Be Here Now

We recently returned from three truly amazing weeks in Vietnam and Cambodia.  Every single day of that trip is worthy of it’s  own blog chapter.  It began in Hanoi with it’s tough crowd of Vietnamese (I’m calling them the New Yorkers of Asia) and then came the exquisite beauty of Halong Bay followed by a three day motor bike tour in central Vietnam.  There was the beach town of Na Thrang  and then on to Saigon where we witnessed the most unbelievable scooter traffic imaginable.  Next stop, the Kingdom of Cambodia where we stayed in the capitol city of Phnom Penh and then Siem Reap situated next to the ancient city of Angkor .  We encountered language barriers, ate strange and wonderful food, had clothing malfunctions, drove motorbikes through mudslides and over lush mountains, got caught in epic lightning storms and were sheltered by a kind villager…and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  I got to swim in Halong Bay, one of the most spectacular landscapes on the planet and I cried at the War Museum in Saigon.   There is so much to tell.

But all these stories, wanting impatiently to be written, will have to wait.  With less than two weeks left before we leave Chiang Mai, I don’t want to spend a minute of it thinking in retrospect.  Like a good Buddhist would, I am trying to be in the moment.  Our time here has been all that we dreamed it would be…and a whole lot more.  Over the course of the next week or so, I am going to record the things I have learned as well as capture, with words and images, the people and the places I have come to love.   They are many.

Three days after our return, I had an exhibition of my drawings at a wonderful place called the 2^nd Floor Gallery and Café.  It is the same venue as our salsa events so I had a built-in crowd at the opening.  Art and dancing go well together.   The very next morning, emboldened by our Vietnam motorbike tour, Jim and I rented two scooters and headed out yet again in search of new adventure…only this time not so far from home.  We said one last farewell to our nephew Luke who had “come down from the mountain” to dance with us.  Luke came to Thailand just a few months after we did and like us has been captured by it’s charms.  We will share this with him forever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So we headed south for the town of Lampang, no reservations needed… just a spirit of adventure.  Riding a motorbike in Thailand is a piece of cake compared to the craziness of Vietnam.   Much of the first day we traveled on the “super highway” which was not quite as scenic as other rides we’d had.  Still, Jim and I have come to enjoy the freedom of life on a motorbike where you can go where you want… when you want, park where you want, and see things at your own pace.   If we saw something interesting…we’d just pull over and check it out.  And there’s no shortage of interesting things in these parts.   The only mishap I encountered was in the form of a large buzzing insect that collided with my face unexpectedly.  I’m sure he was as surprised as I was and three days later I still have a fat red lump on my chin where he stung me .  When we finally arrived in Lampang, we were delighted to see some very  unusual architecture, almost European looking, although Thailand is one of the few countries in Southeast Asia never colonized.  We have yet to do our research and find out how Lampang came to look as it does. 
Our chosen guesthouse was ridiculously charming, situated right on the river and we settled in for a few days.  That first night we were welcomed with the usual Thai generosity when a monk saw us peering through the closed gate of a wat, opened it up for us and proceeded to turn on all the lights so that we could see it in all it’s glory.  It was almost all white and absolutely beautiful.

The next morning, after a good breakfast, we headed out on the bikes to explore.  One of the first places we came upon was..you guessed it, a beautiful wat.  Despite having seen many, many wats in the past six months, I don’t think I will ever grow tired of them.  They all have elements in common but are also completely unique and it’s wonderful to have the knowledge to really compare the art, the monks, and the resident stray dogs who always come out to greet us.  It was very hot (this should go without saying) and we headed for a local street vendor for refreshment.  Wats are great, museums are great, ruins are great,…but it’s the locals that always end up impressing us the most.  Once again, Jim and I were so thankful that we studied Thai because otherwise we would never have had the kinds of encounters we did.  In this case, it was the sweet lady making our ice coffees and the man selling amulets at a table nearby.  Speaking just a few words of Thai will easily kick start a great conversation because Thai people love to talk!  And they want to know everything such as, “where are you going?” (this is a big one), or “how old are you?”  or “where do you come from?”  And they almost never neglect to tell us how good we are at speaking Thai…which we really appreciate all the more because it’s not true.

Onto our next stop…yet another wat, this one higher up in the hills.  At the entrance, we saw what looked like some sort of religious parade and it turned out to be a big funeral being held at the wat.  Jim and I didn’t want to intrude so we walked the grounds where there were other things to see.  A young Thai man approached us and asked if we were thirsty and gave us cold water to drink.  Shortly thereafter, a Thai woman came up and offered us lunch!  She had pad thai and fresh vegetables all prepared which she brought after offering us chairs to sit on.  We were grateful and happy for this unexpected hospitality.  There were a few other Thais sitting around talking and we made some polite conversation while eating.  Then, the woman directed us to look at a casket and display of flowers just a few feet away.  This was her father’s funeral.  Again, we were so glad we understood some Thai as we were able to talk to her as we all knelt down and paid our respects.  We were given sticks of incense to hold between our hands and then place in front of the casket.  How wonderful that this woman welcomed in complete strangers on such an important day.  Jim and I were very touched.

