Hey there...once again Path of the Fire followers, this is your world traveling adventurer pausing to say hello and update you on new and exciting events over the past month. Kaleb joined me at the end of December in Bangkok, where we chilled for a few days basking in all the glorious stimulation the capital has to offer. We spent most of our time on or around a street called Khao San, which is basically like a 24\7\365 Mardi Gras, where you can eat anything you like (ranging from roasted crickets, cockroaches and grubs to the more familiar cuisines of Pizza, Japanese, Indian and traditional Thai food...Phad Thai anyone? :), there were people dancing and drinking in the streets...especially since we were there for the Western New Year and there were massage places every other shop. Kaleb and I enjoyed a nice foot massage and we also tried a more exotic massage...no not that exotic, but what they like to call a Fish Spa. Basically were you have your feet washed and then place your legs into a tank with hundreds of tiny sucker fish. At first the sensation is quite overwhelming...especially if you're ticklish , but after a minute or so you just stare down in amazement as the little aquatic creatures hurriedly devour some unseen material from your flesh...man I must have been really dirty because those fish were surrounding my legs in swarms? We celebrated New Year 2012 in downtown, which was O.K. ..there was a live Asian singing band, so many people you could hardly move and a few fireworks to bring it in...we actually had a hard time staying awake, since this scene was just a little too much. We finally left Bangkok by sleeper bus, after Kaleb and I took our first big bike ride together (big in the sense of riding 20 miles through the streets of Bangkok at night) and we headed North to Chiang Mai, a cool city that seems small although quite large. This city was once a capital of the area and there was a huge wall with a huge accompanying mote which surrounded the entire city...known as the Old City. We had arrived early in the morning and biked to the Old city as the Sun slowly peaked above the horizon and the streets were still quiet. A lot of guest houses as well as temples and restaurants are within this area which gives the city a smallish feel, just biking through a labyrinth of cobblestone streets, exploring new and exciting things around each corner. We stayed in Chiang Mai for 10 days filling our time and our stomachs with a diversity of interesting foods and activities. I got certified with 30 hours of training in Basic Thai massage (over 5 days), Kaleb did a 10 hour course with an Art teacher (over a week) and we did Yoga almost daily. By the end of the week we felt like locals as we wandered to our favorite Phad Thai stand or the fruit shake shack that knew our order, without asking, each time we came...2 coconut shakes please!!
After much coaxing and amazing amount of giving on the part of Kaleb, "we" decided to do our first long distance bike ride from Chiang Mai to a smaller village of Pai, further North by about ~130 kms. We started out by just trying to work our way out of the city, which we knew was large but as of yet had not experienced...we did make it and got on the right road towards our first town destination of Samoeng...about 50 kms away. It took us 2 days, pushing hard up some tough mountains and facing some challenging waves of emotions for Kaleb and I (fear, anger, excitement, happiness and apprehension as well as frustration, excitement, happiness and self reminders of patience - respectively). I know that each time you've been away from a situation that makes you challenge yourself, those first few rotations of a "thousand mile" journey can be quite overwhelming...I don't think it matters where you are or how your testing yourself but you can choose to either face it or turn back...and with each other at our sides we pushed up against that magnetic force of gravity, basked in the achievement at the tops with smiles, sweat and love... and gave ourselves over to the beautiful flow of energy as we were pulled back down the mountains. when we made it to Samoeng we were guided to a cool place called Forest guesthouse which was slightly away from the small town, set upon a hillside over looking valley and spent our nights perched up in a cool bungalow on stilts...awesome patio included! From here we got some advice to take a local ride\ "yellow taxi" over the hardest part of the mountains, which was dirt road and then resume the bike ride from a village called Wat Chan. I internally debated with this because I have been so used to biking, even up incredibly steep mountain sides - but I knew I had to find a balance for myself and Kaleb. We came to the conclusion of riding about 25 more kms ahead and uphill to Khan Khun National Park, which had a cave complex nearby as well as some hot-springs. We spent the day working or way through the mountains and spent our night, with tent pitched right next to the "warm springs" which we enjoyed after the sun had set and the darkness had settled. We spent that time soaking away some of our worries and easing our sore muscles, and then feel asleep to the visions of the Milky Way dancing above our heads...majestic. The next day we caught the local transport and road over some uphill stretches and some challenging areas of dirt road (which we could have accomplished but...decided against :) and after a couple of hours were dropped off at the village of Wat Chan. We spent the night here in a cute A-framed bungalow enjoying the moment as well as preparing ourselves for the remainder of our 50 km ride to Pai. We started out the next day and as on the previous cycling days, spent most of the day light cycling up, over and down mountain sides until dusk came upon us and we saw a nice little hill which had views of opposite valleys as well as an amazing spot for the planetarium experience. We climbed up with all our gear and bikes and set up the tent to see the last of the glow of the setting sun fall behind the hills :) That night was amazing as we discovered 3 planets in the course of 1 evening... in Chiang Mai we found a cool book on Star gazing which has given us some additional inspiration, along with ideal opportunities to search out into the mystery of our Universe above...in all that night we saw Jupiter, Saturn and Mars as well as 2 