From Pai to Koh Pha Ngan

Made it down from Pai to Chiang Mai, where I had 3 hours to kill before taking the sleeper bus (overnight) to Bangkok. I had arranged to meet John Schmidt, a friend of my friend Gretchen back in Austin. I've never met John but seeing as he is from Austin we both thought it would be nice to meet someone from the home town, so to speak. Having failed twice to meet each other the last two times I passed through Chiang Mai (for various reasons), this meeting seemed like it was going to happen. However, it was pouring rain on the day (26th Dec) and John couldn't make it into town on his motorbike to visit me. So we have now agreed to arrange NOT to meet next time both of us are in the same country. That way, we will be presumably guaranteed to see each other.

Chiang Mai to Bkk by sleeper bus ("VIP") is a journey begun in apprehension, ignorance and fear - you turn up at the tour operator's office, wait to be transported to an undisclosed location to get on the bus, and there is no knowing ahead of time (no matter what they promise) whether the chairs will recline/ you'll have a blanket to cover you/ water to drink/ curtains on the windows to block out the passing street lights, et c. The booking agents have the benefit (for them) of little "Engrish" so they'll say 'yes' to whatever you ask. You could ask if you will have your own private bar, masseuse and sauna on the bus and they'd give you the same inordinately bored look and response that they do to every question: "yeysss, hah prywet bah/ mass-ah/ sow-nah"...

So, it was with trepidation that I mounted the sang-thaew (covered pickup truck used for most public transport journeys around cities) along with about 6 people too many for the space there was, and was taken off to the "VIP" bus. Now, there is a lot of debate among travellers as to what 'VIP' stands for. (certainly doesn't stand for Very Important Person, as it typically does). In my opinion it stands for Varying Idioms of Passage or Vehicle In Progress. In fact the second option describes it best, in a truthful manner: it is a vehicle, and for most of the time it IS in progress. That is, when it is not stopped to visit the driver's aunty(s) coffee shop en route/ refuel/ stop for the driver to pick up some smokes et c.
The bus is a double decker, so bags go in on the ground floor, and there is the driver's cockpit - as such - a toilet and sometimes a few seats downstairs also.

I was blessed with 2 seats to myself on the upper deck, but having been promised recliner seats I can tell you that the last time the 40-year-old seat holding up my bum had reclined successfully was many years ago. I spent an uncomfortable 12 hours on those 2 seats (unlike most of my fellow passengers who passed the night on one), subjected to Thai karaoke on the bus television for approximately 2 hours at one point. Why they would put Karaoke on in the middle of the night while people are (making their best attempt at) sleeping is anyone's guess and why it would be in Thai, given that ALL the passengers were falang (foreign) is beyond comprehension. I personally think it is the Thai sense of humour and no doubt they were doubled up in stitches downstairs in the cockpit of the bus....! I kind of hope they were - it would be a shame if all that hilarity was for nothing.

Arrived in Bkk at 5am and had to kill time until a decent time (8am or so) when my regular guesthouse would be open. Went for coffee with a lovely Australian woman and then dragged myself to Villa Guest house. A sight for sore, tired eyes.

After spending 36 hours in Bangkok (which in my 'umble opinion is more than enough) I hit off on another 14 hour, overnight Very Impotent Passenger bus to Surat Thani; From there I would take the ferry back over to Koh Pha Ngan to spend new year's eve with my friends Pam and Nipa. I spent my first 10 days of travelling here so I thought this would be a great way to 'bookend' the trip.

Many travellers had warned me about the VIP buses having one of their 'drivers' stashed in the luggage compartment so that over the course of the 12 hour journey he can leisurely go through all the bags, removing valuables, equipment, passports, et c. Well it's true. I had nothing in particular of value in my rucksack but it had very clearly been dug through when I got it back at the dropoff point at Surat Thani. It was 6am and with only one hour of sleep behind me (and behind most of the other passengers too, judging by the vacant stares), we were not the sharpest in terms of checking our luggage. An hour had passed before I looked into my bag for an item I needed. It was then I realised that my bag had been rifled through. The straps were all done up again, carefully concealing the (potential) damage and when I looked inside the top of my rucksack, both drawstrings were undone and the strap was unfastened. Thankfully there was nothing of value in my pack to thieves. Other people weren't as lucky - one woman (seriously, what was she thinking?!) had her passport in her rucksack - yes, in the luggage compartment! - and that was now gone. The bus had driven off as soon as they had unloaded passengers and bags so there was no complaining that could be done. Equally, the tour operators book with the bus companies so they have no responsibility for what goes on on the bus.

Travellers be warned!

