Give me a Slice of Pai

Pai is AMAZING!!! I love this little town. It reminds me a lot of steamboat. Pai is a little hippie town three hours northwest of Chiang Mai. Suzie and I finally found a place to relax and hang out. We spent four nights here and would have spent more if we didn’t already book a flight to Myanmar.

On the first day, we spent the morning catching up with our blogs, uploading photos, and so on. In the afternoon, we decided to explore elephant riding. An hour later, we were both on the back of an elephant heading towards the river to play in the water. If you think mechanical bull riding is hard, try riding an elephant! The guides were tricksters and would give the elephants commands in Thai and three seconds later we would be in the water. The guides loved putting us on the elephant’s neck, and telling the elephant to try to shake us off. Wow, what a work out trying to stay on! At one point, Suzie and I were sitting on the elephant’s head only be shot backwards, over the elephant’s body, into the water. Sadly, play time came to an end and we had to ride our elephant back to camp so he could go into the mountains for the night. Suzie and I spent a little extra money, but went to the happiest elephants in Pai. The owner wants to start an elephant sanctuary because wild elephants are so rare. So, it’s nice to know our money went to a good cause : )

The next day was another lazy day. We hung around town and rented bicycles. I had been wanting to go fishing so we started the trek to the fishing resort. Right from the start, I regretted our decision. The whole ride was a gradual uphill. We continued for about 5 km before we decided to throw in the rag. Tomorrow we will rent a motorbike and explore it that way! On our way back to town, we didn’t have to peddle once (thankfully!) Almost back, we stumbled upon a gym and decided to try it out. So, we’re waking up bright and early the next day for… MUAY THAI!

Muay Thai is a greeeeat work out! We started at 8 learning technique, and then had some contact practice with the owner. After some stretching and abs, Suzie and I were ready to fall over by 11. The rest of the afternoon we went fishing and to a waterfall (this time with a motorbike). Out of the five of us fishing, I was one of the lucky two who caught something! I also discovered a great technique. I cast my line, napped for about half an hour and when I woke up… taDA there was a fish on my line! How long the fish had been on there, I have no idea, but he was defiantly hooked when I pulled him out. Before heading back, we went to the waterfall. It had a natural slide that we slid down into a murky pool. Weeeeee!

When we biked into town, there was something ere about it. No traffic lights were working and all the 7-11’s were closed. We asked around and heard that there was an accident near Chiang Mai that took out a power line pole. All the electricity in the town was out for the night! This means no internet, no lights, no water, and only gas cooked food. We quickly bought some bottles of water and got a candle from our guesthouse reception. I think tonight is going to be a quiet one! The night consisted of a candlelit yoga session and hanging out in our hut. Tomorrow we’re starting the trek back to Bangkok. We don’t know exactly how we’ll get there, but we have to be in Bangkok the night of the 20^th to catch a flight to Myanmar!