TotallyOz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPr6zQSm-WM

This was a surprise move and it is OK with me. I guess he needs to really clean house and get rid of anyone who conspired with the illegal actions of the past 8 years of Bush. I am sure he trusts Panetta to get the job done and be loyal. I just wonder if he has the savvy to handle this job. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/us/polit...07cia.html?_r=1

I am a New Yorker and a voter and I hope she is the next Senator. Why? I don't really know. It is one of my decisions based on no knowledge of her other than her name. I feel very uninformed but willing to give it a shot.

Pretty amazing if you ask me and it will come with an option 256G Solid State Drive. I know the Stef Lacoste is in line waiting as we speak.

Eleven gay bars in Seattle were sent letters Tuesday threatening ricin attacks — in what some are describing as a hate crime. The anonymous letters say, "I have in my possession approximately 67 grams of ricin with which I will indiscriminately target at least five of your clients. ... I expect them to die painfully while in hospital." A 12th letter was sent to the alternative weekly The Stranger, according to its Web site. That letter says the paper should be "prepared to announce the deaths of approximately 55 individuals." The letter lists the bars as: The Elite, Neighbours, The Wildrose Bar, The Cuff, Purr, The Seattle Eagle, R Place, Re-bar, C.C.Attle's, Madison Pub and The Crescent. The letter implies the attacks will take place one Saturday this month. In a statement, the Seattle Police Department said it takes the threat seriously. It has seized the letters and is processing them and is coordinating efforts with the FBI and other federal agencies. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says ricin is a poison found naturally in castor beans that can be deadly if purified and then ingested or inhaled. Dan Giroux, a bartender at The Elite, said he read the contents of the letter through the envelope with a flashlight after being warned not to open it and found the experience "a little horrifying." "I expect to feel safe at work. Being here is like being at your house. But this doesn't make you feel safe," he said. Elite manager Kay Hansen said the bar has been informing customers of the threat and warning them to make sure they don't leave their drinks unattended: "On the one hand you don't want to overreact, but on the other hand, you want to make sure your staff and clients are safe." Stranger editorial director Dan Savage said he didn't take the threat too seriously: "I get a death threat a day with Savage Love," he said, referring to a sex column he writes. Savage said the letters didn't contain any religious references, making him wonder whether the author was an embittered gay person. He said that if the threat were designed to ruin business for gay bars, it may backfire. Staffers from The Stranger made a point of visiting gay bars Tuesday night to show their support, he said, and others may be inspired to do the same. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/loca...nthreat07m.html

I need a bike shop to take apart my bike and get it ready for air travel. Any suggestions? The hotel I am at is useless in any information. A detailed report to follow my trip. ;(

The prices most charge for all the events in Phuket are ridiculously high. They are outrageous at times. A day trip to Phi Phi Island on a speed boat the hotel offers for 3200 baht per head. I met a few people on my bike trip that are tour operators and they said they would get me the same trip for 1300 or less. I started asking around at all the little shops in town and they were all going for less than the hotel price and they ARE all the same trips. The boyfriend and I took his family for an entire day trip to Phi Phi Island, snorkeling in Maya Bay, lunch on the Island and drinks on the boat and a quick tour of Monkey Island. The cost from the hotel was 2800. We paid 900 baht a head for the same door to door service. Be careful where you book and do NOT pay the regular rate anywhere. As with everything in Thailand, it is negotiable.

Had dinner last night at Patong Beach Grill. This place takes up about 9 shophouses on beach road and they have a wide variety of food from steak to Thai to seafood. They were more than a bit on the pricey side. The food was very good. I did have the steak and it was the only thing that we ordered that I did not like. It was not bad but it was not good either.

My Boy Special's family has been with us in Phuket and they are flying back to Bangkok this week. Does anyone know what the cost for a taxi should be from Bangkok to Korat?

