Inner Nature (random thought)

Every experience you partake in will alter, diminish or better your character. My Philosophy which runs parallel to that of the French Philosopher, Descartes, is what you see, smell, hear, touch and taste will evolve or devolve your emotions and mindset towards your life which in turn, will create the person you are. The idea that you are born an animate object, nothing more and nothing less, a blank page waiting to be written if you like, no preprogrammed traits or set tastes, everything up to the food you detest to how well you do at school is all up to what you experience up to the point of partaking in a new experience. You look at children and they will symmetrically resemble their parents not only in the physical sense but the intellectual and personal. This is of no coincidence, people from their own experience in life tend to have quite righteous views on how the life of man should be written, if looked from an outside view it may seem selfish and irresponsible on the parents part but if you know only what you know from your own experiences, then who should they resemble? This reflective upbringing is evident in large social structures and society depends on these 'unwritten pages', putting it crudely, society is funded by the working and middle class, the rich are there to stain the minds of man slightly green, that of envy which cruelly drives the under man to increase productivity and output at the expense of our inner nature. How does it make sense that one man could be worth so much where another hasn't sufficient to eat and for this society to be so lost in itself, it praises and worships such an act of greed?

I have mentioned inner nature in a sense that could seem contradicting to the previous, but this it's quite the opposite. Nature and her process are a beautiful pattern of perfection, everything created on her bosom has a reason for been so. The flowers have aromas not for our selfish pleasure but to attract the bee's for cross pollination, the bee's are their size because of the populace they live within is more efficient to collect the nectar of the flower, the flower has significant colours to once again attract the bee's and so on and so on, this comparison is no different to man, there is nothing on or in our bodies without reason, hair, nails, lungs are all their shape, size and colour for perfect efficiency to run in unison with the rest of our body. If nature has created our bodies perfectly then you must assume it has created our mind with equal precision, so why then does the human whole create such imperfection? Where did it enter our mindset to create devastation to our Mother Nature for what seems like the love of things she never created?

This idea of inner nature is to work in accordance with the pattern of nature, to think we are separate from this and obnoxiously superior is and will be our demise. If something is perfect, what arrogance would one must process to think they can improve upon it. If you really read and see religion under the preconceived face value, you will find this idea of connecting with the inner nature quite visible, the only limit to this are the words that have been used to describe such an indescribable thought. A few words that do come to mind is Nirvana, the philosophy of Buddhism, Tao, in the Chinese philosophy of Daoism, Heaven, that of Christianity, it doesn't matter, the words are irrelevant. The Ancient Daoist philosopher Lao Tzu wrote "The Tao that can be described is not the true Tao". They all use the term enlightenment, to be enlightened is to come back to how we were when we first entered the world straight from our Mothers womb, when our eyes had yet to be opened and our ears knew no words, this is when we were all enlightened. All these religions have differing face value because they were all recorded on different sides of the earth at different times by different people but despite this it all comes back to the same ideals, connecting with your inner nature, it is of no coincidence that at 600 years apart on the complete opposite sides of the Earth the poor hermit, Chaung Tzu was writing the same principle as Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome in his private meditations.

Our minds have been slightly tainted by the workings of society with our pathetic desires for titles, money, power and all such similar trivial things, pride plays such a large part of your lives. Our petty need for people to have pride in what we do from our parents to people we dislike is what drives us further and further away from nature, we do actually have a word for what causes unhappiness and such discontent in our lives, it's ego. We are so lost that we are worshiping people because of what they have. What good has pride ever done? Pride creates envy, envy creates greed, greed creates hate and hate creates self destruction, most of us were probably wisest at birth when our eyes were still sealed and hadn't yet learnt the tongue of Man. Lets take the example of an infant in the womb, the infants brain would be developing physically but has nothing to stimulate it mentally, when it comes out it has an entire world to comprehend and in turn this will be the start of development towards its personality and character. So what if we put this child straight from the womb into a large white walled room containing nothing but its colourless walls? If my theory is true, this child will physically grow but will not differ in any other aspect then if it was still in the womb. The mind in such an environment has nothing to familiarise itself with so the child will not change. Now what if we add a dog to the room? This is when inner nature or instinct comes in, we are not pre-programmed to think or be like anything but our inner nature allows us to familiarise ourselves with our surrounding and thus grow upon it. This dog that has now entered the child's life will start to stimulate the child's eager brain and will symmetrically resemble its personality and actions just the same as if it were human, if we added a second dog, it would also imitate its personality combined with the first dogs personality and start to form it's own unique one from what it's learnt from the two. This is how no human is completely identical to each other, now imagine if the child were to meet hundreds and hundreds of new dogs each day in completely new environments at different times, you would get an ever changing unique personality, this is why I believe no matter who you meet or what you do you can gain or lose something from it, that is what character is, how you choose to act upon an experience, whether or not you gain something from it is in your discretion.

