A Brit in The Orient.

Farmer, that was a classic, I have been meaning to compliment you on it for a few days.

What can you create.

We can split the patent and I'll arrange to have the same manufactured. :wink:

What were the lingerie shops like Fatty?

Did they have any of those elasticated tight stretched strap affairs with the polished clasps like Lola had in her avvie?

Tributaries of the Mekong and houses on stilts with pigs running around shitting all over the basement is not all that interesting IMHAHO.

Spendius can you be civil for once before embarking on your usual tirade of drivel. Mathos has put together a most in depth travel story with photos of places you only have dreamt of, so please keep your beak shut, as your puerile comments detract and do not say much for your intelligence.

Take no notice of her/him or whatever he/she thinks she is today Dutchy..

He's Celibate and clueless.

I quite enjoy his stupidity and whilst he's on here there's a village in Yorkshire minus an idiot.

Hey up done one..

Just to let you know the photograph is an opium den. I'll re-enter it later with a write up and let you see inside and a bit of what they are cooking outside too.

Thanks very much Izzie and Mac, the help from both of you was excellent.

I'll buy you a pint next time I'm in Stockport Mac. Pity we can't get Red Barrel too, that was one of my favourite tipples in the 60's.

Izzie. Not sure were you are but I owe you thanks very much.


OK I'll get back to writing up with some snaps once I finish writing up on the pics Dutchy kindly entered up for me.

Thanks again to all of you !

And Spendi for making it all worth while.

Just need a win on The National now.

Post 3176848

This is a well providing water to thirty families, well in excess of a hundred people.

The water was very cloudy looking and at the time I took the photograph, the table must also have been very low as they were using a small plastic container on the end of the thin blue 'rope' you can see going down below over the tyres.

The next photograph represented the initial stages of a Moonshine Still!

A form of 'Whicky' as they called it was eventually produced from a mixture mainly consisting of rice and coconut. I will stick another picture or two on of this process later.

The finished product was poured into assorted (dirty looking) plastic drums and containers or sold in a plastic bad with a draw string fastening similar to what the young lad had his orange or pineapple juice in a page or two back on Dutchy's post number;

'3176742.'

Post 3176883

Here we have a shot of one of the larger type of old guest house in Chiang Khong, it was only a stones throw from the hotel we stayed in and seemed to be a lively little accommodation outlet.

From a brief talk with one of the guests down by the river, I learned the accommodation was clean but very restricted in size, bathrooms were shared, but the cost was below £3..00 per night inclusive with an Asian breakfast.

This next photograph was The Teachers Staff and main teaching room at a local school.

The teachers:-

1.The lady on left, elbow on table and hand supporting her chin.

2. The gentleman sat down opposite her in white shirt.

3. Lady next to him with pony-tail, white blouse and green jacket which I assumed to be acting as a bib or blouse protector of some sort.

4. Chap at top of table in blue T Shirt.

The remainder as far as I could establish didn't really do anything, and were either, hangers on or relatives who had brought the meal to the school.

The chap to the right with eyes closed and wearing a leather type jacket and brown hat was of Thai origin. He was called AOT, he spoke excellent English and furnished me with good information regarding places I intended visiting in the North of Thailand which were well off the normal routes.

The main building was brick, with timber window shutters, (no glass) corrugated tin roof on simple timber and a concrete floor.
Apparently it had been built and originally used by American Forces during the war, it had come under heavy attack from the NVA towards or at the end of the war and the building in general still bore the marks of the gun fire which had resulted in The Americans pulling out by helicopter, I was informed.

The final photograph of this section shows a small house which was home to quite a large family. Houses in this part of the world are built purely for the most basic of reasons, protection from the climate, animals and a place to sleep. A few cook inside, and in the mountains were it can be cold of a night time, the inhabitants may have a fire burning away on the dirt floor, allowing smoke to simply filter out through the roof or specific holes which are left there for such a purpose.

To the rear of the house you can make out a brick building, corrugated tin roof. It will be a government building with communication points for the villagers, it will no doubt house a small office and have electricity supplied to it.

I will do some specific sections later on regarding different modes of life and show some photographs now that I am able to enter the same..

This particular photograph will give you an idea of what the interior of a home can be like, this particular one is of a home high in the mountains of northern Thailand but not a home of a hill-tribe person.

In the mountain areas life can be much different, as you will appreciate later on as you read the topics I write on.

I'll get back to the opium den and other interesting articles regarding the same later this evening if possible.

I hope you are all enjoying the same.

That does not apply to The Kathoey!

Dutchy wrote-



You have to be kidding mate. Me--dream of shite like that? I'm a comfort zone man. An afficionado actually.

