Pia on Pai

... The third day we rode on elephants and then went rafting down the river, and finally a bamboo raft to our final destination. The bamboo raft guy let me guide the raft, which I proceeded to do on one leg, like an American Ninja in my red bandanna and camo-swimming shorts, haha. Of course, we ended it all in our Home Depot migrant worker truck back to Chaing Mai. At this point I'm a bit jealous of migrant workers…

... Ahh, the ordeal was over.<br><br>I slept until about 4:30 in the afternoon while Jen went to explore a bit on her own. Later, we walked out of our quiet little neighborhood ally to a wide awake and lively Chiang Mai. One way traffic, cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles with sidecars, bikes and countless other types of transportation were buzzing around the fortress like 'mote' that surrounds the old city. We ...

... lovely and chilled have met loads of people here already.<br> <br>We hired a ped and went to have a look around you can see the whole village in less than an hour so we went out of the town and found these unbelievable waterfalls, ive never senn anything like it, we love it so much here were staying another night, then back to chaing mai tomoro for our trek cant wait! will be back on here in a few days to tell you all about it!

... d collectedon the way. Understandably the fish were not amused and spent the whole time trying to flip themselves out. Chai let me have a go with the net at one point, but I only managed to get it tangled round myself....<br><br>We knew when we were coming up to a big set of rapids when Chai tightened the lid on the tank to protect his fish! We joked he'd be tempted to save them first should the whole raft flip over.<br><br>We camped overnight in a beautiful but basic bamboo ...

... and hopefully I was blessed with some good karma.<br> Upon getting to the bus station (think dirt driveway) we got out and started looking for guesthouses. Along the way we saw our other friend who had just arrived and she joined us in the search for a place to stay. We ended up at Mr. Jans, off a little side street. It is very basic, two double beds and hot shower. After we were all settled in we took ...

... Pai was a very picturesque and quiet village far removed from the Westernisation of Chiang Mai, full of rolling green mountains, tribal villages and waterfalls, and ripe for exploration without a Bob Marley poster in sight. <br><br>I&#8217;d met a couple on the minibus, Alice and Gully (Gulliver Gold &#8211; is that not the best name you&#8217;ve ever heard?!) who came from the rolling green hills of England and had some experience on motorbikes ...

... case Ang was in agony after bruising her **** as the songthaew threw us into the air while going over a speed bump so we got a tuk-tuk into town. Our first choice was booked but we found a decent place to hole up in for the night before heading to Pai early next morning. Got a bit of legendary Thai street food at the night market for 50p, the food here is so cheap, and had a bit of a mosey round before bed.<br>The local bus to Pai was a bit cramped but luckily not full so I was ...

... about &#8364;4 inlcuding insurance) but it's better to trust someone with dirt track / late night experience in the wee hours. I've also met Peter, a Swiss / Irish man who has trained teachers in Mary I in all matters of the mind and with whom I've had some fascinating chats about memory / Special Needs children / learning methods etc. And there's Dutch Elisa and Swedish Norbert, musicians who met here and have been here over a year singing and playing really cool ...

... fled there homeland due to persecution, finding refuge in northern Thailand. We had little or no contact with the local people, our camp being on the edge of their village. Our food that night was truly divine, a beautifully cooked curry that I would have happily payed highly for in a restaurant. Amidst the flickering candle light, we drank and joked and ended the night playing a drinking game brought to the table by a recent university graduate. Needless to ...

... to the Israeli tourists who raft in groups without a word of English (or Thai) between them. Po nearly died after getting attacked by a wild boar last year. His brother, who was hunting with him, ran the 6 hours home from the jungle to their camp in 2.5 hours to get help. When they returned in a jeep Po was in shock but still alive and 380 stitches (and plenty of scars) later is well and truly alive and kicking (and joking around). Thai men don't get life ...