If this is true and our inner nature has us resemble and copy our environment from our experiences, how do we know that this sub-conscious symmetry can differentiate what is real or what is right and wrong or natural and industrial? When we watch television and see people hurting and taunting or any such behaviour, can we be safe to assume that our inner nature will not recall this as an experience and thus form it in our character. There is no question that we evolve to our environment physically, Asians all have black hair for a reason as Nigerians have black skin, it's true with our personality too. A teacher once told me "There is a truth behind most stereotypes", it's obvious when you enter a new Country inner traits of people change in accordance with their surroundings, British, reserved and proper when the Italians are more easily excitable and exuberant, its as if they match there physical landscape and weather. How could these people not mimic what they see if it's all they know? Take an Orange, this is the sun in the form of a fruit or a potato, the Earth in a vegetable, when you taste these foods you are tasting the worlds inner nature.

This whole theory answers no questions but raises an even more internal complicated one. If we only know what we experience, then what is right and what is wrong??

Europe Awaits

After a long dark English Summer it was time to tighten the old straps of my backpack and head back for the path, I said goodbye to all my my new found Family and was heading for the Eternal City. Oh what a sight Rome is for a young Man, its old glory is evident in its bellowing streets and proud architecture, my feet were sacrificed for the good of my curiosity, this must be how the Romans fit into their undersized clothing, you just keep walking to satisfy the demands of your eyes of its infinite desires. The noise of the City was chaotic music and its stench was expensive perfume, Romes like my first born Child, no matter how loud and obnoxious it is, it could do no wrong in my mind while taking an absurd amount of photos of it. A map wasn't needed since getting lost was the whole idea, I walked through this labyrinth for nearly a week and started to feel a part of its rhythm, I found this spot on a narrow wall right next to the Colosseum and some famous arch and just watched down on its stradas and ruins for over two hours just thinking and envisioning its past, what an intense place to sit and wonder, almost too much for such a young mind to play with. One thing you do start to realize is how much of a slob Rome makes you feel for been in a tee shirt, I almost felt I should buy a suit to walk down the street just to fit in, all the Romans look beautiful and elegant for every occasion, it gave me a petty ease to think how long they must be in front of the mirror for them to make me feel like such a tramp.
The much talked about town of Sorrento was next were I was promised a picturesque typical Italian town, instead I was faced with a once typical Italian town ridden with English pubs and plagued by American tour groups, how disappointing, you could see its old youthfulness appearing through the cracks but it was too late, it had already been slaughtered by the praised rapist they call Economic Growth, it was how ever very near the Ancient ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. I spent a day in each followed by a climb up Mount Vesuvius, I was to fly out of Napoli (Naples) so I spent a good three days here, I met some great people and drank wine that equaled the company, the day I had to leave was my birthday, the big two zero which was spent sitting in Prague airport ALL day for a friend from back home. 'A' had planned to travel through Eastern Europe with me for about 6 weeks which of course had to start with the predictable Czech City of Prague, we were not disappointed and it seemed to be a good start to our trip together. We went down to a small town in the south called Telc where I still proceed to worry that places are said to be colder then this, we arrived with no accommodation and quickly found out my source for supposedly the only Hostel in town is closed after summer, after a couple of minutes of worry we were met by fat lady who grabbed us by our pathetically thin jackets and started knocking on the doors of peoples houses until she found one who was willing to let us in, this pretty much sums up the hospitality of the Czechs. Cesky Krumlov was our last stop in the Republic and it more then lived up to our expectations, we stayed two nights in this paradise sampling beer and wandering its streets, we ended this night by getting drunk with a French School group.
16hours later the next day and after a very close encounter of been mugged we arrived in Hungary's capital, Budapest (pronounced buda-pesh-t) , It was wonderful to be back in a real City filled with life, it was first world wealth with third world character. It is one of those cities that is too close to pay for transport but a little too far to walk it, never the less we walked it and still have blisters to prove our efforts, the Market is one of the best Ive seen and the bars just as good, we found an old Turkish place very appropriate to its past that we drank sweet bitters from and shared a large Hookah (Flavored Bong/Pipe) this was followed by a dip in the ancient Turkish Baths that are so well known in Buda. We are now in Croatia, been the obvious choice for a couple of Kiwis been so close to the coast, we will see what comes our way...

The Chinese Mistress.

