Motorcycle diaries 2

SORRY for the format!! won't use editor again ;) DAY 4 Wang Nua - Bi Hin - Pang Faen - Fuei Hai - Phrao -- 270km (1190km) so last night there were too strong rains and when I wanted to load my bike, there were drops falling again. But it just stopped (didn't get wet) and after turning around to get more oil, I was on my way to a waterfall with hotsprings. Spent some time in the hot water and had some very reliefing thoughts. so my first thought when we seperated was that I would be here anyway (in Asia) and that I didn't pay her trip. Didn't helped for too long obviously ;) so instead of thinking what could have been, I want to focus on the presence! life is still beautiful and a lot of things going on! :D thinking back to the last ten years, especially traveling and especially my Panamericana-Trip, I was on my own for almost most of the time.. like 2/3. the rest I was staying in a place and did fall in love with somebody or I was traveling with somebody for a couple of month. but all in all, most of the time the path that I had chosen, was meant to be walked alone (or ridden alone ;) and obviously I enjoyed a lot to be with somebody. giving and receiving all these massages and sharing just everything! a lot of new things grew out of it and I'm sure they will find fertil grounds again and prosper! ;D so I can't change my present state of not being with the girl of my life (where I would spend the rest of my time with). but I can be happy and loving and bringing all of it to the outside world! only like this, truely being with myself and happy, I can new things allow to happen. then once again.. who would be crazy enough to keep up with my lifestyle ;) maybe the next couple of months is a time for myself, being on two wheels and and experiencing freedom! :) so just before, I opened my maps and decided where I will go tomorrow: back to Pai! :) just for one night (staying at the same place, saying hello :) and then to Mae Hong Som and further around. today I found another hotspring, but didn't go in, because I was playing with the thought to spend the whole night there. but around was nothing to get good supplies and eventually a blanket. So I made it back to Phrae and will do it tomorrow early moring. should make it for sunrise! :) the roads that I've chosen (good map!), turned out to be really cool for riding motorcycle! just uphill I wish for some more HP, but I wouldn't drive faster anyway. I estimate sitting for around 6 hours on the bike and in the end I can always feel it ;) I will have the bike in Cambodia be more adjusted to weight and terrain. but for here this one did a great job and I'm sure it will take me back safe and sound to Chiang Mai :) here is not so much to do at the moment. even if there's internet, no real purpose to go online. massage and stay in CM are organized and during the week, I'll get the rest done. Nadia is in Koh Tau, has to wait for the credit card, but got just 2 weeks of visa extension. well.. she'll figure it out. for my part.. wouldn't have done it this way otherwise, so I can't complain how everything turned out :) so far so good! I'm looking forward to set up my next trip in Phnom Phen. Once being there, it shouldn't take long to get things rolling and will have time to ride all over the country :) DAY 5 Phrao - Pha Hong - Chiang Dao - Mae Taeng - Pai - Soppong - Mae Hong Som - Pha Bong -- 270km (1560km) a pretty super totally cool awesome day!! :D I got up at 5.30am and made it to the hotsprings, having a bath, doing some sunsalutations and Yoga with the sunrise and felt really energized and a good start in the morning! the road as well really nice through the hills and mountains! sometimes in really good shape and sometimes not, so it's good to have an Enduro! ;D was sunny in the morning, then a bit cloudy and sunny again. all in all, splendid weather for bikeriding! (you can rely pretty much on the seasonal weather here! :) One more thing riding a bike is you get all the smells from around! forest, flowers, food from stands.. and sometimes the polluted air from the exhaust of an old car (to pass quickly ;) yes.. had really good breathing while riding a bike. Also some kind of meditation! :) when I came to Pai it was still early and I just made a short stop to say hello in the place where I was before. Met a guy there, talked for a while together and played some guitar. Then I moved on to Soppong, where I got gasoline and decided to ride on. Was a beaaautiful sunset (just arrived shortly afterward) and had another good two hours of riding through the mountains! ..well.. the Mae Hong Som Loop is really a sweet track!! nice peace of road to just drive through and take curve after curve.. every bikers