Losing Myself

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June 13th 2006

Published: June 15th 2006

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jennyrenn

Sunset over Pai

I decided to head to Pai, a small artist village west of Chiang Mai and chill out for awhile. I had heard it was very laid back and indeed it is. The village of about 3000 people sits along the Pai River. I arrived on a minibus and proceeded to walk the entire town in about 5 minutes looking for a place to stay. I settled on a bamboo hut along the river. It's a simple little hut with a bed and mosquitoe net, and a partially open bathroom/shower and a covered front porch with pillows. I dropped my bags and set out to check out the town some more. As I turned and looked west the sky exploded with color, the sunset was amazing!! I crossed the river to the east side and headed up the road which sits higher than the town. As the sun set, fireworks began peppering the sky for the Kings Coronation day. An American guy, Jamie, stopped on his motorbike to watch and offered me a mangosteen - great fruit that looks like a plum, but is more like a leechy inside. I then met up with two Israelies I had met on the bus

Pai Valley

and we had Italian food then went and watched World Cup games! Pai is a very lazy town with artists, hippies, not too touristy. A great place to watch the clouds and time pass by. I could defintily stay here for awhile! It's very cheap, about $7 a nite for a nice place, $.25 for a fresh mango shake and about $1 for great tomyum soup!

The next day I rented a motorbike and drove out in the hills to explore. The town is nestled in the valley and lush, green mountains surround it! Rice and soy farmers tend their fields during the day, wearing big hats. I drove out to a waterfall and meandered through these smaller villages with the Karin Tribe people. I met Erik, a young guy from Maryland going to Loyola, but who is studying in Bejing. We got to chatting and he was looking for people to go rafting for 2 days down the Pai River. Sounded fun to me, so I signed up for Monday.

On Sunday, I drove about 50 Km to the Tham Lod Cave. The road there goes up and over a mountain on very steep and windy roads.

Pai Valley

THey are doing construction, so you have to be extra carefull, yes Dad I was wearing a helmet 😊). At the town before the cave turn off, I was stopped by Thai police at a check point. They wore fatigues and had machine guns. They stop everyone as it's near the Burma border. All clear, I proceeded to the cave, which is open on both ends and you have to take a bamboo boat through. I hired a guide and boat driver. In one of the caverns is a cave drawing probably about 2,000-3,000 yrs old. There are bats and birds everywhere! And so many fish in the river. I headed back to town and had pizza with Thomas and his sisters Phim and Nong at his bar. We watched more World Cup. Then off to bed I went as I had to get up early for the rafting trip.

Our raft guide Chai is a very funny guy, always laughing etc. Before we left, Erik wanted to buy some rafting shoes. Chai asked him if he wanted to taste them! really meaning to say TRY them! Chai later told me the story and we all laughed so

Pai Valley

Rice Fields

hard. I keep laughing everytime I think about it! Ah the translations! Chai actually speaks very good English, all which he learned from tourists. He has been rafting for 15 years so is very experienced! The three of us headed for the river, which is pretty low this time of year but still has some class 3 rapids. The river is very muddy from the nites rains. We stopped for a light lunch of fried rice on the river. The river winds through the jungle with huge Saba trees towering over, about 50-70 feet tall and lush, thick bamboo arching over the river. Huge teka trees hover on the mountain tops. We saw so much wildlife: water buffalo soaking in the mud, herons, lots of kingfisher birds with bright blue feathers and red heads, macaque monkeys swimming in the river, and so many butterflies! I have never seen so many and so many colors! Smaller lemon yellow and mint green butterflies sit in the sand along the banks and look like small sailboats ready to launch, then there are black ones with pink spots, bright green spots and blue! The jungle hums with life, the locust, birds, gibbon monkeys....

Pai

Water Fall

After about 4 hours we reached our jungle camp for the nite. It's located higher up on the hill as last years flood reached to 30 feet! No joking! You can see the water line and debris high in the trees. Chai said it happened very quickly. They had a few boats on the river and had to go rescue them. They were rafting through the trees! What normally takes 8 hours to raft, took them only 2 hours to Mae Hong San about 75 km from Pai!

The camp consists of bamboo huts, a couple of open ones for sleeping and a kitchen one. Mr. Two Way, from the Karin tribe lives here and cooks meals when rafters come. He is 8 km away from the nearest village. He is 67 and lives there with 2 dogs. They made a small "shower" in the stream that merges with the river. It was so refreshing after being on the boat all day. When we first arrived, Mr. Two Way made popcorn!! I was so excited. I love popcorn and to have it in the jungle, what a treat!! For dinner, Chai made a traditional northern Thai blood salad with

