Saturday, January 30, 2016

A Milestone - 1,000 Geocaches!

I am really excited to announce that I finally hit 1,000 geocache finds!  I thought it might be fun to go through my find logs and upload a bunch of photos that show the progression of all of my finds.  I have had the opportunity to geocache in multiple countries, meet some amazing friends, and almost die on multiple occasions.  I have had the chance to go on hikes in the South-Pacific, find caches hidden in temples in Japan, walk around ruins in Thailand, and go around various beautiful places in California, and other places in the U.S. Geocaching has been the cause of me being able to find amazing places on both sides of the date-line, and both North and South of the equator.  

Needless to say, this hobby has been the cause of many great adventures and led to me meeting some amazing new friends.  

Thanks for the great memories, and I am looking forward to many more to come!  



























Thursday, January 28, 2016

More Geocaching!

This was an all-around great day of geocaching.  The weather was beautiful, and the temples were amazing - as they were all decked out for the previous day and the New Year. 

One of the great things about geocaching is that it forces you to go see many new places and wander around areas that many tourists might not find.  

For this adventure, we rented bikes again (about $1 a day) and rode around Sukhothai finding temples and caches.  Needless to say, it was absolutely beautiful.  














Karen Village

I am not normally one to go to a tourist attraction like this, but as it really did seem like something out of National Geographic, I had no choice.

Even seeing these people, who slowly add rings over the years, and only really take them off to bathe or for medical reasons, I still have no clue how they are able to do it.  No, their necks to not really stretch, it is more like their collarbones are forced down making it seem like the neck is much longer than it really is.


This is a photo of me with the best salesperson you will ever meet.  We purchased a shawl from here that is now a permanent member on our portrait wall at home.  It is a neon pink shawl that she chose for us, as it was her favorite color.


New Year in Chiang Mai - Celebrating in an Interpol Shipping Container

We have learned that a major part of traveling is just to roll with the impromptu adventures.  While we were in Chiang Mai during New Year's Eve, we decided to go for a walk and see if we could find a place to celebrate.  We walked past many drunken venues that just did not have the right feel that we were looking for, and eventually settled on a multi-story tree-house that was made out of an old shipping container.  



Like I said, a tree-house made out of a shipping container.  It seemed to be the local biker bar (and by that I mean, bicycles, as there were quite a few pictures of people biking, and other memorabilia), and the bar seemed closed.  Of course this did not stop us, we ordered some food and watched as the employees had a BBQ party below.  

We also invited ourselves to their party and after some negotiation, at some of the biggest prawns I have ever seen.  

Also, the shipping container may or may not have belonged to InterPol.  While I am not sure, it sure does add to the story.




After hanging out in the shipping container for a few hours, we found ourselves at a great "buy mixed seafood by the kilo" restaurant, and decided to binge out for about $8.  Not a bad decision at all.