USofA - Coast to Coast...

Coming soon... (when i got some free time & some free WiFi!)...

Leaving 'Thai-Style'...

I'm not a big fan of goodbyes... never have been. I like the way they drop it in Thailand... just get up and leave... no goodbye, no explanation... just go. If you say goodbye then that suggests you'll never see those people again.

I'll be back soon enough. So no goodbyes... just get up tomorrow morning and go.....

Dharma's View On 'The Coin'...

Ok... Firstly, for future reference WHENEVER i muse about Buddhism and Dharma PLEASE take it with a pinch of salt... I'm only a student of Buddhism, not a monk, and so am in NO position to talk about or teach The Buddha's views! These are just personal reflections and MY understanding of The Dharma...

So having said that, a having taken a little time to meditate on my last post it seems to me that if one is to take the 'middle path' one has to walk/balance along the edge of the coin, allowing neither side to take hold of your mind... but of course in ABSOLUTE terms there actually IS NO COIN AT ALL! It's just an illusion... part of the endless cycle of samsara.....

Namo Buddhaya, Namo Dharmaya, Namo Sanghaya.

2 Sides Of The Same Coin...

Only 48 hours to go, and right now i'm high from three pints of excitement, one pint of fear, with an adrenalin chaser on the side... Quite an intoxicating mix! But while under the influence it got me thinking... excitement/fear... they're both sides of the same coin. Just like love/hate, good/evil. Excitement and fear are both deeply rooted in the question "what the hell is gonna happen to me"?!? (For those who've never travelled the closest approximation is that feeling just before a first date.) So what is gonna happen...? Who knows??? Great things: new people, places, sights, smells and sounds... adventures, learning, broadening my mind or perhaps even 'finding myself', or love? Bad things: being robbed, kidnapped, murdered, a bus crash, being mown down while crossing the street... loneliness? Like i said, who knows; but those things on the 'good' list are all virtually guaranteed when you're on the road, while those on the 'bad' list are just as likely and remain just as unknown if you stay home... So i likes me them odds! I laugh in the face of fear... Bring it on.....

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together..!?!

With only three days to go and considering it's the holiday season, I can't help myself from thinking about how to get across America from coast to coast... and especially where I'll be spending Christmas and New Year...? Thanks to my great buddy Daniel giving me a copy of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road"... one of the ALL TIME great travel novels... I've opted to follow their 1949 route as closely as possible ;) So from Miami it's looking like: New Orleans, San Antonio, El Paso, San Diego (for Christmas), then finishing off in San Francisco... pick up a Chinese visa in San Francisco, then fly to Beijing just in time for New Years Eve... that's the idea... sounds easy in theory... let's see how it turns out.......

Four days to go...

So, the open road is calling me once again... and I can't resist! Got a passport, a suitcase, a ticket to Miami, a map of the world, and a Buddha around my neck... how hard can this be.......?!?