dream!!! :D I was driven to get to another hotspring along the way and I actually made it, but it wasn't as nice as the last one. the public pool is very (VERY) hot water and people just pour water over themselves. So no special midnight hotspring this time neither.. will have to find another one ;) found a lovely homestay close to the hotspring, where the room (10USD) was nicely decorated with antique stuff and looked a bit like a museum ;) spent the evening having some beers and hanging out with my thoghts.. was really content with life!! :) riding is a lot of fun and it's OK to do it on my own. I'm happy there are some more roads ahead to do! ..because in a minibus, this would have been horrible with all these curves and on a bycicle a pain in the legs. So riding a bike is just the perfect way of doing it, because you're still outside and not in a car. DAY 6 Pha Bong - Khun Yuam - Mae Chaem - Chomthong - Chiang Mai -- 280km (1840km) the last day and yess... SUCCESS!!! I made it back safe and sound, didn't drop the bike once and was riding a LOT! :) I got it somehow mixed up with the distances, but the end was 1840km in 6 days, what brings it to an average of a bit above 300km/day. Yes, I know.. quite a rally on such a small machine, but still.. I felt like riding and was a lot of fun to spend the whole day just riding through the north of Thailand! :) Of course, it would be good to have some more time along the track to stop and do things (see caves and waterfalls). but I didn't feel to much in the mood to see these things on my own and anyway, what would I do in a cave without my didgeridoo ;) today was the super most epic day of riding!! OK.. the end not so much, because I didn't find the small roads to get back to Chiang Mai and I wanted to give the bike back in time so I can go shopping tomorrow ;) but everything before hitting the highway is just spectacular!! driving through breath taking landscape and having mostly good road to ride! I felt pretty badass rider ;) not for being so fast (not possible with this bike and not recommendable, because road conditions vary a lot). but for doing all this trip on my own, having a good pace and managed to get back in one peace, seeing a lot of things and doing a cool trip on a bike partly on the roads that I cycled five years ago. Also bring some upgrade to the things that I do, when I do them again ;) I arranged by internet a place to stay for one week that I just got to. It's a super nice room with private bathroom, wifi, little balcony and a fridge outside I can use. Just perfect! :) close to the Thai Massage School that I will start after tomorrow (also all organized already ;) finally I didn't take too many pictures and movies. for one.. they are just another landscape pictures from somewhere and can't really give the moment of riding a bike through these lands, perceiving with all senses. and after my "helmetcam" died I didn't have an option to film and switch gear at the same time, so I decided for safe and fun riding instead of a lot of filming ;) anyway.. even if you have a gopro cam and take a 2hours Hi-Res movie. would you watch that again?? I think, some things just have to be lived! :) so the last 6 days were pretty sweet!! :) learned again spending time with myself and being OK with it. It's nice to meet people and share stories sitting on the fire during the night, but there is the day where these stories have to be written and I keep on writing this, my very own story of life! :)

Motorcycle diaries

Thailand - Golden Triangle Motorcycle diaries DAY 1 Chiang Mai - Chiang Rai - Mae Sai - Chiang Khong -- 370km 100%tarmac when I woke up yesterday, I still had to pack my things in Pai and get to Chiang Mai, figuring out what to do about my visa and getting a bike. Now I'm in Chiang Khong at the Mekong river looking over to Laos :) when I arrive, the bikeshop that I called and had a bike for me, didn't have it anymore, but luckily there was another shop close by and I found the perfect ride!! :D a 250ccm dirtbike. just right for the job! I travelled at a 60-80km/h but I figure the best speed to cruise might just be 50-60km/h :) beautiful out here!! perfect weather.. just a bit cloudy today and the same visibility that I experienced 5 years ago when cycling during this season: at highest 20km :P ..why? because there's so much smoke in the air, because everybody is burning stuff (dry leaves and leftovers from last harvest in order to fertilize the ground). will probably be done quite another while.. so until monsoon starts and washes the air clear, you see the mountainranges just as mystical, foggy shapes raising from the background :) anyway.. I figured, doing the north of Thailand on a bike is a totaly