Erotic Thailand, stressful traveling and creepy museum

I'll start with little bit of erotic, move to some personal and stressful stuff. In between all of that I'll share some stories and jokes.  The end we're going to spend with the creepy part of my travels.
Stay where you are, it's going to be a wild ride :)




Erotic then!
When we were going back with Camila from our week-long loop trip to our base Chiang Mai I decided to make a stop in Chiang Mai Erotic Garden. Camila changed her mind after few minutes of riding a bike on uneven and rocky road but I didn't give up.
Pro tip: When you're driving on poor roads it's often better to drive fast instead of being too careful. Not only it can improve the shaking but it can also help with stability and your confidence.

After some massaging from the road+bike combo I made it to the garden. Dutch couple arrived a little before me so I joined them.
The owner and creator Katai gave us a tour of the garden and explained several interesting ideas. The pictures below are more less self explanatory and they show the look of the garden. Somewhat. What  they don't capture is the philosophical context of this place.

I like this a lot. Great and playful landscaping! 

Notice Mindicted t-shirt, my awkward smile and the statue. In this order 😀

Photo with Katai. Creator of the garden

I have problems with sex.  And I'm hardly the only one who hasn't fully come to terms with their sexuality and/or views on sex.
That's why I was glad that Katai defined the word "erotic" for us. It's something between romance and sex. Romance is naive, idealistic. Sex is animalistic and while we all want (need) it, we're ashamed of it. We are afraid to talk about it and pornography is only a result of these attitudes.  Porn is often violent and degradatory. For me it's not a healthy expression of human personality. That's a diplomatic way to say it. The honest way is that often porn makes me sick. I like to think that we are better than that. Which is possibly another issue I need to work on.

Anyway, I'm not comfortable with sex in many ways. On the other hand, after visiting the garden, I fully embrace my erotic side!
It combines love, idealism and the beauty of romance with the delight, fun and, for most people, necessity of sex.
It is about pleasure but it adds playfulness and creativity.  It is about respect and enjoyment of all involved.

Another way to put it is like this. Romance is platonic and it's about connection with another human being. It doesn't even matter what is your gender or what is your sexual preference. Think bromance. 

Erotic is like the foreplay. It includes everything starting from courting through flirting to cuddling. It reaches out to romance and sex and ties them together. 

Sex is simply the result of the foreplay. It's quite short compared to all the rest and often even not that interesting.  Especially for women because guys are selfish picks. 

Visiting the garden and mainly the discussions with Katai made me think more deeply about these topics. By identifying with eroticism it helped my process of self-improvement.
I believe it's an eye-opening experience for every visitor. If not then you've either done all the work and you have no issues with sexuality and in that case, respect! Or. You have so many problems you're not even aware of them. In that case,  sucks to be you. Good luck nevertheless!

I spoke with the owner for more than an hour after the Dutch couple left and learned a lot. About the Thai culture, about art representations throughout the ages and Katai's own story.  She also told me some funny stories about her garden. For example police visiting the place because they were told it's a brothel.
All in all, I can only recommend a visit!

Moving on from eroticism to hippies, music and festivals.
Specifically, the Jai Thep Festival. I've heard about it in Czechia and planned my travels to be able to attend.
I arrived in the afternoon of first day, went to the ticket "office" and said I'm on a guest list. I wasn't and we both knew that. I told the girl that I'm from Methlab. I wasn't and I knew that. She said ok and gave me a ticket. Then she asked if I'm alone. I confirmed and added that the rest is coming but I don't know when. And I went inside.
How easy was that!
Pro-but-bad-for-karma-tip: try saying you're from various labels at festivals to get free entry.
My karma wasn't affected, because I've received an ok to do this from the head of MethLab. Many thanks again Jef/MLDj!

So I was at a festival. Sweet!
I didn't know anyone.  Not-so-sweet!

I walked a bit around and then decided to juggle by the river. First, to practice before it gets dark. Second, to be admired ridiculed for my skills. Third, to make new friends. I was ready for the Westerners because I had my childhood-citymap-mat t-shirt on me which is always a great conversation starter.
And it worked! Three guys next to me started a conversation. In few minutes we were joined by a girl reading a book and we started talking about it.

In the last months before coming here I read some books and articles about picking up women. I realized I suck at flirting and creating attraction. Actually, I suck in meeting girls in the first place but let's leave that for a while. Some of the information was helpful, some of it was a little creepy and disgusting which is sort of expected. In any case I learned I need to improve my "game" so I welcomed this conversation.
The next hour or more I spent with 4 strangers discussing the most personal topics. Our past relationships, attitudes towards dating and general view of men and women on these topics.
What a great start of the festival!

After this deep talk I went to laughing yoga which was an amazing experience too. Not only as a second great start of the festival. Not only because it was the most fun but also because I met a lot of people. Throughout the festival I could always come to the people from laughing yoga and start talking to them with no "social anxiety" because we've been through something great together. Quotes around social anxiety because it doesn't really exists in places like Jai Thep. People are open to meet and talk,  and I've been introduced to maybe 50 people over the few days.

All in all the Jai Thep Festival was awesome. I met heaps of great people. Danced my feet off the first day during hours of psytrance. 1200 micrograms DJ set was just epic. Also thanks to the Iron Maiden remix of Fear of the Dark which made me smile from ear to ear when I realized what it is. Dancing and smiling at a beautiful festival full of hippies. What more could you want really?

Quite long tangent follows.

