Pai, Thailand: Days 42, 43 ,44, 45

Day 42: Thanksgiving Arrival, The Famous Circus School Hostel

The bus from Chiang Mai rolled into Pai around 6:30pm. Even though the driver drove super fast around corners, speeding past other buses, it still took roughly three hours to make the trip. Chomping on my Subway sandwhich, I figured that would sufficiently count as my turkey for Thanksgiving. My hostel offered a pick up service, so I climbed into the back of the truck, ready to see what this odd hostel had in store.



The truck stopped to pick up three more travelers, who would soon become the closest friends I've made on this trip yet. Pulling up to The Famous Circus School, we discovered that a random circus duet would be performing later that evening. Grabbing dinner with London, Scotland, and Italy at the little place across the street became my proper Thanksgiving dinner: chicken pad thai. The guy working there cracked us up - he got the order wrong and completely forgot parts of it. However, he entertained us with card tricks and stories of how he used to travel to fight my thai, showing us his battle wounds. We ended up having several meals here throughout our stay, since it was cheap, chill, and usually entertaining.

Back at the Circus, the duet from Argentina and Uruguay, called Clap Clap Circo, set up to perform. They travel around the world, performing in festivals and small venues such as our hostels for tips. What a life - you would have to really love someone to both work and constantly travel together, with each other practically 24-7! Their vibrant personalitues, enhanced by their outfits, shined as they loosened up the crowd with comical faces and "accidental" mistakes. Incidentally, a large portion of the show made you laugh with stunts like "Barbie-Q" and an "amazing transformation" of Señorita Nina into an ostrich. She was the true talent of the act - twirling hula hoops of fire and sometimes 8 hula hoops at once.

Following the show, the four of us played cards with amazing variety of others from the hostel, someone performed fire tricks, and of course course a few drinks were consumed before bed.

Day 43: Mor Paeng Waterfall, Sai Ngam Hot Springs, Hula Hoop Sunset

Italy and I seem to be the early risers of the group. We walked 15 minutes into town to grab some breakfast. On the way back, I stopped at Life in Pai to get a motorbike, knowing we'd want to explore that day. Getting turned around on the way back to the hostel, we fortunately ran into the others and followed them back.

Set and ready with our swimming suits, the four of us on two motorbikes followed the reception's directions to our first stop. (Super friendly, helpful staff at this place by the way). The drive there toured a bit of countryside and village life, beautiful green, lush scenery at every turn. Dogs and chickens own the roads, so it becomes a game of avoiding not only them but pot holes, as well. We arrived to Mor Paeng Waterfall where he told us we could slide down the rocky falls. Climbing up the falls is quite slippery, and wearing tennis shoes proved to be just as bad as flip flops. Barefoot is honestly your best bet.

Not immediately seeing anyone sliding down the rocks, we went to check out the place where everyone lounged on the rocks next to the water. Italy slipped on the way down, falling into the cold water and providing us unexpected laughs. A couple slid down properly, paving the way for us to follow. London has already climbed down thew side by this point, leaving me to go first for our group. Slightly intimidated by the threat of waking my head on the rocks, a current of the falls pushed me down anyways. One little wiggle into the water, and there's no turning back. The water is cold! Having a cloudy day above us didn't help, but the sun felt that much more welcome each time it peeked out.

Climbing up to slide down a couple times each, attempting to make Scotland feel more comfortable so she would slide down. After about 30 minutes of coaxing, she finally took the plunge, drawing cheers and applause from everyone watching. We hung around a bit, chatting with two guys from the States, somewhat drying off before hopping back on the scooters.

This time, we followed the map to Sai Ngam Hot Springs. There are a couple different places you can enjoy the springs, but this location is the cheapest, costing merely 20 Baht each person and 20 Baht each scooter. The drive is quite steep at parts, requiring Italy to hop off so I could make it up one of the hills. After the shaded drive, the four of us were ready for the hot waters. Mud from under a tree acts as a mask, supposedly excellent for your skin. We covered ourselves in the mud and lounged in the waters. London spotted a log floating at the edge, which turned into our toy for the next several minutes, hugging onto and trying to balance and float on it.

On the scooters once more, feeling hungry, we returned to the hostel and to the restaurant acrossthe street for some eats. (The guy was much more with it this time, remembering our order). Each afternoon, from 4pm-6pm, the hostel offers hula hoop and juggling instruction, if you're interested. I played with the hula hoop for awhile, trying my hardest to do the simple trick they were teaching me, while watching the sunset over the mountains and trees in the distance. The Circus is set on a hill, so the infinity pool combined with the view can't be beat.

Rejoining the others, showering quickly, we scooted into town to get some rum to add to fruit smoothies. Fruit drinks are basically the thing to get in Thailand, so it would seem. When the lady saw us adding the rum she laughed as if it was this crazy, unheard-of of idea.

Back at the hostel, lounging in hammocks under the hut, chilling out, as is vibe here, London and I ended up entering a beer pong tournament. I'm not sure the last time I played, but after our first game, winning against a couple from Berkeley, my true Wisconsin skills came out in game two. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to win the game against the Irish. I blame London. ;-)

The rest of the night, now that drinks were flowing, was all good fun... balancing on a tight rope, jumping on the trampoline, getting a little hangry and then satisified with food.

