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Published: January 10th 2016
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Oh Pai! It's late Sunday afternoon and I'm sitting on a worn white bench at 'coffee in love' along my ride home. Looking out, first to the English country esque garden bumps sloping below, then the layer of smooth fields, then the bang up of the mountains. Mist and smoke come up between the hill layers, like steamed jam.
The peaks are gorgeous. The sky is washed delicately with blues, greys and long white smudges.
I can see the sandy hill path that I wandered up hours ago, I'd over shot the white Buddha in the hills that i'd been aiming for (which you can see from all over Pai). But I left my (brilliant) mountain bike halfway to get up and at least be level with Buddha, and to check there wasn't a connecting path.
The roads that I'd been riding on were great, accompanied with perfectly aligned songs (the war on drugs). I loved rolling down round the bends on the bike.
A next stop had been the hot springs, the entrance was a little pricey and the display photos didn't pull me in, so I sat by the entrance's pool. I then stopped and chilled with
Morning river
White buddha in background a mango shake at Pai treehouse.
Then there was Pai canyon - blimey! It was so very cool. Beautiful adventure trails, white sand wiggles that reminded me of snow creeks despite the heat. The orange and white stone trails could be seen in all directions and they dipped and rose in waves. You'd climb up, grabbing some helpful tree branches and then awkwardly head down again getting sandy legs and bum. I went far and came to a steep canyon ending, with a rocky path around. I was a little scared. The drop was sheer and the narrow path curving. I'd actually had to back up the first time as I had a snap vision of the oncoming guy flicking me off the edge.
But I indeed walked round, sweeping to the end to meet the white paw reaching out for the mountains. I'd stop and take photos along the way and feel the occasional wave of unease in my belly. It was stunning.
Before getting to this coffee stop, I'd also stopped at the memorial bridge which was originally built during ww2 and was a continuation of that which I'd seen in Kanchanaburi over the river Kwai.
And I'd avoided the temptation of other lovely looking coffee stops before this one.
This day has been great for the mind and body. It started with reading by the river and a perfect breakfast of Jok - chicken rice porridge with poached egg, chilli and herbs. Some of the riding was tough though! I had to walk up a few sandy roads, and pretend not to look at how long the hill went for. I sussed these roads must have been the ones the minibus from Chiang Mai took a few days ago, where i'd been dozing and wobbling about in the front seat for the final part of my 2 day journey from Malaysia.
Pai has been a very sweet spot so far.
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