Thai Dentistry

Quick,Easy, moderately painless and best of all cheap cheap cheap!!!
I got my teeth cleaned and two fillings for less than fifty bucks and it took an hour..I couldn't believe it...I hate going to the dentist but now I'm good to go...Today is my last full day in Chaing Mai...I leave tommorrow pm to go back to Bangkok before I leave for my travels...my time here has been amazing...so many beautiful people and so much love...Tawan gh was such a blessing...sweet May keeping me nourished...Kat and Steven this amazing older gypsy couple that were like parents to me...Kat is from South Carolina born and raised on cotton plantation and Steve a harley riding/sailor gypsy that is origanilly from the bay and has been all over but most recently Maui his home where he met his lady love while she was on vacation...they are such a treasure...then there's Andi my Aussie girlfriend who has inspired me to follow my dreams...and my crew of lads from Scotland and Amsterdam like brothers...I will be sad to leave but I will return...today I am making my last purchases at the silver shop...I have been saving the best for last...one more trip to Chinatown for coconut cakes and some ipod speakers that are only 220B thats $7 lovin it...I heard from the homie Jase yesterday that Nike is opening new corp headquarters in Bangkok and are paying him to do a live painting...Sammy Flores is coming back for that as well so I may extend my trip for two more days and then head straight to Philly instead of a pit stop in frisco...but nothing set in stone yet...have to spend a few days in Bangkok figuring out my visa issues and if it's worth it for me to travel to Cambodia...I feel like the 4-5 days I have alloted for that trip is not enough and I could be tempted to save it for another visit...but no decision on that yet either...I am just free flowing here making it up as I go along and feeling really good about it all...thank you to everyone that has been supportive to me on this journey...it has been very healing and self empowering...I hope the same for all of you...LOVE B

The Empress of Spice

that was the name on my certificate from Thai cooking school (self chosen of course)...today was a blast!!!...the staff was hilarious and my other 12 students were fun to get to know and share their dishes...I made 8 courses...breakfast-pad thai, app-chicken satay with two sauces, salad-papaya salad, curry-green curry with eggplant, side dish-stir fried morning glory, dessert-black rice pudding....everything was so delish and we got a cookbook when we left...I highly reccommend it if you are coming to this area...it is famous for it's cooking schools...it started with a trip to the market to show us all the ingredients that go into making fresh curry paste...made in a morter and pestal and much more delish than what you get in can at home...so dinner party when I return home of course fresh to death...one of my fellow cookers was a sweet Welsh girl from Melbourne Sian...she was catching a train tonight and already checked out of her guesthouse and needed a place to shower and chill so I took her back to Tawan gh with me...it's such a treat meeting other strong solo female travelers and hear their stories and get tips around different hot spots...and of course making another friend in Melbourne which is moving up the list of my places to travel to...just in the internet cafe sipping some lovely iced lemon tea and headed to the night bizarre to check out the deals...but probably saving myself for tommorrows Sunday market...headed to the beach soon...needed to get my brown skin on before I head to the jungle in Cambodia...trying to link up with some frisco heads in Bangkok to make the trip with me but if not I can do it on my own cuz that's how I do
ps...my friend Micheal from cooking class sent me these pix...enjoy

buddha girl

I just returned from my 3 day vipassana...have to say the 3 days was just a beginning...next time I will plan ahead to stay longer...my teacher the abbott was such a beautiful happy monk with so much wisdom and kindness and always with a smile on his face and love pouring from him...he showed me 4 types of meditation to take with me when I return home...I would love to share with anyone that is interested...my day started at 5am where I would practice in my room then join my fellow students for a quiet and mindful breakfast filled with yummy veggie food and lots of chewing and reflection...then a dharma talk from our teacher...for a monk this guy was hilarious he had us in stitches with his buddhist parables...he could do stand up...after this we were to go on our own till lunch to practice our meditation...that were many beautiful places to go gardens, courtyards, hillsides... we were on a mountain so the view was amazing...then lunch at 11...that was the last meal of the day...we chanted at lunch about the mindfulness of food and not overeating... then after meetings with teacher to discuss our progress and get our next instruction for meditation...teacher reminded me that my home is in my heart...knowing knowing knowing... and to practice metta-loving kindness...dissolving anger, worry and sadness my goal...so far this is the highlight of my journey...I love you all

reflections

Sometimes the relationships that hurt the most are what bring us to a greater source of healing and transformation....forgiveness should be our only path because forgiveness equals freedom...resentment keeps us bound by toxic emotions...so forgive don't resent or regret...choose healing over hurting...and most important forgive yourself...enjoy the full moon

It's a small world after all...

