Mingalabar from Myanmar

a gravel road cut through the jungle that google map doesn't recognize, nor have! a 6 km no man's land, a scruffy sandy building as immigration counter and nearly a full day travel between Kanchanaburi (Thailand) and Dawei (Myanmar).
I jumped in a new world, I finally left behind the beautiful and less beautiful Thai girls standing outside gogo bars expecting you to buy a beer from their bar and if you like for little more their body!!
It's left in Thailand also the face of Bhumibol Adulyadej or if you like Rama IX, the longest-serving current head of a state, in this case as king. His image is everywhere: on the side of the road next to his wife, or smiling in a picture on the top of an arch, next to buddha in the minivan or just framed with a pair of binoculars or caressing an elephant or playing saxophone or clarinet in people's home!
I will miss the fresh cut fruit on the side of the road pretty much anywhere and the simple things like the smile of the young man collecting paper, cans, plastic and glass bottles from the, deep and filthy, blue garbage containers.. (he even said "yes" in english when I tried to facilitate his job putting mine directly in his hand cart/pedal tuk tuk!)
I am in a hot and friendly big town in the south of Myanmar and it's all another story now...I feel like I jumped in a Asian Cuba and I love it, I feel like everyone here wants to share positive energies and a warm welcome, I feel like I am not a border away from south east Asia and I sense I am gonna love my next 18 days in the country!!
I had to reward myself with a draft Myanmar beer for 600 kyat (50 eurocents) in a super cool local beer garden, amongst gentlemen in longy (a sheet of cloth worn around the waist) and girls, women and young boys with their face painted in thanaka (a yellowish cosmetic used against acne, sunburns and for cooling) and huge surprised smiles...
On the side of the road young kids raise their hands anytime you meet their sight and when I tell them Mingalabar ("hello" or better "may you be prosperous" in Burmese language) they get excited and they come and shake my hands fearlessly!!
In growns up people's mouth betel nuts (remember my post from Sri Lanka??) making their teeth awful and totally ugly, on the menus pig brain and indian influenced green peas pureed and in the air a peaceful atmosphere...
Some rain might make the town less dusty and less humid soon!!

into the unknown...

A night train away from Bangkok, I am here enjoying some planning for the forthcoming entry in Burma or Myanmar...I look forward to clarify many misteries about this very little known and very complex destination...
I have also arranged my flight to Dhaka (Bangladesh) and then Kathmandu (Nepal) as I might not be able to find a reliable wifi in the next few countries (or at least that's what I hear from other travellers...)
The most challenging, unbeaten and exciting part of this south eastern asian trip is soon to start and I guess I am ready, I bought also an hammock (and some too many teas and pieces of traditional fabrics....) and I can now really end up anywhere...

funnily I found it on a gate here in Chiang Mai few days before the "wat" experience...

a local cyclist with a natural and eco-friendly helmet!!

just recovering from a long night partying??

meditative thoughts...

The most shocking thing was not the nutella jar for the head monk breakfast (with his western name on the label!!), it was not the Chelsea FC logo as background on one of the younger monk's smartphone, most likely it was not the pretended and difficult silence amongst the coming and going travellers, looking for "enlightment", while recovering from a full moon party and planning the next happy shake somewhere in their travels..
It was maybe the resounding noise of the billions of crickets around us, or the abandoned temple in the middle of the forest twenty minutes walking from our spartan accomodation (a 1.8x1.8 metre room, a matting as bedding and that's it! I even had to share it with a very polite and mannered gecko!)...
Most likely was not even the pieces of eternit found around the meditation hall area, or the planes landing and taking off from the 6km away's international airport!!
It could be maybe my slap on the monk's wrist when he mentioned the alps plane crash soon after a poor speech about loving and kindness and at the end of our umpteenth and unsuccessful meditative day...(it's still me, I know!!!!but I couldn't refrain from telling him that he had just brought "death to the room!!!" instead of good news/energies...)
I have obviously and positively managed to learn few things from my 72 hours in the wat (monastery-temple of this side of the world) even though I cannot say I was wordless as I hoped, nor I can say that much of meditation could happen...
I would say there was "some" too much buddhism into the experience or most likely is just the usual expectation that tricks our mind!!
The thing I felt most shocked by was the lights and noises and the pollution and the chaos and the exaggeration of the world outside the wat as soon as I drove out tonight, the world we live in, the only one we know!! Only three days gave me such an impact on the real life we are so accustomed to and as much as I can criticise the methods I see the beauty and the potential...
I wanna sleep on it (on a proper bed!), and maybe after breaking my 24 hours fasting tomorrow I would have a clearer and more accurate opinion...

