The Quarter Pai

... hot-springs as we rode between destinations on our motorbike. The weather was warm and pleasant as usual. <br><br>When we first got there, we picked our bungalow and settled right in to the chill atmosphere and music emanating from the many bars and restaurants in the quaint streets. All of this in the lush little town of Pai (pronounced like a merging of the words Bye and Pie). The bed in our bungalow was massive but the ...

... by American standards. We put our packs on headed up into the mountains to find our little scooters were just perfect for the trip. They cruised along just fine and we actually were among the fasted mode of transport the whole way there. <br><br>As I made my way up into the mountains I couldn't **********tain my sense of freedom. I thought about our long bus ride two days before, I thought about all of the stress ...

Petite journee relax, on a loue un scooter pour voir les environs de Pai, des paysages magnifiques avec rizieres, montagnes dans la brume...<br><br>Cette petite ville est vraiment tres agreable, ca a ete une ville hippie il y a quelques annees, donc on voit un peu partout des expatries qui se sont installes ici!<br><br> <br><br ...

... spoke no English. They did however, tell us to come in and sit with them over a beer. Again, we managed to communicate names, ages, and kids. That was it. It was just great though. When we said we would come in, they ran around trying to clean glasses for us and poured us a beer. And to top it off, one of the guys was wearing of Chicago White Sox t-shirt and I tried to tell him I was from there, but he ...

... across the elephant's face and stuck there. The elephant patiently waited as Jackie inched her way up its head. It was hilarious! And luckily Dane caught it all on video. It's included here with the photos. Well worth the few minutes it will take to download, I'd say. Ah, it still makes me crack up. Anyway, then she got up there and couldn't figure out how to turn around ...

... 8217;ve hatched. <br><br>As we stopped for a break, I saw her approach me in Fisherman&#8217;s pants (my first clue), clutching a coconut she was drinking from with a straw. Then I saw the hair sticking out from under her armpits like a henna treated brillo pad. Before I&#8217;d managed to fully envelop my face with my Lonely Planet, 'Breeze&#8217;, from San Francisco, decided to strike up a conversation about a dance retreat (WTF?!) that she was ...

... bus on a moped and for dogs to lie in front of buses and make the driver (or someone else) hoosh them out of the way. It was just normal sightings on an average day and I&#8217;m not sure how or when it happened, but they seemed 100% normal. Thailand has got totally under my skin and it&#8217;s hard to describe how every day occurrences so banal here would appear at home. How can you explain getting a foot massage for less than &#8364;2 outside the local police station with ...

... into 2 boats. Us and Riazz, a medical student from London with Mr Pooh our tour leader with a funny name, plus he looked about 20 despite being 37 with 2 kids as is the norm in this part of the world. The other group was a couple from South Africa and a middle class British couple who lived in Dubai who I thought were a bit Hawty Tawty at first but turned out to be pretty nice. Plus the girl, Kate, suffered boiled egg like reactions to Mosquito, bites like myself, and got ...

... the rest were planned). Left on my list are trying some Muay Thai, yoga, a meditiation class, more language classes, a cookery class, winning the table quiz three weeks in a row and doing a visa run. It's hectic, but someone's gotta do it. The only definites are (a) I need to remember pay B100 every morning for my accommodation (it's quite average to forget to do things that at home are givens), (b) I need a new visa and (c) I fly home on August 10th from Suvarnabhumi. <br>

... being broken, not all the chairs were the<br>same, it was very hit and miss, but at least the journey was only a few<br>hours. A short 4x4 journey after the bus ride saw us arrving at<br>Cave Lodge, in the middle of the jungle! The settimg for this<br>establishment is beautiful, but it was low season so it was very<br>strange having the place to ourselves for the majority of the time.<br>However i had no problem catching up on a little sleep in ...