Chiang Saen

First off, thank you for your emails of concern regarding my physical condition. I can say with a fair amount of conviction that I am BACK to 100%. Today I am firing on all cylinders and loving life again. As far as the Chinese Visa... well things are moving along quite nicely now. Quoting the great and noble Hannibal of the A-Team, "I love it when a plan comes together." I went to the Chinese embassy for attempt #4 and waited the obligatory 90 minutes to go to the counter and I couldn't understand a word of the english the gal was speaking. I gathered through hand gestures that she wanted me to make copies of my documents. So I went to the mall downt he street and found the Thai equilivant of a kinkos (basically one copy machine with 6 employees standing around). and made copies. I decided to skip getting a number and just sneak behind the person at the cage of the woman with whom I spoke with earlier. She looked briefly at my papers and started to wave her arms to the back of the room. I looked down and thought f*ck China, I am going home. Luckily a lady next to me understood the embassy employee and told me that all I needed to do was fill out another copy of the visa application. Apparently they need two copies filled out in original form. So I did and cut again into line, and whoalah she gave me the sheet to come back at 3 to pick up my visa. So with the trip to the thai kinkos I would be coming back for trip number 6 in the afternoon to the embassy. I still don't have my visa in hand, so I am a bit nervous. Not to mention that they want me to pay 4400 baht for the visa and 1200 baht for a same day rush. We are talking about pushing 200 bucks in the third week of vacation for a moderately financially irresponsible person :). So I came back in nervous anticipation to receive my visa. Alas the transaction was conducted flawlessly. I now have a Chinese Visa Stamp in my passport. HOORAY. hooray looks a bit lame in written form sorry. So I went back to the hostel and started figuring out my plans for the next few days. I am supposed to report for duty on Sept. 1. I looked and to take the boat up the mekong I would need to get to Chiang Saen. Looking at the bus schedule for a direct bus, it left Bangkok at 6 p.m.. I checked this at 4:30 and the northern bus terminal was 20 km through the city around rush hour from where I was staying. So I scrambled and put my things together and hustled to the station with about 15 minutes to spare. I woke up this morning in the beautiful border town of Chiang Saen. I can say without any hesitation that I am a mountain person. Today I feel so great. Outside my hotel which cost only 300 baht for a private room with a fan and personal bathroom, is a buddist monastary. Literally the first thing that I saw when I arrived in my room was a bunch of monks walking around a garden out my hotel window. This feeling of regret has washed over me that I should have spent much more time outside the megaopolis of Bangkok and in the mountains with the "salt of the earth" people. Alas I am here now with all the temples. Clouds swaddle the mountains across the mekong in Laos like a scarf hanging loosely over broad shoulders. My hotel didn't have internet, so I at a cafe that doesn't allow shoes, and out the open front doors I can see a 30 foot stone buddah lying on its side. Since I can't use my computer, there are no pictures to post today, but I have been taking a lot. I will include these belated, when I can on this blog. I would also like to say thanks to everyone for commenting on this blog. It is nice to know that someone other than my mother reads this thing. The boat doesn't roll up the river until Saturday, so I am going to go walk around and soak up some of this culture for a few days.

Refreshed and feeling great,
-Shawn