A Brit in The Orient.

Aidan wrote;-

This is an amazing photo Mathos-love it - in terms of composition - colors - everything!

Also really liked the one of the old woman sitting in the sun and the shop- and of course the landscapes are beautiful. Thanks for taking the time to do this. I feel like I'm getting to know another part of the world.


Thanks Aidan.

The old girl in particular, Yes I was quite captivated by that particular photograph it say's a hell of a lot if you look at the same very carefully.


The one below is also extremely good in my personal opinion! If not an absolute masterpiece.

I had a couple of bad days just recently, from Wednesday actually!

My younger daughter (she is married with two sons and is 36 years of age) had been experiencing vision problems with her left eye. My wife insisted she went to the doctor. He was concerned, following a couple of tests he carried out and made arrangements for her to go to the eye department of her local hospital the following day, with some urgency I may add! She was told by her doctor that she must refrain from driving, and consequently I took her through, her husband was working away in any event.

At the hospital she underwent several tests and eventually the doctor (eye specialist) stated she had a detached retina and would have to go the following morning to Manchester Royal Eye Hospital for an immediate operation!

The doctors and staff at her own hospital were brilliant with her and likewise at The Royal Manchester.

She underwent a four hour operation yesterday having had the detached retina repaired and some form of plastic insert put into the eye socket, plus preventative repairs to the retina of the other eye.

I am happy to say she was discharged this afternoon and should make good recovery over the next few weeks. The specialist at the Royal Manchester is confident that the surgery is a 100% success.

Whilst I will be making my feelings known to both hospitals I am glad to have mentioned the same on here.

I have had a few PM's and numerous e-mails mainly from people who have read some of my private travel tales from the past.

Thank you by the way!

A few have asked questions, some have asked, if I would re-tell certain aspects of past tales.

Yes I will in due course, why not!

Some have asked me about costing for the various trips etc and prices of accommodation.

I will attempt to remember to add details of costs in future.

One of the most common questions was how much was the apartment we rented in Chiang Mai.

I think some people must be thinking of spending the winter there!

The apartment at Chiang Mai was outstanding value for money, we had initially tried to book a larger deluxe apartment at Baht 24000. for the month. As it is they were all taken and we took the small apartment which was all they had available at Baht 12000. for the month, which at the exchange rate at the time equated to £180..00.

US Dollar rate would be approx $380..00

Brilliant value for money.

The building, all facilities including a gymnasium were inclusive and everything was like brand new and spotless clean. We were more than pleased and will certainly book the same again.







Return flights to Thailand from the UK can with a bit of time spent searching, negotiating and booking early be obtained for roughly £500..00 per person. We paid slightly more than that on our last trip as we took the two grandsons for three weeks and wanted to make certain as they were flying back alone that they would be landing at Manchester UK as opposed to London.

We spent three nights, I think it was in The Landmark Hotel in Bangkok initially which is expensive by Bangkok standards, but it is an exceptionally good hotel of five star rating. You can Google the Landmark if you wish to view the same and the brilliant facilties.

Take no notice of their own charges though, it can be obtained on special deals via booking agents who buy rooms up every season at great rates. I think we paid about £50..00 per night for our own room and the same for the lads who of course shared a room.

Thought I would get back to the thread with a couple of photographs just to rekindle the same. This one shows Flobo when we were off on one of our trekking ventures. Miles from the maddening crowd and as you can see the scenery is absolutely beautiful.

This is another masterpiece Flobo took. It shows the paddy-fields in the mountains running for miles between gorgeous jungle terrain on each side, the irrigation is obvious and was quite a spectacle to behold in reality. This particular photograph was taken last year.

I do get spoiled for choice regarding which photographs I should place on the thread, with the increase in range via digital imaging and hard copies, (hundreds of which I have not even scanned and loaded to my computer as yet,) we possess over 10,000 photographs from The Orient.

Thanks Mathos for those great pictures.

So glad to hear your daughter is recovering nicely.

And lastly - I am green with envy about your trip - it sounds too wonderful and exciting. At least I can experience it through the stories and pictures!

Glad you are enjoying the same Linkat.

I have some great tales to tell yet regarding the trip, some aspects really do get exciting, stay tuned in.

The photograph below is of a Thai Monk who lived in a mountain cave (Northern Thailand Mae Hong Son region) I have quite a few photographs regarding Monks and some of the strange if not peculiar varying degrees of commitment. Some can be very devout, almost Budda like if you appreciate my comparison to stating a Christian Priest may at times be classed as Saint-like. Some of course are a motley crew of diverse and somewhat undesirable characters, as are some of the Christian Priests who appear to be headline news on quite a regular basis.

I have heard of Monks being locked in their Ja-Ae rooms for months on end watching animal carcasses rot away in front of them. A bowl of food and a bottle of water is left for them on a daily basis without them seeing or speaking to a living soul.

I have heard that some, especially in parts of Cambodia and Vietnam are locked into these cells with a dead human body for company, they stay there until every bit of flesh has dropped from the skeleton! The disintegration of the cadaver being the liberation of the spirit.

The Thai Sangra apparently keeps itself and it's Monks well clear of this technique though, after all, you can imagine the disastrous damage this type of experience could do to a man.

Saved is a word you may well regard with affection towards Christianity!

There are peculiar modes of life on this planet of ours!

