Chiang Mai

(Wednesday 10:30pm Chiang Mai)
It’s currently about 10:30 and I’m sitting in (my) two bedroom house in Chiang Mai. Paw (pronounced: Pau) is my current couch surfing host. Except instead of letting me “surf her couch”, she has arrange for me to stay at friend of her family’s house in her neighborhood. The families’ house I’m staying at lives in the states and is only in Thailand a few weeks out of the year so I have the house to myself!! It has A/C, HOT water and (Thai) cable TV. Paw’s parents and herself both have their own cars so they are allowing me to use their motorbike. To rent a motorbike is anywhere from 150b-300b a day. I got in yesterday around 3pm and met Andy and Natalie at our meeting place, Taste of Heaven. Hitch hiking turned out to be really simple; I got picked up in 5 min and jumped in the back of a pick up truck heading for Chiang Mai. A woman on a motorbike stopped to pick me up first but when I told her I was heading to Chiang Mai she said no. The truck dropped me off in the city and it was just a quick cab ride to meet Andy and Nat. We talked, played on the internet and got a quick bite. I called Paw and arranged to meet her after her Yoga class, at 8pm for dinner, which gave me plenty of time to catch the 6:30 mtg at McCormick Hospital. This was my second mtg of my travels, the first was in Bangkok my first day there. There weren’t any mtgs in Pai or Phroa. Paw took me to a really cute lil veggie restaurant in an upscale part of town and we walked for dessert afterwards. Arriving home I met “maa-maa” and she gathered linens for me and walked us over to my house. This morning Paw woke me up and introduced me to “Paa-paa”, who gave me a quick motorbike riding test to insure his bike would be ok. Paw had a full day of Yoga classes and English certification test, so I called Nat and Andy to see what their day looked like. I stopped by a Mui Tai (Thai Kickboxing) gym to see if I could train with them. For 300 b a day I can train twice, 630-930am and again from 4-7pm. I met Nat for cup of coffee before her all day Thai cooking class and said goodbye. I stopped by a temple, Wat Chedi Luang, to see if I could find out when/where “monk chat” is. I heard they have time set aside in the day where you can go and speak with the monks about Buddhism, life, love, philosophy… whatever. It was a beautiful temple and I got lost in taking pictures. In the temple there was a monk sitting on a platform who appeared to be meditating. There were many flowers and ornaments around him. I carefully took pictures, no flash, trying not to disturb him. There was a Thai man taking pictures of the temple as well. I asked to see some of his photos and gladly showed me, and then he offered me his tripod to use. The Thai people are such friendly people. I went to ask the people at the entrance of the temple who the meditating monk was. His name was --------------- and this was actually his funeral!!!!! He was a highly regarded monk and he passed away a few days ago. The whole time I thought he was meditating and he is really dead. It’s just a wax figure!! Look at the pics and you’ll see how real he looks, even knowing its fake I still have a hard time believing it. Now knowing I would disturb the monk, I got a lil more liberal with my photos. Before I knew it I had been in the temple over an hour and was late for meeting Paw and Andy for lunch at, Taste from Heaven. We ate lunch and I remained by myself to upload pics, checking emails and couch searching (looking for new hosts’) in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Realizing I was wasting the day away I left to find a travel agent so I could weigh my options on getting to Laos. For 2300b I can take a 5 hour bus ride to the border, and then take a 6 hour speed boat or two day 11 hour slow boat ride to Luang Phabang, Laos. Another option is 400b 5 hour bus ride to the border. I think I’m gonna hitch hike for the experience again! Then when I get to the river, try to hitch hike on a supply boat or something? I went back to the temple to see about Monk Chat, since I never got around to asking before and I was again side tracked by Chanting Time; for about 30 min straight all the young monks filled the temple and chanted out loud. I met two girls from California and all three of us jumped on the motorbike and headed to another temple. It was almost dark and the temple was closed so we jumped on the bike and I took them across town to their guest house. After using the wifi there I left to meet Paw for dinner at an artsy lil Japanese restaurant in the same neighborhood as the night before. The food was out of this world!!! We again walked for ice cream and then returned home for bed. Tomorrow morning I am either waking up for Mui Thai or I am going to Yoga with Paw, then at 2pm I have a dentist appointment to have a cleaning, check up and teeth whitening. Andy got a cleaning, check up and two cavities filled for 90$ us!! I haven’t had insurance for about a year now and I’m past due for a cleaning. A Hui Ho!!