The past few days have had me breathing freely in the clear air of the hippie town of Pai. After my first experience of car sickness on the winding roads up the mountain, I arrived at the Pai bus station - which could be mistaken for a dirt parking spot filled with the standard stray dogs of thailand. Pai consists of about 4 streets - all filled with cafes, bob marley music, and bamboo huts along the river. Hippiness in all its glory! I was even treated to an organic wheatgrass shot at a magic shop - not what you'd expect from a tiny town in the hills of thailand! I arrived in the rain and wandered the streets looking for a place to stay - not thinking clearly i thought it'd be great to stay at the guesthouses along the river - when i checked into one and saw the size of the lizard that i was bunking with and the absence of a lock on the door - i checked out into something more my style - fit for a princess with a balcony and king size bed. i make myself laugh - living the luxury life on $10/day.
Pai is the jumping point to treking and rafting and if you dont do that you're laying around with a book. After doing the reading thing, and the coffee thing, i got up the courage to do the moped thing. I literally walked by the rental place about 10 times, even walked in once and back out again, before i finally took the plunge. I have this dilema where I am far too logical sometimes and could easily convince myself that riding a scooter in a foreign country, for the first time, where they drive on the wrong side of the road at speeds that could only mean they no longer value their lives or those around them, with a map that was missing half the roads ... well i just kept convincing myself this was a bad idea! but there's really no other way to see the countryside and i figured i'd be safer on a scooter then on foot! so i rented it - paid for full insurance and helmet. i got on, started the pathetic little engine and took off - first thought in my head? - my mom is going to be so pissed if i die on this thing. i drove the 100 meters to my guest house, parked it, walked my wobbly knees up to my room and sat down for about an hour before i got back on. pathetic i know but between dodging the stray dogs and the street vendors and the one traffic light in this town that decided not to work - i was a little bit nervous! anyway, all ended well and i survived...got to see the beautiful valleys and rice fields, took a side road and ended up at an elephant camp - those damn elephants keep sneaking up on me! Within 10 minutes of being on that scooter i was speeding thru the hills and laughing at myself for having feared it in the beginning.
After mastering the art of the moped i felt like i should keep on going so i signed up for a white water rafting trip thru the pai river. 7am we left - in the back of a pick up truck thru those winding hills yet again - 2 people from israel, 2 from brazil, 2 from holland, 2 guides from thailand - all speaking their native tongue - and me. hahaha - needless to say i quite enjoyed the scenery! We spent the whole day on the river, stopped at a waterfall and hot springs along the way and ended with an attempt at cliff diving - just couldn't convince myself that that was intelligent. Had a great guide named "popcorn" - i tried to tell him he didn't really pick the best english name but it seemed to suit him. He was great at throwing us into the rapids and took us along the river where we could see the monkeys playing in the trees. after which he tried to get me to come to his home and eat monkey brains. no thanks! I'm happy with my re-found vegetarianism. the day ended with a 3 hour drive back to pai in the back of the truck thru the winding roads - with a view of the sunset over the rice fields and the rest of the way the road was lit only by stars and fireflys.
i was going to try and leave pai today but couldn't decide where to go - this is the problem with not having a plan - too many choices! I think I will go to Laos from here ... but the sleepiness of this town makes it hard to move! I didn't think people could move faster then the speed of the 3-legged dogs here - but i saw them all run today when a very large and i'm assuming poisonous snake made it's way thru the main street. not having it in my mindset yet that these are things i should be looking out for, i almost walked right into it. thanks to charlie, the cross-eyed thai, who threw me out of the way and after gave me a hug. he probably muttered something about stupid white girls when i walked away too ... it's easier for me to be ignorant to these things ... if i thought about the fact that i may step on a poisonous snake on my way to breakfast i highly doubt i'd get out of bed every day!
so this is life in pai ... this tiny town is now responsible for my new-found addiction to mopeds and rafting, and my now confirmed fear of snakes...
