Thailand by Scooter

Against the better judgment of our mothers (we're guessing), we decided to hit the highway, Thai Style! We rented a scooter for 2 fun-filled days of being honked at and scaring the @$%# out of Amber. Actually it wasn't that bad, once I (Justin) got used to the manual scooter. There were a few rough down shifts before I realized, why bother? Just leave it in second gear, it's a rental!

First we headed to Wat U Mong, just a few kilometers outside of Chiang Mai. Unlike the majority of the wats we had visited, this wat's appeal was the forested grounds that had a park-like feel, complete with a duck pond. Many of the trees within the grounds of this 14th-century wat had Buddhist sayings written on them, which made for pleasant walking and reading.

Others included:

"Water is what makes a ship float; water is what makes a ship sink"

"The next life or tomorrow - we can never be certain which will come first; But we hope to go on living"

"Today is better than two tomorrows"

"Do try to be good, but not to be great, otherwise you will be in danger"

Under the stupa of this wat were several interconnecting tunnels that had shrines at the ends of them. A bat nearly whizzed by my head at the end of one of the tunnels (which I think is good luck in Thailand). Luckily, I literally had raw garlic cloves in my stir-fry the night before, so I survived unscaved.

Below you will see Amber taking her first picture of the trip!?

Back on the scooter we headed to Wat Chiang Man, the oldest in the city, built in 1296. The elephant lined stupa was fantastic at this wat.

Feeling quite confident on the scooter, we headed up into the mountains the following morning. We read about a place to get a fresh cup of coffee at a coffee farm about 30 km out of town within the Doi Pui National Park, approximately 1700 meters above sea level. The old scooter-that-could putted up the mountain with Amber clinging to my waist (we probably would have made it a little faster if I hadn't eaten so many Thai meals!). Several times we came to a slow stop while I found my way to first gear, but we made it!

At the park's entrance we ditched the bike and walked about 4 km to the coffee farm. To our surprise Starbuck's recently bought the farm and a three-story, air-conditioned Starbucks with wireless internet and flat panel TV’s greeted us. Just kidding. We found a wonderful coffee hut perched over the coffee fields serving delicious fresh coffee.

After we caffeinated our bodies, we walked around the farm and watched the coffee beans being picked and processed.

The walk back was uphill, but nicely, three guys from Bangkok were driving by in a 4-wheel-drive truck and offered us a ride to the scooter.

The ride back down to the town was a breeze; the gas "pedal" was never touched, just coasting down the mountain road (it's a good thing since the gas gauge was on empty and we were far from town).

The night before the wedding reception, which was five days after the wedding for those of you who were wondering, we all went out for dinner and a bit of partying.

After much coaxing by the Thai girls, I gave in and shook my western bod on the stage. They had not seen moves like that since the last drunken westerner decided to hop up on the stage and attack the lead singer.

The following night was the reception. The BIG PARTY night, right? Well, apparently not over here. It was really wild because we are used to wedding receptions that end only by being kicked out of the reception hall with guests clutching their 11th bourbon and seven. But after dinner about 75% of the 300+ guests just got up and left??? We were left with a handful of Thai family members and us Americans. All in all it was a great time and a great experience.