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| Sticky rice in silver bowls |
| 04.29.04 (1:09 am) [edit] |
These days I've been thinking alot about what I'm going to do when autumn arrives, my options are teach to in Japan... volunteer in Nepal or INdia (but then I'd be there in the wet season) or go back to NYC and grow some roots, I've been feeling a bit homeless these days, and feel like I need to water my roots. HOwever I know that as soon as I go home I'll want to venture out on another adventure in a foreign land. wish i didn' have such a restless soul. a curious one if that. when I travel I begin to relize that the world is even bigger then I ever imagined it to be on a flat map. so much to see... hmmmmmmmmmmm.........
Anyways at the moment I'm in Luang Prabang a sleepy city along the vibrant Mekong river... floating through the beautiful Wat's, chatting with Novice Monks (Monks in training) Micheal and Si... eating noodles, sipping Loa Lao Coctails at a gay bar that we did't know was a gay bar, drinking Lao coffee, conversing with fellow travelers from South Africa, the UK, Scotland, Australia, Germany, Holland and Japan whom I met on the looooong 2 day cramped slow boat ride to Luang Prabang ( the fast boat didn;t look enjoyable with crash helmets and a bad track record for accidents, I'd rather save my life and my hearing then time, those things where f'ckn loud!!!)...... Laughing hysterically with the Japanese guy- Shu who plays the game of "can you do this?" while he pats his head and rubs his belly to the sound of drums in his funny little head and makes that sound ohhhhhhhhh!~ in a gruntled samarui kind of way, admiring the beauty in this communist country infused with French accents with wooden teak and ceiling fans spinning round and round, palm trees and flowers everywhere, clean and green green green!.... running down the streets at night through a rain storm to our family run guest house. offering stick rice to the monks who walk in procession down the streets with silver pots just as the sun rices.
there is beauty in every corner of this place and I love it here. Thailand was disenchanting after a while... I'm moving on, but have to get to Vietnam soon, then Cambodia, back to Thailand and hopefully Nepal... want to see those Himilaya's! hope soooo. wish you all well...
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| A lost blog |
| 04.29.04 (12:45 am) [edit] |
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I wrote a blog but the computer crashed and I lost all writing, so I will fill in details later about stepping into my second communist country.
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| at the moment |
| 04.23.04 (12:19 am) [edit] |
I had the opportunity to watch some Thai boxing in Chiang Mai.
ahhhhhhh it's too hot and I'm hungry, I'll write more about this later, thai boxing, Long Neck tribes and the Video Instalation at the Wat, MOnk CHat with a Monk who doesn't want to be a monk and New Glasses soon! I even purchased a pair of sunglasses, which I haven't been able to wear for 5 years., stupid glasses!
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| So Fresh and So Clean, Clean! |
| 04.21.04 (5:10 am) [edit] |
April is a wild time to be in SE Asia with the SongKran festival, (New Years) or as it's now know as the water throwing festival.
The thing everyone seems to do when in Chang Mai is to take a Thai cooking class and trek to the Hill tribes of the lisu and others. I did the treking bit where you hike through forests, but at the time they where burning the fields in preperation for crop planting. Everything was crisp and burnt, dry, dry, dry and smokey. There was no leaves on the teak trees to keep you in the shade during the hottest part of the day, and since I am a wierdo( some people actually think I'm an alien) I don't sweat on my face and suffered a bit from heat exhastion. Sweat is actually a natural air conditioner to keep you cool. But i kept patting my face with my dirty wet wipe and made it to the waterfall in time for an "ice cold" dip in the "fresh and clean" water...( Sorry OUtkast came to mind!)
We kept on truck'n untill we arrived at the first hill tribe~ the Lahou "Oh bu ja!" is thank you, hello and good bye in the local dilect.
At night we chowed on dinner and the villagers swarmed around us with their handicrafts, sli[[ing between us at the dinner table and displaying their goods in front of us. The young girls kept tugging on my shirt . "hello, HELLO!!! oh no... not again! I bought a head band and change purse, that's all!
The night was spent on comfortable mat on the woven floors of a village hut, specially built for us trekkers. It was surprisingly comfortable and i slept like a baby from the day's hike.
