I hope that everyone has had a great holiday season; although I
missed family and friends and would have liked to be in at least five
places other than Chiang Mai, I have been happy to be here and enjoyed
a wonderful if non-traditional Christmas and New Years Eve with a fun
group of classmates. On New Years Day I finished my first thai massage
course here. On
the 21st of December
I began classes at Sunshine and although the amount of material
presented each day was overwhelming at first, I had enough time to
review what I had learned and also forget about it, spending time with
friends from class or just relaxing.
The last week of school was particularly busy; seven hours
of class at Sunshine Massage School followed by four hours of private
study with Yan, a fantastic teacher from Sunshine. I was in class at
one of two schools from 9am to 9pm. New Years Eve was the highpoint of
the week and easily
the most memorable part of my very busy week.
I
met most of my classmates for a wonderful Christmas dinner during the
first relaxed week. We shared a table full of food- four or five kinds
of curry,
fried noodle dishes, three really really good cashew herb salads- more
than i can remember (though i think i posted a picture of it here). I
enjoyed my company that night, we shared many stories, both of travel
and of the holidays at home and we shared a unique camaraderie- that of
near strangers coming together to share each others' company on a day
about family and traditions.
I had almost forgotten that it was
new years eve by the time i walked out of Yan's private teaching space
at 9 o'clock. On the sidewalk outside of the massage space were about 25
people, sitting on a bamboo mat sharing food and drinks. Most of the
people were neighbors and except for one other American (from the Big
Island of Hawaii!) and a Spanish couple, they were all Thai. Except
for the American, the Spanish couple and myself, they were all fantastic
karaoke singers. I gained further insight into the Thai work ethic,
watching a seamless succession of masterful performances
of Thai pop hits for an hour. After an hour attempted conversations
across language barriers and more than a few stupid grins, i said
goodbye and happy new year and made my way towards home.
Chiang
Mai is a really old city and the oldest part and the heart of the city
is a square mile marked by the remains of a very old wall and moat.
I live just outside of the east gate of this wall and it was at that
gate that most of Chiang Mai was celebrating the coming New Year. When
I walked out of Yan's teaching space, I noticed not only the happy
group of people on the sidewalk, but also hundreds of paper lanterns
floating up into the night sky from the area of the east gate. I have
hoped to see this in person for over a year after seeing a YouTube
video of Chiang Mai's 'Festival of Lights'. The paper lanterns,
known in Thailand as Khom loi, are made of rice paper and are fueled by
a wildly burning candle at the base. After fighting traffic and
dropping my stuff at my apartment, I walked with a crowd of people
towards the Tha Phae Gate, the center of the celebration.
Surprisingly, I ran into a couple of friends on the way and together we
launched our own lanterns; two people holding the lantern open from the
top and one person lighting the candle from beneath. When the candle
was burning well we would let go of the lantern with some sort of a
toast and watch the ascent. The higher the lanterns get, the colder
the air gets and the faster they rise. Though all of our flights were
successful, more than a few weren't. Lanterns ended up landing in the
moat and getting stuck on power lines and in trees, where they would
eventually erupt in flames. From the locals, I heard that releasing a
lantern can represent sending a wish to the heavens and also letting go
of something that you want gone. Many families would write on their lanterns before letting them fly; making certain that their wishes would be understood.
Others attached firecrackers and sparklers instead. As a crowd, we
would cheer when a lantern freed itself from a tree and laugh when it
didn't, as the burning remains began to fall upon unaware people.
I
was at the edge of a huge crowd, waiting to take a picture of the
flight of one last armada of lanterns, held over heads with candles
burning during the final countdown to 2010. I knew that there would be
fireworks, but could not have expected what i experienced. I could
feel the heat as each firework was launched less than 15 feet from me
and also feel debris from the explosions and the occasional ember on my
face as I watched fireworks explode right above me. These were serious
fireworks- as impressive a show as i can remember seeing- and it seemed
crazy for them to be blowing up right over my head. I loved it.
When
the fireworks were finished people seemed to waste no time and headed
for bed in sober and respectful masses out of the square and onto each
street. This was totally unlike any New Years Eve of celebrations of the west.
I
finished my class on new years day, giving and receiving a full body
thai massage. I am really happy with the education I got at Sunshine
and especially liked my two teachers, Sicha and Yan. Both of who are very well educated and natural teachers. I am looking forward to furthering my
education here and would be enrolled in a second course if not for visa
constraints.
My
visa expired last saturday, the day after a classes
ended and on that day i made a run for the burmese border. Throughout
this trip I have taken pride in having avoided tour buses though
saturday was an exception. On saturday pity took the place of pride
when i was told that the express visa run tour busses were full and i
had to wait at the chiang mai bus station for 2 1/2 hours to get on a
bus. For no apparent reason, the bus 6 1/2 hours to make the 4 hour
trip to the border; I wouldn't have minded at all, but i needed to be
at the border before they closed, as this was the last day of my visa.
The
best I could say of the day was that it was an excellent opportunity to
practice acceptance and patience. When the bus eventually got to the
Mae Sai bus station I anxiously jumped off, took my first offer of a
motorbike ride without haggling and headed straight for the border.
Thailand automatically gives a 15 day visa for travellers entering the
country through selected border crossings- all i needed to do was step
one foot in Burma, turn around and walk back into Thailand to be legal
for another 15 days. To my dismay, I was told that the border was
closed at 5:00
rather than the usual 6:30 and that i would have to come back in the
morning.
This was hard to swallow as i watched steady streams of Thai and
Burmese people continue to cross the border.
'Oh well' i thought, 'a traveler should be open to new
experiences, and i've never been an illegal alien before.' Forcing a
half smile, I turned around and began looking for a hotel room. I
found a room... more of a bed in a box, actually, dropped my stuff there and
went out to see what i could of Mai Sae by night. What I saw of the
city was one street, four lanes wide, which ended at the Burmese border
and was lined on both sides by concrete buildings four stories high-
shops and restaurants on the ground level and living spaces above- with
hundreds of vendors in an indefinite space between the buildings and
street. I sat at a table at the most appealing of the restaurants
ordered a large dinner and a beer and let myself become absorbed again
in the book i'd been reading all day. My dinner among the best i've had in thailand, a thick
green curry served in a coconut, it was really spicy which is actually
rare here and full of fresh veggies and tender coconut flesh. I was
sound asleep by the time i became illegal; totally exhausted by a week
of long days at school and an anxious day of travel. The penalty of
overstaying a visa in Thailand is 500 baht a day- about $15- as well as
a permanent record of the violation which can effect future visa
applications. At least i wouldn't be flogged.
In the morning I
returned to the border crossing and pretty much walked right through.
I was anxious to finish the process and cross back
into
Thailand, but also wanted to see a little bit of Burma since i had the
chance. I walked around the markets for awhile and realized that
'Burma' couldn't really be found here. It was just another asian
market with
all the same crap for sale- fake designer clothes, fake perfume, cell
phones, ipods and cheap plastic toys. I walked around the market for
about half an hour and was about to end my brief journey to Burma when
i met, who else, but 'Michael', a member of a minority hill tribe who
had ended his Jesuit education and sold Viagra and offered short
motorbike tours. After talking for about ten minutes I agreed to pay
for a 4km tour. I was anxious to get back into Thailand and resolve my
visa dilemma, but also wanted to take the opportunity to see at least a
little of Burma and continue to talk with this strange man with
wonderful english. Michael was spectacularly full of contradictions;
studying at a Jesuit school in the most Buddhist country in the world
and deciding that he would not like to become a priest and instead
selling viagra. Michael was also the first of countless motorbike
drivers I have hired who neither had a motorbike nor seemed to know how
to use one.
After waiting on the sidewalk for about ten minutes, a Burmese man rode
up on a bike, Michael ran after it and asked me if I wanted to drive
the bike. I declined- unlike Thailand, Burma is a country I could
easily get flogged in- and with Michael driving we headed up to a
temple on top of a hill which provided great views of the mountains and
countryside on both sides of the border and in all directions.
Back
at the border, my worries ended in a wonderful anti-climax. After
having considered a wide variety of statements designed at keeping me
off of the 'bad list' and imagining an equally wide variety of ways i
could be treated, the only question I was asked was, 'can you sign
this'. I only remember saying, 'yes', signing when asked and walking
back into thailand grinning.
