Category: Travel

Kathy and I love Chiang Mai! It’s affordable, the Thai people are wonderful and welcoming, the food is delicious and we’ve found a wonderful community of POC ex pats. However, there are some challenges to living here full time as ex pats.

We’ve been talking a lot about those challenges lately and whether we should stay or go. We’ve decided to leave for a few months. Here are two main reasons why.

Burning Season

Every year for the months of February through April the air quality in Chiang Mai is some of the worst in the world. I’ve heard it compared to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day! My understanding is that this is due to the traditional practice of crop burning. I believe it is also caused by the amount of cars on the road and by industrial farming practices. In any event, the air is already becoming bad. It’s January 12 and today’s reading was already”unhealthy”.

Travel!

Chiang Mai kind of snagged us. We love it so much and got really comfortable here. But our intention is to travel the world. We’ve decided we’ve been here long enough (this time) and we are excited to be embarking on some more adventures. We’ll be in Vietnam in early February and who knows where we will end up after that. Suggestions? Follow us to see.

On January 5, 2015 we set the ashes of my mother, Muriel Crowe adrift at sea. It’s over 5 years since she died and I think about her and miss her every day.  Mom was a strong and courageous woman: a communist at the height of McCarthyism, a white single mother of a black child in the 1950s and a fierce anti-facist, trade unionist and civil rights activist. My earliest memories are of picket lines, protest rallies and poker games (where the talk was more about politics than cards). Almost until the end of her life she read the paper daily and kept abreast (and appalled by) the state of the world. We shared a love of reading, the ocean and swimming.

She was my first and finest example of living life on your own terms. I’m so grateful that she’s my mother! This quote was read at her memorial service.

Today BOLT walked and ran for women’s rights and other social justice issues. It was a wonderful experience at beautiful Huey Tueng Tao Lake in Chiang Mai with over 800 people!

The event was sponsored by BABSEACLE. According to their website “BABSEACLE collaborates globally in the development of justice education and access to justice initiatives while simultaneously fostering generations of pro bono minded champions. BABSEACLE’s mission is to help establish, strengthen and support Access to Justice and Rule of Law in Asia and globally through justice education, including a core focus on legal ethics, professional responsibility and pro bono awareness raising.”

We hope you enjoy these photos of what we saw on this lovely morning!

I first heard about Girl Trek back in 2010. These 2 sisters were on the radio talking about how we, Black women, are dying! Dying from hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, obesity and stress. They had a simple message: walking can save us.

In their own words: “GirlTrek is not a fitnesss organization, this is a campaign for healing. This is not recreation. This is a lifestyle. We walk to heal our bodies, inspire our families, and to reclaim the streets of our neighborhoods. We believe in the discipline and power of walking to transform our lives, enliven our communities, and restore our humanity.”

Inspired, I signed up right after and committed to daily walks. I also formed a Girl Trek team in the Los Angeles area and encouraged other sisters to walk for wellness.

Girl Trek is in fire! The organization has grown in leaps and bounds. They are now the largest public health nonprofit for African-American women and girls in the United States!

There are over 10,000 women walking with Girl Trek. Oprah is a sponsor, they’ve been written up in Essence, Ebony and have been on CNN.

Harriet Tubman is an inspiration for the Girl Trek movement. Their motto is “If Harriet could walk herself to freedom, we can walk ourselves to better health!”

Kathy and I participated in and completed their 100 mile challenge and are in their “Harriet Hall of Fame”. We received beautiful t shirts as gifts from Girl Trek!

I’m currently excited about the Girl Trek 30 Day Challenge: Walks and Acts of Service to Honor Harriet Tubman. I’m doing the challenge with my bestie and it’s great to share daily about how we met the daily challenge goals.

I hope this post will encourage you to check out Girl Trek, join and spread the word. #weareharriet

To honor the 94 Birthday of Thich Nhat Hanh we traveled to the south of Thailand. It was a wonderful and spiritually rewarding experience!

Thích Nhất Hạnh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist, founder of the Plum Village Tradition. He is a leader in the engaged Buddhism movement and a teacher in the practice of mindfulness.

Thay (teacher) as he is affectionately known established many retreat centers the world over. He spent most of his life at Plum Village in France. Sadly, he had a stroke and is no longer able to speak. He has returned to his birthplace in Hue, Vietnam to live out his days.

The retreat center we went to is the Thai Plum Village. For 3 days we enjoyed various types of meditation; remembrances of Thay by the nuns and monks; talks on mindfulness; periods of noble silence and meditation walks.

O

ur accomodations were in simple and clean dormatory style rooms. We were served three delicious vegan meals a day.

The center is in a lovely part of Thailand, surrounded by national park land. To get there it was an 11 hour bus trip to Bangkok and then a 3 hour ride to the center. We will definitely take a plane from Chiang Mai to Bangkok next time. The long bus ride was less than comfortable.

Despite the difficult trip there, Kathy and I are making plans to visit again soon. We highly recommend Thai Plum Village for those looking for an experience in mindfulness. If you art not in Thailand, remember, there are centers the world over.

As I’ve shared before, acting is a passion I’ve found very late in life…but found it I have! So I was really excited tobe asked to participate in this workshop.

Stephan Turner, founder of the Gate Theater, is leading the workshop. He is an excellent director! I’ve been challenged with learning a monologue and a scene with a partner.

I find that acting is great stimulation for my brain. Its a lot of fun and I get to meet great people too!

Our work will culminate with a performance, this Monday, September 2, 7pm at AUA. If you are in the Chiang Mai area we hope to see you.

There have been seemingly endless rain, drizzle and hard showers for the last few days in Chiang Mai. Yet I am still incredibly grateful to be here and especially in our new neighborhood of Jed Yod.

Many neighborhoods here are designated by the temple in the area. We are so fortunate to be next door to Wat (Temple) Jed Yod. Right now the temple bells are ringing and soon the monks will be chanting. Its a lovely and peaceful sound.

Our neighborhood has a lively small vendor community. We are able to purchase pretty much everything we need within walking distance.

The entrance to Jed Yod is just opposite our building.

I’m able to just step outside our door and purchase flowers, candle and incense.

There is a wide variety of food, sold in open air stalls and small restaurants. Srifass is my favorite!

We are also walking distance from Maya Mall, one of the nicest in Chiang Mai. Here we can see the latest movies, western style grocery shop as well as eat a wide variety of international cuisine.

So rainy season or not I’m so glad Jed Yod, Chiang Mai is our new home.