Tsunami Relief

Laos; April 22/2005

I met someone on the 'Slow Boat' who told me some things about the Tsunami Relief Effort that I think may interest some of you.

The woman behind me was having a conversation about the Tsunami relief effort so I joined in. Chelsea and I ended up having a very enlightening talk.
She and her boyfriend, Andrew, work as English teachers in Chiang Rai. They had just got back from Koh Phi Phi. I asked Chelsea what she thought of the relief effort. She told me she was very impressed with the Dive Club there. She said they give supplies and help to the people directly. I told her what I have been told; that the Thai people say they have not been getting the promised funds or help. She agreed that she was hearing the same thing and that's why some people have organized independent and hands on help instead. I asked Chelsea if she actually talked to anyone who had been helped by the Dive Club and she said she had. She said she talked to a Tattoo Shop's owner who was given assistance and equipment to reopen. I got Chelsea's email address and I will follow up on this story shortly. I know there are a lot of you who want to know how you can help but wonder where your money is going.
I told Chelsea my experiences in Kamala Beach, Phuket, where the villagers have nightmares every night wondering if the Tsunami will return. She said she was told that the relief effort is looking for psychologists to come over and help people deal with the psychological aspect of the disaster. She said she found it so amazing how you can talk to a Thai and they seem actually cheerful as they tell you about the death and destruction they saw, but this is just the cultural way they deal with these things. The dive club told her they really need trained electricians and people to help with construction. She said a good book for understanding the Thai mind is: 'Inside Thai Society by Neil Mulder. She said that there is also a great organization that helps the Thai people in many ways, called 'Condoms and Cabbages'.
Chelsea gave me the names of two Websites that work with the 'Dive Club' on Koh Phi-Phi.
hiphiphi.org and

Ko Samet:

When we left our hero, he was being ridiculed by a Thai Cabbie for not indulging in the delicacies of Thai massage...
I arrived at Ekamai Bus Depot and went upstairs to a restaurant with an Internet cafe and air conditioning to catch up on my writing.

It was here that I met Amie (pronounced 'Amy'). I was sitting at at table here in the restaurant upstairs when she approached me; Amie is a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English in Mongolia. She's from Iowa. She asked if I knew how to get to Kao San Road. I told her I only knew a 'Kirsten Road' (sorry Ted. I just had to get you one more time for that one..) She said I had a friendly face (see, and no beard Dennis) so she sat down and told me her story. She is leaving for China in a couple of days but she just met an Englishman on one of the Islands. He's going home tomorrow but they arranged to meet tonight at 9:30. She borrowed my ...yellow pen... and gave me some information on a good place to stay on the Island she was just on.

Okay, I have to tell the yellow pen story. I would have included it in my three picture day but I didn't get the picture and it was an inner experience anyway. Just before I met up with my notorious tuk-tuk driver Joe, I was walking around the markets on a whim when a man came out of the crowd holding up a pen. He bowed to me and presented this yellow pen. I stood for a moment, stunned, then I put out my hand and received it. It was as if everything in that swirling market of activity was silent for a moment as I took it from him. He smiles and disappeared into the day. I call this my Magic Pen now.

So then I met Dennis, Jook and Monkey. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Dennis met these two women (and a third who couldn't join us this weekend) while travelling up North in Thailand. They invited him to stay in their apartment building at Samutphrakan, just south of Bangkok. That's where he's been while I was in Sukhothai. So now we all teamed up for a weekend trip to the Island of Koh Samet.

You just can't imagine how wonderful it is to travel with companions who actually can speak the language. They took wonderful care of us. They bought the tickets and took us for a snack and even held our hands as we crossed the street, like we were third graders (Dennis, more like a second grader...).

We took a bus to Rayong; a seaside resort and launching point for the Islands. We got hotel rooms overnight. Fortunately, the beds were not bamboo slats like in Chiang Mai so Dennis didn't have the same complaint about me making noise all night...yes the women had their own room... you bloggers are so nosey...

We were up at 6am to get ready to take a boat to the Island. This is the sunrise from our balcony that morning.

Monkey and Jook took us for a traditional Thai breakfast. They didn't tell us what was in it and we didn't ask.

Our friends went to a market and got a lot of fruit and other food for the Island and then we got on the boat for the half hour trip to Koh Samet.