I had placed China on a very high pedestal before my blistered feet had even smelt the Chinese soil, I had given the Country large amounts of my time through endless reading of Proverbs, Poetry and History. I knew all the Emperors and Dynasties by heart and had ignorantly put their incredulous legacy's to the source of what Modern Chinese thought is today, I was obviously quickly shaken into reality when entering this seemingly frustrating Land in the form of Communist bureaucracy and proud Han's. I had in fact placed China so far up on it's imaginary Ming Style Pedestal, that I had self induced an inferiority complex toward the Country, I soon realised I had to wake up from this pathetic idea realising she smelt fear.
You quickly notice China possesses exceptional beauty in the form of imposing Mountains and Ancient Culture, it started for me in Yongshuo in Guanxi Provence, which for centuries has been revered by Poets and Scholars alike for its Natural beauty, getting lost on a crappy Chinese made bicycle through endless rice paddies and river banks whilst futilely communicating with the local farmers. Four hours out is Longshen, which holds the gigantic 800 years old Rice Terraces, it has been Christened 'Dragon Backbone Terraces' in typical over-the-top Chinese fashion. It is an inspirational trek over these Ancient man made Mountains all created to cultivate rice in low and high altitudes.
It was definitely an easy and dubiously effortless start to China, but it seemed she was just toying with me in an attempt to send me into a false calm, her first test was in the form of a very large Train Station. It is a total nightmare, a couple of thousand Han, all giving you the impression of absolute contempt in a room directed at a handful of small windows controlled by uninterested, overworked Chinese Woman. I found the trick is to keep in mind with China and its infinite obstacles is that you do it, because there is no other option. If you don't get the ticket, you don't move, if you don't find food, you don't eat, if you don't find a pillow, you don't sleep. This of course doesn't make it any easier, especially when you are following the tracks of many travellers who did find another option, leaving, but there was something about China that drew me towards her, she was like a notable spoilt brat, and by all reasonable logic, I should have dumped her long ago, but there is somethings you can't explain, and I was attracted to her mysterious beauty. It took 19 hours but I made it to Kunming, Yunnan Provence, you have never seen so many Banks. It seems China has very few Domestic business and they over compensate for this with the few they do have, Banks and 'China Mobile' litter this City and most other's for that matter in the form of windowless concrete monsters. I didn't stay long here but was surprised by its cleanliness and wealth, I spent my little time here strolling the City eating watermelon and corn on the cob from street vendors. This is also the City that the legend of Chinese spitters was proven to be not only true, but contagious. There is something quite free about making a very loud hoicking sound right in the back of your throat to gather as much flem as possible and spitting it in front of everyone in public and not getting any questioning looks about your place in society, I hope to bring this habitual practice back home with me to bring a bit of humility to New Zealanders. Kunmings main reason for been a destination with China's relative few Western travelers is to get to smaller parts of Yunnan, my first one been the Ancient walled town of Dali. Most famous for the 'Three Pagoda's" its a very pleasant little city which used to be home to the minority Bai people, I thought this place to rather over rated by travelers and after seeing the sights and picking up food poisoning from a Muslim restaurant I was on a local bus to another Ancient Town, Lijiang. The bus ride was very opening for me because China decided to give me yet another test to try my loyalty to her. In a very short amount of time to what seemed like such a trivial reason, I gained something I had not felt for a long time since leaving home, HATE.
I was suffering from slight motion sickness in this very small bus, I was in a pretty lousy mood for what ever reason then of course a China-man sits next to me as his last resort since even the preferred floor space was taken up, it seems Europeans repulse working class Chinese, he then reaches over me, closes the window and proceeds to light a cigarette directed straight in my face, at that exact point, I couldn't have felt a stronger pure hatred to towards this man and the entire race of China. Something in me just clicked, I started thinking of all the shit I had endured since I walked over that border, all the trivial, bureaucratic nonsense the Chinese do and all I wanted to do was get the Hell out. I finally arrived in Lijiang and since it was one of those days, every Taxi refused to take me to a Hostel, after 5KM of walking with 20kg on my back, I couldn't have cared any less if China imploded on it self there and then. China is a mysterious creature, because just like a flick of the fingers, she gave me an experience I would never forget, she gave me her personal jewelry box filled with jade mountains, sapphire rivers, a gold sun and the purest white silk covering the mountain tops of her highest peaks, it was China's deepest Gorge, the 'Tiger Leaping Gorge'.
I decided to trek her by my self to appreciate its true spender, It started off very averagely along a gravel road, I had walked for about an hour until I came to a fork in the road with a shop in the middle selling the usual over priced goods, the China man asked if I wanted to by some water, I refused, and as a result, he pointed me into the wrong direction. Two hours later, after seeing no sign of life I started to worry, I came to this open grass field held up by an Ancient Cliff and realised I could be in a bit of trouble, I sat down for a minute to contemplate the true situation, it was getting dark, no one was around, I had no idea where to go and I was a few hundred meters on a cliff face. Something at that point hit me that I had never before considered since my travels, I was completely alone, I couldn't just ring up my parents, I couldn't talk to a friend about it China seemed at the time pretty set on screwing with me, I was honestly quite scared, if you really think about it, there are very few times in ones life where you are completely alone in any given situation, but I was being tested by the Chinese mistress. I then saw a small angel in the form of a trekker right at the bottom of the Cliff signalling to me where the actual path is, next thing I know, I'm precariously running along some rocks in the cliff face that I would never have even considered looking at due to the stupid danger combined with my prudent nature to get to this path, I obviously made it without tumbling into the Yanzte but that point opened me to something very strange, this was the start of something quite extraordinary along the Tiger Leaping Gorge. I stayed the night in a Naxi guesthouse and started earlier then the roosters since there was such a long way to go, two hours later, I was coming to an end of what the locals call the '28 bends' appropriately named after its endless upward spiral hill to reach the highest peak by road, when I finally did reach the top I was completely alone and everything just seemed to come to a screaming silence.
There are certain things humans come in contact with or do that gives them an instant rush of pure contentment, where everything seems perfect and you think about nothing but that present situation, it's like your heart skips several beats and you are temporally floating in Ecstasy, like when you listen to a beautiful piece of music, or when climaxing while having sex or even looking into a child's gaping eyes. I was experiencing this feeling at this moment when I came into contact with the 'Tigers' view. I just sat there completely brain dead, I didn't need my tainted mind, I was just in the moment, this is how perfect this view was. After that moment, the rest of the 8hour trek flew by, it has been the best part of my trip so far.
Next spot after rushing through the Sichaun Provence, Chendu, famous for hot Tibetan food and Giant Panda's I was in my favourite City so far, the end of the 'Silk Road', Xi'an. This is of course home to the mighty Terracotta Warriors, as a potential History Student, Xi'an was incredaby interesting. I went to the Museum which actually hold the books of Confucius and the legendary Monk, Zuang Xang. The Warriors were spectacular and I could have spent the whole day gazing into these Ancient Pits, so in fact, I did. I am now in my present location, Beijing, The Heart of China and Communism. I fear China still has not finished with me, I am coming to an end of her road and the question will be, will I come out happy to have met her or is she best to be left alone?