On my list of “things I love” about Thailand is that it is filled with the unexpected.  We came upon a classic example of this as we rode the back roads of Lampang, slightly lost but happily so.  Out in the middle of nowhere was this housing development being built…or maybe I should call it a new little neighborhood being born because that describes it much better.  All the houses were “stand alone,” skinny verticals basically made up of two tiny rooms…one above and one below.  In these parts, uniformity of this kind is a rarity so it wasn’t surprising that the few residents who had already moved in were well on their way to making their little space unique.  Some popped out with a display of awnings and color fast becoming a local grocery store.  Another was already being remodeled with extra windows being cut out.  Yet another had tiles covering the standard stucco in hot pink.  You gotta love it!  My favorite part though, was this whole section which apparently had been abandoned in the middle of the project.  You could see all the stages of the building process as well as mother nature reclaiming both the buildings and the narrow street.

That night we walked to the night market but the evening was cut short by the usual yet unpredictable torrential downpour.  It was kinda fun to watch all the vendors scampering around trying to cover up their wares.  Lampang is famous for it’s horse drawn carriages and we hired one to take us home like good tourists.

A new day and another adventure awaited us.  I suggested we look for a “back” route to Chiang Mai and according to the map, there was one…a longer course but clearly more interesting than the super highway.  Plus, it was new territory, a concept we’d come to love and seek out.   We got on the bikes and headed into mountainous country.  While not exactly lost, for the next several hours we were never completely sure of where we were or if we were in fact heading in the right direction.  Asking a Thai for directions is an interesting exercise in the use of hand gestures but any information obtained in this way is not to be trusted.  Thais don’t use maps or addresses like we do…everything is  “near this” or “close to that” or “far away from something.”  At one point we were deep into the mountains and not sure whether or not we were going to come out on the other side.  In fact the road looked abandoned with trees and shrubs encroaching along the edges and threatening to take over.  We saw no other cars or scooters.  To make things even more interesting, my scooter was too whimpy to take the hills and even with the throttle completely open I climbed at a snails pace, leaning forward in hopes that it would help.  A few times I had to put my feet down to keep my balance I was going so slow.  Every time the road went uphill I prayed I would make it to the top.  At one point, it started to rain and thankfully we came upon a house where we were able to take cover.   We headed straight for the garage which had an overhanging roof.  There was a man there working and he let us know with his friendly smile that it was okay to stay awhile .  He cleared off two “spools” for us to sit on and his little boy came around as well as wife with babe in arms.  Not much was said but we felt completely comfortable waiting out the rain in their company.  When it turned to a drizzle, we decided to brave it only to find my scooter wouldn’t start.  Everyone was out there considering the situation, baby included.  Jimmy finally suggested we turn the bike to point downhill (where I assume it felt more at home) and it started right up.  I’m sure a mechanic would have an explanation for this but I do not.

We pressed on in the direction of the unknown, stopping once again to ask for uncertain directions.  It was clear the road we were traveling  was rarely used but the views were absolutely spectacular.  When we weren’t worried about making it back to civilization before dark or running out of gas…or getting up the next hill in my case, we were having a great time.  By the time we arrived back in familiar territory, we felt as if we had discovered something amazing right in our own backyard.  We’re still not entirely sure what road we were on but we plan to find it again.

The next morning we set out again after exchanging my motorbike for another a little more robust.   We drove off  in a completely different direction and found yet another road with beautiful views and charming towns along the way.  Does this sound like a broken record?  There is one last piece of magic to report.   Riding happily along, we passed a wat that Jim recognized and we turned around and went back.  Jim told me to turn off my engine and “come over here.”  What he showed me was so amazing.  But in order to appreciate this, I have to go back about a year and a half.  Jim and I were in Thailand on our honeymoon and during our time in the Chiang Mai area, we spent an entire day as “mahouts” (pronounced mahoots), each of us taking care of our own elephant. Mine was named Moon Pat and he was a magnificent animal with big white tusks.  We were taught how to check if our elephants were healthy, beat them with shrubbery to get the dirt off them, bathe them (it was like washing a car), ride them , and swim with them at a waterfall.  They say elephants never forget and we bonded with them over the course of one incredible day…one of the best days.  The elephant farm is called Patara and sits high in the mountains on beautiful, fertile jungle land.

When I got off my motorbike, after Jimmy told me to turn off my engine, what I saw was Patara.  I couldn’t believe it.  In our crazy wandering, we had stumbled upon this place so special to us.  It was like a dream.  We walked into the fields, reminiscing on where we first saw the elephants, where we bathed them….which direction they walked carrying us on their enormous backs.   It was nothing short of amazing.  We also remembered a section of the trek where we had to cross the road and folks on motorbikes came by, looking on with delight.  Now we were the ones on the motorbikes and we drove up the road a little and sure enough….there they came.  Our timing was perfect.  The elephants appeared with mahouts on their backs and they crossed the road just in front us.  We also got to see the new baby elephant walking with his mama.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now that I've finished this last report, I can get back to being in the moment...which is me, right now, typing away at my keyboard.  I look forward to sharing all my stories about Vietnam and Cambodia so look for them to come your way in the next few weeks.  This will probably be my last posting from inside the Kingdom.  The packing has begun, my work on the book is finished for now, and we reside between worlds....relishing every second we have left in this place and looking forward to coming back to the future.