And you keep your beak shut as well. Have you been an NCO? And what do I care what "says much for my intelligence". It's a given. I don't go around posing. Do you only do things that say a lot for your intelligence? We will have to be on our guard in that case.

You can always tell when he's been drinking.

I had a good talk with Aot and he told me about a few very much out of the way parts of Thailand that had some really interesting places, virtually unknown to the industry due to the difficulty in getting there and the lack of infrastructure for numerous miles. Some of these places were known in principal to me (the areas that is) but I had no ideas about the specific things that could be seen there. I had a good chat with Flobo whilst we were in Chiang Khong, we had already decided to change the motorcycle for a four wheel drive vehicle, which meant going back to our base a little earlier than originally planned for but that was no problem. The particular canopy and tree-tops were information given to us by Aot and we thought it would be sensible to head for that region whilst we were on the motorcycle, However, I had an old friend Vladimir, who I wanted to look up who was at the time in Phayao, this would mean a mountain drive on the motorcycle from Chiang Khong using provincial roads, which could be very dangerous, going across the tops so to speak.




It can be quite a shock to the system when you are relaxed riding quite a powerful motorcycle on mountain roads and as you go around a bend, you come to something like this.

This is one of the reasons, I rarely unless forced to would drive in the mountains especially after the sun has gone to bed.

At the same time, there are some spectacular views to be taken in and on this particular day it was rather cloudy, but still the panoramic sights were quite spectacular.

Problem being when you find yourself riding on a particular road like this, you keep stopping to take in the views or when there are road problems, take a few photographs, stop for personal nature plus a drink and a bite to eat. We normally take fruit with us and perhaps some biscuits, plus water of course, but; all of a sudden you find yourself running out of daylight hours.

This road was a beauty, it meandered all over the mountains and was great fun to ride on.

I'm meandering again, sorry..

OK back to the opium den, we came across this particular hut whilst on the mountain roads, and we thought it might simply be an interesting place to stop.

Indeed it was, the meat being cooked at the front of the large hut, as you can see was a rat:-

That's disgusting.

That's life sunshine, watch this space!

Opium smoking is still widely part of normal life in the hills! There is quite a process involved in smoking opium and it is treated with some reverence.

Like with most narcotics it can be a very dangerous avenue to walk down.

Also as with other drugs, body mass, mental state, personal expertise in handling narcotics of any type, the quality, quantity and particular strength of the subject matter are going to effect the user differently.

Continual use will always lead to addiction!

It takes a few pipes to rock the boat so to speak, a feeling of well being, euphoria, vividly dreaming whilst wide awake, (hallucinations) luxurious feelings with each additional inhalation. Drawbacks! Nausea, apathy, palpitations, constipation, lack of concentration, appetite suppressant, physical impairment in all ways, lowered or total lack of sex drive, respiratory failure and even death!

In the hills it is measured as tae's!

A tae equals a small finger-tipped size ball of pure opium which is enough for between twenty and thirty pipes. An addict (a real addict that is and there are some)will need as many as a hundred pipes daily!!

A very expensive past-time and if you get hooked on it, there is little or nothing at all for you futuristically.

I could smell the opium from outside the hut, even above the smell of the roasting rat! There were a couple of guys further up outside the hut cutting timber logs with a large saw between them and I could hear somebody at least one person gibbering away inside. The guy in charge of rat cooking was rolling mud matter mixed with what looked like buffalo **** to make shot for his sling. I could see that all of them were totally on another planet.

Flobo was a little concerned to put it mildly when I took my camera out of the ruck-sack and entered the hut.

I got a few good photographs, the addicts inside were so spaced out, they had no idea I was even there I don't think, let alone that I was taking their photographs.





The place was an absolute **** hole, as you can see, the guy stood up on the last photograph above appeared to be in charge of making the pipes up, but he was well spaced out too.

They no doubt drove up to this isolated place on their motorcycles, took a few pipes and then slept for hours, they would be afforded the pleasure of the mosquito nets by the guy's running the place as evening fell.


Another shot of raticus for you I have some additional writing to do on this subject which will no doubt surprise you greatly when you read it.

We didn't hang about here too long. I got quite a few photographs, some are far too revealing and nasty in their own manner to display on here.

The guy making the sling shot, as you can see was quite willing to give me a demonstration of his capabilities, the shot or round pebbles they use are quite capable of killing small animals or birds with a head shot especially and these guys having been raised using these weapons, are excellent shots.

You will note behind him in the opium den the body on the rack still out to the world and all it has to offer having sampled poppies finest!






There you go Spendi, a bit of pig, just for you, you see a lot of pork being cooked and eaten in this part of the world.