The Life of Pai…

A week before my birthday, arrived in this fantastic little hippie community of Pai, in northern Thailand, with the intention to stay a few days, then head over the border to Laos. Almost a full week later, I’m still here and haven’t made any concrete plans to leave yet. This town is a wonderful respite from the rest of the world, especially from big cities like Bangkok, where I had spent a few days recovering from mild food poisoning from my last meal in China (oh the irony!). Best think about Bangkok was the food! I was finally able to get my teeth into things that I had been deprived of for a month, things like cheese and cereal, of which there is no sign of in China. Apparently the Chinese don’t consume dairy, most are lactose intolerant. There’s something I never knew!

Anyway, back to Thailand! At the end of day 3 in Bangkok, I took the overnight train to Chiang Mai, which I was very excited for! I had heard so many great things, that it was nice little town, not crowded, a good place to read, write and be rejuvenated. Chiang Mai is not a little town, but a bona fide city. Not on the scale of London or even San Francisco, but a city nonetheless. Got a cold on my first day, but I spent the next 3 days walking around, visiting temples, of which there is one practiclly on every block, getting my first Thai massage, eating, and doing a fair bit of drinking with Will, this English chap that I had meant on the train from Bangkok. After mulling it over, I decided that I was going to head to Laos (heard from many people that it was worth the time and money), and decided that I’d check out a few more town in northern Thailand, before taking the slow boat up the Mekong, one of which was Pai.  So Will and I took a 3 hour, very scenic and mountainous bus ride to Pai. The minute I got here, I knew it was the town that I had hoped Chiang Mai would be! Probably barely a square mile, Pai was surrounded by hills, covered in dense, green, lush jungle. All within a half an hour scooter ride were a few small waterfalls, a canyon, hot springs and beautiful countryside with loads of farms and rice paddies.

Pai is the kind of place where you come for a week but stay a month, or a year, or a lifetime, as some of the “locals” have. When I say locals, I really mean expats from either the UK, US, Australia, Holland or some other western country, that have decided to chuck their conventional life and call this place home. Have been hanging out with several other western travelers, including a couple of chicks from SF. Hell, I’m starting to feel like a local myself, I know all the expat restaurant and bar owners, I walk down the street and I get stopped every couple of yards to say hello to someone or the other that I’ve met and socialized with since arriving. Hmm, what kind of business could I start here? In addition to the great social life, Pai is the ideal place to be introspective, to find yourself and to tackle the bigger issues in life, which I will now take some time to do.