It's your mind, you can change it..

I found this suggestion painted on the wall of the dormitory of the hostel I stayed in Ventiane, Laos, few weeks ago...today a skinny and wise australian monk, living here in Thailand since 30 years, has said the same during an informal meeting that is organised on sundays to answer the questions on buddhism and the enlightened Buddha! He has also been adding though that training the mind is like training a cat, that is to say nearly impossible!!!
I am, at the end, in the part of the world that lives peace and dreams nirvana, in the part of the world where the suffering (dukkha) is accepted as a base of the human existence and where personal, individual growth is rewarded and seen as the only way out of it!
I am not interested in the religious perspective of it, but in the spiritual, maybe!!
I have been approaching this "world" slowly and with silent steps, founding myself engaged by the undeniable karma and by the cynical and cyclical happening of events!!
In a world (from ours and even till this) that falls tempted of attachments and cravings, a world of expectations and a world of addictions that are seen as pleasures and comforts, or even as wellbeing or social status, not recognising them as weaknesses and as a wrong mindset, we need to get some lessons!
A world where what's inside is not as important or required as what's outside!!
If "you" wear pink and yellow today and camouflage tomorrow and all black the day after you are still You, no matter what the rest is thinking about you or how they see you...!
I had already started convincing myself that to get to know myself, to get to understand my weaknesses and my limits I have to dig deeper in my mind and in my soul!
I think I am ready for this step, yes little worried but mostly motivated and challenged to keep my tongue and possibly my thoughts quiet for a couple of days..
I will enter the Wat (temple) in the afternoon tomorrow (monday) and switching off completely for some time, the needed time!

Peace, Love and Travel

Market life..

A band of blind men playing instruments and singing, three kids performing a little show asking for coins for their school education, a stray dog and his owner (?) available for pictures, a young woman covered all over her body in a indescribable type of skin infection sitting on the floor, a lady without a hand begging.....on the right souvenirs in canvas or leather, and on the left fruit shakes and sarongs aplenty...
A old guy walks with a trolley with four little colourful parrots eating some jelly looking stuff holding a sign "donate to birds", a "english less" lady reading cards for tourists for 99 bath (something like one euro!) discounted 50!!!, mini dogs shows, extra virgin coconut oils products, natural indigo clothing and alternative art!
The central market of the city is also were some monks and believers meet to pray and chant together while sellers negotiate their fabrics, vegetables or just some ordinary (and less ordinary) street food with locals and not!
Markets are the beautiful perspective of the country and if this is Thailand than it's more like the beating of a heart...everything goes after it and tourists love it...a lemongrass or herbal tiger drink sipped in a bamboo cup, the 3 for 100 bath scarfs, magnets, necklaces or bracelets, (or if you add a smile you can even bargain something more...)
Unfortunately Chiang Mai (as all the country and all the countries that would sell their soul and tradition for the money that tourism brings) is fast changing (also according to people that keep coming here since few years..) and of course the more tourists arrive the more the tourists will get less out of the experience...

cicadas seller and curious and little scared potential buyer!!

coconut jelly prepared in tiny ceramic cups...

slow boating on the Mekong..(pics)

I have made it with the slow boat to reach Thailand and now I am getting organized for the next steps, it's always like this when you enjoy something, the "clock clicks" faster and you enter a bit in the FOMO thing, trapped by the usual need of the mind to be pleased and satisfied, so that our senses get what they ask for....that's why I am looking at vipassana, that's what this trip is for and that's where we get to know ourselves the truly way we really are..

Why should we live a life following the instructions or directions of another individual?...or influenced by those people that are or we just believe important??...hello!!!???just so you know, it's you the most important thing (or individual!!!) so why don't you go where you want, towards the direction of your dreams?? eventually the path will explain you the priorities and the needs you really require to look for...bla bla bla it's so easy to preach....with the mouth we can say what we want, isn't it?

sunrise at the dock...

living in the middle of nowhere....(on the side of the river...)

the front (locals) side of the boat...

