good to know 009

Proud to present my DIY solar drying box. Not my invention, just combined some ideas found on the internet. You can find loads of freely shared solar power ideas. Don't know if they all work but my drying box does. 18°c outside and clouded it produced 35°C, once most of the clouding disappeared it quickly reached 55°C. Excellent for drying fruit, tomatoes.....

Solar panel made from old soda cans.

good to know 008

A map for Mae Sariang and surroundings. Got it from the owner of the Road Side Guesthouse. Rented Bikky's motorcycle for a day, she was the cook. Love used maps, couldn't figure out what the arrows and X's meant. It looks a bit ridiculous trying to follow the arrows as guides.

The Road Side Guesthouse is quite nice and serves excellent food. Don't try and order food around six in the evening though. That's when they serve the Chiang Mai bound busses. Also not a good time to use the shared bathroom facilities, although they were kept very clean at any time.

Good to know 0006

               Aids campaign in Laos, 2006. Supported by www.psi.org.

               People campaigning on public transport with condoms and a dildo
               made most Laotians passengers a bit uncomfortable. But after
               accepting free condoms as a tourist they were eager to have some
               as well.

good to know 0005

          How to dry your underwear in a guesthouse room when it's raining
          outside. This is one way, if you have a cheap coat hanger available.

      

photo album 0003

          Sometimes one might need one, the infamous outhouse. Have to admit it's in
          a nice setting. Near Sapa Northern Vietnam.

          The biomass seems to do wonders for the pine trees in the background

good to know 0003

          
         This heather we picked up at the Taichilek border crossing,
         Myanmar 2004. For the grand total of 25 Bath, 6o Eurocents.

         It is heaven send, make a cup of coffee or tea or just boil some water for your
         cup noodles. Once they used it in northern Laos to heat a bucket of water
         (about 30 l.). we hung it in the middle of the bucket and went out for dinner.
         A nice warm shower awaiting in their room on return, could not think of a more
         satisfying homecoming when temperatures are barely reaching five degrees
         Celsius. Wonderful after a week of ice-cold mountain water showers.

good to know 0002

Good idea!

Get a bus map whenever you stay in a big city. It's fun traveling by public bus and it is cheap.
In Hanoi it can be a lot of work before you achieve your goal! You need to go to the transportation department.

The Bangkok bus map is fabulous. This is a 2009 example,
sarcophagus has one from around 2002, didn't change a lot though.

Kuala Lumpur bus service is a dog without proper information. Not one bus driver seems to have a clue to where the other lines go.

good to know 0001

When in Hanoi you can use the following site to get to your daily Bia Hoi. Excellent!
Just click the "random... Bia Hoi" button on the bottom of each map.