Mai Sot thoughts

[klongmaster]

They are all there for me

Weird that...just came back in so com has been rebooted and obviously a new connection to the net...but those piccies still don't show...

[Marmite the Dog]

Works for me, and they're very nice pics too.

[Mathos]

GUsG:- Thanks Gus, I take that as you're enjoying the same, more to come shortly.


Klongmaster:- I just checked them out on my grandsons PC and they have come up on there as well as my own of course.

I'm not really computer literate either so I don't know what advice I can give. If you can't sort it, let me know I could always e-mail you the photographs, they are a really good set you are missing.

If anyone else has a problem, please let me know.

Thetyim;- Glad you're receiving them OK.

MTD Glad you are receiving them and thanks for the comments. Appreciated very much.

[Mathos]

This is a photograph of the baby elephant 35 week old that was the source of Flobo almost being trampled. Beautiful little creature though and the mother was simply doing what all mothers would do.

Hell am I glad it came to a halt though.




Below is a photograph from inside 'The Longhouse' were we stayed high in the mountains overnight and kept the fire burning.

There are some great memories.



The feet on the other side of the fire belonged to the lady of the house.

I just think the photograph below is fantastic, we were heading toward a village on the river which you can just about see the first sign of a dwelling on the left of the river bank. They also helped us out by selling us a raft to continue our journey.

[Mathos]

Great photograph here too from The Mae Hong Son area, gorgeous views in this area and so lush.






When I say we stay in some pretty rough places in the mountains, I mean it, really mean it, there are no 'Holiday Inn' facilities if you follow the trails I take Flobo on. The thing is, if you want to get the experience and find out what is going on then there is only one way to do it.




So she deserves something like Tara once in a while.

If you have done bamboo rafting on a fast flowing river high in the mountains, you know what a great experience it is. Our guide and 'raft master' on this occasion was Joss. He was a great guy, (most of them are) and a brilliant guide. He made us a fork each out of bamboo, we still have them.

[Mathos]

We stayed in this hut, but we had a fire burning outside before morning ,the hut was alive with every bug that bit and lived on human flesh. We couldn't take it all night, it was bloody awful. Cold outside too. We lit a fire, and washed down as best we could from some containers of water with added bleach in. (We always carry bleach), wiped our bodies over with some whiskey and gave the sleeping bags a wipe out with the mixed water and bleach solution. We aired them by the fire for a while and settled down outside until daylight.

You can't buy experiences of this nature.





A family here doing the weekly wash in the river, husband on guard. These are dangerous areas, children are stolen on as regular basis.






We also spent the night in this humble abode, it wasn't anything like the previous one but the owner was like a grotesque Neanderthal man, positively inhuman and I mean that.





Apparently he had done this to his dog with a machete at some earlier stage of its life and just left it to heal of its own accord.





It was a beautifully natured dog too.

I'll get around to telling you some tales of the crazy, crazy, really crazy nights in those mountain villages some-time.

[Mathos]

There are times when we look back on certain photographs and the feeling of utter desolation rekindles itself.

If you have ever walked in these sorts of terrains and slept in all they offered walking in areas you had no right to be, heading toward places you should really be heading away from, it is indeed a strange and peculiar feeling to know you did it, got away intact and yet an inner sense tells you how much you enjoyed every second of its being and existence.




Then you wake up another day, walk a few mile and come across a view like this and the whole of your being is reactivated, something like re-charging a flat battery.

[Mathos]

If you have experienced or simply imagine walking for days on end maybe six hours a day, not getting the best of food, struggling to sleep peacefully or in comfort for nights on end, climbing higher into the mountains and then coming to a beautiful plateau with a village in the distance something like this one, you feel a great joy and satisfaction in achieving what appears to be the ultimate.




The fields withing the village area and it's only when you get right into it that you realise all the work they are doing simply to survive. The lady at the back of the photograph is smoking a pipe full of marijuana.






I remember a few years back and we met up with three young guys, from Israel.

They were in their 20's and looked extremely fit. Two of them couldn't take it anymore, they cried that night and were praying and begging for anything to get them out of there!

Sometimes I look at Flobo and wonder where the hell she gets the bottle from and it makes me extremely proud of her.

She had just had her hair braided and I stopped to feed the monkies.






Well I managed to get them off her, but they bit hell out of my bloody hand.

