I am sitting in the same lounge I arrived in three months ago to the day in Hong Kong. The person I was before is no more and the person I am, has become. In the end, I feel, we are all in a state of becoming and this makes each moment worth savoring. It is easy to forget when life is difficult or we are doing something we don't enjoy. In these times we may look back at events that made us happy and say "if only I was there..." or "If only I had that again..." I know for myself that I have spent a lot of time throughout my life looking back with regret or forward with anticipation. I feel now that this robs the moment of what it has to offer me, right now.
I write this for myself most of all. I hope to inspire myself when I become sluggish in routine, anxious in tense moments and generally forget to live life as it is. I want to remind myself of something that carried me through happy days throughout Asia. "Sabai, sabai." The thai's say this very often and it has the effect of "everything in it's time." It simply means "ok, ok," but it is said with a cheerful manner that reminds the speaker and listener that nothing can truly be planned or perfect.
I spent the last 5 days of my trip on the island of Koh Chang. I told people i was going there to enjoy the sun and swim in the surf. Tell-tale events developed on my way down that proved I was wrong. Clouds rolled in and by the time I was on the ferry we were caught up in a heavy rain. The rain let up for about an hour, which was enough time for me to rent a motorcycle and make it to the far south west tip of the island. I wanted to get as far away from tourists as possible and simply enjoy my seclusion with the friendly Thai's I had come to love so much. When the rain started again it would end up lasting 4 days.
A record breaking monsoon hit my cliff side cottage nearly incessantly for 4 straight days. The hammock and 180* view of the ocean were rarely available. On that first night there I said to myself, "Sabai, sabai." As things unfolded I ended up reading some amazing books and writing what I consider to be some of my best writing. The few times the rain stopped I would rush outside into the wind to sit in my hammock and soak up the view. I cherished these moments as much as I cherished the time I spent alone with my thoughts. I feel if I had stuck rigidly to a "plan" then I would have found myself very disappointed.
This brought me to the thought that plans are good things, as long as I don't attach to the outcome. Do the best I can with what I have and accept that which transpires. This little sentence may seem trite but to me it has become a guiding light, as well as a good remedy to worry and stress. :-) I shall certainly see how it stand up to the western view of life as well.
The only other advise I have to myself is this :Listen, listen, listen. I can't stress enough how much I have learned by closing my mouth and opening my mind and ears. I would often say something off-handedly to a fellow traveler about local customs or dialects. I assumed they would laugh with me in comradery at the same experience. Instead I saw faces filled with astonishment and was often asked, "really? I never knew. How did you find that out?" So I admonish myself to listen as much as I'm able. Since I know myself well I will also put in an admonishment to be patient with myself. I am a talker after all. :-P
There are a million little stories I could write down about this trip and some i have. But I feel the most important story is the one I'm living. These experiences only have an affect (effect?) on me if I let the knowledge I've gained come out. How I was in Thailand or Veitnam matters very little compared to how I am this very moment. I could tell stories all day but they would be very pale if they had never truly grasped ahold of me. So, a final thought to myself in years to come:
Be who you are, always. Have compassion for all of the sentient creatures of this earth. Be sympathetic with others suffering. Share your love of life with all those around you. Be the person you respect. Don't forget to say "thank you."
Sabai, Sabai
Adam
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
How I went to renew my passport and was almost married in a hilltribe.
I would think that, normally, a trip to the border for a visa extension would be a small part of a larger story/blog. In fact the intended two day trip, beginning on Saturday, looked to be going that way. As I arrived last night at 8 pm I realized that this was a story in and of itself. The trip begins, as many have in the past month, in Chiang mai as i got on a scooter to head somewhere for the day off. Since I had to renew my visa, or incur the wrath of immigration at $10 a day per day, I was doing what many travelers do and heading to the northern tip of Thailand where the town of Mae Sai sits on the Mekong river across from Myanmar (Burma). I asked people around the gym if I should go through the standard route up the middle through Chiang Rai or up to the north and west past Mae Salong. Many people agreed it would be "safer" to go the standard, shorter route to Chiang Rai and then to Mae Sai.
So I set off through the short mountain pass towards Chiang Rai and really enjoyed the first hour. Green mountains, slowly winding curves, rivers and blue skies gave the promise of a great ride. After that the road ran out into open fields and small towns. While still very pleasant I felt that it was a bit mundane compared to Pai or even nearby Chiang Doa. I took my time and stopped in Chiang Rai in the afternoon for an amazing lunch of Penang Kum, curry with shrimp. Altogether the trip was around 270 km's and I arrived in Mae Sai at 4:45. Since all I had to do was walk across the border and back again for my re-entry stamp I figured I had plenty of time. Yet, as I drove up to immigrations a kind but stern guard asked me to return the next day at 8 am. I was initially discouraged but after 10 minutes with my guide book decided I would take the time to venture west in "The golden triangle."
The golden triangle lies 30 Km's west of Mae sai at a point where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet along the Mekong river. In the past this area was a massive producer of opium for sale throughout Asia. Now the area is a center for tourism since they have many hill tribes living in the area. "Hill tribes" is the common name given to all the groups of people who have migrated across the Thai border over the years. They come from Burma, which is now Myanmar, Laos, Tibet and China. Many migrate to avoid violence, persecution and discrimination. That evening I arrived in a small town called Chiang Saen and found a nice guest house. Even as early as 7 pm the town was closing up and it took me a while to find a place that would take the effort to fight through language barriers and feed me. I went to bed early with nothing to really do in town and to get ready for my drive the next day.
In the morning I left early and headed back to the golden triangle and then on to Mae Sai. Crossing the border wasn't to hard and pretty soon I was on the Myanmar side. They sell everything on that side at about half the cost of Thailand. This is great except I hadn't grabbed more money since I'd left Chiang Mai and I only had 1000 baht on me. There are no ATM's on that side of the Mekong I found out so I had to spend what I had and then leave. After grabbing a few more gifts on the Thai side it started raining and I had to wait it out. Now it was mid day and I still had the whole drive to Chiang mai left. I decided to head back a different way then i had come. I chose the less "safe" route towards Mae Salong that led through the high mountains near the Myanmar border. Here's where things got interesting.
Immediately after leaving the main high and going to the side roads I knew I'd chosen correctly. Towns were replaces with villages and highway replaced with little roads winding through the hills. The higher I climbed the better it became. Now I was riding through vast hillside terraces being worked by rural tribes people. I jumped off the state road and was soon traveling along even smaller tracks higher into the hills. The temperature dropped even more as I rode higher and it got even more beautiful. As I drove up a hill I saw a teak wood village hugging the steep hillside above. Each time I stopped to take a picture I would see more and more of this village spread out and realized I was heading towards it. I drove straight by the tiny entrance to the village the first time. As I was looking to turn around a man waved to me and I waved back. I passed him again as I went back to see the village and he yelled "Hallo!" I yelled back and drove on. I went down the hill through the village and quickly realized that I was a rare sight this high in the hills. Feeling a bit awkward, like an uninvited guest, I chose to leave. As i passed that guy for the third time he signaled me to stop.
I got off my bike and asked if he spoke English. He told me he spoke a little and we began to talk. I asked if this was an Ahka village and he looked surprised and said that it was a Yao village. He told me his people had come from china originally, which explained his name Ae Tong. I asked him if he would write his name in Chinese in my journal. He smiled broadly and said he would. He asked if I wanted his cell phone number, to which I replied yes. After he had written that he also wrote my name in Chinese. Then he said, "we are friends now!" "Of course!" I replied. I asked if he would show me the village and he told me to head down to a house he pointed at. He had to go collect bamboo and would be back shortly.
