some photographs

captions for all the photographs: coming soon

THANK YOU TO MY TEACHERS AT WAT PO / CHETAWAN:

Kay

Somewarn and Kay and one day I will learn how to spell correctly,

but despite wrong order of letters: I definitely appreciate you immensely. 

all the amazing teachers (naming only some of the wonderful team):

Somwarn, Nui, Ting, Kay, Ais, Nim,..) 

Ting

sharing lunch with everybody

 

below: a cheap meal at a vegetarian restaurant, frequented by locals 

and falang alike (falang = foreigners)

My humble gratitude goes out to all I met along the journey, and 

life would not be the same without the strangers at the side of the

path of my journey. The cows roaming the streets, or being milked 

on the sidewalks, the women of all ages, tirelessly and almost always

with grace living their lifetime. Women crouching by the side of the 

road to clean kitchen utensils in a washing tin.. I want to thank all I 

saw, all who pointed me in the right direction. I learnt much from 

witnessing the small things for just moments of your lives. I am 

indescribably grateful for having met you all. I treasure the memories.

India is such a challenge, and I didn't enjoy the challenge this time

round, but I appreciate it in retrospect. I can't explain the magic of 

India, but no matter what it throws at you it is a place where so, so

much can happen that you could never experience or find in other 

places. India is a place that lives intensely. The opportunism of 

entrepreneurs often made life so much more difficult than it needed to 

be, but still something sounds through that carries magic, even if you

again paid twice the price for something worth a quarter of what you 

paid... India is indescribable, and a lot of hard work, or depending on

your vision and approach, India is gentle and full of wisdom you would

do very well to tune your ears to. 

Living in Cambodia is not easy, I can not understand how people

find the enthusiasm day after day to continue on such a rocky path.

Perhaps there is more Yoga there than you could imagine? Something

keeps the country alive, and alive with a grace and healthy pride. The 

always mentioned trauma of the Khmer Rouge Years remains a primary

source of income for many. Countless amputees will approach you to

help earn a living. Often whole families will depend on your small gift.

But hold a moment, there are also other ways to help, your time is

priceless. Believe me, the difference you can make with passion and 

time is immense. Also do take a look at local charities, those change 

futures and your donation, however small can go far there.

The man below is a friend of the father of my long time friend Nakry.

Some may remember my stories about my friend Nakry who, with

tireless positivity makes his way through a very poor life. I would like

to tell you more about this another time. You can also check my other 

blog 'over the seven seas' for a little of the story I will rewrite another 

time and share here.

Visiting a village, which was devastated by the flooding across the whole 

region last autumn / winter (october 2012, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos..)

I shared my polaroid photographs and took with me only the digital photo

leaving behind the physical one. More important than this photograph is

the memory of that afternoon and how this woman welcomed me into

her care for a short hour. Too short. Too few shared words. But more 

than enough intuitive understanding from the heart

It was only thanks to Noung that I had the beautiful experience of

meeting the villagers, who lost their rice crops to the flooding. It is 

also only because of Noung that I didn't miss the once a year chance

to see a Khmer shadow puppet play, it's less a puppet in the sense

that you might initially think. The scenes from the Ramayana are cut 

into leather hides and held against the light as a narrator tells the story, 

actors lend their bodies and voices, musicians bring yet more life to 

the story. Of course not speaking khmer one is at a disadvantage, but 

to see such a performance that would have looked just like this 50, 100 

and 150 years ago is priceless. I am grateful to my german student 

Noung for sharing some of Cambodia's treasures with me

What you see below is a floating village on the Tonle Sap lake.

There are many of these villages atop it's surface. This village actually

is not floating but standing on 3-5 meter high stilts. All houses stand

on these stilts to accommodate the dramatic change in water levels

that occurs like this nowhere else in the world that I know of.

The oranges below are priced by the kilo, and 40 Baht are about 

equal to $1 / £0.90. 

Thai sweets made from sweet bean paste and I assume a lot of un-

natural colouring.. Still they were just too desirable, and I occasionally

bought a batch from the market that we lived near to (Thanin Market).. 

The sweets above were from Sunday Walking Street, I didn't actually 

buy these. The portion seemed a little large..

one of my favourite temples in Chiang Mai

Below: leaving chalk in Burma

postcard photograph of a cat we saw in Burma

Wat Po, the home of Traditional Thai Massage Teaching, the home 

of Traditional Thai Medicine. This temple is beautiful, as you walk

among it's countless stupas you feel like as if you are in another time.

I think you actually might be. I feel enriched and nourished from having

spent time there. I am so grateful to the school for having given me

so much new knowledge, for having tested my endurance, for always 

greeting me with kindness and an open heart. I learnt so much from

things none of the teachers spoke about but all lived by example: My 

teacher's humanity and wisdom spoke volumes without making a sound.

All the temple photographs below are Wat Po in Bangkok. I actually

studied with the small school that they opened in Chiang Mai. Where

I enjoyed the smallness of the city, it's proximity to the mountains/hills

and the relaxed life that never stops. People work so hard, but they have

a way of doing it in an almost effortless and most often joyful way. How 

else could the lady working in the market from 8am to 10pm maintain her

friendly smile. And I watch her be just as friendly with strangers..

artists on sunday walking street, painting duo..

And below is Manop, Jason's music teacher. We wished he could speak

english better or we could speak some Thai. You see much in his nature

and occasionally he would tell us things about his life, but sadly we could 

never have a continuous conversation with him. The language barrier was 

too great. What we do know is that he is generous and made it possible for

us to stay together much longer than we could have if we hadn't had his great

offer of a room. twice!