9. Transmuting

I hold you in my heart

Dear friends and family -

Greetings and continuing love from Chiang Mai. 

Outside my window the other night

All of a sudden it became Tuesday and I thought about my weekly blog--and wondered if there was anything worth writing about? It’s been such a strange week. It’s a good thing I don’t have an eight to five. My sleep pattern has been discombobulated. Wide awake in the middle of the night--taking naps at 9 a.m. or noon or five in the afternoon--totally not like me. My dreams have been quite bizarre--so lucid that I have no doubt it is the reality I’m living in--quite convincingly juxtaposing time and space--until I wake up, surprised at where I actually am. No, I’m not on drugs, nor am I losing my mind . . . well, maybe I am. Maybe this is what happens when there is no pressure to make sense. During my waking hours I have been dizzy--lightly so in that the world is slowly rotating around me. I want to lay down and see the dream which wants to be dreamt next. It appears as though I’m transmuting. Your guess is as good as mine as to what that means. Are they preparing to beam me up?

All this has happened since my surgery a week ago. The doctor removed an almost weightless amount of fat tumors under my eyes. Subtracting almost negative = a whole lot of positive. The process wasn’t just about the removal--it was much more about my surrendering and trusting. All my adult life I’ve totally resisted medical doctors, hospitals and drugs. This time I had no resistance. The doctor was so very sweet and professional. I surrendered--he put me to sleep and the procedure was perfect--there will be no scars. It’s a new level of trust--I’m in the right place, meeting the right people, making the right decisions. I am transmuting into a different me.

My office

This morning I sat in my “office.” My Ease garden sanctuary. I’m planning my trip to Angkor Wat in Cambodia next week. A Kauai friend told me of a hotel in Siem Reap--so I have a place to go when I arrive. I’ve been wanting to see Bangkok. My friend Mark showed up at the “office” a while ago with a new friend, Sathya, who lives in Bangkok. He offered to be my tour guide for a day. Life doesn’t need to be a struggle. From Cambodia I am planning a tour of south, then north Vietnam. From Hanoi I plan on going to Luang Prabang, Laos.  Wouldn’t you like to be there?  (see below) So anyway, starting next week I will be filling my blog with a lot of wonderful pictures—for the next two or three weeks.

Luang Prabang,  Laos

And I will keep my hotel room overlooking Chiang Mai. The city keeps growing on me. I can make transactions and come to complete understanding with grunting and pointing my finger. I have no language problem--well, only once a couple months ago when the gal at the video store got the English words “Rent” and “Buy” and “day” and “week” mixed up. A week later I had a $10 late fee for videos I thought I bought. I’ve picked up a few words and now I have no problems at all. 

Chiang Mai suburbs

There’s a huge billboard on the side street across from my hotel window. Here is an example of a house you can buy for $100,000 in Chiang Mai--not that I’m interested. All the money choices make more sense to me here. I’m not a city person, but maybe this is the way it is in big cities--you learn where to go to get the same value for a fraction of the cost. I just don’t know where in the U.S. I could get a clean, modern and very large hotel room overlooking the city for $10 a day--with maid service, lock gated entree and outside guards--a separate in suite kitchen area. And an office in a garden setting a block away. I am so very blessed.

Blessed to be here, blessed to be transmuting, blessed to have wonderful friends in many places. Oh, by the way, I finished the 6th draft of Shambala. It’s a great read and I’m seeking a motivated Literary Agent. If you know of someone I can send my query letter to, please let me know.

You know what I'm saying?

Love always,

David Dakan Allison