I have been to both bars 3 times in the last several days. I had a good time in them and enjoyed the cabaret shows. They both had few gogo boys and none I wanted to take home with me. I remember My Way from years ago with tons of boys on stage. Last night they were limited to less than 20 that were working. The other night, there was 16. Perhaps many were taken off early but I am not sure. I did notice the crowd was mostly straight couples in for a drink. Tangmo had a few cute boys on stage and it looked to be a mostly gay group of boys. These bars had few customers in them and they need our support. If in Phuket, drop by and have a drink. Prices are reasonable at about 120 baht each and they both have fun shows to watch.

The group I am with ate at Coyote Restaurant right on the beach road in Patong. The food was great and actually tasted like Mexican food. I met the chef who is from the USA and a nice guy to boot. The service was attentive and always helpful although one of the girls wanted to move in with me. LOL We all had margaritas and they were excellent and tasted like the real deal. They have an outside balcony that is great to watch the street traffic and the passerby's. However, last night during dinner, there was a torrential rainfall. Sitting outside was quickly moved for those unlucky to have the good view to a table inside. I thought rainy season was over but some days the heavens still open up and drop a load on us here in Phuket. I think the prices were a little on the high side and I think about 300 baht a head for the food. To be honest, I don't remember the price of the drinks as a friend picked up the tab. I had 3 Strawberry Margaritas and they were enough for this old boy to be too generous with tipping in the gay bars last night.

I stayed at the Holiday Inn a few weeks back and loved it. The place is hip and fashionable. It is clean and the room I had was spacious. They did not question when I brought a guy home with me. The price was slightly over 4k baht a night and the decoration of the hotel is excellent. They share the Sunday buffet with the Intercontinental Hotel next door and it is my favorite in Bangkok other than the Four Seasons. The bathroom was excellent with an amazing waterfall shower that I didn't want to leave. The prices for Internet and laundry are the same as the Intercontinental as they are the same company and all done by same people but sometimes you can get a great rate at this hotel.

The new Marriott opened right across from the Holiday Inn. It is very nice and clean and brand new. The pool is beautiful and the fitness center is fine. The restaurant is good and tasty. The front desk staff is friendly and they do not mind you bringing home a friend. The cost for the rooms are right now around 100 US which is a good rate IMHO. My room had a balcony that overlooked the water.

