Pai, Ride of Death

Wednesday morning we boarded a minivan for a three hour drive to Pai without a full understanding of what we were getting ourselves in to. We soon realized this was no ordinary bus ride as the driver flew around pinhair turns up the mountanside at 60+mph. These were windy roads that turned both of our stomachs and sent us back and forth across our seats. The drivers technique, especially passing on the opposite side of the road around sharp turns terrified us throughout the trip. Lindsey nearly vomited on Steve. It was a ride we were both happy to be done with as we arrived in Pai. (btw, we are taking it again back to Chiang Mai so we obviously deserve it!)

Steve was a bit disappointed upon arriving as much of the coffee fields have recently been burnt and the valley was filled with smoke. While you can see the mountains, it is only through a thick haze, and we're hoping it fades to catch some of the views we had seen online.

Next we checked out a few places to stay along the river and chose a riverside bungalow where no one seems to speak a word of English--actually rare so far on our trip! Then we walked through town and arranged activities for the next few days. Steve was amazed he got Lindsey to agree to a hardcore trek with Mr. Chart (just check out the website) and Lindsey is ecstatic that she's booked to ride and bathe elephants.



We rented another motorbike (this one even cheaper!) and headed to a remote waterfall and canyon. It certainly wasn't the most impressive nature we've ever seen, but was still nice to be outside on a beatiful day--it's a bit cooler here.



It was a bit dusty...



On the way back we checked out a new hotel to try out after we get back from our trek, then picked up some Singhas to sip next to the river before dinner. As we walked into town for dinner the town had come alive. Earlier it seemed as if it were completely tourists, but at night there was more local flavor. For dinner we tried an entire platter of various thai dishes at Laan Taung and enjoyed talking about it with our newfound cooking knowledge. Finally we headed home to rest for our trek that would end up being quiet an adventure.