Day 4

Dear whoever reads this,

the next day I woke up at around 4:30 and went across the bridge and started my morning with a passion fruit watermelon avocado smoothie. Then I walked back to my guest house and worked out. At around 11, my driver came and picked me up for a long day of photographing.

I started by visiting five hill tribe villages learning about their culture and photographing their people.  One of the villages I visited they wore huge plugs in their ears which worked in my advantage because they noticed I had them as well. Even though mine aren't even close to the size of theirs.

While photographing, I met another photographer who was from Orlando but lives and works in Hawaii. He owns a few galleries and was here on work so we talked for a while and gave each other pointers on where to go and what we have done. He was very cool and helpful.

After the villages, we stopped at a local restaurant on the side of the road where I had the most amazing curry chicken soup with fried egg on top. It was so good I could eat it all day long. And with that, a "large" beer. I consider it a HUGE beer. It was one of the local beers so I had to try it.

Now that I was full, we made our way to play with tigers. I had to sign a few different documents saying that I am going at my own risk etc but I was so excited. I was so close to them petting them and playing for about an hr. They played in a pool and got so close the guard had to push me away so I didn't get pumbled by one of them while he was playing. They were amazing creatures. What an experience.

To end the day at Aroon my driver, he took me to a pagoda up in the mountains. The golden pagoda is so high up that you drive up the mountain, then you get out and climb a dragon stair case that took so long because it was so steep. When you get to the top, you take your shoes off and roam the temples. The temple looks over the whole city of Chiang Mai and it was amazing. It took my breath away. While I was walking, a monk came up to me with a worried look on his face. He didn't speak english too well but he told me I had a bad spirit following me. He said he needed to read my aura and pray for me. While we were walking to one of the temples, he asked if a loved one close to me just received good fortune. Whats strange is that my girlfriend just got into two amazing MFA programs that day. It was strange that he knew that. Then he was telling me about how I am as a person and the jealousy and stress that has been in my life. HE gave me a necklace and two bracelets and prayed. He told me that once the string bracelet falls off, I will be cleansed and that my balance will be restored. I didn't really think anything of it, but once he ended his prayers and walked me to my shoes, I felt changed. I usually take things like a grain of salt but so some reason, it was like an outer body high. Something I have never felt before.


I hope I'm not boring you! Im almost done for the day.

After the pagoda visit, I went back to my guest house to shower and get dinner. After eating another amazing meal, Noi messaged me on Facebook saying she was getting a few beers with two friends and asked if I wanted to join. Of course I wanted to see the Thai night life, so I met them at Beer Republic. She was with two of her friends, they were both teachers. The bar was mostly imported german beer which was great. After, her friends wanted to take me somewhere more local. We went to a hang out where they bought us beers, fried dried shrimp and a spicy salad. It was strange because little kids were trying to sell peanuts which was so sad because of the child labor, one of Noi's friends said it is getting worse. We talked about the country, the good and bad but also the education system. Noi's friends seemed like really cool people. He and his friend are both teachers at the university and were telling me all about being a government teacher, and non government teacher in Thailand and the pros and cons of both. It was very eventful.

After we were done at the bar, we started walking back to Noi's car so she could drop me off when I saw some bikers. I noticed they had hells angels colors and patches, so me being me, I went and introduced myself. I dropped a few names and clubs I knew from other countries and they were really cool. Mostly Thai, German and Swed. I said my goodbyes and Noi dropped me off.

What a long but fulfilling day!

Thanks for reading!!