Day 2 consisted of a 3 hour hike! Day 1 was only 1 1/2 hours! Oh dear!!! up and down hills we went in the parched landscape. I was usually the caboose, but not to far off I might add. there were 10 of us in all (Rachel, Dan, James and Hannah from the UK, Tori, PAtrick, Zach and Julie from the North America and Caroline and Shamos from Ireland). THe four ladies bathed in the river at lunch time and I kept humming that tune from "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?" ... you know the one with the beautiful water Nymphs... that was us, beautiful beauties. I washed my clothes and felt "fresh and clean" again... "don't you think I'm so sexy?"
Next adventure for the Northern Thailand trekker was Bamboo river rafting! wahooooo! my favorite part, cause I get to float down a river with minimal work, except to push away from oncoming roack with you bamboo stick. I felt like Tom Sawyer and Huckelberry Finn... only we weren't on the Missisippi river.
I felt like I was walking on water, kind of ironic considering it was easter sunday. We floated down on the gentle currents dodging rocks and floating logs. It was good fun.
The end of our river journey took us to the Lisu Village. "Oh ko bo mo" hello, thank you, good bye in the local dilect. Our accomadation was similar to the other village. ABout 300 people made up this Lisu tribe. tonight there were 310.
The villagers set up there shops in a circle near our table. We could shop freely without childern tugging at your clothing this time.
LAter our guide brought out the local Moonshine, which reminded me of Korean Soju made from Yams. Potent stuff. Let's just say by the end of the night I thought I saw more then one shooting star. The stars were spinning and whirling over my head. A few of our tribe member were sick, and people stumbled over our heads in the hut with heavy feet late into the night.
Day 3
Everyone was feeling fabulous today!!! And today we ride elephants! Hannah and I named ours rebel Efelump, because he kept veering off from the line wanted to eat and tear branched from anything nearby. He also had to poop and pee alot, luckily he didn't spray us with his snot like the one in front of us did to cool everyone off.
I'm happy to say that the ride was short and before we knew it was over. And we were back in the back of the truck ready to get doused with water for the New Years celebration on the way back to Chang Mai.
NOTE: it's not a good idea to be a Farang (foreigner) in Thailand sitting in the back of a truck with no amunition for the Songran festival, because... YOU WILL GET SOAKED!!!
There were small children standing on the side of the road with buckets ready for any car who passed them. THe small towns were the most fun. THe kids were so excited to see a car that actually passed them. THey doused you with water and then laughed wildly and jumped up and down with their victory! another group of stupid "farong!!!" "HELLO!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA! THe water slapped you on the back from the inertia of the moving vehicle, "ouch! brrrrrrrrrr!" THe shiverling began as we were unable to dry ourselves form the constant ambush of water throwers. THey were using the buckets they use to flush their toliet with!!!! But we soon disovered that we could cut the bottom of our plastic water bottles and use them as water spashers, if people were nice enough to share their water. Now we had some Ammunition!
As we got closer to Chang Mai, truck loads of people wet and powdered splashed us from our backsides, we knew the drill by now- get into the crashing plane postion and cover your ears- you know the one where you put your head in you knees. Oh!~ and don't forget to close your mouth. You don't know what's in the water!
When we returned to Chang Mai, people were standing around the city moat and dousing anyone who went by them with bucket and water guns. we jumped out of our zoo cage and joined in on the wildness! soaked to the bone...
Sawadee Ka Be Mai!
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| H2O!!! Buddhist new year's |
| 04.19.04 (7:45 am) [edit] |
Here is an article from a UK website on the Songkran Festival. I was in Chang Mai during this time, I'll write more on my own experience later...
[b]Buddhist new year's bad karma leaves 139 dead[/b]
[b]By Jan McGirk in Bangkok
14 April 2004[/b]
The Mekong river's worst drought in a quarter-century does not seem to have affected supplies for the deadly, pitched waterfights that marked the Thervada Buddhist New Year yesterday for 120 million people in Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and southern China.
It is hard to escape immersion in this local custom, because the gentle rituals that symbolically washed away the old year's misfortunes on the hottest days have turned the Songkran festival into a wet and wild rite of spring across south-east Asia. Buckets, hoses, assault squirt-guns, and even the trunks of elephants are weapons for the street festivities. But there are real casualties. Thousands of them.
In tourist resorts, such as Pattaya or Khaosan road in Bangkok, teenage gangs target foreigners, smear their bodies and cars with talcum or white rice powder, and heave overpowered opponents into unsalubrious moats,and canals, or douse them in the polluted Chao Phraya river or the Andaman sea.
