Myanmar visa run

Today I took a van to Messei (the northernmost point of Thailand) to reach the border of Myanmar for a visa extension.

The van driver only gave us an hour to go through immigration, cross the border, complete the whole procedure, and then come back. So I was in a rush, but made it happen.

Last month I met a guy from Oslo, Norway. He has been traveling for about 10 months; before Chiang Mai he spent time at an intensive meditation retreat in India.

We share a similar taste in music, and he ended up exchanging a lot of music (so I had a lot of new stuff to listen to on the van ride). He gave me some really good Scandinavian / European / American metal, jazz, folk, rock etc. Among the highlights are:

FAITH NO MORE, JOHN COLTRANE, EMPEROR, OPETH, DEATH (discography), JIM STARK, KAADA, KAADA / PATTON, BACH, DEAD KENNEDYS, AT THE GATES, etc. I especially like the albums "Individual Thought Patterns", "Symbolic", and Coltrane "First Meditations"

I move out of my apartment tomorrow, and then I'm headed to BKK on an all-night bus. Earlier this month I had a conversation with my Thai neighbor as she was leaving. She is a traveling nurse that relocates all over northern Thailand. Mostly she works with Burmese people and refugees in Thailand who are victims of landmines on the border of Myanmar.

I'm finishing up my time here in Chiang Mai. I feel good, confident that I'm making the right decision at this point in my life; but there are many things I will miss about Chiang Mai (riding my motorbike around the city, Northern Thai food, Lanna music school, my amazing students at AUA Chiang Mai, etc). I will always remember my time here, and I'm happy to be returning to California.