We left Chiang Mai yesterday around noon to head towards the little town of Pai in Northern Thailand. Pai is about 150 km from Chiang Mai, but we had to cross over the mountains, so the trip took around 3 hours. The roads were narrow, the curves sharp, and the motion sickness never far away. I spent the majority of the trip with my eyes closed praying that I would not vomit all over the other people in the minibus. The country became even greener and the hils rose higher. We arrived in Pai and were dumped on a street with little more than a point towards the direction of the river. We had decided earlier that our plan was to cross the river via bamboo bridges and scope out the bungalows running along the river. After crossing 3 rickety bridges and inquiring about prices at 5 resorts, we settled on a nameless little place run by a lovely woman. She squeezed another mattress onto the floor of the bungalow and we were set. The price for the rustic, riverside accomodation? 200 Baht or just under $7. Yet another night of paying less than $3/person. I'm loving the prices of rooms. Sharing with Uli and Matthias has allowed me to save sooo much money. We dropped our bags and crossed the bridge once again. I realized that I would quickly have to get over my fear of the bridges, so I put on my brave face and never looked down. After my falls during the trek, I'm having trouble trusting my feet. I managed to cross without incident and we explored Pai...in about 4.2 seconds. The town is smaller than Amery but has a ton of character. We ate at a little Western/Thai place "owned" by a Thai woman married to a white man. In Thailand, foreigners are not allowed to own property, therefore many wives own the business and the foreign spouse manages it.
We wandered for the next couple of hours and ran into a couple of the people we rode up to Pai with. One in particular was an American who was loving the hippie vibe of the city. We checked out a couple of bars before heading back to our bungalow. The next day we woke to the sound of the rooster crowing. We had a late breakfast and rented motorbikes. We ran into the American again and his new friend from Norway. The five of us formed a biker gang and were determined to conquer the areas surrounding Pai. Our first stop was a waterfall about 15km outside of the city. I had never driven a motorbike before, but the rental was less than $6 for 24 hours. The automatic bike was easy to learn and way too fun to drive. On the way to the waterfall, I had a minor mishap and my bike fell over. In the process of falling, the bike took me with it and I got up with a burn on my arm. Most backpackers get burns on their legs from the exhaust pipe, but that would have been no good for me. I apparently feel the need to take it one step further and get a burn in a more random and illogical spot. Hence, the burn just below my wrist. I win.
The waterfall was gorgeous and consisted of a number of pools connected by small gushes of water. The local kids were sliding down, so Uli got the 411 and slid down. After accidentally going off a natural jump, she landed and quickly informed us not to do it. I climbed to a higher slide and had a go. There were a ton of others sliding and I managed to be the only one to pinball my way down. I had a blast, but have now developed a nasty bruise on my thigh. Thailand is beating my body much worse than I had planned.
We joureyed via our motorbikes to the hot springs even though it was hot outside. The springs are in a national park that cost three times more to get in than one night in our little bungalow. We paid the fee and didn't regret it for a minute. No one else was in the park and the area was magical. Vines wrapped around tree trunks, water bubbled down a stream into the pools, and I expected wood nymphs to pop out at any moment. We stripped down to our bathing suits and got into the coldest pool we could find. Despite the pool being the coldest, it took me 10 minutes to ease myself into the hot water. We soaked for a while absorbing as much of the good as we could. Further up the path, we found the source and a sign that informed us that the water was 80 degrees celsius. A group of Thai kids were boiling eggs in the sulfur infused water and enjoying a late afternoon picnic.
Uli, Matthias, and I left our friends and raced to the Pai Canyon to watch sunset. The sunset over the canyon was quiet and relaxing. We watched the orange turn red before hustling back to the bikes. We did not want to be driving on the curvy highway after dark. Upon returning to Pai, Uli picked a restaurant for dinner. We expected menus and got bowls of sticky rice instead. The restaurant had a set menu that consisted of 6 indecipherable dishes ranging from spicy to incredibly spicy. The worst part was that the price was 150 baht making it one of our most expensive meals. Needless to say, we found a place for a second dinner.
Back at the bungalow, I found a hammock with my name on it and read in the peace of the night for a while. The next morning, we woke early to eat breakfast and go out for one last ride before going back to Chiang Mai. We went in search of another waterfall. Instead of gushing water, we found a small stream ending in a pool with a trickle of water from above. We can only imagine how impressive the waterfall would have been during the rainy season. We returned the bikes with time to spare before catching our minibus back to Chiang Mai.
The minibus spit and sputtered as we climbed out of the valley that houses Pai. At one point, the bus pulled over to the side of the road and the driver informed us in broken English that the bus was overheating. A mysterious green ooze dripped from the engine. Twenty minutes and 5 liters of water later, we were on our way once again. We arrived in Chiang Mai at 5:30 and began the enternally joyful experience of wandering from guesthouse to guesthouse asking about rooms, prices, and availability. We eventually came across a room that would squeeze another mattress on the floor. During our search, we ran into Jen, an American we had met in Cambodia. She was in Chiang Mai for a couple of days, so we planned to grab dinner. Khao Soi was on the menu with mango and sticky rice for dessert. I love me some Northern Thai food! We took Jen down Hooker Street and to the night market. We went to bed earlyish, but made plans to grab breakfast with Jen before leaving for Mae Sot.
