I haven’t had much of a chance to write about my adventures lately because I have constantly been on the move. Since I wrote last, I traveled to Laos, took a slow boat (2 days) to Luang Prabang, and then went from Phonsavan all the way back to Huay Xai, where I crossed the border in the first place (good planning). I had to go all the way back the way I came in order to do the Gibbon Experience, which I didn’t find out about until I was already out of Huay Xai, but it was really worth it (more on that in a bit).

The slow boat itself was quite an experience – I’m glad I did it, but hope that it will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The journey consisted of a cargo ship (literally), packed with rice, vegetables, funiture, and people. There weren’t enough (narrow wooden) seats for everyone, so half of the people ended up riding rice sacks (myself included). The novelty wore off after the first few hours of the nine-hour day (to say nothing of the second day), but luckily the scenery was beautiful and the people were interesting, so the time passed quickly. I wish I could post some photos, but this computer is giving me trouble.

Luang Prabang was great – very laid back, easy to get around on foot, and had a great night market (my new favorite outing). It is actually a World Heritage city, so any new construction has to comply with strict codes in order to maintain an authentic historical appearance. It is also right on the Mekong river and has dozens of temples, so everywhere you look is a photo op (which I got a lot of, but unfortunately cannot share right now…).

The most amazing part of Luang Prabang was the waterfall. I had heard that I absolutely could not miss it and that it was like something out of a fairy tale, so naturally my expectations were pretty high. To my surprise, it lived up to my expectations – exactly like something out of a fairy tale. Multiple tiers, multiple swimming areas with natural ‘jacuzzis’ and the clearest water I’ve ever seen. I of course had to take a dip, but, because Lao people swim in all of their clothes (including shoes), I was feeling a little too modest to jump in in my swimsuit and opted for the full clothes approach as well. Now that’s what I call cultural immersion!

Phonsavan is known for its ‘Plains of Jars’, which are ancient sandstone jars, estimated to be more than 3,000 years old. The jars range in size from 3′ – 8′ tall and are all different shapes. The origin and formation of the jars is a mystery, but the prevailing theory is that they were created to be used as urns.

Until recently, the Plains were all riddled with UXOs (Unexploded Ordinance) dropped mostly by the good old U.S. of A. during the Cold War and Vietnam, but a group called MAG (Mines Advisory Group – www.maginternational.org) cleared the areas to make them safe for visitors. Large craters where bombs did explode are still visible and labeled.

While I was in Phonsavan, I learned all about MAG’s work and Laos’ history as the most bombed country on earth. Because there is still such a high incidence of UXO in Laos, injuries and deaths are not uncommon and a large portion of the country lives in poverty because they cannot safely use much of the land. Perhaps the worst part of the US’ actions is that the majority of the bombs that we dropped were ’cluster bombs’ - tiny bombs meant to kill individual civilians. I have to say, being there made me feel really guilty to be an American. So please support MAG! Okay, enough of the soapbox.

I decided that I wanted to spend my birthday doing the Gibbon Experience (http://www.gibbonx.org/), so I made my way back to Huay Xai after Phonsavan. The Gibbon Experience is an ecotourist attraction that aims to conserve the Bokeo jungle by letting silly farang like me live in its trees and zipline around the jungle for three days. I am really glad that I decided to spend my birthday this way – it was definitely the highlight of my trip so far.

After a ‘difficult’ (understatement) ride and trek into the jungle, a group of us ziplined into our three-bedroom, one-bathroom treehouse, complete with two tree cats. The next few days were spent taking dawn jungle treks in hope of spotting gibbons (which we heard but didn’t see), zipping all over the canopy, and drinking sweetened condensed milk straight out of the can. (That aspect is what secured the Gibbon Experience as THE highlight of my trip, I can’t lie.)

I was sad to leave the trees, but I am looking forward to open water diving lessons, which await me tomorrow. I am currently in Chumphon, Thailand on my way to Koh Tao, where I am doing a 4-day PADI course. After that, I am off to Sydney, Australia, for three days, and then Auckland, New Zealand, where I will meet Kendra!

Hope all is well at home and I look forward to seeing you earlier than expected!