I have been to this place several times with friends. It was not a gay club but very popular with Thais and Westerners alike. It is a true travesty and my thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost loved ones. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/...fire/index.html http://bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=135674 Dozens die in night club fire The fire at the Santika Club in Soi Ekamai occurred shortly after the joyous midnight countdown, according to Pol Lt Gen Viboon Bangthamai, deputy metropolitan police commander. Thong Lo district police commander Pol Col Suphin Sapphuang said 61 people had been confirmed dead - 53 at the scene and eight who succumbed later in hospital. One of the victims was a Singaporean, while the rest were Thai. New Year's Eve was billed by the club as a "Goodbye Santika" party, with the up-scale entertainment centre about to move to a new location. The Singaporean victim was identified as Teo Sze Siong. A Japanese man, Wada Keiichi, 25, was in a coma with burns over 60 per cent of his body. Pol Lt Gen Jongrak Jutanont, Assistant National Police Chief, said he believes investigators will find the club's safety system was "sub-standard" but he did not elaborate on that statement. Some reports said the lights went out as soon as the fire started, dousing signs pointing to emergency exits, while others said only the front entrance was available as an exit. Most of the bodies were found in the club's basement. Police said the hi-so club had only one door for entry and exit. "Everybody was pushing against each other ... People, particularly young girls, were pushed away and crushed underneath as others stomped on them trying to get out," said Sompong Tritaweelap, who witnessed the inferno from his apartment behind the club. "People were screaming for help from every window. It was a terrible sight. Their hair and clothes were on fire but there was nothing they could do as the fire engulfed them." In all, emergency services said 243 people including 29 foreigners had been injured and had been rushed to 19 hospitals across the capital suffering from burns and smoke inhalation. Japan's Kyodo news agency said four Japanese nationals were injured, one seriously, while a spokeswoman from Britain's Foreign Office said that at least four Britons were hurt in the blaze, with two in intensive care. The French foreign ministry said two of its nationals were injured, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said three of its nationals were in hospital, and Thai emergency services officials said that citizens of Switzerland, Finland and the United States were also injured. The popular club consistently attracted a mixed crowd of Thais and visitors. Emergency services at the scene rushed the injured to 16 hospitals around Bangkok with various injuries including burns and smoke inhalation. A horrified new Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva viewed the charred scene early on New Year's morning, and visited some of the injured in city hospitals. Fireworks lit by the club employees for the New Year celebration and show probably torched the facility’s curtain near the roof, he said. Pol Lt Col Prawit Kantwol, one of the first officers on the scene, agreed. "It appears that the fire started from the area of the stage where a band was playing. There were some pyrotechnics and it appears that they started the blaze," he said. "Most of the victims died from suffocation but some were also killed in a stampede when people were trying to get out." The two-storey club was completely gutted by the fire, with the front of the building blackened and partially collapsed. Firefighters brought the blaze under control at about 2 a.m. and retrieved most of the 53 bodies on the floor of the club, most of them on the lower club level where music was played bodies, he said. Deaths apparently came from direct burns from the flames, from smoke inhalation and from injuries during the stampede to escape from the engulfing fire. Some victims were trapped in the basement of the club, which was accessed via a narrow stairwell. The roof of the building had also collapsed during the blaze. Rescue workers placed the bodies in white shrouds, in rows in the club's parking lot for possible identification and removal. It was the most casualties in a fire in Thailand since July 11, 1997, when a blaze which began in the coffee shop of the 17-storey Royal Jomtien Hotel at Pattaya killed 91 trapped staff and guests.

It is all up to us to make it better! Here is a toast to all of you to make 2009, the best ever!

I agree. I loved the board when Hoo ran it and always had fun there. It was the first board I was ever active on.

