Second 2 hour Thai language class and coming along swimmingly. Popped 150 Baht for my level two handbook, and crackin' the cover. Last night Kyi Kyi and I motored over to the YMCA to prime up on our salsa dancing. Hour class every saturday that we will no doubt be attending. Basic steps and rhythm already in the pocket more or less, now to pepper that shi-ot up with some spinnies and twirlies. Might hit out to Phuket in the upcoming however, and may have to put my new projects on the back burner for the short.
Recently I've slowly been uncovering a burgeoning music scene in Chiang Mai. Met a guy named Lance who plays lap guitar, who is working on putting up a website and making a little dough...www.learnlapslideguitar.com. A retired clinical pyscologist orignally from California but lived that last 30 is Aussie. He hipped me to the scene and introduced me to some locals: a banjo player and restaurant owner and some others. Slowly I'm learning of the characters Chiang Mai has to offer. One guy brings around a wash tub bass with a crutch as the standing arm. I actually played with him and Tum Rasta the night I sat in for the Tum's set. And there are these other otherworldly blues guitarist's that are easily sitting with anything I've ever heard. I think there is some what of a hush hush whisper surrounding around the local gin joints regarding their stellar abilities. I've seen one named Boy who plays at GuitarMan, but I've yet to see his legendary uncle Tuck. Tuck the untouchable...
Slowly peeling back the lid and gretting into the subtle side of a foriegn land...may not be as many fancy pictures coming, maybe only words will be of any service here on out....
hopefully much more to come....salut
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
a nod to tuk - tuk drivers of the world
last night kicked it with Khan, tuk-tuk driver by trade. "where's the local music", as I mimic, the essential musical elements of how to rock! Wasn't long until I was in a shady alley of a place called On the Rock pub watching a four piece; reverb, distortion, sick leads...yep, this will do. As I have slowly tired of sitting in the back of a tuk-tuk, I now ask to sit up front, which leads me to get to know Khan a little before we got to On the Rock...long story short Khan and I cruised tuk-tuk style to a bunch of hot spots of local music in Vientiane, beerlaos flowing, tradition lao dancing and singing, crazy lao girl wanting to slow dance, Sabai Sabai - easy easy. Manage to slightly tie one on nothing major, handful of 'go down easies', and my plan to bed myself down easy was more or less achieved.
Thai visa, check, shit, no idea it was that easy, and free. 3 month thai visa with double entry and only catch is you just have a wait a day for it. I feel a little silly now that I had made three visa runs (to cambodia, to laos, to burma) to get just another 2 week visa each time....ah learning the little secrets now.
All's well and really looking forward to getting back to Chiang Mai, via a 16 hour bus ride.... I definately miss the monkey...so yeah all in all, take time to get to know your local tuk-tuk driver, they want to hang and they want to have a good time...and they know all the spots! and more than not they know more english than you average local. In the end we ended up speaking more thai together than english...yes my thai is coming along, started taking lessons in Chiang Mai. Kyi Kyi's not to thrilled by it though, she'd rather me learn Shan, or Myanmar, and she's not the biggest fan of Thailand.....wow, how's that for a ramble!...........................
Phone Pasueth Guest House 160,000 kip....less than $20 bucks
$16,000 kip egg sandwich $2
tuk-tuk from friendship bridge to Vientiene - 100 baht.
bus ride from vientiene to Chaing mai - 1,250 baht
phone call to thailand 4,000kip a minute.
Today while waiting for the thai embassy to open a german girl living in thailand asked to play kyi kyi's classical that I've been lugging around. She asked me to play, so I ended up playing three songs in front of about 30-40 people waiting in line, pretty fun experience, some guy gave me a quarter baht afterwords...played a couple fo the new hits...mostly lazy days not knowing what's gonna happen or what I'm going to do, the tourist feeling is really wearing off and I'm losing the gung-ho, see all type of travel...but then, random little gems pop up here and there, more quality things I suppose. Again, like learning thai and being able to cominicate with a lao tuk-tuk driver better than in english....hmmm- what's next....
be well
Thai visa, check, shit, no idea it was that easy, and free. 3 month thai visa with double entry and only catch is you just have a wait a day for it. I feel a little silly now that I had made three visa runs (to cambodia, to laos, to burma) to get just another 2 week visa each time....ah learning the little secrets now.