Back in Pai

Och

I'm back in Pai - primarily to spend some more time with my good friend Willow, and to reclaim a bag of items I left here with him. I had planned 3 days here prior to heading south for Christmas but then the Pai bug caught me ...and I caught it (a cold that is). I ended up staying here until the 26th December. Pai is an easy town to get stuck in and a nice one to get stuck in at that. The town apparently has 'lay lines' converging here, which accounts for its very tangible energy. It is a noticeably relaxed place, with many people coming here for a few days and staying for a few weeks/ months/ even years! Willow arrived here shortly after 9/11 (that was the last straw, as he said) for a few days and never left. He is a joy to be with and I truly feel like I have fulfilled some higher purpose in my life simply by getting to spend time with him. I feel the same way while studying for the certificate in Permaculture Design earlier this year - every moment was precious, a happiness unto itself, with the knowledge that my brain was awakening in areas I never knew existed. Sitting with and speaking to Willow is like that for me - his 78 years of experience, thought and reflection are an absolute learning curve for me and fill me with enthusiasm and happiness.

I'm staying at Mae Hen bungalows - they are made of wood which is important at this time of year, when the nights get quite cold (too cold to be in a flimsy - but pretty - bamboo hut), such that I have contracted a sticky cold (i.e. it's sticking and won't leave me). The 'hot' shower is actually no more than luke warm so I haven't figured out yet how to take a shower without further depressing my immune system....however, I did hit the hot springs the other day which were delightful.

Contrary to Lonely Planet (which by the way, I advise everyone to ditch - I've had a number of really shitty experiences as a result of their 'advice'), the Tha Pai camping hot springs were awful; they no longer do the mud wraps and facials which I was looking forward to, nor do they have a hot pool. It is, in fact, less than lukewarm and judging from the amount of human skin and other unidentifiable debris floating in it, I can only guess that the last time they cleaned out the pool was 1992. Within 60 seconds of getting into this - what can only be accurately described as - human soup, I exited, asked for my money back (which I got) and headed off to the origin of the hot springs, in the national park up the road. I paid 4 times as much to go in there (still only $6) and it was worth it - I sat in one of many shored-up hot pools which ran like a daisy chain along the stream of hot water, surrounded by clean air, tall trees, blue skies and sunshine. It was delightful. And hot.

I'm still working on getting over this cold and hopefully that will be my Christmas present.

Groundhog day in Vientiane, Laos

Wow folks,

It's been way too long without an entry - apologies for the delay. I spent 4 weeks in Laos after all, and ended up having a 'groundhog day' experience for 9 days running in the capital: Vientiane. For you Europeans, Groundhog day is a USA 'holiday' and a movie where Bill Murray's character ends up experiencing the same day over and over again....

Met so many great people in Laos - it made up for the absence of traveller friends in Thailand throughout September and October: Owen and Hannah from Galway; Anton from Holland; Nicola and Jodie from Scotland; Kim, Mal 'n' Barb from Australia, Rory from Monaghan, Tricia from London...all fabulous folks each of whom I was sorry to say goodbye to. I can only look forward to seeing you all again! Anyhow, the slowboat along the Mekong is THE place to make friends on your way into Laos, so ignore the chumps and DO it!

In Vientiane, I arrived with Mal 'n' Barb. Checked into Douang Deuane hotel for a whopping $20 per night but did so as I was gagging for a bath. It's been 3 months since I've enjoyed the timeless necessity of a bath and really, the whole cold shower thing had long lost it's adventurous flavour. I luxuriated in my bath for a whole 20 minutes and was quite surprised (and pleased in a way) to see that I left a ring of grime around the tub afterwards!

Vientiane as a city is not remarkable. There are a couple of things to keep the tourist busy - That Luang, a huge, gold stupa situated on a high point in the city; Victory Monument, built in 1957 (similar to the Arc de Triomphe but in Khmer style) by the French; the national museum (which I'm ashamed to say I never made it to in 9 days...) and various wats (temples) around the place. The big draw is the Mekong river, across which you can see Thailand. Having said goodbye to Mal and Barbara, who headed south, I now had Anton from Holland and Dominic from Melbourne to hang out with and hang out we did! We went up to a rooftop bar each evening to see the sunset across the Mekong (photos included here) river and ended up going for dinner and then beers until curfew time (midnight) each evening. When Dominic had left (sob!), Owen and Hannah came along. Owen's grandfather and my Dad were both in the UN armed Peacekeeping forces in the Congo in the early 1960's, and as it turned out, knew each other! Ireland is a small country as you can see....

