The Lone Ranger

Molly and I have gone our separate ways for a few weeks and so now I am a strong, independent woman, alone on the wild road. Do not fret; I assure you that I am okay.

The other day I went shopping at a huge mall and bought a real, expensive backpack, a latte, and a soft pretzel. Ahhh, the luxuries of western influence. Then I came back to town and went to the Sunday market where I did not buy anything! Yay! It was my first time. (Actually, I bought some pretty coasters, I forgot.) Then I got my legs waxed, got a pedicure, and a lovely thai massage down a crowded alleyway off the main market road. (There is wonderfully detailed short story in the making about these last few events. Maybe even a feature film! Stay tuned...)

Yesterday was a big waste of a day. I should've known better and not signed up for a trip called "Long Neck Tribe". I should've known that I would have serious moral problems with going and gawking at human beings. I snapped a few shots of the Padong people who live near Taton near the Myanmar border (that was for you, daddy) before I decided that I would exhibit a bit of will power and a bit of passive resistance and sit out the rest of the time. I have one particularly poignant picture of me smiling like a goofy, dumb tourist, sitting next to a girl with about 25 rings around her neck, who looks like she is about to cry.

The tigers in Burma used to attack these tribal people. The men were strong enough to fight back, but the women got mauled in the neck and died. So they wore these rings to protect themselves. THat is the story. Now it is a sign of beauty. Google for a picture of these people. I am going to delete the ones on my camera. I really could not support a tourist industry that makes people into zoo animals. These people sit up on their mountain and sell the same junky trinkets that are sold down on the streets, to the tons and tons of tourists who come to stare at them. Their English and the ENglish of the tour guides is not good enough to answer questions of any depth or interest. It is a big waste of time. Even if they really really need the money and tourism is their only way of getting it, it still seems exploitive (on all ends) and unnecessary. Next thing you know, they'll be traveling up the mountain to set up camp before the tourists get there and traveling home to their regular thai homes after the show is over. Now, there IS something to be said about money leading to education and better health....I am not sure how I feel about that yet.

There were some interesting stops along the way to the tribe, the most noteworthy one being an elephant-dung paper making factory. (By "factory" I mean a tent with a bunch of booths in it.) After they bleach and clean the elephant dung, it feels nice and soft and smells like pineapple and bananas! I bought a journal out of the paper. Cool, huh?

Last night I went out to eat all by myself to a lovely little all-vegan resturaunt which is lined with bookshelves (filled) and equipped with cushions on the floor and low tables. I was writing in my journal and feeling bad for myself that I was all alone and friendless, when I gained the courage to go join a table of people nearby. I ended up spending the rest of the evening with some really cool people, going out after dinner to the Rooftop Bar...you take off your shoes and go up to the roof of the building and sit on cushions on the floor and look up at the stars. It was magnificent. I talked the whole time with a very nice Jewish lad who knows of Bukowski! I told him I went to City Lights Bookstore in San Fran and that got us talking about Buk and he's read lots of Buk and even told me about his favorite Buk poem! But as the nature of these friendships go, I will never see him again.

I write this email with a heavy heart, for it may be my last for 2 full weeks. Today I pack my bags and leave the city for the country. I will retreat to a mountain top where I will live in a little village and learn the art of Thai Yoga Massage. There I will also learn about meditation and do some Tai Chi. And I will read and write. I even borrowed a holy sefer from the Chabad of Chiang Mai so i can round the whole thing out with some Torah.

Maybe there will be internet on the mountain and you will hear from me soon....otherwise, farewell, my dear friends!

Love, Sarah