Day 44: White Buddha, Land Split, Pam Bok Waterfall, Doi Mieng Pai Viewpoint  (and the terrifying journey up to and down from the viewpoint)

Following breakfast at the hostel with Italy, I headed to a see the White Buddha on my own, and to a extend my bike rental another day. Of course, as always, I had trouble finding my way and overshot the temple by 15 minutes or so. It was was a pretty drive, so not a huge waste of time. I was saddened, however, by an elephant ride place, Thoms. I stopped to a ask for directions to the Buddha, but couldn't take my eyes off of the poor creatures, chained to the posts on hard cement, no food or water, saddled, waiting to be ridden. I made a comment that they need food and water before taking off back the way I came.

A huge wooden entrance with the name Wat Pra Thât Mae Yen imprinted on the top, more than clearly marked my destination. The White Buddha sits on top of a hill, at the top of a long set of stairs. Wax rings that had fallen from the sky lanterns stuck to the white staircase. The Temple itself isn't much different than the other dozens of temples I've seen, but beautiful nonetheless. They do have a gong outside that you can ring, so of course I did before returning to see if the others were up for an adventure or not today.

The girls felt like having a chill day by the pool, but London and a guy from Chicago were up for a ride. We set off to Pam Bok Waterfall, stopping at the Land Split on th way. A man sells Roselle juice for donations as well as a meal if you'd like. Roselle grows everywhere around the area as you walk towards the split. I don't know ididfw much history of the area, but they did have signs indicating the year that the splits occurred, 2008 and 2011. Literally they are huge cracks in the ground that have since grown vegetation. Also, they have "dancing trees" labeled, which wiggle at the top, as the name suggests, when you gently touch the trunk at the bottom.

Ten kilometers down the road, we made it to the waterfall. A few minutes walk up stone stairs and across a rickety wooden bridge, lands you just to rocky waters just out of sight from the waterfall. Not planning on swimming today, I was unprepared for this, wearing my jeans. (I thought it was being smart - wearing jeans since I'd be on the motorbike all day). I eventually decided to just jump in with my jeans on, because once you've navigated over the slippery rocks, around the corner is gorgeous cascading water, pouring into an enclosed pool, surrounded by tall cliffs on 3 sides. Finding your way closer to the falls, you can jump off the rock into the water and swim up close, letting it fall onto your head.

I've become the Queen of selfies on this trip, so I gathered the guys to make some faces with me become fore returning, soaking wet, to this bikes.

A sign at the watefall entrance points up the hill and says "10 km to Pai Viewpoint... 40 Minutes." We this ought thiseoughtere was no way 10k could take that long, let's check it out! Wrong. After 30 minutes of a long, slightly up hills, but beautiful ride through rice fields and over bridges, the road became a steep uphill climb of gravel and dirt. There were several points where I had to stand up and waddle over the bike, gunning it at full power, to make it up. Finally to where we thought woukd be the top, over 40 minutes later, a sign said "3km...20 minutes," with an even steeper road. Well... we came this far. Shooting accidentally too fast around a corner, I almost flung myself and my bike over the cliff to certain death or servant hours of pain. We stopped to rest at one point, our bikes hot from going full power. At last, we reached the food area, but wait! Only 1km further is the true viewpoint! If you're crazy enough to spend the time to go up here, the view from the deck where they sell food and drink is just as good as the one from 1km further up the mountain. We went. Parking the bikes and ascending some dirt stairs, a wooden platform awaited us. It really is a crazy good view from that high up. We joked around before returning to get food.

I definitely expected the food to be expensive, but it cost no more than you'd get in toen, and less than you'd pay at the hostel. 50 Baht for rice and chicken with chili sauce. We ate on the deck, the only ones there, happy to be off of the bikes for awhile. However, by this time, it was already late in the afternoon, and going down the mountain in the dark wasn't going to happen.

Fyi - they do have tents and you can camp up there. It would be one hell of a sunrise.

Going down proved to be a greater challenge than going up. Leaving space between each of us, going as slowly ass possible as to not wipe out, I honestly didn't think I was going to make it. Chicago shot ahead like a pro, not phased. London stayed behind me to make sure I didn't die. Three different times I fell. Fortunately, they were slow motion falls, as I tried to keep my feet down to go slow. The handles bars dug into the front of my thighs each time, so now I have lovely "Pai Tattoos," or in my case, temporary tattoos I guess. Honestly, the fact that I walked away with just bruising is okay by me.

Finally back at the hostel that evening, we were all in the mood for a chill night. Laughing and sharing stories, I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time. Thank you, Chicago, for providing us hilarious story platforms to. Another fire performance capped off the night, and my friend that I was with in Chiang Mai came over to watch as well.

Day 45: 762 Curves from Pai to Chiang Mai

I don't have any pictures on my phone from today, only on my camera because it has a wrist strap. Scotland and Italy took a bus back to Chiang Mai, while London and I shared and motorbike to make the drive. AYA motorbike rental sends your bags on the bus, so you can pick them up on arrival in Chiang Mai. One road takes you all the way there, curving 762 times along the way. We took turns driving, stopping for lunch at one point - but deciding it looked dodgy, so moving on to the next.

I don't know how long we were at lunch, but it must have been a good while, because the trip took us 6 hours. Or maybe I just drive really slowly. We did stop one more time, just outside of Chiang Mai, for some iced coffee (I'm afraid I'm addicted now.... thanks London!) We finally arrived to the AYA shop, just next to Chiang Mai Railway Station and grabbed one of their red truck taxis to meet the girls at the hostel.