Pai: A rollercoster of sorts

---

Me, Roxanne and Rosine board the mini bus to pai. We have been forewarned about the 700 plus curves the road makes on the 134km road. And about the possible need to vomit. by the end all three of us have our heads down doing our best not to upchuck. At the small bus stop/travel agency we see an agent arguing with a rude tourist. as he leaves the agent shouts "Not in Pai!" and mutters this over and over. it is clear that in pai you are expected to chill out. Pai reminds me a lot of home, a small northern hippy town, with a good live music scene and the hot days cool off into the 60s and 50s at night. People hit the downtown during the cool night, listen to music, hang out, eat and shop. I swear if you put the people of moscow here they wouldn't know the difference.

Rosine part's and heads to an organic farm where she will stay and work. Me and Roxanne head into town and find a small room, with "hot water". Then meet up with Dre a girl we met on the bus to rent a couple of motocycles and search for Pai canyon wich is supposed to have awesome sunsets. We never find the canyon and opt to go hang out at a local waterfall. and still get to enjoy a beautiful sunset. It is very hazy because of fires. some controlled burns from the hill tribes slash and burn opium farming and other fires they just let take thier natural coarse and don't fight. after we arrive back intown we check out some live music and me and roxanne go and practice our meditation before we sleep.

The Next day we buzz around and see the sights, a Wat on a hill 400 steps high. more water falls and we chill out at the hot springs. it seems odd to hang out in a hotspring in 90degree weather but none the less is relaxing. Again we practice our meditation before bed.

The third day we go and investigate the elephant trekking to see how the elephants our treated. we find elephant pins just big enough for the elephant to stand on a short leash. this discourges us from wanting to go elephant trekking. We go to try and find the organic farm Rosine is staying at and end up at the wrong one, but everyone is really nice and informative. Roxanne leaves to laos.

I was going to go jungle treking but I was stiffed and the shop remained closed the day I was supposed to confirm my trip. So I decide to stay at the organic farm I found the day before. It was in a hill trip village and the owner was of the lahu tribe I believe. I book my room and head out to the water falls. were I play in the water with a hill tribe boy. We don't understand each other but it's still fun. I start to get a stomach ache and head back to the farm. Soon I end up vomiting (from both ends) and go to the hospital in town incase of something serious. He gives me some antibiotics and sends me on my way. I search for the closest room and end up at a luxury bungalow staring into the trashcan vomiting all night. But before I could even get to my room thier little ankly bitting yippy dog bit me.

So the next morning no longer vomiting but still filling shitty I go back to the hospital asking for a rabies vacine. although I doubt the family dog had rabies, i decided to be safe(yes I made sure the needles were new) and spent the day watching DVD's in my little luxary bungalow. the next moring I got back on the mini bus to chaing mai, didn't get sick and jumped on a plane to koh sumui the island

---

Photos

Photo 18
Locals Boil egg's in the hot springs

Waterfall
The area surrounding pai has many waterfalls