Helen Suzman, the internationally known anti-apartheid campaigner who befriended the imprisoned Nelson Mandela and offered an often lonely voice for change among South Africa’s white minority, has died, South Africa’s SAPA news agency reported Thursday. She was 91. Her daughter, Frances Jowell, said she died peacefully in her Johannesburg home, SAPA reported. The date and cause of her death were not immediately known. Mrs. Suzman was for many years among the most venerated of white campaigners urging an end to the injustices of racial rule. But, while she challenged apartheid at a time of violent protests among the black majority, she advocated peaceful change and differed sharply with more radical campaigners inside and outside South Africa supportive of economic sanctions to pressure the country’s white rulers toward reform. “I understand the moral abhorrence, and pleasure it gives you when you demonstrate,” she told a New York audience in 1986. “But I don’t see how wrecking the economy of the country will insure a more stable and just society.” A diminutive, spry and elegant politician, Mrs. Suzman became her country’s longest-serving legislator, pressing for changes from the benches of the whites-only Parliament for 36 years before she retired from the assembly in 1989. For 13 of those years, she was the sole parliamentary representative of the Progressive Party, the only party to reject racial discrimination. After stepping down, she created a pro-democracy foundation. In the country’s first fully democratic elections in 1994, she acted as an election commissioner. The ballot spelled the formal demise of apartheid and brought Mr. Mandela to power as the country’s first black president. The ruling African National Congress paid tribute to Mrs. Suzman saying she “became a thorn in the flesh of apartheid by openly criticizing segregation of Blacks by a Whites-only apartheid system.” Virtually to the end of her life, she remained a critic of what she viewed as official wrongdoing. Only this month, she joined a growing list of well-known South Africans asking for a new inquiry into dubious government arms contracts in the 1990s. Mrs. Suzman “seems never to have been content to fight her battle against apartheid only in Parliament,” Vincent Crapanzano, an author, wrote in a review of her memoir, “In No Uncertain Terms,” published in New York in 1993. “She took advantage of her status as an M.P. to gain access to prisons, resettlement areas, black townships and homelands barred to ordinary white South Africans,” Mr. Crapanzano wrote. “She visited Nelson Mandela, Robert Sobukwe and countless other political prisoners, and was able to argue with some success for prison reform. She did this by describing in Parliament what she observed, enabling the liberal press to publish what would otherwise have been censored, for what was said in Parliament was not subject to censorship.” Mrs. Suzman was born Helen Gavronsky on Nov. 17, 1917, in Germiston, a gold-mining town outside Johannesburg, a descendant of Lithuanian Jews who had emigrated to South Africa. Educated in a Roman Catholic school in Johannesburg, she married Mosis Suzman, a doctor, in 1937. For many years, Mrs. Suzman lived a life of privilege common to wealthier white South Africans used to servants and big homes. Indeed, in 1994, she signed a reader’s letter to The New York Times defending the way many whites treated their domestic staff. “Most employers in South Africa treat their live-in domestics with consideration,” she wrote. “Weekly half-days and alternate Sundays are accepted minimum ‘off-times,’ and so are paid annual holidays. Many employers assist their domestics to educate their children, especially as there are a great number of one-parent families. Many domestics are regarded as members of the families for whom they have worked for years.” She traced her opposition to apartheid to her university years when she studied racial laws that incensed her, particularly the so-called “pass laws” defining where and how black people in South Africa could live. Even in a favored vacation resort — Plettenberg Bay on South Africa’s southern coast — she campaigned to improve the status of non-white residents living in a nearby segregated township. Mrs. Suzman first visited Mr. Mandela in the Robben Island prison, just off Cape Town, in 1967, where he was serving a life sentence imposed in 1964. Reuters reported that Mr. Mandela, remembering her first visit with him in B-Section of the prison, once said: “It was an odd and wonderful sight to see this courageous woman peering into our cells and strolling around our courtyard. She was the first and only woman ever to grace our cells.” The Nelson Mandela Foundation on Thursday that said South Africa had lost a “great patriot and a fearless fighter against apartheid.” She ran for Parliament in the up-market and whites-only Houghton district of Johannesburg and remained a legislator from 1953 to 1989. First elected to represent the United Party, she was a founder of the liberal Progressive Party, which favored a more inclusive franchise, and was its sole parliamentary representative from 1961 to 1974. According to Mr. Crapanzano, she was heckled and verbally abused in Parliament for her gender, liberal politics and religious roots, labeled “the lady from Lithuania,” a “sickly humanist” and a “dangerous subversive.” Her nemesis was P. W. Botha, South Africa’s penultimate white president, who accused her of supporting “people who want to bring this country to its knees,” Reuters reported. She once said that if Mr. Botha had been “female he would arrive in Parliament on a broomstick.” The outside world saw her in a different light than many of her fellow white lawmakers and she was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Celia W. Dugger reported from Cape Town, South Africa, and Alan Cowell from London. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/world/af...uzman.html?_r=1

There are many treats in life but one I really enjoy is watching the sunrise. Today, in Prachuab Khiri Khan my balcony was on the ocean. I slept to the waves and when I woke up the sun was starting to peak its way through the islands in front of me. It was magical. I sat in awe for many minutes and just took in each inch of the horizon. It is a beautiful city with a lot of quiet ways to enjoy life. The sunrise was spectacular. Where is the best sunrise you remember?

Hi, It's a pleasure having each of you on the board! May HAPPINESS brighten your days.. PROSPERITY greet you in your ways... May SUCCESS be with you...In everything that you do! The GayThailand Team wishing you a Wonderful Holiday Season & Happy New Year!!!

