Date: Wed Jul 9, 2003
Subject: Thai Interlude

Hi folks,

This is it - this is the moment I've been waiting for and working for for the last 2 years and maybe much longer. Tomorrow I fly to India for an indefinite stay to study tabla and get deep and mystical with it. I'm ready for this moment! (So are my tabla, which broke yesterday...)

To fill you in since my last big posting, I'm now a retired Nova English teacher and full-time musician/music student. In the last month, I've taught my last bundle of Nova 40 minute lessons, plus had a few good gigs in Kyoto and Osaka with some great sitar players. The last gig was in beautiful Kurodani Ei-un-in temple, with a fantastic garden as the backdrop. I played with Christophe Rossi (from France) and also did a short set with 2 of my students plus my new guru-bhai Hiromichi Okazaki. As my farewell gig it was really nice to see a lot of the folks from work - teachers and students - there to at last see why I've been so obsessed with India and with tapping on my chair during lessons all year.

I've had a great time in Japan - especially having played with so many excellent musicians and developed my own music as a result, plus of course meeting and establishing a wonderful relationship with the lovely Sayaka.

In the last week I've been lazing on Koh Chang in the Bay of Thailand. What a beautiful place - bamboo huts by a small palm-lined beach. I spent all day swimming, reading, sleeping, practising and eating. Lots of eating. :-) It IS rainy season in Thailand but luckily only the last couple of days were especially rainy. Otherwise I've had a beautiful interlude in Thailand. The only down-point was watching my tabla skin slowly tear as I practised in my hut during the rain yesterday. The moist conditions combined with a skin defect I've been watching for a few months to result in one broken tabla. I'm thankful it broke now, not last month before my last gigs! Soon it will be just like new...

And now tomorrow I fly off for smelly stinky hot India. No more life-of-luxury in lovely Japan! No more sushi and Kirin. And no more suit-and-tie... Sayonara Kamo Gawa, namaste Ganga. From now on it's hard-core practice and cold showers. Curry and chai. And Guru-ji telling me "don't spread fingers" and "loose!" and "te-te more prominent!"

Blessings to all,
Love
Shen
Aum Mani Padme Hum

PS - Other small news for Australia-jins: I bumped into Epizo Bangoura a couple of weeks ago. He was giving djembe workshops just down the road from my place. Natsukashii (how nostalgic...)!