elaborately decorated canoes, and other shapes. Colorful vibrant paper adornments were being meticulous applied, and there were lots of them.  It appeared they were preparing for something or someone significant.  We asked a nearby bystander who explained their belief that the afterlife resembles the world of the living, and all these preparations will be burned in order that monks who have previously passed may receive them.

In Buddhism, symbolic offerings are made to “give rise to contemplative gratitude and inspiration”.  Material offerings involve simple objects such as a candles, fruit, flowers, water or drinks. In many locations of worship we have seen these gifts, and more—including instant coffee. (Hey….we both want coffee in our afterlife).

Let’s talk accommodations. We have no itinerary, so each afternoon we pause roadside and use a hotel booking service (Booking.com or Agoda) to find something that suits our mood and we press the “Go” button. We’ve stayed in three different places —Hanoi for $47 a night (no breakfast), Phu Ly for $35 including breakfast for two, and last night for $50 including breakfast—a little pricier due to our touristy location. The rooms have been clean and all have had mini-fridges, kettles, coffee, tea and free bottled water, and king size beds.

Now we let the pictures do the talking.


 


Randy’s Coif (and a few road stories)

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Distance today: 57km
Total distance to date: 128km

View the stats on Strava

We saw an unassuming barber shop on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Just a l’il ol’ space where Randy thought he’d get a quick haircut and be he on his way, zippity zap fast. I mean afterall, what sort of coif can he really even expect? The well-coiffed-himself barber seemed enthusiastic and next thing you know he made a Project out of Randy’s hair. That hair virtuoso set about like Edward Scissorhands, sculpting his masterpiece out of Randy’s abundant hair. Scissors, comb, and clippers were a flyin’! We were both enormously impressed. I go wait outside—should just be a few minutes I’m sure. I peek in and he’s got a straight razor out, and having shaved Randy’s entire face, he’s now meticulously refining the hairline all around his forehead and I’m thinking this guy’s an artist! I return to my waiting spot outside and a short time later I hear Randy, sounding all vulnerable and scared “Anita! Come here—I think he’s cleaning ear wax out of my ears!” Lo ‘n behold, Mr. Hair Virtuoso has a 6-million lumens headlamp on his head, peering into Randy’s ear and what looks like a collection of dental-like instruments in front of him. He’s not only trimming ear hairs but Randy’s not leaving there with ear wax. Swish, scrape, poke, prod, repeat. His fight or flight response was activated and I think he might have been whimpering but won’t admit it. It’s a thing here in Vietnam when you get a proper haircut—don’t flinch! Cost of the Hair Project: $2.75 (plus he gave a $5 tip) Time spent on Project: 1-hour.

Back on the road—the Garmin navigational wizard took us down raised pathways in between rice paddies, along lumpy bumpy footpaths, and through tiny villages that time seems to have forgotten. Cows randomly graze and loiter at the sides of roads, including edges of rice paddies. Two big—pointy-horned bovines entitled themselves to a leisurely rest on both sides of the path we were travelling, too close for our comfort. Are they docile? Maybe. Maybe not. We did a U-turn.

While sitting roadside snacking, a young boy (11-years old) rode by us a few times on his bicycle. The third time he stopped in front of us. “Hello. what. is. your. name?” He asked. Very sweet. We could see he wanted to try out his learned English on those interesting looking foreigners. He rode away and reappeared minutes later “How. old. are. you?” We told him 58 and 63. “Ohhhh. You. are. very. old”. (Try not to laugh) We think he wanted to stay and look at us longer but didn’t know any more English questions to ask. As we were leaving he passed by us again with his baby sister on the back of his bike, likely wanting to show her, too, those foreigners.

PS: Randy thinks he can hear a little better now.

Pho. Fo breakfast.

The well-coiffed Hair Virtuoso

The unassuming barber shop in the middle of nowhere.

Night Ride—Escaping Hanoi

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Distance today: 71km
View the stats on Strava

The heebies melted and the jeebies faded. The Grand Plan delivered! We woke up at 3am and gulped at the prospect of cycling out of Hanoi, both admitting we’ve never been so flippin nervous about a ride. But the streets were gloriously quiet under the cover of sleepy darkness and with each successful intersection-traverse our white knuckles relaxed. After a few hours the rising sun revealed fields of watery rice paddies and lush greenery. We found ourselves on fantastic obscure roads that made us ask ourselves, “How on earth did the mapping software even know this road was there?” 