Owen and Hannah are two of life's good people and so we ended up hanging out for a few days in Vientiane together. I couldn't get enough of their company. Equally, Jodie and Nicola were wonderful company and it was easy to while away the hours with any and all of them. Between the three of us, Anton and few others, we kept ourselves well happy and entertained. Needless to say, the same thing occurred every day - ambled around the city by bike during the afternoon, met for sunset in the rooftop bar at 5pm; took photos of sunset; easy conversation poured forth endlessly and the rate of beer consumption almost matched that. Dinner was had, a select bar would be visited and then we all made it home to our respective guesthouses by midnight (mostly!). Only to begin again the next day....

I finally broke away on the 8th of December and made my way back up to Vang Vieng (successfully avoiding the endless re-runs of Friends and the alcohol-fuelled tubing) to explore more caves for a couple of days. Some of the most gorgeous scenery exists here in Laos. Flat rice fields punctuated by dramatic sheer, limestone towers in which have been eroded hundreds of karst caves, many of which are fabulously explorable without the necessity of a guide.

Caving in Vang Vieng, Laos

OK - off to explore some caves today with my latest travelling buddies, Mal and Barbara from Australia. We got a tuk-tuk out to Than Nam (River Cave), 13 km away from the alcoholic frenzy in town, and went into 3 caves which are impossible to find without a guide. One presented himself to us when we arrived at the first cave (unremarkable) and without negotiating a price, he just wandered off and motioned us to follow him. Which we did. To the second cave where he wanted 20,000 kip per person per cave. Now, $1 is 8,400 kip (just to calm you down!) so this is not an inordinate amount, but this is what we coloquially refer to in Ireland as 'fleecing the tourist'. So we gave him 15,000 kip for bringing us to the second cave (as we wouldn't have found it without him) and said 'goodbye'.

This cave was stunning - walked for an hour inside and still didn't get to the end (where apparently there is a swimming pool underground!) with our own torches. These caves are totally untouched - no lights, no guides, no bloody souvenir shops - deadly! It was a real thrill to be navigating our own way (easily!) through these huge caves without the constant drone of a spotty teenager repeating the same dull, uninspired script that they have rattled off for 200 days in a row: " anontheleft we have a formationthawecall 'Lincoln's nose' causeilookslie Lincoln's nose. Ifuwakkuphere abidfurthur, we have the 'potato' formation. That's called the 'potato' formation causeilookslie a potato....ma'am, MA'AM, I SAID DON'T TOUCH THE WALLS!!!" et c. (this script is taken directly from the caves south of Austin).

Have managed to give myself piles (how does one do that??) and had to go to the pharmacy here in Vang Vieng in Laos - a country where 80% of their roads are unpaved, need I remind you?! - and ask for cream for hemorrhoids. That in itself was hilarious, embarassing and self-admiration-inducing, but when I managed to get myself understood and got the cream home I found the instructions were written in Laos (of course - what else would they be written in, duh!), so then had to go to the internet cafe and in FULL PUBLIC VIEW google 'HEMORRHOID CREAM' to find out how to use it! Argh!!!Needless to say I am leaving town tomorrow. On the 5am bus.
Before anyone sees me.

Laos is WOW!

Yikes - where to begin? (At the beginning dimwit!)

Arrived in Laos by crossing the Mekong river almost 2 weeks ago (not by myself - a boat brought me over), and have been in love with this country since getting here. Spent 2 days on a slow boat down the Mekong to arrive in Luang Prabang, a UN -designated World Heritage Site (for cultural value). LP is adorable - old French colonial buildings in a small town on the banks of the Mekong. In fact, we passengers didn't even realise we had arrived, it is practically invisible from the river. The first thing that greeted us on arrival is the Royal Palace, which had been thus placed originally to be accessible to visiting dignitaries. Now this tells you something about these people already - that they have a tradition of making other people feel welcome and comfortable. And this is the truth - these people are welcoming, gentle, quite shy, but immensely kind. They do not bargain (unlike Thais and Cambodians in the open air markets) and when some westerners get here they start haggling, having gotten used to it in other SE Asia countries. It is shocking to see people [who haven't even bothered to read the couple of pages on cultural do's and don'ts in Lonely Planet] haggling over 50 cents with someone who has spent three months handsewing a quilt and is selling it for a mere $30. Good God! I want to intervene sometimes to explain to the foreigners what they are doing.... it's sickening.

In Laos, 80% of the roads are unpaved; in some areas 1 in 3 children dies from malaria (this was told to me by a Laos trekking guid who had wonderful English) and the vast majority of income is generated from tourism. THere are signs of sustainable tourism, which supports local villagers and orphans but overall, the commercial boom has begun in Laos although it still could be diverted from creating yet another overcommercial tourist trade here. If you want to get the real flavour of Laos, read the travel book by Dervla Murphy (an Irish travel writer who has been writing for 40 years). SHe came here 10 years ago in her 60s and cycled the country for 3 months with a gammy ankle! Fabulous book as she stayed in the remoter areas with villagers and really got a feel for the people.