Ride from Suphan Buri to Kanchanaburi (65 Miles/104 KM) Today was a great day. We had several riders from Suphan Buri's bike club to meet us at the hotel and a lot more from Kanchanaburi to drive up in trucks with bikes attached to meet us and ride with us. Along the way, we met up with several other groups who were fun and pleasant to talk to. I really was amazed at the speed of these riders. They are not casual riders like me. They are out for blood (so to speak). I feel very comfortable going 23kph. To me, that is a perfect pace and when I push a little higher I am OK but a lot higher and it is a rough day for me. Some of the clubs today were hitting over 42kph and zooming in and out of their pack. It was beautiful to watch as they passed by me at each break. One would lead for a bit and then duck back and another take the lead. It was simply beautiful to watch. We stopped for a photo shoot at another monument and then had a bite to eat for lunch. We then went to one of the rider's homes as this was his last day. His wife had tea and biscuits for us and we had drinks on their porch. It was quite nice and a good way to say goodbye to him. He is 72 years old and he was one of the fastest riders every day. He is English and had an encylopedic knowledge of Thailand and Asia. He has lived here for about 20 years and speaks fluent Thai and is part of the bike team for this city. The guys neighbor is the one who designed the war cementary museum. I got to meet the guy and chat with him just a bit. One the way to the hotel, we stopped at the cementary and had a look. It was such a moving experience. For dinner, we took all the Thai riders out to eat at the Jolly Frog. I was impressed with how many showed up and I think we had around 25 at our table. It was a lot of food, laughter and funny stories. The funniest thing for me is that the guy riding with us who ended his journey today was sitting next to me when I made some outrageous comment. When I wasn't listening, he asked the other guys, "Is he a gay?" They all laughed as they didn't know he had missed the last 2 weeks of me asking every hotel where the gay bars were. The next day we had a day off. We decided to go to the Hell Fire Pass. It is a museum that tells the story of the Japanese occupation of Thailand and the 100,000 men who died to make a railway to connect Burma and Thailand to the south. It is dedicated to the men and women who died and suffered while working on the construction of the Burma - Thailand railroad during the second World War. The museum was free and beautifully done. The trip down the mountain was filled with wooden steps and then onto gravel and the actual railroad itself. It led us to the cutting that was made by prisioners of war and Asian laborers. We had audio devices that told the story as we walked along the 400 meters of the railroad. The story was sad and made me really appreciate how lucky I have been in life. We then took a train back into town and were able to see some of the beautiful mountain ranges to both sides of the train on the horizon. We also rode past the River Kwai several times and along the cliffs of the river. The ride was great and we ended just after the bridge as we went across into down. The ride lasted about 2 hours but was well worth it. We saw an elephant gazing at one point as well as tons of farmland, mountains and streams. Lots of little towns and villages were on the stops for the train. The 2 hour journey from the top to the city was 100 baht. I didn't get to the waterfall as we decided it wasn't hot enough to go swimming there and opted for the railroad visit. Tomorrow is our halfway point and our journey south. Soon we will be on the ocean and riding down toward Phuket. That will be in a few days when we get close to Hua Hin. As usual, tonight, I am off to bed early to try to prepare for the coming day.