We were both ok at the end of the day though.


She looks much better on the next photograph.

[Mathos]

I often look at the children you come across in the mountains and realise just how lucky they are to have survived through the infancy of their lives alone. Infant mortality is ridiculously high out there.

Strange too how they all sing Frere Jacques?




We were doing a fair rate of knots on this bamboo raft as we approached the last base on this photograph.



I wouldn't like to say which country on the planet owned the section of land on this photograph, but it is full of marijuana plants. I think a selection of sun flowers are grown with the same to make identification of the crop difficult by satellite.




It's probably Afghanistan.

[Mathos]

Thats it for tonight. I really hope the photographs are ok now for Klongmaster and ayone else who may have had difficulties.

[Mathos]

MTD Thanks for doing the tidy up job on the thread. Very considerate of you and appreciated.

Well I am just getting over my heart palpitations following the MAN U v BARCELONA game!

Brilliant.

I'll do some work on here tomorrow.

[Mathos]

Well there has never been any love lost between Man U fans and Scousers!

That's a fact.

It would however have been a formidable sight to have seen a mighty horde of two red football fans following their teams to Moscow.

Red Square would have really lived up to it's name.

Impressive to say the least.

So I have to admit to actually 'cheering' for the Scousers against the Cockneys tonight.

One thing for sure though, English football is dominating Europe.

I'm going to be giving it all I've got for Man U to win The European Cup and The Premiership.

It's a bit late for me to do much on the thread tonight, turned 11pm now and I'm out very early in the morning.

I thought I would let you see a photograph of a home on Tonle Sap Lake Cambodia. Then let you see a snap I was taking of some property in Pleasington Lancashire, earlier today, at the request of a friend of mine.




I'll be doing a lot of entries on Cambodia from the weekend onwards.

Some more Northern Thailand info tomorrow and Friday though.






It's amazing how things vary so much across this planet of ours.







I thought it good to break the thread up a little once in a while as well.

[Mathos]

Mai Sai Thailand's most northern town on the borders of Burma and Laos is quite a well developed town now as my photographs from earlier this year show a few pages back. This was the town were the attempt to break into our vehicle was carried out.

It has changed quite dramatically since the photographs below were taken in the mid 1990's. I rather think from memory these photographs were taken December 1996-January 1997

The border crossing and old bridge were quite small and basic in comparison to the large immigration unit they have on the new crossing today.




You can actually see children playing in the river on this snap and it was not uncommon for the locals to simply cross into Thailand and back via this route, as they had no doubt done for hundreds of years or more.





The Golden Triangle has always been a name which has caused heads to stir and people to sit up, for years it was simply associated with the poppy fields of Thailand, Laos and Burma.

It still is.




I don't know if you are at all familiar with some of the lackadaisical mannerisms associated with border control between Thailand and Burma especially (I am referring to the natives of each country here and not Farangs) but there are times and places were control points, passports and or visas, appear to be a formality of no importance whatsoever.




Walk right in, sit right down baby let your hair hang............


If you are familiar with the term 'Jao Paw' you will understand the wealth and power associated with these people who can best be referred to in English as 'Godfathers'

Their wealth is astronomical along with their power.

It is worth mentioning that this area of the globe is well frequented by 'Jao Paw' along with Mae Sot.

I have reference to one such visit in Mae Sot earlier this year, which I will relate in due course.

Mercedes, bodyguards and all.

[Mathos]

One of the biggest problems with driving in Thailand of course is the horrendous driving standards you can encounter from commercial vehicle drivers especially. Accident are ridiculously high. There are times when I have thought the idea of driving has to be coupled with a 'Death wish' for some form of reincarnation into a better life or whatever.

The surviving drivers, all do a runner as well.

Nakhon Nowhere here they come.




I have seen wagon loads strewn all over the roads and people just assume it's fair and square to claim the same as personal salvage.

You want to see it going into the back of pick up vehicles and such like.

In fact my memory cells have just been stirred to an accident across the road from the Montien Hotel on Surawong Road many many years ago. We were staying on the 10th floor or so facing the entrance to Patpong. It was about noon and a motorcyclist was badly hit by a car.

There was a cop peering around the corner, not going anywhere near the scene. I have the episode all on video somewhere!