Asia's lessons...

Today a old man passed away in the street leading to the most popular bar/club/hangout of the city...
Us "farangs" (that is actually the word that the locals used for the french colonizers and that now has become the common word for any foreigner, mainly of caucasian race) passing by as if it was nothing on the way to have fun and feel alive......I dunno how many of us noticed it...
The ritual of the funeral actually wants people to celebrate rather than feel sorry about it, ten or more tables in front of the house, people eating, talking, laughing and playing cards, a little golden wooden house with flowers and other ornaments and the picture of the man that passed away and another white one.....
I know Asia sees death as a step (the next) in the life of a soul, as the transition into a new life form, the continuation of the real nature of the living being, but realize it as I did tonight, came as a slap on the face; a slap on the face to our odd and limited approach to the topic that is one of the big taboos of the western world....as nothing had really happened, they seemed to peacefully and pretty happily living that moment, actually intrigued by all these white weirdo looking people around!!
There is a lot to learn from each other (cultures) and a lot that will never be fully understood or learned, a lot that needs a proper explanation or most likely a lot that we will never know in this lifetime (or maybe realize in our next?)
Tomorrow I am setting myself to experience one of the most popular yet intriguing activity in all south east Asia, the slow boat (2 days?) on the Mekong river to reach the Golden triangle, where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet (and where they used to meet to exchange drugs and illegal goods...).. from there to re-enter Thailand where I am seriously considering something that I always "feared" (or better believed impossible for me!): a vipassana meditation retreat...

maybe one day we will know how squirrels taste!!!

the land of a million elephants

Laos captivates you, there is something in the air here amongst forests, tribe villages and watercourses and even if there are sometimes events that make you feel annoyed or upset, here I am getting positive vibes seriously...
I am in one of the most popular destination in the whole region: Luang Prabang, previous capital of the Lan Xang (land of a million elephants) empire; you can hear any accents or languages and you can see every type of tourists, after all is also one of the best preserved old towns and one of the richest, culturally and historically speaking..
I am shocked at times to see how much tourism spoils places and traditions, and I would pay to know what locals think of us "farangs" and our attitude and lack of empathy...
The long and frustrating road from Vientiane takes you for an impressive landscape and small villages born on the side of the only road paved (or being paved!!) and few steps away from the ravines...kids and chickens sharing the same playground and the same risks, open shower (and water supplier) for everyone and a simple basic life based on their own bamboo framed veggie gardens..
Laos has still got the charme and the naivety of what Asia used to be maybe, yet I fear is gonna lose them...as we did in the west, I happened to think these days how it used to be "our world" when we were not so full of ourselves and "rich"!!!!
Laos where is effective a curfew and where is illegal to "get closer" or intimate to local women!!! (just like in Thailand!!!); where the orange robes of the monks are normality and nearly on every corner....or just lining up in hundreads for sunrise to receive alms from people (here in Luang Prabang even from tourists, sadly in a shameful and disturbing way!!! that spoils the real ancient and deep meaning of the ceremony).

same same...but different....

....while I am still trying to figure out why there are so many red flags with the hammer and sickle symbol around the Lao People's Democratic Republic capital Vientiane, I am deciding on taking a vipassana meditation course/retreat sometimes in the next few weeks...
A cold and unusually elegant sleeper night bus took me from the south to the north, to a cloudy and dusty, yet relaxed and town feel city, a friendship's bridge away from Thailand.
A strategic place to acquire visas (I obtained my Myanmar one) or extend the time in the land that was of thousand smiles...
I enjoyed and made myself very busy in this three days in the capital with the help of some fellow travellers and of a convenient 10000 Kip (little bit more than a euro!) per day bycicle hostel fare, appreciating the social Lao time freeing small birds in front of temples and enjoy of good luck (you have to bargain and buy the caged little birds) or on the riverside amongst roller bladers, cyclists, runners, kids playing badmington or colourful old and young ladies in something that could be a zumba and aerobics combination...
It's hard to believe that Laos and Cambodia share a very low economical condition and a very high level of corruption putting them close to be some of the poor and worst countries in the world!
It's hard to believe it, when the young boy that at night is selling you street food, in the early morning is helping his father's boat transfers business, checking his smartphone or when you ask for the price of a coconut on the side of the road and the young girl takes her 10 inches tablet to write the price on the calculator!!!
It's the dry season here, in this part of the world, and it's hot and humid but it's also the wedding season, the celebrations season and everywhere it looks like somebody is getting married and drunk with beers (champagne or bubbles are too expensive, or snob, I guess!!)..