Ride from Ayutthaya to Suphan Buri (42 Miles/67 KM) The hotel in Ayutthaya was nice but tons of Xmas decorations. I always find it interesting when Thais try to tell me about Christmas as they just say "farang holiday." We had 3 nights at the hotel in Ayutthaya and I needed 3 nights at the Intercontinental Hotels to get my Platinum status for this year so I decided to go in and out each day. I had to get up by 5 the last 2 days so it was a very tiring few days. We had one day off followed by the ride to Bangkok. Then today we started to make our way around Bangkok so we can go south. There were several clubs that also met us today and we were off. There were many clubs that met us along the way and dropped out as they got far from their own city. I love all their shirts and bike gear. They are very serious about biking and plan weekly rides to stay fit. What I loved about the group today was that there were a lot of families. There was one kid who was about 12 years old and he kept up with us at 25 k an hour. His little legs were pumping hard to maintain that pace but he did. His mother did the same thing and her bike was at least 40 years old. It was a classic bike and she wore a very cute hat. The father also came on the ride with us. At one point, I was really peddling hard to keep up. Someone said that they heard a noise and thought my breaks were rubbing. At the next water break, we checked it out. They were right. I had been riding with the break on all day. No wonder it was harder for me today than other days. The falangs tried to fix it to no avail but the Thai guys took out their tools and starting twicking and playing with it and in less than 2 minutes it was working again. They saved me a ride to the bike shop to get it fixed. My favorite guy today was a man about 64 who said he was once champion and had hundreds of trophies. He also said I was bisexual as he saw one of my tattoos and I said no not bisexual. He said, it is OK, "I am too." I laughed. The hospitality of the people here still impresses me. One of the groups had prepared for us a drink stop and we didn't expect or plan on it. They had drinks and snacks for us. It was a very sweet gesture. I would say there is about 50 or so riders today. We stopped about 10k outside of Suphan Buri to eat at a local university. It was a beautiful college with great grounds, a few tennis courts, swimming pool, great landscaped lawns etc. The dining room was welcoming to us and we had a great variety of food to choose from. We ate with the students and it was fun to interact with them. All I spoke to were well versed in English and very friendly. They loved practicing their English with us. A group of gay boys had just finished a test and I chatted with them a bit. I thought about asking to stay at the university for the night instead of the hotel. LOL Or, perhaps I'll just apply for a job there. As we rode today we saw a great deal of marsh and I was told that this is because of the dam system in Thailand. They said since Bangkok was the financial center and capital, they don't let it flood and keep things flooded upstream. We saw entire rice fields under water and I have been told the farmers are compensated when they are unable to harvest. The roads today were fun and fast. We were able to keep up a nice pace of about 24 kph. The road took us through some beautiful country and into the city were are staying. The Thai bikers with us were great and very encouraging. The one thing that stuck out in my mind today was a few of the Thai riders wanted us to try a turtle egg. I didn't have the balls for it but some of the guys did. What you do with a turtle egg is puncture it on the top and bottom and then suck out the inside. It was funny to watch but I was not interested in participating. After one guy tried it from our group about 20k down the road he said he was still unable to get the taste out of his mouth and that it reminded him of a luggie in his throat. I just laughed and was happy I was not did not try it. It was a fast day today and I know I am getting more comfortable with my bike and with riding. While I was in Bangkok I went to Pro Bike and got a speedometer and a night light and a cushion for my seat. I also got some bike shoes that attach to my petals. I have never ridden with them and when I tested yesterday I was not able to get them to click in. It was a bit like a comedy of errors and I had a few guys watching me test this and they thought it was quite amusing. I was happy that the photographer was not there taking my picture trying to click in new shoes. I did notice that the media photographer kept taking photos of me on the ride to Bangkok. He even came up and leaned beneath me taking photos of my ass. I thought he was gay and thought my ass was hot and wanted to get inside. It kind of made me happy. But, as the day went on, he kept taking pictures of me and finally I figured it out. He was looking for the perfect poster boy for the ride. If he takes the photo of my ass and puts on a poster it could say, "If this mother fucker can ride the Tour de Thailand, any MF can!" I really liked riding with the Odometer. It helped me know how far I had between breaks and hot fast I wanted to peddle. It is something I should have had all along. This is true learning experience for me. I have a great deal more to learn but I do see improvements every day and every week. There is nothing I can hope for more than to stay safe and keep learning.

The Blind riders were on 2 person bikes with volunteers in front. People switched on and off during the ride. We average about 23 kilometers an hour. So most days about 4-7 hours of riding. We normally make our hotel by 3-4PM and have the evening to rest. I am not that fast and much prefer a slower pace but I have been pushing myself to keep up with the group. The three fastest riders are all older men in the 60's. They say the secret is just to keep going and never stop spinning. It took me a week to get use to the pace. Now I am OK with it. On really flat surfaces we are able to go a bit faster than 23K. My own ass gets very sore after about 4 hours and it is downhill from there.

