What is to be done once at the mountaintop?
Once having surveyed the delights to be seen
Can you shout into the valleys till the echoes stop?
Telling all who care to wonder where you’ve been

Counting the cost when the afternoon storm arrives
There’s no magic lantern to wish you safe and sound
Darwin showed us that the smartest one survives
Keeping their heads down back home on the ground

6th Dec 2024 – Shared with Poets and Storytellers – adventures

---

Today I’m feeling:

Exhausted! But happily so. I had a disrupted sleep with having to deal with the results of the spicy seafood sauce from last night as it got stuck straight into my bowels!

But I got up easily and quickly at 6.30 and we set off biking again soon after. We took a very dodgy detour that took us so far into the unknown, wondering if we’d ever make it back.

In a tiny village tucked in between cornrow hills, an old Auntie and uncle, who seemed a little unaccustomed to Thai, and even more so to two dirty farangs emerging through their dog-infested dirt tracks, helped stave off some thirst and hunger with a grocery of delights hidden in a shack underneath reams of old corrugated iron but do be sure to take off your shoes! Nervous dogs sniffed nervously, on the constant scavenge.

It felt like we were making good time but a breakdown in here would’ve consumed the rest of the day and it wasn’t even 8am yet.

Already shaken from intermittent dodgy rocky roads, it dawned that there was another hour and a half of this ahead!

In most part beautiful but also at times frustratingly shaky, I prayed little Fino could hold itself together.

Today I’m grateful for:

Little Fino performing, as one would reasonably expect any modern piece of expensive motoring machinery, magnificently despite the abuse I brought forth on it over the last two days. I would not be surprised if he sounds a bit cranky in the morning.

The best thing about today was:

Getting to Chiang Rai and familiar surroundings was a welcome feeling. At least if something went wrong here I had some idea of where to head for help.

After our morning wilderness adventure, I told Bruno there was no need to wait for me and we made our way separately North from Lampang.

I took some minor detours and when back into recognisable territory I decided to follow the Mae Lao klong (which was sublime) up past Singha Park and then back off the highway after following cute girls on what must have been their boyfriend’s souped-up motorbikes, that popped so loudly as they flew past fuel tankers whilst desperately clasping their phones in one hand.

Past the prison and up into Mae Yao through the back of Bandu and the university and delivered, finally, to my first coffee of the day back at home in Utopia! That coffee was the best ever!

It was already 2 pm and my ears were still full of wind, my hands shaking from hours of gripping the handlebars, and my eyes and clothes full of smoke and dust. It felt so good to be back home!

What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?

Lots of things were out of my control today and I happily went along with everything. I’m pretty easy to please.

Something I learned today?

The ACTUAL axis of evil seems to be the USA, Zionists and…… well, an axis only needs two, doesn’t it?

Review your acts, and then for vile deeds chide yourself, for good be glad. — Discourses 3.10

Spending a few baht in a village shop to give the locals some income, though I think Bruno actually paid!

In another village where Bruno stopped to stuff himself with som tum, the family there were so tickled to be serving a couple of ‘crackers’ and we happily obliged them with photos, which I hope they print out and put up one day to fade in the dust and sun of posterity.

If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?

The way I was raised was fine, even great. The circumstances could have been different though. However, because my father died before I even knew him I never knew what it was like to have and lose him. I wonder how much impact that has had on my personality and life in general?

My mum was very liberal with me and I got to make plenty of my own mistakes. I grew up slowly. Like most teenagers, I thought I knew everything and I could fake being mature. My mum generally left me to it.