In late November, just a week before Thanksgiving I boarded a plane from snow-covered Beijing to land in Bangkok, and eventually fly to Chiang Rai, in Northern Thailand. After living in Beijing for several months working as a photographer at the largest English-language paper China Daily, I had decided to spend my last month off volunteering at a girl’s home very close to my heart. Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting many photographs from my time in Chiang Rai. This post comes from a day trip I took with my friend Nok. She kick started her motorcycle with my clinging to her small frame and we hit the bumpy dirt road like horses at a derby. Let me tell you, on gorgeous 85-degree weather days, there is nothing better than cruising with the wind hitting your hair and face down the back roads of rural Thailand. Nok took me to her husband’s Karen village named Ruammit, and we also went to a local national park. I hope these photographs invoke within a desire to get out there and explore. I also wanted to say thanks to the people have been commenting and giving feedback, it really makes spending the 2-3 hours on editing, posting and writing worth it! You guys are awesome!

A young Karen boy of Ruammit sucks on a lighter.

Downtown Chiang Rai.

The village boys and I doing the infamous “thinking” pose.