We turned onto a bumpy little village access road to snack on our strawberry Oreos. A farmer herded his cows right past us, both he and his clip-cloppity underlings eyeing us with curiosity. Two foreigners on touring bikes—whatcha doin in these parts? We are far from Hanoi now!

It drizzled today, all grey and misty but who the heck cares—we loved every moment! As we squeezed through a narrow market street in a little unknown town somewhere, the faces of the ladies selling produce lit up with excitement at the sight of us. There’s a distinctly different vibe as we head further from Hanoi. Young people everywhere giggle with happiness and say “Hello! Hello!” when they spot us.

We find unique discoveries when we jump ship from the main road. We stopped at a little spot today and noticed a tree house—literally. This tiny house was either built around a big tree or the big tree grew through the house. It appears very old, and was the cutest little home ever!

Prices are considerably cheaper as we distance ourselves from Hanoi. We spent $2 on lunch, and $33 on a gorgeous hotel room for tonight that includes breakfast. We have a 10th floor room in an hotel across the river from some opulent, gorgeous homes in the city of Phủ Lý.

We are in our happy place—taking the deep dive onto roads less-travelled, eating where locals eat, getting our Xin chào on (Hello in Vietnamese), and endlessly captivated and charmed by whatever reveals itself around the next turn in the road.


 

The Grand Plan. And, the “Hanoi Hilton”

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We have a Plan. The moment is nigh—tomorrow we must dig deep, put on our Brave Face and take a deep dive into the traffic on our bikes. After careful consideration of life & limb (ours), we have made the wise decision to apply a strategic tip we learned from our friend at home, Helmut. We will execute a middle-of-the-night escape to get the heck outta town before the anarchy of morning traffic madness ensues. In wanting to preview, and assuage some of our road-battle-anxiety we propelled ourselves out of bed at 5am today to see what the streets are like under the cover of early morning darkness. We wandered about, taking inventory of the streets—runners out running, people out hot-potting (still), and restaurant proprietors scrubbing their wares. But it was peaceful and serene. Our Plan is to set the alarm for 3am and go for it—rolling by 4am!

Today we visited the Hỏa Lò Prison Relic, known by American POWs during the Vietnam War as as “Hanoi Hilton”. At times the facility has also incarcerated Vietnamese dissidents and political prisoners who endured cruel, inhumane conditions, severe torture methods and prolonged periods of solitary confinement. Thick walls create dungeon-like cells, walls painted black with tar to further darken the gloom. Cells had leg irons to keep prisoners (mostly the political prisoners) locked in misery day & night, many in complete darkness. The prison was demolished during the 1990s. The pictures speak louder than words.











An individual cell and all its creature comforts.

The primitive toilets which collected the waste in buckets underneath.

The narrow sewage pipe through which some prisoners managed to escape.

The memorial at the Prison.


Traffic and Train Lunacy in Hanoi

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Everything we have known about cycling through city traffic is tossed right out the window. In preparation, we study. We stand there stunned, watching the movements of cars, trucks motorcycles and people for long periods of time and honestly it gives us the heebies just thinking about riding out of Hanoi on Thursday. Intersections more often than not have no lights or stop signs yet everyone criss-crosses with an ease that totally escapes us. When they do exist, signage and streetlights are merely inconsequential suggestions subject to interpretation. “One-way” streets?—whichever “one-way” you wanna go. We need to learn a new mindset—and right quick! We are newbs in a foreign land. Babes in the woods, really.

Us newbs got hungry. We eyeballed crowds of Vietnamese diners communing around their Hot Pots and we wanted in on that action but being newbs we aren’t sure how to handle the Hot Pot procedure. Instead we went to Train Street, for a different experience. You can sip coffee, slurp noodles or guzzle beer at the train tracks edge. Sitting on itty bitty chairs at an itty bitty table placed tight up against a wall we awaited  beef noodles. Then the whistle blew—the train whistle—the whistle that lurched all the proprietors into action guiding people, chairs & tables back into the three-foot zone against the wall—tuck those hands & feet in, sit upright and hold on to your belonging cuz a train is coming through. The train comes barrelling through and  the whoosh is real—Randy had money sitting on the table and 50,000 VND (Vietnamese Dongs) took flight in one direction and another 100,000 flew the other. Could have been worse. Phew!