PS: Today I got asked if I was from Pakistan (my curls are getting serious) and when I replied "Italia" the fruit shake lady said "Italia, Australia same same???".....Italia, my left harm opened wide went up, Australia, my right harm opened went down!!!same same.....but different!!!!

buying caged birds to set them free and get luck and happiness....a Lao thing!!

orange t-shirts team and red flags moving at the rhytm of electro music

Vientiane Patuxay Patuxai (Arc de Triomphe)

old lady street pharmacist (or drugs/spice seller)

an idea of the Mekong island life...

sunset on the dock of Ban Nakasang from where the "slim" boats take you to Don Det

"urbanization" of a tiny island (7 km of perimeter) 

one of the many (cryful) new borns of the island....

Been there, Don Det (island)...

Laos is the only landlocked country in south east Asia and yet has four thousands islands...on the Mekong river; this mighty trans-boundary river starts on the tibetan plateau and flows all the way south to finish his course in the south China sea, crossing every country on the way and playing at times as border between Myanmar and Thailand and Laos..
The life on the shores of the river here in Don Det is noisy, because of the engines of the fishermen boats and the locals playing loud music on huge speakers yet peaceful as life in Asian countryside is expected to be....
Walking around (or cycling) as I did today, you still see and feel the real island life: topless old ladies cooking or weaving, cries of newborn babies nearly everywhere, shoutings of wannabe free diver fishermen kids or the sleepiness of the older ones helping the bar/restaurant family business, men building new boats or concrete houses, and chickens and cats and dogs fighting for the leftovers, or maybe the buffalo that chose the stretch of street just below my window for his impressive poop..
Walking around you also see how the island adapted to the tourists that shirtless and Laobeer on hand don't get the usual attention and "Saibadii" (hello in Lao language) from the local kids..
Fruit shakes, samosas and pancakes, and of course sodas and chips are available everywhere, as well as tubing, beers and drugs, but that part you can easily avoid it if you wish!
I guess also I had enough of the quiet and simple island life (already!!) and after my fourth night I am looking for something new...Vientiane, the capital should be my next destination...

cheats never prosper

I am starting to notice a pattern between no yoga practice in the morning and getting in trouble during the day!!!...and of course I love to find myself getting in trouble even if I have officials in front of me...
I mean they are, or maybe they just play the role of, officials, even if some of them are wearing a plain old fashioned white t-shirt (health vest?)...but guess what?! they are still THE officials and you don't wanna run your game in their country, so you should play by their rules!!
That's what I should have thought if I had spent some 15-20 minutes breathing slowly and excercising.....but I didn't, the minivan pick up was estimated for 7:30 (arrived at 8:05 ) and the day before I was up at 4:30 for the sunrise half day trip of the Angkor temples....I have no excuses, I know...
On the minivan we were 10, two scandinavians, two germans, a swiss couple, a austrian, a irish, a japanese and me!!!
The Dong Kralor-Veun Khan land border crossing is the only one between Cambodia and Lao and very well known in this region for being one of the few where if you wanna get stamped out and stamped in you have to pay a 2 US$ fee! (a self set fee from the officials)...
I have always been very annoyed at this kind of corrupted behaviours and I always worked a plan to win over it, and if I have on my records succeeded at Rosso (Mauritania-Senegal) or at Montenegro-Albania one, I knew I had little chances here!!
But that's the challenge, isn't it?? I had even the back up of the rest of the minivan (except the japanese!!)..
After a good 30 minutes of stand up against the wooden stall that the cambodian immigration office is, we managed to get stamped out without paying the "fee", yet the official spitefully stamped us in the middle of a brand new passport page and even worst for me, that I was the head of the revolution, on two separate pages pretending one was a mistake and stamping "cancel" on it!!
Another "battle" waited for us to enter Lao that of course enjoys of a privileged and better position knowing you wouldn't go back to Cambodia just because of the "fee"!!!
A good 40 minutes of haggling and discussion didn't get our passports stamped for free, other travellers would just pass in front of us, complain of the corruptive behaviour, pay and go...
Even our driver started to play by the official side unloading our bags from the minivan and threatening to leave us there..
When we gave up and felt it was enough the wait, and also the useless "Don Chisciotte against the windmills" fight, we paid the fee even though they did oppose against stamping mine of course!!
As soon as they did though we left with our (mine!!) threat to go and talk to the officials in the capital Vientiane as I had taken down their names...
The day (finally) smoothly ended in Don Det, one of the Si Phan Don (four thousand islands) on the Mekong river in a spartan bungalow with a hammock, a bed and a mosquito net over the water for 5 US$, amongst overweight ducks, cute kids, shy internet connection, nicotine addict locals, happy meals (THC added!!) for tourists and not much to do!!!