All's well and really looking forward to getting back to Chiang Mai, via a 16 hour bus ride.... I definately miss the monkey...so yeah all in all, take time to get to know your local tuk-tuk driver, they want to hang and they want to have a good time...and they know all the spots! and more than not they know more english than you average local. In the end we ended up speaking more thai together than english...yes my thai is coming along, started taking lessons in Chiang Mai. Kyi Kyi's not to thrilled by it though, she'd rather me learn Shan, or Myanmar, and she's not the biggest fan of Thailand.....wow, how's that for a ramble!...........................
Phone Pasueth Guest House 160,000 kip....less than $20 bucks
$16,000 kip egg sandwich $2
tuk-tuk from friendship bridge to Vientiene - 100 baht.
bus ride from vientiene to Chaing mai - 1,250 baht
phone call to thailand 4,000kip a minute.
Today while waiting for the thai embassy to open a german girl living in thailand asked to play kyi kyi's classical that I've been lugging around. She asked me to play, so I ended up playing three songs in front of about 30-40 people waiting in line, pretty fun experience, some guy gave me a quarter baht afterwords...played a couple fo the new hits...mostly lazy days not knowing what's gonna happen or what I'm going to do, the tourist feeling is really wearing off and I'm losing the gung-ho, see all type of travel...but then, random little gems pop up here and there, more quality things I suppose. Again, like learning thai and being able to cominicate with a lao tuk-tuk driver better than in english....hmmm- what's next....
be well
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Vientiane
Lazy days in Vientiane. Splurged for a nice pad for the two day wait to get a new and improved Thai visa. 160,000 lao kip with at an exchange of some where around 8,000+ kip per dollar, puts it less than $20 us. Not bad for air con, private balcony, fan, stocked refrigerator, hot shower, double bed, cable tv including H-Bo and other faves. After that bus ride last night I knew I'd be spending a fair amount of time in the room anyhow...just putting a new batch of photos up, nothing of a wide ranging caliber but worth what it may. Kyi Kyi's (pronounced GG)Japanesse father was in town for about 4 days or so, and we at least all went out to dinner almost everyday. For the Queens birthday (mothers day in Thailand) he got a surprise day off and we all hopped in a renta car and hit some of tourist attractions around Chiang Mai, Elephant camp, monkey show, a trip to the lake, back home for a little R and R and then back out into the night for dinner at place called Good View down on the Nam Ping (ping river that is).
blah blah....ready to go back to the room and watch some more bad movies...funny...first night alone in months and to think that I've never said that before. Always the good with the bad, aye?
Everybody take care, especially those I know residing in the A-town. Remember when Bob says to take it easy, takin' it slow, excuse me while I light my spliff.....maybe just the first part is good enough advice. Sometimes change is good, actually most of time change is good. Jobs come and go, but experience stays, girls come and go, benders soon fade away, and clarity is always somewhere to be found, if wanted...blah blah....
good night from Vientiane Laos. Tomorrow to the Thai Emabassy and then another day to wait for the visa approval, only one page left in the passport and hopefully it will be filled be Tuesday with a 2-month re-entry visa for Thailand, albeit my passport will be full....what to do.
blah blah....ready to go back to the room and watch some more bad movies...funny...first night alone in months and to think that I've never said that before. Always the good with the bad, aye?
Everybody take care, especially those I know residing in the A-town. Remember when Bob says to take it easy, takin' it slow, excuse me while I light my spliff.....maybe just the first part is good enough advice. Sometimes change is good, actually most of time change is good. Jobs come and go, but experience stays, girls come and go, benders soon fade away, and clarity is always somewhere to be found, if wanted...blah blah....
good night from Vientiane Laos. Tomorrow to the Thai Emabassy and then another day to wait for the visa approval, only one page left in the passport and hopefully it will be filled be Tuesday with a 2-month re-entry visa for Thailand, albeit my passport will be full....what to do.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Another Visa Run
Gearing up for another visa run...12 hour overnight bus trip from Chiang Mai over to western Thailand, then have to get another bus there to take me over the border back into Laos and the city of Vientiane. It being sunday and immigration closed I'll have to wait another day to go to the office. Gonna try to get a 2 month double entry visa at the Thai embassy and put this visa run crap to bed to for awhile. Disclaimer here for the wild mind: doesn't mean I'm staying for 2 months.