Because the soggy participants tend to get sloshed with alcohol, too, the road accident rate surges up. In Thailand, where unofficial festivities started last weekend, yesterday morning the traffic death toll was already 139, with nearly 10,000 injuries. Highways are jammed as families travel to reunions in outer villages or use the holiday to escape the city for a spring break. Sodden road surfaces, often slicked with traditional rice powder, become treacherous for motorcyclists, especially those not wearing helmets. Trains with open passenger windows are a favourite target.
Thai authorities, which have cracked down on youthful excess, have threatened three-month jail terms for parents of adolescents who damage property or sexually harass anyone. Water-throwing is banned after sunset. Young women have been instructed to avoid "provocative" clothing such as strapless boob-tubes or tiny skirts which allow easy groping. The atmosphere becomes like a three-day wet T-shirt contest. Shrieks and whoops echo in alleys.
"In the big cities, Songkran unleashes an ugly sexual vibe, and isn't that fun after awhile," said Cameron Cooper, editor-in-chief of Farang magazine (a Thai slang word for foreigner), with offices near the Bangkok back-packer quarter of Khaosan Road. "Bangkok is the worst."
In a poll in The Nation, a leading Thai newspaper, 85 per cent of respondents said they would cut down on Songkran splashing because of the country's severe water shortages. The government has had to seed clouds to water parched rice crops, and levels on the Mekong are at record lows.
Cambodia and Laos started year 2548 of the Buddhist era yesterday, although Thailand will not do so until 1 January, because it partially adopted the Gregorian calendar. Burma began its year 1366.
"I love it," 10-year-old Issara Paoluengtong said. "Drenching yourself in water kills the heat. I run around with my water pistol the whole day. I can't wait for Songkran."
I didn't witness any deaths/ but i did feel like i was dying after my food poisoning... or maybe it was the water they were throwing at us from the moat surrounding the old city of Chang Mai, a friend of mine saw dead rats floating in it! delicious! It was loads of fun though!
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| Buckets of nasty |
| 04.16.04 (6:50 am) [edit] |
So here's a funny one for you... last night I puked in a pharmacy while trying to buy some antibotics that would prevent me from rolfing in the store. Luckliy I brought a bucket with me which I had previosly used to douse people with water for the Thai New Year. I ran to the back of the store where I was almost attacked by 3 vicious little rat dogs, the smell of them is what set me off. outside people were dining on thai food and I was puking my brains out. I left a present behind one of the tables. mmmmmmmm
It's funny cause another of my friends (Paul that would be you) puked at the Golden Triange while we were having our photo taken. And another friend (Hannah) puked at the hill tribe village after numerous shots of moonshine. so we've all left a bit of ourselves in Northern Thailand.
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| Burmese Storm |
| 04.12.04 (8:25 pm) [edit] |
I imagined the North as the color of gray. Not a depressing dreary gray, but a colorful gray. And it was with burnt fields ready for rice crops, smoky. Different trees. Different architecture. Different faces, differnent tribes from the South.
I took a trip to the golden triangle. which consists of three countries touching along the Mekong river. A friend of mine had to do a border run to Burma up North so I joined in, along with another friend and his father... wish my pops would meet me here! ...plus I was curious to see the Burmese border crossing.
The Thai/Burmese border was a small river, with a bridge over troubled waters' as to say. Sometimes the border is closed due to attacks from the Burmese side. But today was a sunny day with loads of tourist, and travelers lining up to stamp their passports. My Passport was in Bangkok getting a Laos visa... so I stood at the most northern point in Thailand and watched the hustle and bustle of the people moving across the paved bridge.
There were monks dressed in bright orange colored robes, children begging while their mother's squatted on the brigde with dirty faces and ragged clothes, part of their pity act. THis one girl of about 3 kept coming over to me through the fence on the bridge and cupped her hand out, "Hello!" Hello!, HELLOOOOO!!!!" while her mother yelled at her telling which people to ask for money, mostly foreigners. It disgusts me when people use their childern as bait for money. The mother lazely sat there squatting in the tradional asian squat, you know the one I'm talking about, even old people 100 years old can still squat in Asia! it's facinating to me, how they still remain so limber when people back home find difficulty in getting out of chair.
Garbage drifted down the river under the bridge were small children with brown skin swam. But they were happy for a swim. A young man with gray skin watched on. He looked like people I had seen in photo's of opium addicts, in fact a lot of the people around these parts did. Opium is a big export of Burma, and with the border so close it's easily smuggled in. In fact I watched people crossing the river from the Thai side and climb throught the barb wire fence back to the Burmese side. No passports. no guards with guns, just a swim under the bridge. Things were more easily done under the bridge. meanwhile above, happy go lucky tourist walked across snapping photo's of one another crossing the bridge.
