Sea of love......

This is excellent TV !!!!  Number one of John Lurie's short TV features about fishing and having  great conversations with a few of my favorite directors, musicians or actors ( Jim Jarmusch, Tom Waits, Willem Dafoe to name some!) while doing it! Complete with voice-over by Don LaFontaine ?

A load of thanks to Shevy... Once again!

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I shall be released.....

It's been a wildly, stagnant week, with work and not much else.... Absolutely nothing is going on, neither here nor there...!!!

 The only highlight, has to be; "8 1/2" by Fellini (1963) for 20,-  Kr (= 4 $ / 3 € ) at the local "Tiger" shop (Danish dime stores)

Or maybe the dinner at my daughter Ninon's Godparents. Got to show off my vacation pics and having the luxury of being served a nice, home cooked and (not least) WARM dinner - Don't get around to cook, that much these days...! I have this thesis; That when single; it's mostly the guys who cook for themselves.. Women cook for "others"...

PS: I have ordered postcards made from my best pics... Can't wait to see them....

Another high light ; Tonight it's "Gilda" (1946) on TV... Ah, Rita Hayworth, that pretty, troubled and very sensual  redhead...

 - Last week it was my all time favorite Howard Hawks flick; "Only Angels have wings" (1939) A small, neglected masterpiece; Macho Cary Grant in his great Pilot gear and Jean Arthur as a quick witted showgirl with a heart of gold. The plot is about their improbable love affair, with racy overtones.

But it's also about male bonding in the South American jungle and the freedom of men. 

A mountain "look out" with only a donkey for company and a German partner with funny language mistakes.( Reminds me of the old German couple learning English in "Casablanca; "How much watch? "" Oh, such much watch?!")

 They're is just two of the many memorable characters in this movie. Oh, and not least; A very young Rita Hayworth in a small supporting role as "Femme fatale" turned good by real love... 

                                                                                                      

Maybe my week hasn't been all that, but with the money I make...; My wish and dream might come true... And will make my bank man, a happy bank man, in the process..!!!!

FOX ATTACKS BLOGGERS

Hey ....
Left wing Blogger ?? That would be me....!

Talking airhead.......

Morning television may not be known for it's deep and intellectual content and enlightened interview topics, but Danish TV is hitting rock-bottom, when they start to show "funny" photos with "funny" captions swiped of the Internet or from one of the; "Photoshopped" photos with either pseudo philosophic or humorous captions kinda chain mails...At the end of this clip, she tells us about the next feature to be about, are you ready?; Mosquito bites!!! 

Apparently the Danish TV see the population as a nation of babbling idiots, but this is also a prime example of the usual fuck ups, vocal as well as written - Note the misspelled sign for "Caribbean"! 

- This "blooper" is a tad racial, and this is probably the cause, why someone took the time to subtitle and upload it to YouTube. But I find that the real offence, is what goes on before, during and after the "accident".  This is what Danish viewers have to put up with on a daily basis.... What fancy PR agent/ rating agency/demographic interpreter or whoever does this for a living, dreamed up this concept of pure nonsense?

 And having to pay good money for this mindless malarkey, is only adding insult to injury......

8 days with the mighty Clipper "Stad Amsterdam"

I hopped on the "Disco train" - The night train to Amsterdam... This after only one short but sweet night in my own bed..... And after a very long sleepless ride and some misunderstandings with a cab driver, I finally arrived at the small port of Iljmuiden and the magnificent sight of the Clipper....

 It was wonderful to see my daughter Ninon again and have the privilege of seeing her work, doing something she is extremely happy about and she does it well! Being a Quartermaster on such a vessel, must be exhilarating as well as exhausting. 

 The day started with setting sails and heading out into the north see. And thus began 8 days of heaving, slacking and not least coiling ropes, all 300+ of them, Well, that's how it seemed to me and there were still sails we didn't set....I was part of the "Red watch" which meant getting up at midnight and be on watch till 04 in the morning (Our 2nd watch was at midday to 4 pm) which is alright when going through Denmark in the summer where the sun rises so early... Actually, we had to call a game of "Hide and seek"off, due to excessive light , this was when we had no wind, or rather only headwinds and we were going on engine, which meant nothing much to do...  -

The crew had a different schedule, than the guests naturally... i.e. "Red watch" were on duty/deck: Midnight till 4 am,  10 am till 4 pm and then maintenance till 8 pm.

Met some good people i.e. 60 year old Don from California; a pilot and a Vietnam vet. His joy of being on board was contagious... We had some great conversations on the "Look Out" ... The meaning of life and old stories..... I liked that guy, even if he called his present and former girlfriends for "Gals" . I chose to completely overlook his political views; Being a stout Republican, he tried to convince me, more than once, that news on CNN was biased and therefore manipulated.... Which is probably true, but preferring Fox News to CNN, do take the bite out of that particular statement.....

