Chiang Mai "walking street"

Straight down the alleyway of Phrapokklao Soi 8 -- behind the German restaurant I stay at -- the streets are alive with the sights and sounds of the Chiang Mai "walking street" Sunday market.

Across from the  brightly illuminated 3 Kings monument, young saamanen (novice monks) pray at a Buddhist shrine.

In the middle of Phrapokklao a man and woman create a puppet dance production to traditional music.

Smoke and the delicious aromas of street vendors fill the air.  

Street Vendors

Some of the best Thai food in Chiang Mai is cooked fresh on the streetside at the Sunday night market...aroi mak mak...jing jing!

Street Musicans

A young boy concentrates on his delicate hammer dulcimer music during the Sunday "walking street" festival in Chiang Mai.  

Four blind street musicians sing, strum their acoustic guitars, and drum on buckets for change in the middle of the street.  

This sign encourages people to donate money to the blind musicians.   

Beijing Dancer

Every Sunday evening, the streets of the central city of Chaing Mai are shut down for Talad Wan atit "Walking Street".

The city transforms into a festival, and the streets become crowded with the flow of hundreds of roaming people as street musicians, dancers, and street vendors cooking up all kinds of fresh Thai food take over.  

This dancer on Thanon Ratchadmoen street is from Beijing, China.

Kan and Max

Muay Sangha

Muay Thai Sangha is a small martial arts school in Chiang Mai.

Ajarn Pedro (the instructor) is originally from Spain.  He spent years learning Muay Thai and other martial arts disciplines in Spain and the United States.  He moved to Thailand in 2002 to become a Buddhist monk and open his own Muay Thai school.  He has taught beginning to advanced Muay Thai fighters from all over the world.  

Muay Thai Sangha let me observe their lesson today.  It is an extreme commitment to study here...the training is intensive and lasts for at least six hours a day, five days a week; it consists of various martial arts techniques as well as meditation and chanting exercises, with a strong foundation in Buddhist philosophy.  

Shan tribe

Expansive slash-and-burn rice fields spread across the mountains leading up to the hill-tribe village.

Here is the third village (The Shan tribe) which was very close to the border of Myanmar (Burma).  Their dialect is much closer to Burmese language than to Thai.

We ate a meal of chicken and vegetables inside the tribal hut in the Shan village after hiking up to the top of a nearby waterfall.

This young boy is from the Shan tribe.

Aek - Fearless Leader

This is Aek, our fearless leader.

Aek was a rebel fighter against the Burmese military dictatorship in the 70's.

He has many vivid stories from the Vietnam-war era.  

He came to Thailand in 1974 carrying opium and jade in exchange for (American) weapons to fight the oppressive Burmese government in a rebel uprising.

Strangely enough, his father still lives in Myanmar and works for the military.  

Ael speaks fluent English, Thai, Burmese, and is able to converse freely with many hill tribes in their various dialects.  

He is 58 years old, but shows no signs of age.  More agile than any of us, he hikes through the treacherous terrain of this jungle like it's nothing.

 His knowledge and skills were crucial in our journey through Mae Hong Son.  He also cooked for us (using ingredients he gathered from the jungle) and provided us Chinese "medicine" (rice whiskey) at the end of every night.

Our group also included 3 kids in their early 20's from Boston, MA and two members of the Karen hill tribe (from the first village) who helped us navigate through the dense jungle.  

The Fathomless Depths

On the way to the second tribal village in Mae Hong Son, Aek led us into a dark damp cave.

The crawl space was tiny - about 1 1/2 feet at the entrance - but the cave gradually opened up into pitch dark depths filled with stalagmite and stalagtite cave formations

Mae Hong Son

I just got back from three days of hiking around the mountains of Mae Hong Son.

The mountains were unbelievable...towering majestic mountains with fresh mist rolling in.  The altitude was so high that at times we walking inside clouds, which made the experience very surreal and dreamlike.

It is some of the most beautiful environment I have ever seen, but the trekking was extremely rugged and challenging...especially because it was raining on and off.  

The greatest hardship was the blood-sucking leeches, which we cursed and pried off our feet in nausea every time we crossed a river.  

We hiked about 10-18km a day through rivers, jungles, and mud...all the way up near the border of Myanmar (Burma).

We went to three different hill-tribe villages, and stayed in a bamboo hut in the second village for two nights.

Many of these backroads were used in the Vietnam war to exchange opium for weapons.  

On the final day we decided to take a raft down the river for a few kilometers.  Two men from the Karen hill-tribe led us for about an hour through knee-deep rivers and dense jungle.  

They proceeded to make a raft from scratch solely out of bamboo and bamboo leaves; we watched them from the opposite shore in the pouring rain, doubtful if the raft would be stable in the strong current.  

Sure enough, after launching off into the river we crashed hard into a log.   One of the Boston kids fell out into the water.  He was not injured, but soaking wet and pretty upset.  The hill-tribe people led us back to shore, got out their knives and attached more bamboo to the raft to make it more structurally sound.

