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.

A lick of Burma and dental remorse

I threw open the door to our room without knocking, afterward thinking, "I hope I picked the right door." But Rachel was at the desk on her matching black Acer computer.

"What did you do today?" she asked.

"I just walked all over town and saw a bunch of art and Wats and went to the dentist. I'm freaked out!" It shot out of my mouth a hundred miles a minute. I'd sped-walk home my face frozen with worry, lip bitten, beating myself up for suddenly deciding to get my teeth cleaned when I passed by a dentist. After years of dental treatments (starting at age 6). feeble-enameled teeth (post-high fever at 9 months), I'm not someone you'd call "dental adventurer." So even with my excellent self-counseling skills, I couldn't convince myself that I'd probably NOT done something stupid in having my teeth cleaned here. I was certain that'd I'd had permanent damage because one tooth was a little sore afterward. After I'd poked my fingers in every tooth in my mouth to look for new holes or pain that is.

I considered taking an Ativan. Instead Rachel convinced me that an alcoholic beverage would do the trick. One glass of red wine and some popcorn later, I was cured of my agony.

And I have clean teeth.

Who is Rachel?

I met her in Mae Sai, the Thai border town with Burma. A few days ago, I decided that I may as well dip across the Burma border, since I was so close. I'd gone into the internet shop and there was Rachel, with the same plan (and she'd spent six years living in Portland, so we had an instant connection). We made plans to meet at 8:30AM for our border walk.

It was akin to a Tijuana trip really. I can mark off that I went to Burma, but what did I really learn in a few hours in a country? I guess we saw that it was poorer than Thailand. And we had the most fantastic breakfast by the sweetest ladies, which was worth the walk and border formalities itself.

After Burma, we bussed to Chiang Mai, where we're staying at Kavil Guesthouse for 180Baht ($5) a night for both of us. Free wifi and NEW flusher-flush western toilets (with the paper labels still on them!) If you don't know what a flusher-flush is versus a self flush, I'll explain: the self-flush has no flusher handle on it. After you use facilities, (and don't dare toss your toilet paper in there), you must pour several buckets of water into the toilet to "flush" it. It does the job, but as much as I'm into simplicity, I prefer the flusher.

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.

I heartily agree with this one...

"If travel is like love, it is, in the end, mostly because it's a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive, undimmed by familiarity and ready to be transformed. That is why the best trips, like the best love affairs, never really end."

Pico Iyer - Salon.com March 3, 2000

For full text of this amazing essay, click here.

Killing you with photos from Laos (this is what happens when you have no electricity or internet for a week)

Secret timer picture of the crew our last night in Louang Prabang. Last night of Beer Lao.

Louang Prabang's night market. Just for tourists. But the vendors aren't too aggressive, so you don't might going through it over and over. It is really beautiful with all the colors.

Here is Emily. My roommate/friend/a good egg from Vancouver/Toronto. She's headed to Toronto for her Master's this fall.

Me. Lazin' on the boatride from Louang Prabang to Nong Khiaw, with Keri Hulme on my lap. Life doesn't get much better than this.

Elephants! Sorry for the crappy shot. But I have photodocumentation at least.

Emily during the nightly power outage in Nong Khiaw.

Nong Khiaw in the morning. Always misty.

From the other side of the bridge.

Looking down can be interesting...

At sunset. Which is better, one or two? I didn't just say that.

Ya more of that darn river. Bit of an obsession here. I know.

The sweetest garage I have ever seen.

Nong Khiaw by dusk.

With the artistic blur...

Can you pick out the item that doesn't really belong here? I might have a prize for the right guesser. I'll give a hint. It's probably from the United States. No, it is not Penut Butter.

Muang Ngoi.

Old school bathing.

Walking through the rice paddies.

Ditto.

Kids in the village on our trek from Muong Ngoi.

The Captain of our shit I mean ship. (The girl on the right on the boat is from PORTLAND, OREGON! I don't need to tell you that she was very cool.)

The Captain making a wedge to fix the massive influx of water only ten minutes into our four-hour boat journey. He stuffed a piece of cloth between the wood. We arrived without incident after this!

Fellow traveler from Germany. A quiet guy. I never talked to him on the boat but ran into him a few towns later and he was quite the chatter. Surprised me.

I think I look pretty chill here. Boat rides agree with me.

Special tiles they have in Laos. And this is supposed to be a conservative country. I wonder. I wouldn't mind having this in my next bathroom.

These two little boys were egging me on I think. And they were playing hit the rock on the metal bar game. Where's their protective goggles? Glad no rocks came my way.

The pack of 12-year-old boys who I rode my bicycle with through the countryside near Nong Khiaw. I've never seen such ratty bicycles (I feared parts flying off in all directions), but they could sure pedal. And they were all one gear.

Along the bicycle ride.

Ditto. I don't know what the little huts are for in the rice paddies. Maybe for lunch?

Bamboo bridge. Not too sturdy. But even Big Sara did not break through. The water was only about one foot deep below it, so my life wasn't really in danger.