Thought this deserves its own seperate entry....
While in Pai, Michelle and I decided to rent bicycles for the day. So off we went to breakfast to discuss where we could cycle to as there are a lot of things to do within easy reach of central Pai. We decided that the 8km trek to a waterfall was manageable enough. 8kms - a walk in the park, right?
Off we went, both wearing flip flops, a bottle of water each, and no map between us. It was also the middle part of the day - so a nice warm 32 degrees. And yet, we went on our merry way.
We rented our bikes and the waterfall we were told was at the end of a 8km road that had a gradual slope all the way. We looked at each other and shrugged the shoulders - not a bother we thought. So we got on the bikes that had no gears AND STILL nothing clicked!!!!
I think we got 2kms when I started thinking that it has to get easier- whatever goes up must come down, right? But no, at the halfway point we both stopped nearly falling off the bikes and seriously must have looked a sight. Both of us with 2 big red heads and our eyes wondering around for a place to collapse, and possibly even be sick. So, we stopped in the nearby temple grounds for a bit and put a new game action into plan. We were now going to push the bikes the rest of the way! So we did. It took us nearly 3 hrs, and had other tourists whizzing pass us on their rented motorbikes. But slow and steady wins the race and as we walked through the tiny village communites we got to see how life is really like out there. Little kids having a blast in a tub of water, men working garlic fields and women sitting around weaving a new roof for their house out of leaves.
We got to the waterfall, and there was not much water falling!!! We laughed, rested for a bit, and headed back to Pai which only took 40mins.....all down hill!!!
That night we headed off to a Thai massage place, woke the next morning and went down to the rent a shop and hired out, motorbikes.
