Grand finale Thailand photos

This is my final posting from Thailand. I'm sitting in my little cafe in Chiang Mai, J J Bakery, which is run by the sweetest Thai man ever. He spent a number of years in New Zealand and speaks English with a mild, endearing lisp. They have the tastiest coffee in Thailand and a peaceful atmosphere as well. In a few hours, I'm off to Bangkok on the overnight train. Tomorrow I'll fly out to Auckland.

I spent the previous two days visiting Pun Pun Farm, just outside of Chiang Mai, where they practice seed preservation and sustainable building. Unfortunately, I spent 24 of the 48 hours sleeping and trying to fend off the grand finale Asian sickness. I'm not sure how one can get a sinus infection AND digestive disaster in the same illness, but I did it again. So I doped myself up with Augmentin, Excedrin, and fizzy vitamin drink. Luckily, the first day I helped with some of the building before my entire body went into lock-down mode, so the trip there wasn't completely for naught.


Elephant bridge in Chiang Mai.

Mangosteen fruit. You just eat the white part- the rest of it is VERY bitter.

Here's the truck we rode to the farm. The two other white guys were on their way to a neighbouring farm to work there- (They'd already worked at that farm for about 12 days and had to do a visa run to renew their visa.) One was from Portland, OR and the other from Prince Edward Island. The guy from Portland had VERY thick glasses. After staring at him for a while, I asked, "Are you a -15.00?" He said, "Yes." I said, "I've met you before, a long time ago at a party." We tried to reconstruct the meeting and eventually figured out where it was - still cannot recall what the party was for... strange small world. BTW, two kiwi guys just walked by who I met a week ago in the hills. One of them was very good friends with my student, Varny. It is a small world.

Nothing better to do than document myself SICK again! Heheh. It's sort of self-punishment. Yes, it is possible to stay THIS white after four months in Asia. I'm not sure whose genetics I am to blame for this.

How I spent my day before I moved to the bed for more rest.

Tools for making bricks.

Bricks laid out to dry and the community centre.

Peggy's new house.

The house that I was helping build the first day.

The road to the farm. (It's up on the hill.)

Thai Farm cooking class in Chiang Mai

Thus begins the day, in the market. I took this one just for you meat eaters out there. It didn't even smell bad actually, so must've been fresh. Still doesn't make me want to eat the stuff.
Rachel with the rice. I can now tell the difference between sticky rice vs jasmine rice.

Yum, veggies! My dream world.

Your usual senorita Thai cooking costume modeled by tall blonde girl.

Mare learning to make Chicken Basil with our instructor.

The first three dishes I made were: (L to R) green curry, papaya salad, tom yum soup. Later we cooked pad thai and mango with sticky rice to take-away for later. I was full for TWO days.

Rachel and Mare in the back of the songtheaw (a pick-up which has been converted to public transportation).

Where we had fruit shakes - in the alley by our guesthouse in Chiang Mai.

My foot and the coffee shop where I whiled away yesterday afternoon.

Northern Thailand and Burma photos

I was trying to see what I'd look like with dread locks. Can't really tell from this. Would it be a good idea? I finally have hair...

The white temple in Chiang Rai. It looks more impressive than it actually is. It's very small. And very white, with these little mirror chips all over the outside.

I thought this was a little more than creepy. It's just around the white temple. See the one hand with the red fingernail?

Another "rustic" room- it's where I stayed in the hills outside of Chiang Rai- with the "villagers" but it was really a commercial venture and a little bit of nature.

View from the porch in the highlands. Two of the guides lived in the far room.

This was the village we stayed in. You can see they were not hurting for money even if the housing was simple- there's a new pick up hidden under the tarp. Two guys were building a bamboo house, all by hand. All the villagers had TVs and sattelites.

The restaurant overlooked this. Not too bad.

Me working super hard again. I fear for myself when I have to get a real job.

Burma. From the Thailand side. It seems like it would be so easy to swim across.

I so love my blue stuff. This is in Mae Sai, Thailand, the border town with Burma.

My blue lightbulb fetish.

These are just not witty descriptions today. I liked the alley/canal way.

The cutest Buddha belly I've seen in all of Asia. It looks like MY Buddha belly! :)

Just as we crossed into Burma.

