A week in the lives of Mango and Dango:
Sleeping with Elephants outside your door, Bathing in the river with these giant creatures and receiving elephant kisses from the troublesome youth, Riding Motor scooters down the road of a thousand hair pin bends, swimming down a river jumping from rock face into lower pools in search of a crystal pond, spelunking a limestone cave which has been overlooked by tour companies and lonely planet, Negotiating the purchase of bamboo rafts all afternoon only to end up tattooing farang across your forehead and receiving the worst product for almost double the price and then sharing a bottle of bootleg whiskey as you float down the river with the culprit only to find yourself hours later curled up on the floor of your bamboo hut like a piece of fried pig skin expelling everything but your organs, Working side by side with Thai bamboo workers learning the craft and splitting bamboo with machetes and wooden logs, bathing in a river in your underwear come evening time in order to feel at one with your environment, Participating in a traditional Thai wedding that started at 9 am with loud Thai pop music and involved us holding banana plants and sugar cane as we parade the groom down the street into the party were he has to bribe the family members with envelopes of money for passage shortly there after we begin to dowse ourselves with beer Leo and homemade Kambucha.
All this is possible within a week in Northern Thailand. To tell you the truth it was quite overwhelming and a little bit foolish to pack so much in one week when the idea of this travel is slowing down and contemplating time. But hey when the river begins to flow it is often times best to just let go and go with the flow. To plan has become a nuisance to just be has become present. After the wedding Mango and I packed our bags and loaded ourselves onto a local bus headed for the Laos border where we jumped on a packed slow boat and began our two day journey along the Mekong River into Luang Prubang, Laos. What a web the Laos people have woven, Communist flags are flying high above the Steaming pavement and the people have not lost their history to the capitalist agenda. Slowly the country is changing, but there are hill tribes everywhere and the country is Rich with culture and history.
I have also been getting a brief history lesson while exploring the vast caves that are spread throughout Laos that were once used as shelter to hide civilians from the American government and their dirty little secret wars. I never knew how much devastation the American military had brought to this region of the world during their fight against communism. I had never even heard of the bombs being dropped on the north of Laos from 1965-75. Apparently the country of Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world per capita. There are still tons of unexploded bombs littering the country side. What has been going on in the world and where have we been. An economy based on war. What a scary concept.
Mango and I spent a majority of our time in Laos in two smaller villages north of Laos called Nong khiaw and Mong Gnoi where we were trying to buy a wooden fishing boat to paddle back down the river to Luang Prabang. It would have been a 4-5 day journey of 5 hours of paddling a day asking for lodging in small villages along the way and eating rice and laap with a healthy Beer Laos to wash it all down. What a beautiful experience this will be. In Nong Khiaw we found a crew but the boat purchase fell through, We then took a motor boat upstream and found a boat but lost our crew. I was feeling attached to the idea and began feeling disappointed and discouraged when the thoughts of the Bhudda came to me and reminded me that “the way to enlightenment is to have no attachment”, a sense of ease came over me and I decided that when the time is right all the pieces will come together harmoniously. After we realized that we were unable to sail down the river on our own we decided to pack up and head to Indonesia: after a 6 hour boat ride, a 9 hour bus ride which turned into a 21 hour epic of break downs and blow outs, a 12 hour overnight train ride which time traveled us deep into the American wild west, an overnight stay in Bangkok which has landed me in front of the computer typing this letter ready to jump on another 12 hour overnighter we will finally be beachside ready to Snorkel rock climb, and continue writing our new show in the privacy of monkeys, coconuts and jungle coastline.


It has been extremely difficult to sit myself in front of a computer for any amount of time, this letter itself has been taxing though not quite as much as the heat and hustle of the Bangkok streets. I love you all and will see you soon.

The Way to do is to be.

I will post some more photos in an hour or so. feel free to check the flicker account this afternoon.

Hugs kisses and best wishes .

