Pai - hammocks, waterfalls, elephants and bikes!

All that pretty much sums up Pai. It's a very relaxed little place in the North West of Thailand with barely 4 roads, so you can really chill here. There are plenty of bars and restaurants which kinda makes it touristy but in fact, it's not - if that makes any sense.

Our place is just by the river, so mornings & evenings are absolutely gorgeous, apart from a little detail: there are more bugs of different kind. So, on my first night, I seemed to be the target for all the mozzies from the neighbourhood, landed something big and beetle like on my sheets (couldn't see properly what it was due to the speed with which I got rid of it) and ended up with about 20 bites just on my legs. Nice one. Strangely enough, I didn't really mind the gecko in our bathroom - I suppose it's the insects I don't have a great relationship with. I won't even mention the size of the cockroaches... Brrrr!

Moving on to something more pleasant: people. On the way to Pai, I hooked up with an English girl called Sarah. We went to the nearby hot springs spa and spent a very relaxing few hours there, chatting mostly about good old England :o) Later on that day we were joined by Amanda (an American girl I met in Chiang Mai). As we were walking out of our huts, we bumped into Mary - the Californian who I'm supposed to be traveling with in Laos, Vietnam & Cambodia. So, we all went to beautiful dinner to this place that everyone talked about. And that's the beauty of traveling - you don't really need to drag all these heavy guide books as people will simply tell you everything you need to know. Easy peasy!

One of the girls, who was at dinner with us, had been to the Gibbon Experience, where I & Mary are going, and said it was absolutely fab. There was one thing though (as always...) - the leeches. As you trek to this nearby waterfall, you cross a spring full of them. So, she was telling me how you should be getting rid of them. Apparently, you light them with a lighter and they jump off - sounds easy...NOT! Oh, you guys don't even know how much I want to avoid a close encounter with these creatures... I will definitely keep you posted if I have been successful!

Apart from eating out and chatting about random things, we did quite a few things in Pai: saw a couple of nearby waterfalls, trekked in the Pai Canyon and rode through the jungle on an elephant. Now, I must say, I didn't find that last thing very enjoyable. You are sitting really really high up, as elephants are bloody big animals (yeah, yeah, I know you know that, but you only realise how big they are once you are standing right next to one or sitting on top of it) and they move veeeery slowly. I just don't understand what the fun is! You are seeing the jungle but it's nothing you haven't seen before, gathering spiderweb on your face as you walk among the trees and trying to be cool when in fact it's boiling hot and you are sweating like a pig! I guess it's one of those touristy things that you allow yourself to be fooled into. I don't regret doing it but I definitely wouldn't do it again...

There was one thing about Pai that I really liked - motorbikes & scooters!

What a cool way to move around! We rented a couple of bikes and that's how we traveled in between the waterfalls and other things. Most of the interesting things to see are about 10 km outside of Pai, so you wouldn't want to be walking it! I can now understand why people love bikes, especially in hot climates - I'll miss that for sure!

Unfortunately, we didn't prepare very well for the weather while we were on these bikes. It was quite overcast that morning but it turned really sunny later on. Needless to say, we didn't take any hats or sunscreens and a couple of us ended up with sun strokes. My one was probably the worst - I had the nausea, dizziness and body temperature of probably 40. Not nice at all... I seem to be alright today but it was a real struggle as I constantly felt like I was going to faint. What can I say, a schoolboy mistake - still lots to learn!

There is one more thing that you need to know about these little quaint places in SE Asia - they like to have power cuts. We had one last night but it was sooooo beautiful as the whole place was candle lit. We ended up in this art cafe where we listened to some live music (unplugged of course). I was melting not sure whether it was because of the ambiance or the heat...

So, that's Pai - a little town in a valley with lots of rice paddies and fruit gardens. Leaving tomorrow to to get to the Laos border and finally do the Gibbon Experience! As I'm not a blonde anymore, I should be quite safe in terms of being kidnapped by a local King Kong. So, until next time then!


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Pai jest malym miasteczkiem polozonym w dolinie i otoczonym gorami. Zdjecia generalnie mowia same za siebie - tajskie widoki, slonie i duzo duzo slonca. Niestety troche za duzo - do tego stopnia, iz wczoraj mialam maly udar sloneczny. Caly dzien spedzialam na schladzaniu sie i dzisiaj juz jest lepiej, iec mamo, nie panikuj - wszystko jest ok :o)

Jest tu tez mnostwo wszelakiego robactwa - ogromne karaluchy, jaszczurki i duzo kmarow, ktore o malo mnie nie pozarly na obiad pierwszej nocy. Nasz hostel jest nad sama rzeka, wiec oprocz cudownych widokow, niestety jest tego robactwa troche wiecej. Nic to, zawsze to nowe doswadczenie!

Dookola Pai jest mnostwo miejsc do zwiedzania: wodspady, kanion, gorace zrodla i slonie. Musze jednak przyznac, iz przejazdzka na sloniu nie byla czyms, co bym chciala powtorzyc. Siedzi sie naprawde wysoko, przy czym slon porusza sie bardzo wolno. Trzeba pamietac, iz wszystko to dzieje sie przy bardzo wysokiej temperaturze, a ze slonia raczej nie ma jak zejsc, plus jestesmy w srodku dzungli. Tak wiec nie bylo to nic specjalnego, chociaz ciekawie bylo dotknac slonia i zobaczyc jaki jest z bliska. Nasz mial 47 lat!!! Staruszek.

Po Pai wedrujemy do granicy z Laos, skad udajemy sie do dzungli i wysoko...na drzewa. Tak, bedziemy mieszkac w domkach na drzewach i wypatrywac miejsowe zwierzaki, ale o tym nastepnym razem!

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