Within minutes I found myself sitting on a rustic teak wood porch amongst curious villagers. I just kept saying "Ae Tong, Ae Tong" so they would know why I was there. A man about my age came up and asked, in fair English, where I was from. Soon I found out that he studied in Chiang Rai in hopes of becoming a tourist guide. He told me he was form the mong people, out near Chiang Saen originally but had married a woman from this village. We talked for a while and he interpreted all the questions villagers had for me. The most common question was about my marital status. Every time I told the mothers I was unmarried they would go find their single daughters and bring them back to stand there with us. Soon i was surrounded by single tribeswomen and feeling a bit overwhelmed. Ae Tong arrived just in time to save me, announcing that we would be eating. The mothers left reluctantly and I have a feeling the young women left in a bit of a hurry. ;-P
As we ate Ae Tong invited me to stay the night with him and his family. I replied that I would love it and soon he asked if I liked Karaoke. Thinking back to the few times I'd done that with friends I replied that I did. He asked if I wanted to go with them to town to sing that night. He also mentioned that he was poor and could I pay for it. I was more than happy to since they were sharing so much with me and after dinner we left to go to "town" Town is a relative word depending on where you are. In this case town was an area that had one restaraunt next to a river and 5 houses nearby. Still, it had the prerequisite karaoke machine so all was set. Until i looked in the song book to find that the only songs they had in English were love songs from my parents generation. I kept trying to explain that I didn't know all the words to the songs, just the choruses, but they kept putting songs on and asking me to sing. We got more dinner and everyone had a great time, even me when i avoided singing. I found out something interesting though. All the songs they sang, perhaps all Thai songs in general, are about two subjects. Being in love with a person who feels the same or being in love with a person who doesn't. For three hours I watched videos showing that theme, ad nauseam, with only the actors changing. Still, for 10 people to sing, drink and eat for an evening it only cost me about $20.
We returned to the village whereupon I realized that the issue of where to sleep was coming up. First, though, i was taken to see where the bathroom was in case I needed it. We headed down to the basement where Ae Tong flipped on a light, then plugged in a cord next to a door, through that door down to a second basement where he open the latch out to stairs, then down the long flight of stairs under the open sky to the bathroom. I mention all of this as foreshadowing for later. We went back up and he opened a door in the upstairs leading into a 8X5 foot room with two sleeping palettes. He pointed to the left one and said that was mine, then said good night and flopped down on the one on the right. All this only after opening the wooden windows to let the night air and mosquito's in.
So there I am in a teak house in the mountains of Thailand, in a hill tribe village, next to a guy I've met hours before and the whole rest of the family a thin wall away from me in the only other room upstairs. That's when the monsoon started. I thought the roof would collapse under that much water to be honest. It was as loud as driving my scooter at full throttle into the wind. I'm from Seattle, so when i say this was a lot of rain I mean it's a lot! And then I realized I had to go to the bathroom. I'll let you re-read the description of how to get there if you want. Still, I was somehow alive by morning.
Ae Tong and I went to visit nearby Ahka people and to buy some Yao goods to bring home to friends. Then I left, after asking which way to Mae Salong. I went along mist shrouded roads that hugged the steep hillside up to Doi (mountain) Mae Salong. I arrived just as the rain came down and found myself sitting with three old women drinking tea. Through hand gestures and halting Thai I told them where I was going and where I'd come from and they offered me oolong tea. I gladly accepted since the temperature was now even colder due to mist and rain. After the rain let up I thanked them and began moving on towards Chiang mai. I thought I must be close after all the driving I'd done but as I left Doi Mae Salong I saw a sign informing me that Chiang Mai was 200 Km's away still. That didn't sound to horrible since I loved the scenery so much. Then it started raining again. And it rained for the next 4 hours.
I arrived home at 7Pm on Monday night after leaving the previous Saturday at 10 am. I had traveled 700 km's, which is just about 420 miles, in that time. I had learned a few things on the way as well. One thing I learned was the importance of the kinds of teachers we listen to. I feel there are four kinds of teachers: those who have done, those who have seen, those who have heard and those who listen to those who have heard. I had asked people which way to go at the beginning and the told me what they had heard from someone else who had heard it. If I had listened to them and gone the "safe" way both times I would never have had the adventure I did. I kept thinking of Robert Frost's "the road less traveled," and it truly did make all the difference. I realized that I must always look at where each of my teacher's get their information and to remember that every time I listen to a person they are a teacher to me right then.
The second thing I learned is that no matter how much you think you have seen and done you can still have massive moments of culture shock. Sitting in the village in the morning I suddenly went "Whoa! where the heck am I?" I watched as tiny children ran around their mothers legs playing and laughing in mixed Thai and Chinese. The mothers wore various items of Yao clothing that was unlike anything I'd seen before. They were going out to chop bamboo and work the fields nearby, all the while carrying there farm tools and wicker baskets. Next to me a tiny old man with a huge ear to ear grin was "waiing" (thai bow) to me and laughing. I wai'd back and looked back at the mist covered hillsides surrounding the village. Suddenly, i heard a chicken clucking and looked back to see the hold man contentedly holding the chicken in his lap and petting it with that same big smile. As I watched this my friends wife came up holding the phone to me saying merely, "sing." Forgetting that this was her husbands name, I thought she wanted an encore of last nights karaoke performance for a friend. As I talked with Sing, it hit me that i was having a moment of total culture shock.
Lastly, I saw more and more of the hearts of the Thai people. They had Jai Dii, open/ free/ sharing hearts. They gave me shelter and food for no other reason than to be kind. They didn't ask anything from me and were very, very grateful when i gave them anything. This spirit of kindness, openess and friendship was one I doubt I will ever forget. When I told this to my friend Bao he replied, "Man, that's like a real adventure!" I think it was.
Adam
So I set off through the short mountain pass towards Chiang Rai and really enjoyed the first hour. Green mountains, slowly winding curves, rivers and blue skies gave the promise of a great ride. After that the road ran out into open fields and small towns. While still very pleasant I felt that it was a bit mundane compared to Pai or even nearby Chiang Doa. I took my time and stopped in Chiang Rai in the afternoon for an amazing lunch of Penang Kum, curry with shrimp. Altogether the trip was around 270 km's and I arrived in Mae Sai at 4:45. Since all I had to do was walk across the border and back again for my re-entry stamp I figured I had plenty of time. Yet, as I drove up to immigrations a kind but stern guard asked me to return the next day at 8 am. I was initially discouraged but after 10 minutes with my guide book decided I would take the time to venture west in "The golden triangle."
The golden triangle lies 30 Km's west of Mae sai at a point where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet along the Mekong river. In the past this area was a massive producer of opium for sale throughout Asia. Now the area is a center for tourism since they have many hill tribes living in the area. "Hill tribes" is the common name given to all the groups of people who have migrated across the Thai border over the years. They come from Burma, which is now Myanmar, Laos, Tibet and China. Many migrate to avoid violence, persecution and discrimination. That evening I arrived in a small town called Chiang Saen and found a nice guest house. Even as early as 7 pm the town was closing up and it took me a while to find a place that would take the effort to fight through language barriers and feed me. I went to bed early with nothing to really do in town and to get ready for my drive the next day.
In the morning I left early and headed back to the golden triangle and then on to Mae Sai. Crossing the border wasn't to hard and pretty soon I was on the Myanmar side. They sell everything on that side at about half the cost of Thailand. This is great except I hadn't grabbed more money since I'd left Chiang Mai and I only had 1000 baht on me. There are no ATM's on that side of the Mekong I found out so I had to spend what I had and then leave. After grabbing a few more gifts on the Thai side it started raining and I had to wait it out. Now it was mid day and I still had the whole drive to Chiang mai left. I decided to head back a different way then i had come. I chose the less "safe" route towards Mae Salong that led through the high mountains near the Myanmar border. Here's where things got interesting.
Immediately after leaving the main high and going to the side roads I knew I'd chosen correctly. Towns were replaces with villages and highway replaced with little roads winding through the hills. The higher I climbed the better it became. Now I was riding through vast hillside terraces being worked by rural tribes people. I jumped off the state road and was soon traveling along even smaller tracks higher into the hills. The temperature dropped even more as I rode higher and it got even more beautiful. As I drove up a hill I saw a teak wood village hugging the steep hillside above. Each time I stopped to take a picture I would see more and more of this village spread out and realized I was heading towards it. I drove straight by the tiny entrance to the village the first time. As I was looking to turn around a man waved to me and I waved back. I passed him again as I went back to see the village and he yelled "Hallo!" I yelled back and drove on. I went down the hill through the village and quickly realized that I was a rare sight this high in the hills. Feeling a bit awkward, like an uninvited guest, I chose to leave. As i passed that guy for the third time he signaled me to stop.
I got off my bike and asked if he spoke English. He told me he spoke a little and we began to talk. I asked if this was an Ahka village and he looked surprised and said that it was a Yao village. He told me his people had come from china originally, which explained his name Ae Tong. I asked him if he would write his name in Chinese in my journal. He smiled broadly and said he would. He asked if I wanted his cell phone number, to which I replied yes. After he had written that he also wrote my name in Chinese. Then he said, "we are friends now!" "Of course!" I replied. I asked if he would show me the village and he told me to head down to a house he pointed at. He had to go collect bamboo and would be back shortly.