A few months ago, Jill told me about WWOOF (World-wide Opportunities in Organic Farming), which is an organization that acts as a directory for travelers looking to learn about organic farming and sustainable permaculture in foreign countries through hands-on farming. In exchange for unpaid labor, the hosts provide accomodation and meals. WWOOF brought me to Amee Doyer’s, a remote organic farm outside of Chiang Dao, which is where I spent the past week.

The first few days were really rough, to put it mildly. When I arrived, I was the only WWOOFer and also the only English speaker, as the owners of the farm actually live in Canada for half of the year (surprise!). For two days I worked alone, tried to communicate through sign language, and was having serious meditation retreat flashbacks. Happily, just when I was considering leaving, two other English-speaking WWOOFers showed up. I probably scared them with how intensely happy I was to see them.

The work itself was rote manual labor: hoeing, clearing, and tilling fields. The entire time I couldn’t help but think of all the machines, even manually operated machines, that could have done the work with a fraction of the sweat and a fraction of the time. I actually didn’t mind the work too much; what bothered me was the total lack of communication from the hosts. One of the main reasons I decided to WWOOF was to learn about organic farming, and the one English speaker they had on staff only worked with us and answered our questions for one day.

There were a lot of positive aspects of the experience, as well. For starters, the land was absolutely beautiful. Mountain views all around, lush foliage, and zero light pollution so that on clear nights the stars were incredible. The accomodation itself was really nice, as well – everyone had their own room, the kitchen was stocked with cooking supplies, and they had a TV, stereo, and DVD player for us to use. Also, there were two fuzzy puppies (Chiang and Mai) that they kept locked up all day but we got to play with at night. I tried to take pictures, but they were too wiggly to get a good one. Instead, here is a chick (who was terrified enough to sit still):

Captive Chick

Farm at Sunset

I am glad that I went, but it’s good to have internet and refined sugar again (now I can stop dreaming about my email and ice cream).

Tomorrow, I am going to Laos to spend a few weeks touring the north and potentially working my way south. I hear that traveling through Laos takes a great deal of time due to mountainous terrain and unpaved roads, so I’m not sure how much I will be able to see.

Finally, just for fun, here is a picture that captures the essence of Thailand:

Nothing makes sense here.

Alice is currently on a plane back to the States, and I just got to Kanchanaburi, which is a historical WWII location on the River Kwai. In addition to the compulsory WWII attractions, I am thinking of going to the Tiger Temple here, which is supposedly a refuge for tigers as opposed to a soulless tourist attraction that keeps the tigers drugged and chained up for a profit. We shall see.

I can’t believe I’ve been here a month already. The culture shock has somewhat worn off, but lately I have been musing on some peculiar aspects of Thailand from a foreign perspective:

• There are stray animals everywhere – sleeping in the street, wandering into businesses, hiding in schools. For the most part, they are tame and cute and I can’t help but pet them. It’s probably a miracle that I haven’t gotten fleas yet. (Unless I have and don’t know it, which is not outside the realm of possibility.)
• Street vendors don’t seem to notice or care about the insects that crawl around on their food. I actually saw a fly trapped inside a plastic bag yesterday. Apparently whomever is buying this food doesn’t notice or care about the insects, either. 
• It is almost impossible to walk into a store without being followed at an uncomfortably close range by the staff. Alice tells me that they’re trying to provide good customer service, but I don’t know how they expect customers to shop when the staff is constantly within hugging distance.
• Thais openly gawk at foreigners. I expected it to get less uncomfortable, but it hasn’t.

Life is so different here that it would be difficult to accurately summarize, but that’s a start. I’m enjoying my time, but feel very fortunate to have the kind of life I do at home.

Bike trip to waterfall

Trek panoramic

 

Waterfall

 

Lahu Village

To complete the ‘rustic’ trek experience, there were of course some scary insects to contend with. Luckily, only one member of the group was afflicted with leeches, but he somehow managed to get four of them on the same foot. He was literally bleeding for hours afterwards.

A formerly happy leech

The second scary insect interaction was with an angry tarantula. Our guide thought it was a good idea to prod into its lair with a stick, the result being the photo below. I probably wouldn’t have been too happy, either. 

