What happens next ?
So, know that we're here, let's update you to my current situation. Still in Chiang Mai (northern Thailand) for tonight, but I'm heading to Mae Sariang tomorrow afternoon. I wasn't really supposed to go there at first, but I saw that the only real Thai CSer (www.couchsurfing.com) (meaning that he's Thai and not a Western expat) of the area lives there. So... Go ahead ^^ I wanna see life as it is, not as tourism industries want us to see it.
It's a little off the beaten track, but not so much anymore. Nothing much to do, except signing up for a trek in the hills nearby, dropping for a night at one of the hill tribe villages. But the "not much to do" is part of it ^^ It's not like the "real life" is packed with museums to visit, beaches and clubs to chill out (anyway, i don't like clubs so...) and adrenaline-based activities. I guess Mae Sariang will be the perfect place for me :) But I already have some places which have this "second home" feeling. I'm still wondering where to settle my backpack (which is basically my real home now...)
I got this feeling that I should stay in Chiang Mai for a while. Since the day I arrived, everything seemed to lead me to Buddhism and the temples, Wat Suan Dok being the most important for me. I feel... integrated and accepted. I enjoy so much talking to the monks, walking around aimlessly, testing all the food I find, trying to survive the mass of the tourists. True enough, I would like Chiang Mai better if it was not so crowded by tourists and a little less polluted ^^
One of the monk of Wat Suan Dok, Phra Sanet (hope I'm writing it correctly) is going to Burma on the 24th with Phra Chai (the monk who's always at the Monk Chat room ^^) and other people. And I hugely wanna go with them. After what happens in last september, with the demonstrations and the monks being tortured (and sometimes killed ?), it could be kind of hazardous. But it's one-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to go to Burma with monks to help refugees and see how things are going.
Unfortunately enough, it takes 7 working days to get the visa. We're the 17th, they leave on the 24th, sum it up : got no time. Except if they're going to the far north border, where you could enter for 14 days without a visa (but that was before September's events). Anyway... I'll have to accept I cannot go this time. Maybe if I stay in Chiang Mai and help at the temple, I will have another opportunity ? I really hope so.
I don't know how long I'm gonna stay in Mae Sariang. Probably until Monday morning, then I will could go to Chiang Rai until the 22nd and pass into Laos on the 23rd. I need to get a new visa for Thailand, but I'm still wondering whether 1 month will be enough or if I should apply for a 90-days. That is... if I stay in Chiang Mai to give a hand in teaching at the Buddhist University, I would need a longer visa... ^^