I stood at the most northern point for some time mesmorized by the sights. A blind man was led with his friend holding a cane to the river edge, forged across and helped back to the Burmese side through a barb wire fence. I tried to capture it in a photo, but how can you?
On the Thai side a group of merry men played wooden instuments and drums singing loudly with accoustic guitar. It seemed like night and day with the people crossing. Two dogs, well groomed, a St. Bernard and some fluffy white one, watched the little naked boys splashing in the water. The dogs were better kept then the children.
Over Burma the sky was a dark gray while the Thai side basked in the sunlight. The wind picked up and the rain began blowing from the North. A vicious wind, bringing rain and pellots of hail. The rain fell like a wild waterfall, and the wind umbrellas down and halted the commotion of the people while it whirled around on it's own. tree branches fell and the streets became a river. A motorcyclist shielded his face with a plastic bag waiting for the border to move again. everything was shifting and moving like a storm except the people stopping to watch nature for a moment. I love storms how they make everything wild, people laugh at nature's play outside. IT was beautiful! exciting, the rumble of the thunder and the flash of lightning. I waited safely for the others stamping their passport in the minivan watching everything in the safest place to be in a lighting storm, rubber tires!
The rain let up and I walked with a Thai boy toy who occompanied an old American man from Florida. (YucK). He led me to a Temple he discovered while waiting on the Thai side. We ran up the steps on the hill and looked out at the Burmese border town and the mountains in the distance. The clouds dissapated and life went back to it's usual self. People picking up the pieces left from the storm and drying themselves out. The air was cooler then before, a refreshing welcome to the hotness of before.
On the way back was the most surreal sight. Ice from the hail hadden fallen and looked almost like snow. next to Palm trees! People were stopped along the side of the road collecting the ice gems, they had probably never witnessed. Bizarre! and a rainbow appeared over the rice paddies and gray patchy clouds and blue sky and the north seemed more colorful. everything seemed more green and vivid. as if to say thank you for a drink, I've been quenched.
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| green tea chocolate. |
| 04.07.04 (4:48 am) [edit] |
Just listening to Ben Harper at the moment. and he sang this...
if you love someone set them free, but I would rather be trapped here with you.
don't know why but it stood out... anyways
I was sitting in the garden area of the Libra guesthouse IN Chang Mai and started talking to a British guy~ Micheal. We started off by discussing his travels in India. where he loves the chaos of it, he says coming from such an orderly country where everything is structured and then going to the chaos of India he somehow understood it. he said you just have to let it overtake you. It's not a place you can control your days, but you let the place guide you through the chaos.
He asked me if I was Canadain, which people do now as not offend North American's... it's safer that way. Why don't people just ask you where are you from, instead of trying to guess?! I told him I was from NY.
"Oh I lived there on Lexington and 31st. The most amazing city I've ever been to. There are cities, and then there is New York." yeah feel you on that one! "America is a beautiful place." yeah, I said, maning ther landscape and not the ugly man in charge.
and we talked about the shifting world power, and country borders, and the struggle of man (BUSH) to control people and close them in and make them fear what's outside of our safety box. but is it really a safety box?
America is trying to hold onto it's power but really we're living in an Autumn, I can feel it. Any major Empire, Rome, England, USA, all have had similar power struggles, colonizing other countries. I never realized how important it is to understand the history of a place to understand why the are such a way, and the system of the country. I enjoyed history when I was in school, but didn't realize the major importance of understanding it until now.
When I'm away from NYC I miss it. It's like a drug to me and I need a fix. it pulsates with an engery unmatched anywhere else. I may not have a motherland, since I'm a N European mutt, so I feel NYC is my motherland. A place of ethnic diversity, also unmatched anywhere else. The most diverse place on the earth is Jackson heights queen's. did you know?
I get a rush talking about it with someone who's been there. I need a fix from time to time. If I don't get my fix, I don't feel right. And still... even though I've seen the skyline a million times, everytime I see it... it still takes my breathaway.
I remember my drive home from Upstate New York, where I went to College , and always loved it when we got hot 97's radio signals. the smells of the subway, mmmmmm and the sound of the traffic. I could't sleep when I went home to my parents country house after living there. it was too quiet and dark. anways, I think it's cause I haven't met any of you New Yorkers out here!
