JaiDee

Ayahuasca is a local word which loosely translates into "vine of the soul" or "vine of the dead". For over 3000 years, long before there were ever some kind of boundry lines separating these countries and well before westerners started invading and conquering with their armies, their diseases and cockamamie religious nonsense, the indigenous tribes throughout the amazon have used it to cure everything and anything which inflicted their people. They also used it as a window into the soul, and for people to see past lives as well as where they may be going in the future after this life has ended. To say that it is extremely powerful would be an incredibly vast understatement; once it has been ingested it not only works on you in fascinating ways, but it also stays inside your bloodstream forever. As the shamans will tell you, "Ayahuasca is alive" and indeed it is; you also have no idea where you are going as each ceremony takes you to a different place in your mind and you have absolutely zero say in which direction you will be going; you just have to hang on for the ride and hope you end up on the other side all right. The Indians believe that Pachamama, or Mother Earth, is the source of all life and indeed it is. Created over 4.5 billion years ago, our earth has been constantly bombarded by meteors, has been through untold numbers of ice ages, volcanoes, tsunamis and earthquakes, has been on a wild ride through the cosmos and has also produced one very important thing which concerns us all; life. Our earliest ancestors were single-celled organisms thriving and then joining up together in hot pools of water on the earth's surface about 600 million years ago, and 150 million years later were thriving in the oceans as adaptable, swimming and mating beings. By 325 million years ago our relatives had strolled onto land for the first time and we have never looked back; and during all that time and for billions of years before us the plants were thriving as well, and the Indians believe that these plants and trees, with their deep roots into the heart of Pachamama, have been witness to the evolution of our earth on its long journey through the universe and have also witnessed the rise of human beings and indeed all life forms, which are all inter-connected and related in the sense that we all share one thing; life. Ayahuasca is one of those sacred vines with its roots deep into the earth; if you believe in this medicine, and I certainly can attest to how powerful and all-knowing it is, you are putting faith in the fact that the plant has billions of years worth of earth history locked up in its DNA, and that by connecting with the plant through drinking its bark you can also learn what "she" knows as well. Because it is so powerful, it also helps you remember things from your own past which you may never have remembered on your own; indeed, many westerners have said that one night drinking the Ayahuasca brew is equal to 100 sessions with a psychotherapist and that sounds about right. It frees up your mind to explore parts of yourself which you have never seen before; sometimes frightening but always illuminating, you oftentimes come away from these sessions feeling light as a feather, knowing deep down that you have just been on a ride through the universe courtesy of this wonderful plant which has already seen it all and is now imparting its wisdom on to you. In the next chapter I will describe some of these experiences; you can believe them or not, that's up to you, but none of these are made up and indeed nothing the mind could make up could even compete with what is seen and experienced once you are in an Ayahuasca trance.

Yeah, I had done that enough between 1999 and 2007 and needed something new, still do in fact; it was just time for me to find other pursuits and since I was in it so long myself I can certainly relate to people who are still enjoying the scene these days, but for me it just doesn't cut it anymore. Thanks for the link BB, fascinating.....and for anyone interested there are a lot of similar links on Youtube. Writing this mostly for Hefe and Williethepimp as well as anyone else who saw my initial postings about this topic on the forum I used to own and were intrigued by it; it will get a little bizarre soon but that's OK, I can't say I fully understand what other people do on their vacations so I hope they can be open-minded as to what I do on mine as well.

My favorite Lurkers song is "ain't got a clue" Another of the 2nd-wave of British Punk bands who I used to crank while driving around in my Mom's Camaro just after my high school days were the partisans; chick base player too!!