Angkor what???

intense days in Siem Reap, Cambodia, the Cuzco of South East Asia...a city that is catering for any budget and welcoming any colour and any language, and all the good and the bad things with it; a must stop for many people passing in the region and one of those places that maybe needs to be visited before leaving this planet (eventually)...
The Angkor Archaelogical park, in fact, is an incredible excursion, just few kilometres north of the city, and it brings to present the magic of the power that the Khmer (Angkor) civilization has been...
The area is huge and so are the masses of tourists waking up at 4 o'clock to enjoy of the sunrise that honestly was not as spectacular but that at least it gives you a reason to enjoy of the early hours of the day that are the cooler..
Yesterday, maybe more the style of my traveling, I joined Sam Ath, a management university student that runs half day bike tours in the villages around Siem Reap...
His company excursion has basic stops at local families experiencing simple things as fresh coconuts, pigs and rice fields as well as more interesting ones as rice wine production, rattan basket making and rice noodle making, stopping by a local farmer market too in a 20 km loop around countryside roads and canals..
It seemed an amazing way to spread money around the community and people that don't really have the chance to interact with all those tourists that come here to get the perfect shots of the temples or maybe the perfect selfie for their weekly facebook profile...
Supporting also the young students and generations that still need to recover from a heavy past...
I have been pleasantly surprised by the energies and the smiles and the colours of the experience, yesterday's (pictures) post cannot really tell....

Bayon temple

the power of nature over Angkor

an extraordinary cambogian day..

confident and shiny, a countryside grown up kid...

the predominant colour of the rural area

kids making their day pass...

cat chilling above the rice in the middle of fermentation...

heat, dust and smiles: Phnom Penh

The name doesn't help to remember it, the city itself doesn't offer that much amazing and the temperature doesn't really make you want staying longer, but Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, actually welcomed me into the real and serious travel again, after the slow month and I embraced it quite positively...
A good 11 hours journey using any form of transportations: I rode my rented scooter to the port in Koh Chang, the ferry to get to the mainland, a pick up taxi to the bus station, a mini van to the border, a mototaxi to a old big bus in the sandy bus terminal of Koh Kong and a tuk tuk to reach my hostel...in the middle the border where again I had to give my fingerprints as in Malaysia and USA!!! (I am not that fond of it but I accept it for the sake of traveling, even if it's not a practice used in every other border in Cambodia)... and 37 USD!!!
The first thing of the day was for me to shorten my beard and I ended up doing it myself again as Naden in the unisex barber shop had never seen a long beard before, she panicked, so I handed her 1 US dollar and she passed me the hair trimmer....easy!!
While bouncing from a stall to another I kept fighting the heat with a freshly squeezed orange juice, a freshly hand crushed sugar cane juice, and a big coconut till I reached the Psar Chaa (the old market)...
I love my local markets: live fish being gut next to the chicken sellers, baguette and frogs, fruits and vegetables next to the key cutter and the ladies getting pedicure, clams and flowers while scooters find their way in the crowd.....

efficient young mum frying rice balls and rocking her baby hammock...

a ordinary market perspective

the smiley "peppered eggs moto stall" man...

it looks like a bar turned into a cinema...