The Life of Pai


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Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Pai
April 28th 2008
Published: July 4th 2008
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The RainThe RainThe Rain

Yikes, better get out of here before that comes our way.
The journey to Pai was reminiscent of Laos, winding steep roads with gorgeous green vegetation surrounding us. I read somewhere that it was one of the top motorcycling roads in the world and I could see why, it would certainly be challenging. I thought that we were heading to a secluded gem, off the beaten track, where loads of hippies had settled and decided to call home. Granted there were alot of hippies, but they were of the smelly, smoking weed, fire twirling variety, not the kind of people I want to get to know. There was this one guy that we would see nearly every day that wore his fisherman pants so low his bum would actually hang out!

When we got to Pai the weather was really crap! It was pretty much raining cats and dogs, a real taste of what the monsoon season must be like. There wasn’t a lot of information around but we had heard that there was a cyclone in Burma that was affecting the weather in South East Asia. We found some upscale accommodation on the riverside, a far cry from Chang Mai. The three of us bunked into a double room, but
EllieEllieEllie

Such a swetie pie, we fed her some food and she was happy.
it was so spacious it didn’t matter. The bed was big enough for us all, there were a few funny moments: the pillow fight over the covers being robbed and there was the old adage of someone being thrown out of the bed for spilling crumbs (in our case it was beer). All in all, it was really swanky; we even had our own Veranda with lovely river views.

After we were settled, myself and one of my friends went for a drive on a moped that he had rented. We were just ambling along the streets, heading further into the countryside when we came upon a Watt, there were loads of kids and a monk there cleaning up after some celebration. I was a bit nervous and was telling him that I wasn’t appropriately dressed (again being the tourist was in shorts and a t-shirt) and that we should leave, when suddenly a monk walked over and handed me a decorative flower that had been left over. It was such a sweet moment; it was a real act of kindness out of the blue and when I think about it now, it is almost like it happened in
No boill egg!No boill egg!No boill egg!

I was so dissapointed, I had brought some eggs up to the springs for that very purpous!!
slow motion. I didn’t know what to do, because women aren’t supposed to talk to or touch monks, I just said thanks and then we were on our way, but I was so touched, he must have known that I felt uncomfortable and did it to make me feel comfortable.

When we got back to the town I decided that I would rent my own bike as there was obviously a lot to see outside the main centre of the village. After a bit of a ropey start (it was a different to any bike I had driven before) I got the hang of it, but I still wasn’t comfortable enough to have anyone on the back. So in the beginning my two friends rode together on the same bike and I held up the rear. We decided to head off for a drive. We were just on our way out of the town when all of a sudden the other bike wouldn’t work. It took a while of trying to start it over and over again, but to no avail. Eventually a local came over to give us a hand and it turns out that it was out
The SpringsThe SpringsThe Springs

I know asian people are normally shorter than westerners, but I have a hard time believing that they sit in this hot spring...it barely came past our ankles!
of petrol. I had to do a really Asian thing and tow him to the petrol station; it was hilarious and made for a really authentic experience. After that we went for a really long nice drive. Pai is amazing, it is so beautiful and there is so much to do. We ended up going down numerous roads just letting it take us wherever it pleased; it ended up with us in the middle of a pot holed ridden field and having to make a bumpy retreat out of it. We decided that we would go and see every thing there was to see the next day as it was getting dark.

That night we met some friend’s we had made on the bus as well as another guy that we had met on the Gibbon Experience. We went to this restaurant where a really cool Thai band were playing classic rock tunes in English, they did not sound like you would expect it was quite a surreal experience. After that we were heading down the road trying to think of somewhere else to go when some Thai folks told us about Ting Tong. I had seen a few
The CanyonThe CanyonThe Canyon

Was a bit of a surprise but impressive nonetheless.
signs around the town with the slogan: “Are you Ting Tong?” and a mirror on it. They told us that it meant crazy, we later found out it meant something else, but I think crazy was more appropriate! Off course with a name like that we decided to take their advice and head down. They had a fireshow that consisted of one guy swinging it around to his hearts content, felt sorry for the bloke, because by the end of it he was sweating so much and there was no one else to take his place so he had to just keep on going. We had a great night, lots of booze was consumed (by everyone else, I was driving and not drinking for the first time in my life), drinking games were played, shots were downed and merriment was had. Afterwards myself and another friend did the taxing home, we got a bit lost because it was so dark which was hilarious.