So one of the guys in my guesthouse lives in Cotati and just graduated from Sonoma State...WTF...so cool...he is here with his pops that owns a head shop on Maui...he is here doing some import stuff while Austin is here going to discos and getting hella free Thai pussy...he told me that you can pay for hookers and it's a done deal but if you hook up with a thai girl in a bar for free then the girl thinks you are hers....he's been getting in lots of trouble...these Thai girls can be brutal...kickin, bitin, spitin and if your really unlucky they cut your pecker off...no really the hospital in Bangkok does the highest rate of "reattachments"...ouchy...anyway Austin took our Bulgarian friend Tony out so he could finally get a taste of Thai and not get tricked by boygirl...they are still sleeping so I'm not sure how it went but I am looking forward to the stories
Yesterday after I finally was coming back from my hangover I got a lovely text and then a phone call from my Hungarian friend...he invited me to go see the sunset...picked me up on his motorbike with a coconut banana shake and took me to a lake that had amazing statues of Buddha and Quan Yin...and all these little thatched hut picnic tables to sit on the water...we ate mango and pomelo and watched the sun go down...it was lovely
Today is Sunday market and I already got up and bought a few things...I have to wear all white and non transparent clothing for my vipassana so I picked that up...still looking and making mental inventory of all the goodies I will bring back...I wish I could download pix from my camera...I forgot my usb but I am sure along the trip I will find a tech head to help me out...they have wifi all over but I am glad I didn't bring my mac or else I would just crack out and not enjoy what is all around me...today is also the umbrella festival in one of the villages outside of Chaing Mai...talks of making a lil trip there but not sure if we can motivate our group that has grown to include Austin, and Andi( our original angel from Bangkok that lead us to tawan gh), and also two chaps from scotland whose names I can't remember...okay I think I off to Chinatown again for my lil coconut rice cakes...love you all and wish you were here...mwah

My first Thai hangover...

ugh...last night was quite eventful...I walked to the night bizarre and ran into a guy riding a baby elephant...I bought some sugar cane from him and fed the lil(big) baby...he eats like my Roy as soon as it left my hand it was gone and he was ready for another...then I headed thru the market and hustled some deals, ate some noodles, watched a muy thai match on the big screen...it was England vs Thailand...then I headed back and got a banana rotee-these two words seperately are ok but together MAGIC!!! after my lil sweet treat I thought I was ready for sleepy time until I passed a wine stand...now wine is not so popular in Thailand and I have had a hard time finding a decent glass for myself...I ordered a glass the other night and the guy pulled out of jug of rossi..no thanks...I can't do beer either cuz it puts me to sleep and well the whiskey here is shite...so this wine stand was from Chaing Mai university special wine project...there was strawberry, apple, lychee, longon and ginseng....um I drank 3 glasses...they were all sweet a bit like reisling or a hana sake...but nice lil treat...I was enjoying my wine with two Japanese travelers and a Hungarian...the Japanese gentlemen spoke very little english but enough to let me know that they thought I was more beautiful than European women...awwwww...and the Hungarian lad Lazlo quite fancied me as well...he owns a cycling magazine in Hungary and is also a wine lover so we chatted it up a bit then we left the wine stand and went to an Italian resturant to try some red wine...they were closing up so we bought a bottle, stopped by his room for some hash and then he took me to a rooftop where we could see chaing mai with a 360view...it was quite lovely but needless to say your girl is hurting this morning and I missed the taxi to my school...oops...then I went to breakfast and sweet May made a smiley face on my fried eggs cause she could see I was having it rough...so I am taking it easy today...lots of water and reading...I will probably take a lil trip to chinatown market to get my new fav treat...these lil coconut rice cakes that are put on the griddle so they are warm and crunchy on the outside...mmmmmmmmmmmmmm....life is still gooood

where are you from?