Within minutes I found myself sitting on a rustic teak wood porch amongst curious villagers. I just kept saying "Ae Tong, Ae Tong" so they would know why I was there. A man about my age came up and asked, in fair English, where I was from. Soon I found out that he studied in Chiang Rai in hopes of becoming a tourist guide. He told me he was form the mong people, out near Chiang Saen originally but had married a woman from this village. We talked for a while and he interpreted all the questions villagers had for me. The most common question was about my marital status. Every time I told the mothers I was unmarried they would go find their single daughters and bring them back to stand there with us. Soon i was surrounded by single tribeswomen and feeling a bit overwhelmed. Ae Tong arrived just in time to save me, announcing that we would be eating. The mothers left reluctantly and I have a feeling the young women left in a bit of a hurry. ;-P
As we ate Ae Tong invited me to stay the night with him and his family. I replied that I would love it and soon he asked if I liked Karaoke. Thinking back to the few times I'd done that with friends I replied that I did. He asked if I wanted to go with them to town to sing that night. He also mentioned that he was poor and could I pay for it. I was more than happy to since they were sharing so much with me and after dinner we left to go to "town" Town is a relative word depending on where you are. In this case town was an area that had one restaraunt next to a river and 5 houses nearby. Still, it had the prerequisite karaoke machine so all was set. Until i looked in the song book to find that the only songs they had in English were love songs from my parents generation. I kept trying to explain that I didn't know all the words to the songs, just the choruses, but they kept putting songs on and asking me to sing. We got more dinner and everyone had a great time, even me when i avoided singing. I found out something interesting though. All the songs they sang, perhaps all Thai songs in general, are about two subjects. Being in love with a person who feels the same or being in love with a person who doesn't. For three hours I watched videos showing that theme, ad nauseam, with only the actors changing. Still, for 10 people to sing, drink and eat for an evening it only cost me about $20.
We returned to the village whereupon I realized that the issue of where to sleep was coming up. First, though, i was taken to see where the bathroom was in case I needed it. We headed down to the basement where Ae Tong flipped on a light, then plugged in a cord next to a door, through that door down to a second basement where he open the latch out to stairs, then down the long flight of stairs under the open sky to the bathroom. I mention all of this as foreshadowing for later. We went back up and he opened a door in the upstairs leading into a 8X5 foot room with two sleeping palettes. He pointed to the left one and said that was mine, then said good night and flopped down on the one on the right. All this only after opening the wooden windows to let the night air and mosquito's in.
So there I am in a teak house in the mountains of Thailand, in a hill tribe village, next to a guy I've met hours before and the whole rest of the family a thin wall away from me in the only other room upstairs. That's when the monsoon started. I thought the roof would collapse under that much water to be honest. It was as loud as driving my scooter at full throttle into the wind. I'm from Seattle, so when i say this was a lot of rain I mean it's a lot! And then I realized I had to go to the bathroom. I'll let you re-read the description of how to get there if you want. Still, I was somehow alive by morning.
Ae Tong and I went to visit nearby Ahka people and to buy some Yao goods to bring home to friends. Then I left, after asking which way to Mae Salong. I went along mist shrouded roads that hugged the steep hillside up to Doi (mountain) Mae Salong. I arrived just as the rain came down and found myself sitting with three old women drinking tea. Through hand gestures and halting Thai I told them where I was going and where I'd come from and they offered me oolong tea. I gladly accepted since the temperature was now even colder due to mist and rain. After the rain let up I thanked them and began moving on towards Chiang mai. I thought I must be close after all the driving I'd done but as I left Doi Mae Salong I saw a sign informing me that Chiang Mai was 200 Km's away still. That didn't sound to horrible since I loved the scenery so much. Then it started raining again. And it rained for the next 4 hours.
I arrived home at 7Pm on Monday night after leaving the previous Saturday at 10 am. I had traveled 700 km's, which is just about 420 miles, in that time. I had learned a few things on the way as well. One thing I learned was the importance of the kinds of teachers we listen to. I feel there are four kinds of teachers: those who have done, those who have seen, those who have heard and those who listen to those who have heard. I had asked people which way to go at the beginning and the told me what they had heard from someone else who had heard it. If I had listened to them and gone the "safe" way both times I would never have had the adventure I did. I kept thinking of Robert Frost's "the road less traveled," and it truly did make all the difference. I realized that I must always look at where each of my teacher's get their information and to remember that every time I listen to a person they are a teacher to me right then.
The second thing I learned is that no matter how much you think you have seen and done you can still have massive moments of culture shock. Sitting in the village in the morning I suddenly went "Whoa! where the heck am I?" I watched as tiny children ran around their mothers legs playing and laughing in mixed Thai and Chinese. The mothers wore various items of Yao clothing that was unlike anything I'd seen before. They were going out to chop bamboo and work the fields nearby, all the while carrying there farm tools and wicker baskets. Next to me a tiny old man with a huge ear to ear grin was "waiing" (thai bow) to me and laughing. I wai'd back and looked back at the mist covered hillsides surrounding the village. Suddenly, i heard a chicken clucking and looked back to see the hold man contentedly holding the chicken in his lap and petting it with that same big smile. As I watched this my friends wife came up holding the phone to me saying merely, "sing." Forgetting that this was her husbands name, I thought she wanted an encore of last nights karaoke performance for a friend. As I talked with Sing, it hit me that i was having a moment of total culture shock.
Lastly, I saw more and more of the hearts of the Thai people. They had Jai Dii, open/ free/ sharing hearts. They gave me shelter and food for no other reason than to be kind. They didn't ask anything from me and were very, very grateful when i gave them anything. This spirit of kindness, openess and friendship was one I doubt I will ever forget. When I told this to my friend Bao he replied, "Man, that's like a real adventure!" I think it was.
Adam
Monday, September 1, 2008
How I went to renew my passport and was almost married in a hilltribe.
I would think that, normally, a trip to the border for a visa extension would be a small part of a larger story/blog. In fact the intended two day trip, beginning on Saturday, looked to be going that way. As I arrived last night at 8 pm I realized that this was a story in and of itself. The trip begins, as many have in the past month, in Chiang mai as i got on a scooter to head somewhere for the day off. Since I had to renew my visa, or incur the wrath of imagration at $10 a day per day, I was doing what many travelers do and heading to the northern tip of thailand where the town of Mae Sai sits on the Mekong river across from Mynamar (Burma). I asked people around the gym if I should go through the standard route up the middle through chiang rai or up to the north and west past Mae Salong. Many people agreed it would be "safer" to go the standard, shorter route to chiang rai and then to Mae Sai.
So I set off through the short mountain pass towards Chiang Rai and really enjoyed the first hour. Green mountains, slowly winding curves, rivers and blue skies gave the promise of a great ride. After that the road ran out into open fields and small towns. While still very pleasant I felt that it was a bit mundane compared to Pai or even nearby Chiang Doa. I took my time and stopped in Chiang Rai in the afternoon for an amazing lunch of Penang Kum, curry with shrimp. Altogether the trip was around 270 km's and I arrived in Mae Sai at 4:45. Since all I had to do was walk across the border and back again for my re-entry stamp I figured I had plenty of time. Yet, as I drove up to immagrations a kind but stern guard asked me to return the next day at 8 am. I was initially discouraged but after 10 minutes with my guide book decided I would take the time to venture west in "The golden triangle."
The golden triangle lies 30 Km's west of Mae sai at a point where Thailand, Myanamar and Laos meet along the Mekong river. In the past this area was a massive producer of opium for sale through out asia. Now the area is a center for tourism since they have many hilltribes living in the area. "Hilltribes" is the comman name given to all the groups of people who have migrated across the thai border over the years. They come from Burma, which is now Myanamar, Laos, Tibet and China. Many migrate to avoid violence, persecution and discrimination. That evening I arrived in a small town called Chiang Saen and found a nice guest house. Even as early as 7 pm the town was closing up and it took me a while to find a place that would take the effort to fight through language barriers and feed me. I went to bed early with nothing to really do in town and to get ready for my drive the next day.
In the morning I left early and headed back to the golden triangle and then on to mae sai. Crossing the border wasn't to hard and pretty soon I was on the Myanamar side. They sell everything on that side at about half the cost of thailand. This is great except I hadn't grabbed more money since I'd left Chiang Mai and I only had 1000 baht on me. There are no ATM's on that side of the Mekong I found out so I had to spend what I had and then leave. After grabbing a few more gifts on the thai side it started raining and I had to wait it out. Now it was mid day and I still had the whole drive to Chiang mai left. I decided to head back a different way then i had come. I chose the less "safe" route towards Mae Salong that led through the high mountains near the Myanamar border. Here's where things got interesting.