The motorcyclist and his bike became divested of anything of value, I spoke to somebody at the hotel about the goings on and expressed my shock at seeing the same.

"Maybe he dead and does not need anymore" was the response.

It's a strange old world.





You get fed up of counting the number of accidents you see on a days drive especially.

Who mentioned dead dogs?

Forty seven in one day in 2002 Between Tak and Chiang Mai.




There appears to be a good few quid lying about here!

[Mathos]

A couple of really nice views here.

I remember laughing with Flobo on this stretch, it went along the mountain for mile after mile and the impact safety posts were on the bank side, with only an odd one or two on the drop off side.

Amazing Thailand.

TITS




I recall only too well looking at the pathway worn into the hillside on the photograph below. Realising it would lead into a village and from there through the mountains to the right. We were in tip top condition (as you need to be for these sort of trekking trails) I sported a beard at the time.


I thought when I saw the photograph.

That seems a long time since.

Flobo, said "Oh it was"

"That was November 1991."

"Bloody Hell" I thought,"

I didn't bother working out my age then, it would have pissed me off!






Never mind, age is only a number the government insist on giving you.





Isn't it?

[Mathos]

We actually got some help off the guy who lived in this hut a long time ago. We had no idea there would be anyone with a car in the particular location we were in, and couldn't believe there was going to be a road.

Well the car drove a little way along a dirt track but we were right about the road.





It worked out OK in the end though, we eventually got a ride in the back of one of those big Isuzu Trucks along dirt roads and through fields.


Every now and then in the mountains you come across the presence of Christianity.

It makes you feel really proud.




Some of the places to rest your head were basic but generally clean (they weren't all s*** holes). There would always be something going to happen though.

Flobo woke me one night in this particular long house with all the blankets.

"There's something on my arm"

I flicked a lighter which I always keep handy.

There was a big ugly black tarantula crawling up her arm.

I grabbed it gently and threw it quickly.

We then shone our torches, but it had gone from the area I threw it.

Ah well, we weren't bitten, and back we went to sleep.


The photograph below is from a long-house at the 'coffin cave' area of northern Thailand. That was quite an experience too.

[Mathos]

Thought I would finish off tonight with a couple more I had from Vietnam.

They are quite interesting.


The one below presents a major underground war room well down in the bowels of mother earth.



Quite an experience going down there it was too.




The photograph below shows one of the underground kitchens. As you can imagine the cooking was done mainly at night so that smoke would not give the location away to the American forces.

There were full blown armies, men and women to feed down here and keep fit to fight.

The NVA slept through the day, leaving the tunnels mainly at night to wreak havoc and mayhem amongst the American troops.

Personally I think war a terrible part of our existence.

When Will They Ever Learn? (The Zimmerman Guy)




Below is a photograph of one of the actual man traps used by the NVA against the American soldiers. The spikes would be coated with human excrement to ensure infection of any cuts or wounds which didn't automatically kill the victim straight off.

The traps were set and camoflaged in the jungle and in the tunnels.

There were some terrible barbaric type methods used to cause death and injury.

There always is in war, by all sides.




This photograph is the entrance to a well probably also used as a means of escape or simple exit, via a 'U' bend, like you would find on a common every day toilet. Only this bend would lead out into a river allowing soldiers to exit and enter undetected, weapons etc were taken along protected in secure plastic bags I was advised.

[klongmaster]

OK...I got the m/albums/kk175/JimmyTheJoint/Scenic%20shots/010.jpg pic and the next one...

those are the only two I got since I last posted...WTF is going on here...everyone else can see them so why can't I...

[Mathos]

KM I am just doing a flying visit, I only have a little time to spare but will be back on line later this evening. I have checked photographs on two different computers besides mine and have not received any other notifications of same not being visible. Baffled.


This photograph {The blanket shot regarding the Tarantula} should have been included on post number 218

Sorry about that.

[Mathos]

I'll place a few good assorted snaps on this evening of a different and interesting nature.

Then hopefully tomorrow I can get cracking on some major writing regarding Cambodia.


This photograph was taken in Bangkok in January.





This was a classic, Thailand's one and only attempt at introducing touring/camper vans to the beauty of Samui.

It was quite a feature near to the Reggae Bar.




Like everything else though it has long since gone.

They have made a real mess of that Island since we first used to go there back in the 1980's.