This morning, we ate at our favorite coffee shop in Chiang Mai and hopped aboard a tuk-tuk for the 40 minute ride to the bus station. We had tickets for the 11:45am bus to Mae Sot. The bus ride was 6 hours, but passed quickly with my activities ranging from reading to sleeping to listening to music. Our main goal for traveling to this western border city is to cross into Burma and get another free 14 visa into Thailand. New visa regulations have been put in place making it much more difficult for those of us wanting to spend more than 14 days in the country. We ate dinner at a street vendor and ate some more mango with sticky rice. I am loving the variety and cheapness of the street food. We've had a lazy night in and plan on getting up early to get to the border. Tomorrow brings another bus to the ancient city of Ayutthaya. I cannot believe I only have 3 weeks left!
We wandered for the next couple of hours and ran into a couple of the people we rode up to Pai with. One in particular was an American who was loving the hippie vibe of the city. We checked out a couple of bars before heading back to our bungalow. The next day we woke to the sound of the rooster crowing. We had a late breakfast and rented motorbikes. We ran into the American again and his new friend from Norway. The five of us formed a biker gang and were determined to conquer the areas surrounding Pai. Our first stop was a waterfall about 15km outside of the city. I had never driven a motorbike before, but the rental was less than $6 for 24 hours. The automatic bike was easy to learn and way too fun to drive. On the way to the waterfall, I had a minor mishap and my bike fell over. In the process of falling, the bike took me with it and I got up with a burn on my arm. Most backpackers get burns on their legs from the exhaust pipe, but that would have been no good for me. I apparently feel the need to take it one step further and get a burn in a more random and illogical spot. Hence, the burn just below my wrist. I win.
The waterfall was gorgeous and consisted of a number of pools connected by small gushes of water. The local kids were sliding down, so Uli got the 411 and slid down. After accidentally going off a natural jump, she landed and quickly informed us not to do it. I climbed to a higher slide and had a go. There were a ton of others sliding and I managed to be the only one to pinball my way down. I had a blast, but have now developed a nasty bruise on my thigh. Thailand is beating my body much worse than I had planned.
We joureyed via our motorbikes to the hot springs even though it was hot outside. The springs are in a national park that cost three times more to get in than one night in our little bungalow. We paid the fee and didn't regret it for a minute. No one else was in the park and the area was magical. Vines wrapped around tree trunks, water bubbled down a stream into the pools, and I expected wood nymphs to pop out at any moment. We stripped down to our bathing suits and got into the coldest pool we could find. Despite the pool being the coldest, it took me 10 minutes to ease myself into the hot water. We soaked for a while absorbing as much of the good as we could. Further up the path, we found the source and a sign that informed us that the water was 80 degrees celsius. A group of Thai kids were boiling eggs in the sulfur infused water and enjoying a late afternoon picnic.
Uli, Matthias, and I left our friends and raced to the Pai Canyon to watch sunset. The sunset over the canyon was quiet and relaxing. We watched the orange turn red before hustling back to the bikes. We did not want to be driving on the curvy highway after dark. Upon returning to Pai, Uli picked a restaurant for dinner. We expected menus and got bowls of sticky rice instead. The restaurant had a set menu that consisted of 6 indecipherable dishes ranging from spicy to incredibly spicy. The worst part was that the price was 150 baht making it one of our most expensive meals. Needless to say, we found a place for a second dinner.
Back at the bungalow, I found a hammock with my name on it and read in the peace of the night for a while. The next morning, we woke early to eat breakfast and go out for one last ride before going back to Chiang Mai. We went in search of another waterfall. Instead of gushing water, we found a small stream ending in a pool with a trickle of water from above. We can only imagine how impressive the waterfall would have been during the rainy season. We returned the bikes with time to spare before catching our minibus back to Chiang Mai.
The minibus spit and sputtered as we climbed out of the valley that houses Pai. At one point, the bus pulled over to the side of the road and the driver informed us in broken English that the bus was overheating. A mysterious green ooze dripped from the engine. Twenty minutes and 5 liters of water later, we were on our way once again. We arrived in Chiang Mai at 5:30 and began the enternally joyful experience of wandering from guesthouse to guesthouse asking about rooms, prices, and availability. We eventually came across a room that would squeeze another mattress on the floor. During our search, we ran into Jen, an American we had met in Cambodia. She was in Chiang Mai for a couple of days, so we planned to grab dinner. Khao Soi was on the menu with mango and sticky rice for dessert. I love me some Northern Thai food! We took Jen down Hooker Street and to the night market. We went to bed earlyish, but made plans to grab breakfast with Jen before leaving for Mae Sot.
This morning, we ate at our favorite coffee shop in Chiang Mai and hopped aboard a tuk-tuk for the 40 minute ride to the bus station. We had tickets for the 11:45am bus to Mae Sot. The bus ride was 6 hours, but passed quickly with my activities ranging from reading to sleeping to listening to music. Our main goal for traveling to this western border city is to cross into Burma and get another free 14 visa into Thailand. New visa regulations have been put in place making it much more difficult for those of us wanting to spend more than 14 days in the country. We ate dinner at a street vendor and ate some more mango with sticky rice. I am loving the variety and cheapness of the street food. We've had a lazy night in and plan on getting up early to get to the border. Tomorrow brings another bus to the ancient city of Ayutthaya. I cannot believe I only have 3 weeks left!
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