worth it and kinda an achievable thing ;) gives me also a good warmup for 250ccm in Cambodia. I drove the bike 100m back and forth and then took it, because it's in good shape and drives excellently! after one day still no complains, just the seat has to become softer ;) doing this tomorrow with the yoga mat I brought along ;) I left most of my things at the motorcyicle dealer.. travelling very light and being happy about it! :D I will keep on riding the next days and drive further down than my map reaches. starting a bit later than today, because until the sun showed itself at the horizon, it was pretty chilly and I got numb fingertips (no more heated handlegrips ;) hehehe ;) wow.. it's a bit more expensive as I expected (as this 12USD guesthouse, but nicely seated on the riverside) ..so I pay 18USD per day instead of first offered 6USD for 150ccm diferent shop. but now I feel it's totally worth it to go for the higher class, because waaaaay more comfortable and as well safer! :) listening to nice psy trance while riding through the hills and along the rice paddies ;D visa-stuff all very confusing and I paid like 40USD more for doing it before the boarder.. kinda accidently got into that, but when I realized I can just get it there, I decided to do so and safe me going into Mian Mar for Visarun.. well.. now I haven't been there, but was a good choice :) around here there are more podholes in the street, but the bikes can take them easily, but most of the time I swiftly cruise around.. OMG! I'm looking forward to Cambodia!!! :D yes.. doing all this countries on a bike is truely a great thing! just have to watch out and drive carefully! so far so good.. it's much easier to handle a bike and luggage when it's just half the weight :D before I realized today that the new tyres are shitty before have driven them a couple of 100kms, the bike shortly wiggled it's tail when I had to brake firmly. but managed well and tomorrow I hope I can finally give the offroad tyres all the dirt that they desire! :D DAY 2 Chiang Khong - Phang Hat - Muak - Chiang Kham - Pang Tham - Ban Mao -- 240km 90%tarmac 10%offroad even better than yesterday!! :D of course, cuddeling during the night would be nice, but didn't have any time today to think in past and gone things, instead had a great day of riding until after many hours of pure joy my butt starts hurting ;) todays accomodation is even more expensive than yesterday (18USD) but I'm glad they gave me some discount and honestly, I didn't have a lot of choice, because I'm outside of my map and it was getting dark. I successfully finished my yoga excericises of today and I'm drinking beer now, worshipping jah, sitting on my privat balcony of a simple hut (shagshack ;) having moon and stars over me (Orion watching and protecting me!). yes.. great day, great ride and sweet ending! :) I'm totally on my own here and well.. would probably giving or getting massage if not alone, but now having time to write these lines and sort out the few pictures and movies I took. I guess, I captured some nice stuff, even if the first attempts were very unsuccessful (don't have a GoPro, just some taped handicam on my helmet ;) hahaha ;D after the first day I met a Swiss couple that lives 10km away from my hometown (on similar bike traveling), I had the pleasure to meet an artist couple from Holland yesterday. was nice to chat.. or let's say to talk. to free my mind and clear my view. hey.. view was also better today! or maybe it was because I was totally in the mountains, taking hundreds of curves!! :D gladly checked the oil, because it seems it may use up to 1/2liter every 500km. can this be??!! well.. anyway.. will take care to have enough oil and gas and water and then there are few things that can stop me. The Golden Triangle is a really sweet ride!! doing the north of Thailand on a bike might be considered to be put on the bucket list :) I have plans for the next days. If I arrive 1 day early in Chiang Mai, then I'll do the shopping and save time later. Will be riding a lot and looking forward to it! the Cambodia-things turns out I have to go to Phnom Phen and set it up myself. it's gonna be cheaper and more adventurous anyway! :D about traveling on- and offroad. I find it like this: when running with a horse, wether you nor the horse should have any luggage to carry (it will shake a lot). the same is with bikes.. if you want to go crazy with a bike, have it completely unoaded. so traveling I find it way more comfortable to drive on asphalt roads. you don't need to watch the road all the time as offroad and it's less tiring and you get further. the other thing might be for a daytrip with a 150ccm or 250ccm not loaded. and no elastic straps for tightening your backpack. it will move with every bump towards somewhere and not stay in place. I already got some ideas (slackline-type straps) and should organise sidebags for low center of mass). today I managed to keep it all tight and safe, but at the cost of some smashed bananas ;) so when I go to Cambodia, I'll figure out where to drive during this approx. 