I headed to Vang Vieng after spending 5 days in LP (rolling around in bed for one day with period pain), and Vang Vieng originally was attractive to backpackers because there are so many beautiful hikes and caves to explore. However, it now has become the worst den of iniquity I have ever had the misfortune to stumble across. It now attracts thousands of young, alcoholic tourists who do nothing more than go 'tubing' (ahem) every day. They don't of course tube. Tubing involves getting into an inner tire tube and floating down a river leisurely for the day.

This involves sitting in a tube for 20 feet of water and then getting out at the first of 8 bars on the river, each one of them pumping Techno noise (I refuse to call it 'music' - the shite they were playing here is nothing more than loud percussion with lots of noise distortion to accompany it) and surprisingly hundreds of people waving around to it as if it were enjoyable. Now you can call me old, but truly, the whole experience would be 200% more enjoyable if they played some decent music, chilled out funk music, or even some Dylan, Bowie, Beatles (for classic good music and lyrics), Sigur Ros, Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance and Royskopp (for the psychedelic touch), et c....

At the bars, people drink buckets of liquor. No. Literally. Buckets. I have seen them with my own eyes, and they are shaped like a bucket, constructed like a bucket and utterly resemble a bucket in every way. (Kiddies' beach buckets that is). So people get tanked pretty quickly on these things and of course, when climbing over rocks to get to and from the bars as well as swinging off ropes and trapezes, there are a few casualties here every year. I met one girl who had 5 stitches in her chin as well as half her cheek missing - surprise surprise! She had been tubing the previous day!

Cambodian people, Siem Reap

Siem Reap! It's a tourist town without doubt due to the proximity of the city to AngKor Wat, one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world.

I've managed to hit rainy season here also although the rain doesn't last long (it's like a Texas downpour for 5 - 30 minutes). Spent the first 3 days wandering around the town, getting sucked into buying stuff at the market for a ridiculous price. The cost of goods here at the open air markets (this is standard shopping for Asia; malls are a recent arrival and have NONE of the flow, personality, cconviviality, human-ness and fun of these wonderful markets. Bring 'em to America and Europe I say!) is shockingly cheap - I felt bad paying $2 for a beautiful hand-dyed cloth bag, having haggled her down from $3 (by haggle I merely suggested a lower price, which is how they do things here)! Anyhow, bought more than I had budgeted for but the bargains were irresistible!

Tricia and I checked into a room together - making sure it was locally owned and not one of the huge, foreign-owned places - which we use for nothing but sleeping which is just as well as there are 2 beds, a hatstand and a bedside table in there and nothing else! However, it is clean and has both a fan and an extractor fan (to remove hot air, which we are both capable of producing in equal amounts). We also have our own bathroom with cold water shower (standard in Asia; hot water and air conditioning cost up to twice as much and really are not needed unless you're a total softy!). All for a silly $3 each per night!!! Why would ynyone stay at the (boring, dead, lifeless) Holiday Inn for God's sake? Unless of course you were completely numb to the world....

Eating out is equally cheap - $3 - 5 for a beautiful dinner of lak lok or amok, both Cambodian (or Khmer, as they prefer to be called) dishes. Khmer cuisine is delicious - less chilli and more variety of spices and herbs used. Coconut milk is widely in use (50 cents for a fresh young coconut to be cut open for you and a straw inserted at the market!) in dishes and desserts as in Thailand. Many restaurants in Siem Reap are owned by foreigners (argh! makes me so mad!) so we made sure to eat at the family owned Khmer restaurants (which had the best Khmer food anyway), so we knew our money was going directly to the Cambodians and not to some rich bastard in the USA or England.

Tricia and I went out one night for a dinner and free Khmer dance show which was actually really beautiful. The Cambodians are without exception the loveliest, kindest people I have ever come across. I know that is quite a statement to make, but once you come here (and you would be crazy not to, given the beauty, ridiculous affordability of the place and the child-friendliness you will see for yourself. I found myself behaving in a kinder, softer way also - it rubs off on you! Khmers and Thais adore children, and treat them with sincere love and kindness - no doubt a product of their Buddhist culture, so family travel is super easy here from what I've heard. Travelling with children in SE Asia immediately ingratiates you with the locals and they easily interact sweetly with babies and children of all ages, even playing with children while parents choose from a menu.

Given the history of their country (see the movie "the Killing Fields" for reference), it is mind-blowing to see the kind and courteous way they behave and treat each other and visitors to their country. 2 million people were tortured and killed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. Unspeakable brutality was experienced by them, so to see that they came out of that untold genocide with their hearts and souls intact is nothing short of a miracle.

