Life of Pai

Tuesday, Nov 10th:

Waking up this morning in my little bungalow to a thick layer of fog, a river in front of me, garlic fields behind me and mountains all around. I got into Pai midday yesterday and instantly felt at home. Today will be when we rent motobikes and go explore the outter layers of this town, but from what I can tell thus far, Pai is your quinessential little mountain town. No snow or ski resort of course, but a small town, big river, huge mountains and a good ol homey feel. Though there is a large amount of westerners here, it seems to be more of the backpack crowd and the town has appeared to stay true at it's core- it hasn't sold out to the tourism... At least yet.

I took a minibus from Chiangmai for the vomit-inducing, curvey three hour drive up here. Arrived right around noon with my breakfast still in my stomach and searched out a place to stay. Met an Isreali girl on our bus who had been here before and was going back to where she had stayed before, so I tagged along. Her place was beautiful but full, so we started pricing others. We ran into a girl who told us to follow the road to the last bridge and tell the owners that Anna sent us. Did that and ended up with our own little bugalows here on the river for a good price. Nothing glamorous... Glorified camping really. But I have my own bathroom, a fan, a mosquito net and a comfortable bed. Basic, cheap and a beautiful view- I'm happy. The Isreali girl and I headed out for some lunch and ended up meeting a guy from New Zealand who joined us as well. Went into town, grabbed some delicious food, got to know one another and then headed our seperate ways. I just wanted to walk around for a bit (I gain my bearings on a town via aimless wandering) and was on the lookout for a good place with wifi- which is harder to find around here it turns out. Stopped at a quiet little place with a view upstairs that overlooked the streets below and mountains above. Ordered a coconut shake, wrote my emails to send later, met another American woman and then headed out to my little magical wifi corner to send my interweb messages. The boys had rented mortorcycles and were driving up from Chiangmai (a feat that I felt I did not have the skills to complete) and so called them to figure out their whereabouts. Because they were still on their way, I went back to the bungalow and chatted with Joel and Anna- two kiwis both from Christchurch, NZ who had just met a few minutes earlier- in the hammocks at our place. We decided to go get some grub and, as I was grabbing some stuff out of my place heard Andy Laughlin calling my name. The boys had found me after their long, butt-kicking drive up here and were pysched to join us for some dinner... Perfect. Sat down at a place by the river that was pretty fantastic, grabbed some road beers from a market (totally legal and cheapest way to drink) and walked around checking out the Pai night scene.

The roads here are littered with pedistrians at night as little vendors and tiny bars open up shop along the side of the road. It was similar to the Sunday night market in Chiangmai, but a hundred and eighteen times smaller. We made the big loop around the main square and all ordered a greasy, hot, amazing chocolate pancake from one of the street vendors. Mobbed those as we walked and stopped in for a few drinks at a bar on the corner that had outdoor seating, live music and had apparently ripped off the name of the bar and signage from Buffalo Exchange back in the states.

Called it a night rather quickly after and headed back home for a wonderful night of sleep. We are all meeting for breakfast in a bit, then a tour around the greater Pai area via motobikes. All good things to be had!

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Going to bed right now after our amazing day out... very ready for another good night's sleep and a chill day tomorrow. Just said my goodbyes to the tahoe boys which was a bit sad but I think they had a rather awesome last (non-traveling) day.

We all met up for a wonderful breakfast at The House which serves a variety of 'breakfast of champions' for a decent price. Joel went to rent his little moped as Andy and Greg went to grab their bikes. We all dilly-dallied for a good while but eventually got cordinated and headed off. It was Joel riding solo inbetween Greg and Anna who took the front and Andy and I who brought up the rear. Got out of central Pai rather quickly (easy to do in a small town) and were in the mountains in a few minutes. It is gorgeous up here. The towering mountains that stand on both sides of the valley are absolutely dripping with greenery and banana trees and the aroma of flowers. There are little farms and villages scattered here and there on these winding roads and the sheer beauty is just jaw dropping. We got up to a little waterfall first that was really easy to access and proved to be a good swimming hole for both tourists and locals (the tahoe boys took a dip as some local kids were employing the waterfall as a waterslide). We got back onto the bikes after about an hour of down time at the waterfall and made a quick stop at the Chinese village. It was a cute place but not much to do other than shop in these little markets. We probably lasted about 4 minutes before coming to an unanimous decision to hop back on the hogs. Continued to drive downward and then over to the Pai Canyon. This little hiking area, again, is beautiful. It has a viewpoint that overlooks vallies on both sides of where you are standing, has a few paths that follow a very slender ridge and reminds me of Boulder, Mendocino, Moab, Bali and New Zealand all put together... But also unlike anything I have ever seen before (I have to remind myself that I don't always have to compare these places to others I have seen- rather, I'm working on just taking them in as they are).

After a short walk back down to the bikes, we decide to go get some food. Stop at a coffee shop right along one of the rivers and have a nice lunch out on the porch. Walk down the bridge that was, in some way, associated with WWII and continue onward.

Next stop: hot springs. Mind you, it is ridiculously hot outside if you are in the sun and not rolling along on your motobike- so adding to the heat by going to a hot spring just sounded silly. But it is one of the things Pai is known for, so we go ahead and pay a park entrance fee and have a look. It was actually quite nice and very relaxing (as hot springs usually are). It was a good mix of locals and westerners too. The locals were not swimming but rather had all brought eggs that they hardboiled in the really hot pool. The tourists were all the ones that were actually in the hot water on this rather ridiculously hot day.

Jumped on the bikes and headed back into town towards home. Stopped on the side of the road to see and take pictures of an elephant that was just hanging out along the way and finally made it back home. We all showered and cleaned up, had some dinner and then went out on the town for a bit with the boys. Went to go watch this amazing Thai girl sing at the Pai Post and then I headed home. Said goodbye to the boys, sent some love to tahoe with them and wished them luck when they told me about their plan to pick up some German girls.

Not sure what the plan is now for the next few days... Or months. I think I want to stick around Pai for at least a few more days and just soak in the beauty. I am actually looking forward to some time by myself- traveling alone is really a hard feat to accomplish- and really do like it here. I have a cheap and basic place right on the river, I have a pet snail that comes out after every shower (my bathroom doesn't have a roof!) and am considering looking into doing a week long retreat at one of the Buddhist temples. We will see...