At Jai Thep I also met Hunter, which is kind of funny story. I met Hunter 5 years ago in Te Puke, New Zealand where we picked kiwifruit together. He had a car and was driving me to work every day for about a month so we got to know each other quite well. Since then we had no contact except occasionally liking each other's posts on FB. Then about a week before the festival I saw his post that he's not available on phone because it didn't do well with the ocean and I found out he's in Thailand. And then I just saw him at Jai Thep! Which was the weirdest thing that happened but I'm really glad it did. Lot of fun to talk to him again and some interesting discussions we had.

In general I just love my friends who travel. For the simple reason that I get to meet them in various places. Like another recent example, my friend Melody. Who's not only an amazing person with the coolest name but she also has a sister Harmony! The point is, we were introduced in NYC but had no chance to talk really. We got to know each other in Salzburg, Austria. We hung out and became good friends back in NYC. And recently, we met in Thailand and had a chance to catch up after year and half.
Add the fact I'm from Czech Republic and she's American with Chinese parents. Yay globalization and diversity! 

It's so much fun to meet my friends in new places, especially when it's random. And the best thing is that I can only expect more of this happening in the future. 

Thanks to Jai Thep I also visited Tantra workshops which was experience during which I learned, for the 100th time, I feel nothing :-D
All this energy work is just too foreign for me. My first hope with this is a meditation retreat I plan to go to in few weeks. The last hope is the yoga training I am going for in few months. After that I should probably seek professional help because my emotional, sexual and energy issues can not be solved by me alone.

But I started reading a book on energy work and it seems quite simple so we'll see how it goes. I'll definitely make a post about it if there's some progress.
Not sure why I mention it. It's not really interesting but the article has become more personal than I expected so I guess I'll just continue with the theme.

Downside of traveling

The month in Thailand was pure enjoyment that materialized in various ways and forms. After coming to Myanmar something has changed. Maybe it was about time or maybe it was because traveling here is a little more complicated and less organized. Maybe there is another reason. And as usual it's most likely the combination of all.  

Thailand is a tourist country. Myanmar isn't. Which is why it's so much fun to travel here of course but also why I'm getting a little stressed.
I noticed in the last two weeks or so that my mind is getting more distracted. When I meditate I have troubles concentrating. I use my phone more. I feel tired and lazy more often. I also realized I eat much more. More sweets too but pointless overeating in general. I tend to eat a lot when I'm stressed. Not the acute stress but the constant, creeping slow stress of day-to-day living. It happened to me in NY during the last year when I wasn't excited about studies, I had the pressure of paying for school and overall my situation there wasn't ideal.
When my brain finally put these events together and my mind made them conscious "I" became aware I'm getting a bit tired of traveling. I still love it and don't plan to stop but I think I need a break from the constant change. Meeting new people but having the same conversations over and over. Not being able to remember who told me what. Not stopping at one place for more than a few days, often leaving after one or two. Sleeping in night buses. Fear of missing out and always trying to feel busy,  to see stuff and do something exciting. Being overwhelmed by all the experiences and having little time to actually process them and make some sense of them.
These are just some complications and stressors that you might have while traveling. Some of them seem silly. You might feel like I'm just a little pussy and you wish you would have the same worries.
If you do, you are absolutely correct!
And that's why I'm traveling!
Got you now, huh?

I admit some of it seems odd but that's why I'm here. To have odd experiences. To have new, until now, unknown problems to solve.
And it's still fun. It was pleasant and surprising to find out I'm getting distracted and traveling is stressing me out. Even to the point of being aware of my tics again.
It is also curious to realize human need for comfort. Getting out of the comfort zone is essential for progress but there has to be a balance. You need some stress in your life but it's not supposed to make you sick, tired, angry or hopeless. It's supposed to motivate you to work harder and smarter. Stress is here to make us stronger and move us forward.

So what am I doing against it?
I spent the last three days in Naypyitaw. The ghost capital of Myanmar with 20 lane roads and no cars. City so big and with so much empty space that walking will get you nowhere and you desperately need a car or motorbike. Both are also quite expensive to rent compared to the rest of Myanmar. And I was going there only to meet my friend Thiri.  All this means I haven't left the area of my hotel and saw nothing of the capital. Not that there's much to see anyway...

Photo of the Naypyitaw roads

I'm spending my days doing nothing really. Eating less, sleeping more, reading, listening music, unsuccessfully trying to meditate and today writing on my blog. With great enjoyment but only partial success due to losing my draft and writing the first half of the article twice. And the evenings I'm spending with Thiri who's here for work. Starting with a dinner and then talking into the night about anything, everything and nothing.
That's the first step. Another idea I had was to go for a meditation retreat for a few days. Unfortunately that was not possible so I went to do some hiking. That didn't go as planned as well due to motorbike accident but I'll leave you in suspense for the details until first Myanmar article. After all, this one is about Thailand! 

I still plan to go for a meditation retreat but it will have to wait for another two or three weeks when I go back to Thailand.
There I'm also considering to be a volunteer to have more stable schedule, assigned work to do but also free time to pursue my own hobbies and needs.
Hopefully these actions of doing nothing will reset me because my visa expires in less than three week and I'd like to make the most out of this awesome country. And Myanmar is nothing short of amazing.


You've made it this far. Congrats and thank you! Comments about anything are more than appreciated. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't. I might even take a mental note of that!
Your reward is a little strange. Well... not little. We've had the erotic stuff. The fun stuff.  We've done the personal and even sad stuff. Let's move to the last part. The creepy stuff. It's mostly just photos from a museum I visited in Bangkok. The pictures are of dead bodies, fetuses with abnormalities and all in all pretty gruesome stuff.
I, and the friends I went with, found it fascinating and overall a great experience. I think it will be the same for most. On the other hand it might not.

NSFW and not for the lighthearted.