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DodgeThis

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Everything posted by DodgeThis

  1. @Krapow my man, such a nice welcome, thank you very much 🙂 It has been a rocky path to say the least. At the moment I am in closed locked down in Switzerland. Due to my precondition I have to be careful and I cant see my family and I am bored to death. I quit my job in February and was fortunate to be able to negotiate a nice farewell package with the company I worked for. Then I started preparation for my round the world trip. I bought my ride (which is sitting now in Austria all alone...) got all my stuff together, even secured sponsors, but now I am stuck and I can tell you, I really hate it. Freedom means everything to me and I feel imprisoned now, but I dont want to complain, there are many more people out there in a far worse situation. Health-wise I am doing good feeling much better now. Looking at you painted rock: I am glad you kept your sense of humor mate 🙂
  2. I love Wine from Bordeaux and Burgund but hardly ever buy it, because its too damn expensive. Most of the time I stick to Tempranillo (Rioja) from Spain, i think you get nearly equal quality for less money. Thats for red wine. White wine I dont drink at all.
  3. Just returned from having breakfast. On my way to the endless 20 meter march to the beach.
  4. Needed a change of view. Hanging out in one of the very left real beachfront bungalows in Samui, Maenam. 14000 Bath a week not bad for that location.
  5. Three days ago I started in Chiang Mai to drive up to Pai. It is a 140km ride, the first 50 km or so thaistyle highway, then as you go up the mountains its a nice ride. Its a long and winding road as John (Happy Birthday btw.) and Paul would say. But before that I was stopped by the gentlemen in brown: So what they do is, on the one and only main exit direction north they have a checkpoint and stop all farang sriding a bike. If you do not have an international or a thai driving licence you have to pay a fine of 500 Bath. You get a receipt, and with that you can drive for 3 days, before you get fined again. But they DO check your national driving licence. I do not know what happens if you do not have a driving licence at all, so better bring both. The road condition is not bad, but it gets worth once you cross into the Mae Ho Song district. Maybe they do not have that enough money? The area of Pai is really nice, a beautiful landscape, the problem is, there are just too many tourists up here. I am sureyou all know how Khao San madness road looked before the crackdown. Now imagine that in a former mountain village. Its banana pancake all over the place, i guess its really a good place to go to if you are 25. But I was very lucky and found a nice place to stay. The name is Pai village Boutique Hotel. If you go there make sure you book a villa down at the river, that way you wont hear the noise from Pai Walking Street. If you come you really should get a scooter or motorbike that way you still can find some peaceful scenery: ok not so peaceful at the waterfalls maybe... Beware of backpackers at waterfalls lol. OK guys thats it for now, tomorrow there will be a long riding day for me. Take care and all the best. D.
  6. Phi Phi in 1994, not much in terms of luxury, but the reef went right up to the beach. Wonderful it was.
  7. Chiang Mai, Corner Cafe - Old City Includes a cappucino and a mango shake 200B
  8. Today I left at about 10Am to try out my new ride. I decided to do the "Samoeng Loop", which is basically a circle through mountains and forest that starts and ends in Chiang Mai. This is the scooter I got: I dont know much about scooters, I own a Triumph Sprint RS 955i, 20 years old, which I really love, but I have to say this 300cc Sports Scooter did surprise me. The engine is great and also the suspensions is really good. And for an old guy like me its also very comfy and has enough storage room. Really a nice ride! Here short impressions about the ride: The tour is about 100 km long, it took me about 4 hours with many stops and chit chat along the way. The ride is easy a few sharp corners but nothing too hairy. There is very little traffic once you are out of Chiang Mai and along the way there is quite some stuff to see. A few more images: And the map: OK people I hope you enjoyed the ride, I got too much sun today, my head is in pain, gotta hit the sack. Take care D.
  9. Yes I will, hope the weather is ok 😂
  10. It was a busy day today in Chiang Mai. I was smart. I brought my Notebook with me from home to be able to edit video and photos and stuff. Unfortunately I was not smart enough to bring the power adapter with me. But luckily Chiang Mai apparently is the world capital for digital nomads only second to Bali so I was told. So I found a shop at the other end of the old city that specializes in notebook repairs and spare parts. So I bought that damn power-adapter (600 Bath). The shop is called Mtek Notebook Service Shop just in case you are stupid enough to leave your power adapter at home... After that I went to C&P Big Bike Shop and picked up my Yamaha X-MAX 300 Scooter. The Owner (called Lan) is a really nice guy and I totally understand why his shop receives such good ratings by customers. He told me this crazy story about an Italian guy who traveled with 5 or 6 passports, rented a big bike with each passport in different shops in Chiang Mai, and sold all the bikes in Laos. (He was caught 1 year later in pattaya) There are bigger shops in town, but Lan has a nice selection of bikes, also very new ones like the africa twin adventure sports. So tomorrow I will start with the Samoeng Loop, a one day trip. Samoeng Loop After a few preperations for tomorrow I found some time to walk around. Here are a few impressions: Khao Soi (Chiang Mai Egg Noodle Curry) Until tomorrow, take care D.
