lavaland

Bangkok and beyond…

two weeks into my trip and I finally (oh well!) have time to sit down with some internet access….

Though I’ve been writing in my journal the day to day of the trip I’m here off the top of my head.

Bangkok was a gong show - I would say don’t go there, but you really have to for the experience of the place. Honestly though, if your not sure what you are doing, you are going to get ripped off and feel like your head is spinning in directions you didn’t know it could spin.

Some highlights of BKK: first night survival tactics… finding a place to stay. familiarizing yourself with the situation and getting over jet lag after a 21 hour trip… going out for drinks at 1am because you are not tired since it’s 3pm in your time zone. copious amounts of drinking WILL be involved in the khao san road area, I promise. Don’t be surprised if you figure out it’s 2am and there is still a bucket of rum in your face, it just happens that way. Don’t be surprised if you see a midget and an 8 year old in a shoving match - actual story.

Go to the grand temple/wat (I missed that, but will go on my way back home.) Take a Tuk Tuk. Take a water taxi. Practice your bartering skills, they will come in handy down the road. Leave, quickly.

From BKK I took the overnight train to Chiang Mai, wasn’t anything special other than a pretty awesome night market which gets old about half way through. Hold on to your Baht if your on a budget because you will speed through them pretty quickly. I did not hold on to them, and I have about 10 pounds of things to haul around because of it. Happily so though. Go to the mama of all temples/wats (I forget the name off the top of my head).

From here I went on a trek, CM is pretty much the capital of treks. We drove up a giant moutain for about an hour and half then started downhill through the jungle. Unbeknownst to me, leeches are not only in lakes, they are in the jungle, especially in the wet season. They like to attach themselves to your feet and crawl up to the good stuff. Fortunately, I spotted mine early and were able to knock them off my shoes.

Trekking was awesome. Although a little strange in the first village as if you were in a museum or zoo. 2nd day led to hell hiking then eventually elephant riding. I was a lucky volunteer to ride on the neck of an elephant rather than the seat. After elephants I experienced villiage #2 where we played futball with the locals. It was a great game until I biffed it and had to go home to ice my leg. injury #1.

Back to CM for one more day, just enough time for a massage and to say goodbye to the rest of the group. I convinced another trekker to come to Pai with me for a couple of days…2/3 days turned into 5.

Go to Pai. It’s amazing. Well, amazing if you appreciate the chilled out hippy scene where the locals on a hill who smoke home grown weed out of a bamboo bong tell you, you are lazy because you love Pai. Because if you are lazy, you’ll love Pai. Everyday is same same only different.

The most memorable part of Pai right now is my first scooter experience! Met some folks at the bar and tagged along on scooter day. Went to see some waterfalls and chill out at some french hippy hut in the middle of nowhere. The next day was pretty much the same same only different, more scootering, more waterfalls and more chilling. I’m so getting a scooter when I get home.

Finally and regretfully I woke up from my Pai coma and realized I had to continue on with my trip. Visions of beaches where dancing in my head.

Booked a flight to Ko Samui on Sunday and flew out on Tuesday. Started the morning with a 4 hour mini-bus ride to Chiang Mai followed by a flight to BKK and onward to Ko Samui. I knew as soon as I got to BKK that I wasn’t going to like KS. Too many american families and dudes in suits waiting at the departure gate. On arrival it was just about impossible to get a taxi if you weren’t booking into some resort. Ah well. I picked a place from my lonely planet book and went there, I just wanted something cheap and on the beach… it was neither. deep breath.