shooting stars, a satellite and some cool constellations (Orion, Ursa Major and Minor, Cassiopeia...) The next day we finished this part of the journey as we cycled our way into Pai and found a cool little guesthouse...called Mango. Built from River stone and with just one bed and a fan, we settled in for 4 days of relaxing and rewarding ourselves for the accomplishment that we had just made...Kaleb had been really excited about taking a cooking course ever since we had first seen this offered in Chiang Mai, but had been so occupied that we didn't have the chance. Not only was the price for the cooking class cheaper in Pai, but we were the only students...so we had all the attention of the Teacher (Dow). We started the cooking class with a trip to the local market picking up the ingredients for some of the dishes we would make...Pad Thai, Stir fried Chicken with Cashews, Green Curry Soup, Spring rolls, fried Bananas and Sticky rice with Mangos..... yummy :) Before we had started we were excited that we would get to eat everything that we would make, but after we began we realized that eating all those dishes in a row is impossible, unless you're doing one of those food challenges...thankfully our teacher gave us a nice long break for lunch (or not lunch) and then we finished the course the next day when we made 2 more dishes for lunch)...So people out there, we are now trained in the Ancient art of Thai cooking and I in the Traditional art of bending you into a pretzel...so please take advantage of this when we come to visit you and just say you want some good home cooking, Thai style or a nice massage...exotic style - extra charge :)
There was one more small town that we had read about in our guide book, a little further north and just a few miles from both China and Myanmar, as well as surrounded by caves and waterfalls, so we decided to treat ourselves to renting a moped and riding internal combustion style! So, we set off on the main road up and down winding valleys to the village of Soppong, which was about 50kms away. We stayed in a neat little hidden place called Cave lodge, which was run by some Ex pat who had lived in the area for 30 years and had explored and mapped many of the nearby caves. We went of with one of the maps searching for the hidden entrances into the skeletal system of our Mother Earth, but that day only found hillsides covered with prickly bushes, lots of bamboo and the distant calls of birds and gibbons. That night was Chinese New year's Eve and we were invited along with a group of other Farangs to join in some local festivities in a small village. We jumped in the back of a truck and road through the hills until we came upon a large open space and some tribal music playing. As we approached we saw many villagers dressed in Traditional clothes, very shiny and beautiful, dancing in circles around a tree. Apparently the trees are very sacred in this part of the country, where each is treated as if a family member..when a mother gives birth part of the Placenta is wrapped around a tree and the tree then is given an name and becomes part of the family. The next day Kaleb and I decided to take a different route back to Pai, one that was ~ 100kms and on back mountain roads but first we set off again to try and find the caves we couldn't find the day before. This time we had more luck and found 2 beautiful caves hidden behind bamboo overgrowth; 1 was called blind fish cave and the other was Christmas cave...we didn't explore blind fish cave too much because we were told it had high levels of CO2, but Christmas cave was much larger and quite amazing. I t had 2 ladders at the entrance which let you enter deeper into the bowels of the Earth and everywhere you looked there were Stalactites and Stalagmites of various shapes and colors, pretty cool. We spent a couple of hours exploring the caves and then set off on what I assumed would be a 3 hour moped ride through the mountains...well :) The moped we had was awesome and the roads were quite rutted and steep, so sometimes we had to actually get off the bike and run along side it pulling the throttle...other times we had to be careful not to slip in the needles of the Pine trees as we were winding ourselves up and down, as well as along ridges in a Pine type forest. We had brought extra gas and filled up completely before setting off but 6 hours later as the Sun started setting we were partially lost and wondering how far we were form our ultimate destination. Thankfully, with the help of the Universe and Her spirits we came across a ranger station and a small village were we topped up the tank and got fresh directions...shortly thereafter we watched the sun set and spent another 4 or 5 hours driving on dirt roads through the mountains at night all the while being followed by the magnificent sky that spread out above us. We ended up coasting into Pai around 10 pm, turned Mohawk in and were glad to be back on our feets again, we got some grub (not grub worms), went back to Mango guesthouse and got some needed rest.
Well, just 2 days after that last adventure we have crossed the mighty Mekong river which divides this part of Thailand and Laos and have begun our next leg of the journey...following the Path of Fire into Laos. We've made it to a cool little town called Luang Nam Tha and after 2 days resting we'll set out on a 60 km bike ride up through the hills to a village called Muang Sing, just 2 miles from China and surrounded by lots of hill tribes. After a couple of days here we'll bus it to a small little riverside town, near Laos' 2nd largest city - Luang Prabang, thereafter taking a slow boat down river through lush tree covered hills and gentle flowing water. I know this message was longer than normal but since a lot has transpired over the course of the past month, I wanted to give you all a thorough synopsis...so I hope this brought you a nice update as well as some nice trans cerebral\visual images. Thinking a lot about each of you and where your journey's have been taking you..how life has been treating you and how you choose to respond. I hope things are well with each of you and that each moment that offers you a new opportunity for growth, relaxation or reflection brings you closer to finding peace within yourself so that you may radiate this to those around you.
Be Well, your cycling world travelers...Kaleb and Will :)