I'll place quite a bit more on this evening, got a few lads to look after tonight, and two to get ready for contest level next week.

[jizzybloke]

We also spent the night in this humble abode, it wasn't anything like the previous one but the owner was like a grotesque Neanderthal man, positively inhuman and I mean that.

Got a picture of him Mathos?

Really enjoying this please keep going.

[Mathos]

Thanks Jizzy, I do have some pictures of him and other older hard photographs from earlier days. I simply haven't come across the right batch yet and there are so many to look through. I'll eventually come to them and let you have sight of the 'Neanderthal'

Glad you are enjoying the same too.


In the wilder parts you do come across numerous 'Shaman' {Medicine man/Witchdoctor type} and they can be very peculiar indeed.

It is nothing to see them gibbering over really bad open wounds and covering the cuts in buffalo shit and such like for instance.

They also make up herbs and other additives from animals into medicines and the people actually buy or 'trade' for the same.

Here is sight of a typical 'Mountain Pharmacy'







This particular one was at Three Pagoda Pass. The locals and visitors, were buying all he recommended.




He was mixing stuff up in bowls and pouring the same into any old bottle that was to hand.

Mind blowing.

I once had a foreign body in my foot {It was a splinter I managed to get jammed in deeply in a water hole swim} At the time we were in a remote area, I couldn't get it all out and it was becoming infected, I had some bleach/whiskey and cicatrin which I used to clean the same, but the infection was getting quite bad and it was becoming far more painful as the night passed along. Eventually using international sign language and showing him the wound I asked the Shaman at the village if he could dig it out for me. He looked at the same and called a woman over with red stained betel teeth and lips. He obviously told her to suck on the wound which she did and I felt it ease. She had a splinter in her mouth and showed me. I was much happier and gave them Bt100 each. Like you do. He then cut the head off a live chicken and doing a load of mumbo jumbo he drained the blood into a dish. He wanted to rub the same and some other stuff on the wound. I wouldn't let him.

The next day it was a sore as ever and we did a fast exit, I made my way with Flobo on a motorcycle to a clinic about a hundred miles towards civilisation. I did put the photograph up a few pages back of the Doctor treating me, there was a lot more of the foreign body in the foot which she had to cut to extract the same. She treated it well and gave me some very strong anti-biotics to kill the infection.

That was in January last year.

[Mathos]

This one was like 'The Village Store' there was nothing else about though, at times you wonder what certain things are doing with your occidental head on, it doesn't make any sense at all.

Put your oriental head and mind into focus and the game plan changes totally.



Don't those dogs just look great too.

For instance, you can look at an area of land as large as this photograph shows and there is nothing in the area representing human existence or dwellings. However, you know from the crop cleared fields that there must be a decent sized village somewhere in the vicinity.




You may have to cross a further mountain, but if you look for it, you will find it.






Similarly with the store, or the 'Wonderful Old Girl' sat out here in the middle of nowhere.






Things are never quite what they appear to be.

It never ceases to amaze me.

[Mathos]

The dwellings in the mountains are amazing places too. Sometimes you find electricity from a generator.

Other times you find no electricity at all, but they have an old fridge, even ancient coca-cola fridges, and old televisions with indoor aerials planted on top and no electricity to feed them.

The idea being, that electricity is coming one day.

The one below didn't exactly show signs of a forward thinking owner.





This particular abode had a fridge and electric cables running through it. The fridge didn't possess a spark of life, you quite simply had to admire his belief though. Or of course the generator could have been out of order, or out on loan.

It is baffling to see these assetts planted there, wiring all in situation and no current.





The dog had been given pride of place in the same room as the fridge.

I thought perhaps he was meant to be on guard.


To be perfectly frank though, I thought at the time, what a well looked after dog he was.

The room at the end had plenty on offer.




I couldn't honestly say if this was a place of residence or the garden shed.

What do you think?




All of these photographs were taken February this year 2008

[Mathos]

I came across a few more of Samui in the older days.


I am sure this is Chaweng just a few hundred yards up from The Amari. It was December 1996 this particular time.





Further into town (the weather was better this time) the same period and signs of a growing town starting to show.




There was a time when you could only buy petrol from 45 gallon drums or bottle banks on the side of the road on Samui.

It wasn't unusual for the guy selling it to you to be smoking either.