What can I say about this trip? I almost cried, the first time we set sails on this majestic ship. I nearly wept from the pride in my heart, when watching Ninon do her thing! - The beauty of Denmark at her prettiest, when we anchored just off Mols made tears well up.

 All in all a fantastic experience, that I still haven't digested.....

 When we after 8 days arrived in Kiel, Germany, I  realized, that I was still in the state of some kind cultural chock... The wonderful days confined to the close space of the ship, didn't  help to acclimatize to the northern hemisphere; 

    I wandered wide-eyed, down to the main station, only 10 Min's away, I feel like an alien, in the American sense of the word, like an outsider peeping in, on people with whom I have everything in common; The duties, the responsibilities, the mortgage, the never ending need for material upgrading of all our unnecessary things etc.  

But I do nourish any bond or attachment to neither them or Europe; The union of milk and honey it self.... It dawns on me, that I still don't have anywhere I'd call my country. A Country where I'd have a sense of belonging. In Denmark, I have my flat or rather everything that's inside and that's all movable. 

  I was 4 years old when I left Venezuela, and growing up, I tried my damnest to be a Dane and embrace everything Danish. I wanted to be more Danish than the Danes themselves. But now as  the years passes me on, I find the Latin-American in me growing stronger and the need for belonging weakening. 

Sitting on a bench, in provincial Germany, watching western life unfold, made me aware of how much I wanted to just go "home" and sit quietly in my chair by the window, for a moment or two,  and let the impressions of the last two and half months settle...   I will therefore just upload some photos here, on  Flickr' and on my Facebook page .....                      

                                                                   

                                                                   
                                          

                                                                                        

This is me admiring the handiwork of Jose, Head of housekeeping;                                                                                        

Wishful thinking .....

. 

....Better to deny the existence of something,

 than actually admit to

 anything...

        

                     

                                                                                                                                                 

There will be books and maybe, if lucky, a movie too......

Lists for my SE Asia trip:

"Absurdistan" - Gary Shteyngart -

 Makes me laugh out loud several times. The story is fantastic but not too far off... But sadly, it's a bit like a "Burger King " King size menu when you're really, really hungry; It might even taste sweet and good, you might feel full at first, but after an hour, you'll feel hungry again... The ending is the weakest point - Sort of; "Ups, Maybe it's time to end this mess!"... But never mind, Shteyngart has soooo many bright ideas, great story line and a very sharp eye for the absurdities of both the Western and Russian world. All in all a great read if not expecting too much...

 Looking forward to read his " The Russian debutante's Handbook"... 

"Into the wild" - Jon Krakauer -

No matter how hard I tried to finish this book.... I never really succeeded... 

"Mr. Pip" - Lloyd Jones -

Not as "shocking "as advertised, but still... Jones knows how to tell a good story.. And the setting of the Pacific island of Bougainville and how life is lived there, is completely new to me.... He has some great psychological insights!

"The Golden age" - Tahmima Anam

The first book, I've read, from Bangladesh - Former East Pakistan. I did find it bit on the soppy side at times, in spite of the violent times it portrays.. ( The war of independence with West Pakistan) A topic, which I know nothing about! 

"Mr. Nice" - Howard Marks 

Talking about spilling the beans... Gee, Does this guy have any old friends left? Wearisome at length and reads more like a faked CV  In various moments of crisis, he only very superficially touches the subject of what he or anyone else might have felt and then only in worn out cliches 

It leaves the reader to wonder about emotions at critical moments and is this guy actually capable of feeling anything at all...??? Maybe it's a culture thing? A case of the famous Welsh attitude in life; The Stiff upper-lip?????!!! Or maybe he's smoked so much, that he's catatonic?   (",)

"The blood of flowers" - Anita Amirrezvani

 Set in seventeenth-century Persia, (Iran)  about a young girl; Servant in her uncle's house.. she blossoms as a brilliant designer of rugs... I'm not finished yet and so far it's okay, but not fantastic... 

"The Poisonwood Bible" - Barbara Kingsolver

 

I reread this small masterpiece, while in Cambodia...  American Baptist missionaries, their lives and their demise in Belgian Congo, at the time of independence in the early '60's. 

 The minds and souls of a mother and her daughters (and a unforgiving husband and father playing at God) is being unveiled with the very distinctive voices of each women/girl. This book made me cry and smile in the company of strangers, which is no small feat!  It's a brilliant achievement of a novel and I simply can't praise it enough...

                                                                              

-I'm certain, that I've read some more books, but cannot, for the life of me, remember which ones... So maybe they were not that memorable ?Anyway; Most (99,9%) of the time, reality was far more exiting and far out, than any imaginary, concocted tale could ever hope for......... Every night I went to bed; saturated and exhausted. All my senses having been bombarded, every conscious second... Oh, Now one of them is coming to me; "The mulberry Empire" by Philip Hensher: A historic novel about the British and the Russians in 1830's Afghanistan... A great canvas for telling a good story and it is a easily read book. I was quiet entertained for the duration. But not a memorable one, at all!