WAM, BAM thats veitNAM

I am constantly in a state of awe over big Asian Cities, it feels as if their life blood is constantly rushing through their vein like streets with the heart been the unique culture found only in Asia, Ho Chi Minh was no exception, it' s in your face, loud and everything seems to end up going past in a fuzzy blur and I can't get enough of it. I made my way up from down below to the tip of Vietnam and I just cruised the whole way. Vietnam is notably different from the rest of upper South East Asia, for one they don't muck around, everything is moving purposefully and efficiently and although it's communist it's sparlwing with large capitalist industries and business. Apparently after the Bali bombing, the usual holiday makers migrated to the undiscovered Vietnam, this is why there is such a large portion of Australians there. I had all my destinations planned in HCMC because you save mega bucks by booking one big open bus ticket, in fact I spend under $18 on transport in my entire time in Vietnam. After seeing the sights of HCMC you get the impression they aren't super pro American, and this is truly propagated through the War museums, horrific uncensored photographs that bring up all types of emotions, anger been a hard one to suppress. Before I know it, I'm on my planned bus up to Nha Trang starting to regret having to work my trip around a ticket until something pounded through my veins, I was elated and excited. After traveling over 2 months on inland landlocked countries I had finally come back to the Ocean, the mere smell of the salt water gave me goosebumps, I had spent that entire day bumming on the beach forgetting I hadn't slep for nearly 22 hours. Nha trang also had a really relaxing night life, I was dorming with a few Scandinavians which can only mean trouble when alcohol is involved, I have yet to find a nation to drink a Scan under the table, Nha Trang was a holiday within a holiday. The next morning was a bit of a downer when I found out I was drugged and then robbed the previous night but was redeemed with a boat trip I took to the local Islands, drinking very cheap wine on the Vietnam's turquoise water. I was then pulled back into reality quite literally by my bus ticket to Hoi an. This Chinese influenced backstreet town was paved with old bricks and lined with interlocking houses. I really enjoyed just strolling the streets which was good since there isn't much else to do other then buy incredibly cheap tailored clothing. This is what the town is actually famous for and is quite amuzing seeing these Western backpackers buying suits knowing their bags are already filled to the brim. The problem is the language barrier, it's all well and good getting something to your exact needs but is useless when the woman doing the tailoring doesn't speak English, I met a girl who wanted a woolen sweater and ended up getting it in lycra. The town of Hui was next and this town is pretty desolate, I stayed one night and left to the arduous journey up to Hanoi, over 750KM of road to the capital which by now I am very used to until I had the unfortunate luck of getting seated next to an Aussie Baptist that proceeded to tell me how science is evil. Luckily, I was given a tip by numerous travelers to take a couple Valium for the long excursions to knock you out, so I offerd the preacher a couple. I was finally at the capitol and although it's not as lively as HCMC it's pretty exciting. I was stuck here for quite a while waiting for my Chinese Visa to be processed to I took a trip to the beautiful Haolong Bay on a traditional Junk boat. Three days on the water with good people, great food and the local beer, sweet. Came back and moved around three different hostels, saw the famous Hanoi Water Puppet show and all the other sights and I was off to begin my next adventure. I decided to make my own way to the border since I am a cheap skate backpacker but it turned out to be much harder then I thought, I eventually got to the Vietnamese side of the border and was forced to stay the night in the rotten town of Dong Dang, waking up the next morning quite nervous unknowing what was awaiting me over the next 100m of land, CHINA....

