Blessed

I'm in Chiang Mai. The past two weeks have been a whirlwind and it seems harder and harder to remember what day it is.
Among the many awe inspiring visits to Buddhist temples and sites of overwhelming historical significance, Jon and I made it up to Wat Doi Sutep the other day after a 30 minute motrobike ride up a mountain and a staggering 360 steps. While wandering around the Chedi and the adjacent temples, we passed a small room where a monk waved us in. Entering, we kneeled in front of him and Wai'd as he proceeded to bless us with water and a white cloth bracelet for each of our wrists. Despite not understanding all his words, it was the most amazing experience. Similar to the night in Takuapa back in October when we were invited into the temple with the mediums and welcomed over the Bridge of Purification, but even more personal and mind blowing.
On a different note, it's Monsoon season again. Doesn't it seem like it just ended? Time flies. Roads are flooding and our entire journey down from Wat Doi Sutep was accompanied by persistent rain. In between showers we've been able to visit an Antivenum Institute in Bangkok where they milk cobras and other venomous snakes for antivenums, peruse assortment after assortment of fried insects, lose to a group of children at a game in a park that we didn't understand but laughed our way through, talk to curious monks in broken Thai and English, and of course, clench our eyes and jaws for the duration of all tuk tuk rides. And in a very unexpected event, I ate a bagel. Ah, bagels. What a surprise.
I've posted a map of Thailand on this page as well as a ton of new pictures on http://community.webshots.com/user/absinth143. Phuket, in the south, is where I was living and Khao Lak, a bit north of Phuket, is where I did Tsunami Relief. Bangkok is pretty central, and Chiang Mai is up north quite a bit. The overnight train (15 hours) was surprisingly fun.
Going for a Singha.

List #1 and Pictures

First, I've posted a bunch of new pictures.
http://community.webshots.com/user/absinth143
And now, what I've come up with thus far...

Things I’ll miss about T-Land:
Driving a motorbike, Singha beer at only $0.75 a bottle, sticky rice and mango with coconut milk, Friday nights at Yoon’s, the $4 Thai massage (and I don’t mean the ‘rub and tug’), green curry at Banana Corner (minus the whores who serve it), “Mai Pen Rai,” fisherman pants and all the freedom associated therewith, feeding ravenous elephants, His Majesty the King, public nose picking (though I tried and couldn’t really get into it), filling up the gas tank with a bottle of gas that used to be filled with whiskey, catooeys (ladyboys) either pre or post-op, dominoes on the porch (and dominating), bootlegged DVDs, hiking to waterfalls and swimming, outdoor markets, the Chinese vegetarian buffet for $0.50, the mango and banana trees right outside my house, Foxy Girl, the monkeys at Kok Chang (especially Charlie), never wearing shoes, Soi dogs, the sky at dusk during monsoon season, Jon’s butt crack at the beach, lemon shakes with no salt, the “Wai,” self-medicating pharmacies, the refreshing lack of mindless puppets- I mean Republicans, two serious cops riding intimately on a one-person motorbike, comparing Thai Tattoos, street vendors (despite their utter disregard for anything related to hygiene), monks scurrying down the roads, chili sauce on everything, honking for spirit houses, and the obvious: the beach, the weather (at times), the wildlife and the jungles.

Things I probably won’t miss about T’Land:
Driving a motorbike (specifically: no traffic laws, no lanes, no speed limit, often times no roads… and accidents), cement holes in the ground that function as toilets, leaches, roosters (dear god I hate them, and I vow to never have anything but ill will towards them), the hose in the wall above the “toilet” that is used as a “shower,” cobras, electricity that is so charged that the power lines buzz and you shock yourself on anything that uses it, tourists (especially Scandinavians), gecko shit falling from the ceiling of your house like rain, waking up in the morning to sweat-drenched sheets and/or sleeping with bags of ice to cool the painful heat, thoughtless urban spread, the sex trade and all the sickening old farts associated with it, fish sauce that goes in everything (and is made from none other than fermented fish skeleton juice), people ringing “the bell” at the bar when they’re full of shit, or even worse, they’re not full of shit and you have to take the trademark “Sunshine Shot” that tastes like mentholated crack, bargirls groping my boyfriend, things that should be sweet that are instead salty (i.e. lemonade) and things that should be salty that are instead sweet (i.e. garlic bread), the smell of burning trash in the morning… and afternoon…and night, Bangla Road, “Kaaaaaa,” visa runs to Burma, instant coffee.

Things I won’t take for granted in America:
Drinkable water, a mattress with springs, toilets and toilet paper, a real shower with an allotted space, shower curtain/door and shower head, a sandwich, English (yes, I admit it), discrete prostitution, new music since my iPod is so overplayed I want to piss on it, red wine, internet at my fingertips, tampons (T.M.I.? At least I’m not getting graphic), regulated voltages, coffee, vehicle safety for children.

Spooning and Dripping and Leaches

This week our friends Debbie and Eric are going to Cambodia for a visit. This means that Jon and I have the honor of house sitting their two dogs, Maddie and Pippa, which means it will be four in a bed since these dogs like to snuggle (I'm talking sharing my pillow and spooning). Pretty excited. After that, Jon and I have packed up all our stuff and we are heading up to Chaing Mai, Pai and Bangkok. I know I said in my last post that you should stay away from Bangkok, but we are only going for a few days and we know to be cautious. Its going to be interesting; we have several 10-12 hour train rides ahead of us, but luckily we are going for the sleeper cars. Anyway, there's a lot to see and so we've decided to try to conquer most of the country during our travels.
It will also be nice to get away since rainy season is coming early, meaning an unwelcome visit from leaches in the house. These annoy me more than other critters, as we have a spider larger than my open hand living with us. He's become friendly, sharing our bedroom; he does his thing, we do ours.
However, despite the sporadically early rain, this is still the hottest month of the year in Thailand. Thus, the bizarrely interactive holiday, Songkran, is only a week away. For one week, there is no hope- none- of remaining even remotely dry as the whole country erupts in a torrent of water- dousing every single person they see with hoses, buckets and super-soakers. It doesn't matter who you are or where you are, you will not be able to take one step out of your house without instantly becoming drenched. Of course, as is tradition, we will be dousing back. For a glimpse, I know that the movie, The Beach, starts out with a scene of Songkran.
So after dripping water off our clothes and skin and hair for a week straight, both here and up north, and travelling through the country for a while...
I'm making it back to the States. A couple months short of a year's stay in Thailand, but with all the turmoil I think it's about time to go. It's odd, I think, I've made this country my home. But almost everyone I care about here is heading out. So it's time to assimilate back into America. I'll post more on how I'm feeling about this soon.