We have arrived during Tết, short for Tết Nguyên Đán, which coincides with the Lunar New Year and is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. People are out enjoying family time together some dressed in beautiful áo dài—traditional Vietnamese garments. While we adorn our homes with Christmas trees during our holiday season, here it’s the ornamental kumquat tree, representing prosperity and fruitfulness.

We walked around the “old quarter” of Hanoi during our 10km explore. Unique to that section are extremely narrow passageways sandwiched in between big old buildings. They are looooong, and dark, but oh-so-intriguing. Apparently there are little communities living in and beyond those alleyways. Some homes are so deeply embedded in the alleyway that the light of day is never seen.

Jet lag is real and our bodies were dead exhausted after our walkabout. A little “nap” turned into a four-hour convalescing sleep. We have one more day to get a grip on it before we roll out of Hanoi.  Bikes are assembled and ready to roll….now we just need our bodies to do the same.

The $471 typo had its perks!

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We breathed a sigh of relief upon actually boarding the plane, the $471 Vietnam Visa Fiasco still fresh in our minds. We were grateful for the miracle of not losing our flight altogether. The ticketing agents witnessed the Randy & Anita team lose both our minds and our seat selections in the ordeal (they had genuine looks of empathy) and they assigned us new better seats for the 16-hour first flight and then re-assigned us to Premium Economy for the Taipei to Hanoi flight. My $471 Visa wasn’t a real one, but rather some sort of “temporary” thingy allowing me passage out of Toronto. Upon arrival in Hanoi I was to disembark and rendezvous-vous with a special person who would hold up a card with my name on it and he’d sort it out. Through the crowd I spotted him—and like a Chariots of Fire scene I ran toward him in slow motion, glee all over my face and imaginary music propelling me, fuelled by delirious delight that he actually materialized.  Anticipating a lengthy sequence of events to follow, imagine our surprise when he escorted us right past the crowded Customs lineups, straight to the “Diplomats” which was darn near empty. We felt like VIPs! The agent looked at me, looked at my passport—stamp stamp, and I’m done, free to explore Vietnam!  I looked back at the hundreds still in lineups and thought—well, at least we got something for that $471 dollars.

Bing bang boom—we claimed our baggage and 15 seconds later a taxi driver was shoving our bikes and gear into his SUV and we were on the road to our hotel. Cars honkin’, motor-bikes swervin’, passin’ on the right, passin’ on the left, zig-zaggin’ it, and close your eyes cuz you don’t want to see how close we came—we’ll need some time to study this traffic chaos.

We’ve got time. We are here for three nights in a quiet little hideaway down a side-alley. Suddenly the time change hit us right smack between the eyes and we were exhausted from the 30 hour journey to get here. But not too exhausted that we didn’t venture out for a sneak peek of what’s in store in Hanoi. Plus logistics—we needed food—so Randy got some noodles and we both chowed down on a Bánh mì, then sourced out some beautiful baked pastries for brekky. It feels weird handing over 60 ,000 units of Viet-money but hey—it only translates to a little over $3 dollars so we’re good.

A little nighttime tour of the area confirms it—food is a thing here (too!) as it was in Thailand, street exploration is like digging through a treasure chest and we are in for a wheelie grand adventure.

Somewhere over northern Japan

60,000 Vietnam dongs ($3.31)

 

Thailand: Can’t We Stay Just a Little Bit Longer?

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We have come to love Thailand. It’s so full of life and humanness. The people are precious and the culture here just makes you feel like you’ve been wrapped in a warm cozy blanket. Buddhist beliefs permeate all aspects of life here, and people continually try to make good karma by doing good. Thais are good people. They are inspiring. As tourists we have felt safe—always. More than safe, actually. We have felt like Thais were watching out for us, and sending good karma to keep us that way.