Last night played a set with Tum Rasta at Guitar Man. Such tunes as "comin into Los angelees" an arlo guthrie hit, Simple man, No woman (sung in Thai and in Key of D), and another 10 or so......
oop, got to go, Kyi Kyi gives me a ride to bus station and on the road in a half hour....
goodnight
Last night played a set with Tum Rasta at Guitar Man. Such tunes as "comin into Los angelees" an arlo guthrie hit, Simple man, No woman (sung in Thai and in Key of D), and another 10 or so......
oop, got to go, Kyi Kyi gives me a ride to bus station and on the road in a half hour....
goodnight
Friday, August 7, 2009
I guess I know who reads this now!
Alright...I just toke a - I don't even know how long bus trip - from Bangkok overnight to Chiang Mai. Left at 9 pm got here somewhere maybe around 7 am. Little sleep and tired but thought I check my email. I feel slightly apologethic for any miss leading comments I made in the last post, but SHIT can't I have a little fun with 'the reader'. I just reread what I wrote thinking that I may be more at fault than I thought, and gee wiz, all I said is that I was going to apply for the engagement visa. (and yes a little comment after that... : o) for comic effect ). I feel sorry but at the same time a little startled by the complete run away of rumor. Talk soon.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Ah....Bangkok Air.....cough, cough and post number 40!
Yes...Back in Bangkok. And I done saying phrases like 'last days' somewhere or 'back again'.
Too exhausting, I give up trying to keep track like that anymore...
Yesterday.. quite the day, sat outside the US Embassy in Bangkok for a couple of hours waiting for Kyi Kyi to come out of her interview...DENIED! What shit. Insufficient evidence to prove that she has strong enough ties here that see wouldn't go AWOL in the U.S. Hmmm...I'll show them! Craziness...and like none other I have known. Right now were staying in 'Little Arabia', which is a little pocket inside Bangkok where all the Arabs go to hang/live/hock...whatever. I thought I had seen diversity in Hong Kong, like for example at the tradition African bar, but nothing like this: fully blanketed black sheets with only the eyes showing are not the exception here, Muslim pray chants going off every so many hours, an arrow in our hotel room pointing the way to Mecca... Asians, Africans, Arabs, Europeans, Americans...maybe not so many South Americans to put it fairly, but nonetheless point made. Walking down the back alleys is quite a speckled culture.
Right now Kyi Kyi is meeting up with some Shan Burmese friends that she made yesterday in her Thai language class, and I took the opportunity to head over the Visa and Immigration services building to see if I couldn't find another way to get her over to the US. The US, quite an amazing response these two syllables can ilicite, and in such different ways for so many people...one thing about the US though is that there very hard lined, aren't they. There's no 'talking to them', like I suppose you may feel like you can do with other people/countries. Maybe there stubborn, or maybe just efficient...blah blah.
Anyways...things are completely upside down for me presently, and I've found myself in quite a pickle, and it appears that there will now be no safe escape or a quick get away back to the states for me. My luck held out for longer than maybe most people's, and I can't say I'm not fortunate enough for that...
In other news and in a lighter tone - been to Northern Laos for the last week with Kyi Kyi and what a place it is. Maybe it would be hard for you to believe me when I say that you can order a bag of opium, a happy pizza, or a mushroom shake off the special menu. Will leave my own specifics out of this for caution to younger readers but I can tell you that in Vang Vieng Laos there are loy of f-d up people. Some Canadian guy at the table next to us wouldn't stop standing where he was suppose to be sitting. A friend we made told him to sit down and that he was making him nervous. The Canadian guy looked at him very sincerely and tried to explain that he had drunk a mushroom shake and now was having difficultly sitting down because apparently he was going a little stir crazy with his cohorts..
Also in Vang Vieng and what most tourists all do there is to tube down the lazy muddy river and stop at the river bars along the way. Gigundo swings flinging you out in the murky depths, huge slides, food, music, and of course the ubiquitious staple Lao diet of BeerLao, probably the biggest industry in the Nation of Laos. (many pictures to come - facebook). Met a bunch of good folks, shared some tales, and hopped a bunch of buses.
oh, yeah almost forgot about the Slow Boat! When we first arrived in Laos we took a 2 day Slow boat trip over to the center of Laos at Luang Prabaung. Try to imagine 100 tourists in there 20's from all over stuck on a slow wooden boat for 8 hours a day on little wooden benches. And yes they had beerlao on the boat, and also some local produce to give 'praise to jah' with. Mayhem, uncomfortableness, drunken muddy river cruise. A must do really...
