Just getting ready for Tahoe and testing this shit out.
The weekend in Tahoe was pretty great though.
Travel back to SF
Traveling back to SF.
Just getting ready for Tahoe and testing this shit out.
The weekend in Tahoe was pretty great though.
Traveling back to SF.
After basically not sleeping all night, we pulled into the Bangkok train station around 7am. I was well back on the train, while Kerry was up ahead in the Women & Children only train (which she later reported was entirely pink and purple. Shrink it and pink it, it would seem, is alive and well in the Kingdom on Thailand). Despite the weight of the extra gear, lack of sleep, and hunger, stepping off the train, I felt amazing. Just ecstatic. So as I walked towards the front of the train to find Kerry, I put in my headphones, threw on Aerosmith’s Rag Doll, and rocked. the. fuck. out.
I didn’t get awkward looks or the disaproving gaze of people attempting to avoid me. I got their wide-eyed, terror filled attention. Imagine Pharrelle’s 24 hours of happy in a city where every morning, thousands of robe-clad monks wake up before dawn to walk the streets collecting alms and blessing people. For the cultural insensitivity, I do apologize. For the Rag Doll, I do not. God help me if a more fun song was ever written. Even Kerry, when I found her, had no idea what the hell was going on until I gave her one of my headphones. Then she smiled and her whole face lit up.
After that, the hunger set in and realized we needed to eat. Our plans for the day were food, Thai massage, and a pedicure before putting Kerry on her way back to Australia, so we got on the subway to make our way towards that trendy district I wanted to check out
The laughable metal detectors at the entrance. Walking through the station, everyone stopped moving. What the shit?
Trying to ask around for breakfast. No one really having a good idea. Then we found the farm. A half acre of green and brown in the middle of urban sprawl. They had an open air cafe, gardens, chickens, goats, and at the back of the lot, a remarkably well appointed bathroom. The farm appeared to be abandoned, so after a moment’s deliberation, I grabbed my towel and toiletries and showered off. I don’t think a cold shower has ever felt so good.
While brushing my teeth, I heard an alarm clock go off and saw someone stick their head out of the hut that had escaped my notice on the way in. I had definitely just walked into someone’s bathroom and helped myself to their shower. Smooth.
After coming out refreshed, I found Kerry petting the goats, waiting for the guys sleeping on the floor in the cafe to wake up and open up shop. So we pet the goats. Eventually, two people came out of the hut, showered up, fed the chickens and goats, woke up the guys in the cafe, and opened up shop.
Kerry and I had a little food, a cup of coffee, and sat out in the sun reading and planning out the rest of the day. There was a couple restaurants we wanted to check out, and knew we’d pass a couple massage parlors on the way there, so we set that as our destination. On the way, we stopped to get some more substantial food at some carts along the side of the road. It wasn’t bad, but the meal underscored that just because something is authentic, it doesn’t mean it’s tasty.
Hunger sated, we found a massage parlor that would take us and proceeded to get to it. An hour and a half later, I was no less tense than I started and at one point had to stop the guy from injuring me. After spending a week in the only royally recognized massage school with a bunch of LMTs out for continuing education, it was a disappointment. But I guess you get what you pay for.
Following that, we wandered over to **trendy restaurant here, to find that it was closed, but had a nice conversation about slow food with several friends of the owner. They recommended we head over to a vegan japanese place, where we had lunch. It was quite delectable, but it was bitter sweet, as it was the last thing Kerry and I did before she got on the subway to the airport.
Spent the day walking around Chiang Mai, eating food, checking out shops, and just enjoying being there. We spent about an hour in a textile place where Kerry bought the better part of a bolt of cloth to make a duvet. Then, we got on the train headed to Bangkok
Our last real day in Chiang Mai.
Honestly, at this point, I don’t remember what the friendly farang was about. But I know we had a good time.
We took the bus three hours north of Chiang Mai to the small town of Chiang Dao. When we told the locals we wanted to head up that way, invariably we got blank stares and were asked, “Why? There’s nothing there.” Which was exactly the point. It’s literally a stop on the side of the road, with not much else out there.
It was glorious. Stepping off the bus and walking to our huts was pretty hot, then we came across this thing:
Yeah, weird spot.
Then we got to the huts.
We got settled, rented some bikes, and started exploring.
It just so happened that the weekend we were visiting Chiang Dao was the same weekend of a Japanese hippy music festial, Shambala in your Heart. We arrived at the festival after the music had officially ended for the night, but it was a super chill scene. There was one guy raging on a harmonica with cockles tied to his ankles that was pretty cool. Sleeping arrancements for the festival were just camping out behind the stages. Someone had brought a teepee.
Today we ran through a whole massage, start to finish. At the end of the day, we had a graduation ceremony, complete with certificates, so you know it’s official.
That night we went out to celebrate graduation. And see Thor’s girlfriend Pear play at Elvis. She’s a total badass.
The set list:
By this point we had covered the entire body, so today was focused on closing (stretching, light massage) and linking each part together. We had a short written test where we had identify ten parts of the body that are sensitive to the touch. Real hard.