                                                                       

                                                                         

                                                                                   

The only movie I saw in full, was: "There will be blood"

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

And star performances by : Daniel Day- Lewis and Paul Dano

It now ranks in the top ten of my all time favourites... It had to be a interesting flick, to survive and actually keep our attention in the midst of the "Anti - enjoy your film" conditions in which we ( 5 of us) saw this; Our Finnish friend, bought the movie in China; The "The 10 top flicks of the moment" copied on one DVD for 2$ kinda deal... 

We; Jemma & Gerry from Manchester, Big Finnish Markus ( The professional storyteller) and I sat in Tad Lo, Laos...

 In a cafe/restaurant with a sign; Inviting you to bring own music or DVDs.... The restaurant, was a big open terrace affair with the choice of two kinds of settings; Either "the lounge" part- low tables with pillows for a Roman kind of dinner (Very popular around SE Asia, catering to the taste of cool, chill out cats from Europe) or a more Tirol'ish type of big, heavy dark wooden tables with ditto benches...

 The owners were young and very nice; He was build like a barrel, a short barrel and local, she was the prettiest, dainty little porcelain doll from Vietnam... Her sister lived there too, to help out.. She was just as, over the top beautiful!

 A daughter of 4-5 years, had her swing at the middle of the room and loved to run around in front of the rather big TV screen...

 They finished their dinner, sitting at the table next to the screen, and all lights - lots of lights were kept on during business hours- incl. the blinking green,red and yellow light chain around the TV. 

- The other customers were not in slightest interested in our choice for the evening, so they kept talking, rather loudly! We were under constant attack by mosquitoes and other unidentified flying objects, size of small aeroplanes.

 No one really minded; we were riveted by the story unfolding on the screen... Not even a big-ish rat running across the DVD machine and thereby activating the on/off button and then having to wait for George to come back from ??(Who knows, it was pitch black outside) to put the film back on, could turn us off.... or out, as it turned out later... The guys ordered another BeerLao and I a Mango shake... Not even the horrible noise of a cheap blender could rock the boat...

We'd started a bit late, but we thought we'd be safe, as the sign by the entrance stated the closing time to be 23:00..in big, bold letters... 

At 21:30, the hosts started to yawn very loudly and baby girl's usual shrieks were turned op a notch, to the threshold of pain... But we kept our cool and didn't let nothing disturb our concentration...Actually, that sounds rather rude, but the fact is; We only had eyes for the screen, and didn't really notice any of these goings on around us... 

But at 22:00 hrs, Old George had enough and informed us; " That, the village chief had decreed; all lights out at 22:00!" - Said, he "was really sorry about us not being able to see the ending - But.... So sorry, but couldn't contradict the Chief! So very, sorry about us missing the last 20 min or so, too bad, but that how it is with the old chief, nothing could be done, if only George, himself, were in charge, he'd let us see it, but... so, so, so sorry..." We were flabbergasted, if you were standing outside, you'd see 4  persons walking backwards, with their mouths open, while trying to watch past his shoulder. One of them nodding and mumbling- "Never mind, never mind" Trying to prolong the act of paying the bill-  and almost  tripping over our own feet, not quiet believing that we would actually MISS THE ENDING!! 

- He turned the TV off, turned off the lights and were probably in bed, before we even had gotten our Flip-flops on..  I almost tripped over a newly painted sign; George had made a big fat line crossing out 23:00 and changed it to 22:00 - So that's where he was at, while the house rat tried to help him out by turning the DVD off..

It took us two full days to seize the DVD back again, to finally, at long last, see the fantastic ending.... By then the guessing had become wild and far out. 

The only thing of which, we were absolutely certain, was that it would end really bad... There will be blood.....And it did.......

 

Still don't know, what that movie is about, besides the obvious; 

Ambition Vs Faith, both at their most pure, fanatical and single minded form - 

Maybe there's a parallel to e.g.: 

 Samuel P. Huntington's "Clash of civilizations"?... 

 

Or the mental but at times, very tangible "War of the worlds", which fundamentalists (East and West) are doing their damnest to keep going interminably. "War on Terror" could perhaps be narrowed down to Ambition Vs Faith, - Ambitiously trying to keep the leadership of free world of the righteous CONTRA the wrath of fanatical and righteous (Yep, there's that word again, despite the differences!) -men, claiming ownership of the universal truth/faith...

 Or would this be over- simplifying a very complex matter and really not for kids?

                            

" Oh, Mama! ... Can this really be the end ?.."

View from my bed at "Moondance"

Sad is this day, when I get up for my last day, in my little paradise.... We say our goodbyes and Pa gives me 2 liters of homemade Coconut oil, clean and with no additives- makes my skin feel like the skin of a newborn babe in arms!

 I give her son, who's home this weekend, a birthday present, we bought it together yesterday, when I had my final " Falang oil massage" and she had her Thai massage, wanting nothing of the mess of taking off clothes and getting rubbed in with peanut oil mixed with eucalyptus..... But I think it's fantastic stuff! But then, I'm a "Falang" ( Western foreigner) through and through...

