In Search For Gary Fisher

Chaing Rai Thailand:

We decided that Houyxai was a waste of time and space so we made a quick getaway to Thailand once we got back from the Gibbons trek. Amy is deathly allergic to that town and refused to stay any longer. Checking out of Laos was a breeze this time, the cops were super friendly once they knew I was Laotion and requested that I bring them back some Falang babes from Thailand. I promised them a boat load and knew there would be plenty of Falangs on their way to Luang Prabang daily.

We hopped on a tiny long tail boats with our bags and off we were across the Mekong to Thailand. It was a quick 3 min ride that dwarfed the long swim from stories I heard growing up from my parents of how they had to swim across the river to escape the communist regime. They claimed I got swept out of my moms arms and floated down the river and thats where they should have left me. Too bad for them I knew how to swim at the age of 6 months and made my own damn way to Thailand.

The bus ride from Chiangkong (Boarder Village in Thailand) to Chiang Rai was uneventful except for the motorcycle crash our bus caused. The bus made it's usual sudden stop to pick up passengers when 3 motorcycles were behind and swerved into each other. Two of the riders skidded right pass our window while the other biker crashed into a big ditch. This really scared the crap out of us but luckily everyone got up with just road rash and broken motorbikes. The bus driver casually pulls away as if nothing happens and I quickly ditched the idea of buying a motorbike to ride across Laos and most of SE Asia.

6 hours and a dead battery (on my iPood) later we got into Chaingrai. We didn't have a guide book so the first falang I saw at the bus station was interrogated for the best guest house. He recommended Banbua so off we were to find it. After 30 minutes of searching in the dark and being too damn tired we came across a gal from Germany who happened to be looking for the same guest house. We searched together and finally found it after miles of circles around the place, it was just a block away from the bus station. The place had a nice garden area and super clean, large, and cheap rooms. The gods seems to have finally smiled on us. Two beers and a shitty hamburger (would be better considered a meat loaf made of cardboard and some beef seasoning) was enough to send us to bed. Oh, the stories from this German gal named Tina was unbelievable literally. She made me feel like a Catholic schoolboy compared to where she has been and what she's done. Amy and I just sat there listening with our mouths wide open. More on that later.......

Chaigrai has a great night market with a food court that made us both giddy. Deep fried food heaven! Fries, tempura, fried fruits, fried bread, fried insects, fried soda, fried fried, FRIED! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm FRIED! We feasted like royalty on just about every fried items available and each serving was about $.30. There were free entertainment consisting of local bands, traditional dance groups, and random acts on a center stage that all the seats and tables faced. I really enjoyed watching the light show but found out it was just the electricity going on and off at the random food stands when the musical instruments drew too much power. Amy once again managed to get brave and try some California Rolls at one of the stands. She paid for it with 3 days worth of the runs and throwing up from food poisoning. The poor girl is starting to look like Kate Moss and could probably get a modeling gig if this keeps up.



We spent the next few days resting and searching for nice mountain bikes to ride across Laos. There was two shops that sold real bikes that we ride in the western world unlike the typical local bikes. The local bikes are fine if you are under 5' tall and weigh less than 70 lbs. No gears, parts fall off during rides and it has the geometry of a unicycle. The steering tube is straight up and down so and sudden turns of more than 2 degrees means biting the pavement but luckily dental work is cheap in these parts. You can go to any motorbike repair shop and they'll pull your broken teeth out with pliers for $.05. We met Gary Fisher at the second bike shop and decided we liked him right away. $1000 for 2 Gary's with racks, saddle bags, tools, and spare parts. Now we can explore Laos in style!

The jumbo driver that took us to the bike shop had been super helpful while we assembled the bikes, and the poor guy was so scared driving back with $1000 bikes strapped to his jumbo that he waited like 5 minutes to make a right turn (they drive on the left.) No jumbo wheelies on the way back!

Next we took our bikes out for a spin to Chiang Rai beach (a river beach) which was very pleasant. We hung out at a cafe by the river and got spicy papaya salad with river crabs...possibly another source of a lot of later stomach trouble, but oh well.

The next morning we packed up and rode to the bus station to take us back to Chiangkong to return to Laos. Bikes were thrown in the back of the bus for no extra charge since it was early and the bus was completely empty. When we got to the bus station in Chaingkong, we rode like the wind to make the crossing in time to catch the slow boat back to the Bang. As usual, we rushed and stressed the entire time only to find out we made it with a few hours to spare.