Lucky Dog

This must be kinda boring to the folks who read my stuff the past few years... no drama, no tortured relationship issues, no travel to speak of, I'm holed up in Chiang Mai, making music, doing a daily yoga practice, eating well, getting some massages... just massages, people.  And I haven't felt the need to probe deeply in hopes of uncovering some truth that was lurking underneath the drama.  I'm basically just feeling content to be chilling out in northern Thailand, in the great city of Chiang Mai.  Some people call me a 'lucky dog'.  Sure, that works, I'm a lucky dog.

But how long will this be a great place to be?  Hard to say as it keeps changing.  This is my fourth winter spending time here, and what I notice most of all this year is the influx of Chinese, lots of them in the restaurants, on the street, in the guest houses and hotels.  And why wouldn't they be here, China is close and there are a lot of Chinese with money.  And I get the feeling that it will only increase.  China is investing madly in the region, building roads, super highways, bridges, lots of infrastructure that seems to portend a Sino centric advance in SE Asia.  Three years ago I took a two day boat ride up the Mekong River in Laos to the city of Luang Prabang.  I remember the border crossing being quite a confusing mess, going down to the river on the Thailand side, loading into dugout boats to cross over into Laos, getting out and dealing with immigration, then back into other boats to begin the journey.  Now there is a spanking new bridge over that crossing (Chinese built) and some 6 lane sections of highway along the route.  Eventually it's gonna be a high speed haul across the whole of SE Asia and up into China.  It's happening.

But for now, it's still possible to wander the streets and alleys of Chiang Mai, grab a bowl of noodle soup with pork $1, visit the temples, see friends, make music and basically enjoy the good life.  There are tons of very interesting people pretty much everywhere you turn, that's a big part of why this city is an inviting place to be.  I couldn't begin to recount all of the fascinating conversations I have on a daily basis.  Well here's one, this guy Steven is a big, Ken Kesey-like presence, round face, big body, wears his Alaska tee shirt proudly, and I've met him twice now at the coffee shop.  He is a bee expert, travels the world working with local farmers and NGOs 'Spreading the gospel of beejesus' as he describes it.  He was a beekeeper in Fairbanks for many years, now he assists on projects in Borneo, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India to name just a few.  We traded travel tales while enjoying the morning cappuccino.  He's got me by a mile, but I have a few to share as well.  Like the time I hiked across Spain along the Camino de Santiago, and at the end, you're supposed to hug the statue of Saint James (Santiago) which is in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostola.  On the last day, I walked 25 miles, was feeling awesome, made it to the city, made it to the old city, made it to the cathedral, to find 10,000 color coordinated Christian tourists who had bussed in and were lined up half a mile deep to hug the statue.  I'm thinking 'Get the hell out of the way, I walked here, look at my walking stick' and realized the joke was on me.  Hey a joke is a good thing...

Or the chain-smoking old Irish guy, Noel I met last night at CU Corner who was extremely quick witted and big on the wordplay, and who loved my tunes.  I started playing 'What a Wonderful World' and he began to sing in a fantastic voice, knew all the words so I got to harmonize and it was great.  Folks started whipping out their phones to record it, it was so surprising.  I said, maybe I need to chain smoke so I can have a voice like that.  It was totally unexpected and wonderful. Just one of the myriad characters who come through this magnet of a place.

The weather has cleared and turned cold.  It got down to 50 last night with a stiff breeze and the Thais are freezing, running around in winter jackets and gloves.  It's all relative, of course, and it's pretty funny because I know what Americans would think of this kind of 'cold'.  'You're kidding, right?'.  I actually put on a sweatshirt last night for the first time, glad I brought it.  Played my two hour gig at the restaurant without stopping, it was nice to just crank out song after song.  I'm singing about 4 or 5 songs in Spanish to mix it up a bit.  Playing a few instrumentals that I've written over the years, singing some jazz and folk, swing and a bunch of my originals.... setting a mood as the folks enjoy there dinner.  A perfect gig for me, couldn't be happier.  And that about sums it up for the stint in Chiang Mai as well.  Just plain happy, no drama, just living in the moment and enjoying the ride.

And PS I made my third visit to the dentist yesterday, spent 75 minutes in the chair getting a filling cleaned out and reset and then getting grinded in preparation for the second crown.  Once again it was a stellar experience... had the Thai music going, felt totally confident in the skill and focus of the dentist and her assistant, breathed deep like it was a yoga session, and it was the best dental experience of my life... Who knew?  Get the new crown on Friday and then I'll be done.  Highly recommended... maybe one fifth the price of the same service in the US but way more pleasant.  Lucky dog, indeed.