I gave Nature $5

Look at the man in the middle of this photo. Does he look like a monk to you? We thought so too. Meet Nature, the Taiwanese monk, or so we thought, that sat next to Ken on the way to Luang Namtha, Laos. 

His Chinese was so clear, his English was so good! He lives in Taipei but has been traveling abroad to find enlightenment the past 18 months in Yunnan. His next goal is to travel in SE Asia for the next three years.... to find enlightenment. When we asked Nature whether or not he was a monk, he denied that he was... he supposed we thought so because of his hair. That wasn't it. 

When we arrived in Luang Namtha, I vaguely remember someone wondering aloud at how Nature kept his head above water while traveling so much... since he didn't confirm or deny that he had been an ibanker in a previous life, we shrugged it off and went to eat food. It was only the next morning when he asked us for money that we figured out how he got additional fund. I gave him 50,000 Laotian Kip because he asked. 

Sigh. That could have bought 10 smoothies or 5 Beer Laos. Nature, if you're reading this, hey!