The next day we all met for breakfast, we then headed off on the road to see what lay ahead. We just drove around for ages, passing green fields, quaint traditional towns, posh resorts and other
The GangThe GangThe Gang

Had lots of fun nights out with everyone.
beautiful scenery. We stopped when we saw a few elephants on the side of the road. We gave them a pet and some food. Then we went to the famous hot springs, which has to be the funniest tourist attraction I have ever seen. Firstly it was quite expensive to go in. Then when you get to the first pool it is so hot that it would actually cook you alive, they had this hilarious sign saying: “no boil egg” but I think that they were mistaken, or perhaps it was lost in translation. After that we went to the Canyon, we were able to see the landscape around Pai, it was really good. It was great to drive around all day with the wind in our hair and just going wherever the road led us, with out the use of a map. Later that day after we had all gone home for a wash, we met again in the same bar “our local” to have some drinks and play some more drinking games. We were taught a game called F%@K the Dealer, in which the object of the game is to get the dealer drunk, I think that they
The Evil CritterThe Evil CritterThe Evil Critter

Sure he looks harmless, but he was out to kill us. It was him or me!
should rename the game F@#K Emma as I seemed to get really screwed over in the game! After that we headed to a late night bar called the Bamboo Bar which was good, we were all pretty drunk at this stage and ended up messing around taking stupid pictures for the night, was good fun.

In the morning we went to Pai’s outdoor pool. We had to drive up this muddy steep track which nearly had myself and my friend having mudcake for breakfast! We got up there in one piece and were surprised to see a really cool modern pool with gym and area for yoga. I ended up having to go home in a hurry and just hung out in our bungalow…ahem and toilet. I eventually made it out and we went to a coffee shop called The Witching Well Cafe. A friend from Thailand that I had made in Vang Vien called Lek worked there so we went to go and say hi. He was kinda busy with other friends, so we ended up not staying too long, but we did try out one of their magical brownies which totally lived up to the name! Later
The ViewThe ViewThe View

This was the view from our room, It was lovely when it stopped raining.
on we went to another bar that had a live band playing, it was really strange sounded like Irish music infused with Thai and Rock music. There was quite a big gang of us at this stage, we had made more friends, we went on to our other haunt the Bamboo Bar. That night was a sad night for me as one of my friends that I had been travelling with since my first week in Vietnam was going his separate way, he had to head home via Bangkok. Was going to miss him, so after having a few drinks with everyone else we ended up going off on our own to spend some time together.

The next day was quite gloomy having to say farewell, felt like I was saying goodbye to a best friend, never to see them again. It is mad the friendships that you make when travelling, there are so many people that I met that I know I will stay in contact with forever and if they ever came to Ireland they would always have somewhere to stay. I guess everything is more intense when you travel, you spend a lot more time with
Silly PhotosSilly PhotosSilly Photos

Don't ask me what we were supposed to be doing, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
people so you get to know them really quickly, also you are all experiencing amazing things for you to bond over.

By that night most of us had parted ways except for three of us girlies, so we all bunked up in our room and had a girls video night. Two of us were heading to a detox the following day so we did the only thing you can do when faced with starvation...get loads of junk food! We all sat up chatting about life, travels, boys etc and munching on crap. It was good fun, until our night was brought to an abrupt end by the dreaded LOCUST! While the door was open this horrid creature made his way into the room, if you have never heard one before they make a shrill, frog like noise. He flew into the room like he was on a mission to kill one of us. Us being the typical girls we all screamed and jumped under the bed shivering for fear of our lives under the covers. We couldn’t spend the night like this, so we resolved that one of us would have to kill it. In the end, it came down to me. We had to make a suitable weapon, which turned out to be my lonely planet of asia wrapped in a towel, finally I was getting some use out of the book! I managed to kill the critter with one foul swoop. I felt bad, but at the end of the day it was him or us! After that we had no energy left for anything else except going to bed!

Next day we headed off for our detox, we had a brilliant time in Pai and really could have stayed here for a lot longer. I can see why the smelly hippies have made camp and settled down. Was a great place and had such a fun time with a great gang of people.




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