They are so courteous it would be easy to delude yourself into thinking that you were somehow superior to these people (they 'sompeah' to you as a greeting - hands in prayer position in front of the nose and bow at the waist), and they do everything to avoid conflict. It is considered very poor form to get angry (to 'lose face') or get irritated with anyone, so you never hear shouting/ raised voices/ harsh words on the street, which actually makes for a very nice interaction with everyone - you can be guaranteed that nobody will get angry with you in Cambodia (and therefore , as a guest in their beautiful country, you should never be so discourteous as to get angry with them either).

Cambodia is the 5th poorest country in the world (according to GDP, gross domestic product, but remember, GDP considers such things as crime and prisons as a boost to the economy! It's not a measure of wealth rather than a measure of how much paper money is circulating in a country. TRUE wealth is measured in terms of happiness, comfort and standard of living after all) and you can see the poverty everywhere. I happened to walk along the river one day, taking a different route home from a Buddhist monastery (95% of Cambodians are Theravada Buddhists, i.e. of the sort of Buddhism which I studied in Suan Mokh), and ended up wandering through a ramshackle collection of huts on stilts in a very VERY muddy area. The huts had enough room for a path around them and not much else. Areas under the huts are used to store the few belongings these people have (there is virtually no crime in Cambodia - there is nothing of value worth stealing), such as woven bamboo baskets and containers of various shapes, as well as bicycles (no locks), dogs and firewood. In Europe or the USA I would be guaranteed not to make it out alive from such an area of poverty. In Siem Reap, I was greeted by a man who had lost both arms and had lacerations across his abdomen (no doubt from a land mine going off in his hands) who asked me in very good English where I needed to go. He was barefoot and smiling at me. Cambodians smile all the time - at each other and at tourists. "Duek" had been a police officer at one point in time (after the Khmer Rouge era) and while I refrained from asking him about his lack of arms - which would have been horribly insensitive and intrusive - I asked him if he lived here, which he did. He showed me how to get back out to the main (paved) street, and waved me goodbye with a genuine smile. On the way children smiled at me and asked me where I was from (in English). I never felt anything other than gentle welcome from these people and did not get the impression they spent their days in bitter regret that they had virtually no belongings. (Lesson....?)

I later saw Duek around Siem Reap selling books about Cambodia (many are written about the Khmer Rouge (meaning the 'Red Cambodians' or Communist Khmer era, about which I'll write a separate entry - too much to include here), and at night he sat with other landmine amputees who played (really nice!) traditional music on the street and sold CDs. Each time he saw me he waved to me and called out my name.

Journey to Siem Reap, Cambodia

From Bangkok, a fellow retreatant and I took an airconditioned (barely) bus to Aranyah Prathet near the Cambodia border with Thailand. Not the area where the fighting is breaking out (a mere 4.6km square is what they are fighting over - pathetic territorial claims) but further south.

The bus was fine, cost BHT370 each (over $10). Got a tuk-tuk (picture of which I will get up here some day....@#$!) to the border from the station and then walked across. Paid $30 for the visa in Cambodia and then walked into their country. What greeted us?... - the first thing you see is a huge roundabout surrounded by a mud road with ruts up to 2 feet deep in places. There was easily 100 tuk-tuk and truck drivers sitting/ standing around, looking hard and shouting at us to take their transport. They approached us quite insistently (not quite aggressively) and said "where you go-eeng?" . We told them Siem Reap. One guy latched onto us earlier on while we were filling out our visa forms at the Cambodian border and was trying to get us to pay him 2,000 BHT ($66) to get on the back of a pickup truck (which already was full with 5 passengers and huge bags!) for the 150 km drive. We decided to go further into the (awful) town of Poi Pet even though it was getting dark at this point. Another man approached and offered himself and his Camry for $200 (!!) which we scoffed at (prices here are relative, you must remember). I finally bargained him down to $100, but only after 20 minutes of haggling with his friend (the guy who wanted to get us on the truck in the first place), and after the 3 of us - we picked up a 22 year old American from the bus to travel with us to Siem Reap - walking away from him. He obviously knew there were better deals where we were headed and so dropped his price as soon as we turned away.

On the road to Siem Reap, parts of the way are paved, parts are not. Some were pretty rough, and after we had passed numerous trucks (personal sized trucks, to give you Americans some idea of scale, with sides on the back), overloaded with passengers and cargo, we were delighted to have paid $33 each for this trip, to be safe inside a good car. Passengers on the trucks are subject to endless dust, storms, rain, and incessant noise from honking cars, trucks, articulated lorries, motorcycles and buses. There is no nedian strip painted on the road, not to mind any other decorations (such as road signs/ speed signs/ cat's eyes, et c.), so it is literally a free-for-all, with trucks overtaking motorbikes, overtaking cars, overtaking bicycles and pedestrians. Nuts!

