~you must really consider the circus~

So to decide whether it was a good idea to buy greg's bike, I decided to rent a bike and take a small solo journey for a day. The destination: a tiny obscure Black Lahu hilltribe village jungle lodge. The tribe, a poor seminomadic sect of farmers, kept to itself and I spent most of my time chatting with the thai lady who runs the lodge. I happened to be the only guest for the night. It was a great, relaxing experience Complete with a delicious thai stir fry, pek mak mak (very very spicy), and a gorgeous sunrise over the jungle.

Upon driving an hour and half back to Chiang Mai the next morning, I was even more ambivalent about buying the stupid bike. I did what I always do when faced with difficult decisions: let fate decide! The test - a coin toss - decided that I was not to buy it. My parents can sleep easy.

Withthe restlessness starting to brew within me, I knew my days in Chiang Mai were numbered so I wanted to make the most of them. I stole down to th e world renown night bazaar here for a bit of fish therapy... what is this, you may ask?

And if this is still ambiguous, it is exactly what it looks like: schools of fish nibbling my feet. Something akin to waterboarding for the ticklish! I also took a hike to the oldest temple in the city Chang Man Wat where the famous (and slightly underwhelming) Crystal Buddha is housed.

We also hit up a muay thai match including three rounds of kids as young as 11 boxing (witnessed a k.o. which was crazy), a round of women boxing, a round of blindfolded boxing, and then the main event. It was a pretty intense experience.

We also went up to a mountsintop temple, Doi Suthep, which was gorgeous. I get blessed buy a monk with holy water before screwing up all my good luck by accidentally putting out one of their candles... good move, dufus.

Anyway, I've been meeting some awesome people, including a couple of fellas from MA and NC whose are stomping around the planet shooting high res sequencing photos for companies to finance their voyage. I also befriended this really cool cst from Baltimore who left his 9-5 ExxonMobil engineering gig to wander the earth interviewing fun people on his podcast (walking the earth podcast). These kind of people inspire me, those that have the guts to leave it all behind for the prospect of a fun, happy future.

Alright this is droning on. I just got to Pai - a legendary hippy enclave in thailand - and am staying at the Pai Circus School. The fire show is about to start so I'm out! Later!