The market. People were quite sweet over there.

Rachel. And the cooking ladies behind her.

Me with our eggs, rice and what we thought were cooked peanuts or beans. Then added a little red chili pepper, some pickled greens and soy sauce and, viola! Breakfast of Champions.

Cute little monks in Burma.

The temporary passport you get when entering Burma. (They keep your real one at the border while you are in the country.) I never really like it when I don't have my passport in hand.

The best breakfast in all of Asia. From the sweetest Thai man. I'll miss the fresh fruit and fresh yogurt and all the veges they have over here for such little prices. It's a vegetarian's dream world. Might I add, this coffee gave both Rachel and me caffeine jitters. It might be the first time in Asia on that one too. Thailand likes to give the farangs instant Nescafe. Barf.

Chiang Mai University Art Museum- a lovely peaceful modern art place. Anywhere that has a bike parked outside gets a nod from me.

Sweet little happy art inside.

Headed to Mr. Apae's

I’m sitting in the Baan Chivitmai Bakery in Chiang Rai, killing time with an empty iced latte glass, waiting for the my transport connection to Mr. Apae’s Akha Hill House, a family-run guesthouse amidst the mountain scenery and hill tribes.

I was planning to stay in Chiang Rai for three days, but I feel the need to get out of the city again. After three weeks in Laos, I am not ready for the constant sound of traffic, the uniform dullness of storefronts, and general lack of living things aside from humans. And this is a small town of 60,000. Perhaps I’ve been corrupted by Laos. Maybe I am ready to be a hillperson after all.

I have ten days left in Thailand. I plan to stay with Mr. Apae in hills a couple days, then venture across the Burmese border for the day, then back to Chiang Mai for a few days where I’ve scheduled one-day cooking course at a nearby farm. My last three days in Thailand will be at Pun Pun Organic Farm, a place where they practice renewable living, natural building and seed preservation.

When I get back into the land of the long white cloud (NZ) on St. Patrick’s Day, I’ll be staying with friends in Auckland, then venturing down to Wellington for a couple weeks, where I’ve arranged to help varnish a boat in exchange for room and board. After that, I’ll head to the south island. I’ve still not bought a return ticket to the states, so my life plan (ha,ha) remains up in the air.

In the last month or so, I’ve had the most peaceful time with myself and meeting other travelers. Somewhere along the line, I turned into a very social person (some people call it “big mouth”) after a day in town, I pretty much know everyone and where they’re from. Maybe it’s left over skills from my optometry days. I didn’t notice it until different friends started pointing out how I knew everyone. I thought everyone just talked to everyone they met and then committed their names and life stories to memory. It could be genetic too.

Just a little while longer until I catch my truck to the country. There’s supposed to be hot springs and waterfalls and hilltribes. I’m having a little bit of Laos withdrawals right now, so this is a good thing.

Nong Khai photos

I still have a hard time when I see these couples. What is a dirty old white guy doing with a pretty young Thai woman? I took this at breakfast today.


Mut Mee Guesthouse (in Nong Khai), where I've been lazing the last 5 days:
It's one of the loveliest, most peaceful spots I've come across in my travels. I also want to copy the simple bathroom when I build my minature home in Montana someday...



Salakaewkoo sculpture park in Nong Khai:


How I spent my days in Khon Kaen (what a fun town!):
(A.k.a. the non-joys of being ill.) After lying on the bed for three days, I decided that I would take a picture so I could remember the good times.

Khon Kaen

Today is much better. I've settled into Khon Kaen (a university town) in a simple guesthouse with only three rooms run by an Englishman and his Thai wife. He's full of useful information and English books and newpapers. There's a nice cafe downstairs full of wooden tables and good-smelling food, which I'll be trying out tomorrow.

I'm delighted to be wearing a clean sundress. I don't know if I should broadcast this, but I'd been wearing the same outfit since Hue, Vietnam- the same pants, same two shirts, but different underwear. It was over 2 weeks in one outfit. Gross.

