Tri Gong Cooling System

Tri Gong Residence
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Mar 12, 2009


Jim writes:

Instead of air conditioning, some places in Chiang Mai use mist to cool the air. [It works well, but I have to put the laptop away.] Here's a great little video (set to Thai music) of the special cooling system used at Tri Gong. I stop at Tri Gong almost every day to get on-line. Gig and I stayed here for a several days a few years ago. The owner, Adam, has graciously invited us to come back anytime to visit, watch sports on his satellite tv system, or use the wifi service.




This is a "superior" room at TriGong for under $30.




This is a bit simpler "standard" room and is $20. Both come with private bath, satellite tv, apartment-sized refridgerator, terrace, phone, etc.

http://www.trigong.com/

Korean/American BBQ

Korean Culture Center in Chiang Mai, Thailand - Mar 13, 2009




Jim goes often to the Korean Culture Center to swap ideas wth the Director, use wifi and, recently, to teach a Korean student English who he meets three times a week for six hours.

He writes:
Thursday, I asked the Director of KCC, Hoon, about using the large Char Broil gas grill. He said sure and then suggested the next day at 12:30. I just wanted to use it to cook a meal for myself, but he had other [bigger] plans and it turned into a big deal. He marked on a board in the office: Friday, James "American BBQ style" show 12:30PM. He jokingly remarked it would be a cooking class. That night, I biked to a market, bought a hunk of pork, some boneless chicken, and a few potatoes. Then took the meat to KCC, stored it in their fridge with marinade. On Fri, after my tutoring session, I headed for the kitchen. The staff joined forces with me to put out an American/Korean feast. While I was grilling, Hoon made sure his cook was watching over my shoulder. We had a party of twelve, including Hoon, his staff, his wife, Suk, Hoon's mother, my Korean student, Sun, and me. Besides potatoes and grilled meat, we had stir fried veggies, a special Korean soup, fresh lettuce, kimchi, and some Korean condiments.

Visit to Bpai

Jim writes on March 8, 2009:

Daeng and Sam and I left Chiang Mai at 4AM. Arrived Pai 3 hours later at 7AM, just in time for Daeng to give food to monks as they roam the town at dawn for alms. We walked around Pai and visited several wats, a Chinese village, and a waterfall but skipped the hot springs this time. Town feels more like a hippie colony [than a tourist trap but plenty of Thai tourists, too.] Arrived back in CM at 5PM the same day. Stopped at Sam's office on the edge of the city and then went out for dinner at my favorite Thai restaurant.

I didn't take many scenic photos in Pai, but you can get a good idea of what the town is like at this site taken by a fellow traveler who wrote:

"Having spent only a couple of days in Pai (pronounced Bye) this small town in northern Thailand is starting to feel very comfortable. I can understand why some people end up staying here for weeks on end. I'm about 20km from the Myanmar border and the surrounding scenery consists of the lushest green mountains I have seen so far in Thailand. When cycling around yesterday there were postcard scenes almost everywhere I looked on the horizon. The temperature is quite mild and the local people are friendly (perhaps too friendly as they keep trying to sell you cannabis). The town is big enough to support plenty of farang (westerners) but [tourism] does not seem to be the axis of income, so fortunately you are not asked if you want to go on a trek by every other person you meet."

Trekking in Nepal

Our fearless friend, Anne (of Portland, OR), has been roaming the mountains of Nepal. She took some great shots on her trek.



Message from Anne:

Beware, this is a big album. These photos are from a trek in the Langtang region north of Kathmandu. I was lucky to have a wonderful and very patient guide, Tendi Sherpa, who I met two years ago through Gary, my friend and neighbor in Portland [OR]. The first day we spent driving about six hours to the trailhead in Dunche, and then we trekked for eight days, returning to Sunderajal, about a 45-minute drive from my hotel in Kathmandu.

A few days later she wrote us:

I've decided to go on another trek starting tomorrow. Tendi and I are taking a bus to Pokhara, then on Friday flying to Jomsom, which is on the north end of the Annapurna region, trekking a short distance up to Muktinath which has a lot of interesting Tibetan buddhist culture, and then trekking back. Will be gone ten days, and then I have only about a day and a half before heading back to OR with one night's stop in BKK.

Malaysia Borneo

Our friend Tina sent us her latest adventure in Malaysia Borneo in February 2009:

I'm writing this while sitting on an express boat, shooting down the might Rejang River in the heart of Sarawak in Malaysia Borneo. There's a very loud Chinese movie playing in the front of the freezing cold Arctic-temp cabin and an elderly man shouting at hs friends in the seat across the aisle from me. After 3 days in the town of Kapit, about 250 kilometers up the Rejang, I'm heading to Sibu, the big city, where there's actually a road that connects to the outside world. The boat is passing many small settlements of aboriginal people, mostly Iban, that live in longhouses.

The Iban were headhunters about 150 years ago, but the Protestant and Catholic missionaries came and converted them. There are more churches here than mosques, which is unique in this country. The Iban have kept other parts of their culture, however, and many of them have amazing tattoos covering much of their bodies. There are a few Orang Ulu (upriver people) here, and some have elaborate tattoos plus elongated ear holes from wearing heavy weighted metal earrings. The natives here are well known for their incredible weaving skills, and I've seen some amazing woven fabrics and baskets. Bead and wood working is a skill also. The markets are interesting, with an assortment of foods, dry goods, and handmade items. Sibu is supposed to have a good market, which I probably shouldn't visit, since my pack is already too heavy!

The longhouses look interesting from the river. Some are quite modern and look like California style townhouse apartments that happen to be attached in a long row (some of them house over 100 famlies), and others look like they could fall down any minute. There aren't that many tourists that get to Kapit, and there's not very much English spoken, so it's not easy to get an invitation to tour a longhouse. There are a couple of tour guides that will take you to see one, but the prices they charge are insane. One guy offered me a two-hour visit to his uncle's longhouse for 195 ringgit, which is about $55 and I would've had to buy a gift to bring to the chief. If you want to stay overnight, it can cost 500 ringgit.

The primary source of income here seems to be from logging the rain forest. The river is muddy and a steady steam of huge log-filled barges head downriver and every few miles we pass another large sawmill. There's a little talk about protecting the forest but not many people are listening.

After a day or two in Sibu, I will be on another river trip continuing down the Rejang to the mouth, then across a stretch of the South China Sea, back to Kuching, the capital of Sarawak. Kuching is the Malay word for cat and the city has plenty of cat statues throughout, and even a Cat Museum. From there, I'll fly back to Kuala Lumpur and go see the east coast of peninsular Malaysia, working my way back toward Thailand, where I'll fly out. Time is flyiing by all too quickly - I can't believe there's only 3 weeks left.