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Published: January 14th 2007
Christmassy cold Pai
We treated ourselves to red wine and Pizza. This made us all very happy especially David who temporarily turned into Barnacle Bill!We arrived in Pai sometime in the afternoon after a rollercoaster bus journey over the mountains. All four of us felt a little dizzy and wanted to find our new home as soon as possible so we walked down Pai's main street, over a river on a bamboo bridge to the bamboo huts we had been recommended by a nice couple in Chiang Mai. We chose the bungalows without en-suite bathrooms so we could save some money and instead spend it on having fun. The bungalows were very basic but would be fine for what we needed; a place to rest and sleep at night. It felt quite like camping having to go outside to the bamboo hut toilets and showers. Yes absolutely everything is made of bamboo here...what a versatile material.
On the first night we realized just how much colder it was in the north of Thailand and without haste I bought a wooly hat and jumper! Michael succumbed to the inevitability of shopping again (after various shopping trips in Chiang Mai's night bazaar in the run up to Christmas!) and purchased himself a very Geordie Burberry scarf and a green and red beeny hat.
The next
Christmas Accommodation
We treated ourselves to a nice room for Christmas. After our cold camping style bungalows we really appreciated our two nights here. day we hired motorbikes and set out for an adventurous day which turned out to be way more than any of us had bargained for! Michael drove our motorbike with confidence as a qualified motorbike driver and Louise and David cautiously took turns driving their bike. Everyone rides bikes in Thailand and in most places, particularly Pai, a motorbike is the only method of transport so it’s that or nothing! It was my very first ride on a motorbike; I held onto Michael tightly and made sure I stayed as balanced and still as possible. After a little while of feeling nervous I started to relax and enjoy the ride! We flew along with the wind in our hair singing 'Born to be wild'.
First stop was a sulphur smelling hot spring where people often boil eggs...we forgot to bring our eggs but it smelt of eggs anyway so we got the sensation. Then we went on to an amazing canyon where I climbed some trees which perched high over the edge of a cliff all in the name of art! Unfortunately one of the trees I carefully climbed was home to a thousand ants who quickly showed me
Friendly Cats!
The cats were friendly...I felt at home here. that I was not welcome with their teeth! After a small but considerably controlled moment of panic I managed to climb down and off the tree and began to swat myself all over to stop the biting ants. I made it alive and only slightly shaken up!
We then hopped back on our bikes and headed towards a waterfall. Michael and I were riding ahead of David and Louise so every once in a while I looked behind me to check they were keeping up. We drove over a hill and round a corner and this time I checked they were not behind us anymore. We slowed down and waited a little while before deciding to turn round and go back to find them. At this point we feared the worst. As we drove on we could see in the distance a bike on its side on the edge of the road! Next we could see that David was on his feet but Louise was flat out on her back on the ground!
A man from Alaska and a woman from New York were at the scene; they had already started assessing the situation and were cleaning the
Pai Canyon
What a totally awesome place. You can see around for miles and walk over narrow dusty pathways. dirt from Louise's wounds. Louise was conscious and nothing seemed to be broken but there was plenty of blood and a huge lump on her head. We tried desperately to ask the locals who had surrounded us to help take her to hospital in a car or truck...anything but a motorbike. Thankfully a man over the road who had a truck drove them both to the Hospital.
Meanwhile we arranged someone to pick up their hire bike which didn't seem to much of a right off. Then it seemed that Pai's entire police force, which consisted of two officers, one on a bike and the other in a car, turned up to check what had happened. We spoke to him and assured him that it was an accident and no one had crashed into them. This seemed to resolve the enquiry. After everything was in hand at the scene of the accident we made our way more cautiously than ever on our bike to the hospital to see if they were ok. When we arrived they were both lying on a hospital bed each being seen to. The medical attention happened much quicker than in England and we decided
that was because local Thai's could not afford the treatment. We also found out later that 5 tourists per day crash motorbikes in Pai alone! Maybe Thai's were just less likely to need medical treatment? We also thought that a high percentage of people in the emergency ward in England are there because of alcohol related injuries and maybe Thai people do not get as drunk!
The verdict for David and Louise’s injuries were that Louise needed stitches in her head and they both needed bandages and dressings which needed changing at the hospital everyday for the next 7 days! They were both also prescribed a course of anti-biotics to prevent any infection. We were all very shaken up but extremely thankful that they were alive.
After they had been released from the hospital I went looking for nicer, more comfortable accommodation for our new patients to recover whilst Michael helped them pack. They moved house that night and began their long recovery.
The day after the accident Michael and I took a day out to leave David and Louise to recover. We went bare backed riding on an elephant! I can't describe how uncomfortable this was...just
Louise recovering after the accident.
A guardian angel cat was sent down from heaven to look after Louise. This very placid cat came into David and Louise's new room and sat with Louise for a whole day and night. think of nearly doing the splints on a big hairy elephant where you have to grip on for dear life with only the power of your feet and thighs otherwise you might fall off! As much as this experience was utterly challenging it was also absolutely amazing! I was so much closer to my new favorite animal. After the scorching hot hour long journey through the mountainous jungle area the elephants, with the direction of our guide, took us to a river...and into to the river to play rodeo with the elephant! Before the elephant stepped down the bank into the water the guide took some pleasure in winding me up about crocodiles in the water and how he would take photo's to send home to my friends and family with a postcard saying “Dear family, Amanda was eaten by a crocodile!” Of course I didn’t really believe him but went along with his joke for fun!
On the guides command the elephant swung his huge powerful body from left to right tossing our small and weak in comparison bodies from side to side. Our challenge was to grip on for as long as possible until the elephant managed
Our Elephant.
This was the beautiful elephant we went bare back riding on. to throw us into the water. The current of the river was very fast and I found it harder to balance myself in the water than on the elephant. All the excitement put me in a fit of hysterical giggles and at the amusement of the guide I toppled and fell all over the elephant and in the water. All in all this was a very fun and memorable day.
The rest of our time in Pai was taken very slowly with ease as Pai was the perfect place to do nothing...in fact somehow it seemed impossible to do very much in Pai. No matter how many times we tried to do anything other than chill we ended up walking up and down the long high street trying to arrange things to no real avail. We booked and changed our dates and times for a film showing at the Pairadiso cinema several times until we finally got it right! David and Louise had to walk up and down the high street at least two times per day to get to the hospital and despite the difficulty they had walking because of their bandaged knees they still made it. In
fact I think Pai really showed us, in the true spirit of Christmas, how much friends can really be there for each other and pull through in the face of adversity.
We ended up having a very Christmassy Christmas in Pai. The people of Pai really embraced Christmas with streets decorated in lights and tinsel, people in Santa hats drinking hot lemon grass tea from bamboo cups and the general friendly feeling of Christmas. That and the fact it was cold made it easy for us to be in a merry Christmas mood.
We spent Christmas morning on our balcony opening presents, then we managed to find some food pretty close to a Christmas dinner (roast chicken, mashed potato, mixed veg and gravy) then we finished the evening by watching The Godfather in Pairadiso cinema. We left cold Christmassy Pai the day after Boxing Day to make our way to sunny, sandy Ko Lanta for New Year.
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Greta
non-member comment
Thank you
Thanks you for my special photo, Manda. What a scary time! Really lovng the blogs