travel time

so i think it is only just now hitting me that i am in ASIA. this morning i woke up in an insecty hostel room with happy teddy bear sheets, took a cold shower, hiked up a mountain and through a cave to see a giant buddha, then got into a pickup truck bed for a four hour ride. yikes. now im in the middle of nowheres, thailand. that sounded like i am complaining, which i do not mean to do at all, because its possibly the most beautiful place i've ever seen. we're up in the tops of mountains that are jagged, but so green it looks like someone sprayed them with green paint. there are flower trees everywhere, and in the town we were in this morning, fruit trees that were positively dripping (i have discoverd my new love....lichee fruits off the tree...there is nothing like them). the roads are intensely up and down, and the sides of the hills around us are all cultivated and terraced with tea, and the smell is delicious.

also, the history is really cool. this place was settled by refugees out of china when the communists took over. well, not exactly refugees, more like soldiers of the opposing army. the thais said they could stay if they would guard the border against the communists coming into thailand. that was about sixty years ago, so most of them are still here, and their kids still speak chinese. justin is very excited to speak chinese and pretty competent at it. its a really diverse town, despite being small. its filled with chinese, thais, and lots of ethnic hill tribe folks, there are at least five or six towns of different 'hill tribes' around here. these are people that live in bamboo houses on stilts, keep water buffalo, and eat mangoes they find in the jungle. justin and i stayed the night in a hill tribe town about a month ago, it was amazing. there are also some chinese muslims, and it's really strange and beautiful to wake up at five in the morning to the call to prayer.

note on food: its delicious. today i had an omelette on rice with fresh tomatoes for breakfast (the omelettes here are different...they are much, much more delicious. i don't know how they prepare them but i hope to learn). lunch was a yogurt and half a bowl of yunnanese noodles, which was like fancy ramen, and very very good. and dinner was a heaping plate of pad thai. ive been eating as much pad thai as possible because its just SO GOOD, and we'll be out of thailand in less than a week.

worth noting: pad thai here is served with lime juice, vinegar, chilies, fish sauce, and sugar. believe it or not, this combination is incredible. when i come back to the states, i hope to never have a refrigerator empty of fish sauce.

well anyways...im in asia!

o ps, justin and i went to that meditation retreat, and it was fantastic. we wore big drapey white clothes (a cross between hospital and religious robe), and learned how to meditate from some amazing monks who spoke a pretty good version of english. the lead monk had a very kind face and sort of resembled a panda bear. they taught us a lot about buddhism. i was very impressed with it. like any religion it has its oddities, but it seems to be a force for good and one of the more peaceful, gentle religions out there (although justin informs me that in china there are warrior monks....sweet). anyway, i highly recommend meditation and mindfulness.