This one, as with several others I have seen of this nature, made me laugh, The Thais will set up business anywhere!


"Somchais Car Wash - Inside and Out Only 100 Baht."

Simply thrilled at an excellent win for Manchester United against those cockney's who came up north to play dirty, even obtaining the one goal they were allowed by a dirty stroke of the hand which the referee failed to take action against!

No doubt he will be unable to excuse himself when he sees the film coverage!


Manchester United 2 The Cockney's 1

Cockney's 6 yellow cards for dirty play!

More on the thread later this evening!

Superb pictures, Mathos, and I like your travel descriptions as well -
even though it made me cringe to read the monkey meal story.

My best wishes for your daughter. I hope she'll have a speedy recovery.

Thanks very much Calamity Jane.

Your thoughts and well wishes are appreciated.

I thought I had better let you have a little details on the photographs entered recently, I have in the main simply been referring to the snaps and their quality etc.

Prior to that, I thought I would let you have a look at a vehicle I found hidden away in Burma.

I have made an offer on the same subject to correct title being available and release for export being confirmed by the Military.

Obviously it will take time but the deal if it comes off and falls into place will be quite exceptional.





The vehicel as you can see is an English Austin Saloon. It is in outstanding condition for it's year and is in running order.
Attention to the steering is going to be required, apart from that and obviously needing a thorough servicing the same is exceptional.

I have not been able to obtain access to an original registration document to date, but have forwarded the Chassis number and Engine number to the relative authorities in The UK who should be able to assist me in due course.


The pick up with the tyres on board gives you an idea of some of the very dangerous driving, one is always going to encounter in these countries.

The lady below is a typical Hill-tribe lady. You will note she is wearing a form of wellington boot, in the main, these were introduced to the tribes a few years back, I understand they have been extremely instrumental and beneficial in saving lives from snake bites.

Numerous of these villagers smoke, the contents of this type of pipe could be plain tobacco, marijuana or both mixed.

The large baskets are used for carrying leaves and grass for repairs and renewal of roofing in the mountain villages. The weight of the bag and contents is taken by the band which passes across her forehead and over the padded miniature type pillow.

The Hill people always appear to wear more clothing than we would consider required in such heat. Obviously they feel a chill when the temperature drops of an evening. At times, you may well see them wearing heavy mountain coats and gloves. There clothing is always quite colourful.

The dirt road she was on took a route high up the mountain side towards a Burmese crossing point.

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I thought this sunset taken from our apartment in Chiang Mai was beautiful.

Also I realised that although I quoted the price of the apartment for the month and showed you a photograph or two from their on line brochure I had not given you the name.

The same is Viangbua Mansion, Chang Puak, Chiang Mai, Thailand

You can Google the same and it makes interesting reading. I have simply placed an intro from their page below,



Officially launched on the 15 November 2004, our serviced apartments are now open for walk-in and advance reservations on a daily, weekly & monthly basis. We offer 108 fully furnished rooms in 5 categories ranging from Superior (SUP Type 1, SUP Type 2), Deluxe (DLX Type 1, DLX Type 2) to Grand Deluxe.

Safety
Equipment System, Personal System.
Convenience
Convenient Location, Fully Furnished Rooms, Cleaning Service, Hi-Speed Wireless Internet, Restaurant, Coffee shop, Dryer Machine, Launderette, Fax and Mail Services, Fitness Centre, Spa and Traditional Thai Massage.
Luxury
Each individual room in our serviced apartment is built with luxury interior decor of contemporary Thai-Lanna (Northern Thailand) style. The only one of its kind available in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

For generations, travellers who have visited the city of Chiang Mai have written about the innate and generous hospitality of the Thai people toward travellers and guests. This traditional hospitality is practiced to this day at Viangbua Mansion Serviced Apartment Chiang Mai.

Our English speaking staffs are more than happy to take the time to help out, offer advise and provide a wide range of services, always with a warm and heart-felt smile.

Furthermore, Viangbua Mansion serviced apartment is owned by an established family-run company in Chiang Mai, that really understand and put emphasis on the finer points in hospitality: luxury, services, safety, comfort and personal care policies.

So when you decide to stay in our serviced apartment, you can be sure that you'll experience the highest level of luxury and unparalleled comfort and safety.

That's it for tonight, tomorrow and through the week I want to take you to the second place Aot told me about, it makes for brilliant reading and the meanderings I make will give additional interesting reading and tales with some really great photographs.


I also have a section on Bangkok and the time spent for the first three weeks (almost three weeks) with our grandsons.

All make good interesting reading.

Some of it quite funny.

I just have to let you see some spectacular photographs of the lake as the snap below shows, it is so beautiful.

The last picture looks so refreshing, especially since we're having a
heat wave here in southern California.

Gosh Mathos, that car is breathtaking and in such good condition, it's
hard to believe that one would find such a treasure in that surrounding.

Hi Mathos, have enjoyed the story sofar immensely, your commentary is excellent and easy to follow. Is it possibly to reduce the size of your pictures a fraction, as at present they fill more than my screen can handle and I have to continually manually adjust the picture and the reading matter. I do not know which program your using but I use http://www.imageshack.us/ which permits you to reduce or increase the size of the picture you wish to display.

Excellent pics Mathos. And sorry to hear about daughter, get well soon.

That load of tyres is an inspiration. It really shows you whats possible with a little application.