The Hermit has spoken

Wow. Most different place I've ever been to in my life. I was so lucky to be able to make a connection to this village and we spent 2 nights with a local family that my friend knows. They speak Karen, a minority group that originates from Burma. 

We showed up unannounced, after a 20km trek through the jungle, and it was as if they were expecting us. They cooked breakfast and dinner for us everyday no questions asked. All the food they grew or gathered themselves. Men and women eat separately and men eat first. They ate with their hands but they had fork and knife as options also. The food was delicious and im sure it was healthy because it was fresh and "organic" even though that word doesn't exist to them because all food is. Everyday we would eat free meals with other villagers my friend knew or people we would meet and they would invite us for food. 

Everybody at first appeared to be vampires. With there teeth stained of red and red liquid smeared on their lips. But this is betelnut (sp) a type or tobacco that they all grow and chew regularly throughout the entire day and night.

A dirt road was just built there 5 years ago and now people are starting to have cars and mmotorbikes and access to the nearest town (20km away). In this town I was able to have a feeling of living in a gathering and growing society (they dont eat meat). But even in thid kind of town with at most 4 tiny tiny stores I was able to find coca cola, sprite and fanta. Along with roads houses now have electricity and some even small televisions. 

Beliefs:males must grow out hair and have a front ponytail, males can not wear shirts that they pull over their heads because you cannot open a t-shirt so it is like closing your mind. Button up t-shirts you can open, like your mind, women wear traditional clothes, and babies clothing seemed to be optional. Also the clothes, if not traditional, should only be one color. Males also wear these skirts as you can see in the picture of me with the family.You cannot kick any round balls I.e. soccer balls because it is the shape of the earth so it is like you are kicking the earth,  no alcohol, drugs, meat.

This village is called the "Hermit" vvillage because they believe in the Hermit, who I spent time with both days I was there. Below is a picture of me with the Hermit. We went to his grounds to speak with him. A beautiful, peaceful spot in the jungle full of his disiples. He had around 30 disciples probably between 12-20 years old. If you are part of this belief you are supposed to be a disciple for 3 years. Learning from the hermit and living on the grounds. When talking to the hermit behind hhim his disciples sat listening weaving baskets and smoking cigarettes.

Have yyou ever met anyone who didn't know what a computer was? He did not know what it was. I asked hI'm if he could have a computer if he would wsnt one and he said why would I want something he doesnt know. Also he asked me if i've been to the moon bc he heard that white people have been there. He asked me what material my camera was made out of, because everythint they have they build tthemselves and have to use from their own resources

 

Journey or Result?

Not only seeing the world, but meeting the people who make it up.

It has been amazing to see different parts of this beautiful floating rock we inhabit. But more than seeing things its meeting the people who live in it that has made this trip extremely special to me. As well as reflecting on the situations I have found myself in.

For example:

As I am sitting on the porch of a wooden cabin in the mists of rice paddies and the jungle as a mix between insects calling and Thai music blasts from the cabin across the way. A reality which would have never crossed my mind. And thats something I love about travelling is that your reality is constantly something you were unaware existed before, you are constantly expanding your map.

At guesthouse I stayed in in Chiang Mai I always had great talks with the German co-owner named Sid. He told me something important that day which has stuck with me since. As he was giving me a route to take on motorbike from one city to another and detailing all of the relics on the way he told me "but after you see a few waterfalls or caves they all blend together.  The relics are great to see throughout the day but its that one stand you stopped at along the way where you got the best piece of corn and conversation.  It's whats happening at the moment your riding through a town and the things you see. These are what make the trip memorable". This guy is obviously more about the journey then the end result and I liked that a lot.

On my journey I met a guy in a guesthouse where we were the only occupants and we chatted all night. He just finished his contract at one NGO working with healthcare for Burmese Karen refugees. He was telling me about all the interesting things in this town and I was captivated by all the NGO talk as it is something I am interested in and I have talked about so much in my INTL classes.
Next thing you know I was on a 7 hour truck ride around a mountain squeezed amongst 30 others and boxes of goodies in a truck thats faded capacity limit sticker read 15. It was the most unexpected, nauseating, eventful ride I could have asked for, and I wasn't asking for anything. Women breastfeeding their children,  people on the roof slingshoting trees, little kids holding enormous insects as pets, people's "cocks" for the upcoming fights this weekend etc. etc. Etc. And at the end of this ride I exchanged facebook info with one person on the ride. Everyone in the world has a facebook im convinced.

Today was the end of Buddhist lent and we woke up early and gave all the monks food in the pouring rain. Noodles for days!

Jungles and villages

I just finished a 107km motorbike ride through the jungle and the mountains from Pai to Mae Hong Son, it was amazing! Rice paddies, corn, bananas,  all kinds of other crops I couldn't recognize mixed in with an asassortment of villages. In Thailand it can be difficult to actually see Thailand Thailand with all the amazing tourist destinations such as waterfalls, elephant camps, hikes, beaches, yoga, massages, interesting backpackers, etc. Today on this ride I felt I was actually looking at how many of the Thais actually live, yes the dont all cater to the filongs (whites).

