Since then I've been to three places: Sangklhaburi, Chiang Mai and Pai. Sangklhaburi was great in that I sobered up, finished reading The God Delusion (Dawkins) and Naked (Sedaris) and got to a bit of volunteering. By volunteering I simply mean that I was invited to be a part of taking the local Burmese children to go swim. Although no substitute for the Bal Ashram boys, these kids were equally cute with smiles big enough to match my own.
Chiang Mai was simply ridiculous. It was Songkran, their new year, which they celebrate by having an all out water war on the streets. Although I don't know what the top 5 experiences of my life will be, I can say with certainty that this will be a contender. My voice was strained, my liver was dying, had bags under my eyes and often not the slightest bit of me was dry ... jeez it was amazing.
Pai was great too. I wound up paying 50 baht (less than two dollars) for a bungalow on the river and even got to play two open mics to which I had quite the crowd. Well to say I had a crowd is misleading ... I happened to be playing while there were people present is more accurate. Whether or not they listened or just applauded because they should is another story.
Now I'm preparing for the next part of my journey: ziplining through the Bokeo reserve and then making my way through Laos. All the best.
