GOODBYE THAILAND

Tomorrow we are leaving Thailand, with regret, but ready to proceed on my journey. Tomorrow we are going To Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. We will be there for only four days, but enough time to see if I would want to return one day. About 12 of us are going and we are all staying in the same apartment building in different apartments. It should be fun!

This weekend we went to Chiang Rai, a city in northern Thailand. – A mountainous region. Lewis and I from there took a short trip to the Golden Triangle where three countries converge: Thailand, Laos and Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). This area was once the opium capital of the world. The economy thrived from the sale of opium until efforts were made to stop it’s production. We took a long boat on the Mekong River and saw where the borders of these three countries converge. We then went to the Opium Museum. It was a small museum, but interesting.

In Chiang Rai we went to the Blue Temple where there are resident monks. A beautifully built temple all in blue. We then went to the White Temple, which is part temple, part art gallery. No monks. It was really something to see, but it felt more like a Buddhist Disney World. It was built by a very rich artist who seems to have built himself a place to show off his art work and glorify himself. We then went to the Black House. This was also a weird place. It too was built by an artist, but this artist built not a temple, but a series of buildings for his art and for skins of dead animals. A lot of dead animals!!! Not my cup of tea.

We are now back in the apartment getting ready to leave for Kuala Lumpur and then to Bali. We are leaving and must take everything with us. Wow how fast this month has gone by. It is amazing that you think a month is a long time to be in one place and that you will have enough time to see everything, but it really isn’t. It goes so fast! Life is that way, when you are having fun, time moves exponentially. Which to me is good, it means I am alive for that much more time. As you know I have Stage 4 Cancer. So everyday that I am alive is a good day. And everyday that I enjoy myself is an even better day! Find those days for yourself. Try to enjoy everyday. Don’t give into the theory that you must live from one doctors appointment to the next doctors appointment. Take charge and live and when you need to go to the doctor, then do so. But live your life to the fullest!!

Life is not merely surviving!!!!!!