...So later in the garden a women comes in with loads of luggage and exclaims'
"I don't usually travel like this, but I just quit my job"
SHe sits' down and with the last bits of her luggage and begins a kind of hysteric cry, but i'm not sure if it's from joy or anger... just the intensity of the moment. I suppose.
SHe's from Venezuala and had been living in Kyoto, for 7 years, and recently moved to Thailand for work. I like the little triangle of stranger's I suddenly meet.
Earlier I had been crying (sigh) (or Barf) with micheal because it felt good for someone to understand my country in this moment and the position it's in. also cause i missed my dad and wished he was here...(At university he majored in American Studies, people thought he was crazy, I thought it was interesting.
later I'm going to meet my friends dad who visiting him in Thailand for some father son bonding) So the event's of our meeting seemed to be rolling together, seeking advice from strangers at an opportune time. like in the book "the Alchemist", how answer's present itself, when you least expect them, or when you need them the most. Sometimes in the simplest form.
I picked a tarot card and a tiny stone with a symbol on it(NOt sure of the name but it's Gaelic) and got my answer and some fab green tea chocolate.
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| good timing. |
| 04.07.04 (4:02 am) [edit] |
All is good, I got my ATM card. I'm at the moment in a great guesthouse in Chang Mai, gearing up for the waterthrowing Thai New Year. It's such a peaceful relief from the Chaos of Bangkok. I felt as if I was constantly wandering around aimlessly there waiting for my card to arrive, waiting for my visa for Vietnam to arrive... waiting waiting. waiting, getting restless. trying to avoid the unbearable heat at all cost's but it was unavoidable. so I just sat in my sweat and waited it out. hate that feeling of waiting.
But in some sweet releif I managed to meet my Irish friend whom I met in Krabi agian. it was great to see her again before she headed off to her home. we kept running into each other on the street, perfect timing. needed her at that moment. i was starting to feel a bit stressed in Bangkok. and she was going through similiar thoughts on life and men at the moment. I love when life throws something or someone at the right time.
How could I forget! I also met two kind souls who; on their honeymoon lent me some money and let me stay in a room with them! I didn't even know they were married untill they told me on their last night out! we stayed up into the wee hours of the morning drinking, chatting and swimming with fellow travelers. thank you kind souls!
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| One night in Bangkok, just like the song! |
| 04.05.04 (11:11 pm) [edit] |
have you ever been to Patpong? Asked an older British man. nope i say with my friend Martha.
more on this later...
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| An email from Dad in NY |
| 04.01.04 (9:01 pm) [edit] |
So I lost my ATM card in Koh Lanta, and I'm waiting to recieve a new one at the moment, running out of travelers checks!!!! but I got this email from my dad, made me feel a bit better. and I'm about to call the post office yet again and see if it's there... oh what fun!
Hi Julie,
I'm feeling your urgency long distance. Left JFK @ 2:03 PM on March 30,
2004. That's the last piece of info I have. It is now
Thursday night at 7:45, April 1. No fooling. I hopr
you get the card, NOW.
If I have to send you money by Western Union, where
will I send it to. I have to find out how to do it.
Someone at the library said I can do from Waldbaum's
in Mattituck. I hope you're not out of money, going
hungry, and having to resort to panhandling the
streets? If you are, maybe it's time to come home. I
hope not. Your travel adventures sound great. How's
your writing skills. I only hope you are able to put
everything in writing that you are experiencing. Your
perspctive on things, the sub-culture you are in {the
backpakers of Asia} are so foreign and need
description on this side of the world. Julie, you are
so far ahead of me in experiencing people, places and
experiences. You have to write out to the best of your
ability.
I'm so confused as a parent. I envy you and your
ablity to take risks and to explore the wonders of
this world... all its diversities. I also am very
concerned about your welfare, your financial,
physical,mental and emotional state. It's been two
months plus since I have last seen you. I miss you
terribly, think of you constantly, envy you for the
wonderful things you have seen and done, and wonder
when you will come to a place that speaks the same
language and settle into a life of security. Will you
ever. Part of me says I hope not. I love living
vicariously through your experiences and part of me
says I hope you grow out of the wunderlust stage and
get real with life. What does getting real with life
mean? I don't know. I hope it means someplace close
(West Coast is closer if thats the destination}.
Enough of my ramblings
. I hope you get the ATM package. I love you and miss
you Love Dad
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