• A big update

    A big update

    So I've not posed anything for ages, I should have known this would happen really. Anyway it doesn't matter, thought I'd post a huge update to make up for things. I'm currently in Pai (pronounced like the English word bye) in northern Thailand. It's a little hippy utopia nestled in jungle and mountains. It seems to me that it's about to be consumed by its own success as a top tourist spot and loose that which makes it good..... sound familiar. If you've been here but not in the last 2 or 3 years you might find that it's changed a little. There's a 7/11, about a million guest houses and bars and the like and they're about to open 2 more banks. The biggest indicator that things are about to change big time is the fact that an airport is currently being constructed on the outskirts of town. This is a bit crazy. Pai is a 4 hour bus ride from Chaing Mai which has an airport. They obviously have big plans for the no longer newly discovered Pai. Thank you lonely planet, we owe you soooooo much (Though I doubt I or just about anyone else I know would have made it here without you). Don't get me wrong though, it's a great place to hang out, full of flakey hippies and tourists, bit of a home from home.

    So, a run down of what's been going on (from the top as it were):

    1. Monday - Landed in Bangkok, spent the first night in the wrong guest house and spent about 4 times the amount I should have on the room. I think this is because it had a TV and air conditioning instead of a fan, neither of which are perceived as any kind of benefit by me.

    2. Tuesday - Moved guest house to My House guest house round the corner (affectionately dubbed Miserable House guest house by other back packers due to the usual attitude of the staff). This place was ok. I stayed there till Saturday. All I did during that week was hang out, chat to a few people and visit Wat Pho (see previous post). There was an amusing incident before I left. While I was sat in the interweb cafe whatsit trying to fix the Kulu website a torrential downpour ensued. I could see that it was leaking in at the front of the guest house because the staff were trying to protect the stuff inside, it hadn't reached the internet bit yet though. Suddenly the woman sat at the desk, running the computers jumped up and screamed. I assumed the biggest spider ever seen by man had been hiding in the corner so I jumped on my chair to avoid certain death. Of course all that was happening was that the rain was now leaking into the internet cafe. The Thai woman running the cafe thought this was hilarious and spent the next hour telling the rest of the staff who then pointed and laughed. I thought it best to stay in the common room and brave face it, I still think that was the right thing to do.... deary me flanny, you let them dress you up like a giant cock again!!!!

    3. Saturday - Had to leave Bangkok. I landed, got settled in and had got my head around the idea that I was travelling so travel I must undertake and now. Decided to get the 2 pm train to Ayuthuya. The train was fine, just 1.5 hours. Found a guest house easily enough, Tony's place and got settled in there. That night (I think) I met Moo and the next day I went out with him (see previous posting). Spent a few more days there (left on Thursday). Apart from my day out with Moo, the next highlight was the Loi Krathong festival. This is a full moon festival celebrated at the end of the rainy season. I paid 350 baht (that's about a fiver) to first be given all the materials I needed to build a little, round flower boat type thing (made of flowers and banana leaf). Next we were fed (green curry I think, though I could only have the noodles due to my veggie leanings) and then taken by a rickshaw type thing to the river. Here we boarded a boat and sailed up the river past some of the beautiful (and especially stunning at night) ruined wats of Ayuthuya. For the journey we were given our free large chang beer. We alighted at wat Panan Choeng where a huge sitting Buddha resides. I had already seen the amazing spectacle with Moo a few days earlier but it was well worth seeing again. So then we got back on the boat and sailed further up the river where we floated our flower boats and preyed to the river goddess. The tradition is to ask the river goddess for whatever you want in your life. I preyed for love and happiness forever because I always do and I don't think you can get caught in a 'be careful what you wish for' type screw up with that one. So then we got back to the guest house where a Thai covers band were playing Red hot chilli peppers covers. They were very good. In the intermission a young Thai woman came on stage with her acoustic guitar and played some classic ballad type tunes including Hold me tonight (or whatever its called), the Tracey Chapman song, that was quite special, beautiful lyrics.

    4. Thursday (the second Thursday of my trip) - Waiting around all day for the 8PM night bus to Chaing Mai. The bus ride was easy, 10 hours on an air conditioned bus with enough smoking stops for me. Hit Chaing Mai early in the morning and found lodgings. Didn't do a great deal here. The only highlight to speak of was Monk Chat. Spent about an hour with a 25 year old monk from Laos who is studying English. Main topic of conversation was vegetarianism. Monks in Thailand are not required to live veggie and I don't understand why. To me this is not consistent with the teachings of the Buddha. He was fairly robotic in his explanation and wouldn't really get down to the nitty gritty with me. All he would say was that as long as the monk does not know where the meat has come from or how it was killed then its OK for the monk to eat it. Monks go into the street with a bowl at 6 AM every morning to collect food from the people. This is the food they have for the day. Buddhist people give food to the monks to bring them luck. I intend to get up early one day and participate in this ritual.

    5. Sunday - Having had the disappointment that we (me, David and Rachelle, 2 Canadians that I have been travelling with) could not do the 24 hour Buddhist life and meditation course we got the next bus to Pai. The bus ride was great. This was the most basic of buses that I've seen in Thailand. No air con, no leg room and about a million people squashed on to a bus designed to carry about 20. I just stuck the iPod on and used my Buddha consciousness to glide through the discomfort (ha ha, you cant help but soak some of this stuff up when you've been spending most of your time looking round temples and talking to Buddhists and monks). The first couple of hours of the four hour journey were in the light so I just stared out the window most of the time (winding roads, mountains, jungle.... sweeeeet). The second half was dark so I just shut my eyes and got into the choooooons. I've not done very much in Pai. The highlight has been 4 hours of hatha yogo in one day with a 58 year old Thai Hindu woman (though she has Indian in her family) called Mam, also know as Mama. I'll probably go and have more sessions (well at least one) before I leave Pai. David and Rachelle are going tomorrow, I'm gonna hire a bicycle and explore a little. I think I'll be saying here for a few more days and I'm not sure where I'll go next.

    Sorry for the rambling post but I thought that the blog needed bringing up to speed.