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Published: December 17th 2005
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4 Nights
Oh Pai, why were you so good to us?
If you are ever in Chaing Mai you must see Pai. The guidebook said this hippy town sprouted like a mushroom when travellers were on there way to somewhere and they found Pai.
We took the latest bus (always arranging things at the last minute) on a Saturday at 3pm (asking for trouble) and when we arrived at 7pm we were greeted with a town abuzz with Thai and Farang tourists everywhere. I was a little disappointed as I had the impression that Pai was a 300 metre street with 5 or so guesthouses (so naive) and that we may come across a few other travellers why we were there, how wrong was I.
Our champion mini van driver drove us to atleast 10 guesthouses and all were full, after an hour we returned to the centre of town and were saved by an angel of a lady who put us up in her half built bungalow. We were later told that it was Pai's busiest weekend ever and fortunately by the Sunday we found some nice new vacant bungalows by the river. Our trip in
Pai was now back on track.
Our Pai experience was quite fast for such a laid back town. For the 4 days we were there we basically didn't stop. Our typical day as a traveller involves; 8am wakeup, 830am eating, 9am grooming, 10am activity, 12pm eating, 1pm activity, 5pm chill out with drinks, 7-8pm eating, 7-11pm drinking and 12-8am sleeping. Well its a ruff guide but I hope you get the picture. Notice how there is no 'work' in there and that eating is a priority. Well call us lazy but we have not done any type of labour in the 5 weeks we have been here, it is nearly a full-time job just organising the eating part! Someone cleans our room, washes our clothes and cooks our food, just how a holiday should be.
I will get on with it, we hired motorbikes and got familiar with the town. We went to a nice waterfall and promptly got wet. Riding through the country side is where you get to see the real beauty of Pai, green valleys with rustic abandoned sheds, lantana and wild grass growing surrounded by mountainous peaks.
The Waterfall Story
It was
Where is Pai...?
Check out the map fun riding with some new friends (first timers on bikes) and it well made up for the previous nights issues. Pai has a reputation for dope smugglers and illegal aliens and the like, and on our return journey from the waterfall we were pulled over by 10 army dudes with bigass machine guns for an interegation and search. I was really chilled and contrary to how I thought I would have reacted I didn't feel nervous one bit, I swear. All you have to do is smile lots, say hi and thank you in Thai, turn your bike off and not carry any drugs. Its all for show I reckon the big guns and all. I made sure I got the biggest smile from every last one of those army dudes, it was so much fun. Rane asked for a photo, which was a laugh because I kinda had a feeling most armed forces in Asia are paranoid about photos and these cats were no different. Its a good story to tell and its likely we will elaborate the story to make it sound a bit more hardcore, but they let us go no hassles.
Now on to food...
More Elephants
I love elephants!!! We got a tipoff for a hot kitchen and we rocked up there for dinner - 'Na's Kitchen'. Now it takes a bit to get Rane excited (not) but really he got sooo excited when we sampled the amazing Thai dishes on offer at Na's. We ate the most deluxe meals we have had in Thailand and they averaged at 25 baht (about AU$0.80) and they made the best ginger ice tea's for 15 baht. This is the cheapest food we have bought in Thailand and the best, tells you something I reckon. We were in heaven and we ate there for the next 2 nights and I swear the food got even better (how is this possible?).
As Na's was only open for dinner (we would have eaten there 4 meals a day if we could) we found another amazing kitchen called 'Pai Blues'. They made the best baguettes and fruit shakes and they were always big servings with heaps of fresh veggies. Our taste buds were going wild here and I am so addicted to Thai food now, in particulary Northern Thai. I have been eating it most lunches and dinners lately and it is such
a highlight of this trip.
On our second day we checked out the local hotsprings which was really cool. Meeting some elephants on the way was a bonus and we hung out with them for a bit and fed them some bananas. At the hotspring we went to the top and the water was 80-100 degrees. There were people there boiling eggs. On our way down I thought I would sample a naturally formed hotspring pool (to ease the seediness I was feeling) and I eventually got in and for the first time since I was 7 years old I could fully stretch out in the bath, wow miracles happen. It was probably 40 degrees and thanks to mum who ran me super hot baths when I was a grom, I was right at home melting away, but Rane and co. were shocked with me because they could hardly put there feet in. I felt born again.
The Pool Party
Our only night we got really loose was the night of the pool party. We had discovered during the day this really cool pool that had a bar and food and plenty of people chilling out around
it in the beautiful sunshine. After smashing a bottle of Thai Whisky we went to a Boogie Nights party about 11pm and had a great night boogeying and boozing to some classic funked out tunes. Everything was going swimmingly, Rane was running around running amok, in the pool, talking to heaps of new friends, I had met some cool Aussies and we talked shite for a few hours, then the evil *buckets* came out, I only had a little bit and at about 3am we had to leave because Darin was too drunk. I won't tell anymore of that story here but please ask me about it next time we catch up.
Goodbye Pai
Like most of our trip, it was a truly amazing time and I could never properly portray the colours and tastes of Thailand. You know its all good when nearly everyone you meet or see is smiling and you have many vivid dreams every night, all about Thailand and you can even sometimes dream during the day. This country is taking a hold of me.
The show must continue and we are now back to Chaing Mai to continue our journey and soon
we will be hitting Laos.
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Eye in the sky
non-member comment
Great to see all is well
Love ya work champ, Keep it up, Im watching you. Remember Ignorance endangers, Awareness Protects. Inlakech... Tim