I am not happy with his decision to pick this guy either. I have also refused any additional funds until I see what they are going to do for gays. If nothing, I will jump ship and my support along with me.

LOL Great post. The average American gains 10-15 pound between Thanksgiving and New Years Day. That sure is a lot of sweets. I have a sweet tooth myself and I really do miss my southern Xmas candies the family made for me when in the states.

Local Day Ride from Ayutthaya to Bangkok (56 Miles/90 KM) We started in Ayutthaya at the hotel the group was staying in. There were over 100 other riders with us today from the Bangkok clubs. It is a lot more fun with tons of characters on the roads with us. I met a great lady who works for the embassy and several other nice people. Perhaps the most exciting part of the day was riding with the blind riders from the Thai Blind Institute. They are one of our charities and it was great to see them. They were on tandem bikes and they took volunteers to ride in front with the blind students. The blind riders were strong and fearless and it was a real inspiration to see them on the bikes. We first rode around the ancient city and some of the temples and wats there. We took a few photo ops and headed onto Bangkok. The road were good but in Ayutthaua were packed with traffic and it took us a bit to get on the back roads which carried us into the city. At one point in the road we made a left turn onto a sidewalk but the sidewalk was across a swamp but with no handrails or anything. Here we were with tons of riders with marsh to the right and the left. I am sure it was no test for those great riders but for me it was a bit scary. We stopped in Bang Pa to see the Royal Summer Palace and we ate a very early lunch there and spent over an hour just chatting with the other riders. I met one blind guy that talked good English and I chatted with him a bit. The Palace was great to see but I don't think they actually use it much anymore. Once we got into Bangkok the traffic was tight and rushed. To me, this was the hardest day. It was not so hard on my body as it was on my mind. I kept thinking about all the nutty taxi drivers I have known over the years and wondered if they were going to come up on me fast and knock me to the side. There was only one accident today and that was when 2 riders collided and one got a bit hurt. We had the ambulance service from Bangkok Hospital there and they took card of the rider. To my knowledge that was the only incident. There are only about 6-7 of us that are riding the entire trip. I thought in the beginning there were 15 but many have dropped by the wayside for one reason or another. Most of them had planned to take only part of the trip and I think some have just had enough. I am still throughly enjoying the trip and do not plan to stop early. One of the greatest guys I have met left today. He is blessed with the same name as me and he was a true inspiration to me the entire trip. He is a man that is in his sixties and was the lead rider most of the days. He is strong and tough and his knowledge of everything just blew me away. He is a retired physician and had hiked Everest and tons of other amazing things. He was always willing to share advice and sweet to everyone. His only grip ever was daily when we didn't leave on time. Like me, he is an early bird and much prefers to start the day early and miss as much of the sun as possible. While i was in Bangkok the last few nights, I was able to get some good sunblock which I have not been able to find anywhere. I really needed it. I was also able tonight to get the best massage I have ever had in Thailand. I went to B and N and told the manager I wanted a four hand massage with no sex but the guys MUST be strong and dig deep into my body. He picked 2 guys and off we went. They are not the ones I would have picked but the made a great choice. One of them is the strongest guy I have ever had give me a massage and it was truly needed. I was thrilled with the hour of massage and my body had a much needed break. Plus, the two guys were great with the happy ending which I didn't expect but was very pleasantly surprised. Our ride today ended at JJ Market area. There is a park directly across from the sky train and we ended up there. The park is beautiful and was busy. I was told that many people run and job there daily around the 3k track. There was a lovely pond in the middle with lots of trees, birds, and flowers. If you go to JJ Market, walk across the street to the park for a picnic. It is a real beauty in the city. My mind is flowing with so many amazing things that happened today that I know I will forget most of them. But, it was a fantasti