1.5 hours into the trip we stopped in a town, in a dark, deserted market square where 8 men approached us from different directions, looking quite menacing. Our driver said nothing as he stepped out of the car and greeted these strangers. Inside the car, my thoughts began to race as I tried to make sense of these men now gathered around our car and bending down to lookn in at us. I asked Tricia and Jamie if either of them had a weapon - between us we could have 6 fists. After a few minutes the men moved away and after 10 gruelling minutes of worrying and fretting, the driver came back with the men. One of them leaned in and gave us some badly garbled English words - along the lines of 'driver...my fazzer....driver....my fazzer...you go to Siem Reap?" which didn't make sense but at least he was speaking to us. Turned out the driver had to pick up his son and another man who jammed into the front seat together. I didn't see them pay anything - harumph! They turned around to face us, staring and laughing at us (again, not the most comfortable of situations when we didn't know what exactly was going on), and we took off.

About 15 minutes into the remainder of the journey (it takes 4 hours as the road is paved for sections only), the new guys took out a mini dvd player and proceeded to serenade us with Cambodian, lovesick 'pop' music. Free entertainment - wuhoo! (joke)
By about the 16th song (and there is a reason the music has not made it across the Pacific - it's dreadful!), just as we were about to breach the limits of sanity, Tricia recognised the tune of the song that was playing - it was the Cambodian version of John Lennon's 'Imagine'! We were delirious with karaoke by then so we began to sing along in English. The guys up front thought this was great altogether and so they stopped the dvd and reset it to the karaoke version! (i.e. Cambodian words on the screen, background music and no singer) for our benefit. We belted it out as best we could (sorry Jamie!) and gave them the real version.

Finally arrived in Siem Reap at 10.30pm, very glad that we had taken the car rather than a truck (as the roads were so bad) and booked into a hostel for a mere $3 per night each (private room with bathroom!).

Silent Retreat at Suan Mokh Monastery

HI folks!

just back from a 10 day silent retreat at a Buddhist monastery. The retreat was profound - grounded me back in reality - I had gotten lost over the past few years. Feel like I'm back in my own skin and also feel like I'll go much deeper over the next while as I only scraped the surface.

The retreat was astonishing - in terms of money alone (which is not what the Buddhist monks are interested in anyway....- it was 30 Euro/ 45 dollars for 11 days accommodation and meals as well as instruction and daily access to a beautiful hot spring on the grounds of this forest monastery! The instruction was beyond my wildest expectations, crowned by the eloquence of Thun Dhammavidu, an English monk who has the intellectual grasp of Buddhism which allows him to present in scientific and logical terms what it is really all about (calming the mind; realising in CONCRETE terms the impermanence of everything and, of all the suffering we cause ourselves by thinking things to death and over-attaching emotionally to people and things).

The grounds were peaceful, filled with wildlife (18-inch blue and grey geckos, a monitor lizard - at least it was as big as one; about 4 feet - numerous species of frogs, toads, birds, 2 large fish ponds stocked with fish; snakes, scorpions and even the mandatory pussy cats) which was astounding to see up so close, and I saw every sunset and sunrise for the 11 days there.

We were woken from our concrete beds (with wooden pillow!) at 4am by the tolling of a large resonant bell and if this sounds like torture, it was actually very easy to get used to - slept like a log the first night and thereafter! The retreat was short a yoga instructor, so I volunteered my services (with the caveat that I was not trained to instruct) and that gave me a reason to get up every morning to teach yoga for 90 minutes at 5am to the 35 women on the retreat. [Men had their own instructor. ] I enjoyed the teaching although some mornings it was tiring, but given the number of women who approached me yesterday (our departure day from Suan Mokh) to thank me and recommend I change career, I have begun to think....hmmm!

The food was vegetarian and very good; meals were served communaly and chores were shared thereafter. Most of the day was spent in 30 - 45 minute periods of sitting, walking and standing meditation with 3 'dhamma' talks (instruction) each day. Bathing in the hot springs turned into a spa event each evening (!) for us women (again men and women were segregated for this which was a relief), and even though everyone maintained absolute silence throughout the entire retreat, we all managed a lot of communication with our eyes, smiles and facial expressions. It was an eye opener and utterly enjoyable to not be in verbal communication with anyone for the 10 days. Everyone remarked on how relaxing and peaceful it was. There was no pressure to 'perform' or put forward a personality/ face as many of us do in daily life, sometimes without realising. Having the power of speech taken away was a relief in many ways and allowed one a generous helping of privacy and the ability to TRULY retreat into oneself (hence the name of the activity!).