*I would like to start a thread about some trips I have made to the amazon region of northeastern Peru to take part in some Ayhuasca ceremonies; please be advised I am NOT talking about any kind of recreational drug usage here! If you want to learn more about Ayahuasca simply google the word and read. ----------------------------------------- I first read about Ayahuasca in April of 2008. I was in my home in the USA and was reading one of my favorite magazine's called Mens Journal, kind of an Esquire or GQ-type rag but without all the faggy-looking junkie models wearing $2000 dollar suits which I will never buy. It's geared less towards sex and fashion and more towards men who enjoy the outdoors and adventure travel, and in it was a long article about Ayahuasca, the first time I had ever heard that word up to that point. The author had written about how he had been to Peru the previous year, had taken an 18-hour boat ride up the Ucayali river to a secluded ceremonial lodge and bungalow operation and had indulged in something which has been going on in the Amazon region of South America for 3000 years now but which had just now been making its way into the collective consciousness of westerners. The article fascinated me, even with the graphic photo of the writer hunched over on all fours puking his guts out, and as soon as I was done reading it and doing some internet research on it I was saying to myself "I gotta check this stuff out". A ticket was purchased soon afterward and just 4 months later I found myself in the unbearably humid confines of Iquitos, Peru for a 3 -week journey into the dark and mysterious recesses of my own soul. I picked one well-known but overpriced lodge 52 kilometers south on the Nauta road, just a few KM short of where the road ended and from where that point on only river travel was possible. One of the poorest countries I have ever been in, Peru is all at once exotic, depressing, dirty, stiflingly hot and stunningly beautiful. Before I went to that more tourist-friendly lodge I stayed at another place for 3 sessions and this is where my initiation into the sacred medicine started in earnest. Known to the indigenous tribes of the Amazon basin for thousands of years, Ayahuasca was first brought to the attention of westerners through the work of the famed Harvard-trained ethnobotanist Richard Shultes in the 1950's. Since then it had remained relatively unknown, but the internet and magazine article's similar to the one I had read were bringing down increasing numbers of spiritual tourists to Brazil and Peru and Ecuador to check it out since it was literally not possible to obtain this medicine in the west. But I would be lying if I said I had some grandiose plans about seeing the face of God or trying to repair some long-lost unresolved issues inside my psyche; I just thought it sounded pretty cool and since I had done just about everything else under the sun I also wanted to check this out. Boy, was I in for a surprise. The brew which you drink is horrible-tasting to say the least; a combination of between 10 and 15 locally-found plant extracts, including the mildly-hallucinogenic leave called D.M.T., it is a dark brown color and tastes beyond terrible when you drink it down, almost always creating a gag response. Brewed for 8 hours in a huge pot over an open fire, it is then cooled, blessed by shamans, and then placed into water bottles for the ceremony, which is always done by between 1 and 4 locally-trained Shamans or what we in the west would call a medicine man. Dressed in creative and colorful headdresses and constantly waving dried-out palm fronds which make a noise similar to a maraca, they are quite an intimidating sight but much needed during ceremony; their well-worded {in Spanish} Icaro's, or songs, keep everyone grounded and also keep them in touch with the spirit world and they rule over the ceremony from a throne-like chair high above the squatting campers and they also drink the brew themselves. In the daytime there is not much to do; fasting is necessary after noontime and there is no electricity so only reading and conversing with the other campers is possible, or taking long walks into the jungle, preparing for that evening's ceremony. This time is very tense for all; the ceremony starts at 7pm sharp, or shortly after it is pitch black outside, and after the candles are blown out and everyone has had a cup you would be hard-pressed to see your hand in front of your face. If you have experienced it before, and I have done it 15 times now so for all but the first session I had, you know what is coming next; one hour of being extremely uncomfortable, sweating profusely and seriously wondering in your mind "what the hell am I DOING to myself" before you wretch violently into a small bucket. This is not just vomit, and not just the small coffee-cup sized amount of medicine you just drank, it is the whole of your insides coming up and the purge lasts anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes. You then lie back down and the experience begins in earnest and usually lasts for about 3 hours, which feels like 12; I will try to describe to you exactly what happens next in future installments, but be advised that each session is vastly different than the last and that some of my stories may seem bizarre and incredible to you all, but they are just the facts as I saw them in my own mind and in the throes of an Ayahuasca-induced journey through the cosmos and through the memories of my own life; and even before I was born.