Immeadeatily after leaving the main high and going to the side roads I knew I'd chosen correctly. Towns were replaces with villages and highway replaced with little roads winding through the hills. The higher I climbed the better it became. Now I was riding through vast hillside terraces being worked by rural tribespeople. I jumped off the state road and was soon traveling along even smaller tracks higher into the hills. The temperature dropped even more as I rode higher and it got even more beautiful. As I drove up a hill I saw a teak wood vilalge hugging the steep hillside above. Each time I stopped to take a picture I would see more and more of this village spread out and realized I was heading towards it. I drove straight by the tiny enterance to the village the first time. As I was looking to turn around a man waved to me and I waved back. I passed him again as I went back to see the village and he yelled "Hallo!" I yelled back and drove on. I went down the hill through the village and quickly realized that I was a rare sight this high in the hills. Feeling a bit ackward, like an univited guest, I chose to leave. As i passed that guy for the third time he signled me to stop.
I got off my bike and asked if he spoke english. He told me he spoke a little and we began to talk. I asked if this was an Ahka village and he looked suprised and said that it was a Yao village. He told me his people had come from china originally, which explained his name Ae Tong. I asked him if he would write his name in chinese in my journal. He smiled broadly and said he would. He asked if I wanted his cell phone number, to which I replied yes. After he had written that he also wrote my name in chinese. Then he said, "we are friends now!" "Of course!" I replied. I asked if he would show me the village and he told me to head down to a house he pointed at. He had to go collect bamboo and would be back shortly.
Within minutes I found myself sitting on a rustic teak wood porch amongst curious villagers. I just kept saying "Ae Tong, Ae Tong" so they would know why I was there. A man about my age came up and asked, in fair english, where I was from. Soon I found out that he studied in Chiang Rai in hopes of becoming a tourist guide. He told me he was form the mong people, out near Chiang Saen originally but had married a woman from this village. We talked for a while and he interpretted all the questions villagers had for me. The most common question was about my marital status. Every time I told the mothers I was unmarried they would go find their single daughters and bring them back to stand there with us. Soon i was surrounded by single tribeswomen and feeling a bit overwhelmed. Ae Tong arrived just in time to save me, announcing that we would be eating. The mothers left reluctantly and I have a feeling the young women left in a bit of a hurry. ;-P
As we ate Ae Tong invited me to stay the night with him and his family. I replied that I would love it and soon he asked if I liked Karaoke. Thinking back to the few times I'd done that with friends I replied that I did. He asked if I wanted to go with them to town to sing that night. He also mentioned that he was poor and could I pay for it. I was more than happy to since they were sharing so much with me and after dinner we left to go to "town" Town is a relative word depending on where you are. In this case town was an area that had one restraunt next to a river and 5 houses nearby. Still, it had the prerequisite karaoke machine so all was set. Until i looked in the song book to find that the only songs they had in english were love songs from my parents generation. I kept trying to explain that I didn't know all the words to the songs, just the choruses, but they kept putting songs on and asking me to sing. We got more dinner and everyone had a great time, even me when i avoided singing. I found out something interesting though. All the songs they sang, perhaps all thai songs in general, are about two subjects. Being in love with a person who feels the same or being in love with a person who doesn't. For three hours I watched videos showing that theme, ad nauseam, with only the actors changing. Still, for 10 people to sing, drink and eat for an evening it only cost me about $20.
We returned to the village whereupon I realized that the issue of where to sleep was coming up. First, though, i was taken to see where the bathroom was in case I needed it. We headed down to the basement where Ae Tong flipped on a light, then plugged in a cord next to a door, through that door down to a second basement where he open the latch out to stairs, then down the long flight of stairs under the open sky to the bathroom. I mention all of this as foreshadowing for later. We went back up and he opened a door in the upstairs leading into a 8X5 foot room with two sleeping pallettes. He pointed to the left one and saif that was mine, then said good night and flopped down on the one on the right. All this only after opening the wooden windows to let the night air and misquitos in.
So there I am in a teak house in the mountains of thailand, in a hilltribe village, next to a guy I've met hours before and the whole rest of the family a thin wall away from me in the only other room upstairs. That's when the monsoon started. I thought the roof would collapse under that much water to be honest. It was as loud as driving my scooter at full throttle into the wind. I'm from seattle, so when i say this was a lot of rain I mean it's a lot! And then I realized I had to go to the bathroom. I'll let you re-read the description of how to get there if you want. Still, I was somehow alive by morning.
Ae Tong and I went to visit nearby Ahka people and to buy some Yao goods to bring home to friends. Then I left, after asking which way to mae salong. I went along mist shrouded roads that hugged the steep hillside up to Doi (mountain) Mae Salong. I arrived just as the rain came down and found myself sitting with three old women drinking tea. Through hand gestures and halting thai I told them where I was going and where I'd come from and they offered me oolong tea. I gladly accepted since the temperatuare was now even colder due to mist and rain. After the rain let up I thanked them and began moving on towards Chiang mai. I thought I must be close after all the driving I'd done but as I left Doi Mae Salong I saw a sign informing me that Chiang Mai was 200 Km's away still. That didn't sound to horrible since I loved the scenery so much. Then it started raining again. And it rained for the next 4 hours.
I arrived home at 7Pm on Monday night after leaving the previous saturday at 10 am. I had traveled 700 km's, which is just about 420 miles, in that time. I had learned a few things on the way as well. One thing I learned was the importance of the kinds of teachers we listen to. I feel there are four kinds of teachers: those who have done, those who have seen, those who have heard and those who listen to those who have heard. I had asked people which way to go at the beginning and the told me what they had heard from someone else who had heard it. If I had listened to them and gone the "safe" way both times I would never have had the adventure I did. I kept thinking of Robert Frost's "the road less traveled," and it truly did make all the difference. I realized that I must always look at where each of my teacher's get their information and to remember that every time I listen to a person they are a teacher to me right then.
The second thing I learned is that no matter how much you think you have seen and done you can still have massive moments of culture shock. Sitting in the village in the morning I suddenly went "Whoa! where the heck am I?" I watched as tiny children ran around their mothers legs playing and laughing in mixed Thai and chinese. The mothers wore various items of Yao clothing that was unlike anything I'd seen before. They were going out to chop bamboo and work the feilds nearby, all the while carrying there farm tools and wicker baskets. Next to me a tiny old man with a huge ear to ear grin was "waiing" (thai bow) to me and laughing. I wai'd back and looked back at the mist covered hillsides surrounding the village. Suddenly, i heard a chicken clucking and looked back to see the hold man contendly holding the chicken in his lap and petting it with that smae big smile. As I watched this my friends wife came up holding the phone to me saying merely, "sing." Forgetting that this was her husbands name, I thought she wanted an encore of last nights karaoke performance for a friend. As I talked with Sing, it hit me that i was having a moment of total culture shock.
Lastly, I saw more and more of the hearts of the Thai people. They had Jai Dii, open/ free/ sharing hearts. They gave me shelter and food for no other reason than to be kind. They didn't ask anything from me and were very, very grateful when i gave them anything. This spirit of kindness, openess and friendship was one I doubt I will ever forget. When I told this to my friend Bao he replied, "Man, that's like a real adventure!" I think it was.
Adam
So I set off through the short mountain pass towards Chiang Rai and really enjoyed the first hour. Green mountains, slowly winding curves, rivers and blue skies gave the promise of a great ride. After that the road ran out into open fields and small towns. While still very pleasant I felt that it was a bit mundane compared to Pai or even nearby Chiang Doa. I took my time and stopped in Chiang Rai in the afternoon for an amazing lunch of Penang Kum, curry with shrimp. Altogether the trip was around 270 km's and I arrived in Mae Sai at 4:45. Since all I had to do was walk across the border and back again for my re-entry stamp I figured I had plenty of time. Yet, as I drove up to immagrations a kind but stern guard asked me to return the next day at 8 am. I was initially discouraged but after 10 minutes with my guide book decided I would take the time to venture west in "The golden triangle."
