Leaving Sarnelli House, I was dropped off in Udon Thani where I would take the overnight bus back to Chiang Mai. I arrived at the bus station around 10 am, so I had about ten hours until the bus left. Feeling that my now shoulder length hair was looking rather unkempt most of the time, I decided to get a trim while I waited for the bus. I found a little salon and asked the woman to take a few inches off. Being a woman's salon, the woman did exactly as she was asked, but the result turned out resembling a seven year old girl's hairstyle. Trying to reassure myself that it looked fine, I paid and went back to the bus station. Immediately upon looking at myself in the mirror, I knew this would not do. Looking and feeling out of place with this ridiculous looking haircut, I went back to the salon and asked the woman to try to fix it. The result was worse than before. At this point, I knew I had to cut it down to a standard male cut in order to salvage what hair I had left.
So I strapped on my pack and embarrassingly walked off down the main road in search of a barber. A few minutes down the road a older Thai gentleman on a motorbike offered me a ride (he spoke no English). I motioned to my hair and said, "barber", though seeing my comical looking haircut, he probably new immediately where I was headed, and we set off down the road in search of a barber.
Finally we found a place and after five minutes, my long locks were almost completely gone and I now sported the hair I have now. The man who gave me a ride waited for me and after stopping to have another young guy translate for us, I went back to his house to shower and eat some food. After this nice gesture of hospitality, we set off back to the bus station, where I would wait out the remaining four hours until my bus came. We stopped at a small coffee stand on the side of the road, where two ladies worked. Buying two coffees, they motioned for me to sit down while I drank. After a few minutes of difficult talking do to the fact that they did not speak very much English and me, no Thai, the man called someone and spoke in Thai for a couple of minutes.
About five minutes later, an old man biked up, speaking English immediately. His name was Tommy and he had lived in Connecticut for 50 years after leaving Laos as a refugee after it fell in the mid 1970s. His presence was welcomed by everyone there because he now facilitated as a translator and was a very happy and positive man. After about 30 minutes of talking, he offered for me to stay at his house for a couple of hours. I felt a little awkward and out of place, sitting on his couch as his children came home from school, seeing a Farang sitting in their home.
After two hours of relaxing, Tommy and I went back to the coffee stand where the two women lived in a home just nearby. Tommy had just started teaching them English and had invited me to come help out. Arriving at the home, I was immediately offered fried eggs and sticky rice, which I gladly accepted. Soon thereafter, Tommy and I began our lesson with the two women, their two young daughters, and another relative. Spending about two hours exchanging both the Thai and English words for various topics, I reluctantly said goodbye as my bus was leaving shortly.
This day in Udon Thani was one of the most random and best days I've had traveling yet. Traveling solo defintely has its ups and downs. Some days are lonely, while some days, like this one, are filled with unknown pleasures and amazing experiences. What a day, all stemming from me wanting to get a haircut.
Most of the video are shots from Pai, as I came back immediately upon arriving in Chiang Mai. Renting a motorbike for four days, and meeting a super cool Australian guy, we spent a couple of days biking along the mountainous roads outside of Pai. Other than that, my days have been spent relaxing, eating lots of Thai food from my favorite local restaurant, going for long walks, and generally just having a grand ol' time.
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