Shambhala In your Heart

I had intended to catch a bus to Pai on Monday but on Sunday night, I heard about something cool so I changed my plans. I ended up taking a bus to Chiang Dao to the Shambhala In your Heart Festival.

My bus ticket.

Shambhala is a a Japanese hippie festival that takes place every year in Chiang Dao on a plot of land called the Chiang Dao Youth Camp. People can camp in tents or stay in the teepees there but I ended up staying in the dorm (which was just a concrete platform with four walls and a roof). The weather was beautiful during the day but it got very cold at night and I was not properly equipped to deal with the temperature at night.

There aren't many planned activities at the festival until the music in the evening but people fill the day by playing music, dancing, doing yoga, and hanging out. I wandered upon jam sessions a number of times and joined in with the jaw-harp I sort of know how to play. I talked to a lot of people and made use of the few phrases I know in Japanese ("hello," "thank you," "good morning," "excuse me"), Thai ("hello," "thank you"), French ("hello," "thank you," "I speak a bit of French," "how are you?") and Hebrew ("Hello," "I do not speak Hebrew.")

Didgeridoo circles are commonplace at Shambhala. 

I was there or two days and had a great time. I spent a lot of time napping by the little river.

Most of the musicians who played are Japanese. I saw folk music, rock, and even a punk band that was pretty awesome.

Dancing hippies.

This morning I decided to go with the original plan of going to Pai. I didn't really want to take a bus back to Chiang Mai then take a bus to Pai so I decided to try hitchhiking again. I left the Chiang Dao Youth Camp and started walking down the road.

I met this guy while walking down the road.

After walking for about twenty minutes, a man on a motorbike stopped and gave me a ride into Chiang Dao. I walked down the main road in Chiang Dao for about an hour while trying to wave people down until I got to the highway intersection. I stood at the intersection alternating between the hitchhiking thumb sign and the Thai taxi-hailing motion (sort of a downward patting motion). After fifteen or so minutes, a pickup truck stopped for me. Two women were in the cab and one was in the back of the truck. They said they were going to Chiang Mai. I originally wanted to go to Pai but I was tired from all the walking so I accepted their offer and hopped in the back of the truck. Riding in the back of a truck may not be the most luxurious way to travel but the weather was nice and the passing scenery was beautiful.

After a couple hours in the pickup, we stopped in front of a temple I didn't recognize. I thought this was where they wanted to drop me off but they indicated for me to stay. Two of the women went into the the temple and one of them returned a couple minutes later and very generously gave me a bag of food. From there, we drove for a few more minutes until they pulled over and indicated that they were going the other way but that I could get to Chiang Mai from there. I thanked them and they drove away.

I started walking but quickly realized I was still miles away from my destination. I kept walking and tried to flag people down but nobody was slowing down. I was getting ready to give up and hire a tuk-tuk when a young Thai woman in a parked car yelled out her window. I went up to her and she asked where I was going. I told her my destination and she told me to get in. Her name was Friday and she said she picked me up because she liked helping foreigners and wanted to practice her English. She took me close to Tha Pae Gate, which is about ten minutes away from my final destination of Chiang Mai Gate. I slowly made my way there on foot even though I was exhausted. I finally made it to DAA where I've been hanging out since. I'm going to another DAA event tonight then staying in DAA before probably heading to Pai tomorrow.