Transitions

Ok I get it, I can't spell. This is what happens when you grow up with spell check and cliff notes. I spelled tattoos wrong, and then I wrote spelt instead of spelled while correcting myself....yes I get the irony, its more depressing than funny. 20 years of private school education and I would fail a fifth grade spelling test.

I miss my last group miserably. I need to change my mentality for this next part of my tour - it will be 29 more days. Everyone was young, and fun. I have two retired women on this trip, and a few more bitter ones. Luckily I have Ritchie, he is a 22 year old brit, just graduated from music school, and will be teaching music in the fall. He brought a guitar, he is my new best friend.

I left the last group in Bangkok at the Trang Hotel, and moved across town to meet the new one at the Royal. Liz, from the last trip, agreed to ship some of my stuff home when she got back to California - Liz is my personal saviour. (besides that she also got me through the elephant ride without crying like a bitch - she is a good soul) When I arrived I found out that I would have to start sharing a room. I valued the privacy, another adjustment. When I saw the guitar on the bed I was a little relieved. My new tour guide was quite different than my old one, she is an Australian who I suspect had been editor of her highschool newspaper. Either you get it or you don't. I knew things would be different when we all agreed to go out for dinner. Kim, the tour guide made the reservation, we got there and I thought I was in Scottsdale. It was the first time I felt like I wasn't in Bangkok, luckily Ritchie felt the same way. We ate and quickly left the group, and made our way to Kouson Road, the main tourist spot in Bangkok, think Picadilly Circus, meets Ben Yehuda street, meets crack. We found a bar, and after forty minutes I realized it was the same place I had been the night before with my other group. Yes, I was that drunk the night before. Between the two of us we polished off some rum (2 pints...yes some) and thanked the heavens that we found each other. Ritchie met up with some friends he had made the night before and we went to a knew bar. I decided it was time for me to go home, since it was 1 am, and it was supposed to be a relaxing day. I left the group to continue the debauchery without me.

On my way home I saw some hebrew writing, Thailand is frequented by Israeli tourists, in fact the computer I am writing on now has small hebrew letters taped to the key pad. Amazing. We are everywhere. I found an Israeli bar and made my way in. I spoke to someone for about an hour, where we discussed absolutely nothing but how much a certain brand of Israelis suck (arsim). A total waste of a conversation. I found the hotel and went to sleep.

The next morning I awoke to take the canal tour I had already taken - but I like water and it was relaxing, and included in the price of the trip. Me and Ritchie left through group and a kid named Kason tagged along. We got some food and headed for a meditation class. I had been wanting to go to this class since I got here, and it was nice to find someone to go with me. We twisted and turned through a temple, and came upon a very western office, with leather chairs and flat screened computers. The only difference was, rather than sporting suits, the workers wore saffron robes, and shaved heads. Brilliant contrast. The monks walked us to a backroom, where we were taught meditation for about an hour. I was more clear minded than I had been in the past few days. I needed that. This is the Thailand I came to visit.

We packed our bags and took the train to Chaing Mai, the sleeper train is one thing, but the train with no electricity and air conditioning is a whole other thing. There had been a short on our car. Lets just say I smelled slightly homeless after the ride. I spent the rest of the day in a Thai cooking class where I managed to splash oil all over my now bright red wrist. I did make some excellent fish curry though.

The rest of this trip will be different, but maybe its a good thing, maybe I need to see outside of it. Maybe I don't need to be hanging out with 19 year olds. Maybe I need more time for myself. Maybe I just need to stop overthinking everything.