The Jewel of Asia

"What are you dense?" I was some what surprised by his remark, I mean I knew it was good and had no doubts it would meet my expectations but I just couldn't fit it in my plans, I mean I can't go everywhere. "If you are to go anywhere in South East Asia, this should be it, it's the Jewel of Asia" We were in Laung Prapang in Northern Laos and I had just met this guy on my trek, I had already been in Laos for over two weeks now and felt I had to move on to my next scheduled destination, Vietnam, but I couldn't help but think about what this dreaklocked, ganja smoking brick layer was saying, for someone to say it's the ONE thing you should see in Asia I assumed would make it incredible. I haven't even thought about going that way, I couldn't, I had a schedule to meet to get the most out of my trip so I left for my bus back to Vientiane ready to go east to Vietnam. The trip was awful but also expected, seven hours of potholes and horn blowing but I couldn't stop thinking about this Jewel, this Treasure. We're finally in Vientiane and it's incredibly hot, I've been told close to 40 and I just want to find a guesthouse for the night and crash till the morning, I'm physically walking to a Tuk Tuk when my gutt starts to churn, not in a sick way but a way that completely blanks your mind and just tells you something, like it's in your blood or something. The next thing I know, I'm buying a twelve hour ticket to Southern Laos for that night despite my exhaustion and hunger and it felt so right. This is the thing about travelling solo, you can do what ever the hell you want, even make a 1000km detour to Cambodia.
It's the morning, and I took the initiative of pre booking a mini bus from the Southern town of Pakse in Laos, which funny enough sounds like a disease that you feel like you have when you arrive. So That morning I was already heading for the unknown lands or the Khmer's. One thing you notice the second you hit Cambodia is that everyone is trying to get something out of you. It is said to have one of the highest rates of corruption in the world which I think is kind of stupid, how can someone measure corruption but you really do get the negative impression that they perceive you as walking dollar signs. Like in the Visa office, which is quite literally a wooden hut, I am charged for the Visa, $20usd, fair enough but then you get the $5usd weekend charge and of course the $2usd stampage fee. This didn't matter though, I was on such a high, something in my gutt just felt so right, I was on my way to see my treasure. We were well into it now, the mini bus had broken down twice, the driver has stopped numerous times to stop and chat to his local friends and It felt liked the sun had just moved a little closer as a nasty joke. I can only describe Cambodia's land like a giant golf course. It is incredibly flat with very little trees, they have a major problem with logging but it has a serene beauty about it. Every few square meters there is huge palm trees that look strategically placed to make the fairway look fancy and groomed, the air conditioner was of course broken so the windows were down and it was so beautiful, the Khmer wind just feels thicker and stronger then ordinary wind, it just foiled around my face like a warm blanket, also, the Khmer's themselves look different to their other South East Asian counterparts, their cheek bones are very high and prominent and have very narrow con caved jaws, it actually makes them look fierce and warrior like and came to no surprise that the Khmer's were once the Major power of South East Asia. At this point I was so content until we got to Kompong Cham and we were placed with another Cambodian Scam, count 4.
I was excited for the next day because this was the day I would come to my treasure and the whole reason for coming to this mysterious land. Siem Reap, which actually means 'Siam Defeated', Siam of course was the home to the Siamese and is modern day Thailand, this land used to be the capital to the famous and powerful Angkor era, Cambodia's golden age which of course is home to the Jewel of SEA, Angkor Wat. These are the ancient ruins of the Angkor's and even today shows the true splendor and grandeur of these people, it is AMAZING, I have seen nothing like it, this place sprawls out over kilometers of beautiful grass land and rivers. I will talk very little about it because words alone cannot describe how amazing this place is. I had gotten my treasure and it had exceeded all my expectations!!!
I couldn't stay too long in Cambodia so after four days touring Angkor I make my way to the modern Capital of Phenom Penh, it's crazy, mean and fast but I really liked it. Highlight was definitely S-21, and old school that Pol Pot had transformed into an interrogations prison, it still had blood stains on the wall from the horrific torture the Khmer Rouge set upon the locals, horrific and very silencing.
I am now in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh and now a whole new adventure awaits.