Unhappy tarantula

The next day, Heidi and I rented mountain bikes (having learned our lesson from the antiques we had the first time around) and explored the canyon south of Pai. 

On top of Pai Canyon

Here is the daily schedule:

5:00 a.m.: Wake up, meditate

6:30 a.m.: Breakfast, meditate

8:00 a.m. Dhamma talk (similar to a sermon)

11:00 a.m. Lunch, Meditate

3:00 p.m.: Report to teacher, Meditate

9:30 p.m.: Bedtime

Needless to say, I was not the model meditator. They say it gets easier in time, but mostly, the lack of stimulation just drove me insane.

Some other tenets to live by at the temple include:

• No killing
• No eating after noon
• No reading
• No talking to other meditators

What I did:

• Committed genocide on the ants in my room (hundreds, if not thousands)
• Had an emergency stash
• Finished a 900-page book
• Got to know my neighbor

In short, I’m glad I did it (even if I did it wrong), but I don’t think I’ll be going back. I’m currently in Pai, which is a cool little village in northern Thailand that reminds me a lot of the seaside artist villages in California. It’s going to be difficult to resist shopping and collecting even more things to fit in my already overstuffed bag. I’ll spend a few days here, hopefully fit in a trek, and then head back to Bangkok to meet up with Alice and head to the white sandy beaches of a TBD island.

It’s so good to be free!

Cooking panaeng curry in the modestly named "Best Thai Cooking Class"

It's a good thing I know how to type

Chiang Mai Temple

Tomorrow I will be departing for a meditation retreat in Wat Doi Suthep, a temple on a mountain outside of Chiang Mai (http://www.fivethousandyears.org/mos/). Apparently I will be waking at 5 a.m., eating once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and spending the rest of the time meditating and being ‘mindfully present’ (not reading, writing, or engaging my mind in anything that is not for meditative purposes). It sounds pretty intense, but it should be an interesting experience. In other words, I”ll probably rip my hair out by the second day and run screaming down the mountain.

With that said, I will not be able to write for a few days, but I’m anxious to report how it goes. Stay tuned for my rapid descent to insanity!

Alice and I are in Chiang Mai, where Songkran has a much different (more aggressive?) personality. The Old City is surrounded by a moat, which celebration-goers use as a fuel for the water fight. Greater access to water means more opportunies to soak each other (and, more popularly, the farang), so after a day of festivities, Alice and I were burned out on Songkran. The smell of the moat water will forever be in my mind and on my clothes, but it was a great time. Songkran marks the beginning of the rainy season, and on cue, it started to rain during the afternoon (a welcome respite from the moat water).

Today we are renting bikes and touring temples, so I should be off!

Last night, we went to a club that is fondly known as ‘Black Power’ due to the icon of a black fist that hangs proudly over the door (and due to the fact that nobody knows the actual name). A Thai band was playing, and although the place was fairly busy, the band spotted the farang (foriegners) and heckled us into shame. Apparently this sort of attention and embarrassment of foreigners is commonplace in Thailand, but from what I understand, it is mostly good-natured.

Below are some highlights from the trip so far. I miss you all and will write in Chiang Mai!

Today I ventured to the weekend market (Chatuchak) and forgot my sunscreen (hence the title of this post). Getting there was somewhat dicey, as my taxi driver thought it would be a good idea to take me to a jewelery market instead. I’ve heard of this happening, where drivers will get a kick-back for taking unassuming foreigners to places where they will hopefully buy the goods. Because I asked the concierge for a taxi, I wrongly assumed that the driver would take me where I wanted to go. Luckily, he was still there by the time I figured it out, and he took me to Chatuchak without charging me extra.

The market was incredible, and huge. It was both indoor and outdoor, with alleys ranging from dodgy, grimy, and tiny to well-lit air-conditioned glass rooms. One highlight was a designated water gun area, where kids (and some adults) would spray each other and passers by. I got soaked, but it felt nice with all the humidity.

I’m currently waiting for Alice, who is supposed to meet me here at the ironically named Convenient Resort. We’ll have one more day in Bangkok, and then it’s up to Chiang Mai for the New Year!