Life Outside the Cubicle: Mae Hong Son

Liiiiiiii! Ginaaaaaaa! That's how we greet each other. Li lives in Mae Hong Son and that is pretty much the only reason I came all the way out here. It's a lovely town hemmed in on all sides by hills and forests. The feel is small town and relaxed and the locals love seeing foreigners in their little heaven. A good place to relax before moving for a few days again. Li is busy working but it has been nice seeing her regardless. Girl loves heself some air-conditioning despite the fact that the temperatures drop to somewhere between 17 and 20 degrees at night and are not too hot. I had to make her turn it off the first night because I was freezing my ass off. And in true Li fashion she still lives in a guest house after 2 months in Thailand. Apparently homes are hard to come by in a place with only 9000 inhabitants.

While she has been at work I walked around town and had my picture taken on elephant sculptures at a monastery on a hill by a monk. He was very insistent about taking my picture and made me put the camera down before he picked it up. That's the sort of thing that takes getting used to. Women are not allowed to touch Buddhist monks, so when he kept pointing at my camera and motioning for me to put it down I was totally lost. I kept thinking "but how are you going to take my picture if I put the camera down on the railing?" That was a bit dense on my part I must admit. He picked it up after I put it down which is how he avoided touching me. I knew that! I read it in my guidebook. Duh. He and his monk friend were so cute trying to figure out the digital camera and framing the perfect picture. It took them ten minutes before they had the perfect composition for the shot.

The wat (monastery/temple) itself blinded me when I got up the hill. The thing was a pristine white and the sun reflected right off it causing my corneas to completely shut down for a moment before readjusting. I've never seen so much white in one place since the all you can eat buffets at Uncle Willi's in Vancouver.

The day took a turn at the tourist information office in town. I met Jerry, an American travelling alone by car for the last few weeks. He was starved for companionship and turned out to be one of the funniest, most neurotic, sarcastic people I've ever met. He lives in Trinidad and is a psychologist (something that made me laugh when he told me because he constantly interrupts you when you speak). We went to the fish caves together but first we accidentally stopped at a forest monastery where a group of zen-over-the-top-California-type-spiritual Americans tried to tell us how 'special' it was to visit the spot and be blessed by the monk who lived there. We went up and sat in front of the monk in a cave and he smiled and chatted in Thai. I have no clue what he said but Jerry got up and walked away which he said is all he could do to fight the urge to crawl into the cave to get a better look at the Buddha sculptures lit up by candle light. Those hippie Americans were right after all, it was 'special'. The monk began to tie a white string around my wrist and bless me with a prayer. I called out over my shoulder "Don't worry, I'll get the blessing for the both of us." We did eventually find the fish cave with the hundreds of carp swimming into a cave in the clear, clear water. The experience was slightly disappointing because the fish weren't jumping, which is what I expected, but on the upside the grounds were idyllic, much like in an old English painting. The sort of place I believe Whistler would have painted had he not been painting his mother. A picture of the fish and the grounds is posted on my flickr site.

Jerry rushed back to his hotel to make a phone call and then we took off to the hills beyond Mae Hong Son. The Mexican daisies (which is what they really are although they are billed as sunflowers on the brochures) were breathtaking. The hills were covered in them for miles. We stayed for the sunset and the hills took on a misty glow with various shades of blue, pink and eventually red undulating into the distance of Burma. One of the greatest natural sights I've encountered on my trip. My camera didn't have a good enough depth of field to do the horizon justice.

Tomorrow I am off to Laos. It will likely take me somewhere between 36 and 48 hours to reach Luang Prabang as there is some backtracking involved. I am so looking forward to Laos!

Here are some pictures Gavan sent me:

Me, Sandra and George