Of course so far the most commonly asked question next to "how long have you been here?"...I have the blessing of being from mixed heritage so people like to guess where I'm from...most thais think maybe I am part thai but no...one hindi shop keeper thought I was part indian...that was a complement...but the strangest of all was the owner of the book shop that thought I was a fellow brit and I hadn't even opened my mouth...then we spoke and I let him know I was a yank but I did my jaqui from manchester imitation about how "gorgeous" the food was here and he complemented me on my proper accent
I made a new friend last night...Marcel from germany...we went to lil bar where he was trying to connect with a local to get guitar lessons...he is getting 4 one hour sessions for 1200/b that's less than 10bucks a lesson..quite proper I'd say...he keeps trying to talk me into going to Pai which is north of Chaing Mai...it's a real hippie town with organic farms and camp fire drum circles, etc...had to say "been there, done that, bought the t-shirt and wore it out"...just can't be bothered (can you tell I've been hanging with a brit?)...anyway sticking to my agenda of white sand beaches after the northern city excursion...looking forward to snorkeling and blissing out and getting my brown skin on
I got some amazing silver hill tribe jewelry yesterday...big earrings like I love and I will probably invest in more to bring back... so ladies and gents get ready for a mini thai market when I return...also realized that my visa is only for 30days so I will have to leave the country so I don't get fined on the way out...but that's kool cause I wanted to go to Cambodia anyway to see Ankor Wat...but so far I am here in Chaing Mai till the 27th which means two more sunday markets...so if anyone wants anyting special holla...I can recieve texts but can't return them...and I got a phone card so I am checking my vm every few days if anyone wants to leave me a message with your sweet voice

I'm so loving it here

Chaing Mai is so super!!! I am staying at a friendly family run guesthouse on a quite sub soi(side street) that is right across from the center of town where an amazing Sunday market is held...Next door is Tawan guesthouse run by the sweetest lady Mai...She has an inexpensive resturant and cooking school also books tours around the area and transport back to Bangkok...across the street is yoga center with a daily class for 100B...There is an amazing juice bar with wheatgrass and veggie sandwiches...You can get your teeth cleaned for 500B thats like $15...there are even places to get colonics for $40 which I may need after all the crazy street food I've been eating...I bought a knife today and a bunch of different fruit that I've never had before...also found contact lenses that I could get without script but they only had colored...so this week I'm hazel next week I'm voilet eyes...and I'm smiling from ear to ear...I also found an aromatherapy shop with all the items made locally in Chaing Mai...mmmmm the essential oils made from thai flowers that I have never smelt before are soooooo lovely!!!
When I first arrived I immediately grouped up with 3 other peeps and we spent our first day in Chaing Mai but they left for a trek while I stayed behind to figure out my school and vipassana ting...seems like I can't get my deposit back so I will be taking the reflexology class with that money...that's cool I'm sure learning to give a two hour foot massage should come in handy some day...anyway I like traveling solo so I don't always have to follow the group but meeting up with this caste of charachters has been a blast so far...there is Jaqui-fiesty punk rocker from Manchester...raised on the Clash she got to see Joe Strummer and the Mescalaros twice three months before he passed...she owns her own Victorian house in Manchester and yes your girl is going to visit her next year...and perhaps I will go to Amsterdam and visit our other companion Arnold...a half Dutch half Indonesian lad with green eyes...he is having the time of his life right now so he may still be in Thailand when I head to Europe...and then there is Tony- at least that is what we call him after 20 minutes of trying to pronounce his real name....he's Bulgarian and talks about snakes and hookers...two things in Thailand that both scare and intrigue him...but our guesthouse clearly states...NO BOYGIRL ALLOWED UPSTAIRS...so that's my movie right now...wish I had more pix but I'm still just taking it in and haven't really stopped to take photos yet but I've got a month to do all that...cheers!!!

Greetings from Chaing Mai

For those that know here I am...for those that don't lemme tell ya...I'm in Thailand bitches!!!!
Originally here for a massage course my life is in a state of transformation...this year is all about death and rebirth for me..with that being said I hope no one is disappointed but I am not going to be a massage therapist as my lifes work...this doesn't mean I am unavailble to my friends and loved ones for healing work but I won't be getting paid to give those services to random people...I am making a career path change...to help me prepare I will doing vipassana at Wat Doi Suthep...nuturing my spiritual self will help me to align my life with my inner self and shine!!!!
So far Chaing Mai has been a blessing...a much welcome change from grimey Bangkok...the Sunday market yesterday was amazing...more pictures later I promise...there is fresh fruit and juice on the street and noodles for days...also renting a bike for 50b/day that's like a buck fifty!!! spending about 10 bucks a day including private room with hot water bath and the most beautiful delish food...life is good...I am blessed!!!
Love and blessings to you all in the new year!!!!