After a shower and washing my clothes, I walked to the Laos embassy and got my visa. The man at the consulate flipped through my passport for a while, giving strange looks to some of the visas (China, India, New Zealand, Vietnam, Cambodia) in my passport. Then he kept comparing my pictures. But the whole process still took less than ten minutes. The rest of the day I've spent walking around town. I found free wifi in the air-conditioned (praise the lord) mall. It's going to take a little adjustment to the weather here.

This weekend is an art festival at the University- I've heard good reviews, so I'll be sticking around at least four days before heading north to Nong Khai, a little town on the border with Laos, overlooking the Mekong River. Nong Khai was voted one of the best places in the world to have a second home by Modern Maturity magazine recently. Hmm, I don't know what to think about that. It must move slowly there for all those retired people in their walkers. Heheh. Just kidding, you retired folks! :)

Overland Thailand to Cambodia via Poi Pet. January 11, 2009

At the buttcrack of dawn (4AM), Carrie and I sprung (yes, that's a stretch) out of bed and piled on all our warm clothes in crazy anticipation of the days' journey to Siam Reap, Cambodia. Last night after our journeys around Bangkok, I'd overheard an Argentinian couple discussing their plans to head to Cambodia in the morning. After talking to them, we decided to make the journey as a quad since guidebooks and websites are filled with tales of scams and insanely long overland journeys.

We caught a taxi to the Northern Bus Terminal in Bangkok and secured our seats to Aranyaprathet. That part was a breeze. If only I could post a photo of the shocked looks on our faces when the bus attendant came around passing out marmalade sandwiches and water. More service than the US airlines and all for $6.50 each.

After that, the adventure began. We were dropped in Aranyaprathet where we had to catch a tuk-tuk to the border. The first scam diversion occurred as the tuk-tuk driver pulled us up to the "Cambodian Consulate" to secure our Cambodian Visas, which were supposed to be available at the border. (We'd read beforehand that they overcharge you for an on-the-spot visa at "Cambodian Consulates" on the Thai side.) We nervously told them, "We have a visa already! An e-visa!" Carrie and I didn't, but the other couple did, so we continued on.

At the border, I met a Filipino woman who said it was difficult to navigate the border and she took us under her wing, directing us to the visa area, where we successfully secured on-the-spot visas for entry into the country.

After entering Cambodia, we were told to take a "free bus" to the bus and taxi station. Of course we were all so scared that we had to go to the bathroom first. Luckily I still had baht in my pocket for the four of us! There was a guy from the border who kept following us along, insisting we get on the free bus. We had a little conference and decided we'd walk a ways and see, but after talking to other tourists on the way, it seemed the bus was safe. So we got on. Still nervous.

This is the type of adventure where you become a traveler rather than a tourist.

The bus dropped us at a rather vacant and new building titled, "Cambodian International Transit Center." Inside were about 20 Cambodians, a couple tables with official receipt tablets on them and a few handfuls of Cambodians milling about. The guy from the border said we either take a share taxi or wait four hours for the bus. Still skeptical, we negotiated for the share taxi and the four of us piled into a very old Toyota Camry with squeeling brakes.

The guidebooks told us the car trip would take from 3-12 hours, depending on the state of the road. Supposedly the road was to be finished paving in 2008. However, after about a half hour on the road, it turned to a gravel-escapade, rife with detours and potholes. But after only two hours and nine minutes, we started seeing hotels labeled "Siam Reap." We looked at each other with excited hopes.

Truly, we were there. The taxi pulled in and told us that we had to take a free tuk-tuk to our hotels. We again didn't believe them. What is free anyway? But after reassurrance from a Danish guy, we rode off. Of course they tried to get us to stay at their guesthouse and then simultaneously tried to befriend us before we finally settled into a place... which in the end was of their affiliation.

Live and learn.

My third entry into Thailand

It's good to be back in Thailand. It's more colorful in sights, smells, and people than Taiwan was- a little more like India without all the messes that that country entails.

I arrived a little after ten last night, semi-drunk from red wine and bailey's on the plane (not in the same glass!) and bumbled through immigration without the blink of an eyelash from the officer. After emerging into the airport in my altered state, I was having trouble reading the guidebook and finding the airport express bus to my guest house. Damn Rough Guides!

Finally exasperated, I asked an airport policeman, who promptly escorted me to the correct place, not without first trying to buy me a coffee and see if I wanted to go for a drink, "Tonight or tomorrow" night. I declined, but was furnished with not one, but TWO business cards. Gee, they sure mean it when they say, "Thailand is the land of smiles."