well, my friends and myself started in on the punk scene not long after it broke in the UK circa 1976.....we were all metal-heads in junior high school and by 77 and 78 were looking for something new and we found it in The Clash and the Pistols, Ramones and the Damned, etc..... by 1980 and '81 when the Subs and bands like GBH and Discharge were taking over, as well as the west coast hardcore sounds of bands like Black Flag and DOA and Dead Kennedy's, we were fully immersed in the scene and knew all the bands by heart. As you know it was a rather underground scene back then, kind of cult-ish, so once a new band came on and got a little big we all would know about it and swap records {remember them?} around. But Pdogg's thread here can mean different things to different people; I mean, I didn't know even one of the Jazz names thrown out earlier, and I am sure a lot of them didn't know these names that we like as well. heck, I could come up with another 50 or so bands who only made an album or 2 and then disbanded without making a dent on the public psyche, but how long can this thread go on hahaha?? Another unkknown band from Chicago who I really liked; made 3 albums in the early 90's and then broke up when the lead singer/guitarist committed suicide; you may like this song, it's kind of catchy.

I don't believe in any kind of religion either, I think it's all pure hogwash. I do believe in an afterlife, however; in a few of these Ayahuasca ceremonies I have seen it with my own eyes a few times. I truly do enjoy my life, and compared to most people my own age I have it sooooo much better; stuck in crappy jobs and loveless marriages, these people are basically treading water until they die. I am *living* my life and doing all I can with the limited resources I have, and if I have one complaint it would be that I get bored easily; every few years I need something new to keep me interested and recently I haven't quite found what the new thing will be just yet but I am sure it will come to me. OK, Ayhuasca thread coming right up! I just have a feeling that all the goodwill I have created in the other thread I started will come crumbling down when the readers here see that LOL; but if I want to be honest and tell the truth about what I really went through in my 2 trips to Peru it will certainly be a bizarre read. cheers :)

I was just listening to Stone Roses the other day - ''I wanna be adored'' Great Manchester band, brings back a lot of early-90's memories

Russians are mean and I would prefer not to cross paths with them ever again, another reason I could probably never live in the Pattaya area; they have taken over Phuket also. Part of the reason I live where I do is because they don't make it out this far and in a perfect world they will always stay in the more touristy places. Never used to see 'em in 1999 when I first came here; me thinks these people should all get down on their knees and send a prayer of thanks to Mikhail Gorbachev.

Seriously, what has happened to American culture, an oxymoron to be sure. Rebecca Black is an unknown 14-year old kid from California; her parents pay 2 grand to make the WORST SONG and video of all time, it goes viral and in less than 3 weeks has 82 MILLION views on youtube and now she is wealthy. God help us all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0 Alexandra Wallace....poor, sexy, clueless bitch at UCLA who makes a 2-minute video ripping on Asian people and then gets death threats and has to drop out; sorry Alex, racism is never in vogue and never funny. Unable to get work in the future as soon as anyone googles her name, she is now universally famous and basically screwed for this train wreck which also went viral and ended up making national news; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Johj5WEYzZo&feature=fvsr what's this world coming to when these 2 nitwits become famous for all the wrong reasons?

How about this one; "We want 10 million baht from you and we're gonna fuck you up if we don't get it"? Or the old stand-by; "Mother/brother/sister/cousin/dog/cat need to go to hospital, need 10,000 baht na" Great list by the way, BB

"well- some little girls got a hold on me, she's only 13 but oh so sweet, she's got me down on my knees, she's got a stranglehold on me"

Hey Guys, I had an idea based on requests from 2 guys in the Thailand LB room; about a few trips I had made to Peru in 2008 and 2010 to work with Shamans who prepare Ayahuasca brew, a concoction of various plants and leaves from the Amazon region which when added together and drunk create an amazing exploration of the mind and the soul. Not sure if I should post that here, it's a bit edgy and when I tried to come up with a rough draft it made it all sound so druggy; which is is NOT at all. Let me know if this room would be appropriate for that and indeed if a message board for Ladyboy-lovers should include such material, Thanks.