  11. thats what i am doing. God I missed this livestyle so much, live is wonderful 😀
  12. wow - respect. Even with the fullformat sensor of the 6D and its capacity to crop into the image you must get pretty close to get this pics with the 24-70 lens. 👍👍
  13. The flight was not bad, I even got a couple of hours sleep. Arrival in CM was hectic. I arrived at around 10AM local time. And so did the Prime Minister of Thailand. They shut down the whole airport and the surrounding streets for about 1 hour. The cabdriver (150 Bath into downtown) laconically said "I dont like this guy" 😀 (touchdown at CM Airport) After I arrived at my hotel (dusit princess hotel, booked at agoda) I got some sleep, and after that I took off to the night bazar to get some food at SILA-AAT (good selection of Thai- and Seafood and also local specialties) (SILA-AAT restaurant) (green stuff) I was hungry, so I had dinner. Well actually I had 3 dinner... I started with a nice Pork Noodle Soup followed by a plate of panaeng and a local dish called Si Oua. Its a special sausage of the north served with stuffed pigskin. Never had it before - highly recommended! oh yeah and it rained - a lot Not much to do, except drinking. Ok thats it for today, I hope you enjoy my little stories and sorry again for my english, I have a hard time blogging in english. All the best, see U tomorrow D.
  14. Yes I wouldnt have the balls to pull out a cam, not to mention a white canon L Lens the Size of a Panzerfaust....
  15. October Fest is madness. It kills people. And its fun! Warning! Pics are challenging to look at! http://www.muenchenkotzt.de/index2017.html
  16. waiting in the Zürich Airport Lounge to board my flight to LOS 🙂
  17. Today at 9:30 I took the Train to Zürich Airport. The Swiss Rail Company SBB is really good, in terms or reliability it comes second only to Japan, but Tickets are really expensive. The oneway frist class ticket cost me 45 Euro (1 hour ride). But as you can see the place is comfortable, even the toilets are large. first class seats, comfy and train almost empty spotless and large toilet Checkin and security procedures at Zürich Airport where easy and quick. They double checked my hand luggage because I had about a million batteries with me. But the guys where friendly and I finally made my way to the SWISS Business Lounge. Terminal 1 - Roof So finally I made my way to the plane and we took off. Thai Airways Champagne (pretty bad to be honest, but the flower is nice...) Swiss alps, I just love this country Ok thats it for now, the next blog entry will be from Chiang Mai. Take Care D.
  18. I admit I suffer from Gear Acquisition Syndrome. Gadgets really kill me. And as I love photography and film-making, I collected a lot of gear. Most of it I do not use, but I just cant sell it... I always try to keep the stuff that I take with me at a minimum, but it doesn't work well. At least I switched from huge SLR Bodies and Lenses to Fuji gear, it really make a difference in terms of weight and size. And the quality is excellent. The fact that i will be travelling on a motorbike for 3 weeks makes it even more difficult for me to cut down on stuff I take with me. So in this post I am going to show you what I am going to bring to Thailand. Photography and Film Gear (body and lenses) Fuji XPro2 (rangefinder style camera, leica for cheap charlies 🙂) Fujinon XF56 1.2 (Portraits) Fujinon XF23 1.4 (Street) Fujinon XF18-55 2.8-4.0 (all around lens) Apple iPhone 8plus (surprisingly good quality for videos if you do not need a shallow depth of field) DJI Osmo Mobile 2 Gimbal (makes iPhone footage so much better, and is quite cheap) GoPro 5 GoPro 7 Manfrotto BFree Video Tripod (small, light, good quality) DJI Mavic Air (red) + ND Filters (the smallest drone with good quality videos) Asus Zenbook for Video and Photo Editing (I am using DaVinci Resolve, its free and really great) Mini Fuji Instax printer (to be able to give away picture as gifts) I though about leaving the XF56 and the XF23 at home, but i just love the images those lenses produce too much. I also use the X-Pro for filming, the large sensor produces lovely "bokeh" footage. What do you think? Madness? Too much gear? Something missing? What gear do you take with you? All the best D.
  19. I will fly out from Zürich the day after tomorrow, and at the moment I am handling final preperations. The last week I spent working in the most beautiful location in Switzerland. Check out the chalet I lived in... I also got some chopper time, so I had a chance to view the siss alps from the top. But before I continue I want to talk a bit about who am I. I am a 51 year old austrian, living and working in switzerland (the one and only country in the world where people are part of the desicion process). I came here 15 years ago, and in my opinion switzerland is the best country to live in. I work as an IT development teamleader in a big financial institution. And by work I mean I worked my ass off. The money I earned went straight to a woman and her kid that I supported for all those years. In the past I used to travel a lot. I have seen around 50 countries, i have seen beautiful places and i have done some really stupid things. In the last 15 years? Not so much. So a few month ago I told the girl i gonna leave, and told my boss I need away time. One of those proposals did not went so well...
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