Rogue Chemist — Outta the lab and into the entropic jungle

Not my cup of chai

I arrived in Delhi in an excited state of exhaustion from almost two nights of little to no sleep (the night before the trip due to packing and anticipation, and the overnight flight itself).

I did not eat pie in Pai, but there were plenty of coffee shops that probably offered a decent pie selection. My impression was that westerners congregated in this small town to drink coffee, have their hair dreadlocked, and go tubing down the river. I did none of these things.

The road to Pai is paved with the intention to make you puke

I’ve been feeling contemplative this past week, undoubtedly due to me being sick and writhing around in bed—the perfect sanctuary, aside from a Buddhist temple, for deep thought.

Getting my baht in gear

I’ve transitioned into city life after a week in the jungle (not quite long enough to emerge feral).

I live in a bamboo hut

Andy and his girlfriend, Tukta (and Little Bear, one of their dogs), picked me up from the airport in Chiang Mai after a long series of flights. Excluding the hours spent during layover, I traveled over three hours to Toronto from St. John’s, 15 hours to Taipei, about four hours to Bangkok, and just over an hour from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, arriving in the early evening on Wednesday, May 7th.

Better run through the jungle

“It is better by noble boldness to run the risk of being subject to half the evils we anticipate than to remain in cowardly listlessness for fear of what might happen.”

(Herodotus, 485-425 BC)