Hello everyone,

Hello everyone,

I do not know where to begin. I have been wrapped in a whirlwind of thoughtfulness which in turn has left me thoughtless. This is not a completely new experience for me just continually trying to let go and flow on. Mango and I have just arrived in Chiang Mai after a 16 hour 3rd class train ride from Ayutthaya Thailand. We opted to take the slowest and cheapest train in order to soak in the countryside and lower class Thai spices. When I say lower class that is a misrepresentation since 95% of Thais are in the same class level, let’s say common class or let’s say real Thai. This train ride cost us 120 Baht per person which is about $3.25 from the far south to the deep North. WoW. The people we met, the songs they sang, the Dried squid on a stick that we shared (goes great with singha : )… the conversations we mimed and spoke outright in our fluent languages, neither breaking for a translation, and the basic need for acceptance we shared. This is what traveling is all about. Suitcase rolling, clubhouse slithering, fake tan farangs no where to be found, what a blessing. We played with a little Thai girl traveling with her grandma for about 5 hours before they disembarked the train in a small village in the middle of Knowwhere. Tears creeping in, rays of love illuminating the interior walls. Before she left she lifted her shirt to reveal another shirt that read Kansas City BBQ, San Diego, CA. she then Pressed her palms together gave us a gracious bow that only the divine himself, or a child could give and pitter pattered into the jungle with Grandma by her side.

Everyday we are experiencing the Thai wisdom that is abound in this beautiful thought provoking country. The people are so kind and gentle. (Of course snakes slither no matter what garden you are tending) Karma is an everyday thought amongst the Thai people. Buddhists believing in Reincarnation are very thoughtful when it comes to their time spent in this current life. You never know when you are going to leave or how you will be returning. One must live life beyond its expectations and spread love and goodness that's it. (April and jenny wisdom, bless you both) Mango and I have spent a lengthy share visiting Buddhist temples in both Japan and Thailand and I have felt myself drifting further and further into the vast emptiness of Buddhism and animism. It is what it is, you are what you ain't, there are no mistakes. I have also been making comparisons, though I try my best not to, between people living under western and eastern religion and those living amongst Buddhist practice. The ever constant idea of suffering against the ever constant goal of enlightenment, The cyclic order of a souls existence, verses the one chance and it's over roullete. I know one thing for sure, people have a different air about them in Thailand, something that has inspired and impressed me.

Well enough of that. Mango and I are off today to explore Chiang Mai from the belly up and then will be leaving tomorrow to do a three day stay at an elephant sanctuary were we will be tickling elephants nostrils and tantilizing our deeper hunger for the unknown which is abound in the southeast.
We Love you all and cannot wait to share more. I have uploaded photos from our trip to flickr you can look them up under this link.
flickr.com/photos/34517352@N04/

P.s

Mango and I had a very enlightening experience at a place called the Tiger Temple in Kanchana buri Thailand which many of you may have already heard about. If not you will soon enough. They are trying to raise 15 million dollars this summer with the help of American donors. Mango and I will be hosting some sort of fundraiser for them this June.
If any one is interested in getting involved please do what you can to get informed about the temple and start getting your brain cells firing we need your help.

Namaste

Much love from the far far south east.

Love
Mango and Dango

well, I was confused and overwhelmed by the my experiences in Japan which read through the letters and lines. I also had a little help from the misconfiguration or translation of my writing. on top of this Tribe only allows me to post photos under one Mb. Because of this i will not be using tribe for my travel blog. Bummer. I am currently searching for a site that will be condusive to blogging our trip. For some reason all the sites i am pulling up in Thailand are giving me those litttle blocks that plagued my last message. oh well, i will do my best this afternoon to get this all fiqured out and send some coo stuff your way through an alternate sight.
If any one knows someone at the top of the tribe ladder please stomp on their toes for me. Just joking. But really i thought burners were really smart and inventive whats up with these techies. lazy or what. Keep up.

Much love guys.
Derrick

"Experiments and exercises in becoming a radically curious, wildly disciplined,ironically sincere master of sacred uproar."
}being of wisdom, somewhere in the world+

Time for sale, trade, gift ,or non excempt loan. You got the dime we got the time. If there`ｓ a ｃｒｅｄｉｔ　ｃｒｕｎｃｈ--　ｄｏｎｔ　
ｗｏｒｒｙ--　sit down, well have Brunch. Is your time short? Dreaming too long? Theres a reason your in a hurry but still not leavin. Imagination interrupted is all too wrong when your livin upside down in an upright song. Sit down! breath deep, fart loud and soak long.

Nikko is nippon, Tokyo in Nippon, Nippon is yatta!

remember---- There are no mistakes, only opportunities, assert your feelings, conciousness, loving self. Destroy hate and Ego.

Sing songs deep and long . I love you all and i miss you.

MANGO AND DANGO

We are working our way back from a year filled with adventure and surprise.

We will update everyone soon.