Greetings from Sagada Philippines....

Mountain town in dead center Luzon, surrounded by vast valleys filled with rice terraces, and looming stone cragged spires. The weather a chilly tingle, and the breeze of a fresh mountain morning variety for the whole of the day. Most of this area was home to Animistic tribes, and most of the interior of Northern Luzon for that matter as I understand. Easy 20 minute hikes to the most of Sagada tourist attractions: waterfalls, cemeteries, underground rivers, caves, jaw dropping views...and most with the eerie presence of hanging coffins and ancient burial areas looming here and there.

Left out of Manila the day before the typhoon hit and looks like we were pretty lucky to have headed toward higher ground. We waited out most of the typhoon in the Mountain town of Baguio, three nights, and then when the rains cleared and no damning reports of landslides were reported we proceeded more into the inter mountains of Luzon and up to the town of Sagada. Maybe the beautiful place I've seen thus far in SE Asia. Rice terraces covering the side of mountains and filling vast valleys, fog pouring between mountain ranges, water falling out of cracks hundreds of feet...really stunning.

Trying to make it down to Cebu with 12 days left might be a little more difficult then I originally thought, so tomorrow we are planning to try to get all the way back down to Manila, and hoping that's not a terrible idea.

Definitely have more to report when I go back through Manila. Then onto I'm thinking to Batangas and start the island hopping portion of this journey. 12 days to get to Cebu...

Greetings from Phuket Town.

Beaches, pools, sleeping late, and motorbiking around the Island...Been here for 6 nights and now another 12 bus ride overnight back to Bangkok. (They way down here was a 24 hour bus ride). Once in Bangkok, 2 nights and then an overnight flight on wednesday night to Manila, Philippines, one way. See what happens when Kyi Kyi and I get there...then figure it out. Maybe head back down to Cebu for a spell and hit up some of the remote tropical islands, a motorbike and an island...gonna kill time untill coming back to Bangkok for Kyi Kyi schooling Oct 12th, then back up to Chiang Mai for about a week, maybe a quick trip over to Mae Hong Son, and that should just about round out the trip before having to be back in Bangkok on Oct 26 for a flight back to Hong Kong and then a flight on the 28th back to Buffalo....and that's the way it goes. Definitely excited about going to Manila, no idea what to expect there....as for right now, catching the bus in 30 minutes, opted for the cheaper bus to save some cash so will see how that goes. Been spending a little time back in the same guest house I stayed when I was here some 3 months ago and catching back up with Sawet. Today he offered me a business deal to have a small stake in his leather and skins business in a beach community across the Island, $750....eh, maybe some day but not today. Well, again rushed for time, internet will time out any minute now and need to find a way yet to get to the bus station with all our bags. Next stop, Bangkok.
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Prose from the DiscoTek (Bubble)

Lasers and strobe lights and the mindless beat that parades the mind.
Life's constructions distracted and suspended in disassembly...
and the girls go to work.
Knowing the bolts are always able to be loosened.
Another night after the Thailand heat subsides and the promise of another night begins.
The necessities of life layed like a gurney patient in an endless wait.
If the American dream has become a rhetorical footnote, then true enough that a Thailand promise is under the light of the knife.
The day's ferry tales of youth have crippled the earnest patient in his naivety...
and the girls go to work.

Your TV sets and bookazines.
Your coffee tables and polites.
Here life is a best guess, an experiment!
A lure of simple truths: a life better lived than planned, and an honesty as sure as food on the table ( let alone a possibility of a table existing}.
No psychiatrists required, only - The Bubble - and a stream of of blood.
No one knowing whether nutrients being fed or another patient being read.

I've found a new poison.
One that feed slowly can acclimate the pulse.
Can disengage the receptors, disentangle it's desires.
Life's last refugee...the secret quest of the starving mind,
an un - requisite of place or pattern....
and the girls go to work

The great thing about speaking your mind is that only the people that really listen will hear.
I venture this to be the safety that all truth tellers enjoy in the fog of plight.
A language limited and dispersed around talking points and heretics.

hey y'all

Hello there world...haven't blogged in awhile...yes true....just got back from Guitar Man (jam restuarant)...played with my "band"....tum rast frontin' the show...wash tube bassist with a crutch for a stiff arm - Craig-, German rasta drummer - Marco - and yours truly on those sick leads........trying to be patient with myself....some songs good, some songs not as good. I little number called "Coming into Los Angelees", outro-d with this little puppy. Rip roared, snorted and unleashed the...hopefully made up for that song when I was playing that wrong cord...hmmmm....think I'll blame that one on lack of monitor...learning to become a musicians musician.
So sunday at 6 p.m. the band has it's first band practice, up until now it's been just walk up partakers in the Guitar Man jam experience....my refugee you may say. Something's that is wholly mine. When you walk into someone else's world it's good to find a bearing. If I have to pretend to be a lead guitarist to make it happen than so be it!

What else....living the dream...or so they say....Tune is back in town and the tri-fecta has been reinstated! Three to a motor bike and three to the dream. Just got back to the apartment and the gals are looking to hit the town...which means discoteks until one of god's miracles decides it's the end of the night. Already tied a slight down at the G. man and something tells me I'm going to be in for a long one tonight...laughter is flowing easy from the girls and I don't understand a damn word of what there saying......

What else...started teaching myself to read (and write maybe) Thai language...I figured waiting for Thai speakers to help me learn my craft was is too much to ask maybe from both of us...instead if I can read this billboards and signs that surround me I figure I have a teacher everywhere I look. Quite encouraging when I can transport some bizarre characters into a reasonable thought from another being...

What else...Kyi Kyi and I will be heading to MaeHongSon (?) in the next couple. M.H.S. is close to the roots for Kyi Kyi and I expect to get closer to the many many stories she has shared thus. Maybe a week or so..then back here for a very short spell and then take off for a month or so....

Bittersweet maybe...now with the "band" taking off! Well hopefully I'll get to practice with the boys before I ship out. Working on my muted leads and trying to reject the psychedelic impulses that apparently have embedded themselves in my 'flow'....

What else...living a day to day extravaganza, trying to figure out the meaning of everything, quickly to decide what's the best move...same same...just a new set of accessories and crazy ideas. Best to all. And best of luck to those who need it. Sometimes that all you get!