A nice retreat to Pai before NYE in Chiang Mai !!

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Day 114 (Sat 29^thDec) Pai



My first full day in Pai was spent doing, well very little. Louise joined Tammy and Jo who we met in Chiang Mai for a girly morning at the Spa so I left them to that. I wandered around the town and waited for Megan to get into town. Then we pretty much just chilled out for the day roaming the streets, off which there are not that many. Pai is a really small place, around 3,000 local inhabitants but it’s become incredibly popular these days with tourists flocking in from Chiang Mai. It was that busy the river was lined with tents for people coming for New Years, luckily we had a room for a couple days otherwise we’d have been tenting it.

At tea time I met up with Louise who had decided she wasn’t staying and was going back to CM. Maybe my episode on the journey there being sick all the way put her off staying in Pai. In the evening Megan and I roamed the night food market which is up and down the main road. The street stalls food here is really nice, I ate loads after eating very little yesterday.

We then found a place to watch the football so watched 3 games with a few Chang’s. Decent way to end my first full day in Pai.



Day 115 (Sun 30^th Dec) Pai



We woke up at around 7am to head to the main bus stop/tour guide place to hire scooters. We were told we needed to take a number and wait but as we we’re so tired (not a morning person) we headed back to get more kip.

We returned to the shop at 10am ish and got our number. We got 62 and they were on 18 so we figured it’d be a while. We got some breakfast and had a walk around and watched a bit of tv. Around half 1 it was our turn and we picked up a scooter each. Considering I’ve never driven a car or ridden anything in my life I was so keen to get going I wasn’t concerned at all. The scooter hire and insurance for 24 hours a massive £4. The main street is quite busy with people so not the best place to test it out.

Megan decided after a minute or so that she wasn’t so keen on it so got her money back and then I headed off for a little adventure. I went west out of town maybe 15km, getting the scooter upto around 110kmh (68mph) give or take. I was absolutely flying around the countryside and took to it really well. After an hour or so and checking out a nearby waterfall I went back into town to pick up Megan and take her for a spin. We took in the ‘I love Strawberry Pai’ random thing on the side of the road we found. It was a bit of a strawberry farm I guess with plenty of people visiting.

From here we checked out Pai Canyon and the WWII memorial bridge then headed up the east side of town for a good shot of the city. I became a local in that I was weaving in and out of traffic and overtaking everything moving not as quick as I liked. I think the fact I’ve never done it made me a little fearless so to speak and I just went as fast as possible. (Dad you can skip this part for Nana).

I dropped Megan off and went up to the view point, which was a stupidly steep road. The views were stunning and I didn’t need to use any throttle on the way down, just free wheeled it. When I made notes for this day I labelled the note about the scooter ‘Became Jorge Lorenzo for the day.’ I really enjoyed it and it gives you so much more freedom plus it’s cheap.

In the evening we did the food market and the bar for the football. It was a quality day and I enjoyed every minute of it.



Day 116 (Mon 31^st Dec) Chiang Mai



I woke up at half 6, very unlike me to take the Yamaha scooter for a final spin. I went round the 3 roads that basically triangle round Pai and nailed it. The roads were empty and I was free to floor it. It was however very very cold meaning at times I had to take it easier as my hands were so cold I wasn’t sure I could brake. I felt pretty in control and confident riding, hoping maybe I can do some more in Vietnam down the coast, be a good way to see the country, plus you find things and places you wouldn’t normallu.

At 8am we headed to the bus stop to get our minivan back to CM. On arrival we checked in and headed out for lunch. Before we got back we bumped into Louise and Amy and spent the afternoon with them.

We went to the barbers where Amy got a trim and I got my beard done which I’d left for 10 days or so, so that I could get a nice clean shave for the new year. It took an age but was very cheap and there was far less blood than when I do it.

After this we chilled in the hostel. I got chatting to some new additions in So Hostel called Izzy and Hazel (Colorado). As we were a decent sized group who all knew each other from Christmas we got them involved also for some drinking festivities.

The hostel provided some food in the evening for the guests which was nice of them and sort of required considering the electricity had been failing and the water nonexistent. We all had to go out for the night shower less. We got a load of beer for the shop next door and the drinking games commenced. Drinking games are tricky enough as people get more drunk but we had a mix of nationalities, meaning different people knew different rules etc. Anyways we got past this and had a good laugh sharing stories. The last member of the group arrived being Tammy and we soon headed out afterwards towards the moat.

We bought some Chinese lanterns and set them off. This was definitely the thing to do as everyone was at it. The sky looked amazing with all these lanterns. Not sure I’d fancy being in the place where they all fall back to ground as there were hundreds if not thousands set of over the night.

We then headed to Thapae gate to watch the countdown and a live stage show with Thai artists singing. I strangely really enjoyed this and it was a bit surreal as we had no idea what was going on but didn’t stop us singing away and dancing along.

After here we headed to the Roof top bar and on to Zoe’s from there. It wasn’t long before I was on tables throwing shapes in the reggae bar to Bob Marley. I was loving life at that moment.

From here the group sort of disintegrated and we all lost each other. We all headed back in our own time to the hostel. It was a class New Years Eve, definitely my best so far !!



Day 117 (Tues 1^st Jan) Chiang Mai



The hostel room was littered with hungover bodies in the morning but we all did manage to get up around 11-12. We agreed to leave at 1pm to head out to a restaurant where they only serve breakfast menu’s. This was mentioned to us by Tammy and was a great idea. Large English breakfasts all round pretty much although I’m sure no one finished them, even I couldn’t and that’s unlike me.

In the afternoon we all had a kip and met again in the evening to head out to the night market to eat some more. As we were all pretty lethargic we didn’t really do ought, so headed back to the hostel around 9pm. An hour or so later, myself, Jordan (Newcastle) and Megan headed to the bar a few doors down to watch the New Year’s football from home. One thing Thai’s know how to do well is have football constantly showing at all times on every screen, I love it.





Day 118 (Wed 2^nd Jan) Houay Xai



So today was the day myself and Megan would leave Thailand. Amy and Louise went yesterday, Izzy and Hazel were going the same day as us but by bus and Tammy and Jo are 2 days behind. We will all meet again in Luang Prabang in a few days which will be nice, it’s good having the same people in places. Ok you don’t meet as many people but as you spend more time in a group, it’s nice knowing people for more than one day or so.

We headed to the bus station and the earliest we could leave was 11am. We got the bus for 3 hours to Chiang Rai and then a songthaew across town to the other bus terminal to get a 2 hour bus to Chiang Khong. There is a direct service from Chiang Mai but the way we did it is actually cheaper and quicker amazingly.

In Chiang Khong we got a tuk tuk driver to take us to a place to get passport photo’s done then on to the port. I say port. It was a slip way with immigration being a hut and customs being 3 old women in a gazebo selling boat tickets across to Mekong, not exactly checking us for anything, maybe it’d be different on the other side.

We got on what can only be described as a floating tin can to go across the water. Considering this is technically and international sailing it felt weird. The boat trip lasted 2 minutes maximum then we set foot on Laos.

We could have literally just walked straight into the country but we got our visas. There was hardly any security, just a couple guys sat in a hut. The duty free shop had a sign but didn’t exist and the immigration control was a B&Q shed. I doubt I will see a border crossing like it again. We were now in Houay Xai, we found a guesthouse and checked in for the night before grabbing some tv and watching American sitcoms on Laos tv.

The food was good and the beer cheaper than Thailand so that was a good start after the very odd immigration set up.



Next – Slow boat into Laos and Luang Prabang

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