Prolly because it's the best movie of all-time, hell the whole thing is just one big quote. Martin Sheen's narrative voice; "This may have been my mission but it sure as hell was Chief's boat" ''Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker, and every minute Charlie squats in the bush, he gets stronger'' "The war was being run by a bunch of four-star clowns who were going to end up giving the whole circus away'' ''Charlie's idea of great R and R was cold rice and a little rat meat.'' just absolutely classic stuff

"Last time we had a leak this big Noah had to build himself a boat!" Wilford Brimley to the D.A. in 'Absence of Malice'

Ditto Proletariat, Providence R.I. band who never quite made it to the big-time

Kraut, barely-known early eighties punk band from NYC; excellent Saw them once also, really tight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqkXzTzJkmo

I loved the UK Subs, Lung....saw 'em twice many years ago. Liked that "sounds of the suburbs'' also, I was always a big Members fan. Seems like we all could come up with a ton of obscure bands we all like, I guess for me my favorite in the 'unheralded' department would be Jawbreaker. Achieving more fame in post-break-up years than when they were together, they left behind only 3 great albums and some of the best work by a 3-piece I have ever heard. Saw 'em in a small club in Cambrdige Mass near Harvard in 1996; epic show.

BB called this one!! http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/456958-so-were-you-caught-out-by-thaivisa-april-fools-prank/ Too bad, I still think it would be an excellent idea.....

Not sure, I saw it today on the Thai visa website. I think it's a good rule and older farangs should be thankful; by making this a law it may prevent untold amount of clueless post-50 foreigners from taking some cute little 20-something Thai girl as his bride, perhaps saving thousands of men from a slow march into the poor house.

You guys with the expanding waistlines, the ever-increasing bald spot and the libido which has been letting you down more than ever the past few years; and yes, I am one of you ...... better get moving quickly if you want to marry your favorite Thai gal, the government is about to make it a lot harder! http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/456613-law-prohibiting-marriage-to-foreigners-over-the-age-of-50-proposed-to-thai-cabinet/ No more 55-year olds marrying 22 year old hotties soon

