The Beautiful Struggle: Burma

“Burma is indeed one of those lands of charm and cruelty”Aung San Suu KyiIt’s difficult to speak of Burma without first mentioning Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize winner and general secretary of the National League for Democracy. She is the daughter of Aung San, a highly respected General who was monumental in bringing independence to Burma from the British in 1948. Her party, the NLD, won 82% of the vote in the 1990 – but the military junta (one of the most brutal and longest running military dictatorships in the world) refused to hand over power, and she has subsequently been under house arrest for 14 of the last 20 years (being accused of being a “traitor” in the eyes of the junta). Suu Kyi has recently been in the media, as an American...

Read more »

Tounge Thai-ed

I could just work every day, make more money, save up, keep saving, not spend money, work and work, everyday, lots of money, don't touch it, grow old, with lots of money, stop working, go places, lots of places, spend money, lots of money, look around and say to myself I'd trade some of this money to be young again...Or...Brian Colón aka Moon Boots aka JaredI love my friends for so many reasons. Some provide constant comedy for which myself and my abs are eternally grateful. Others seem to have an incredible insight into the world, regardless of where they live or where they’ve been. Some friends are so wise and inspiring; some are so loving and supportive. Some are high maintenance and some seem to disappear and reappear at arbitrary intervals....

Read more »

the gods drink whiskey

Who would have thought that the ultimate cleansing and renewing would come from nasty moat water? April 13-15 is the celebration of the Thai New Year – Songkran! Originally at this time people would cleanse their Buddha statues and the water left over from that was supposed to be a blessing when you put a little handful on the back of someone’s neck. Now, the holiday has turned into complete and total madness, a ridiculous and unbelievably fun free for all. My first time getting soaked was on the Saturday before the holiday officially started – I was riding in the back of a songtaew (communal cab with bench seats in the back) and a van pulled up next to us. All of the sudden the windows flew down and 5 guys with water guns just nailed me with...

Read more »

just a quick hop, skip & a jump

Even living in a place that seems like a holiday destination for a lot of people I still feel excited to get away and travel a bit nearly all the time. My visa was set to expire on the 29th of March, so, on the 28th headed on the overnight bus to Vien Tiene, the capital of Laos, to renew it. When buying the bus ticket you can get “VIP”, first class or second class. I am always on the look-out for a deal and have a hard time paying full price for anything anymore…. I asked the lady at the counter if they had a “third class” that maybe they just didn’t tell us farang (foreigners) about. She had a good laugh and told me that the second class was only 400 Baht (about $12 US) for a 12 hour bus ride. To my dismay, the time schedule for the second...

Read more »

it surely looks like rain

Let me preface this with a quote from the book This Is It, by Alan Watts:“cosmic consciousness” – To the individual thus enlightened it appears as a vivid and overwhelming certainty that the universe, precisely as it at this moment, as a whole and in every one of its parts, is so completely right as to need no explanation or justification beyond what it simply is. Existence not only ceases to be a problem; the mind is so wonder-struck at the self-evident and self sufficient fitness of things as they are, including what would ordinarily be thought the very worst, that it cannot find any word strong enough to express the perfection and beauty of the experience. Its clarity sometimes gives the sensation that it is pervaded and ordered by a supreme...

Read more »

The Rose of the North

Ahhh, Chiang Mai. The second largest city in the country, the aptly named 'rose of the north'. A charming old city, established in 1296 - sacked by the Burmese (twice) and now considered the 'cultural capital' of Thailand. There's a moat that runs in a pefect square around the center of the city, with old castle wall ruins on each corner. Fountains, flowers and wats (Buddhist temples) permeate the landscape. Some days I think I see more orange robed monks then bohemian style tourists.I left Singapore in December, managed to escape the most rule ridden country I can imagine without one slight infringement. Maybe the fact that they charge $8 for a bottle of beer helped keep me such a law abiding citizen....saw malls give birth to other malls...

Read more »