Khao Yai weekend ride. First real dirt experience.

Me and some dudes rode 100 miles NE of BKK and I got to try dirt bike trails.

This whole offroad thing is pretty fun, I'm sold.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/455571-khao-yai-weekend-run/

I dumped my friend's motorcycle on the racetrack

It's all here:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/454267-cbr250-vs-ninja250-vs-dtx250-brc/

Damage cost me $300 in various parts/body panels, and $300 for a new frame.

Idiotic locals lead to 4 stitches.

So my last muffler suppressor blew apart on me at the racetrack. So I brought it to a metal shop all in deformed pieces. I also brought a CAD drawing of the new one I wanted made. We discussed every dimension on the drawing which was printed to actual size. Essentially I needed this guy to make a 3" circle out of 2mm thick steel and have 3 holes in it. The last one that blew apart was 1mm thick steel, too weak. I showed him this piece all deformed. So 1 week goes by and the guy duplicates the exact thing that had blown apart but maybe with thinner metal. So I asked why he didn't use the 2mm steel I had drawn for him. He showed me pieces he bought but they were too thick or small. He didn't have the forethought to just buy a small sheet of scrap steel and cut the 3" circle out of it.

So I go down the same street and bring only the CAD drawing as to not confuse this new bunch of idiots. We discussed every dimension on the drawing. 2 days go by and although the 3" circle is there, the other holes were smaller than specified on the drawing. I wanted 6mm holes drilled but it came back with 5mm holes. Why can't they just buy or bring it to someone with a 6mm drill bit?

So then I take it home, buy a 6mm drill bit and drill out the 5mm to a 6mm hole. As I was reversing the drill to get it out of the hole it slipped and the metal spun in my hand. 2 hours later I had 4 stitches in my left index finger.

I used to think most Americans were stupid, but these people take it to another level. They simply forget or pretend to listen and then just do whatever they please. They are too lazy to refer back to a drawing or follow clear instructions. God forbid they pick up a pen and take notes on what a customer might want.  I live in a land of retards. I may be a little harsh here, but these stitches were not a fun time.

Vietnam sucks but has great sandwiches

So in February I had to leave the country to get my new ED visa. I was thinking Vietnam might be the next place to live when I get tired of Thailand. My friend Jay and I went to HoChiMin/Saigon for a week. Hotel was 20 bucks a night and walking distance to most things cool. Land must be pretty expensive or they're just smart enough to maximize it. This little pink hotel we stayed at was 12 floors high. The parts of the city a tourist wants to see is very small but it's a big city with about 7 million people.

There seems to be less traffic than Bangkok since there are less cars and the streets are designed properly. The traffic is slow chaos.

Independance Palace. From what I understand this was the old US Embassy since they had pictures of American fools fleeing this rooftop by helicopter. Although nothing more than a museum now, it was used as a political palace/command center in the past.

War Remnants Museum (aka. US War Crimes Museum)

I have never been embarrassed to be an American until I came here. This is the shit they don't teach you in school. We're taught by TV and Hollywood that Hitler was the devil, but after walking through this place and almost crying; I am now aware how bad the Lyndon B. Johnson administration was. I'd say its a tie or close second for the the worst entity of the modern world. There's good reason why the rest of the world hates the US. You'd think after experimenting with nuclear bombs on the Japanese that the US gov't would relax. Nope, they used Communism as an excuse to exercise an illegal war on people used to war and oppression. The US needed to test biological weapons and figured a bunch of rice pickers wouldn't care much. My camera battery died so I didn't get to take pics of all the fucked up shit Agent Orange did and still does to this day. There were pics of deformed kids trying to live their lives. I noticed how rare and expensive seafood was through the week, but I still ate a plate of snails, hopefully land snails and not from the rivers. The only irony is Vietnam exports most of its shrimp to the US.

Cao Dai Temple: 2 hours drive away from the city is a special temple. There's 4 religious types here (Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, and Catholics) and this temple was built for all of them to go. It looks like a Rainforest Cafe/Disney World inside. I thought it was retarded, but I'm Agnostic.

Cu Chi tunnels: Learned how the Vietnamese dug over 100 miles of tunnels and the dirt here is hard, almost concrete-like. Well if I was being bombed everyday, I'd be digging tunnels quickly too. Some creative booby traps and use of ordinance. I shot an M30 machine gun, pretty cool. It was fun to crawl through a tunnel but my back was killing me from crouching. Notice how small the trees are? That's because no vegetation is more than 40 years old.

Conclusions. Considering these people were colonized (enslaved) by the French, then a few years of Japanese control during WW2, then at war with the US, and throw in some Cambodian skirmishes; there's only been ~30 years of freedom in this country. I'm impressed by how modern and clean most of HCMin is, unlike the ghetto called Bangkok and many other SE Asian cities. Unlike the lazy and stupid Thais; I respect these people. They were smart enough to rebuild with Western logic; the streets and infrastructure make sense and I can at least make out the letters on signs and menus. Also, the people work hard like Americans. Many mom and pop stores were open at 8-9AM, Thai shops don't open till 10AM and many street vendors don't come out till 4PM. Even little 5 year old kids were trying to sell me stuff here. You won't find a Thai kid trying to sell something until they're out of high school. The only drawback is these people are not happy, but its understandable as the last 100+ years of history was mostly controlled by foreigners. I didn't see too many people laughing or smiling here. Thai people seem to be pretty happy since they have easy lives; eating cheap, living cheap, and not working hard. Things cost a bit more in Nam and the people are not as friendly. I think they hate all foreigners...as they should. So I don't think I'll leave Thailand anytime soon as Nam sucks, China is a bunch of rude bastards, and Singapore is too expensive. I did eat about 12 of these French/Vietnamese streetcart sandwiches and they were all delicious.

Smokey the Cat

So I moved to a new part of town last Fall so I could get a cat. I went to the pet shelter that's run by foreigners, but the first time they had no cool cats. So after I came back from America in November I went to the shelter again and saw a kitten called Goong (shrimp) and it was very friendly. So I signed up for the cat and picked her up the next week. The pets are free but I donated $30 since it had most of its shots and was spayed already. Cost me $400 to give my old cat, Colonel Mustard, his shots back in LA. Goong was soon renamed Smokey since she has such colors. Unlike Colonel Mustard, Smokey doesn't chew up all my cables. She is also OK having her ears cleaned and nails clipped so she's easy to care for. So after 3 months she's pretty much settled into a mellow life of napping and eating. Smokey is the best cat I've had so far.