Brrr...

It is always a bit of a shock to the system to return to the chilly marine air of San Francisco after spending three weeks in the tropical climate of Southeast Asia. One morning, however, made me feel at home. Ben and I were on a three day two night road trip from Chiang Mai to Pai to Mae Hong Son. The early morning in Pai was downright chilly and Ben who is familiar with the mountainous terrain and climate even found it cold. He told me that there was frost on his car when he got up that morning. I had a jacket at the hotel but did not take it with me as I did not expect it to be that chilly. It was beautiful country however and warmed up quickly once the sun was up. We visited two hot springs, one which had a warning sign that the water temperature was 80C/176F. Boiled eggs anyone? The limestone cavern at Tham Lod was one of the most interesting things to me. I have always been a caver I guess and this one was still in its primitive state. That is, no electric lights inside and the only method of entering or leaving was by raft from the nearby Lang River. All people entering the cave had to be with a guide who carried a Coleman Lantern for illumination. Footing in some places was a bit tricky so she was also very helpful in steadying me as I stepped over various obstructions in the rocky surface.

Now I am busy sorting through hundreds of photos looking for things to place on my photo website. I hope I can complete this task within the next two weeks.

There was one near disaster along the way due to a serious case of diarrhea that gave me virtually no warning. We did find a rest stop along the road fortunately. A week an a half later here at home I had repeat episode with more potential for a disaster in public. Not sure what caused that at such a late date however. The first episode was due to something in some food while on the road or bad water (from ice cubes in a gin & tonic). One does not drink the tap water in Thailand and I never did, always drinking bottled water, but even there, one can never been positive.

Anyway, the whole vacation was enjoyable despite that episode but the whole experience left me exhausted and it has taken me a few days to feel like my old self again. The biggest downside of traveling to Southeast Asia for me is the thirteen hours from SFO to Taipei plus the three and a half hours between Taipei and Bangkok. It is slightly better coming home with only about eleven hours from Taipei to SFO.