Be Like Soldier

Laos is known as one of the most undeveloped countries on earth, as I roll in from the Thai border it becomes evident that they weren't wrong. The first stop is the capital Vientiane, as you can tell by the name the French influence is very strong here, it's a very bizarre combination, there are very few sealed roads and everything seems unfinished but then you have these old colonial building lingering around the streets with the Parisian lamp posts blotting the footpaths, you then follow the main road to the business junction and you see a rather incongruous replica of the Arc 'de Triumph right in the middle of the road attempting to appear to fit into Laos with some engravings of Buddha on each side. I hired a bike for the next day and did a complete sweep of the city and there isn't really much to Vientiane, I tried to find any sort of industrial buildings or anything that would prove it to be the Capital but was surprised to find the same terrace like buildings on every square inch of footpath. So after a couple of days it was time to make my way up to VangVieng, a beautiful sleepy town beside the local river nestled between limestone peaks and fluorescent green rice paddies. It is very cheap here, I was staying in my own room with bathroom that had hot water for 30,000kip ($4NZD), it is however very touristy, there is basically one main road in VangVieng, you can only come in from that one road and along this road is Television bars playing repeats of Friends and The Simpsons all day. VangVieng is famous for its caves found in the mountains that the locals used in the Indo China war, so I hired a bike and went exploring, the openings are so small you wouldn't even think a person could fit but once you get in it is huge and frightningly deep. These caves were all completely empty and quite surprising since they are VangViengs major attraction, I gathered everyone was back watching Friends so I hired a Guide (10,000kip = 1.20NZD) and he took me right in, as I was crawling through these incredibly small spider infested holes I was repeatedly told to "Be Like Soldier" which I think meant stop been such a pussy and hurry up. They were amazing, that night I hit the bars and drank a few Whisky Buckets, these things are like steel pales with a whole lot of ice, Lao Lao (the very strong local Lao whisky) and M-150 which is an energy drink in South East Asia that comes in a small test tube like bottle that is so strong is actually banned in most countries around the world. The next day it was obvious I had to go tubing, it is one of the famous attractions in VangVieng where you catch a TukTuk up the river and go down it in a large rubber tube, it takes the whole day not because the river is slow but because the river is littered with bamboo bars selling beer Lao ( the only beer in Lao) and pretty much everyone we came to we stopped and and had a beer, so after the 6th stop we were pretty hammered, especially since beer laos only comes in 750mls bottles and 10,000kip each. There was something really nice about VangVieng and because of it I stayed here for 6days, It was incredibly fun with all the tourists but it was once again time to move on to my present position which is Luang Prabang after of course having the worst bus ride of my LIFE. But 7 hours later I arrived in the even more French town Luang Prabang, it is incredibly beautiful and has the most amazing character to it, I haven't been to France yet but this is what I image it to be. I decided to get straight into it, that night I booked myself a three day trek up into the Laos Hill tribes, It was fantastic, this trek was much more intense then the one in Thailand and much more authentic, it had rained the entire night before to it was crazy, every 30mins the track would be overflowed by the rivers and we had to take our boots off to cross, it was very muddy and very slow, it didn't help that we had a Spanish chain smoker either whos fitness was much to be desired for. We had to carry everything with us since you couldn't buy anything in the mountains, so as well as our backpacks we had about 6liters of water each. That night was incredibly fun as the local Hmong people(pronounced Mong from Mongolia) bought us the local herbs and rice wine that we all drank out of an enormous vessel. The next day was complete rain and with it brought the dreaded leeches, these things are disgusting and there are so hard to get off, once you do get them off you just keep bleeding, then of course the nests of fire ants that hurt like hell and would stick on to you just to prolong your discomfort, the third day after another crazy night on Beer Lao and the local herbs it was down the river in Kayaks which led to me been insanely sun burnt after 5 hours on the water. As we came back into Luang Prabang I was reminded by liters and liters of water been thrown at up by the locals that it was New Years here in South East Asia, they commemorate the staring of the wet season by having a three day festival of water fights in the whole city, I then dicided to go the the lcal disco tek out of pure curiosty, the Laos people are very sexually reserved and was very amuzing watching the locals dance to house music, it is crazy here and I have to stay here for another week for my Chinese Visa to be processed, the wet season is staring so it raining much of the time but Laos so far is amazing.

