We’re just back from two amazing spots in Northern Thailand: Huay Cha Ka which is a King’s Royal Project and Lisu village, and Doi Mae Salong @ 1,800 meters above sea level where the finest oolong teas in the country are grown, another royal project that was established in the seventies to replace opium crops with tea…

The whole family piled in the truck: Aloma, Cha and myself at the wheel. The objective was to take a small vacation to one of my favorite places in the North of Thailand: Doi Mae Salong, and purchase some teas to stock my inventory (The new batch is available! contact me for shipment options) and to check out the Lisu village silver smiths to see what kind of creative juices they got going, and if anything was worth purchasing. Here are some shots from our travels….Peace.

In front of the Mosque, along side a hundred year old Thai style house in the Chiang Mai night bazaar area, there is a unique weekend market. The sellers are mostly all Hill Tribe, Chinese Muslim, Shan Burmese and more.

Get there early, this market is finished by midday, as most good fresh food markets usually are in Thailand. The main objective was to shop for fresh plums which are in season, we came back to Pai with a truckload of fresh fruits, and other fresh hard to find produce.

Shopping at open air markets is the best way to select fresh produce, you’ll never feel the same entering a supermarket again. Not only is market culture a place to shop for groceries, it is a social event, a place to see and be seen. Open air fresh markets in Thailand (especially northern Thailand) are ethnic melting pots where different people gather to sell their wares and co-mingle amongst each other.

Check out the assortment of colors, natures finest paintings…

Show me what ya Got Lil Mama…

If you haven’t heard the Jay-Z album “Kingdom Come” than you don’t know what you’re missing. Get it, and play the track “Show me what ya got” its living proof that hip hop is NOT dead.

Sit in full lotus, half lotus, siddhasana, or any other comfortable seated position. Put you’re head phonez on and let the beats flow, sit completely still and allow the soundz to bump in you’re head. Dance to the music in you’re mind, this is the meaning of traveling without moving. I used to define myself as a dancer, I guess in some ways I still do, however I dance much less in the physical world. I don’t really have the chance to dance these days, the culture here in Northern Thailand just doesn’t support any kind of underground dance culture, just a bunch of rice farmers, tourists, travelers, and soul searchers.

Physical movement is overrated, polish up the mind, go ahead and try it. It’s almost more difficult at first than physically dancing, but stay with it; it’s a great mental exercise. The next time you have the chance to get onto the dance floor watch and see how much you’re moves improve. This is called ‘cultivating the astral body’. Its finally starting to sink in that our astral body (or spirit) is the only thing that we’re taking with us when we go, we might as well get used to it now. Design yourself ahead of time, see yourself exactly how you want other’s to see you, how you want God (the Divine) to see you…and let the beats flow on… God is Love, God is Sound.

This year’s Chinese New Year falls on the new moon of February 7th, 2008. Ending the year of the Fire Pig and entering the year of the Earth Rat. As always the hill tribes in northern Thailand will be celebrating by wearing their finest garments with silver adornments, dancing through the night, and lots of feasting and drinking.

One special tradition related to the new year is that everyone usually gets “new” clothes during this time of year. Being that I am married into the Lisu clan, that means new dresses for ladies, and new pants for men. As we speak there is a tailor putting together two lovely new dresses for my wife, and if I’m lucky, a couple pairs of pants for myself. I want to talk about the style of the Lisu pants, they are very unique in that the crotch hangs very low, followed by an elastic waste which makes wearing them extremely comfortable and versatile. The Lisu are very particular about their color schemes. Women’s trousers are the same design as men, except they are always black in color, there is no exception. Men’s trousers are always colorful, particularly some variation of either blue or green. Although over the years we are beginning to see more variations of blues and greens hitting the fabric market.