Although we had big long faces at the prospect of leaving, we are taking with us a lifetime of memories. Six weeks flew by like lightning, yet it seems so long ago that we hopped on our bikes all wobbly and uncertain about what lay ahead.

Randy and I have loved Thailand twice. Just as we were completing our 2020 tour COVID had broken out. It took three more years before we could return this year, but we never forgot how much the experience meant to us. As with all good things, we wished others could see, feel, smell, and taste it all for themselves. That’s why we brought along Deana, who is hungry for adventure and capable of long tough days in the saddle. We had a lot of fun, epic rides, and grand experiences.

We left the hotel at 7:30am to get to the airport with time to spare for our 12:00 noon flight. The immigration and passport control lines were so long and so congested we actually found ourselves running down the terminal at top speed, bags in one hand and boarding pass in the other to make our flight without a minute to spare—like a scene from a Hollywood movie.

On the airplane I was watching the ground crew on the tarmac as we readied to taxi down the runway. Workers who probably see hundreds of flights per day. As our plane started to move the two men put their hands up in the air and waved bye bye to all on board then gave a little wai (a Thai bow of respect). Yep, even the very last person we see on Thai soil before going airborne gives us a warm & friendly sendoff.

How can we not love the people of Thailand?

Khob khun kha….Thank you so very much Thailand. We don’t know when or how, but we do know one thing—we will be back!


Bangkok—Fitting it all in

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We can’t do it all. We need to recognize that our flight leaves on Thursday and accept reality (maybe cry a little too). So we prioritize. Shopping at The Bobae Market, then massage, then an evening bike tour of Bangkok.

The Bobae Market is a clothing market that primarily sells wholesale but will also deal with bargain hunting farangs like us. We can’t try anything on, but that’s to be expected when one bypasses retail. At the canal boat pier we must have appeared to know what we were doing because first some Australians and then some Americans asked us for directions. After helping them figure out the system we realized—we’ve been here a while! We know where things are and how to get around (‘Cept for that bus). We feel like regulars! We don’t wanna go home! Can we stay a little longer???

The massage was a fantastic experience. Those ladies find every single tight muscle and work them hard (you might cry)! For having petite hands and tiny sized Thai bodies, these massage providers somehow morph into Incredible Hulk when it comes to power and strength. Deana and I came out all bendy, twisty and pummeled into muscular submission. 60 minute Thai massage—highly recommended if you have $10 to spare! ($12 if you leave a tip—worth every bhat!)

Randy opted  to shop at MBK mall with Ben in order to avail himself of the air conditioned atmosphere, spend some time with his son, and maybe find some treasure to bring home. (Despite returning empty handed).

We had a final opportunity for some two-wheeled exploration. We took the Evening Bike Tour excursion with Jay, from Velo Thailand and it was an exhilarating experience that exceeded our expectations, and one that can never be replicated at home! Amazing Jay knows her way around the city. She took us down hidden alleyways that would have been impossible for us to discover on our own. Jay is also a wealth of knowledge and was able to answer some enduring questions we’ve had. We saw Bangkok the way we love to see all of Thailand—on bikes, seeing it all—the beautiful, the flawed, the gnarly—all utterly interesting! In the lesser visited west side of the Chao Phraya River we saw tiny communities connected by even skinnier knobbly pathways that twisted and turned into hidden areas that enthralled and delighted. We visited The Flower Market, Wat Arun, and Chinatown. The road through Chinatown was crazy with cars, people, taxis, tuktuks—we squeezed through, around, in front of and behind all the moving road users. Jay confirmed what we’ve come to learn—there are no real rules (not that are followed, anyways). You go by instinct. Look for an opening, put your hand in the air to stop traffic then flow to where you need to go.

We flowed to the Pak Khlong Talat Flower Market, Thailand’s largest wholesale flower market, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s a sprawling market with endless rows of roses, orchids, carnations, and miles of marigolds, jasmine and lotus flowers to name a few. It’s difficult to comprehend the enormity of its size and the scale of production. If we didn’t have so many questions it could have rendered us speechless.

Night time riding in Bangkok is amazing!