Motorcycle Mama

At the top of the pass on the way to Soppong and Lod Cave

raw pork. It has sliced raw pork meat, cooked lung, liver, lots of chili, coriander and some other Thai spice I don't know the name of. Then you pour the pork blood over it, add some fish sauce and let it marinate. I tasted it and it was actually pretty good, very flavorful with the herbs. After dinner we hung out talking about the Karin Tribe and talking about the differences between Thais and Americans. Thais bodies are so physically different than ours. They take herbs to make them eat more so they can get fat! If only we had that problem. They also can handle so much more chili! if you ask them why this or why that about Thais, they all say, "chili"!. They also squat alot, something I tried. When I squat I sit on my toes and they sit flatfooted. They apparently have a tendon in their leg that we do not that enables them to sit like that. You also hardly see any Thais wearing glasses, prescription or sunglasses. Computers and TV make our eyes bad, thus necessitating glasses. They do not like sunglasses. Thai women also try to make their skin whiter, where as

Lod Cave

Americans are trying to get tan! In general the Thais live simple lives, very appealing.

On day 2, we woke to sun and headed out for 45 km down to Mae Hong Son where we were getting picked up. Today there were more rapids and longer ones, very fun! In the flats, we jumped out and floated down the river, great fun! We found a bamboo raft that a fisherman had left so got on. Erik poled us toward the rapids and I took over. We ended up hitting a rock and getting stuck! we were laughing go hard. Chai was yelling at us to get off and into the boat! All in all , it was a GREAT trip! Sleeping in the jungle, floating down the river, rapids, sun, the wildlife, Chai laughing the whole time...

We are staying in Mae Hong Son tonite and will head out to see the hill tribes tomorrow, the LongNeck Tribe and maybe hit the mud baths! Then back to Pai for me and Erik is headed to Laos. Pai is very addictive, a place where you do can everything or nothing, where nothing is everything!

Day 3 of trip

Pai River

Rafting down the Pai River

- Erik and I rented a motorbike to see the Longneck women in the village near the Burmese border. We drove through the small village and didn't see them as the paved road ended. The road continued on, but was a very steep, rutted, dirt road, about 15% grade, no kidding. As I switched to low gear and hit the gas, Erik asked if we were going to try going up the hill. I told him to hold on and up we went. We didn't get very far when i freaked out at the ruts. I hit the brakes and told Erik to jump off. I didn't want the bike to roll down the hill, so I tried to turn it around. As I was trying to hold on and turn around, I turned the handle - gas - and lost control of the bike. It started to go up the embankment and into the ditch. At this point I bailed myself. It landed in the ditch but landed on my leg. All the village kids came running up the hill, laughing and helped us pull it out. Silly farong!~ We walked it down the hill and parked it. Noway

Pai River

Rafting down the Pai River

was it going to make it up the mountain. Brushing the road dirt off of us, we started climbing the hill. Up and up it continued with no village in site. We could see clear across the other mountain tops. It was 1:00 and bloody hot and the locust were humming already. We decided to walk about 5 more mintues then turn back as we both had to catch a bus/plane out of Mae Hong Son later that nite. We heard dirtbikes in the distance approaching us. About 6 border police came around the corner in fatigues. We stopped them and asked where the village was and they said DOWn the hill! We apparently went right past it. So we asked for a ride on their bikes as climbing down the mountain would have taken some time and we were running out of water. I was so scared riding on that bike winding up and down these steep hills. I held onto the policeman so tight. I think if we would have kept walking we would have found ourselves surrounded by the border police in Burma! What an adventure.

We finally found the Longneck tribe and walked around. The

Pai River

Floating down the Pai River

girls get a 1 kg brass ring around their necks when they are 5 yrs, then they swap them out for heavier ones - 3 kg - when they are older. I held one and it was heavy! The women make beautiful, bright colored fabrics and textiles. The Karin Tribe is actually from Burma but were persecuted so escaped to Thailand just over the border where they can live in peace.

Erik and I raced back to town to catch our respective rides. I came back to Pai on the local bus. The road weaves through the steep, jungle mountains on hairpin turns. At times, I didn't think the bus would make it! A young soldier sat behind me and was on his way to the base in Pai for 2 weeks then on holiday for awhile. All Thai men are required to serve 2 years when they are 21 unless they are in University or studying/working for the government. There are many bases in the north as they are so close to the Burmese border. The sunset over the mountains that seemed to stretch into eternity, every direction. I made it back to Pai, tired and hot abd

Fishing

chai fishing for dinner

found myself back at my same bungalow and settled in.

Thomas, my friend who owns the bar, and I went for a motorbike ride up to waterfall. I'm taking it easy on my leg as it swelled and bruised pretty bad. Lesson learned, don't go up steep hills unless you have a motorcross bike and gear! and know what you are doing 😊) All is well mom and dad. Will likely hang out here for a few more days then head to Laos.

I have to say my experince in northern Thailand has been completley different and better than the south. I feel totally at ease here and noone has tried to scam me. I think you have to get out of the touristy places. The people are so friendly and gentle. Plus I do love the mountains and these small towns.

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