well, a bit of a crash landing, really, but with a sense of humor and love for adventure, it always seems to work out. just weeks before leaving, i asked the wise sage kala if she would pass me my level 3 reiki attunement. this she graciously did, along with the teachings over a three week period, and in the process we together passed about twelve attunements to others.

naturally, i met this with some detoxification, and this of course started the morning of my flight out of new hampshire. it was alright, unpleasant at high altitude but manageable with the sniffles and congestion, but remembering how asians do not approve of blowing your nose in public (remember that one too, ron!) then landing in bangkok a day and a half later, and spending several days quite ill~a fever and chills~i am now perhaps the only person alive to have shivered under a wool shawl in bangkok~and then when i was well enough, i traveled north to ayutthaya.

and there, heh heh heh...i started to see red spots on my skin, and thought it heat rash, until the next morning when it got worse. alarmed, i went to the hospital and was told i had hand-foot-mouth disease...a funny coincidence as the wonderful children from whom i had just departed had been exposed, their mother found out as i was sharing lunch and kisses with them, and in my sensitive state, well, they passed it to me. my mother was surprised as this is a disease of young children and young adults mainly, and i reminded her that i am a faerie and that's why i got it. forever young and old.

;)

anyway, by now i could scarcely walk from the swelling and burning pain on the bottoms of my feet, and the man at the guest house gave me soft slippers to wear in the house. i spent my first days in ayutthaya thus, padding about in my slippers and laying on the balcony with my feet elevated, and eventually they healed.

and then it was my night to catch a midnight train to bangkok to meet erin. i went to the moon cafe with si, my funny japanese companion, to goof about with our tribe of performing thais. a cocktail and spliff later, i was sideways and unable to walk. three expulsing trips to the loo, some grounding energy work and great effort, and some assistance from si, and i was at the train station...except as i arrived and asked for the train to bkk, she told me the next train was at 1:40...and i looked to see my train pulling away.

no matter. i was just going to sit in the train station in bangkok for the night. probably less chance of getting killed here.

and so, in the wee hours of my ride, the train pulled into a station. i looked up, and something compelled me to ask my seat companions the station name...and of course it was my station, and so i hurried to get all my things together and get off the train... but when i got to the door, the train was again in motion. and so, i jumped. yes, folks, i jumped from a moving train. i have no idea what compelled me to this stunt. i jumped from a moving train onto a platform of asphalt, and then remembered that i was wearing my full backpack, as it pummeled me into the ground.

once i assessed that nothing was broken, i managed to peel myself up from the platform, much like wile e. coyote might. and then i laughed. i laughed at my own stupidity, at my burning need to get off the train right then instead of getting off at the next station and taking a ten minute train back. i laughed out of surprise and fear that i was nuts enough to do that, when i well know that i don't jump and land it very well. i laughed as i shuffled across the platform, giving reiki to the pain on the side of my cracked head, and i laughed when i saw the places where my skin used to be. i laughed when i went to the loo and saw the blood running down from my eyebrow, and thought of the confusion this must evoke in the men about the train station. and so, the mosquitos ate at me while i wrapped myself in shawls and gave reiki to my head and arm, and for hours i sat this way, healing so quickly i could see it happening.

and in the train the day long with erin, together we watched the rapid healing. i love healing with light.

and now i get to add that one to my cap. i get to say i jumped from a moving train, and you get to say you know someone who jumped from a moving train! isn't this relationship great?

...........................................

and so, things have mellowed out a bit. now we're living outside of chiang mai, in a cabin along the huay kaew waterfall. owned but unused by a 76 year-old friend of erin's, it has been neglected these past 6 years and seems happy to receive our love and care. it is at the end of a lane in a small village, and the village folks are quite nice, always saying sawadeecaa and smiling as i pass. even the sawng thaew drivers now recognize me and only laugh and joke as they try to offer me rides to the temple or the city, like they do with the streams of tourists coming out of our neighbor, the chiang mai zoo.

our gate is at road level, and then we descend a steep staircase through the lush vegetation to our simple home. in front we have a porch, then a few steps down to a lovely veranda where we sleep many nights under the moonlight, listening to the rushing waters cascading down the river. in the mornings i rise and walk past here still, down the stone steps and out the gate to my little perch on the water's edge, where i maintain my morning practice. and as i reach up in salutation to the sun, i feel the canopy of trees tickling my fingers with the healing vibrations they send to me. i lay back for final svasana and breathe in their healing light. oh, so beautiful.

erin takes a bird bath in the river every morning, squealing with delight as the waters rush all around her, laughing and thanking the universe for this place we call home. i am far too spoiled for that, finding the water cold, and only get my feet wet. i'll leave the cold water to those who appreciate it.

and somehow we've managed to create a little social circle here in chiang mai! not two weeks ago, erin said she wanted to have a party for my birthday. i laughed and said, "who will we invite?" and not two weeks later, we had many friends join us in celebration. most of them we met because of the rainbow connection. vallaz and sandra i met in the rainbow yahoo group and they were here in chiang mai, and vince, bobby, and mei i met because they looked to me like they were going to rainbow when i saw them on the market, and i asked them as much. and now, our circle includes gil who has changed his flight home to israel to join the gathering; chaen, who is forsaking morning television for a moment in the nature around our home and to join us for the morning coconut ritual.

abundance creates abundance.

........................................

i return to the dentist on sunday for the second half of my root canal treatment. this isn't something i'd recommend, this root canal business. a bit freaky, really. i sent some reiki to the procedure, as you can when you practice distance reiki, and then at the office it began flowing when a woman came out of the office very upset and in pain, and i offered it to her, and she gladly accepted. within minutes she had calmed down, and soon i was able to stop. what a blessing for me as well, as it prepared the energy to flow through me for my procedure.

but then, sitting in the death chair, no pain from the needle, but so nervous, so wanting to run away, trying to control the breath and giving myself reiki, and then kala came in. i saw her before me, and saw her sending me healing, calming light. i calmed. i dropped in. soon i was able to take the bwaabwaabwaa vibrations of the tooth jackhammer out of my mouth and down into my chest and use the vibrations to expand my lungs and focus my intent on healing my lungs, clearing my lungs. i had noticed resistance in my morning pranayama practice, and was grateful to have this opportunity to work with that block. and so, my root canal became only a meditation, and i barely remember it.

just the same, the pain in the days after was incredible, and i was unable to chew anything for days, because to bring my teeth together on one side meant bringing them together on the injured side, and it sent sharp pains shooting through my head. the pain was so strong and i couldn't escape it. it wasn't sending a casual message to my head, it was pummeling my head.

really, i don't recommend it.

but, this too shall pass and it did, and now i can chew on the intact side, and sunday she'll finish the job. then i anticipate her telling me i'm out of the clutches of the dental establishment, and free to go frolick at rainbow. and so, i'm planning to leave here maybe tuesday or wednesday of next week, go by train to penang, malaysia to arrange a 60-day visa, and then go to rainbowland..

ahh...

so, that's my story. what's yours?