30 days. but there won't be too many excursions, venturing out deeply into the jungle, because then I'll have to leave all but the most necessary things behind. looking back, I found my 650GS well loaded and it was pleasant and exciting to travel this way (having some toys and instruments along). still the asphaltroads here are pretty nice, lovely and exciting at the same time! beautiful views offer themselves as you go hill by hill, curve by curve. I stayed yesterday in the same place when I was here 5 years ago. Now I'm driving a route, a part of Northern Thailand, that I haven't seen and not on a bycicle, but a Honda XR250 (considered a big bike here ;) ..not a single PS too much, but also just suitable for the ride. ..I noticed that the gear range is very different from the 650GS. it's made for offroad climbing and descents. so it's the same as with bycicles: mountainbike, citybike, racingbike they all have different characteristics and behave differently. I'll be doing fine with a 250ccm in Cambodia (I should get a 400ccm if possible ;) but probably won't do a lot of crazy things like high mountains, deeps rivers and jungle-mazes. let's see ;) but for traveling and seeing stuff, staying in places where noone else stays, I think it's a good way and there should be plenty of route to travel along.. fuck yeah! this is gonna be a BLAST! (another one in my life ;) DAY 3 Ban Mao - Nan - Chiang Muan - Phayao - Wang Nua -- 270km 100%tarmac today I got a little bit of everything. The morning was very sunny, becoming a bit cloudy then. When my fingers got numb, I stopped for coffee :) the ride to Nan is beautiful through the mountains! then it flattens out and I turned towards the mountains again. It was a bit complicated, because I was outside of the map and then asking for directions is more difficult :) but anyway, was a nice little tour around and coming back, I found a lot of beautiful, hilly, curvy roads :D at a certain point there was even some rain. I should have stopped 3 minutes earlier to prepare myself. This way my socks and shoes were soaked in no time. but dried already on the last of the trip. Was just a microclimate and after 10 minutes driving through the rain, it stopped. Streets were dry again and I continued in sunshine. It seems though that the helmet-cam has been damaged :( well.. I was about to send it back home anyway, because extra weight and I don't use it too much, but for capturing some rides it would have been handy. but somehow it's broken now and I don't have to think about filming the next days, but can enjoy landscape naturally :) when I got here in Wang Nua, I was a bit enthuiast about celebrating the day and got so quickly drunken that I passed out before eight o'clock and I'm awake now at about 4 o'clock in the morning :P at least I can write these lines, because tomorrow will be something different along the way. There was a lot of good riding today.. only yoga stayed out :'( couldn't motivate myself wether in the morning nor the evening. When I got up (was sleeping outside almost the whole night ;) it was just in time to see the spectacular sunrise at 7am, have some coffee and rice soup. Then I started riding at 8am and enjoyed many hours on the bike. Can't await doing all of this in Cambodia!! Tomorrow I might make it to Pai.. haven't opened the other Map, so I don't know how long the other loop is going to be. But I'm doing pretty fine and my butt got's a bit more used to the hard seat ;) I guess Phayao would have been nice. it's the biggest lake in Thailand I heard (well, they don't have too many lakes anyway ;) but I drove through, because there were some more nice roads ahead and it was still too early to stop. There's more and more Thai coming back as I'm travelling here on my own. I wasn't that bad five years ago and I still feel I can speak the most important things :) people are very friendly and helpful and it's fun to be off-the-track and just go and stop wherever I want! :D to be on my own is not that bad. Of course it's nice to share and being with somebody you want to spend the rest of your life with is really fulfilling, but also this way, being on my own is good. Having time for my thoughts (mostly happy thoughts ;) and space for upcoming plans. So far so good! now I'm getting some more hours of sleep and in about 4 hours, I'm on the bike again! :D

this is the end..

