Road Trip. Chiang Rai.

As Jay and I sit here on the bed eating shrimp flavored cashew nuts and drinking the gourmet green tea we had taken with us from Phu ChaiSai resort, we reminisce about the adventures we just had in Chiang Rai. This roadtrip in the middle of February 2021 was for two reasons. Firstly, my father had recently passed away across the border in Cambodia, and before he died we had all agreed to a roadtrip together. We had talked about either a motorcycle ride around Angkor Wat or one around Chiang Rai, and while I had wanted to ride Cambodia up to Laos he had seemed homesick for Thailand, so I think we would have traveled to Chiang Rai, or possibly made a full circle of it. So that was my first reason for going. Secondly, I needed to return to America for a few reasons, not the least of which was to return his ashes to the other place he had been homesick for; Chicago and Darrington. This meant I had to leave my beautiful wife, for whom I have never properly married, so for whom could not legally travel with me to America (Because of Covid). Fucking borders. Anyway, we only had a few weeks left before we would part ways for an unknown length of time, so this camping road trip escape seemed appropriate... necessary.

Koh Lipe. Paradise?

Koh Lipe. I can't tell if I wrote the title as The Last Paradise, or The Lost Paradise. Either would be appropriate. It is the last paradise on the edge of being lost, just barely a bastion of undiscovered and inaccessible yet hospitable island life. Just barely. I wrote the story with mixed emotion. With the excited energy of a storyteller sharing an experience, the increasingly rare travel experience; a destination untouched and unknown (almost). At the same time I have the fear and sadness of a storyteller who realizes the story can only contribute to the final extinction of this experience.

Mexico. Roadtrip!

Roadtrip!… or not: 

Had considered driving. 23 hours from San Diego to La Paz and another hour to La Ventana. Could be a fun roadtrip with Jay but, well, 24 hours. 

Decided flying would be a better option. Easy enough to cross through CBX direct to the Tijuana airport connection to La Paz and rental car from there.

                      

Thailand

SARS: It was the year of the SARS; and that meant that airfare to Thailand was almost half the price of airfare to Hawaii. I talked my brother into going with me because I had already had enough solo adventures. It didn't take much for me to talk him into it, we both booked tickets that same day. We left in the middle of June (2003) with short lay-overs in Taipei and Hong Kong and arriving in... Whats the capital of Thailand? Haha... Thats right... its Bang-Cock. That city caused sore testicles for many a middle-schooler.

India

London & Amsterdam? India. I left for India on a cloudy, rainy, dreary day in March 2002. I don't actually remember the day but I departed from Seattle so I am quite sure it was a day as described. I believe I stopped in London & possibly Amsterdam for a few days layover... but maybe Amsterdam was on the return trip. Or perhaps an entirely different trip altogether.

Australia

This is not my usual travel story. This story takes some background to understand...

It starts with a boy sitting in front of a door, reading a book. A girl walks up to the door and stands there reading a sign that he was too oblivious to notice. She looks down after reading it and lets the boy know the class had been changed to another room. As they walk to the new room together, he looks in her eyes and thats it.

A year later I was in stormy seas. Crashing upon rocky ground, looking for a lighthouse... a beam of hope. I was recovering from a motorcycle accident & trying to get control of a feeling that she was seeing another. There is a trip planned to Australia; with her sisters and friends and there will also be a few days in New Zealand. I am invited. I had always wanted to go to New Zealand. But, the trip is a Catholic religious thing... World Youth Day does not appeal to me; being on holiday with my girlfriend in the land of the Kiwi does. I decide to go but to find my own belief in God and find the strength in myself to trust her. At the airport I decide that the best way to find my own belief in God is to be a speechless monk for the entire trip and try to observe the truth in life. I communicate using my notebook, both with those around me and with myself. 

San Diego

The time has finally come, I am moving tommorow... SD is on its way and there ain't nothin' gonna stop me. I probably just jinked myself. I am going down there with my father and maybe a friend; we will drive his truck and tow a trailer. 

China

Damn it! I hate Netscape (and AOL, and MSN) I just had about 1/2hour of writing done and before I could post or save it the Netscape Toolbar opens a window over this one... anyhow, looks like I'm going to China. Looked that way last year but things didn't work out. I'm going in a program called 'US-China Education and Culture Exchange' and if you want the details just check out their site - www.uschinaedu.org Uhmmm, lost the initiative to continue on...