Last night we had a splendid dinner of fresh caught fish with mango/lime sauce and had our last game of dice, which seems to be designed exclusively for loosing (my) money! I made MaiTais in the bar and we got a bit tipsy - all of us..... The Taxi; Pa's cousin; Thani's boat, is ordered for 3 o'clock and the last thing to do, is to make a 360° turn and trying to capture the image of heaven in my mind....

The fast catamaran takes me to Chumporn and back to the usual tourists schemes -" We sell you a combo ticket= Ferry + train to BKK  incl. bus transfer to the station.. This gives us the liberty to dump you in a bar/restaurant of our choosing, halfway to the station, where you can spend some money on the falang friendly food and expensive beverages, while you wait for your train..."

 So there I sat, in the middle of bustling civilization... Next to a "Pink shop" where... Yeah, you guessed it; EVERYTHING in the shop were in different shades of: PINK !

 Hallelujah, the madness of this world... I felt starry eyed and strangely out of place....

  - As there's a train every hour to BKK and beyond, it was a logistical nightmare, to herd everyone together for the right departure times... It contained some yelling and then a lot of repeated yelling.. As falangs are all very independent creatures and prone to wandering and not least, complaining and asking the same questions at least twice... But in the end we all got to the station alright... The first group had been driven off at 19:00, and the last (This is me) at 23 hrs... So to my surprise, we all met up again at the platform; The trains were late.... very late; as in not coming. But everyone lived in hope, they had been told every hour, that their train would be there within the next hour- for the last 4 or 5! 

 Before I got that far, however; I realize, that my train was at 21 hrs instead of 23.... I  buy a new ticket to, what later turned out to be, the only train that night to BKK and as my "lost" train was late, I got a 60% refund.... Man, Sometimes it does pay off, to be forgetful and messy... Was that pure luck or what? So at 1 AM, I could wave goodbye, to all my new found friends at Chumporn main station... My new ticket was a 1st class sleeper, which my old ticket wasn't, as the very unfriendly travel agent on Koh Tao had informed me, that everything  was sold out and only 3rd class available for the next month or so..... So; happy, happy, sleepy me.... All the way to BKK, in a freezing aircon compartment for the next 9hrs.

Woke up to the sight of the ripped backside of Bangkok, people living and eating at street restaurants, literally right next to the tracks... Amazing, to live a whole life less than 2 mts from thundering engine noise and squeaking of train breaks............ Bangkok main station is clean, but the subway is immaculate.. The same kind of driver less train, we have in Copenhagen, but the customers treatment of the premises, is quiet different.. This looks akin to respect - The skytrain as well... 

Went to Silom Rd. to my reserved room at "Sawadii Guesthouse".. But didn't like the look of it, so as I'm now in the habit of paying the same fare twice and preferably more expensive on the rerun; I took a taxi right back where I started from, to the "Shanghai Inn" a boutique(!)hotel right in the middle of "Chinatown" - As soon the bellhop had closed the door after letting me in my room - I did a little dance and uttered several; "YES" !!! I haven't seen this kind of deranged luxury at any given time on my trip or before, for that matter, the only complaint is that they failed to make the satellite dish work for the foreign channels on the TV... I can truly say that Thai TV isn't all that.....

                                        

After a mad shopping spree at  and then a quick trip to for some electronic gadgets, I didn't do much more in Bangkok, besides taking in the sights, sounds and smells of Asia.... My trip home on SAS night flight to Copenhagen, was not as comfortable as the on the one going out, but never mind... My very good friend Mette (My ex husbands ex wife) was waiting for me, in the chilly Danish summer morning..... I only had about 20 hrs in Copenhagen - one night in my own bed, before heading to Amsterdam, The Netherlands for, what supposed to be a three day sailing trip in the North see on the mighty "Stad Amsterdam", but by the grace of my daughter Ninon, who invited me to stay, turned into a rare privileged full week and all the way through the prettiest part of Denmark to Kiel, Germany.... More of this in posts to come!

                                                                            -0-

                                                                     

What did I bring home from this trip abroad? I don't really know yet...

 Something about having faith in the basic goodness in strangers, the effect it had on me (- it made me cry with gratitude) when treated with endless respect and generosity (spiritually as well as physically) by new found friends... (Some of them being extremely poor, from a financial viewpoint).  The everlasting (hopefully) impact of my own emotions when shown a random act of kindness, or the broad minded and ingenuous camaraderie with virtual strangers, Asian as well as Western ..........

Knowing that I'm perfectly capable of being on my own in strange places, adapt quickly to the situation at hand ( This did, however, not come as a surprise....) Cementing the fact, that a woman alone can travel safely anywhere, when sticking to a few sensible rules... That acting on a impulse or according to a sudden intuited "feeling", can be rewarding in every sense of the word and has brought me heaps of joy.  And in some cases; a lesson well taught as well!

