Hello! Good to hear from you guys again! I'm in Chiang Mai at a little coffee shop outside the hotel. I met up with my group in Bangkok awhile back and have been roaming around with them since. Most of the travelers are girls, and they come from everywhere except America. There is an old guy with white hair and harry carey glasses named Charles who's from New York. He and I occasionally talk about beat poetry because he was really into the scene back "in his day," and he also writes, himself. Carrie-- he knew Allen Ginsberg. Anyways he's really slow an we're always losing him because he wanders off, but other than that he's a nice guy. Good old CHuck. There are two other guys and they are both from California as well. Mostly I've been hanging around these two CAnadian girls and another one from England, and one of the fellas from CAlifornia.
Today I went whitewater rafting with some friends through the jungle. The water was brown and our guide informed us that it was full of snakes and crocodiles, which we later found out was untrue. I caught a couple mouthfuls of it when I got knocked out, but then I floated on back down some smooth water for awhile. Looking upwards I could see these trees with long ivy that hung all the way down to the water, bannana trees, and some knarled tree trunks and plants with leaves like elephant ears. My life jacket bouyed (sp?) me up so that I didn't have to paddle to keep myself afloat on the top of the water, going all slow, very light, and small... So now I know what it's like to be a leaf. One guy, Antoin, fell out in some of the worst rapids I've seen. He missd a boulder here and a boulder there, went under for awhile and popped back up about 30 feet downriver. He scared the crap out of all of us, but he was alright. He has a good story to tell now. After our little water trip we ate lunch up on the mountain. They made us egg roles, salad, and fried chicken, which was difficult to eat because there were chickens running around at my feet as I was eating it. I kept looking at them and thinking, this is your future little chickens. And then I fed one a piece of tomato.
Yesterday I climbed 300 steps up to this temple at the very top of the highest mountain in CHiang Mai. We took off our shoes at the peak and walked around on the cool tile while the monks held a ceremony around the golden chedi. The best way to describe a chedi would be to imagine one of those game pieces from the game "sorry," with the round base that swoops up into a point with a little ball on top. THis one was covered in gold leaf, maybe 35 feet tall, with solid gold at the top and filled with buddha relics. the male monks wore orange robes and the female monks wore white--- yes, female monks. On the train ride here, to CHiang Mai from Bangkok, I spoke with my tour guide about religion and meditation for a good while. Learning about buddhist prayer and reflecting on my own religious upbringing consumes a lot of my thought whenever I'm on busses or trains or taxis. It helps to be moving when you think. I forgot who said that. Maybe Bob Dylan or someone like that. Anyways, prayer and meditation, they have different goals, similar outcomes. I like the way people think and live out here. I'll have to explain more when I get home. I still have not sorted out my own thoughts.
Anyways on the ride back from the temple it began to rain, just a downpour of big fat warm rain drops, and we were riding in the little red bus like a tin can with two benches inside that face each other and the back wide open so that the rain came sprinkling in. I sat in the back and tried not to fall out while I got to watch the motorcylists manuever around puddles while holding their umbrellas with one hand, the handle bars with the other. Sometimes an entire family will fit on one bike! It was pretty cool, to say the least. I should probably go now because other people want to use the computer. Love you everyone. Love you A LOT.
katie