After the adventures on the Oregon Coast Claire and I got a lift back to Portland where we said a reluctant goodbye to Melany, and Claire set off for her primitive pottery course in Utah. I got to spend some more time with Rhea, and she and her best mate Kayleen took me out to the Columbia Gorge to visit Kika. Kika is a pixie of magical proportions, currently living in a semi-converted barn on the hillside where she grew up. Our day was filled with explorations with a 2 year old - Scarlet seemingly tireless wanted to chase the sheep [View Full Entry]

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What to expect, of a visit to the Land Of Plenty, the Land Of The Free, the Land of Super-sized fast food and forcefully imposed democracy? I guess I expected everything, and I haven't been surprised. Landing in San Francisco from Hong Kong was my first glimpse of America the Brave. Interrogated at immigration as to who my friend in Seattle is, how long I've known him, what I plan to do in the US, why did I spend so long in China, where will I be going next... accompanied by their recording of my two index fingerprints and a slightly [View Full Entry]

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According to Wikipedia, the "brown note" is a legendary infrasound frequency that causes humans to lose control of their bowels due to resonance. There is no scientific evidence to support the claim that a "brown note" (transmitted through sound waves in air) exists. However, here in Hong Kong the Brown Note Collective is exploring the often shady boundary between music and noise, and whether we can make people shit their pants or just get shitty... Mick, Tegan and I had timed our return to the towering neon city of Hong Kong for a reunion with the BNC, performing at the Cattle [View Full Entry]

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it's time to say goodbye to china... The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of sleep deprivation, long train rides, sunflower seeds and music. The three fungal horses set off from Kunming in mid-May after a couple of great gigs there and in Dali, and headed up to Chengdu. Kunming... the city of eternal spring finally pulled out the stops and gave us some good weather just before we left. Kunming was all about quebecan bluegrass, dodgy dvd's, the first snow in 10 years (eating shit on the mountain), late night ridiculousness, and flea markets. Dali, as usual, was all [View Full Entry]

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Arriving back in China at the end of the Lunar New Year celebrations I found Kunming familiarly strange as I was re-assaulted by the smells and sights of China. I've never seen a runway like this one - 5 and 6 storey apartment buildings huddle on the edge of the grass surrounding the tarmac, and the plane descended straight into the centre of the city... Tegan and Mick met me at the airport, after the inevitable Thai airways delays, and we walked straight out of the airport and onto a bus. The grey concrete matched the grey sky perfectly, and the [View Full Entry]

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Feb 9th: Ah. I'm back on the road. This time it's a rot mai, and it's taking me around Bangkok. I'm currently staying in a pretty nice apartment in Saphan Kwai, thanks to Spud's dad's family. I get up at 6.30am, take a bus at 7am, arriving at Wat Phou at around 8 or 8.30 depending on traffic. Maybe I have time for a coffee (Nestle 3 in 1, anyone?), or a fruitshake. I could say I'm singlehandedly supporting the fruitshake industry in Thailand, only that would be a lie. Then I poke and contort my study partner for a few [View Full Entry]

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Cambodia is a beautiful country with an awful history. I had been mentally preparing myself for bullet-ruined walls, residual bomb craters, any sign of the horrors that passed here late last century. Instead, I saw farms, forest, cows, kids, bikes, and more bikes. The roads are pretty rough. Our "6 hour bus ride" from the 4,000 islands to Phnom Penh turned into more of a 12 hour marathon. Everything from extremely bodgy short cuts to the inevitable wait for 30 tourists to have a meal and visit the loo at one place. The ride began with a long-boat trip across the [View Full Entry]

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We hired bikes and dodged tuktuks all over Vientiane. It was fantastic - the best way to see this extremely bike-friendly city. We pedalled out to Tha Luang which was in the middle of the End of Year festivities, and crowded with markets, monks, tourists in rented Laos skirts to cover their modesty, and everywhere people carrying elaborate woven offerings of pandanus and flowers. After renting a modest Lao skirt we sat with old ladies in the shade watching them thread jasmin and chrysanthemum flowers onto skewers and poke them into the leaf-cones for offering. Our bus ride to Sevannakhet was [View Full Entry]

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Laos So far we've sat by the Mekong with a Beer Lao in Luang Prabang, taken a bus ride to a giant waterfall and swum in the cool turquoise waters, watched a tiger pace around its cage while black bears siesta'd nearby, walked across rice fields to limestone caves filled with ancient looking Lao graffiti, rope-swung, card-played, eaten fresh spring rolls and walked up the mainstreet of Vang Vieng trying to find dinner that didn't come with obnoxiously loud repeats of Friends, Simpsons or the Family Guy... perused menus of happy pizzas, garlic bread, funny lassis and "O tea". In Luang [View Full Entry]

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well Tomorrow we get on a 27 hour sleeper bus bound for Luang Prabang, and it's goodbye China, at least for now. Kunming pulled out all the stops to entice me to stay. The weather's great, the air in this city is clear, there's great people around and a whole universe full of fantastic cheap street food. We met a very nice Chinese girl called Ju who told us we can save time and cash by taking a bus that goes express to Laos from Kunming, saving us several seperate long trips and overnights in small towns on the way. NOt [View Full Entry]

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