hmm.. who would have thought tha:. Sky just left me, because I'm too much male and she wants to be with a female. Hence I can't do anything about the situation, I'm now here in the north of Thailand in Pai and thinking about the rest of this trip (and my life). well.. it really sucks! I was so sure about all this and now she comes and tells me that she always had this feeling inside and it was a bit on and off and now it came back and so strongly that she felt so unhappy with me that she had to leave me. kinda sad. and after all the plans we made, it takes some time to let go of all this and come up with something new, possibly even more exciting ;) I'm happy, we brought this to an end in a peaceful way! but it was so incredibly beautiful that it's loss still hurts. We shared so much together.. from playing didgeridoo over acroyoga to contact juggling.. just EVERYTHING! we could even fight together with sticks and she didn't like it at all in the beginning and lately we had even with his lots of fun! hmm.. maybe I shouldn't look back too much at the moment. I had a lot of thoughts lately and I hope they brought me a bit further in this issue. After a phone call with Nadia I realized quickly that this is pretty much over (finally realized). so yes.. after a funny night with some other swiss guys and some yoga this morning, having a Thai Massage and waiting for some good food on a beautiful, warm and sunny day, I'm pretty fine :D I got plans for the next days before the massage course: renting a bike and driving through the north of Thailand (it's not soooo big and with a 250ccm it can easily be done). -------- okay.. so far so good. I'm here in Chiang Mai.. tomorrow I have to do a Visa-run, but I'll be doing it on my own (rented the bike I mentioned above). it's a bit more expensive that I expected (18USD instead of 6USD), but it's also a bit bigger and I will need the power to get to Mai Sai for Visa-Extension. I think the next 6 days I'll be on the road.. Golden-Triangle-Loop and Mae-Hong-Song-Loop (both recommended for driving in North of Thailand). I finally post this, not sure if having laptop for the next days... blessings to you all! :)

Thailand - 40 days summary :P

Good morning world! :) Well, it’s really long ago, I wrote something in this blog and finally I feel having enough to tell to drop some lines. when we arrived in Khao San Road in Bangkok, it was clean and quiet compared to what we’ve experienced the last month in India. Still.. Khao San road is the touristiest spot in Bangkok (or even Thailand). We didn’t have anything to do except getting tattooed and this is what we have been doing the couple days we were there. First finding a tattoo studio that we like and then getting a good artist and then suffering the many, many hours of pain that you go through when getting a tattoo. Somehow you or your body forgets the pain over time.. so after five years, I didn’t know how fucking painful this is gonna be!! :P it took 11 hours with design and all and at least 6 hours of pure inking and the last hour was sooooo painful that I was cursing and needed more frequent breaks. I took my session in the middle day.. Sky did one side the day before and the other side the day after. While I couldn’t manage my pain in the studio, I was fine just after that (suffering but controlling my emotions) while Sky could bare the pain more in the studio, I had to suffer then the emotional impact it had on her. OMG.. please no more tattoos in our relationship!! It was extremely stressful the whole healing process. Up to we were getting sick and some lines scarred in her tattoo what made me think it got infected. Argh.. I’m happy this one is over and all that’s left are beautiful tattoos on our backs. When I got in the studio, I didn’t know so much what I wanted to do.. to fix my tribal dragon and extend it in a meaningful way and what I got is so perfect, it couldn’t be better! So for those who didn’t know my tattoo before: it’s a tribal dragon, shaping a Yin-Yang and holding a ball. The dragon as symbol for Wisdom and Eternety, the Yin-Yang as male and female, day and night as the opposites flowing into each other. The ball as symbol for the Power, the Universe and of course for my so much beloved and ever ongoing contact juggling. Now it got some colors.. it now holds water (my sign is Pisces) and fire (ascendant is Leo) and as the counterpart of the dragon it got a Phoenix (raising out of the ashes, recreating itself every moment, as ever particle in this universe does constantly). It even did so while healing ;) (scab gets off and it arises anew). so from Bangkok to Koh Tao for some 4-day-psy-trance-party and to Koh Phangan (just next side) to continue with partying! :) we were in Koh Phangan for a quite long time.. doing a lot of parties and recovering afterwards from them. Its nothing that I could do for too long and after three weeks I was pretty done with that vibe. Somehow I managed to stay for another week, but felt loss of energy and not being deeply and totally happy, as I used to feel. Anyway, it was a great time and we danced a lot, met a lot of awesome people (that all left before us). We had time for Yoga, Acroyoga, went to the sauna and eat good food! Most of the parts of the island reminded still undiscovered though, because we didn’t go for long rides with our prehistoric scooter ;) this also slimmed the chances getting bruised up in an accident, what also happens to quite some people on the island. Well.. it was good fun! But also more holiday than travelling and I feel I need some input in life to stimulate my brain :) So after 30 days we finally made it and left the island to ship over to Koh Tao. Koh Tao is much smaller and it’s just about diving, what we were doing here the last days. Sky made her OpenWater (SCUBA diving basic course) within two days in a one-to-one class with an instructor here. It’s a lot to learn and a lot to do and after the two dives yesterday and finishing the final exam in the afternoon, she was totally exhausted. Understandable, because normally the course takes three days but if the instructor doesn’t have four students, he like to go through quicker. Anyway.. I think she knows what she had to learn and everything else is a question of practice. I had two dives yesterday and went on the same boat. For the visibility was really bad 5-10m, I should have done at least the second dive with Sky instead with the certified divers. I was looking for a shark or whaleshark, but with this visibility it was a Zero chance. Anyway.. there will be more dives along the trip and Sky will do her Advanced-Certificate then we can go deeper (to 40m) together instead just 18m. PADI Advanced is a must for diving, but just not right now.. one thing at a time. Well.. it will take until the Philippines I guess until we get more chances to dive (good dive spots are scarce around the world). And I think as a matter of money, we won’t take any more dives here (except visibility would change to much better). so for today we will start the Apnae diving, where you go down to 20m with just a single breath!! This is gonna be INTENSE!! :D I studied all the material in the last two days and this afternoon we’re getting our theory lessons by a Spanish professional teacher (in English ;) then the next two days are in the water, doing breath-hold exercises and going down a line to see how far we can compress our lungs :) there’s a certain physical limit whit what you can do with your body, but if you’re mentally prepared you can push it pretty far. So the trick is being in good physical shape (glad I’m doing Yoga with Sky) then you should do Thorax stretching (glad I’m doing Yoga with Sky) and breathing technique called Parayanama (glad I’m doing Yoga with Sky). So I should be well prepared and she should simply be a master free diver ;) we’ll see how deep we can go and for how long we can hold our breaths, but I’m looking forward to do the course well conducted and in a safe environment. Then our next plans are going to Bangkok, eventually doing something about our tattoos (that really turned out great! :), going to the north of Thailand to Chiang Mai. There we want to buy clothes and a couple of things to send home. We both will do a 2 week Thai-Massage-Course and going to some hippie village called Pai to relax for a few days. Sometime in between we will go for a 2-3 days trek through the jungle and stopping on our way to Laos in Chiang Rai, where there is also some nice landscape to hike around. And yes.. a Visa-Run to Burma to extend our Visa for another 30 days. So all in all looking exciting, fun and full of thrilling experiences. As our time in Thailand would just have begun!! :D