Bangkok—Lots & Lots of Wats

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One could, but shouldn’t miss the important Wats in Bangkok. The Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho) the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew) and the Golden Buddha (Wat Traimit, which we didn’t see). There’s also the Grand Palace which is…well, grand! If you love beautifully maintained, ornate, shiny gold & glistening architecture of cultural importance, then doing some wat-hopping in Bangkok should be at the top of your list.

Interestingly, although Emerald Buddha is housed in an enormous, gorgeous structure on the grounds of the Grand Palace, the physical size of the Buddha image itself is a mere 66 cm (26 in) × 38 cm (19 in). Photographs inside the temple are not permitted (so you’ll have to Google it), and people must have fully covered shoulders & knees to enter. You must kneel on the floor and not face your feet toward Buddha. Also, you must remain silent. The Emerald Buddha is adorned with three sets of gold seasonal decorations: two were made by Rama I, one for the summer and one for the rainy season, and a third made by Rama III for the winter or cool season.

The Reclining Buddha statue represents Buddha during his last illness, about to enter Parinirvana, the stage of great salvation after death that can only be attained by enlightened souls. Reclining Buddha is big. Like, really really big. in contrast to Emerald Buddha, Reclining Buddha is 46m (151 ft) long and 15m (49 ft) high. Buddha’s feet are also inlaid with mother-of-pearl.

Alas, pictures are better than words!

Bangkok—The Quiet of the Night

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It’s absolutely stinkin hot during the afternoon. Relentless and overbearing, we are sweaty and sticky just stepping out the door. Even your kneecaps sweat—it’s just that hot & humid! It’s not a heat wave—it’s just normal and people learn to live with it. Therefore, evening exploring is far more comfortable—especially since Bangkok comes alive when the sun recedes.

It’s not always noise and chaos here—there are quiet little neighbourhoods just a stones throw from our hotel here on the canal. Quaintness abounds in the tiniest nooks & crannies. Locals live & work along the canal. We are now regulars with “the canal lady” who sells drinks & beer and other essentials at her little hut sandwiched in the tight dark space between a wall and the canal’s edge. Her pet tortoise sometimes walks the narrow walkway. Friends & families sit outside on rickety chairs (or just on the concrete) to watch Muai Thai on a shared television. Just beyond the canal we discovered a gem of a community, Ban Pham Thom. The wooden houses look and feel from a different era, and restaurants just place their tables & chairs on the narrow street. It literally all happens on the sidewalkless narrow street—People stroll, bicycles roll, salted fish BBQs on the grill and people sip beer.

If you suddenly crave fresh juicy pineapple (all cut cubed & ready to eat), just walk 5 minutes in any direction and it will appear. Looking for some late night fresh noodles & veggies? Probably an even shorter walk. Care for some chicken satay? Two doors down. There are some things we will miss terribly.


Bangkok: Public Transit for Newbs

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We wake up and venture out into the street to rustle up breakfast and plan our day. Actually our “plan” usually means no plan and we go whichever way the wind blows.

The wind blew us to the Palladium and the Platinum shopping areas via the public transit canal boat. We look like total tourists when we board as we run to the back seats where we can pull out cameras and video the unfolding scenery. We gawk and point, our heads whip left and right, looking bedazzled by the ordinary. Yep, we are high-rollin easily entertained travellers!

Speaking of public transit…..Randy, our Navigator, thought we should attempt a Bus for the first time. Randy flagged down a bus, just like he would a taxi. With our coin collections in hand we were ready for the required fare, whatever it may be. We step aboard. Curious eyes studied us, people looked at each other…Thai grins ensued. We probably overwhelmed the non-English speaking bus driver trying to pay our fare but he didn’t appear to understand why we were flashing money at him and he resumed driving. Not sure what to do, we sat our bums down, still holding our hands out with fare money. Who should we pay? The bus suddenly turns an unexpected corner….omg no! We are on the wrong bus! Stop the bus!!!! We rang the bell frantically. Passengers appeared to be  smiling and asking among themselves if anyone knows how to speak English to us farangs. Unable to resolve the farang situation, the bus driver gives up and opens the front door so farangs can self-eject! Randy is still waving his 20 bhats around as we disembark. Honestly, I suspect they are still laughing at us….and we ride the bus for free (short a trip as it was)

We hailed a TukTuk instead to the subway, heads hung in failure…..

