Well out of a hundred days in Asia, I'm cruising into the forties, and it's been remarkable for how predictable, unexciting, repetitious and absolutely wonderful it has been. I suppose each trip is a discovery about where I'm at at a particular time in my life, sometimes it's about putting on the miles, seeing lots of different things, and sometimes it is the opposite. This time it's about routine, breathing, yoga, music, friends and a looking inward. I'm a 'terrible tourist', don't do the tourist things, don't care about the elephants or the hilltribe folks or the tigers. I don't want to go trekking with a bunch of Europeans, don't want to go 'white water rafting' (allegedly) or do the zipline through the jungle canopy. I did a little of that my first year here, it was ok, not interested anymore. Don't want to rent a motorbike, maybe a bicycle once in a while. Don't want to get on the minivan up to Pai, or go down to the islands and sit on the beach. Don't want to smoke and drink and chase women (or ladyboys). I'm a terrible tourist.
Instead I'm just super content to go for the morning coffee, read an article or two in 'The Best of Buddhist Writing 2011', walk through the old city to the park, rent a straw mat, do a yoga practice for an hour or more, have some water, maybe grab a bowl of noodle soup on the way back through town, go to the internet place and do some reading and visiting with friends, head back to the guest house for an afternoon swim. Head up to the room for a nap, since I can't seem to stay asleep more than 5 hours at night. I might work on some music in the room, and then I'll head off to some kind of gig or other most nights. I'm up to 4 nights a week at the restaurant, and that gig is financing my stay here. I play about 3 hours, include a lot of originals, try to meet the needs of the diners... sometimes I'm in the background, sometimes I 'perform' more, get some interaction going, get some laughs. Every night is different, but what's the same is going there early, getting a meal, getting set up, plugging in and playing music. Routine.
My visa is up on January 28 which means I need to be leaving the country by then, or else applying for a one month extension, which is available for about $55. It's undecided at this point... My friends really want me in Cambodia, I'm kind of the meal ticket because with me there, we can earn pretty good money... (plus we're friends). But there are a few factors, one of which is the precarious state of the Thai political situation. This coming Monday there will be an enormous rally by the opposition party whose goal is to shut down Bangkok and drive the caretaker government from power. Force their hand. It's a very complicated situation and very fluid as well. The main interest seems to be what the response of the military will be. There is lots of talk about a military coup and takeover, and there is much potential for violence. So any transit through Bangkok is potentially problematic in the near future, though it's likely that the airport will be spared. It would be stupid to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs (tourism). So if I go to Cambodia, I'll likely forego the night train to Bangkok, bus to the border option, in favor of flying above it all to a landing in Phnom Penh. No decisions yet, I'm watching carefully... especially on Monday the 13th D Day.
As far as staying in Chiang Mai, there are things that favor that option. For one, I'm in a stellar healthy groove, feeling good, got my Asia body on, I've dropped the usual 10-15 pounds which I carry in Eugene, I'm making a ton of music and paying my way here, which is a thrill. And I've been connecting with some of the best musicians in town, and there is talk about maybe recording some of the Asia tunes I've written over the years. That would be fun and I'm looking into what it would take in terms of personnel and money. I got called up onstage the other night at a big jam at Yummy Pizza, and the players loved what I did, they friended me on Facebook, and we're getting together on Sunday for a different jam. Turns out the drummer, Rod, (who is excellent) has a home studio and the capability of recording well, and the bass player Randy is great, there's a good lead guitar player who I'm gonna rehearse with this afternoon, and even some fantastic horn players available. The trumpet player is local legend Roddy Lorimer, 60 from Glasgow who has played with the Stones, the Who, the Waterboys and others. He and his sax playing buddy jammed with me the other night at Yummy, wrote horn lines on the spot and it just lifted the music. It would be SO COOL to record with them. I'll know more soon...
I guess the main theme of the first 40 days is the yoga and the Buddhist reading and reflecting. I'm quite calm, even centered, happy on a daily basis, just really pleased to be in the sun and the warm, eating good food, talking to interesting people, making music with some great players and some not-so-great. So happy to have my good guitar here, with the good case, the case gets a lot of compliments and attention. It's a backpack style tan affair, real solid and comfortable to carry around. Thank you Parkwood Company (a subsidiary of Guitar Center). Between the music and the meditation, I don't seem to lack for anything, well there's one thing, but that can wait until I get back home. It's just a blessing to have this great city of Chiang Mai which feels like a second home to me. My dental work is done, I have many friends and associates, people to hang around with, a place to swim and to do yoga. And as the young French woman said in a conversation about how lucky we are to be in this part of the world during the winter, 'I choose to be lucky'. And apparently so do I. 'I choose to be lucky'.
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