The golden triangle lies 30 Km's west of Mae sai at a point where Thailand, Myanamar and Laos meet along the Mekong river. In the past this area was a massive producer of opium for sale through out asia. Now the area is a center for tourism since they have many hilltribes living in the area. "Hilltribes" is the comman name given to all the groups of people who have migrated across the thai border over the years. They come from Burma, which is now Myanamar, Laos, Tibet and China. Many migrate to avoid violence, persecution and discrimination. That evening I arrived in a small town called Chiang Saen and found a nice guest house. Even as early as 7 pm the town was closing up and it took me a while to find a place that would take the effort to fight through language barriers and feed me. I went to bed early with nothing to really do in town and to get ready for my drive the next day.
In the morning I left early and headed back to the golden triangle and then on to mae sai. Crossing the border wasn't to hard and pretty soon I was on the Myanamar side. They sell everything on that side at about half the cost of thailand. This is great except I hadn't grabbed more money since I'd left Chiang Mai and I only had 1000 baht on me. There are no ATM's on that side of the Mekong I found out so I had to spend what I had and then leave. After grabbing a few more gifts on the thai side it started raining and I had to wait it out. Now it was mid day and I still had the whole drive to Chiang mai left. I decided to head back a different way then i had come. I chose the less "safe" route towards Mae Salong that led through the high mountains near the Myanamar border. Here's where things got interesting.
Immeadeatily after leaving the main high and going to the side roads I knew I'd chosen correctly. Towns were replaces with villages and highway replaced with little roads winding through the hills. The higher I climbed the better it became. Now I was riding through vast hillside terraces being worked by rural tribespeople. I jumped off the state road and was soon traveling along even smaller tracks higher into the hills. The temperature dropped even more as I rode higher and it got even more beautiful. As I drove up a hill I saw a teak wood vilalge hugging the steep hillside above. Each time I stopped to take a picture I would see more and more of this village spread out and realized I was heading towards it. I drove straight by the tiny enterance to the village the first time. As I was looking to turn around a man waved to me and I waved back. I passed him again as I went back to see the village and he yelled "Hallo!" I yelled back and drove on. I went down the hill through the village and quickly realized that I was a rare sight this high in the hills. Feeling a bit ackward, like an univited guest, I chose to leave. As i passed that guy for the third time he signled me to stop.
I got off my bike and asked if he spoke english. He told me he spoke a little and we began to talk. I asked if this was an Ahka village and he looked suprised and said that it was a Yao village. He told me his people had come from china originally, which explained his name Ae Tong. I asked him if he would write his name in chinese in my journal. He smiled broadly and said he would. He asked if I wanted his cell phone number, to which I replied yes. After he had written that he also wrote my name in chinese. Then he said, "we are friends now!" "Of course!" I replied. I asked if he would show me the village and he told me to head down to a house he pointed at. He had to go collect bamboo and would be back shortly.
Within minutes I found myself sitting on a rustic teak wood porch amongst curious villagers. I just kept saying "Ae Tong, Ae Tong" so they would know why I was there. A man about my age came up and asked, in fair english, where I was from. Soon I found out that he studied in Chiang Rai in hopes of becoming a tourist guide. He told me he was form the mong people, out near Chiang Saen originally but had married a woman from this village. We talked for a while and he interpretted all the questions villagers had for me. The most common question was about my marital status. Every time I told the mothers I was unmarried they would go find their single daughters and bring them back to stand there with us. Soon i was surrounded by single tribeswomen and feeling a bit overwhelmed. Ae Tong arrived just in time to save me, announcing that we would be eating. The mothers left reluctantly and I have a feeling the young women left in a bit of a hurry. ;-P
As we ate Ae Tong invited me to stay the night with him and his family. I replied that I would love it and soon he asked if I liked Karaoke. Thinking back to the few times I'd done that with friends I replied that I did. He asked if I wanted to go with them to town to sing that night. He also mentioned that he was poor and could I pay for it. I was more than happy to since they were sharing so much with me and after dinner we left to go to "town" Town is a relative word depending on where you are. In this case town was an area that had one restraunt next to a river and 5 houses nearby. Still, it had the prerequisite karaoke machine so all was set. Until i looked in the song book to find that the only songs they had in english were love songs from my parents generation. I kept trying to explain that I didn't know all the words to the songs, just the choruses, but they kept putting songs on and asking me to sing. We got more dinner and everyone had a great time, even me when i avoided singing. I found out something interesting though. All the songs they sang, perhaps all thai songs in general, are about two subjects. Being in love with a person who feels the same or being in love with a person who doesn't. For three hours I watched videos showing that theme, ad nauseam, with only the actors changing. Still, for 10 people to sing, drink and eat for an evening it only cost me about $20.
We returned to the village whereupon I realized that the issue of where to sleep was coming up. First, though, i was taken to see where the bathroom was in case I needed it. We headed down to the basement where Ae Tong flipped on a light, then plugged in a cord next to a door, through that door down to a second basement where he open the latch out to stairs, then down the long flight of stairs under the open sky to the bathroom. I mention all of this as foreshadowing for later. We went back up and he opened a door in the upstairs leading into a 8X5 foot room with two sleeping pallettes. He pointed to the left one and saif that was mine, then said good night and flopped down on the one on the right. All this only after opening the wooden windows to let the night air and misquitos in.
So there I am in a teak house in the mountains of thailand, in a hilltribe village, next to a guy I've met hours before and the whole rest of the family a thin wall away from me in the only other room upstairs. That's when the monsoon started. I thought the roof would collapse under that much water to be honest. It was as loud as driving my scooter at full throttle into the wind. I'm from seattle, so when i say this was a lot of rain I mean it's a lot! And then I realized I had to go to the bathroom. I'll let you re-read the description of how to get there if you want. Still, I was somehow alive by morning.
Ae Tong and I went to visit nearby Ahka people and to buy some Yao goods to bring home to friends. Then I left, after asking which way to mae salong. I went along mist shrouded roads that hugged the steep hillside up to Doi (mountain) Mae Salong. I arrived just as the rain came down and found myself sitting with three old women drinking tea. Through hand gestures and halting thai I told them where I was going and where I'd come from and they offered me oolong tea. I gladly accepted since the temperatuare was now even colder due to mist and rain. After the rain let up I thanked them and began moving on towards Chiang mai. I thought I must be close after all the driving I'd done but as I left Doi Mae Salong I saw a sign informing me that Chiang Mai was 200 Km's away still. That didn't sound to horrible since I loved the scenery so much. Then it started raining again. And it rained for the next 4 hours.
I arrived home at 7Pm on Monday night after leaving the previous saturday at 10 am. I had traveled 700 km's, which is just about 420 miles, in that time. I had learned a few things on the way as well. One thing I learned was the importance of the kinds of teachers we listen to. I feel there are four kinds of teachers: those who have done, those who have seen, those who have heard and those who listen to those who have heard. I had asked people which way to go at the beginning and the told me what they had heard from someone else who had heard it. If I had listened to them and gone the "safe" way both times I would never have had the adventure I did. I kept thinking of Robert Frost's "the road less traveled," and it truly did make all the difference. I realized that I must always look at where each of my teacher's get their information and to remember that every time I listen to a person they are a teacher to me right then.
The second thing I learned is that no matter how much you think you have seen and done you can still have massive moments of culture shock. Sitting in the village in the morning I suddenly went "Whoa! where the heck am I?" I watched as tiny children ran around their mothers legs playing and laughing in mixed Thai and chinese. The mothers wore various items of Yao clothing that was unlike anything I'd seen before. They were going out to chop bamboo and work the feilds nearby, all the while carrying there farm tools and wicker baskets. Next to me a tiny old man with a huge ear to ear grin was "waiing" (thai bow) to me and laughing. I wai'd back and looked back at the mist covered hillsides surrounding the village. Suddenly, i heard a chicken clucking and looked back to see the hold man contendly holding the chicken in his lap and petting it with that smae big smile. As I watched this my friends wife came up holding the phone to me saying merely, "sing." Forgetting that this was her husbands name, I thought she wanted an encore of last nights karaoke performance for a friend. As I talked with Sing, it hit me that i was having a moment of total culture shock.
Lastly, I saw more and more of the hearts of the Thai people. They had Jai Dii, open/ free/ sharing hearts. They gave me shelter and food for no other reason than to be kind. They didn't ask anything from me and were very, very grateful when i gave them anything. This spirit of kindness, openess and friendship was one I doubt I will ever forget. When I told this to my friend Bao he replied, "Man, that's like a real adventure!" I think it was.
