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Published: October 14th 2007
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We arrived in Pai around noon after a beautiful winding bus ride through the mountains from Suppong. We checked into a nice-looking $6 en-suite room at Jan's Hotel, surrounded by plush herb gardens and flowers. The clean, nicely furnished bed was deceiving, and hid a terrible mattress complete with jabbing springs to make sleeping a challenge, but we didn't realize that until later and managed to sleep regardless. After checking in we wandered through the central streets of Pai, and very quickly ran into the Australians and the Argentinian couple we had met at Cave Lodge. We agreed to meet later, and Jeff and I checked email and ate lunch at a combination internet cafe and Mexican restaurant. Then we did what everyone does--and should do--in Pai: we rented a moped and headed out of town to explore the surrounding hills. Pai is surrounded by many small villages, countless monasteries and a number of waterfalls, all tucked into the impossibly green rolling foothills. We found and explored a large tumbling waterfall and a few villages, then headed back to Pai before dark set in. We joined the Aussies for dinner and a beer, then went to bed fairly early in our
terrible lumpy bed.
The next day we set out early on our moped, carrying Jeff's camera gear and armed with water and sunscreen. We stopped at a number of monasteries, climbed to a sandy bluff, visited another small waterfall, and eventually stopped for lunch at a small local restaurant across from an elephant camp. We watched the elephants dispose of enormous bundles of leaves and sugarcane while we picked at our mediocre Pad Thai, then bought a couple bunches of bananas to hand-feed to the eternally ravenous elephants. Then we were off again on the moped, in search of views and waterfalls to photograph. We found a sign indicating a waterfall down a dirt trail, and we bumped and jolted along the dirt path until thick brush made riding the moped impossible. We abandoned our moped not far from a few others that had also been defeated by thick jungle, then set out on foot to find the waterfall. The trail wound its way along a quiet river, frequently crossing from one side to the next. I gave up on taking my shoes off and replacing them for every crossing, and allowed them to be soaked instead. At times
the trail seemed to nearly disappear, but we always found it again. We saw no one else for a full half an hour. The jungle was thick and hummed with the sounds of birds and insects. A small pack of water buffalo grazed along the riverside, the large bells around their necks chiming as they walked. There were no signs or markers to indicate the distance to the waterfall, and after a while we began to wonder if we were in for a much longer trek than we'd planned. The water speed would occasionally increase, and we'd hurry our steps in anticipation of a splendid water display, but each time we were disappointed. Finally, after almost two hours, we found a series of small falls which led into calm pools. It was certainly not the waterfall advertised by the sign at the start of the dirt road, but we decided it was good enough. Jeff took some photos, then we both went swimming in the pools. As we swam a local hill tribe family silently crossed the river a little ways down, moving quickly and expertly through the jungle. The father brought up the rear carrying an enormous and ancient-looking
gun, undoubtedly to hunt food for the family. They didn't even look in our direction, although I'm sure our splashing and laughing could be heard for a long way in the quiet woods. They disappeared into the forest and we finished swimming and began to walk back. Somehow, bizarrely, we ran into Tomas (the Argentinian guy) on the trail. He had also set out in search of the falls, and had gone even farther than we had with no results. We joined him for the walk back, and soon the three of us met another acquaintance, a Welsh guy we'd met a few days earlier. The company made the walk back go quickly, and soon we were back on our mopeds heading back into town. It was another early night after yet another Mexican meal (clearly our number one weakness...) and a farewell to the Aussies and Argentinians. Our jabbing bedsprings were waiting to cuddle, and we spent one more uncomfortable night in Pai.
The next morning it was time to return to Chiang Mai, and we decided to do it by moped instead of by bus. The moped rental company had a very cheap luggage delivery service to
their office in Chiang Mai, and we could return the bike there also. We kept our camera bag but handed over our packs to be retrieved that evening in Chiang Mai. It was a 140-kilometer (100 mile) ride through winding mountain roads. The road was newly paved and traffic was light, which made it a fairly comfortable ride. Our butts were sore after a few hours, but the stunning views and the freedom of traveling at our own pace made it absolutely worthwhile. The moped did pretty well up the big hills, although it certainly chugged a little at times. Something about the wind and sun kept us in high spirits the whole day, and we sang and chatted as we wove our way through the mountains towards the city. About halfway through our gas tank got pretty low, and we began to worry slightly. We passed a security guard at a traffic check and asked how far to the next gas station. He told us 20km, and we foresaw a serious hassle. Two kilometers later, though, we found petrol at a tiny local road stop. The cherry-red petrol was stored in old glass whiskey bottles, but it powered the
moped just fine. We continued down the mountain, finally reaching a straight stretch of road. At the final sharp mountain curve there was an overturned pickup truck surrounded by curious and concerned onlookers. No one seemed to be badly hurt, but a scuffed-up-looking man sat near the upside down truck looking embarrassed. We continued on, reaching Chiang Mai mid-afternoon. It took us a few tries to find a familiar part of town, but we finally pulled up at Eagle House 2 hotel, the same place we'd stayed previously. We checked into the same room, greeted the Australians who were staying there also, then got back on the moped to retrieve our luggage and return the bike. We took a tuktuk back to the hotel with our luggage, showered off the dust from the road, then went to our favorite Chiang Mai restauarnt--Art Cafe--for dinner. We got Thai massages and went to the Sunday night market as we'd done the week before, although the novelty had worn off and we were soon tired of the thick crowds and endless rows of trinkets and T-shirts for sale. We returned to the hotel for bed, and got up the next morning to fly
into Laos.
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