 Experiencing the ease and simplicity with which most people lived their lives, with their basic needs, down to a bare minimum, still living a very rewarding life; It made me wonder about all the extra weight of "bare necessities" I carry about , in order to go through the motions, of what is known as MY LIFE....

 Seeing all aspects of the "Rich man- Poor man" syndrome, that is so blatantly obvious outside of northern Europe, also makes me ponder about the big "Wheel of fortune" in sky;

 Who is born where and under which circumstances! Where and how is our destinies doled out? And what are the criteria? 

It gave me pause, when considering growing old in a country, with precious little health care, clinics, hospitals or doctors as in Laos. The contrast in our ongoing and in our society, necessary ethic discussions about euthanasia and life prolonging medication for demented geriatrics in our understaffed "Homes" (- where only the food will differentiate the days..)

 It sets Denmark in a perspective... Now I find the Danes; Rude, impolite, unsmiling, self centered, spoiled rotten and narrow minded. It makes me sad to see Copenhagen so dirty, with people just throwing trash on the street. It makes me sad to hear, how people, young and old, speak to one another without respect or consideration, what so ever... Try to cross a "Cycle path" either entering or exiting the bus; Only a fraction of the city's lawless bikers will actually let you pass - The rest of the mad hordes will send you the evil eye while making you spin in perfect pirouettes as to avoid a head on collision.... and In my line of work, I interact with hundreds and only one in ten actually says hello or goodbye; They go straight to what they want and "patience" or "thank you" is not in their vocabulary... 

 Okay, I'll stop now after my last point of critique; Danes will litter without a second thought! I can remember,when visiting foreigners made respectful fun of the neat cleanliness of Copenhagen! Saying; "You could eat of the streets".... Well, this is all in the past now! Copenhagen is as dirty as any third-world city...

(Saw this later - 17/8  in Politiken - It basically concurs with my complaints)

As a tentative conclusion; I don't think, I can even begin to fathom, all the implications or the tangible impact, all these encounters will have on my future...... 

I'm looking for a online course in teaching English, grab a job at an NGO in Vientiane and sublet my flat for two years....... !?!

This is: " One world - One Dream" - That will not be shared....

This is the flip side of The Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing......... 

"Puppet on a string"

Was that strong symbolism ? - The image of a fleeing (?), running Chinese puppet on a string, lightning the Olympic flame, in front of 40 billion viewers Worldwide..........?!!!!

The first "On Camp" calamity has already descended on the "Games" 

( Can we still call this very serious politically defined, big bucks merry-go-round   for "games" ? And do so in earnest?)

 Still makes me wonder about the reasons; apart from the obvious, ($ & politics) which persuaded the band of old men in suits aka; The Olympic Committee, 

in giving these "games" to a regime of self professed enemies of basic human rights.

  Ruled openly AND secretly with a massive oppressive law and military enforcement

 in the first place??? 

How about OL - Rangoon, Myanmar in 2016 and OL- Darfur, Sudan in 2020....??!!

Here's a list of possible contenders....

-0-

PS; This was just a very pressing "aside"  - The end of my SE Asia road trip soon to appear.. And then comes the 8 day  Clipper cruise and finally I'm up to date.... Phew!

"You got me flipping like a flag on a pole"

After a lot of fun and spending lots of money  in Luang Prabang and on "The Night Market"..... The latter with the side effect of another 7 kg added to my backpack...! I treated myself to a night at a "Top end" "Boutique Hotel

 ( I've still haven't figured out, what exactly "Boutique" Hotel/Airline really is..?? Sounds like a very mysterious term for; " Yes! You're now being robbed in clear daylight and/or your wallet is having a bad and acute case of bulimia" = Way too expensive, artsy, wannabe cool designs, but the pillows are still a sack of stones and in this book less nation; bedside/reading lamps simply don't exists!! When used in contexts with airplanes it means something like; "Yes, all the seats are leather, the color theme is hip and the pursers uniform have been designed by someone with worldwide fame in Bangkok, but you still have to pay overprice for a tiny glass of canned orange juice) 

The German "Jack of all trades" /old salty dog and I opted for an appropriately named 

"Happy Hour" ticket to Bangkok

 (Laos Airline sold '2 for the price of one' tickets to all their destinations)

In Bangkok airport, after a very, very short discussion about sleeping arrangements in case of travelling together to the islands ( I'd prefer to say "Goodbye" to my Asian road trip on my own)- we went our separate ways; Me to the nearest island and he, back to his Nepalese wife, waiting for him in Phuket...No hard feelings at all!! 

He may have forgotten most of what did happen back then in the early '70's, but 'The Peace, Love and Understanding' part of it, is still a vivid memory/live by codex, somewhere in the back of his mind and soul...

Yet another "Boutique Airline" took me to the provincial town of Surathani and with the bus to the port... I have never seen so many school children/pupils as in Surathani....There must have been thousands, a whole street of different schools, different uniforms in different colour combos..... (How about wearing canary yellow Polo's with purple pants/skirt for ten years?)

