Pai (26.01.22 - 29.01.22)

Wednesday 26th January 2022

The distance between Chiang Mai and Pai is 79 miles (128 kilometres) with more than 750 twists and turns, and you feel every single one of them, especially the very tight hairpin bends. After we had a stop and I had a few sips of my Sangsom, I started to feel a bit sick, but fell asleep for the last half hour and woke in Pai. The journey from the bus station to my hostel was an 11 minute walk and I must admit I fell in love the place in that short time. It is a very small, very hippy town and extremely picturesque. The hostel is awesome, it’s a quirky traditional wood build with an amazing view over a river, some fields and ending with the mountains. I spent hours lazing in a hammock enjoying the view and as time passed by I realised it is full of really young people, many of who I suspect are on gap years. Not really my cup of tea what with being old enough to be their mother – lol.

 

So now I’m going to have a bitch session. This evening a young guy, wearing the ‘I’ve been to Thailand’ traditional hippy tourist clothing, with a hairstyle to match, started claiming that ‘real’ Thai people don’t drink Sangsom or eat Pad Thai or use chop sticks – oh lord – I had to put him straight on this after having spent enough time with ‘real’ Thai people that do all three. He really was not happy with me and refused to converse with me thereafter – lol. Later in the evening I got chatting to 3 girls from Poland, Suzanne, Katie and Hanna, all in their early 20’s – Katie was the only one who came across as genuine, I found the other 2 extremely pretentious, especially Suzanne who hardly let the other 2 talk. All she did was boast about being a ‘traveller’ and really grated my nerves. At one point Hanna said she was looking forward to Koh Phangnan, so I said she should go to Eden Gardens, Suzanne was, ‘oh I’ve never heard of the place and I was there 3 years ago’. I delighted in telling her that it was a hidden gem, tucked away in a secluded area away from the tourist trail, best reached by boat taxi, and frequented by the more mature experienced traveller – lol – that shut her up. Anyway, they taught me to play a card game called ‘oh shit’ which Suzanne claimed was a game all travellers play, but then 2 extremely handsome guys from Syria (oh I wish I was younger) joined us, they have been travelling for a couple of months, and they had never heard of it – lol – anyway it turns out is a French card game. And just to reinforce the type of person Suzanne is she made a point of inviting loads of different people tubbing with her ‘gang’ tomorrow, but not me – not that I would go anyway – as I said these people are not my cuppa tea, but it was good to have their company for the evening.

Thursday 27th January 2022

Today – I could have killed, plucked, stuffed and roasted the 2 cockerels that began their morning chorus at 5am. I finally dragged my body out of bed at 7 and boy was it bloody cold, but at the same time it was so mystical and magical to watch the sun rise over the mountains. I had a good chat with the one guy who was also awake and he told me about a moped shop in town where they will also teach you how to ride. After my shower, and in need of money and food, I went for a walk took a couple of photos, and found him, but I bottled out – lol – I’m quite nervous about driving a moped; you see so many people with bandaged legs and arms from having accidents and knowing my luck….So I am back at the hostel, writing this, and trying to build up the courage to go back and get lessons, let’s face it I have been on the back of enough peds now and never been in an accident and I am sure if I drive around like a little old lady, carefully and slowly, I’ll be fine. I really am surrounded by children – young white rich kids on gap years – and I’m happy not to be mixing with them tonight. I can hear their conversations, they’re sitting down by the river around a fire screaming and shouting and chatting shit (or am I just getting old and miserable – lol – no – I just prefer older or at least more mature company). I can hear Suzanne as clear as day, god her voice jars me. Earlier I was sitting on the decking in a hammock, but it is so cold and my feet were freezing, so right now I’m tucked up in bed, under the first mosquito netting I have come across here, writing this and in a mo I’m going to bury my nose in my book – American Gods by Neil Gaiman – an excellent recommendation – thanks Titus.

Friday 28th January 2022

Fucking awful night and bloody disastrous morning – the children didn’t leave for wherever they were going until well after 10.30 last – I was over the moon for all of 5 minutes – yay peace and quiet – but no this Italian girl sat right outside my dorm chatting on the phone until well after midnight, and we know how loud and animated Italians can be ☹ I must have been asleep for all of an hour when the children came back – so bloody loud, screaming, shouting and banging around as if no-one else existed, in the end I had to get up and find my ear plugs. Credit where credit is due, the 2 girls in my dorm where as quiet as mice and I thank them for doing their best not to disturb me. But then, to top it all, I was up with the bloody cockerels, and it was another fucking cold morning but yet again a beautiful sunrise. I got to the moped shop for 10am and now all I want to do is cry – everyone keeps telling me how easy it is to ride a ped – uhm – it probably would have been if the throttle worked the other way and the guy teaching me didn’t keep saying ‘this is a problem for many people your age’ – cheers mate, so not only am I a disaster on a moped, I am old, weak and fragile ☹ however he did say I was very good at turning the bike in a U-turn, but my balance was not very good and like I said, me and the throttle didn’t get on well and I kept increasing it instead of decreasing it. In the end the guy said it would be better if I didn’t hire a ped as he was not confident in me and if I had an accident, ‘at your age’, I would easily break a bone – thanks again. However, on a positive note I am not going to give up and as soon as I can I am going to take another lesson and if needed, when I get back to the UK for Yasmin’s wedding, a series of lessons – I will not be defeated. I also need to increase my muscle strength; I am withering away – bloody menopause. On the way back to the hostel I booked myself in for a half day tour, in a minibus, for this afternoon, so at least I will get to see some of the sights around here before I leave for Chiang Rai tomorrow morning 😊 I just hope the day improves.

Saturday 29th January 2022

Improve it certainly did. The tour I went on was excellent and I met some really nice people – Lauren (French) and his wife Ingrid (German), Peter and Jenna from Derby, 2 Dutch girls, Ryan (gay guy from London) and Neeraja from Washington DC, Indian background but from Washington DC. To be honest I didn’t give any of them a chance when I got on the back of the truck, I introduced myself and just kept on chatting until everyone was chatting to each other – lol. The tour was great, we went to several sights in such a short time which is easy as Pai is so small, in fact, it is smaller than I realised but very hilly, so glad I didn’t hire a push bike. We started at the big Buddha and I managed all of the 135 stairs without a problem – but they were normal stairs unlike the ones on the Doi Inthanon trek – and ended at Pai Canyon for the very disappointing sunset. Due to Pai Land Crack being closed I checked with everyone to see if they were up for a visit to the WWII War Memorial Bridge instead, which they were so I had a word with the driver and he was happy to take us there – she who asks, gets (most of the time!) After the tour we were dropped off on the walking street and Neeraja asked if I wanted to join her for dinner, how lovely of her, and she even paid for mine. Just as we were going off for a drink in a bar Peter and Jenna turned up, it didn’t take much persuasion to get them to join us and even later Ryan joined us for a short time. It was very refreshing to have some mature and intelligent company and conversation after being surrounded by so many ‘children’ – I so hope the hostel in Chiang Rai is full of clientele more to my liking, it really does make a difference.

As I was having breakfast this morning this very handsome man, probably somewhere near my age, sat within viewing distance and I caught him, several times, looking at me. Then there he was again on the same minibus as me to Chiang Mai, where he is now staying – such a shame I am heading to Chiang Rai as he was very charming, had lots of smiles for me and even helped me with my rucksack – lol – wouldn’t it be fabulous if one day on this trip a near encounter turned into a close encounter 😊