An Odyssey: Hippies and Temples.

               I'm back from Pai and spending a couple days in Chaing Mai. We got back from Pai on Wednesday and then Sasha left for Ubon at four in the morning on Friday so I spent Friday alone and then I'll meet up with some of the girls from the foundation on Friday. Enough boring details, let's talk about Pai!
                As we were traveling to Chaing Mai, the day before we left for Pai, we shared a songtaew (taxi) with the most interesting family. The parents were traveling with four kids and the entire family had dreadlocks. They had been living in India for the past six years, but for only six months out of each year. Because of the constant rain in India, they would leave for six months and travel and then go back during the dry season. After traveling for so long they wanted to find a more permanent home and out of all the places they had traveled, they decided on Pai. As I've mentioned, Pai is known to be very similar to the Haight district in San Francisco, so I found it greatly ironically entertaining that they lived in a hippie commune in the Haight district of San Francisco for nine years. O, and what did they do for a living? They run a Christian meditation center. I don't know what that entails but I guess it earned them enough money to raise four kids and travel the world. Needless to say, after meeting this couple we were even more excited to get to Pai.
So the next day we jumped on a mini bus to Pai. The town is only three streets and is nestled in the middle of the mountains. Let's just say there wasn't a single straight road the entire three-hour drive. After settling in our bungalow, dropping off some laundry, and eating at a nice little cafe, we booked our white water rafting trip for the following morning. We met our ride at eight in the morning and drove for an hour and a half to the start of the river. It was Sasha and I, a couple from Europe, and our tour guide, Po, in our boat. We got really lucky because Po knew a lot of English so it was super fun to talk to him. When you're on a boat for six hours you learn a lot about people; we had some great conversations and laughs with our bud Po. We paddled down the river for three hours and had lunch at the hot springs, which are boiling hot puddles by the shore of the river. After lunch we then hit some rapids, which weren't very intense but somehow I managed to fall out—bit scary. Southeast Asia river water up your nose isn't the most pleasant feeling. We literally rafted down the river with mountains and the jungle on either side. I didn't take my camera, but even if I had, there was no way I could have captured the view. At one point we even saw a gibbon. I also didn't wear sunscreen and watched my self literally roast, but that’s an irrelevant side note.
            Our second day we wanted to see the hot springs right outside of Pai and most people rent motorbikes and drive them down there. It’s three dollars to rent one for twenty-four hours and we were a little worried about the whole danger, crashing aspect, but we had to at least try. Long story short, we couldn’t rent one because I had never driven one before and when the lady saw my attempt, she told us we had to rent one from a place that sold it with insurance. We then crossed the street and rented two regular bikes, with no gears, and decided we were going to make the treck up to the hot springs old school. Remember how I mentioned we were in the mountains? Yea, so we started out and the hot springs were six miles out and by the time we hit the second hill we called it quits. We ended up renting a taxi to take us out there. That night we ate at Mama Falafel, which was definitely a highlight of the week and an undiscovered restaurant by most of the tourists. Another amazing place we ate at was the Witching Well, which had fabulous sandwiches and salads. That night we met some tourists who ended up trusting me enough to drive their motorbike. So, I might not have gotten to rent one, but at least I got to legitimately drive one. The next day we grabbed brunch and headed back to Chiang Mai.
            Sasha and I just hung out at markets on Thursday and then she left at four in the morning on Friday to fly west. Friday I hung out in used bookstores all afternoon, which was nice and relaxing. Used books here are fairly expensive (200-300 baht; &7-10). I guess I can’t blame them because the only people buying English books are going to be foreigners. The best part is I left it on the bus coming back to Chiang Rai, which really really sucks. More later!