I'm done

HIYA!

I had a great time walking. Now I'm done. No regrets.

I got some cuts on my feet which got infected. My left leg swelled up pretty big. I didn't want to go to the hospital because I knew they'd just prescribe antibiotics. But the Sa (she's one of the Asoke members whose house I stayed at until the end) said it looked pretty bad. So we went to a local hospital and, of course, got some antibiotics. I took them but the swelling didn't go away completely. So I took more! Even now, there still seems to be some swelling sometimes. I'm also sitting alot at the computer looking for work and sitting a lot doesn't help. I'll take care of this once and for all before I go for work.

I think walking is a great way to travel. Staying at temples too was a terrific part of the experience. In a way I was thinking to recommend walking like this in a blog entry solely to recommend walking as a way to travel. But I decided after a bit of thought that it's not such a great idea.

Walking in itself is a great idea. But where would a traveller stay if they don't stay at temples? When you get into the countryside there are few hotels and such things where you could rent a room for a night and set out again on the road the next day. And for travellers who don't speak Thai to try to manage the request to stay at the temple for a night and manage all the things that go into it, would be difficult for everyone. Few monks or anyone else at temples speak much English. That could be part of the fun and the whole experience, true. But mostly it seems to me inappropriate for a person to use a temple just as a place to sleep for the night. Temples are places, ideally, where a person practices Buddhism. Sor for travellers to go there and use them as hotels seems inappropriate to me. So I decided to not recommend this to others.

And I could never imagine doing this in the US though I know there are people who have and perhaps still do walk around the US. But if you're not staying in people's homes, then where are you gonna sleep? Sleeping in public places is illegal. I don't think churches allow travellers to stay overnight. Buddhist temples and Hindu temples might but they're few and far between.

So, that's it as far as a walking blog is concerned. In a few minutes I'll post another entry about what I'm up to now. Maybe I'll use this somehow to keep in touch with people. So when sending emails, I may sometimes copy what I write in my blog and send that as an email to one or more people.

I'm now in Hua Hin, a coastal city on the peninsula. The king has a palace here and spends lots of time here though I've never seen him. Did anyone see anything on TV or in the papers about the celebrations of his 60th year as king? It was quite the thing here in Thailand. 25 countries sent kings and queens, princes and princesses. It was something else. I'm really really surprised that Thais so love the king. I sometimes wonder if it's more brainwashing than anything. He seems to be a good guy, doing lots of things for the country that can be seen in a positive light. But other things can be seen by many environmentalists as not so good, like dams. But even with so many environmentally and socially helpful projects underway, why such adoration and veneration? Man o man. I guess it's harmless really to love the king so much. I doubt the government or the royal family would use the love and trust that Thais have for the king in any evil way.

The prince will be the next king. But lots of people would rather have the princess. And the things I've heard about the prince are shocking. Shocking. We've all heard and read of kings and princes of centuries and milennia ago fighting, killing and doing whatever it takes to each other in order to gain power. Well, this guy seems to be doing just those things. I've been told that he himself has tried to kill his sister the princess. And on one ocassion he shot the king by accident while trying to shoot I think it was the princess. Abominable. I've heard from a very very reliable source that he is behind all the political chaos the people have been slugging and flogging each other around with for the past four or five months now. His machinations. Is this guy a creep or what? I was hoping one of the members of one of the royal families that came for the recent celebrations would have snubbed the guy! It was broadcast live and just imagine the prince being snubbed like that! Whoever snubbed him might not have lived very long once back in their own country though!

That's it. Hope you got something worthwhile out of these blog entries.

Troy.