I have to say, I wasn't really prepared for how beautiful the Island was. We stepped out of the heat and walked straight into a jade green ocean that was bathwater warm. The sand felt like sugar to my feet and I a warm breeze blew around us in a sunny blue sky.

Jook and I swam out and lay on our backs in the salty water and let the sea's buoyancy float us effortlessly with the current.

We stayed in side by side beach huts, a minute from the ocean. We went for a barbecue that night, right on the beach, eating pork and chicken shish kabob, and fish that we chose ourselves. We looked at the clear night and the 'rabbit moon' overhead and the stars, as we listened to the surf nearby and watched as a man twirled flaming batons on the sand in front of us.

We ate wonderful food. We drank beer and wine coolers on the beach while listening to Thai music being played near us. We sat under a palm tree and laughed and talked and rested on sarongs spread under the night sky.
Then, we headed to our separate rooms and I got into the very large bed and relived the memories of this Magical day. Finally, I turned to my companion and said the only words left to say on this most incredible day; "Dennis if you roll over I'll kill you."

Today In Chiang Mai

Waking Dream: I am seeing the luminous face of a woman I know very well. I know I've met her before but I can't remember where. Her face has the bright glow that I described when I first met Jude on the Kanchanaburi Trek. I try to write down the features of her face because I know I need to remember it. I wake up here and the face is still strong in my vision, like the Oriental Vision I described in another Blog post.

My sister asked me to show her what Chiang Mai is like. Do you see elephants in the city? What does your Hotel look like? Let's take a tour together...

That's the bathroom in my hotel room. What you see on the wall is an electric heater. It heats the water for my shower as it comes out of the hose; and it works very well. When I turn the bathroom light on it acts exactly like that scene in the movie 'Apollo 13'. Remember when NASA has the astronauts turn the lights on in the capsule after being off for 5 days. They sputter to life and make a ping sound. That's the lighting here. "okay, yes, Houston, the light is operating. Tooth Brushing is commencing..." I already solved the mystery of the toilet flush so let's move on...

this is my bed. It is hard and has just the one grey sheet. I have a fan in the room to keep me cool at night. Sometime early in the morning, Chiang Mai cools down enough that I need to turn off the fan and use one of the red blankets.

This is the door to my room. I knocked on 203 but then I remembered it was the wrong city. Sorry Judy. You notice the second, padlock. I bought it to give myself security in my room. No one ever comes by to clean the suite. The ants like it that way. I lock my door, forgetting my key. When I come back with one of the Hotel staff, I meet two woman just coming downstairs with their packs on ready to go on a trek. I'm in a hurry to get on with my day so just nod to them and head downstairs.

Then it's downstairs and a five second walk next door to my favorite breakfast place: 'Nice Kitchen' where I eat my usual; scrambled eggs on a croissant with a slice of ham and Thai coffee. I hear the sound of Sitar music in the background and smell sandalwood suddenly; and then it's gone. I look over and there are the two women I saw upstairs, sitting at the table next to me. I don't know why I seem to need to meet them but I say hello. I learned from reading 'The Celestine Prophecies' not to take such meetings for granted. Or maybe it's from seeing too many episodes of 'Joan of Arcadia'. Anyway, we talk for a moment and they tell me they are here from Bavaria. I don't know what it means. I'm just the reporter.

Then I head one door over to read my email and answer my fan letters; well at least read my email...

Then Dennis shows up and we head out to do some shopping. On the way we pass by 'Mikes' which is the local hangout for Americans and Canadians who get nostalgic for the greasy food back home and for the political satire that bashes the Bush administration.

I keep looking for the brand names and so I bought this shirt from a sweetie at one of the shops. 150 baht. She wanted 220. I told her she needed to sell to me because I was her first customer today. "Ist customer Lucky" I reminded her.

Chaotic shopping and in it's midst, beautiful Thai Temples, all swirling together as one community.

This face reminded me of the link you made on your site for me. Namaste'!

We were getting hungry so we headed down the street to 'The Salsa Kitchen' where I had a bowl of Cuban Black Bean Soup. As we sit eating, we listen to twangy country music droning in the background: "...that's all it took for me to yurn for your embrace..."

Dennis had the chicken but couldn't remember the words (which was a blessing).

In the afternoon, Dennis rode off to the Train station to take the train to Bangkok. We will meet up on the 23rd to head off to the Islands for some well deserved R and R after our gruelling time here In Chiang Mai.
I went for dinner at a smorg that serves 'steak' that you fry yourself and all you can eat for 95 baht (less than three dollars).

