life on the fast wheels

Thich Nath Hanh and rock blossom sangha (www.rockblossom.org) taught me of sitting and walking meditations, Shibata sensei and Toko Kyudo group (www.tokokyudojo.org) taught me of standing (and sometimes kneeling) meditations. But nobody ever speaks of biking meditation. Biking is actually very meditative activity, and something about the sights changing in the speed of bicycle, in the city or country side, is very relaxing. and bicycles, just like guitars, like cameras, and like bows and arrows, are some of those rare non-organic beings that sometimes, if you put lot of love and care into them, can house the same spirit that goes through within and out of us. so many times i have imagined reincarnating into a bike.

so here it is, guest houses here offer very basic bikes for rent to get around the town. single speed, squeaking breaks and chains that come off on the dirt road. but as china and vietnam have gone through, people's needs are shifting towards faster and motorized means of transportations. we still see lots of bicycles in town, students and old people and foreign tourists(they can't rent motorbikes) japanese brands like honda and suzuki have large assembry factories in thailand to cater the whole region.

Here i find Honda Cub!! screw vespa, this is the mother model, origine of motorcycles. they remind me of all the postal workers in japan from 70's growing up. you don't see these in japan anymore, but here in cambodia and vietnam, they are still tough and thriving in the streets.
Human civilization, after they fulfill their first needs -food, clothes and housing- then they want to develop 'leg'. yes, once you are not hangry anymore, you want to go to and find new places, build roads and transport things and people. looking at the busy traffic of route 6 makes me think of the line of aunts on the wall in my guest house room... people go East, West, discover this paradise called Siem Reap, Bangkok, Edo(former name of Torkyo) and California, back and forth, back and forth...
next step from the 'leg' of their civilization is the 'eyes and ears' yes, tele-communication and information exchange. we don't want to travel so far anymore to bring the news and stories, so they want to have mobile phones and television sets. In SE Asia you will find these two stages of development in their peak. Leg, Eyes and Ears. Brains and other parts of body will hopefully follow soon, but for now, building schools and hospitals would not bring any fast cash into the country. And when the civilization reaches the level of our western, modern nations, people actually start investing into the 'heart' creating the whole industries of leisure, entertainment and spiritual health. Then people go travel to SE Asia for yoga retreat, and meet the local people eager to drive you around with their motorbikes and tuk-tuks... ironic isn't it?

it's always fun to watch how much local people would load up their motorbikes. family of four, marchandice, tuk-tuk and live stocks like chickens, pigs and buffalos are transported by a simple 120cc motorbikes. unfortunately i haven't gotten much luck of getting good pictures of those, for most of them zip by so fast. but please visit this web site below my room mate once found. tell me that's not funny.
http://aistigave.hit.bg/Logistics/