Anyway...yes pictures to come of this a well....
Hope all is well with everyone and everybody is doing there duty to suck the most out of summer! On my way back to Chiang Mai, or should I just say to chiang mai and try to discover what the next week or two will reveal. Quick stop off at the visa department to start the engagement visa process and then off from there. Oh yeah, didn't mention that...well got to go, don't want to give it all away.
God Bless America.
Too exhausting, I give up trying to keep track like that anymore...
Yesterday.. quite the day, sat outside the US Embassy in Bangkok for a couple of hours waiting for Kyi Kyi to come out of her interview...DENIED! What shit. Insufficient evidence to prove that she has strong enough ties here that see wouldn't go AWOL in the U.S. Hmmm...I'll show them! Craziness...and like none other I have known. Right now were staying in 'Little Arabia', which is a little pocket inside Bangkok where all the Arabs go to hang/live/hock...whatever. I thought I had seen diversity in Hong Kong, like for example at the tradition African bar, but nothing like this: fully blanketed black sheets with only the eyes showing are not the exception here, Muslim pray chants going off every so many hours, an arrow in our hotel room pointing the way to Mecca... Asians, Africans, Arabs, Europeans, Americans...maybe not so many South Americans to put it fairly, but nonetheless point made. Walking down the back alleys is quite a speckled culture.
Right now Kyi Kyi is meeting up with some Shan Burmese friends that she made yesterday in her Thai language class, and I took the opportunity to head over the Visa and Immigration services building to see if I couldn't find another way to get her over to the US. The US, quite an amazing response these two syllables can ilicite, and in such different ways for so many people...one thing about the US though is that there very hard lined, aren't they. There's no 'talking to them', like I suppose you may feel like you can do with other people/countries. Maybe there stubborn, or maybe just efficient...blah blah.
Anyways...things are completely upside down for me presently, and I've found myself in quite a pickle, and it appears that there will now be no safe escape or a quick get away back to the states for me. My luck held out for longer than maybe most people's, and I can't say I'm not fortunate enough for that...
In other news and in a lighter tone - been to Northern Laos for the last week with Kyi Kyi and what a place it is. Maybe it would be hard for you to believe me when I say that you can order a bag of opium, a happy pizza, or a mushroom shake off the special menu. Will leave my own specifics out of this for caution to younger readers but I can tell you that in Vang Vieng Laos there are loy of f-d up people. Some Canadian guy at the table next to us wouldn't stop standing where he was suppose to be sitting. A friend we made told him to sit down and that he was making him nervous. The Canadian guy looked at him very sincerely and tried to explain that he had drunk a mushroom shake and now was having difficultly sitting down because apparently he was going a little stir crazy with his cohorts..
Also in Vang Vieng and what most tourists all do there is to tube down the lazy muddy river and stop at the river bars along the way. Gigundo swings flinging you out in the murky depths, huge slides, food, music, and of course the ubiquitious staple Lao diet of BeerLao, probably the biggest industry in the Nation of Laos. (many pictures to come - facebook). Met a bunch of good folks, shared some tales, and hopped a bunch of buses.
oh, yeah almost forgot about the Slow Boat! When we first arrived in Laos we took a 2 day Slow boat trip over to the center of Laos at Luang Prabaung. Try to imagine 100 tourists in there 20's from all over stuck on a slow wooden boat for 8 hours a day on little wooden benches. And yes they had beerlao on the boat, and also some local produce to give 'praise to jah' with. Mayhem, uncomfortableness, drunken muddy river cruise. A must do really...
Anyway...yes pictures to come of this a well....
Hope all is well with everyone and everybody is doing there duty to suck the most out of summer! On my way back to Chiang Mai, or should I just say to chiang mai and try to discover what the next week or two will reveal. Quick stop off at the visa department to start the engagement visa process and then off from there. Oh yeah, didn't mention that...well got to go, don't want to give it all away.
God Bless America.
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