Being able to identify with somebody is a key to making a quick friend and being able to get conversation started. By sharing something you know about their country,  music, sites, soccer players haha etc. Identifying is connecting, if you agee on the subject or not.

Hay una Mahout en nuestra familia

And her name is Emma! Mad respect dude!

Also take a close look at this monkey business. I guess that's what happens when your locked up in a cage all day, if your flexible

A visionary, vision is scary

Cripes, just had a whole page written and then it got deleted.

Basically I had a conversation with a women from Boston tonight about college and college degrees. It was a refreshing convo that I don't get to have in person with many of these thinkers but I know there are many.

Is it a waste of time and money to go to get a degree without a proper end to a job after you graduate? Is this the way older generations have always thought and now younger one's and going to university without a clue of what they will be

Finance degrees, advertising and marketing all lead to a direct field leading to a large ladder to climb. This is a ladder I do not want to climb. I do not mind hardwork but I do if it is not something I get satisfaction from.

I believe that I am visionary and am unique amongst peers my age. I believe that I will find a way to sustain myself without having to work an unsatisfying job. Is this young and naive of me to think?  That things will fall into place and it will all turn out alright in the end? Do I have to bleed, sweat and study to be the best I can be at one skill to excel in the workforce?

Either way being a visionary fron anybody during any time period took a lot of laughs, criticism, effort and confidence to complete which makes it scary. 

I met a German guy in Bangkok who told me a saying they have in Germany. "You go to university to learn how to learn".

I had one of the best days ever today and I was almost by myself the whole time. I love that.

Here I am on my baby, motorbike who spent all day on. I ran out of daylight and had to bike on dirt roads,  it was awesome. The other picture is of a hill tribe I drove to and walked around in. It was stunningly beautiful. 

Chiang Mai locality

Got to see my friend from my theater career Jesse today before his first day of work at Emma's old school!

He introduced me to his friends he met from Thailand and I got to spend the day with them. Huge bonus that they spoke almost perfect English and one of them Had studied in Argentina and spoke Argentinean Spanish!  Unbelievable day of food, temples, biking, talking and so much laughing my throat is sore. Not to mention all this on no sleep after a 12 hour bus ride to Chiang Mai.

5 temple day

Woah woah we.

Smiles, smiles, tuk tuks, pink taxis, temples, Chang, backpackers, hot, pad thai, CHEAP, smiles.

The people here are the first thing I noticied. In my experience the people in China were rude and unfriendly in public. Getting on and off the trains, ordering at restaurants, walking through the cities, asking people for directions,  etc. On top of that not many people speak English.  Out of everywhere I've been China speaks the worst English. This surprised me because China is an economic power so I figured many people would speak English but nooo. It was awkard acting out the word "toilet". But once you are in a group of friends or family, I was lucky enough to have , people are incredibly friendly. They do everything for you pouring tea, buying gifts.

Thailand is amazing. At the airport I ran Into 3 Americans studying in HK on vacation and I took off with them to find a hostel. The hostel is full of backpackers from around the world which is nice. Thailand seems to be full of backpackers but it hasn't seemed to ruin their way of life. I havent seen many western influences of restaurants (McDonalds,  BK, etc), clothing and jewelry like Chinese cities are. This was a huge relief after HK. If someone blind folded you and sent you to HK and made you guess where you are you would guess you were in the west.

Here are some pics from the 5 temple day. 4 Buddhist and 1 Hindu. I am with the famous and enormous reclining Buddha in one and the next picture at another temple with a friend from my hostel.

Last night I went out here and got malled by a lady boy, watched people eat scorpions and met huge amounts of backpackers.  Today I went to the weekend market with these 2 Danish guys I met. Its susupposedly the biggest outdoor market in Asia. We just hung out all day getting lost in the markets. So many great food and clothes to buy and its so cheap it would be easy to go crazy.

Random thoughts and more to come manana

Watching a little boy on the train ride home after an amazingly unexpected day I saw something that got me thinking.

This little boy was ferociously digging for some gold in both of his nostrils and it was surprisingly cute. His grandma showded him not to do that. She demonstrated to him how he can wipe his nose but not to stick his whole finger up them! Right after she demonstrated this he went right back at it, almost getting his whole fist in there. This happened a few times but the kid just kept at it until the grandma gave it a rest.

That's a special stage in life, where you can publicly do something weird or gross and feel fully confident about, he did not doubt himself once. This stage usually happens when you are young and dont feel embarrassment yet, or you are old and don't give a turd. Like two covers on a book. However there are some people out in the world who are smart enough to stop caring early and get a diggin'. I happen to know a few.

You will never get time back.

I was thinking when I go back to UO to take a public speaking class. It's a great skill to know and I could definitely use some confidence when it comes to talking infront of my classes. (Nothing happened today public speaking wise, I just was thinking about class presentations).

Happy October. Wow this is all going by so fast, I'm just about half way through with this travel, even though I don't have a return ticket! I'm starting to feel crunched on time and I will have to make decisions on where I want to spend time. SE Asia or China & Japan. Tough life,  I know.

Love y'all, photos to come soon.