And doing what kids do all over the world; The girls walking briskly and with a purpose in two's, the boys fooling around in groups....

( Turns out, that most of the kids from the nearby islands, live either with family/ friends or boards in order to attend school on the mainland)

After fairly uneventful ferry rides to Koh Samui and Koh Pha-Ngan, a dinner-less night at a way too expensive "luxury" hotel.. It was time for the fast catamaran to Koh Tao and for a Monsoon storm to take over the waters... I was at first surprised by the very high number of employees/deckhands on this vessel, but when 99% of the passengers became violently seasick, then I got it... They are fundamentally hired to clean up after sick passengers.....! 

Onboard I had a coffee and a great conversation with a 17 yr old German boy, travelling with his dad, and with a fluent command of an admirably English... He was overly sweet and extrovert, telling me which spots on Koh Tao, I'd might find nice and interesting. All in all, reminding me sooooo much of Amadeu, my late son. (Even the same haircut!!) Only him wearing glasses, saved this poor lad (unwittingly) from having a total stranger; a middle aged woman throwing herself around his neck with some tearful babble.... Had to go outside and cling on tenaciously to the railings, while pretending to smoke a cigarette in the warm wind, as not to break down in the midst of already serious ill people........ 

Finally we came into Mae Hat, principal town of Koh Tao.. and as I ran up the steep hill/main street, in the pouring rain, with my 7 kg box of Luang Prabang extravaganza in my hands and my backpack on my wee shoulders - All the while fighting off the taxi and hotel punters.... I quickly became thoroughly wet and out of breath...  When I just couldn't handle the misery anymore, I just threw my backpack at a random hairdressers and told them I would be back for a manicure after having unloaded my burden at the post...;" Please take care of my things..." Which they did, no probs! -  I have met people, being just terrified of leaving a pair of cheap flip-flops at the door ( Which you have to do most places throughout Asia) And last night at Koh Pha-Ngan, this Dutch couple insisted that all three of us walked around to all the guesthouses with all our combined luggage -instead of one or two walking around, and one or two standing with all backpacks at a strategic spot.... I can surely feel the difference in  my fellow travellers way of "Doing it" - I'm back in Thailand and people just out of their homelands for a fortnight of vacation, act, more or less, the way I myself acted when I first came... It took me about three weeks to figure it out; All the unwritten rules and unsaid "ways of the road" and become a globetrotter instead of a holidaymaker... And yes there IS a subtle difference!

 At first on Koh Tao, I went where everyone goes; Sairee Beach ... A long beautiful stretch of beach with lots of nice beach bars, eateries and above all; LOTS OF DIVING SHOPS/Schools...  I'm back into the world of " 7-eleven's"  But also the party world and their " day afters " and two days of British boys running or stumbling (Styles and techniques depends wholly on the time of day/night!) in packs - making a whole lot of noise, when howling at the moon late night/early even late morning. 2 days an 2 nights was my breaking point!  I talked to the very simpatica and suave lady owner of my guesthouse and together we found a place, catering to my needs of peace, quiet and closeness of the sea; Further down the coast on a small, white sanded beach, lies  "Moondance" ! (Here's an old video of the place-It's has changed a lot since this recording- but just to get the gist!) The easiest way to arrive, when carrying backpacks/luggage, is to hire a "Long tail boat-Taxi" (Here I thought of Ninon and her winters on "Flyvefisken" -The Taxi-boats in the port of Copenhagen, Denmark - Man! It requires balls to navigate in the ice cold winds and the snowstorms of the northern hemisphere.... Respect!)

                                                                      

I stayed at the hippiesque "Moondance"  for the last 10 days of my time in SE Asia.... Just didn't want to move...At first the colored flags were a bit suspicious... I'm not really into the hippiedippie scene.....  The round huts with outdoor showers, the "bathroom floor" made entirely of pebble , bits of white coral and small shells... Well, the entire place is made from materials found; Either washed up on the beach or from the surrounding small palm forest - All these details + the fact that owner; Mama Pa gave me the front hut/room, which meant; That I could see the sunrise and the blue, blue ocean without getting out of bed, quickly won me over and made me a smiling, suntanned, lazy sack of bones in no time....

Days were spend with the family and their friends; Mama Pa (Their only son, a big fella of 12, lives in Surathani)

 - Pa's husband; Hong, who, like a lot of Thais, just adores to gamble...He'd go off every day and gamble on the "Fighting fish" !! He would then come home and lie about the winnings, always winnings, never ever lost and always exorbitant sums of Bahts- The fights are basically the same principle as "Fighting Cocks", just that these fish is the size of a small goldfish and apparently they fight each other till death or exhaustion sets in- Women are not allowed at such serious endeavor - But it works out just grand! Because the women then have the peace and quiet to keep the wheels turning, without time wasting interference of ignorant husbands/brothers/fathers/sons in the family business. In Thailand and most parts of SE Asia; 99% of all business's' belongs to the female part of the marriage anyway, women own the land/house etc.... A strong and well functioning matriarchy....