The subway was cram packed.  One lady recognized our farang-ness and through conversation we learned that she’s a Thai living in Florida. She knew what Ontario winters were like, so she understands why we are here. She was happy to hear about our love for Thailand and our cycling adventures. Just thinking about the snow back home reminded us how much we love being here!

Ben (Randy’s son) has arrived from Japan. He will visit for the remainder of our time in Bangkok. Being young and energetic, he was KhaoSan-curious so we introduced him to the late night Lunatic Madness of the district—then retired back to our lovely, peacefully quiet hotel letting Ben take on Khao San….

Morning came. We regrouped and went to the colossal & sprawling Chatuchak Weekend Market with its 15,000 stalls and 11,505 vendors, divided into 27 sections. It’s the world’s largest and most diverse weekend market. We have been to many markets, but we opined that if you can only visit one market, this is the one. This has it all. Fine art, hand-made Japanese paper, clothing clothing clothing, bags & shoes, gems, singing bowls, sculptures, socks, home decor, electronics….absolutely endless. If you can’t find it here, you won’t find it anywhere. And much of it was roofed, so at least we weren’t broiling in the convection oven that the sun delivers by day.

After dinner we strolled the side streets near the canal. We discovered yet another charming little quiet neighbourhood with traditional architecture. We remarked how quiet, peaceful and serene it looked and felt. Bangkok at night isn’t always loud and crazy.

Bangkok is not singular in dimension. It’s a wildly imperfect convergence of decadence, beauty, and the whole array of human experience. It somehow all fits together like a chaotic but cohesive painting you just gotta love.

We are not wishing to hurry our return to Canada…if we could, we’d hit the rewind button and do it all again!

Video: The Phanpha Canal Boat, Bangkok

Bangkok—By Night (Khao San Craziness)

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Night time in the Khao San Road district is beyond description. We can however say that the human interactions that punctuate our experience enrich us.

We don’t just walk by vendors. We stop, talk & connect. Laughing with the guy from Myanmar who works at La Moda Suit (30 Ram Buttri, Phra athith) who  tells us how they are trying to recover economically from COVID and make a living in the custom-made suit business. The woman crafting beautiful hand-made beaded bags who negotiated in our only shared language—laughter. The tattoo covered young man in the back alley polishing his bike and thrilled that we wanted a picture of his bike and him. The English teacher who places his students at tables & chairs then invites tourists to sit and converse with them so they can build their language skills with English speaking people of all nationalities. The happy young man with his tray full of lasers and lighters for sale who wants Randy to be “happy happy”with his new purchase.

Khao San at night—pounding music, and cannabis vendors every 20 meters. Cannabis not your style? Try some laughing gas for a little fun. If you have the bhats, you can buy anything you can imagine. Want to munch on black scorpion on a stick? (Maybe the laughing gas helps with that) Men, women, ladyboys, undefineds—gender diversity thrives. As we looked around one thing was clear—Night time on Khao San is an alternate reality that will sear itself into your entertained and stimulated memory bank forever.

We sat down on a side street just to people-watch, drink beer (water for me), eat spring rolls and take it all in. We noticed five dogs all laying about our feet (literally). We are ok with that (remember, we made peace with the dogs of Thailand?). A little convo with the vendor we learned she has 13 dogs at her home and these were a few of her pets.

You never know what you will encounter. If you get bored standing in your current location, just walk another 50ft and you’ll encounter fascinating new things. Like the street dancing (break dancing?) show-down that we happened upon. They held us mesmerized with their skills, entertaining us and enriching our evening. We recognized that they too are trying to make a living and we were more than happy to contribute to their livelihood when we noticed a collection box circulating

Bangkok at night is an intense experience and is anything but boring! It’s like trying to describe the Grand Canyon to someone—it simply must be experienced first hand to grasp it. Most of the time seeing Thailand by bike has been the most rewarding. In Bangkok however, we need to have feet on the ground to be able to live, breathe and feel the people and their culture

Video: Night Clubbing in Khao San

Video: The Khao San Craziness

Video: Custom made suits in Khao San area, Bangkok

Video: Street dancing (break dancing) show down in Khao San, Bangkok