The Long & Winding Road

So after Chiang Mai we caught a minivan up to the village of Pai.  It was a very curvy road and we knew it might get ugly when the driver handed out barf bags before the journey began.  The driver went as fast as he could around all 700 curves on the way there.  Of course, some people couldn't handle it and started barfing into the bags.  The driver just seemed to speed up and throw more bags at everyone.  It was gross but really funny at the same time.  Luckily, Matt and I did alright to hold everything down.  Pai was really cool and we had a pretty relaxing time there.  We stayed in bamboo bungalows at a really cool spot on the river. We rented some motorbikes for 2 dyas and just drove around checking out the area.  We saw some cool waterfalls, awesome scenery with rolling hills everywhere, and found a public pool that we chilled at for awhile.  The next day we drove pretty far to a place called Lod Cave which was up near the Burmese border and was really cool.  We did a guided tour through the cave on a bamboo raft.  It was pretty much pitch black in there so our guide had to use a kerosene lamp to see where she was going.  Huge caverns with crazy limestone formations inside though.  It was really fun walking around in there.  A funny story from Pai was when we were approached by this French guy at the pool who handed us a flyer for an art show on a hillside starting at 6pm.  We had the bikes and it wasn't too far so we decided to check it out.  We meet a girl who seemed to work/live there and she tells us it starts in about an hour and for us to hang out with her friends from England while we wait for the show to start.  When we finally go into the show, she puts gold glitter around our eyes and we the know its just going to get weirder from there.  We buy a beer and wait for the show to start.  They had built a whole contraption out of bamboo which was supposed to be a cryogenic freezing lab.  There was one small problem with the play though.  All of the French actresses quit when they saw how cheesy it was so they recruited local hill tribes people to play their parts.  But they didnt know French or English and the guy directing them couldn'ty speak their language either so there was only communication by actions and hand signals.  It was really weird and all we wanted to do was leave and wash the stupid glitter off our faces.  We finally escaped but that stuff was stuck on my face for about 2 days after that.  I will never go to a French art exhibit/play in Thailand again.  Very bad idea!  So after Pai we headed back to Chiang Mai on the local bus instead of the crazy fast minivan to avoid what happened on the way there.  We spent a couple days there and had a really good time again.  We decided to grab an overnight bus to Bangkok which turned out to suck pretty bad.  The bus could barely make it up hills!  We were literally going like 10km/h on every incline.  I couldn't believe it.  But luckily, it is mostly downhill from Chiang Mai to Bangkok so we made it there in about 10 hours.  But it smelt horrible the entire way because of the toilet right below us.  Pretty brutal trip!  Anyway I'm back in Bangkok for the third time during this trip, staying near Khao San Road again.  We did a little bit of shopping and I actually just got the first tattoo of my life.  It's on my arm and its based on one of Alex Grey's paintings who's one of my favourite artists.  It's also on the cover of Tool's 10000 Days CD who are my favourite band so I thought it was a good idea.  It looks like a 3 sided head with 3 faces all blended together in one head.  It's crazy that I just got a tattoo but I think it looks pretty cool so I'm happy.  Matt is getting a tattoo across his chest as I write this.  It's angels holding a banner that says "Almost Taken in Koh Chang" in Thai lettering.  It's a reference to his vicious motorbike accident which nearly took his life.  Its looks pretty sweet too.  Our next stop is Koh Tao to do some scuba diving.