I slumped onto the bus and showed the driver where I was going. He said, "Why are you staying there? I really recommend you stay right off Kho San Road. It's where everything is. I'm serious!" He smiled largely, then walked back to his post.

I ended up talking to a German man across the aisle, Leo. He'd been to Thailand countless times and confirmed what the driver said. After talking a while, Leo offered to help me find a place (he was in the same boat). We were dropped off in Bangkok, along with an Aussie girl who also rode the bus with us and checked into P.S. Guesthouse just after midnight. I slept like a rock on my rock-hard bed.

Buddhist retreats... not for me!

"Divining chance means leaving yourself open to both good and bad experiences... Trust chance and steer it in a way that you're always learning from it." -Rolf Potts, Vagabonding

By chance I wandered into a ten-day Buddhist meditation retreat. On day five, I decided to leave. I don't regret my time there. I discovered that I wasn't cut out to live in silence or sit for hours at a time. As I left, I was happy to be laden down with my compact heavy backpack as I walked to the motorway to catch a bus to Suratthani, a small town on the east coast of Thailand, one of the major gateways to the Thai islands.

I'll tell you a little of my experience in the retreat...

On November 30th, I checked in and settled into my room, which consisted of a mosquito net hanging over a cement slab with a board, straw mat and blanket to lay upon for comfort. This was ok for sleeping for a while, though at some point in the night, I'd wake up and feel like I could not even roll over, but somehow would manage to roll on my side and re-enter sleepland, only to wake up later with a bruised hip. This I could manage after a few days.

It was the hours of endless sitting and lectures in broken English. In a building overlooking a pond and forest (think palm trees) with about 80 other people on pillows, we sat for most of the day and the night. I kept seesawing between, "I'm going to kill myself" and "This is ok, I'm gonna make it."

At the end of the first day, our final meditation session was from 8:30-9:00, at which time I was fighting to stay awake. I'd slipped into dreams seven times during that last session (I was counting). I woke up. Where was everyone? I was sitting in a dark, empty hall, unknowning what time it was since they'd instructed us to remove our watches upon arrival. The bells would tell us when to go to the next activity. I panicked, knowing that the dorm gate was locked at 9:15 and wondered just how long I'd been sleeping sitting up. Hurrying back to the women's dorm, (everything was segregated, including dining, meditating, etc) I arrived and saw that the gate was padlocked. I pressed on it and then tapped on the dorm nun's window. She let me in and scolded, "The door is locked at 9:15!" I said, "I'm sorry, I fell asleep in the last session. I'm sorry." My vow of silence was broken.

It was 9:27. I had three minutes until they cut the power and then I'd be in complete darkness without my head torch. After rushing to the bathroom, I settled into bed for a sleep and a night of listening to two cats in heat and snoring. (That should have been a sign.)

I can't say that anything as exciting as that happened afterward, only that I came to the conclusion that I better not become a nun, join the army or get sent to jail anytime soon. Each day I would rise to meditate, eat breakfast, take nap, meditate, eat lunch, take nap, meditate, have tea, go to hot springs, meditate, sleep. Then repeat. I could never catch up on my sleep. I've never been so exhausted from doing nothing in my entire life!

I'd planned to stay another night, but last night, I was having trouble sleeping again and kept dreaming that I would die if I fell asleep. I think it was just congestion. Whatever it was, it seemed to signal that I should leave. I talked to the head person (I think he was a monk, though he was not wearing the saffron robes, so I am not certain). When he asked why, I said, "I feel like I am going crazy. I was not prepared for the intensity of this retreat." I was still a good experience.

Thailand pics

I finally got some photos to upload.

Good news on the Bangkok airport.


Dragonfruit

Aggressive Monkey scratching ass

Second car sleeper- it was luxurious, yes that's me...

Buddhist retreat

Cement bed

Ben and Steph

Our hotel restaurant in Phetchburi

Phetchburi

Phetchburi

Ben and Steph

Phetchburi

Phetchburi

Phetchburi

My simple room in Phetchburi

Bangkok

Tuk Tuk in Bangkok