Adam
Friday, August 29, 2008
The real journey has only begun
I realize that for most of this trip I have viewed this blog as a "travelogue." It was a journal of my outward experiences. As I reached a new place I described what I saw and how I felt about what I was experiencing. Now, being stationary in Chiang mai I have not seen many new things so i chose not to describe the experience I was having. What i have experienced here is not an external journey but an internal one. Sitting in contemplation has led me to experience that which comes from within me, or more precisely that which resides within me. With very few external experiences I have instead faced aspects and truths about myself on a daily, hourly and even minute by minute basis.
In reading the teachings of the Buddha I have come to understand the reality of "the hungry ghost." This is the part of me, and every person if you choose to beleive the Buddha, that desires ever more and more but can never be truly satisfied. Coming from a culture that tends to present me with the idea that "more is better," I never truly faced the reality of this ghost. Through daily meditation focused on mindfulness I have begun to grasp the reality of this ghost in my life. I have looked at that which I desire and realized that there could never truly be an end to those desires. Instead I have begun to learn to acknowledge these desires, accepting them as part of my natural self, and to simply let them be. No attempts to control them or satiate them, simply being aware of their presences and then practicing letting go of my desire to fulfill them.
Now I find myself in a constant state of relaxed acceptance. I can't begin to explain my personal experience of watching a desire or emotion come up, acknowledging it and then letting go. I still find myself amazed and a bit sceptical. How could i have always had this capacity for peaceful living and never truly found a way to experience it in my daily life? I am in constant thankfulness that I have begun to feel this lightness of being, slowly becoming free of so many jumbled, incessant thoughts.
During my trip it was often a ritual that I would arrive in a town and find a nice watering hole to get a beer and make friends. In fact one of the main pass times of travelers I found is drinking, especially (but not exclusively) among the younger generation. Yet since I have arrived in Chiang mai I have not had a drop of alcohol. This too has been a new experience on my journey. I chose to do this initially for my training, seeing alcohol as unneccesary and harmful to what I arrived here for. Now, more and more, I find that the urge to drink is reduced or nearly gone by simply allowing myself to be in the moment and experience what is really happening without clouding it with an intoxicant.
I don't write all of this to sound like i have all the answers, in fact I probably still have a million more questions compared to any answers. I write this to share what has transpired for me internally on this leg of my journey. Even my muay thai training has become secondary to the experience of just being. In fact, I find it easier to practice every day with this new found awareness. Before I might be tempted to compare myself to the others training at the gym or imagining what I was "supposed" to be experiencing or accomplishing. Now I am content to experience what is actually happening at the moment it is happening. I can listen to my body so much clearer without the constant drone of my own thoughts, desires, fears and ambitions. I find myself much more capable of enjoying, accepting and being part of the amazing experience I've been having.
Which leads me to a thought about what I have been experiencing at the gym. First, I have learned that a key element, if not the key element, of Muay thai is a strong body. I've learned a few new things technically speaking, developed a more balanced stance and so forth. What I've really learned is the simple fact that these kick boxers are is great shape! Of course there is strategy involved and little tricks to pick up but most of all the true power of muay thai comes from developing a body that is strong in all aspects. Developing strong muscles is only a part of this training. Flexibility, endurance, speed and rythm are equally developed, if not more so. I've really come to enjoy simply working out on a daily basis, something I often forgot or chose not to do in the past. The time at this gym has re-awakened a part of me that simply enjoys the act of developing myself as a whole person. Combine with that the new awareness I have gained internally and I think it's safe to say, "I will not be the same person I was when I left." Which, by the way, feels like a lifetime ago. In some ways, it may have been a different life.
On a different note, I am very excited for the next two days. I have to get my visa renewed before the 3rd of september or I will get a 500 baht($15) fine for every day I go over. In thailand that means you have to leave the country, get an exit visa, get stamped on the other border and return. Once at the border it only takes about 10 minutes. The problem most people have is getting to the border. Many people, even as far south as Bangkok, go to the town of Mae sai which is the farthest northern town in thailand. This border town sits across a small bridge from the Burmese border and only a few kilometers from the Golden triangle, where Thailand, Burma and Laos meet. From Chiang mai it is about 300 kilometers (180 miles) to Mae sai. I looked on a map and read a few reveiws that talk about driving a motorbike to this town. I've decided to take the Saturday and Sunday to go to Mae sai by motorbike. The ride will take me through mountain passes and small villages that rarely see tourists. Having come to love the experience of driving on Thai roads I look forward to this journey like you wouldn't believe. I will do in 2 days what I did in vietnam in four, so I might be a bit sore but no worse for ware.
Writing this post has been a new experience for me as well. I'm not ussually one to talk about what truly goes inside my head or heart with just anyone. Writing this has left me feeling very exposed yet I feel I have only spoken the truth and this knowledge makes the act much easier. Again, thank all of you who read this and have traveled with me through my journey. I am so thankful to be surrounded by all of the amazing people I am gifted to know. I cherish my loving family, friends, teachers and students. This journey has showed me what a gift it is to simply be around so many people of such great quality. Wish me luck on this last little leg of my journey and I'll post again soon, whether or not I've "done" anything. :-P
Namaste,
Adam
In reading the teachings of the Buddha I have come to understand the reality of "the hungry ghost." This is the part of me, and every person if you choose to beleive the Buddha, that desires ever more and more but can never be truly satisfied. Coming from a culture that tends to present me with the idea that "more is better," I never truly faced the reality of this ghost. Through daily meditation focused on mindfulness I have begun to grasp the reality of this ghost in my life. I have looked at that which I desire and realized that there could never truly be an end to those desires. Instead I have begun to learn to acknowledge these desires, accepting them as part of my natural self, and to simply let them be. No attempts to control them or satiate them, simply being aware of their presences and then practicing letting go of my desire to fulfill them.
Now I find myself in a constant state of relaxed acceptance. I can't begin to explain my personal experience of watching a desire or emotion come up, acknowledging it and then letting go. I still find myself amazed and a bit sceptical. How could i have always had this capacity for peaceful living and never truly found a way to experience it in my daily life? I am in constant thankfulness that I have begun to feel this lightness of being, slowly becoming free of so many jumbled, incessant thoughts.
During my trip it was often a ritual that I would arrive in a town and find a nice watering hole to get a beer and make friends. In fact one of the main pass times of travelers I found is drinking, especially (but not exclusively) among the younger generation. Yet since I have arrived in Chiang mai I have not had a drop of alcohol. This too has been a new experience on my journey. I chose to do this initially for my training, seeing alcohol as unneccesary and harmful to what I arrived here for. Now, more and more, I find that the urge to drink is reduced or nearly gone by simply allowing myself to be in the moment and experience what is really happening without clouding it with an intoxicant.
I don't write all of this to sound like i have all the answers, in fact I probably still have a million more questions compared to any answers. I write this to share what has transpired for me internally on this leg of my journey. Even my muay thai training has become secondary to the experience of just being. In fact, I find it easier to practice every day with this new found awareness. Before I might be tempted to compare myself to the others training at the gym or imagining what I was "supposed" to be experiencing or accomplishing. Now I am content to experience what is actually happening at the moment it is happening. I can listen to my body so much clearer without the constant drone of my own thoughts, desires, fears and ambitions. I find myself much more capable of enjoying, accepting and being part of the amazing experience I've been having.
Which leads me to a thought about what I have been experiencing at the gym. First, I have learned that a key element, if not the key element, of Muay thai is a strong body. I've learned a few new things technically speaking, developed a more balanced stance and so forth. What I've really learned is the simple fact that these kick boxers are is great shape! Of course there is strategy involved and little tricks to pick up but most of all the true power of muay thai comes from developing a body that is strong in all aspects. Developing strong muscles is only a part of this training. Flexibility, endurance, speed and rythm are equally developed, if not more so. I've really come to enjoy simply working out on a daily basis, something I often forgot or chose not to do in the past. The time at this gym has re-awakened a part of me that simply enjoys the act of developing myself as a whole person. Combine with that the new awareness I have gained internally and I think it's safe to say, "I will not be the same person I was when I left." Which, by the way, feels like a lifetime ago. In some ways, it may have been a different life.
On a different note, I am very excited for the next two days. I have to get my visa renewed before the 3rd of september or I will get a 500 baht($15) fine for every day I go over. In thailand that means you have to leave the country, get an exit visa, get stamped on the other border and return. Once at the border it only takes about 10 minutes. The problem most people have is getting to the border. Many people, even as far south as Bangkok, go to the town of Mae sai which is the farthest northern town in thailand. This border town sits across a small bridge from the Burmese border and only a few kilometers from the Golden triangle, where Thailand, Burma and Laos meet. From Chiang mai it is about 300 kilometers (180 miles) to Mae sai. I looked on a map and read a few reveiws that talk about driving a motorbike to this town. I've decided to take the Saturday and Sunday to go to Mae sai by motorbike. The ride will take me through mountain passes and small villages that rarely see tourists. Having come to love the experience of driving on Thai roads I look forward to this journey like you wouldn't believe. I will do in 2 days what I did in vietnam in four, so I might be a bit sore but no worse for ware.