My farang buddy M later joined us all at the condo, and by now I was calm and relaxed but still not convinced that what had happened to me just 2 days prior wasn't the real deal. Despite the positive words from A and B, as well as Seanchai and my friend M, who all agreed that this was an inside job, *I* was the only one had been targeted and *I* was the only one in the room that morning who had the shit scared out of him by 2 gorilla-type assholes. So I still wasn't sure, but A and B were and were already talking about "some guys we know down in Khlong Toey who will knee-cap these motherfuckers for 10 thousand baht''. Sure sounded better than 10 million, and getting some type of retribution against these mental lightweights would certainly be coming, but it wouldn't be done with physical violence and with any trail leading back to me; it would be done with cunning and patience, making sure all these weak-ass ducks were lined up in a row before pouncing. By nightfall I was securely ensconced in a suite-style hotel on soi 24 Sukhimvit road; my rented home wasn't far from there but again, I couldn't go near the place for fear they had it staked out. I had a scheduled flight leaving for Amsterdam in 5 days, but seriously feared that if all of this was indeed legit as soon as I showed my passport at any border checkpoint or airport immigration booth I would be held until "the General" or one of his underlings could come get me. Remember, the 2 guys in my room basically knew everything about me, so I just assumed my e-mail was hacked or at the very least they had excellent information from some source close to me; so whomever had sent them would also know I was bound for Holland 5 days later and would be waiting for me at the airport if I didn't pay up. But paying up was never a serious option; the moment those 2 guys left me I never considered it for even a moment, escape and exposing them were the only things on my mind. A knew of a way to smuggle me outside the country via the vast Cambodian border, bypassing all checkpoints and then taking a car to Siem Reap, where I could catch a flight to Hong Kong and then on to New York City, but he advised against this and said " just stick with your original plan, no one will be waiting for you at the airport". I wasn't so convinced, and by now my phone was ringing every few hours with Aussie guy on the other end; I never picked up once, and in fact we never talked or saw one another ever again, so he started barraging me with threatening texts messages which went unanswered as well; basically, 'pay up now or you're fucked'. B was even more pissed than I was that 2 farang assholes were in cahoots with a Thai national to scam me and kept saying we should just flush these guys away; set up a meeting in the city and "for 10K baht these fuckheads will end up on the bottom of the Chao Praya, never to be heard from again". Tempting, but no. On day 2 in the city I had to do one very important thing, and that was secure a new passport. Luckily I was able to talk my way onto the flight back to Bangkok without one, but for all intents and purposes I was now in Thailand illegally and without proper identification. 100% convinced that whoever did this would have the U.S. embassy staked out, I brought along 2 friends, one to go 100 meters south of the entrance and one to stand 100 meters north while I entered from the north on Wireless road, all 3 of us with our cell phones in hand and on, looking for anyone suspicious whereas I would get a call and bail out. Proving once again that the criminal mind is very weak, and making mistake number 3, they didn't have anyone at the embassy and I strolled in unmolested. If you have ever had any serious trouble in a foreign country you will know the great feeling I had as I entered that lovely building; seeing the huge stars and stripes flag and the large gold eagle on the wall behind the desk, I realized that I was 100% safe in here; this was U.S. property and land, not even the local police could come in here, and in the very worst case I could just declare what had happened to a consulate official and be whisked out of the country under their protection. But I wasn't at that point yet and didn't want to involve my government as that would lead to very uncomfortable chats about my line of work, so I simply went up to the desk and told the pretty young Minnesota girl that my passport was stolen while on vacation in the south, which was the truth. No problems at all; for 3000 baht it would be taken care, simply come back 24 hours later and for now enjoy the rest of your vacation, Sir. Back in the room that evening, I kept thinking back on all the shit these 2 guys had thrown at me in the room, and I started to envision in my mind just how they knew all that stuff; I had never seen either one of these guys in my life and yet they knew me better than some of my closest friends in the whole world. They either tapped my phone, hacked my e-mail or were sent in there by someone who knew me VERY well; or all 3. Then it hit me; one dude was Australian, and I knew a Thai Ladyboy who was married to an Australian now, and we were really close 3 or 4 years before all this. She was smart, scheming, and had the means to pull this all off and she was greedy enough to do just that. She had already jacked some American guy out of 50,000 dollars {his own fault, typical lovestruck western fool that he was} and would have absolutely no qualms about trying to relieve me of 7 times that amount. We hadn't talked or been in touch in a year or 2, but of all the Ladyboys in my life she knew me as well as anyone and would certainly know the majority of what those 2 guys had laid on me as we had dated for a solid year while she was in college. This chick was now suspect number one and was about to be hit broadside with an attack from the one guy who could make her life a living hell, and guilty or not her life would be turned upside down over the next few days until she talked and told me exactly what she knew about what was going on.

Heh, there is always a wise guy in every crowd, Jim!! In any case you are too slim and handsome, the guy who plays that role would have to be a fat lazy fuck with no morals or scruples. Passport issue addressed in the next installment.........

Check your PM box Sam, thanks!