The interesting thing about my trip is that no matter where I go, I seem to have some Soul to watch out for me. In Bangkok it was Sanga. In Chaing Mai it has been Dennis. Now that I'm alone for a night I find that this little dog walked around the whole restaurant while I was eating and settled down right beside me for a sleep.
I meet John McCoy, who has a bookshop called Irish Rover, just down the street from my Hotel. just as I'm writing this entry. He's been here since July of 98' He says he moved here and met a woman who he had a beautiful boy with. Now she's gone and he's looking again. Please send your proposals to the Blog. I'll pass them on. John has invited me to go to a Jazz bar that starts at 10pm so off I go.

As a footnote: As I write this post, I met John, who I then added to the Blog right as we talked. Meanwhile, as I'm talking to John and uploading pictures and writing this Post, Melissa is back in Ontario, reformatting the pictures as I'm adding them. Meanwhile, Kathy from Calgary is chatting with me on Yahoo Messenger. Meanwhile I am already receiving comments on the Blog I'm working on, from people all over the world who are reading it. This is the Chaos that is my life. And I love it. Oh yes! I forgot to mention the elephants! Maybe next time Meliss...

Ireland Finds me

Sharon and Therese surprised me in this Internet Cafe just as I was writing these entries today. They are the two Irish women I took the picture of in 'Chiang Mai' (The Post, not the Motion Picture. I know what you're thinking Mike; 'It was a Motion Picture?)

This is not my usual Internet place here. Mine was full so I just happened upon this one. They startled me but lately I've heard my name spoken so many times even though no one was saying it, that I was actually amazed when there really was someone there this time. I wish you both a wonderful Journey as you leave Chiang Mai tomorrow. Cheers!

The Voice Of The Silence

Twenty years ago, When I lived in Medicine Hat, Alberta, I was eating escargot at a restaurant, when I suddenly started looking at one of the shells and I had a powerful sense of Deja Vu. I knew the shell was important but I didn’t know why. I only knew that I was supposed to find something and that the shell was the key. After several days of carrying the shell in my pocket, I decided to visit a dear friend of mine, Averil. She and I both studied a Spiritual path at that time, called Eckankar. Averil had a great library of esoteric books so she let me look around to see if one would solve the mystery for me. I found a couple of books that I was interested in reading, but none seemed to be what I was after. Then just as I was leaving I happened to peer into her bedroom, and there on her bedside table was a little red book called 'The Voice Of The Silence'. I walked right in and placed my escargot shell over the sketch on the cover. It fit perfectly. Averil said it was her favorite book and that she always kept it there, in her room. It was a book so familiar to her that it never occurred to her to mention it.
The Voice Of The Silence is a book that was translated by Madame Blavatsky a hundred years ago. She translated it from stone tablets at a remote Buddhist Monastery in Tibet. The book explains the mechanics of Soul as it travels through the different Planes of existence. I found that the secret to the book was to read it aloud. When I did, it took me into a very deep contemplative state.

But there’s another part to this story.
Five years ago, I stumbled upon a woman on the Internet named Vivyan. She and I began a very unusual dialogue right out of the blue. We got talking about synchronicity and the strange things that Spirit does to lead us in new directions. I was just beginning to tell her this story of the Voice Of The Silence when she stopped me and said: “Wait. Let me send you something. Vivyan is a Fractal artist. She sent me this fractal without knowing anything about my vision of the escargot shell. I was wowed when I saw her fractal. Just as I'm writing this article Vivyan has phoned me. I'm telling her about the article. Just as I'm speaking to her, I'm looking at the website for the movie, 'What The Bleep Do We Know' , and I'm seeing the picture of William Tiller (Uncle Bill to her) who is the renowned physicist featured in the film. And while I look at his picture, She says: “What’s so great about the Internet is that we send something out there, into the unknown, and it sends us back exactly what we need.” And that day, five years ago, when she sent that fractal to me, she was proving exactly what she’s talking about now.” My trip to Thailand is tied into this as well. It’s a land of Buddhist Monasteries that somehow hold the next key to the spiral of the Snail shell. As I talk to Vivyan we are getting ready to meet for the first time. She and her partner, Dorian have invited me to visit them in Etobicoke for the weekend. I look forward to seeing what piece of the puzzle I will find when I meet them.