Writing this post has been a new experience for me as well. I'm not ussually one to talk about what truly goes inside my head or heart with just anyone. Writing this has left me feeling very exposed yet I feel I have only spoken the truth and this knowledge makes the act much easier. Again, thank all of you who read this and have traveled with me through my journey. I am so thankful to be surrounded by all of the amazing people I am gifted to know. I cherish my loving family, friends, teachers and students. This journey has showed me what a gift it is to simply be around so many people of such great quality. Wish me luck on this last little leg of my journey and I'll post again soon, whether or not I've "done" anything. :-P
Namaste,
Adam
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
More training and a trip to Pai
Well, that knee problem I had got a bit worse last week as i was training and I was unable to continue running or jumping rope. Even today, a week later, I am restricted to just boxing and light kicking technique. The coaches are understanding and take it easy on my leg while demanding more from my boxing technique and power. Just yesterday I was in the ring with one of the coaches, Chelsea, who is a champion himself. As we were working on the simple technique of Jab-Cross he was yelling "no, more power. KNOCK OUT! KNOCK OUT!" It's a very intense way to train to say the least and I was drained by the time practice ended.
I am hoping to get a chance to practice clenching with the coaches after I saw what Be did in the ring. He fought last Thursday night at Thapae stadium and was scheduled to fight the next night as well at a different stadium. He wanted to finish the fight quickly so he would have energy for the next day. In the first round he went against tradition and came out strong and fast, as opposed to slow like most boxers do in the first two rounds. By the end of the first round he was rushing to the clinch again and again, driving his knees into his opponents chest with ridiculous speed and power. The bell rang and he barely took a break. As soon as the second round started he pushed his opponent into the corner and knocked him out from knees within 20 seconds. Afterwards he ran over to make sure his opponent was ok, paid his respects and checked if there was anything he could do.
Over the weekend I took Saturday and Sunday to drive out to Pai, 60 some miles from Chiang mai. The road to get there goes through about 30 miles of winding mountain pass with tight hairpin turns and mercurial weather. On the back of my little scooter I blasted into the mountains and had some of the most fun in a while. Going up hill my scooter was lucky to do 25 mph but coming down I would often end up doing 40 mph through tight corners. The best part was being able to stop when ever I wanted to take pictures, chill out and get coffee. I found a neat little cafe where i talked with the owner for an hour or more coming and going. We walked about his farm and his daughter who went to college in England. He asked me about home and I told him about the Northwest. Pai was a sleepy little town until recently but now expensive resorts dot the hill- and riverside. I found a little guest house out of the way that had every thing I needed, namely a bed and a shower. I took my time getting back Sunday, spending many hours up in the mountains and stopping at amazing vistas of the valleys below.
I am finally starting to upload pictures on Flicker.com. Just look for Adam shilling and you should be able to see some of my pictures. Sadly, the Internet is so slow that i can only get about 5 pictures on per hour and I have about 1000 in total. I will have to put the rest up when i get home but this should give you an idea of the beginning of my trip back in June. Anyway, I'm going to go get ready for more practice. My knee is no longer inflamed and I hope to be able to spend the last week going at full strength. Hope all is well and I'll write again soon.
Adam
I am hoping to get a chance to practice clenching with the coaches after I saw what Be did in the ring. He fought last Thursday night at Thapae stadium and was scheduled to fight the next night as well at a different stadium. He wanted to finish the fight quickly so he would have energy for the next day. In the first round he went against tradition and came out strong and fast, as opposed to slow like most boxers do in the first two rounds. By the end of the first round he was rushing to the clinch again and again, driving his knees into his opponents chest with ridiculous speed and power. The bell rang and he barely took a break. As soon as the second round started he pushed his opponent into the corner and knocked him out from knees within 20 seconds. Afterwards he ran over to make sure his opponent was ok, paid his respects and checked if there was anything he could do.
Over the weekend I took Saturday and Sunday to drive out to Pai, 60 some miles from Chiang mai. The road to get there goes through about 30 miles of winding mountain pass with tight hairpin turns and mercurial weather. On the back of my little scooter I blasted into the mountains and had some of the most fun in a while. Going up hill my scooter was lucky to do 25 mph but coming down I would often end up doing 40 mph through tight corners. The best part was being able to stop when ever I wanted to take pictures, chill out and get coffee. I found a neat little cafe where i talked with the owner for an hour or more coming and going. We walked about his farm and his daughter who went to college in England. He asked me about home and I told him about the Northwest. Pai was a sleepy little town until recently but now expensive resorts dot the hill- and riverside. I found a little guest house out of the way that had every thing I needed, namely a bed and a shower. I took my time getting back Sunday, spending many hours up in the mountains and stopping at amazing vistas of the valleys below.
I am finally starting to upload pictures on Flicker.com. Just look for Adam shilling and you should be able to see some of my pictures. Sadly, the Internet is so slow that i can only get about 5 pictures on per hour and I have about 1000 in total. I will have to put the rest up when i get home but this should give you an idea of the beginning of my trip back in June. Anyway, I'm going to go get ready for more practice. My knee is no longer inflamed and I hope to be able to spend the last week going at full strength. Hope all is well and I'll write again soon.
Adam
Monday, August 18, 2008
Lessons in and out of the ring.
A week has passed and I have some new insights into Muay thai as it's practiced in Thailand. I was talking with a German guy named Andy who trains here at the gym. He finished his service in the German military and has now spent two months straight doing muay thai. I say "straight" because he does all the classes and works out on the sunday off. Oh, I should mention he says all of three sentences in any training session, a man of few words. Anyway, I mentioned that my knee was really bothering me and he looked at me and said more than normal, "Something always hurts, that's muay thai here." How right he is. Now, as I talk to the other people training here, the general concensus is that something will always hurt. If my knee stops hurting then something else will start. I'm not saying all this to complain or sound tough. I just mention it to point out a huge flaw in the Thai system of training. They don't give the body enough time to heal and strengthen properly. This is probably why most fighters are at the end of their careers in their early twenties.
Still, I am having some of the best experiences every day. After 4 days of general conditioning I was put in the ring where the more experienced students train. I put on 16 oz gloves and shin guard while my coach put on a punching mitt, forearm muay thai pad and belly pad. We then went through basic combinations of punches, kicks, knees and elbows. They expect you to go at full strength on them and are rarely caught of guard when you inevitably make a mistake from misunderstanding them. Since the coaches speak "little English" and we speak "nee noy Thai" it's often a case of trial and air. Many times they will yell for me to do a combination and when I don't understand them, they will do the combination on me. I've now learned to cover my ribs and head even during a training session after the first couple kicks and punches landed with solid force.
After this training the coach often puts on gloves and shin guards and spars with me. The sparring is done lightly but with great speed and control on their part. If I land a kick or punch to hard they'll often smile a little and then rattle of a blinding combo yelling out the points they're landing on me. After the first few times like this I learned to respond as if it was real and have now seen some pretty cool combos from them. The better I defend the more creative and intense they get. I have no doubt that my form is better in even this short time and know by the end that I'll have added substantially to my own style as well as my understanding of strict Thai boxing as opposed to the more MMA style I'm used to.
Still, six days of boxing is monotonous and I took last Sunday to drive into the country side. I drove north about 50 miles to the tiny, teak wood town of Chiang doa. I traveled up into the caves set in the mountain (3rd largest in Thailand) and spent hours driving the back roads without running into a single Thai or tourist. The trip really rejuvenated me for the week and, even with the monsoon I drove through on the way home, my spirits were up from where they had been. I think it's important to change ones surroundings every so often to avoid getting in a mental, physical or emotional rut. Fortunately I am in a country that has breath-taking splendor within half an hour in every direction. This weekend I'm probably going to take an extra day to drive out to Pai to raft the river and spend some time hiking. I keep reminding myself that this is still my vacation and even though I'm training I still need to take this last month to really absorb the culture and landscape of this amazing country. Well, I'm going to go put some ointment on my knee and jog to get ready for class. I'll write again when I have something to say. Until then, I hope everyone has a great week.
