Path of the Fire: December 2011

Welcome home, Path of the Fire followers...glad you made it and so happy to feel you here. Well, I've just made it from Hanoi and am in in Bangkok Thailand now...how interesting is the feeling of traveling through space and time, so quickly, to another part of the world. I barely remember getting on the plane or taking off, I just remember looking out the window as we pushed through the clouds that hung over Hanoi...what an experience, just a beautiful blanket of gray clouds. Some of them actually took the shape of waves as they rippled through the sky...and as your eyes drifted up you could see the horizon painted before you like an incredible rainbow. The sun had just set and the glow of the orange, red and yellow sun lay just below the green, blue, purple and blackness as they climbed into space...Sweet :)
Well I want to jump back through the wormhole of time just to give you all a rundown of events, the last part of my journey through the North of Vietnam...so here we go. I left Ba Be and wandered, lost and found among the mountains searching for a hidden treasure that was here all along, I'm beginning to see. It was cool, passing through some pretty remote areas, crossing towns and marketplaces with shiny trinkets, colorful clothes worn by the local hill tribes and munching my way through sticky and sweet rice rolls, rice wrapped in banana leaves, rice cooked inside of bamboo, rice on a stick, rice tea :) needless to say lots of good food and plenty of Oryza sativa Linnaeus. Can you guess what my poop looked like? I didn't stay long in any of the towns, more just enjoying the path as the destination which was wonderful, as there were mountains with climbing cliffs and cavernous caves, rivers which roamed over rocky rapids and through meandering valleys. Smiling people, zooming by on motorcycles or wandering the roads in tow of Buffalo. Houses of many designs; some mud, some bamboo, others pole houses built above rice paddies, others more modern in design with very intricately carved stone.
Some images are more etched in my mind, others have slipped away... just as these days have become, a swirling whirlpool of life. I see myself from above, a shadow slowing moving through the hills, feet below dancing in circles, drops of sweet sweat passing over my lips joining together with warm welcomed tears to fall towards the earth...Flowers here, clouds there, butterflies who hypnotize my with their wings as they catch the winds and tease me from above. Walls, beds, T.V.'s, antennas thrusting their heads high into the sky...see me? Smoke me, breath me, eat me, look at me, know me, ...touch me - I'll think about it!
I rode some more and then some more and there I was still riding,... my legs were big, my back was strong, my arms were bulging and my ass was sore :) I do remember aiming for Sapa a village up in the mountains were I wanted to spend Christmas for a few reasons. I felt that the coolness of the weather would give that energetic feel that you seem to associate with the Winter Holidays, I knew the area was more touristy...which I felt would be welcomed ( to be able to say more than Hello in English to someone, as well as not be the only strange looking foreigner around)...and I knew it would be one more last big push through the mountains which...was not only a physical challenge resulting in a psychological pleasure but a way to get off the bigger, more traffic filled roads and into the country side...the place were I find I am so much more aware of the peace in this world. Well, I found peace and I found pain... physical pain that is..or was I just saying challenge? How I love to play mind games with myself. I discovered that after 30 kms of back-roads towards Sapa, that the road ended and a muddy trail began...and this was were the fun started as I pushed Nightshade up 5km of remote mountain trail. There were no signs here and I was feeling very in-tune with the moment of it all, so at each intersection...where I had no idea which way to go, I would stop and wait for someone to cross my path and guide me in the right direction. These moments actually brought up some deep rooted fears, which I just barely touched because I wasn't really lost...but the mind is a powerful thing and I realized that this fear and I have some unfinished business...to be continued. Somehow after many strange looks from village peeps, as I pushed my bike through mud up 15% slopes, I found a gravel road which many people concurred was the road to Sapa !!!...and 40 kms later over wandering mountainsides I pushed up the last of the Vietnamese mountains I would embrace on this trip. Thank you beautiful Mother Earth who shared her most intimate places and experiences with me...I am grateful.
And for all you beautiful people out there, I love you and I love me and I hope we can love each other. I'm sending good vibes around the Earth to you, wherever you are. Please be well, loving and knowing yourselves and the goodness that each of you bring to this big beautiful ball of energy that we all create. Until then...and right now. Your friend, Will