Oh man, he nailed it with those photos of the road, we’re rolling on the floor. Pure hell. It was not him that we saw, however, he was coming from the north to Mae Sot, the other guy was (several days earlier too) moving up those hills from Tak. Yeah, as you know firsthand we definitely would not be cycling with him either.

The guy you near Mae Sot could be Ron Conard on a white Surly Troll. 150 km days and loves hills. That explains it. I politely declined to follow on some of his trips... http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/22649

So far it’s only been for coffee/tea mix (very common here and strangely addictive even though it’s very bad coffee). In a pinch we could use it for cup o’noodles, I suppose but that’s right up there with canned chicken in my view.

"So Long Damage" It might it's going to be the name of Fiona Apple's next album.

Interesting that something like a decorated pink plastic TP holder is so very "Asian" to my eyes, yet the text is in English. I've noticed that too on product packaging as well, even though most of the signs for services (shops, restaurants, guesthouses, highway and streets) you've shown have been in the local language. I wonder what that says about the economy?

Here in the greater Vancouver area, you can live your life in Mandarin. Signs in only Chinese are an issue in the southern suburb of Richmond and in the T&T Supermarket chain, there are many products labelled only in characters. But these are intended for the huge immigrant population, not tourists, really.

More posts, I'm all caught up!

That looks good. One of my concerns about traveling in Asia is food... I don't want to be in a situation where, after a long day of riding in heat and headwinds (because apparently that's what the Grumbys do), my dinner options are cicadas and meat flakes.
But, because I've read your journals and talked to you many times, I realize this perception is not accurate, especially in Thailand. And yes, I'm the guy who ate "chicken" from cans and neon orange snack crackers for 3 months.

I didn't remember that you travel with an immersion heater. Do you use it for anything besides morning coffee?

And it probably doesn't cost $4.50 or whatever the hell Starbucks charges for an iced coffee.

Yum!

Forgive my ignorance, but why would the government of Myanmar not want UNESCO to help establish and manage World Heritage Sites there?

So glad you got to see so many new places and that you had another great experience, despite the challenges with weather and logistics.

It's a gradual process. I reminds me a little bit of some of the WPA work on roads and trails in Minnesota parks in the 30s.

Aren't those Foods that Shouldn't Eat Together?

The only problem is that we'd have to return to Myanmar to actually buy the meat flakes and the fish skin and I don't think that is on our itinerary.

That was some ass-kicking! Glad I finally got the full story.

Believe it or not we didn't buy any crapfood in Myanmar, not even potato chips. The only snack thing we ate was peanuts. Oh and one time a guest house worker gave us a little box full of peanuts combined with jaggery his mother had made from the toddy palms. That was outstanding. But no, the trip has been remarkably free of chid.