American Pais

The Big Lebowski: Are you employed, sir?

The Dude: Employed?

The Big Lebowski: You don’t go out looking for a job dressed like that? On a weekday?

The Dude: Is this a….what day is this?

The Big Lebowski: Well, I do work sir, so if you don’t mind…

The Dude: I do mind, the dude minds. This will not stand, ya know, this aggression will not stand, man.

- The Big Lebowski

Last weekend there were national Buddhist holidays on Fridy and Monday. Some friends and I decided to travel to Pai, a small town way in the north of Thailand. One quirk was that there are no direct buses to Pai from Bangkok. The plan was to meet in Chiang Mai and go up from there.

As I was doing a quick run-through of valuables before I left, I realized I couldn’t find my passport.  After a half hour of tearing my room apart (the benefits of living in a small place, there’s only so many places you can look), I gave up. I peeked through my backpack one more time and there it was up top, hidden under my glasses case. The trip was off to a promising start.

Near where I live there’s a group of taxi drivers who line up on the side of the road. There’s a head honcho who runs the gang. You talk to him and he’ll bark out to the other drivers where you want to go. Most of the guys will shake their heads and keep smoking their cigarettes. But one guy always perks up, motions you to his cab, and you’re on your way.

When I got there at 6 PM they were all gone. I’ve never seen that before. Only very early in the morning or late at night is the place empty. There was also traffic backed up heading into Bangkok. I hadn’t seen this before either. With a family holiday the following day, most people were leaving work early and heading towards their hometowns. I may have misjudged the travel time on this one.

I luckily hailed a cab and spent an hour doing this scene from Office Space.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfipAgNRDx0

We arrived at the bus station with 10 minutes till departure and I sprinted into the terminal. Like New Years, the bus station was in complete chaos. You could barely walk in the main lobby and the bus waiting areas were crammed with people. Buses were on the wrong platforms and there was a woman standing on a table yelling where the new buses were. I luckily found mine quickly, only to find it delayed a half hour. Whatever. Made it.

A short 10 hour sleep/bus ride later and I was in Chiang Mai. We decided to motorbike to Pai since the drive takes you through the lush mountains. Most of my friends know how to drive, so I hopped on the back and we began our 4-hour journey.

The road was pretty windy from Chiang Mai to Pai. So windy that there’s 762 curves on the way up there (This fact was in a lot of tourist stuff). Regardless, the drive was incredibly beautiful as we cruised through the mountains.

The ride was smooth until we were about 20 KM away from Pai and one of us ran out of gas. Luckily, the road was almost completely downhill from there. He was able to coast until he found a shop on the road that sold gas. We gassed up as it began to drizzle. Five minutes later the rain picked up and we were completely drenched. Being on a motorbike in the rain is not fun. The rain whips against you and it feels like you’re getting hit with little pebbles. But the ride was brief and we made it in one piece to the guesthouse.

The guesthouse was located just out of the downtown in a secluded field. It was a really rustic place- we shared small bungalows and had communal bathrooms. I loved it.

Beat from the ride up, we ordered food from the kitchen run by one of the owners. I think this was the best food I’ve in Thailand. Fantastic curries, chicken, and shakes. Well worth the damage to the wallet.

At night we ventured into downtown Pai. This place feels very different from anywhere else in Thailand since the town is filled with hippies. Not just white hippies, Thai hippies as well. Most of the residents had dreadlocks, beards, and Bob Marley shirts. The town itself is very catered toward tourists with of bars, restaurants, and shops with a hippie flavor. It seems to me that many foreigners came there, loved the atmosphere, and found a way to make a life in the mountains.

The night was very quiet and we soon realized why. Like all Buddhist holidays in Thailand, most businesses close early out of respect. Restaurants, bars, and shops aren’t allowed to sell alcohol either.

Or aren’t supposed to. We saw a place selling beer get shut down by the police. This was very interesting to us- we’d never really seen police in action before.

That night I slept the best I have in months. The rain pattered against the top of the bungalow and the perfect amount of heat made it through the mosquito netting around the bed. This is the ideal sleeping experience. After getting brunch in town (man I miss brunch) we headed to a local resort to check out their pool. We hung out there for most of the day and I got to go in my first hot spring. I thought it seemed like more of a really big hot tub, but whatever.

It’s not called the rainy season for nothing and we got caught in another downpour coming back. The owners were cracking up when we came back soaking again.

The next day we checked out Pai Canyon. It's a pretty cool canyon.

My other shoes were soaked from the previous day which explains why I look like an idiot wearing Sperries on a cliff.

And then it was time to head back! Our motorbike ride up was quaint and peaceful. A minibus whipping around 762 curves in half the time is not. On a funny note, the trunk was totally full when I got in the van. To fit my backpack in the driver decided to bungie-cord it to a chair. Resourceful guy.

It hasn’t really hit me yet that I have a little less than 3 months left in Thailand. I can't think of a 9-month span where I've consistently had so much fun- I'm hoping the last 3 keep up the trend!

Mark

P.S. For my family reading this, you may have picked up that the guesthouse I was at was like a Thai version of Chimney Corners. Here’s the similarities I found.

1. We stayed in small bungalows with no TV= Chimney Corners cottages.

2. There was a kitchen in the front patio that made awesome food=BDR.

3. The child of the owners would run around and hang out with the guests= the Rogers boys.

4. Friendly owners, very relaxing, and green hills everywhere= Chimney Corners.

Pretty weird but I'm not complaining! Missing everyone at the lake last week!