reveille

in a few of the towns we've stayed, there are a bunch of loudspeakers all over the place. in some of those towns, they think it's fun to wake everyone up. before it was mostly in muslim villages, where they would pump up the volume with morning prayers. those were at like 4:30 am, and easily the most annoying. here in pai, it was some sort of dude singing some sort of song. kind of funny. as we never really adjusted to the time change, we're up at 7:00 every day anyway. the problem is that none of the stores open before 8:30 or 9, even those serving breakfast. wierd.

pai early in the am

we rented motorcycles yesterday in chiang mai so we could explore northern thailand for a few days. first leg of the trip took us to pai, winding around through the mountains and whatnot. the picture below was taken when the trusty watch altimeter read about 4,200'. we eventually climbed up closer to 5,000. pretty good scenery, although a bit dimmed. apparently the hill tribes all over the region are currently burning the forests, maybe for agriculture. we passed some rather large flamage on the way to see a geyser.

me and the wheels yesterday, all reppin' the flyers. yes, those are flames on the side of the helmet. two words: BAD ASS. it was my first time taking a manual bike out of 1st gear, and i was quite proud. got her up to a buck ten (kph), but i'm pretty sure i can beat that today.

'nanners

me in chiang mai about to enjoy hawaiian fried rice. picture worthy 'cause it was served in a halved pineapple. a word on pineapple: probably one of the best fruits ever, my love for it grows daily here. it's abundant and cheap (like everything else). pineapple fried rice is slammin', as well as pineapple shakes.