Adam
Still, I am having some of the best experiences every day. After 4 days of general conditioning I was put in the ring where the more experienced students train. I put on 16 oz gloves and shin guard while my coach put on a punching mitt, forearm muay thai pad and belly pad. We then went through basic combinations of punches, kicks, knees and elbows. They expect you to go at full strength on them and are rarely caught of guard when you inevitably make a mistake from misunderstanding them. Since the coaches speak "little English" and we speak "nee noy Thai" it's often a case of trial and air. Many times they will yell for me to do a combination and when I don't understand them, they will do the combination on me. I've now learned to cover my ribs and head even during a training session after the first couple kicks and punches landed with solid force.
After this training the coach often puts on gloves and shin guards and spars with me. The sparring is done lightly but with great speed and control on their part. If I land a kick or punch to hard they'll often smile a little and then rattle of a blinding combo yelling out the points they're landing on me. After the first few times like this I learned to respond as if it was real and have now seen some pretty cool combos from them. The better I defend the more creative and intense they get. I have no doubt that my form is better in even this short time and know by the end that I'll have added substantially to my own style as well as my understanding of strict Thai boxing as opposed to the more MMA style I'm used to.
Still, six days of boxing is monotonous and I took last Sunday to drive into the country side. I drove north about 50 miles to the tiny, teak wood town of Chiang doa. I traveled up into the caves set in the mountain (3rd largest in Thailand) and spent hours driving the back roads without running into a single Thai or tourist. The trip really rejuvenated me for the week and, even with the monsoon I drove through on the way home, my spirits were up from where they had been. I think it's important to change ones surroundings every so often to avoid getting in a mental, physical or emotional rut. Fortunately I am in a country that has breath-taking splendor within half an hour in every direction. This weekend I'm probably going to take an extra day to drive out to Pai to raft the river and spend some time hiking. I keep reminding myself that this is still my vacation and even though I'm training I still need to take this last month to really absorb the culture and landscape of this amazing country. Well, I'm going to go put some ointment on my knee and jog to get ready for class. I'll write again when I have something to say. Until then, I hope everyone has a great week.
Adam
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Muay thai is hard. Period.
I'm sitting in an Internet cafe down the road from where I'm staying for the next month. I'm sore all over and looking forward to bed soon even though it's only 8:30 PM. Let me back up a little to explain how I got here, shall I?
When I arrived in Chiang mai on the night train I was just going into to my first day of antibiotics from something I'd gotten in Cambodia. I wanted to find the gym that Joel had told me about, Chay yai, and then rest for the weekend before training began. I got a tuk-tuk (after the usual 5 minute argument that $4 was to much for 6 km's) and he took me right to the gym. I use the term "gym" loosely, as it was really just an old boxing ring covered with a metal roof, with heavy bags hanging on metal bars in the open. I met the manager, whose name is pronounced noom, who was presently suffering from a head cold. He took me to a guest house and got me all set up with the owners for an extremely reasonable price (about $3 a day) and then got me a scooter so I could get around for the month. Then he told me he'd see me at 4 at the gym.
I went to the gym expecting to watch practice or maybe sign something but actually found myself trying on Thai shorts and soon I was jumping rope with the rest of the group. They use a rope called a "heavy rope," which lives up to it's name. Within 5 minutes I was having trouble keeping a rhythm going and my arms were killing me. I was then put through all the paces with a trainer for about 45 minutes straight, followed by 30 minutes on the heavy bag and then weight lifting and ab work. The only break I was given was when I would grab a little glass of water from the communal tub, rest for 20 seconds or so, and then jump back into the training. Since there are enough instructors to go around the 8 students I was never asked to hold pads for anyone. This is good in terms of quality and quantity of training and bad in terms of getting a chance to catch your breath. I was spent by the end of an hour and a half and did stretching and ab work until the end of class half an hour later. I repeated the process the next morning at 8am and between the two classes and my stomach trouble I was bedridden for the day.
The next day was Sunday and the gym is closed Sunday. I spent most of the day in my room, ill and broken. Since then things have gone up and up dramatically. I have been able to finish training sessions now and I'm beginning to acclimate to the level of work required for every class. The other students tell me that soon all of this will become rote, as every day follows the same pattern. I should say how grateful I am for the other students practicing here. Each one is extremely skilled and fit, most of them several months into training here in Thailand. Yet each one has reminded me to drop my ego and just work as hard as my body allows. They remind me that no one is watching me and that my training is my own, so don't worry about anyone else. It feels like being back at MKG with the sign that says "no ego" right at the top of the gym rules.
It is a little hard to go from traveling constantly with not a care in the world to staying in one place and training from 8am-10am and again at 4-6pm. In fact I was thinking about this today, my fourth training day, and asked myself what I would tell a student in the same situation. I realized that I had my goal laid out and the will to see it through but I hadn't yet asked anyone to support me in sticking to my goal. In my youth classes we call this person a "success coach." So I thought I would ask all of you wonderful people reading my blog to be my success coach. If you feel like it I would love to have some words of encouragement as the days go by and I keep trying to keep my spirits up. You can leave a comment on this site if you'd like or email me at abshilling@gmail.com. I love to hear from you guys at home and I know even a few words will push me on through a rough day of training.
As usual, I hope all is well at home and that everyone is happy and healthy. I'm gonna head to bed now since my eyelids are closing and my muscles are aching. Talk to you soon and look forward to hearing from you.
Namaste,
Adam
When I arrived in Chiang mai on the night train I was just going into to my first day of antibiotics from something I'd gotten in Cambodia. I wanted to find the gym that Joel had told me about, Chay yai, and then rest for the weekend before training began. I got a tuk-tuk (after the usual 5 minute argument that $4 was to much for 6 km's) and he took me right to the gym. I use the term "gym" loosely, as it was really just an old boxing ring covered with a metal roof, with heavy bags hanging on metal bars in the open. I met the manager, whose name is pronounced noom, who was presently suffering from a head cold. He took me to a guest house and got me all set up with the owners for an extremely reasonable price (about $3 a day) and then got me a scooter so I could get around for the month. Then he told me he'd see me at 4 at the gym.
I went to the gym expecting to watch practice or maybe sign something but actually found myself trying on Thai shorts and soon I was jumping rope with the rest of the group. They use a rope called a "heavy rope," which lives up to it's name. Within 5 minutes I was having trouble keeping a rhythm going and my arms were killing me. I was then put through all the paces with a trainer for about 45 minutes straight, followed by 30 minutes on the heavy bag and then weight lifting and ab work. The only break I was given was when I would grab a little glass of water from the communal tub, rest for 20 seconds or so, and then jump back into the training. Since there are enough instructors to go around the 8 students I was never asked to hold pads for anyone. This is good in terms of quality and quantity of training and bad in terms of getting a chance to catch your breath. I was spent by the end of an hour and a half and did stretching and ab work until the end of class half an hour later. I repeated the process the next morning at 8am and between the two classes and my stomach trouble I was bedridden for the day.
The next day was Sunday and the gym is closed Sunday. I spent most of the day in my room, ill and broken. Since then things have gone up and up dramatically. I have been able to finish training sessions now and I'm beginning to acclimate to the level of work required for every class. The other students tell me that soon all of this will become rote, as every day follows the same pattern. I should say how grateful I am for the other students practicing here. Each one is extremely skilled and fit, most of them several months into training here in Thailand. Yet each one has reminded me to drop my ego and just work as hard as my body allows. They remind me that no one is watching me and that my training is my own, so don't worry about anyone else. It feels like being back at MKG with the sign that says "no ego" right at the top of the gym rules.
It is a little hard to go from traveling constantly with not a care in the world to staying in one place and training from 8am-10am and again at 4-6pm. In fact I was thinking about this today, my fourth training day, and asked myself what I would tell a student in the same situation. I realized that I had my goal laid out and the will to see it through but I hadn't yet asked anyone to support me in sticking to my goal. In my youth classes we call this person a "success coach." So I thought I would ask all of you wonderful people reading my blog to be my success coach. If you feel like it I would love to have some words of encouragement as the days go by and I keep trying to keep my spirits up. You can leave a comment on this site if you'd like or email me at abshilling@gmail.com. I love to hear from you guys at home and I know even a few words will push me on through a rough day of training.
As usual, I hope all is well at home and that everyone is happy and healthy. I'm gonna head to bed now since my eyelids are closing and my muscles are aching. Talk to you soon and look forward to hearing from you.
Namaste,
Adam
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