Will definitely go back for another retreat before I leave SE Asia and am thinking a once-yearly excursion here might be in order for me. Suan Mokh monastery in Chaiya is the location. One of the world's most famous Buddhist monks, Buddhadhasa Bhikku, re-established the monastery here in the 1950s ( I think). He was one of the most understood and prolific scholars in Buddhism in the past 1,000 years and was held in high regard by scholars of all theologies and philosophies up until his death in 1993.

I'm off to AngKor Wat in Cambodia next, in a couple of days with a fellow retreatant from Canada. Then back here and up north to Chiang Mai.

Koh Pha Ngan - paradise on an island

I arrived in Koh Pha Ngan 2 days ago, after travelling by sleeper train (highly recommend this - slept most of the way) where I met an English 'bloke' called Robert who was heading off to do a 7 day detox fast/ cleanse. That got us started on a pretty in-depth conversation about tactics and options for detoxing. Probably would have bored most people to depth but I found it fascinating!

A bus (on which I met 2 Irish fellas from Coolock!) picked us up from the train station & brought us to the boat. The crossing to Koh Samui ('Koh' means 'island') and then Koh Pha Ngan was long enough for me to get burnt to a nice crimson (through clouded skies of course) by the time we arrived. I decided to go to Haad Rin at first (Hat Rin - Hat means 'beach') which is famous for full moon parties (basically buckets of booze until dawn), but to the quiet side, as Hat Rin is more populated than other parts of the island. I had hoped to meet fellow travellers there. Stayed one night which was long enough to find out how commercial it was (akin to Koh San Road - see second blog entry) and left yesterday to travel north to Ao Thong Nai Pan Noi beach (noi means 'little). I settled into a bungalow at the very end of this idyllic beach and have been happily lounging here. I'll plan on staying here for a few more days as I bumped into one of the most colourful characters I have ever come across - "Mr. Blue". He is a 50-something engineer/ ship's captain who works 6 months and plays 6 months. When he plays he is an outrageous exhibitionist (to the point where his piercing was hanging out of his swimming trunks.....if you get my drift...). Mr. Blue, I and Sylvan (from Montreal) have got our own little gang going for now. The one complaint we have is that the whole island is populated almost exclusively with couples!!!!WDF?? (Whatdefuck?) Blue said that a couple of years ago it was all single backpackers and it was great fun - now it's just dowdy thirty-something couples sitting alone at their boring tables, providing no entertainment for the rest of us (how thoughtless of them....!). Argh! Seems like I won't be meeting many backpackers until I head north into Chiang Mai.

Off to go snorkelling today, so hopefully will get some good piccies. I snorkelled the Pan Noi beach yesterday and it is shocking how much dead coral there is. I snorkelled for a good mile along the shoreline hoping that the further away from the beach I got (and thus away from the sewage) the cleaner the water would get and the more coral would be visible. It never changed. Visibility was less than 5 feet, the sediment layer on all the dead corals is CLEARLY from greywater/ sewage seepage off the beaches. It is a bloody disgrace. They could have snorkelling trips in their own back yards if they just cleaned up the sewage problem. I am reluctant to put my head underwater at this point having seen what is in there with a snorkel and mask.

The compounding problem with the sewage is that there is virtually uncontrolled building - huge concrete resorts RIGHT ON THE BEACH!!! for god's sake... and no sewage rules as far as I can gather. These behemoths are eating up local resources, will drive up prices for food, bottled water, everything, and the locals will pay the cost so that the rich owners of these insults to Nature can accumulate more money. And for what? So they can bring it with them when they die? What a dreadful waste of Nature's bounty just so one person can feed their greed.....

Moves to an old part of town and the Grand Palace in Bangkok

Moved to a much better hostel yesterday. I had booked into a quiet, cheap place off of Khao San road, as Jeroen had recommended the area for easy access to internet cafes, travel centres, et c. Cost was B200 (baht) per night which is outrageously cheap (6 bucks or so) but the bed was nearly the size of the room, and the location near to Khao San road [KSR] (backpackers' supposed haven...uck!) was not what I would call 'fun'...non-stop being shouted at to get a tuk-tuk ride/ buy something/ eat somewhere/ have a massage; I didn't like KSR at all; the Thais working there were completely jaded by tourists and it was all one big money grab - not my scene, by a long shot.

