Friend House Mae Hong Son

... on either location). Had to stop myself from being too judgemental about her (Rich kid from Torrey Pines) but she was young (21) and it showed. Kind of glad she omnly stayed just under a week to be honest!<br><br>The last couple of weeks a group of the older girls from the school have been practicing a dance routine for a local interschool competition. Went to see the dance off on Saturday - the girls were great (in fantastic ...

... Burmese people who I have the world of respect and time for. <br><br>Life is intense here, both physically and mentally. I have times where I feel overwhelmed, and my head is like a washing machine of impressions that just is on spin. I had a good talk to Astra and Stephen about our position as foreigners living here. It helped. In the culture here the biggest no no is to lose face. Basically nothing is done direct, no one confronts each other, meetings are ...

... and generally icky. :( and I was 9KM away from the nearest drugstore where I could buy antibiotics. yuk. But I pushed myself to make the most out of my time at Cave Lodge anyway. I visited the main cave, Tam Lod, the next day. This is very different kind of cave...it's HUGE! I asked my guide how high it is and her answer was "very high"...lol, she was such a cute little lady though. In this cave you go through on a bamboo raft, and stop off and explore various areas with a ...

... wir dann auch ganz gut leben. Da wir nur noch 3 Tage ein gueltiges Visum haben und es eine recht lange fahrt zur laotischen Grenze wird, w**den wir uns morgen dann mal wied** auf nach Chiang Mai und dann nach Udon Thani machen. Wenn alles gut laeuft w**den wir in 24 Std. in Laos sein, ist zwar nicht g**ade ein schoen** Trip, geht ab** leid** nicht and**s, auss**dem sind wir ja schon Hoellentrip **probt.

... at bay. And since my guide didn't speak English the silence only illuminated the spectacle even more. No history or science to fill in the space with sound that was easily forgotten anyway. Full of adventurous glee we finished the trip. I said goodbye to my guide and made my way to he back side of the caves 1KM away to witness hundreds of thousands of swifts and bats as they wizz in and out of the cave for some dusk dinner. Once to ...

... it up the hills. We stopped so the driver could take a look and everyone crowded around to make suggestions or just to watch the process. After about 30 minutes we were on our way and eventually we arrived in Mae Hong Son. We rented a moterbike and spent a day driving around the countryside. We started off at the Fish Cave where villagers believe the fish are enchanted so they don't kill them and they get to be huge! The fish, many of which are 3 feet ...

... on each individual movement I made, on every breath I took. I was always surprised when my meditation timer sounded, indicating that my session was over, and I smiled a lot. The bad days were mostly characterized by being attached to a specific outcome, rather than being committed to a process. I daydreamed a lot about the future, about how I would use my newfound meditation mastery to improve my professional life and my ...

... wieder. Als ich aus dem Bus, der mich zur naechst noerdlichen Stadt brachte, ausstieg, lernte ich Nicolas, Mathieu und Nathalie kennen. Sie hatten es sich zum Ziel gesetzt noch heute Abend auf einer der Mekonginseln im Sueden von Laos ein Bier zu trinken. Da war ich natuerlich dabei... Taxi hierhin, dorthin und schliesslich abends in der grenznahen Stadt Strung Treng. Dort wiederum mussten wir ueber ein Gaestegaus weitere Transportmittel organisieren. Soll heissen Boot ueber den ...

... the first turn to the right following your ascent of a set of about 30 or so stairs, a daunting obstacle faces you. The path to Doi Suthep leads through about 340 stairs to the top of the mountain. There's also a cable car for those that aren't able, but that would take away the history and meaning of the climb, so off to the stairs we went. All told, this climb would be about the same as tackling the stairs in a 30 story building, and it was worth the effort ...

... Chaing Mai, lady-boys or kathoey (transgendered male-to-female Thais who entertain men) solicit customers from the public, and in many places there are plenty of young, pretty, local (or Burmese) girls hanging all over much older, Western men. It's just not nice to witness and it led to heated conversations about economic opportunity (or lack there-of), exploitation, empowerment and racism. Very interesting, but not relaxing!