So I settle into my over priced, non beach room and head out with a flashlight in dusk with a mission to dip my toes into the ocean. 10 minutes walk they tell me - well after 30 minutes of getting lost I finally find the beach, in the dark. I sit and have a beer and take in the sounds of the ocean. Head back only to be swarmed by a pack of 6 dogs that aren’t happy to see me at the temple/wat. Thankfully I had a bag of 5 beers that I could start swinging in a circle to ward off the dogs… just when I thought I was out of trouble some little bastard nipped me in the calf. awesome. returned to the hotel and mentioned it to the front desk who immediately treated me with rubbing alcohol and iodine and called me a driver to take me to the hospital in fear of rabies. So two hours into my arrival at KS I’m in the hospital. more awesome. They treated me well, cleaned me up, including previous injuries with the bamboo raft and gave me some meds and shots for rabies - including a schedual for 4 more shots over the next 28 days… if you know anything about rabies and unfortunatley I do thanks to the google, I’ll take the 4 shots… otherwise I could be rabid and dead within two years… yikes.

Luckily… and I’m praying to buddah since it was his damn dog, most of the dogs at the wats are vaccinated on KS. wish me luck.

Future plans include getting off this ridiculous island and chilling out on Ko Pha-Ngan for a week, then a couple days in Ko Tao, and a couple days in Hua Hin, before heading back to BKK for my flight home - though apparently there is some volcano in Russia which has canceled flights from Narita to Vancouver. We’ll see, that’s two weeks away.

So realizing that I’m sunburnt after my hour and a half on the beach, despite my 30 spf sunscreen, I’m gonna chill out then head to the bar of some local who I met on the beach today for some dinner and drinks.

nighty night.

holy trip across the world

flight was too long, but the results were good. two days in Bangkok so far, leaving for the north tomorrow. we’ll see what happens. where is the off switch?

And I’m off…!

Boarding a plane to Bangkok in 3 hours. woot!

Where have I been?

Strangely I’ve only been in Vancouver since I returned from the Philippines in uh… October? I haven’t even made a trip across the border… what the hell. We’ll as you can imagine, I’m getting itchy feet which should be remedied by… uh a week in SLC? No, not so much… but shortly after my week in SLC I will be setting off to Thailand for a month of non work related travel. Thank god. Looking forward to the trip… not doing much planning other than my first week to Chiang Mai… Might hit Cambodia for a few days or just head south and sit on beaches. Stoked.

Changes…

Changes…

Originally uploaded by Lava.

Ah yes, back and haven’t written… let’s see what kind of excuses I can come up with for this…. Thanksgiving with friends, hiding/hanging out, looking for a place to live, moving, surviving, ect…

I learned so much from being away in the Philippines and brought those lessons back home. I had such big changes I wanted to teach everyone and incorporate into my own life and I feel like I’ve failed miserably. I’ve been sucked in by NA standards. I’ve fallen back into old habits, I’m not new, I’m the same again with memories of how it should be. circles again.

Okay, I’m back…

same, same only different… more later.

A reminder of Panama

A reminder of Panama

Originally uploaded by Lava.

I consider myself a fairly sustainable person however I’m afraid that the perception I give to hotel staff is that either I’m not or I’m dirty. While I try not to be wasteful in my everyday life, and I’ve finally won the newspaper war I’m often inundated with toiletries at hotels. Housekeeping refuses to let me finish a bottle of shampoo or conditioner without replenishing my supply instantly. I’m convinced that there are sensors on each bottle that sends a warning to the housekeeping staff that I’ve moved or utilized a toiletry.

Lavender body wash anyone?

Owie Owie Owie

Owie Owie Owie

Originally uploaded by Lava.

As I sit here with ice on my back contemplating another week that has past wondering if I should go to bed or tough it out I’m chuckling in my head about my previous “nights” near death experience.

It seemed so simple… go out on a catamaran and enjoy the ocean further than a simple snorkel. It had worked so well the previous weekend, a hilarious 2 days in Boracay that brought me Singapore slings (aka Fucking good), karaoke, cockroaches and much, much more…

You see I had a bad day and just wanted to snorkel for a bit in silence before my snorkel mate was stung by a jellyfish… well long story short and a silly pool volleyball game later I was on a catamaran with 3 other people. All was glorious and fun filled. We made our escape and were on our way back, me saddled on the pontoon until suddenly I was chest deep into the water yelling back at my boat mates to jump to the back to steady the vessel … well one bailed completely, one just sat there in awe and one teetered precariously on the verge of spilling into the ocean.