I had to move and found a GEM of a hostel called Villa, which was only 50 baht more expensive per night (i.e. $1.50) but it is a colonial, teak-wooden house on a quiet alley with a garden! The room is furnished with antiques, has a huge window and a fan from the 1930s (I'm not kidding!!! the fan works a treat - smoother and quieter than the other piece of modern crap in KSR)...I am in heaven! It has made me realise that the aesthetics of my surroundings are very important to me. Had my first good night's sleep since I arrived here, and I fully attribute it to the 'energy' or atmosphere of the place. Couldn't stop beaming for near to an hour when I found it and moved in! I love this place and already am making plans to use this as my hub when travelling north and south in Thailand. I can't believe they charge so little to stay at this living relic of history. It doesn't have A/C or hot water or a TV or internet, but who the hell needs all that crap anyway? I'm not here to watch an electric box flash marketing messages at me (that's called hell-o-vision), nor do I need A/C; it's typically 28 C most days so far and then the afternoon monsoon cools everything back down again.

So much more to say - could go on for hours about so many details I've noticed since I got here, like the profusion of old, white, wrinkled, grey-haired men and their (20-year old) Thai 'dates' (ahem) - most of them women(!). Had my first Thai massage and went for another today - got an even better woman today, who was amazed that she couldn't twist my body by 180 degrees (I don't know the Thai words for 'endometriotic lesions' or 'organs cemented together by internal bleeding each month' so I just smiled at her). I'll go back to her again.

Haven't made any friends yet but its kind of hard given that most travellers I have so far crossed paths with have another traveller attached to their hip (couples mostly...BORING!!). Yawn, so yes, do tell me more about your boyfriend/ girlfriend....how fascinating...no, please, I insist you tickle each others tonsils in front of me - that's most thoughtful of you to include me in this adorable public display of mutual ownership......

Paid a visit to the Grand Palace (or 'palais' en Francais...) today which is not possible to describe in mere words...even as I snapped photos left, right, centre, above and below me of all the mind-blowing, colourful, ornate works of craftsmanship on every surface around me, I realised the futility of my attempts to capture even a whisper of the beauty, devotion and love that is embodied in these incredible buildings. The Emerald Buddha was tiny - 3 feet high (for some reason I thought it would be huge, but then how big can one emerald be, I guess...?!) but perched atop a 40 -foot pyramid of a cast of gold, supporting bodhisattvas, enlightened beings and creatures. The whole room was pure gold, so I turned to the walls to rest my eyes only to be assaulted by even more artistry (damn them!) - murals of minute, intricate detail on every square inch of the 100 foot high walls...Michaelangelo, eat your wimpy Italian heart out!

Landed!...First Impressions of Bangkok

Hi folks!



I made it!



After the first take-off from SFO, we were diverted to Vancouver due to engine trouble (not the most relaxing thing to hear the pilot announce - casually at that!). that set me back one day but it was spent dozing in a gorgeous comfy bed in a great hotel in Vancouver, watching some (good quality) Canadian tv and lounging.



I finally boarded the plane that was to deliver me to Asia at 1am and we took off at 2am. Cathay Pacific know how to treat the customers - already I had a very good idea of how courteous, friendly and genuine Asians are according to my interactions with staff on board and with fellow passengers.



By the time I arrived in Hong Kong, I already had a friend in Vietnam, a friend in Guang Zhou in China (who gave me her phone # and an offer of a place to stay!) as well as a friend in Chiang Mai in Thailand (with phone # too) - believe me, I would like to think all these people were touched by my with, charm and repartee in order to be so generous but I have to admit it is simply the Asian way - we Westerners have no idea about what 'civilisation' is!



The drive into the HI Sukhumvit hostel by bus was astounding - what a mixture of evidence of greedy western economics and the beauty (albeit comparative poverty) of Thai living. I was treated to 27 miles of highway which was peppered by the most gargantuan billboards I have ever seen in my life - most were an estimated 60 feet high by 400 feet wide. The largest was an estimated 100 feet high by 700 wide.....unbelievable.....for Samsung. Contrasting with these ugly behemoths were traditional Thai dwellings (soon to be erased to make way for venture capitalists who finance hotel chains like the Marriott, HOliday Inn, et c no doubt...) surrounded by marsh land. A stronger contrast I can't imagine.

The food here has been amazing so far - most of it purchased on the street from vendors (shriek! the USA consulate would have a mickey fit if they knew!). I should be dead by now according to their travel advisories, having eaten from the street vendors!

I was out on Sukhumvit this morning hunting for breakfast - I bought a handful of tiny bananas for 20 cents (US), a half pound of oranges for one dollar and a bag of sticky rice buns doused in soy sauce, fish sauce, chilli and dried shrimp for 50 cents. Much of the food sold by street vendors comes in a little clear plastic bag and can be accompanied by a variety of tiny little bags of various dressings/ additions to the meal. Not the most environmentally friendly but this is of course a disposable society just like our own.

there is a huge photography exhibition going on called Earth from Above until the end of Sept. I'll probably try to get to that and also keep my eye out for other environmental interests.

Ciao for now~!