A Slice of Pai

After a great adventure in mountainous Mae Salong hiking through rural villages with Natasja from Holland, we took 3 songthews (a combination of a pick up truck and mini bus with two long benches in the back) and one bus, taking 8 hours in all, to the much hyped up hippy enclave of Pai.  Sometimes it’s nice to travel with someone to share the journey and watch your pack when you need to use the facilities at the bus station.  This town has places called The Witching Well Cafe, Almost Famous Bar, Edilble Jazz, and Riverside Lodge and is full of tattooed bare chested foreigners from all the usual suspects:  Canada, UK, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, Australia, and Germany.

While it’s pretty touristy with a few streets full of foreigner priced restaurants and gift shops, it also has a small river running though it… and across a rickety old bambook bridge you can find my bamboo bungalo.   From my hammock I see green covered mountains, two cows, the river and said bridge.  Is it any wonder I will have been here for 10 days?  It was my idea to sit here by the river and just do a lot of thinking about where-what next, but  I have mostly chilled out, or done nothing, which is hard to do, but great nonetheless.  And I am sad to be leaving so soon.

My first day after Natasja headed to Mae Hon Son and her onward adventure, I met the nicest gal from Ireland, Maired, who introduced me to Tal from Israel, and we were inseperable til Tal headed all the way home to start her new life doing Thai massage at a bed and breakfast on the Dead Sea.  My bungalow neighbor is a retiree from Birmingham (the twin city of Chicago he tells me) who has been in town for 2 weeks and working his way to Laos after having taught monks English in Chiang Mai.  Then two funny women- Sheryl and Margaret- from Australia who I ran into here after meeting them at my hostel in Chiang Rai a week before.  There is a nice curly head kid here from Madision, WI who plays violin at the bars with the bands.  He took a year off before going to college and is so smart and cool, and trying to answer all the questions of the world.  And a few others who crossed my path.  It’s that kinda place… 

While there are places to see outside of town, I don’t drive a two wheeler, i.e. moped or motocyle, so I’ve just stayed in my hammock, gotten Thai massages, walked to the markets, hiked to a temple, and just felt lucky to be here.  Tomorrow I will hire a motorcycle with driver, to take me to a waterfall and Chinese village, which was my plan today but I got sidetracked at the Internet cafe, which I have been avoiding.

Today I made little pieces of paper and wrote, T for travel, S for study (Buddhism or meditation), H for home, and O for other.  After I folded them  and mixed them up, three times in a row chose T for travel which surprised me.  This engine is getting a little weary of being on the road, so we will see where the track takes me, but I envision a longer stop with some kind of doing involved soon.  This week it’s to Malaysia as my Thai visa runs out again.  Will see my wonderful friend there,  do something with the rest of my luggage, and see what happens next.

If you would like to bring Thailand home, try this recipe for a fruit shake, which is sold everywhere.  My favorite is using dragon fruit.  1.  Cut fruit into small pieces, add to blender.  2.  Cruch ice (don’t know how- hammer or just buy it), add to blender.  3.  Hit Blend.  4.  Drink and add sugar if necessary.  Viola.  Shut your eyes and envision yourself in Pai.