Pai

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Leaving Chiang Mai, we headed into the mountains to a small village called Pai. Having two travel choices, a public government bus which is basically an old school bus, or spend a bit more and ride in an air conditioned minivan; much more comfortable, plus the minivan will pick you up at your hotel. It was 3 hours of 2 lane, winding mountain roads with great scenery. Once we started to climb, the AC couldn’t be used because they needed the power for going up the hills. Pai is a small town/village which is a popular spot for mountain trekking, hiking, elephant safaris and such. It has a “laid-back” attitude and consists of a younger, hippie crowd. Lots of small restaurants, guest houses ($5 per night), motorcycle rental shops and travel/trekking agencies, surrounded by rice paddies, waterfalls, houses on stilts and jungle scenery. The place has something magical about it. We’re not sure what it is but we want to go back. We stayed at this very cool resort about 5 minutes up the road and rented a motorbike to get around town and to our hotel. Lot’s of fun!

Of course we got massages (how can you not when it’s so cheap and available?). This was the first time since we arrived that Mike has had a male masseuse; not a problem, but the place we chose was. He was on the mat next to mine but it turned out he was sharing his mat with fleas and they weren’t happy about it. He emerged with many flea bites. The dogs must have been using the mat for their bed when a customer wasn’t occupying it. We found much cleaner ones the next day. Our 3 days went very fast and before we knew it, it was back in the Mini-van and back down the mountain to Chiang Mai. This time it would be just overnight and then we would fly to Krabi.

Since we where in Chiang Mai, we made one last trip to the bazaar to buy a travel bag. (Kristina, we bought a bag just like the one you use. Remember your magic bag you could just keep pulling stuff out of?) We liked Kristina’s so much and when we saw them for sale we couldn’t pass it up. The green one I bought must have been the vendor’s first sale of the night because he rubbed the money all over his other goods, for good luck. At this point, we where completely shopped out and ready for some beach time. It was off to Krabi, a small beach resort just south of Phuket.

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Photos

Street food stand in Pai
She was selling chicken (? maybe) kabobs for about 20 cents each)

Streets of Pai
Motorbikes for rent;just $2 a day.

The magic bag
Kristina, this one's for you