I love camping! Always have, since I was a Cub Scout. Camping is great because you bring most of your own infrastructure with you in the form of a tent, which opens up a lot of doors as far as places to sleep, that would otherwise remain closed. On a trip like this, it can be even more comfortable than sharing a hotel room, since you get a "room" all to yourself, and don't have to sleep next to another smelly dude. Aside from that, camping means that I have the freedom to stay in parks, outside people's houses, at temples, pretty much anywhere someone will let me pitch my tent. I save a lot of money, meet a lot of great people, and I don't have to worry so much about how far I have to ride that day.
Mike and I with our tents and bikes in front of our couchsurfing host's house in Chiang Mai.
Did I mention the tents are light?
Mingyu Chillin' in his hammock at Khun Chae Nat'l Park. It was such a nice place, we spent two days there just lounging around. Time spent reading a book in a hammock is time well spent.
You may have noticed I'm excited about this tent. And my shorts.
Camped under a gazebo at the top of the mountain; I got up just in time to see the sunrise!
Camping at a temple outside of Luang Prabang. We just show up, ask the monks if we can pitch our tents, and they always say yes! Must be a Buddhist thing or something. At this particular temple, the resident monk was chain smoking until we went to bed. The only thing about camping at a temple is that you pretty much have to go to bed at 8pm and wake up at 5am to keep from getting in the monks' ways.
Stay tuned for more camping updates!
