Pai

On Friday I said farewell to the Canadian guy and booked a bus for Pai. It had been recommended to me by a few people, and according to my guide book it was a chilled out place that travellers like to stop off in. By 2pm I was on the bus, and conversation started to flow instantly between the westerners at the back. Key to this conversation were Ti and Tina, two Americans who often go to Thailand and enjoy visiting Pai to relax. I also got on well with Janelle in the seat behind me, not least because of the guitar case she was nestling against my seat. She was only just learning to play, so I told her that I would give her some lessons in Pai. The conversations in the back of the bus ranged from travelling to cannibalism, but once the bus had navigated round the bends and hills of the road to Pai, Ti and Tina were more than happy to be our guides. They directed me and Janelle to a nearby place to stay and ensured us that we would bump into them later.

It wasn't long, however, until I bumped into someone else. I knew that Kirsty from my recent trek was going to Pai, but it was only when I bumped into her after just a few minutes walking that I began to realise exactly how small Pai was. Her bus ride had also brought her together with a new flatmate; Polina. Through a small chain of buses and trekking companions, our group of four had been welded together. We soon found Ti and Tina once more who introduced us to some places to eat and some bars to relax in, and this is how most of our time in Pai was spent.

Many evenings, however, were given some further spice by an extra face. Having worked in IT, I have met a few eccentric characters, but even I was bowled over by the wide eyed, ultra friendly, 1920's moustache clad Swede named Axel. When Kirsty had first stepped onto her bus, Axel had apparently instantly introduced himself. This does not surprise me, he appears to introduce himself to everyone who sits or stands within his vicinity; and even if he doesn't he will be complemented on his moustache by many passing strangers. Axel would take great pleasure in telling anyone or everyone one of his many theories on life, and without hesitation he would interrupt an entire group's conversation in order to make a speech. This would often merge into a tale which he would introduce as 'long story long'. He's the single most interesting person I'm yet to meet on my travels, and fully deserves his own paragraph in my blog!

Pai has been a welcome change of pace to my travels. Before Pai I had always been going somewhere, planning to go somewhere, or coming from somewhere. Before Pai I was always scrawling through a map or fighting off frequent calls of 'Taxi?'. In Pai, time became irrelevant. For the very first time I felt like I could totally relax. If we were walking through the streets it wouldn't take long until we bumped into another member of one of our bus rides or someone from the bar the previous night. This is what makes Pai such a welcome break for travellers though; It's a small ever changing society of people taking a holiday from their holiday. As Polina once said to me, 'in Western cities you have a Chinatown, but Pai is Thailand's Western town'.

There is one more activity, however, which has made Pai a refreshing experience. Ti was not the first person on my travels to recommend I rented a two wheeled motor on my travels, but he was the first to convince me to give it a try. The fact that Kirsty, Janelle and Polina were also interested in trying it was also key. Renting the bikes was very cheap, and we were all given a lesson into how to use them. Unfortunately this simply involved being taken to a straight bit of road to practice on, but the bikes were so simple to use this did not matter. Before long the four of us were setting off towards a waterfall a few miles outside Pai.

By the time we arrived at a nearby place to fill up our petrol tanks, we all appeared relatively confident in our driving abilities; this was until Kirsty ended up on the floor in the middle of the road whilst turning back onto the main street. Luckily she was largely unhurt; she seemed to find it amusing as she sat up in the middle of the road giggling about how the sunscreen on her hands forced her to lose her grip - although she would probably have found it less hilarious if she had noticed the oncoming motorbike which was forced to slow down for the laughing girl in the middle of the road!

The drive to the waterfall was refreshing and scenic, and the waterfall itself was spectacular. By climbing down some rocks towards the bottom of the fall, the view excelled yet again. It's such a shame that I kept forgetting to carry my camera around with me in Pai. Upon leaving the waterfall, Polina felt that it was her time to fall off the bike, but it was also only a minor fall and we spent the next hour riding around the beautiful outskirts of Pai. The combination of spectacular scenery and freedom on the road was fantastic.

When we returned to Pai, I briefly lost the rest of the group. After a few minutes I found Kirsty. When I enquired where the other two were, she replied that they had gone to clean up. "Why?" I asked. "Didn't you see it?" she replied, "They crashed!". Apparently Janelle was first to topple, and Polina soon decided to follow! The injuries were only cuts and bruises, but the day had been a wake up call for everyone about how cautious we had to be. It's very wrong, however, that I felt smug to be the only one of us to end the day with all my skin and blood intact! I wisely kept that to myself!

By Sunday people began to move in their own ways. Our group whittled down to three and then two. Unshaken by the previous day's events, however, Kirsty and I went for another ride. We drove to some hot springs, and then I returned to the waterfall with a camera in my pocket. When I tried to use the camera, however, the screen was broken. It had always been in my shirt pocket, but all I can think of is that it broke when I went over a bump.

It's clearly time to move on soon. I will shortly be heading in the direction of Laos, although I'm yet to decide on what Thai stop-offs to make; hopefully somewhere that may be able to advise me if my camera is fixable. I will look back at my time in Pai with nothing but smiles; it was certainly the right time for me to take things easy. Tonight will probably be my last night, and Kirsty and I are hoping to bump into Axel again - I think we're both ready for another long story long.