Somehow, and I honestly don’t know how, I ended up on the other side of the boat to ensure that the weight was distributed properly then grabbing my previously teetering boat matea by the back of her life jacket to ensure the current didn’t take her out to the middle of nowhere…

It was a hilarious 60 seconds of sheer terror and adventure that I will always keep in the back of my mind. A story to tell from here on out… the time I almost got stranded at sea with 3 coworkers… a story I could not tell if I hadn’t taken on this journey that I was mildly reluctant to take.

A story to remember as I sit here with ice on my back nursing the bruises I’ve endured along this journey called life.

No regrets.

Slow demise of my sanity…?

of

Originally uploaded by Lava.

Being here has enlightened me in ways I did not expect… in my 3 and a half weeks here I’ve evaluated and reevaluated my morals, my self worth, my fundamentals, my beliefs, my breaking points, my work ethic, what I want, what I need… and the list goes on with every corner I turn.

I’ve just been blessed, after what I thought was the most mind numbing 2 weeks of my life with some actual stimulation of the soul by a few unexpected beings.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am exuberantly grateful for the people in my life, but sometimes you need something different to jolt you into realizing you are on the right path (or not). To share, and have people share their experiences worldly or not is an astounding feeling.

There is nothing more that I enjoy than seeing people experience and react to something new in their lives.

Well, maybe I should preface that with there is nothing more that I enjoy than experiencing and reacting myself to something new in my life than….

So things that I have observed:
We will all react differently.
There is nothing wrong with that.
We will all take away the most of the situation. hopefully.
We will mostly all learn from it.

Ha, in writing that and truly reflecting I’ve realized that I could be wrong and strangely optimistic….else I wouldn’t be having a mini breakdown in posted picture.

Perhaps what I have learned is that we will definitely all react differently and the good will come to good conclusions.

Like: The “world we live in” is not the whole world. We will not truly be able to experience the “other side” of life.. and I’m not talking a north american rags to riches story but being able to submerge yourself deeply into another culture and not bring judgment to the situation. For instance, I can’t go to the mall here and head to the bathroom without truly cringing at the fact that there are no toilet seats or toilet tissues…. without quietly judging when others don’t wash their hands on the way out. I’ve been trained that way, they’ve been trained that way… we can’t help it. The difficultly is realizing that neither is wrong, that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it actually works in society. I can’t expect to come here and preach about how toilets need to have what I’m used to as I wouldn’t expect them to come to north america and preach about what is common in their culture.

I can’t expect them to speak or understand english in my country as well as I can’t expect them to speak or understand english when I am in their country. I would hope they would try to learn some english when visiting north america, as I would hope to have learned some filipino, spanish or french when visiting theirs… if not, we can teach each other.

Building on that… we all have so much to learn and it doesn’t start or end with the way we communicate with each other. It’s too about embracing each others differences. What I’ve learned the most from being here is how to simplify, and how to slow down, be polite, let someone cut you off, appreciate one another. Don’t flaunt or showboat, be humble. Don’t expect the same if you are not with the same. Chill out and enjoy the beach and how beautiful it all is, and how beautiful we all are in our differences.

Emotionally this is the best trip I’ve taken, I’ve learned so much from common misconceptions and different perceptions. I’ve rolled my eyes a few times, I’ve commented on a few things and I’ve been put in my place. But none of it is wrong if we can learn from it in the end. Take away a little more than we came with.

Ultimately, I’ve just reiterated in my life the golden rule…. treat each other the way we want to be treated, because we all deserve that.

Mercury retrograde - time for reflection!

Your horoscope - Week of September 22, 2008
Gemini, this week you’re the subject of gossip and rumor as your ruling planet Mercury turns retrograde on Wednesday. You know the real story, so pay no attention to any comments you hear. Someone you know is putting his or her own spin on the matter. If you shrug off the situation, it will blow over shortly. This weekend is a great time to review your goals and reflect on your progress. You’ll have a solid idea of where you want to go and how to get to your destination once Mercury turns direct in three weeks.