Thailand to Loas

My Macpac is scuffed and dirty, my feet are blistered and burnt, I have no idea what day it is and I am no longer a virgin to the squatting toilet; this is testament to me been right on my way as a backpacker. My time in Pai pretty much ended with me reading, eating and listening to the local live music with a good chunk of it in a hammock, I then had my sights set clear on the Ancient town of Sukhothai, one of the first civilisations in Thailand and one of Thailand's most powerful but to get there I had to take the arduous journey by the infamous Thai bus to the armpit they call Phitsanulok. In Lonely Planet they call it a "Charming and Vibrant city", I first stayed in a Hostel that was more like a complex, it was enormous but completely barren, no one was there and I physically had to yell to get the managers attention, he showed me to his overpriced room and when he left to watch the awful Thai television; I made my self scarce out the entrance to the nearest Tuk Tuk, the next morning I caught one of the government buses to Sukhothai which is about an hour out of Phitsanulok, Sukhothai its self for a population of only 39,800 is very busy and has a nice feel to it so after finding a guest house I made my way to the 'Old City' (as apposed to the 'New City' which is where everyone lives). The best way to see the ruins is on bicycle which was really nice, they really put a lot of effort into making Old Sukhothai presentable as possible with man made lakes and rivers with cobble stone paths through out. These were the first ruins I had seen so far and they were something else, beautiful Buddha statues with grand stone steps and rooted pillars that were too good to touch. Sukhothai was fantastic and was a major anticlimax when I had to make my way slowly to Laos through the typical Thai cities. I had to first go through the University city of Koen Khan after holding my breath going back through Phitsanulok and it was all on the Government bus which is really cheap, about 140Baht ($6NZD) for a 6 hour ride but at the absolute expense of comfort. It was a major test of endurance and patience, packed to the rim and achingly braking down four times making a standard six hour ride into an epic nine hour back breaker. Koen Khan is the home to Thai lands largest University and is the student town for sure strife with cocky teenagers and cheap food. It seemed far more efficient then a lot of Thailands other cities with people always seeming busy and purposeful which came as a great relief to my next destination and last before Laos as the driver made a 4 hour trip into 2 and a half. I was pretty worried on that entire ride because I had no Idea if I was on the right bus, English seemed non existent in Koen Khan so I was literally shoved into a seat and pushed onto another one in transit but it worked because I ended up in Nong Khai, the border between Thailand and Laos, I spent two days there and today made my way across the 'Friendship Bridge' and $31USD later I'm in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

Why Pai

Monk Chat is a place in Chiang Mai University where the local monks teach novices (mostly Westerns) about the basics of Buddhism and their ways of meditation. They take you into this board room and go through the meaning of Buddhism and what it means to Thailand and their people. Religion here is far more prominent then anywhere in NZ, everybody respects the religion even if you are a non believer, Monks have particular priority over the common man, you are expected to get up of your seat for them in public and you regularly see a monk walking over a busy road without waiting or even looking and every car will gladly spot for his pass. They then take you on the back of a truck to a centre about 2hours out of Chiang Mai city which is basically designed for the programme and you must then line up with a partner of the same sex where you are issued with a key to your own room. Now this place is completely free and to get a room with your own bathroom and five meals is pretty luxurious as I have discovered since backpacking. There are then white robes waiting for you on your bed where you are then told to go into the temple. This course runs for 2 days and in that time no-one can talk. We were taught all sorts of meditation and it's quite bizarre, sitting there for half an hour thinking only about your breathing, it's quite hard and I assume takes a lot of practice, the whole experience was very interesting and very beneficial in South East Asia when Chaing Mai alone has over 400 temples and not knowing what they mean it a pretty sore excuse. When I got back I spent most of the next day planning the rest of my trip, I had the feeling of leaving Thailand and starting Laos but is was too early for my Vietnam visa to fit in with it so on a complete whim I decided to travel to a place even further North called Pai. In Lonely planet it is described as a passing hippy town and now I'm here I can see it's exactly that. It is very beautiful, all the romantic ideas people have about Thailand with the Giant hills with sweeping valleys coverd in banana tree's and rice paddies all comes out true here. I don't know if I fit in here yet though, I seem to be the youngest in this small town with the average age been around 24-26 and everyone is here to get stoned. I met this French guy on the minibus up here and he asked if I wanted a cheap place with him and since he knew where one was a gladly accepted, the place is quite literally a bamboo hut with a mattress but what the hell, I'm in Pai so we hired a motorbike each which I quickly realised is a manual which I have never used before. So I have already learned how to drive a manual motor bike pretty much since I had no other choice and of course I asked for a helmet which I later found I'm the only one to even consider wearing one. So I'm driving along following my experienced French guide who soon stops in what seems like the middle of nowhere and he is buying the biggest amount of pot I've ever seen. We then make our way to the waterfall which is very beautiful and 10 minutes of us been there French boy tells me he wants to go back to smoke his stash. So I'm in the local Internet cafe updating my blog because when we did get back he cranked out his homemade bong and after two puffs said he wanted to go to sleep but who cares I guess, I'm in Pai.