Lefty and PD, as well as anyone else who had heard various parts of this story over the past 5 years; I figured the whole, complete story would just bore you so I never really told it all completely, either in person or on my old message board. So this long story is all true, now complete and 100% exclusive to this website, and now I can look back and laugh about it so I hope anyone reading here can enjoy it also. But do use it as a tale of caution for your future travels in Asia; weird things happen in 3rd world countries when people are desperate, broke - and, frankly ....lazy. ----------------------------------- After I hung up the phone I had to get my shit together and get showered and put my head on straight. I still wasn't completely sure that what my English friend had told me was true, and in fact it would take a full week before I knew the whole truth. But what I DID know was that I had to get up to Bangkok and start working on these clowns, no matter WHO was behind their bullshit. The boats leaving the island were all full for that day, and in any case I couldn't get a plane back to BKK from the mainland even if I had wanted to. My flight was booked for 3 or 4 days later, but a quick call to the airline and I had it moved up to the next day at 4pm; I would be back 'home' by 5pm or so and could really start working on who was behind all this. I guess the 5 people involved figured I would just cave like some pussy and pay them off, and they hadn't counted on all the contacts and friends I had in Thailand to back me up; mistake number one on their part. I spent the day with Noi; it wasn't a good day to be alone and I couldn't sleep at all, so we just kind of laid around watching the tube and me working the phone to my Bangkok contacts. 2 guys I reached out to right away were full-blooded Thai guys, one born and raised in Bangkok and still living there, the other an American living in BKK and whose parents were Thai from Trang province, not far from where I got hit. I will call them A and B [actually not uncommon names for Thai people]; they agreed to meet me at the airport at the appointed time so now I just had to stay safe for 24 hours before I saw them. No need to move from my resort; dumb and dumber had what they wanted and had left the island already so they wouldn't be back, and the Aussie guy had my telephone number programmed into his phone and started texting me that same day, telling me to stay on schedule and not play any games, not to contact the police or any friends, etc..... and he never did get the 50K he wanted from my ATM card; mistake number 2. Proving yet again that the criminal mind isn't all that bright, he also left me a very important piece of paper which would prove to be part of their undoing; on it was just 2 pieces of information, yet in the proper hands [mine] it would be very helpful at uncovering who was behind all this. The names and numbers below are fictitious, but the paper was simple and looked kind of like this; S. Wattanapanit Account number; 8923336677 Kasikorn Bank also an e-mail address to contact fat Aussie guy; xyz@yahoo.com I was told to wire 2 million baht into that account as soon as I got to Bangkok, and to either call or write the Aussie dink as soon as that was done. Yeah, right. Regardless who was behind all this nonsense I did know one thing; I wasn't paying shit. I had worked too hard to earn my living and I had kids facing college bills soon; I am going to hand these guys 60K US dollars for no fucking reason? Wrong......getting out of the country and uncovering the boss behind all of this were my only priorities, not paying off some lazy cunts who were too fucking stupid to make their own way. First things first; spend the day on the island making contacts, boat to the mainland the next day, and back to Bangkok on the 4pm flight. I also worked my e-mail account and contacted anyone who I thought could help me; I was basically rallying the troops and it was good to know how much support I had waiting for me back in the big city. I flew up there and arrived at the airport at the appointed time; B was inside the arrival lounge for my flight and when he spotted me he was actually looking BEHIND me, to see if anyone was following, perhaps someone who flew up with me on the same flight. When we both realized I was alone we went out to the car; A had his Honda double-parked on the curb just outside the exit, a place where no one is allowed to park for even 30 seconds; he had been there for 30 minutes. I threw my shit in the back and climbed in and we drove off; I was still very panicked by this time and had only slept maybe 3 or 4 hours in the past 3 days and hadn't eaten anything, I just couldn't keep anything down. These 2 guys did a great job calming me down as we weaved through Bangkok rush-hour traffic on the way to A's mid-town condo; no way I was going back home, they had my address there. A and B were getting more info out of me during this time, and looking at one another with skeptical looks on their faces while uttering some Thai which I couldn't understand. A knew the city and culture very well and B was his best buddy, living in BKK for 6 years by then and running his own business. They both agreed on one thing and B turned around to tell me while we were heading back to the condo; "This was not done by Thai people; if these were really Thai cops behind this you would either be dead or in jail by now. Lets get you back home and figure out who did this to you".

You got that right! I paid almost double that price to go from the northeast USA to BKK last November. I will be heading through Narita soon, I need to see if my airline can give me some kind of a deal but I booked it a long time ago, I think I am stuck now grrrrrrrrrrrr :diablo: