"Natural Blues"

"I've been busy," that would be the last few weeks in a nut shell. In the last few weeks I've been on five planes, three buses, one high speed rail, and countless cars.

As mentioned earlier I went to Thailand. I spent my trip there going from location to location meeting up with various people I knew and visiting the sites. I think this is how I'll go about my future trips. Meeting up with friends, especially locals, is a great way to see the sites and avoid tourist traps. Also, I was able to avoid hotels for the majority of my stay because of the people I knew.

In my stay I visited Bangkok and Pattaya in central Thailand. Bangkok offered the draws of a big city like big temples and even bigger shopping centers. Pattaya on the other hand offered shadier attractions like a lady boy caberet. I met a few interesting people down there as well. There was a guy who was from Canada that had taught English in Taiwan for five years who advised me to get out of Pattaya as soon as I could since the seedy night life had a tendency to draw people in. Another person, whom actually drove me down to Pattaya, owned a pizza shop and was more than happy to help me in any way possible. With her help I was able to buy a bus ticket the second day in Pattaya and go to Chiang Mai.

The sixteen hour bus ride was a killer but I eventually arrived in northern Thailand and met up with the Gilberts, old neighbors from NC. I had some interesting talks with them about various aspects of Thailand. An example would be that there is an abundance of abandoned buildings because the people who own them run out of money and abandon them. With the way land titles work in Thailand, no one can build on the land until it is signed over. Also, foreigners can not own land and must use a Thai citizen in order to purchase houses.

Out of all the things I did in my trip I'd say that visiting my roommate in Chiang Rai was probably my favorite. In the first of two days I spent with him he took me to see a hill tribe village and ride on an elephant. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the more rural part of Thailand. I think my nieces and nephew will get a kick out of the pictures of me feeding an elephant. The next day my roommate took me to see the Golden Triangle, which is the intersection of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar. I wish we would have had more time so I could have visited the other two countries but my trip was cut short.

I received word from home when I was with the Gilberts that my paternal grandmother passed away. With this in mind I decided to cut my trip to Thailand short and come back to the states. My trip here is almost over but it was full of plenty more to write about, in my next blog when I'm back in Tainan.