 -  At the "Moondance" theres some nice staff; The very friendly Burmese refugee; Than, who lives and works in the downstairs/beach bar and cleaning the grounds. He'd send home some money every month to his parents, who'd stayed on in Myanmar... I've never seen a smile as big as his, when I said, that yes; I knew of his all time heroine; Aung San Suu Kyi... But then again, he was one of the sweetest and smartest young men, I've met in a long time. we communicate with signs, gestures and basic english in the style of " Me Gabby, you Than".... And Kim, the cook who makes delicious food when not on the cellphone... It seems to be a physical part of her body, maybe clued onto her hand cause she never puts it down... She smiles a lot...

These 10 days were an endless parade of delight and treats; Special prepared family dinners, games played in the shade of the coconut palmtops, sharing afternoons with Pa, at the local  massage/pedicure parlour in the small town; Ban Chalok Ban Kao nearby, 15 min by foot - Up the hill and down to the bay, over the walking bridge and Voila!; One's back in real life, with the mandatory diving shops, great beach/shoreline bars with chill out music/ fire artistes ( Ibiza, eat your heart out!) internet cafés, food shops, travel agents, clothes shops and of course; the local '7 eleven'.....

- But above all; We had a whole lot of laughs, lots and lots of laughs and tons of easy smiles..... A few times, I had to tell dear Than to change the music, when he's played the same Ben Harper for 6 consecutive times, but he quickly sussed out my preferences...... And good times with the other guests too, but they mostly only stayed a few days... Made me think of good pal Mike, the Globetrotter, from Liverpool ( A single traveller of 55 - Now in Borneo, checking out his mates: The orangutans.... ) on the island of Phu Quoc, Vietnam; He stayed at that place for 3 weeks and saw heaps of  "change overs"

To top things off; 10 days of lodging + food/drinks = 200 $  (Not as cheap as Tat Lo in Laos:  5 days of food and a room w/fan = 10 $ - but then Moondance were much more luxurious in every way, than "Mama's" at the waterfalls...)

I would love to revisit the rustic charm and the warm hearts of this particular paradise!

                                                        

"The benches were stained with tears and perspiration......."- B. Dylan -.............. RevisedPost!

This is our River Pilot and the red boat is the one we came down in, he diden't let me take a photo of the whole boat.... He has just recieved 3.500 Baht (About 104$ - In Laos an average annual wage is 600 $) And the ride was worth every cent, penny or øre! He then jumped back in... And whoooosch, off he went; for the Thai side of the village - most probably to spend a little dough.....  Check my "Flickr" for more photos! ( Look for link in sidebar)

Must say I had some great moments of happiness, sheer joy of just being alive,-  and able to see all what I've seen, down the dirt roads to Xian Kok and later caged in the "Longtail speedboat", "enjoying the moment"on the Mekong... ; The green Monsoon forest on both sides, only marred occasionally by big wounds of logging sites.. Sometimes a small bamboo village on stilts would come in view, looks like someone with a very big hand, with just flicking the wrist, just threw the huts up and down the steep hill sides.. And on the Burmese side, a big old monastery with about hundred of Stupas... A fantastic sight, and feeling a pang of

 sorrow for the people of Myanmar.... I would have loved being able to have taped and recorded for posterity; this wonder ride....The green, blue mountains, sometimes partially hidden in the mist, suddenly reappearing as giants guarding inland... No blue sky, no sun to speak of... Just mist and the brown river....  But what a river, for the first time really feeling the strong currents, the whirlpools that seems like deep, dark holes, and the water whirling down like in a sink, but with so more power, we are skipping and at times appear to be flying over what must be stones just under the surface, thus creating white tipped waves and if much more of these traitorous patches, then this would have been "whitewater rafting" in a stiff wooden, but elegantly long and slender... And most important; flatbottom boat, with the mother of all outboard engine aft... The Pilot/ driver  ( This has been discussed at length: Which term do you use?) must have been doing this since he was kid, course he knew, at all times exactly where to go and when to go full throttle and when to take it down a knotch... He used the width of the river an

d zigzagged us down safely to our destination; The small town (?) of - (You must wait with exact location until my last package comes through from Thailand, where my notebook is buried! ) If you want to see some photos taken in 2003 and skim the somewhat rather long article about this whole area; Mong Seng, Mong Long and Xian Kok, then this one is from Oxfam... But it shows clearly, what a bustling place it must have been only 5 years ago.... And the high hopes and expectations the authors expres is almost heartbreaking, when you see the same diminishing towns/villages, closed down markets and empty roads today... It's all gone today and theres only a lot of gathering dust ...... I wonder what went wrong ?

