"A sum of money is a leading character in this tale about people, just as a sum of honey might properly be a leading character in a tale about bees." - Kurt Vonnegut

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Detour

“Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.”  -Kurt Vonnegut

Farm life ended yesterday afternoon and I wondered briefly when I would next have the opportunity to shovel chicken shit.  And hoped that it might be soon.  The next morning at 5am I rode back into Chiang Mai on a local bus along with another departing WWOOFer, at which time I allowed myself to be persuaded that an hour in an herbal steam sauna was a luxury I could not afford to pass up.   That being settled, the conversation turned to my travel plans, which it turns out are painfully vague, aside from my intention to leave Thailand before my visa expires on April 6th.  My companion spoke of a contact, a gentleman from Alaska of unknown occupation who lives in a tiny village five hours to the North, and asked if I’d like to spend a few days off the beaten track.   The offer was so mysterious and unexpected that it demanded my immediate acceptance.

My plans seem to become less clear with each passing day.  The creep of time is shocking to me. I am trying to figure out how a month in Thailand, once an unimaginable surplus of time, has become a troublesome constraint.  My detour north opens the door to crossing into Laos, but Cambodia, in spite of being in the opposite direction, is the more prudent choice, allowing a logical line to be drawn from its theoretically beautiful southern beaches, through Vietnam, then Laos, and finally China.  Indonesia, particularly Bali, has also come into the picture, another peculiar suggestion from a WWOOFer that I find I can't just leave on it's page in my notebook.         

It’s evening now and I’m freshly steamed, herbed, scrubbed and shaved.  This town has been good to me yet again and there is a flickering temptation to stick to the known quantities and follow the dotted line of tourist hubs to the Cambodian border with plenty of time to spare.  But despite feeling the unpleasant weight of my visa expiration pressing closer, I think I’ve successfully convinced myself that there’s still time for this impulsive detour before I leave the country.   Plans change.  A new friend makes a suggestion and…well…I’m slowly learning to embrace this kind of thing.  

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