Someone build me an ark!

I should have learned by now to expect the unexpected. After 14 hours on a train up to what I thought would be two days in Chiang Mai followed by a leisurely cruise along the Mekhong to Laos I was met with yet another surprise (and consequent change in plans.) The train ride was all good until 10 km out of Chiang Mai city the train stopped, busted into reverse and dropped us off in a farmers feild in the middle of the pouring rain. Why you ask? well apparently at 5am that morning the Mekhong (my planned route into Laos) had busted it banks due to a hella rainstorm somewhere in the Laotian mountains and now the entire city of Chiang Mai was waist deep in water. The army was in, there was a state of emergency, the city had come to a complete standstill. So there I was, alone in a farmer's feild on my first day of solo travel in my life and I had no idea what I was going to do. That was 12:30pm. By 7pm I had finally managed to make it to a guest house. That was after trying my darndest to get the hell outta town. Unfortunately every other tourist was in the save "evacuation" frame of mind and after a tripto the airport and a three our attempt to make it to the train station I gave up and went to bed.

The flood waters have gone down a bit today but there are still a lot of places that are underwater. Unfortunately the Mekhong is out of comission now so my trip to Laos is officially off. I bought a plane ticket to Koh Samui today. Totally over the budget but I want my last few days of this holiday to be relaxing and memorable. Not water logged and miserable. I'll worry about the financial side of things some other time.

I've learned from this that I don't like travelling on my own. I'm lonely i like being in the company of someone else. Probably if i had a travelling partner i wouldn't have copped out and headed back to the safety of the south. I probably would have just gone someone else in the north that wasn't flooded but I don't want to deal with the uncertainty on my own without any support. Weak? well ya, I guess so but oh well, as long as I'm happy (althought my bank account isn't!)

Not that much longer and I will be home in Japan in the company of Luciano (although not for long by the sounds of things) and back in the swing of things at school. Teach teach teach. Blah. I think that this trip has made me realize that it's going to be time to get out of japan pretty soon. I think I will leave in March, where I'm going I have no idea, who I'm going with I have no idea.


Other random thoughts from this trip...

1) I have encountered tons of people from Israel while here (there are tons of young Israelis travelling here) and I find myself thinking "I wonder if they hate the Palestinians" everytime I meet one. That's pretty shit, talk about racial profilling, or I guess it's "cultural profiling" or is it "regional profiling" hell I don't know but it's wierd.

2) Life can be a real shitter. Well I guess that's nothing new.

3) I'm willing to sacrifice a hell of a lot for "love" or some misguided notion of it. What is an acceptable level of happiness and comfort one should sacrifice in order to maintain a relationship. What is an acceptable level to sacrifice for something that isn't love but very well could become love if given the opportunity. blah blah blah.

4) blah blah blah blah blah

J