Market/Bus station in Mong Long

 

We were quite unceremoniously dumped on the bank of the village mooring point with all our stuff. But here there's a rather steep stair to climb, all the way up to the fast gathering and gawking crowd feasting their eyes on the sight of three kinda wild looking white women......Hollering and jumping with the joy of  two hrs of  high speed and the adrenallin rush/kick of it all ... Man oh man, it's difficult to put into words the feeling of being high, tipsy and a basic  sense of freedom, but it's a highly recommendd cocktail!... The speed stayed with us, so instead of taking a moment to digest all these mixed emotions, so we plodded on to find a vehicle to take us to Huay Xia... Our next port of destination.

We got us a "jumbo"- the flatbed truck, and started out of town.. then the driver got a call, apparently, cause we made a u-turn and went back to pick up a very sick girl - she was about 10- at the country hospital... So now we sat there, taking

 turns with her parents to hold her saline drip high for the next 60km on unpaved roads.... I tried to explain that setting up a hammock, maybe would have been more comfortable for the poor lass, but hammocks are not much seen up here and they just smiled and nodded their heads at me anyways.... -

Saying "no" is Soooooo impolite in Asia... Which is why you sometimes have endless discussions just to find out, that the person you're talking to, is just trying desperately to figure a way to tell you NO.... Jeeze, Until I understood that fully, I've wasted long and desperate time, carrying a full pack in the pouring rain.... settling on a price for transport... just to be told that the boat is full of water = NO! - The driver seemed to take very careful aim at each and every pothole on the way, and the patient groaned every time as to keep count.... But everyone survived, kinda, and made it into town...

Huay Xia; Is the border town to Thailand and like all border towns full of scams and unfriendly people... And travellers/tourists of all origins, but most with only one destination; Luang Prabang... Two days down Mekong on "The Slow Boat" - with a onenight stand in Pak Beng...

We got our tickets to the boat, and we parted ways with our sweet Swedish space cadet, she was taking a tour into the "jungle" pronounced djungle in Swedish-English, (Remember the Swedish woman in "Soap"?) She was going on the "Gibbon experience" - Not withstanding that only very rarely do you see any monkeys, not even the guides! And they charge 380 USD for you "trekking" most of the way and to live in a treetop hut for two nights!... Every one to her own!

We; The really nice Kiwi and I opted for the "Slow Boat"which was something of a let down! You're supposed to fit your Western bum unto wooden benches made for Asian backsides... Not the same size...! They were about 20-30 cm wide!!!! But after all the in dept discussion in Xian Kok, of my least favorite anatomy parts (Ass, legs and over-arms and some giggly remarks from the Burmese about the uncomprehensible size of my nose) I was not gonna be the first to make a comment! In the end I sat my self on the mountains of backpacks and were finally able to relax... The boat was chock full of "Tour bussing/Package trip" from Chiang Mai, Thailand... Backpackers in all shapes, forma and origens... (Also with a noticeable difference in walletsize)  A lot seemed to have been hurt, as several came in crutches, arms in slings and in general disrepair! It was excruciatingly uncomfortable... But must have been hell for the injured, but they managed with a bottle or two of Vodka...+ the cold BeerLao for sale on board.

 The heat and roar from the engine was tiresome... But up front, on my mountain, I could actually hear the water sloshing up the hull and enjoy the forested mountains... At one point I looked down on my fellow passengers and every one, who was not asleep, was reading... With the local passengers (Of which there were some, incl. the usual heaps of luggage, livestock etc etc) looking on... In Laos there is no books, except schoolbooks! No fiction, no picturebooks for kids.. in Lao ...Nothing, but the communist manifest that rules the country.... After this 8 hr hell we landed in Pak Beng, where we found a ok guesthouse and a great Indian restaurant... There is no electricity in Pak Beng, so the generators only run to 7 AM-10AM, That means that about 11Am the room is so 

stifling hot that you wake up gasping for air... it actually feels like you are being choked.... One should not rush in, but leave the backpack on the key and wander up and take a closer look at the different options.... You have to choose it wisely, ( A window that looks onto the river and a minimal breeze) And not like I did, rush into the first, the best and took a room with a window to "High street" and all the drunken banter, singing and goring ons to 2-3 o'clock from fellow travellers.....

Supposed to leave at 8:30, we only had to wait for the last 3-4 "Falangs' come leisurely strolling down the hill at 9:45 - Grrrrr!! But thank The great Naga (The river god) we had a change of boat, now with fewer wooden benches and the whole area up front with just the planks and nothing else; which meant one could lay down... And actually stretch your legs as well... for another 8 hrs..........!!!!!

                                                                  

                                                                      

But at the end of the rainbow is not a pot of gold, but the giant golden Stupa perched on top a hill overlooking the World heritage town of Luang Prabang with 39 Wats and the french colonial architecture at it's best preserved and the famous night market, the allure of which, I've only just now, a week later, unloaded 6,75 kg in the post office here in Ko Tao in Thailand.... But more of that later... Yet another trip up river ... later....!