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Photos by MJ Klein

Hui-chen and I went to the TW-Bents warehouse last Friday, and we met with Walter and Kevin.  They had some new stuff to show us.

The main star of the day is this new trike.  It’s a giant of a trike, built for larger, heavier riders.  The main feature of this trike (besides it’s size) is the material it’s constructed of.  This is an all-aluminum trike, and it is very light weight for it’s size.

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Photos by MJ Klein

There is a place that Hui-chen and I frequent in Kaohsiung, and we’d like to tell you about it.  The name is Western Cowboys Pub. You don’t have to be a Western person, or even a cowboy to appreciate this fine place.

This is the owner, Johnson, behind the bar.  Johnson’s knowledge of the finer things in life is impressive.  You can ask him about wine or whiskey, and chances are he’ll have it in stock, too.

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Photos by MJ Klein and Michael Cannon

Day 6 found us scrambling to get to the village of Ban Na before it was too late in the afternoon to hike to the elephant tower.  You may read about our first trip to Ban Na, here.

We began by negotiating with a taxi for a ride from Vientiane to the village.  3 years ago, Hui-chen and I took a taxi to Ban Na for 700 baht.  Today, the taxi driver said “2,500 baht.”  That was a crazy price so we began negotiating it down.  Finally he firmly settled on 1,000 baht.  The ride took about 1 hour including a stop for fuel and some snacks at a gas station/store.  When we arrived at the village it was late afternoon and everyone was outside relaxing.

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Photos and video by MJ Klein

UPDATE: I forgot to include the ride map.  Click on this link to see it.

Over the recent holiday, I had the distinct pleasure of riding my recumbent trike in the wonderful city of Kaohsiung.  This southern Taiwanese city is known for wide boulevards, protected side streets and ample scooter lanes.  It was a real pleasure riding there!  Notice in this shot, how large the scooter lane is (the space to the right of the solid white line).  Notice that there is ample space for parked cars and scooters to co-exist.

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Photos by MJ Klein and Hui-chen

Day 5 of our Thailand-Laos trip found us in one of the most beautiful places you can find in Laos, Vang Vieng.

We hired a van with driver and headed out on the road.  I took a few shots of the countryside from the van. Road in Laos are rather rough.  They don’t have such a good road bed and with all the trucks that have to use the roads, they get beaten up rapidly.  You can’t make any significant speed on Lao roads because you will shake your vehicle apart because of the bumpiness!  Before I forget, some of these photos are geotagged so be sure to click on them and then take a look at the map. Read the rest of this article →

Photos by MJ Klein and Hui-chen

Day 3 was our day to travel up to Laos from Thailand.  We decided to take the Thai-Lao International bus, but unlike the last time, this time there was a new bus service from Khonkaen.  This bus left in the afternoon, so Day 3 was rather uneventful, spent mostly on waiting for this bus to leave and then riding it up to Laos.

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Photos by MJ Klein, Hui-chen and others as indicated.

We took our rented car out of Khonkaen and down to the village of Sabua in Muang Phon.  As you can see, it was barely large enough for me to sit in.

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Photos by MJ Klein and Hui-chen

We are pleased to bring you this series on our recent trip to Thailand and Laos!

We parked our car in one of those parking lots near the airport, and took a shuttle bus to the airport terminal.

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Photo by MJ Klein

Hui-chen and I just returned from an 11 day trip to Thailand and Laos.  It was a fantastic trip that we shared with bloggers Michael Turton and Michael Cannon.  We’ll be bringing you many articles in this new series and hopefully give you an idea of what it’s like to travel with us to these exotic destinations.

We look forward to your comments on this upcoming series!

The Plain of Jars, originally uploaded by TheNHBushman.com.

One of the most amazing archeological sites in the world!