Ben was only two days into his new life in Chiang Mai, and he was already eating bugs.
I met Ben and Mike in a restaurant the day after they’d left everything they’d known in Australia to move their internet marketing enterprise to Thailand.
They were joining their friend, Paul, who had come to Chaing Mai fourteen months ago and spread the word that the curry here is cheap, and the living good.
“Was [...Read More!]
This is gross, but it’s been going on for far too long and I need answers: if you were an ant, WHY, in the name of all that is good and holy and pure, would you choose to eat my toothpaste??? It has no nutritional value! There is nothing in it for an ant-y digestive system! Leave the green goo alone and go find another hobby!
I was somewhere [...Read More!]
Planning on being on the road for more than a week or two? Remember these three S’s while packing your bags:
1. Small passport-sized photos (at least 20).
After three and half months of traveling, my fat stock of these official-type photos is already rapidly dwindling. Why? Because I have needed to use at least four per month. Here are some instances of when:
a) Every new country’s visa I [...Read More!]
When the director of your Thai massage school tells you that you have to walk two miles Friday morning to arrive in time for 8:30 am Tai Chi/Qi Gong in the far Southwestern park of Chiang Mai, you grumble profusely.
Once you’re stretching your arms high above your head in the fresh morning air, however, and once you hear the birds singing in the bright green palm trees, all is made clear.
And [...Read More!]
Today is Thanksgiving, though you wouldn’t know it in Northern Thailand.
Geckos are squeaking, the breeze gusts warm, and there ain’t a turkey in sight.
But wherever we are, even kooky Canada with its October Thanksgiving, it’s still that time of year to say thanks!
And this year’s thanks goes out to the students and staff of Boston Public Schools. Everything during this year around the world is making me think of you. [...Read More!]
Part 1: The Blind Food Gamble.
Look at the menu pictured to the left. What would you order from it??
For week one in Chiang Mai, I resided in the heart of tourist world, and thus browsed menus and ordered food with ease. Now, however, I’m in the far North of town by the massage school, and words I can read are few and far between.
And just like that, we [...Read More!]
“A question, please,” said my classmate Olivia shyly. “In Brazil we don’t have this idea, but I hear that in America and Europe, Thai massage sometimes is, um… well… how you say…” “Linked with prostitution?” I asked. Olivia’s face lit up and then flushed bright red. “Um, yes.” “Oh absolutely!” I said, thinking of all the joke emails from friends I currently have in my Inbox in reaction to the news that [...Read More!]
I have gotten a bevvy of queries asking for the scoop on Thai massage schools in Chiang Mai, and so scoop you shall have!
ITM Massage school was recommended to me by a number of fancy online sources, but also by a friend of a friend who studied here for a month and loved it.
Other popular schools in Chiang Mai (which is THE place to learn Thai Massage) are The School of [...Read More!]
“We’d take a last embrace, she whispering to me, “Jesus, what am I going to do now?” …But the moment I left her my head cleared. It was another kind of music, not so croony but good just the same.” (p. 170 in Henry Miller’s “Tropic of Cancer”) Partially in celebration of Miller’s wise words, and partly because I really freaking needed it after three months of hardcore travel, I have been [...Read More!]
A gloriously counter-intuitive budget travel secret: crazy expensive hotels are your friends!
Have you ever woken up in your perfectly comfortable but not exactly luxurious $7 hotel room (pictured, right) and thought, “Geez, man, I could stand to feel bit more like a Prince/Princess today.”? Of course you have.
(Okay, literally, as I was just sitting on my $7 bed writing that last paragraph, an ant crawled up the mattress and onto [...Read More!]