Author Archives: Jim

Temporal Field Distortions

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We left Luang Prabang feeling a little sick to our stomachs—which was an improvement over how we had felt the past two days. A day or so after we got to town we discovered a street vendor selling a delicious all-you-can fit-on one-plate vegetarian buffet, for about $1. Such a deal. We ate there three nights in a row with no ill effect. We got done in by a restaurant. We decided to splurge and had some Indian food as a treat. You never know what’s going to get you. But Luang Prabang also left us feeling a bit nauseous … Continue reading →

Slow Boat to Luang Prabang

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To me, that sounds like a good title for a novel—Slow Boat to Luang Prabang. The ideal length for such a book would be something one could read in two days, the amount of time it took us to get down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang from our departure point, Huay Xai (spelled a half dozen different ways, but pronounced “whey sigh”). Huay Xai is just across the river from the Thai town of Chiang Khong, where we spent the previous night. I guess our river trip actually began with a short ride across to Huay Xai on the … Continue reading →

Chinese New Year

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After an understandably quiet Christmas in this Buddhist country we started wondering where we should plan to be on New Year’s. We couldn’t justify dallying any longer in Chiang Mai, and we needed to be heading north in the general direction of where we would cross into Laos. In Chiang Mai we had been talking with an interesting Thai shopkeeper, a young woman who came from a farming family in the eastern part of the country. In her business these days she traveled quite a bit, dealing with some of the hill tribes in the north. She suggested that we … Continue reading →

A Slice of Pai

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After Chiang Mai our next destination was a small town up in the mountains of northern Thailand called Pai. Pai was a hippie haven back in the 70s, along with legendary destinations such as Katmandu Nepal, Goa India, Kabul Afghanistan and a few other places. There are still echoes of that era in Pai with a lot of semi-mellow neo-hippies, Thai Rastafarians, New Agers and assorted characters, not to mention restaurants with brown rice, yoghurt and good whole wheat bread. There is a nightly street market. But unlike the other markets we’ve enjoyed so far, most of the stuff in … Continue reading →

Chillin’ in Chiang Mai

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I was going to say that Thailand is a feast for the senses. But in our experience so far it is more like diving face first into a buffet. All the senses are indulged and stimulated to the point to where it is difficult to savor anything in particular. Sights and sounds, smells and tastes all mingle together. And if it all gets too exhausting one is never far from a row of comfy chairs lining the street with masseuses eager to rub your feet, back, shoulders or whatever. That’s about as sensual as it can get. But I am … Continue reading →