The Day We Climb To Wat Phratat in Doi Suthep

 We haven't been uploading any post lately since Gizmo left Thailand. Here is the day we climb 17 km together with Gizmo and Culu to the steep hills of Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai where the Wat Phratat Temple is located. There was a emerald buddha inside the temple which is quite famous and thousands of people come here to pray or just visit it everyday. We climb up there about 5 hours which usually is around 1 and a half in Culu's pace. We were proud of her by accomplish it by her strong will. It wasn't an easy task for any bike rider. She was in pain from the beginning and stopping every 20 meters to rest but she never wanted to quit. Culu was trying to motivate her during the climb even with some white lies like "no more climb after this turn Gizmo, we're almost there" She was crying when we were coming close to the top. When we arrived to the sumit there were hundreds of stairs waiting for us to get in the temple and we only had 15 minutes left before the temple shuts its doors to the visitors for the day. We quickly check it out and went back down. Of course the best part was the downhill for all of us. It was getting dark and we need to be back down in half an hour for security reasons cuz Culu got no front light and it was raining as well. Anyways, it was one of the craziest thing we did with Gizmo while she was with us. Enjoy the ride!

 Crossing this beautiful forest i believe, helps them forget the toughness of the hills.

the giant gong

the neverending stairs of the temple

uphill and sumit from uluc ali kilic on Vimeo.

                    
downhill from wat phratat from uluc ali kilic on Vimeo.

songkran

 

  Hey guys. Long time no see huh? Well, past month was the most beautiful holiday of ours with Gizmo's presence. As you know, she was here with us only a month so we didn't want to spend time in front of the computer, uploading posts and editing videos. Instead, we enjoy our time with Gizmo as much as we can  and had a break for a while. But here we are back again. Today we will talk about this amazing festival called "Songkran"

  Songkran is the beginning of a new year for Thai people. And they celebrate it on 13 th of april every year. It's believed to be a week of cleaning from sins and bad attitudes by pouring water to each other and wash them all. The whole city turns into a game zone and almost everyone got involved. You humans are all crazy dude. It was one of the most entertaining event i've ever been so far. They start celebrating it from 11th until the 15th almost everywhere in the kingdom but what we have heard that Chiang Mai was the best place to be while it's happening. So we decided to go back to Chiang Mai to feel the great atmosphere and spend the last days of Gizmo in Thailand. We have seen so many of places, met so many people and had amazing time together and now she is back in Istanbul. We are hoping that she will catch us back at some point again. Thanx for the great time Gizmo. We love you!

Gizmo on the battlefield with her supershooter water gun

You can find these water tanks filled with ice cubes all around the streets of Chiang Mai where you can reload your gun with freezing water.

Gizmo's eating her daily fried vegetables while we were having a break to get dry a bit before our last session.

  And here's our video of Songkran below. If you guys have any chance to be in Thailand during april we hardly recommend you to join the festivities. It was just a perfect month of holiday with Gizmo in Thailand and soon we are heading back to Cambodia again. Culu is starting his new art projects in Phnom Penh and we will be settling up there for a few months until Culu gets ready again for a new adventure. We will upload the amazing Chiang Mai and Pai episodes soon. Until then, bye bye.

songkran from uluc ali kilic on Vimeo.

Gizem meets traveling

  Hey guys. We're back again blogging with a new company. Finally Culu's girlfriend and my favorite mate Gizem a.k.a "Gizmo" arrived to Thailand to join our tour for a month. From now on she will be with us for a month. This is her first time abroad. We congratulate her by the decision to come here with her new bicycle. She is brave enough to cycle with as mush as she can but this month won't be only a bike trip in Thailand also a first time traveling adventure for her. Her presence is very important for us since we missed her too much and hopefully she will enjoy the world of traveling as much as we do.
  Anyway, we went to pick her up at the Suvarnabumi airport in Bangkok and directly started to pedal to the city. We stayed two days in Bangkok in Bluefin Guesthouse of course and showed her around a bit. Her bicycle was damaged on the flight so we needed to fix it in a bike shop in Waruchak road where you can find all sorts of spare parts and mechanic shops about bikes and cars. We were thinking to go to Chiang Mai directly but we heard that air pollution in there was on high levels because of the smoke which the peasant burning the rice paddies before the rainy season. We decided to delay our arrival to Chiang Mai and instead we stop by Sukhothai the ancient capital of Thai empire and stayed there 2 days. Well let's get started to our first week with our lovely friend Gizmo guys.

   That look clearly reflects the concerns of a first time traveler.

  We were ready to go on the road as you can see on that photo. Here's Gizmo's full loaded bike. It is quite a light one compared to the one we have.

  Oh, i felt great by feeling a female energy close to me finally. I missed her a lot and it is too comfortable to travel on her lap.

 On the road to Sukhothai. We were wearing masks to prevent the damage to our lungs by the smoke in the air.

  At the ancient site of Sukhothai which was the first capital of Thai empire we had a touristic day with Gizmo and i believe she liked it so much this beautiful place. Not just being in the ancient ruins and temples but its gardens and surroundings as well. It's located 14 km away from the town itself and we had just one hour ride to reach there. The day after we left Sukhothai and went back to Phitsanulok to take a train to Chiang Mai.
  We didn't want to ride back the same road and thought to take a bus first. While we were ready to take a bus at 8 o'clock at the bus terminal of Sukhothai. Culu dealed with some cab drivers to carry us and our bikes at the back of their pic-up vans. Luckily one of the guys accepted our offer of 800 bahts to the town Phitsanulok. We spent the whole day waiting the train which is taking of at seven pm in the evening. And there our great adventure of Chiang Mai started finally.
  I think it will be quite hard for Culu and i to keep up the pace of writing the blog since Gizmo is here cuz we have a lot to do all together and will not be able to post blogs that often. We will try our best this month to keep you guys updated about what we are doing. So, have a great time wherever you are until the next one guys. See you soon.

  Lovely Gizmo is wondering about the road we are about to have with all her concerns and hopes at the back of the pick-up.

   Finally Gizmo's bike is having its first traces of the travel. It's always good to see aging of a bike though. Now her bike also started to look like a traveler one.

  Here's where we were waiting the train and just spending time in Phitsanulok town.

Gizem is finally started to have fun after getting her early morning coffee and some fruit shakes.

   We have witnessed building of a giant temple at Phitsanulok.

Now she's talking guys. Gizmo's getting in the mood of traveling at the end.

Kanchanaburi

  We did a week in zen with Pui and his family in their floating raft house in Kanchanaburi. It suddenly became our favorite destination on the journey. Kanchanaburi was basically about history of world war II, colorful temples, all sorts of caves and chilling in a place in zen covered by animals and plants with again people with a pure soul.

 Bridge on the river Kwai

 Hellfire pass where 200.000 people died on the construction of the railway which connects Thailand in to Burma in the world war II. The war was coming to an end when the whole trail finished.

  Kanchanaburi, i liiiike! If you are anytime around go check Nita Rafthouse just along the river and meet Pui and his family. You won't regret it.

  Gizmo is coming in a few hours. Culu and i will pick her up from the airport and come back to bluefin before going on all four of us to pedal around.

kanchanaburi from uluc ali kilic on Vimeo.