My First Third World

There are no words to describe how insane Bangkok is, I was lucky enough to hook up with Sofia( Old work buddy) and her brother Andrew for my first few nights because I completely underestimated the enormity of where I am. There are a few things you notice pretty quickly in Thailand, 1. EVERY Thai loves their King, I don't believe he holds much power but the respect he holds is astonishing, no matter where in Thailand you go the King is looking down on you in the form of huge photographs in large golden frames usually accompanied with his really unattractive wife. 2. You can buy Anything, Anywhere, Anytime...... Literally, Every spare footpath or alleyway there is a street vendor trying to sell you something from meat sticks to tazer guns. 3. The Thais are incredibly happy people, they have a lot of pride in their country and although it's just complete Chaos, everything works. Consider the amount of people in Bangkok, and Auckland would have 4x the amount of Graffiti and litter even though rubbish bins are pretty scarce to non exist int here. You feel so safe here because of that temperament, I would and do walk down any Rd in the middle of the night by myself and wouldn't even think twice. 4. The smell and heat, you get the smell of open sewers, raw and cooked meat with car fumes fermenting together and you have Bangkok. The smell of meat with the constant heat can get quite claustrophobic at times and quite unbearable, it's like not been able to get any real air. You basically walk down Bangkok for 5 seconds and you have another completely new more potent smell every time. 5. The food here is amazing and so cheap, I have eaten things I didn't even know existed and still don't know what they are.
The first day, after getting my Vietnam Visa we went out of town to Kantabuata which is near the river Kwai which runs parallel to the 'Death Railway'. There is a place called the Tiger Temple where a senior Monk takes in Tigers and the Soi Nak Falls which is where the Death Railway ends and you can watch the rest of the day go by in the water hole. We got back that night and decided to hit Bangkok's' street life. Bangkok is so much more alive at night, nothing closes and nobody sleeps, we ate, drank, shopped and of even saw a show. When you're in Bangkok you can't avoid people advertising the infamous Thai Ping Pong shows, so after been quite inebriated we all decided to have a look. We chose one called 'Ping Pong Pussy' and for 100Baht you get a beer and a show, it was anything but erotic but the old men seemed to enjoy it. One of the the girls offered themselves to Sofia for 150Baht (approx $6.50NZD)
Day two we went on a tour, which I can highly advise avoiding. It took us to the famous floating markets which was nice but very expensive and very commercial, it's only designed for tourists to say they've been which is funny because I foolishly forgot my camera, then the bus took us to a very cruel cobra show and an elephant dancing show then a fake Thai kick boxing show, pretty much a very expensive tourist trap. That night Sofia and Andrew left for Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand and I decided to stay since I hadn't seen enough of Bangkok.
Day 3 I had to go and see the temples and monuments of Thailand, Wat Pho, Grand Palace, Golden Mountain, all very impressive the reclining Buddha was more then anything I then hopped on the train that night for the 14hour trip to Chiang Mai.
Chiang Mai is much more relaxed then Bangkok and much cheaper, I'm staying in a room for 80Baht a night (Approx $3NZD) I got sick the first night which led me to bed early, I'm been a bit slack with fruit, it's just so good here even if I'm not meant to eat it.
I had organised a two day trek up in the Chiang Mai mountains with the Hill Tribes, there were about 7 of us and we started off with an Elephant ride through the hills where we went past the indigenous Hill tribes of Thailand. We eventually got to one were we stayed the night with them and all their family. Very primitive people who literally live in Huts and grows and hunts for all their food, very interesting night with wild pig for dinner. We then Hiked for most of the next day until we finished it by bamboo rafting down the river Won.
Today I'm going on a mediation training night with a Monk at the Monastery down the Rd, you can't talk for 24hours and they teach you more about the ways of Buddha and meditation which starts in 1 hour. My next stop will be Pai and maybe Chaing Rai.