Pai

After flying into Chiang Mai I took a mini-van for 150B about 3 hours northwest to a small village called Pai.

Pai is a small, relaxing town alongside a peaceful river.  It attracts many international travelers.  The atmosphere is very calm and laid back - similar to Santa Cruz, CA.  

It is a great place to regather your strength after days of strenuous trekking through the surrounding mountains...

On my first day I had lunch at a restaurant owned by an Alaskan man who was a soldier in the Vietnam war.  His hearing was impaired from flying helicopters for 28 years, and sometimes he had to strain to listen and ask people to repeat themselves.  He loves living in Southeast Asia, but he said that after the war he refuses to go on any more treks through the jungle.  

Full Moon

The night I got into Chiang Mai was a major Buddhist celebration coinciding with the full moon.  

The streets were vivid with lights, filled with music and chanting. 

Chiang Mai

I have spent the past week in the Chiang Mai province of northern Thailand.

Chiang Mai is in a valley surrounded by towering majestic mountain ranges in all directions.  

The city is very unique and beautiful - it is clean, diverse, and very international.  The city has amazing ancient Buddhist temples, yet it also has a very modern feel.  

It is the second largest city in Thailand, but it doesn't have the chaos and pollution of Bangkok.  I am very happy to be here.

The main roads form concentric circles around the city.  The city center is surrounded by a moat, which was originally intended to keep aggressive Burmese invaders away when Chiang Mai was the capital of the north.  

I have stayed with my friends Brad and Gun (and their dogs Max and Lemon) for a few days.   They have been very kind and welcoming to me.  Brad's words of experience from years of living and working in Thailand have really shed light on my own journeys here.  

Now I am living in a room in the back of a German restaurant near Tha Pae gate (inside the moat) on Ratchapakinai Soi 8.  Guten tag!

Moving North

I had an excellent last night in Surat with my friend Tik.

We went to LaMoon - one of the best restaurants here - and had Tom Yum Gai and Gai Pat Met Ma Meong; two of my favorite Thai dishes.

Pet, prio, wan nit noi...spicy, sour, and a little sweet.  Aroi!

Tomorrow I am heading up north.

With the money I made from teaching at Thida I was able to buy a plane ticket up to Chiang Mai (at the other end of the country) and a taxi to the airport.

I would have liked to stay for yellow-belt test in Tae Kwon Do, but I feel that it is best for me to move on to a new place.

The Tae Kwon Do team are some of the best friends I have made here.  They have been really amazing for accepting me and training me.  I have learned so much from them.  

Rah-diisawatt, soi 18.

This is my last night on Karunrat Soi 18.  

Kicking back and having a few bia changs and ahaan thai with my neighbors and Porn (the older gentelman, formerly a school teacher at Surratpittayah)

Our conversations circle around the grey area between broken English and broken Thai, which can get very interesting.

There has been a strange and unexpected turn of events, beyond my control and comprehension.  

It has been very rough and has taken its toll on me, though I am doing my best to recover.  

I don't intend on staying in Surat Thani much longer.  I am currently staying by myself at a cheap hotel on Chongkasem and Donnuk, determining my next course of action.  

Yamaha

I am studying classical piano at the Yamaha Music Academy on Talad Mai.  

It is a respected school with excellent equipment.  They allow their students to practice any time.  

It seems that I am the only foreigner who studies music here.  The teachers speak enough English to get the message across.  They are very musically skilled and are good teachers.

I am so glad to have the opportunity to play music here.  I want to study seriously, and improve my skills and become a more versatile musician.  Piano was my first instrument, and I am really happy to rediscover it in Thailand.  

The Yamaha instructors had me sight-read a piece to get a feel for my level, and I was pretty happy with my sight-reading ability.  I worked out the piece slowly and carefully.  The teacher found a piece that was just the right level for me; a piece by Chopin...sorrowful and beautiful.  

My instructor introduced me to a younger student who is very advanced.  Instead of speaking to me he sat down to play a classical piece with amazing precision, feeling, and dynamics.  It was incredible and very inspiring.  

In my free time I go to Yamaha, enter a solitary room and practice piano.

Tik

This is my friend Tik.  He has a print shop right across the way from me.

In my free time I like to visit him and his wife Goi, drinking refreshing Oishii green tea and listening to jazz.

Tik will smile and ask me "Justin...sabai dii mai?"  After a very difficult day, he might not understand the problem but he will always cheer me up with his warm kindness and hospitality.  "Mai pruh!" - No problem!

He says, "Justin...come eat rice with my mother!" inviting me to sit on the floor with his elderly mom and brother to enjoy a meal of rice and fish.

As life presents an array of unexpected complications, I have really come to appreciate the generosity of people like Tik.  I have also learned the virtue of being able to adapt to any circumstance, creating a future and purpose for myself.