Live To Win

Isn't it funny how time can stretch and pull away from your comprehension depending on where you are and what you're doing. 9.5 hours on a plane seems like agony when you've read half a book, listened to a few albums, eaten two meals etc etc. In the same way ten days in a new place can stretch away from you like an odyssey of adventure, when every day holds a bright promise of fresh experiences. And then in retrospect it seems like you took a mere gasp of air in that place, and in your memory it becomes like a shiny bauble or trinket to ponder over and treasure, filled with wonder and kept close to the heart. Sam, with said palm fronds.. Thailand seems to have passed by in the blink of an eye, but really it was ten days of packed in activities and travels, and best of all many good conversations. Arriving in Chiang Mai was a very pleasant change from the overbearing concrete smog of Bangkok. I spent half a day wandering around town in the company of my new ...

The sun sweats down out of an azure sky as i pick up speed down the superhighway on the outskirts of Chiang Mai. The grumbly hire bike looks imposing, but it's front tire is bald, and the oil is as black as it's tank. It burps, and backfires everytime i release the throttle, which smells like burnt peanut butter farts. With my cracked red ray-bans, my newly stencilled leather and a swag of bodgy tattoos i'm in the perfect mood to add to my already dodgy appearance. I have a date with the dentist. In 200six (f***en dodgy keyboard) Thailand's "medical tourism" industry was projected to take in 3six.4 Million Baht (around 1.2 Million Australian dollars). The rising cost of health care in first world countries, and the ease of international travel is driving this phenomenon, sending medical dollars to dozens of developing countries across the world. Me i just wanted a gold tooth, so i figured that Thailand would be a suitably warm destination. The clinic stand...

"You see, what people without facebook don't realise", the french man i have just befriended is explaining to me, "is that they worry about being monitored online, but they all have cellphones!" he throws up his hands and begins laughing, which turns into a cough and a hacking of phlegm onto the warm street. "Every conversation is recorded and kept for One Year. At least! That is why i like writing. With writing you simply have more control over your expression." I couldn't agree with my new friend more, (although some of his stories about his prolific sex life were more eyeopening than convincing) which is why i am excited to begin my first real overseas adventure story with these, his parting words. After a mammoth 9 and a half hour flight from Melbourne, i stepped into the muggy Bangkok heat last night a little bewildered, very tired and of course keen to get straight into it. Although I am worried about being so easily identified as an Aust...