Farewell Pai....

We met Zoe at 8am at the bank but as it didn't open till 8.30 we went to get something to eat. We found a food cart that sold rice porridge and for less than a dollar we were very happy. It was so nice and the best one we have found so far. Finally we have found a bank that will let us withdraw money over the counter with our travel card. As it doesn't have our name on it, no bank will do it....except this one. So now we can get more out than the ATM will allow and they don't charge a fee unlike the ATM, at $5 per withdrawal plus our banks fee, it becomes quite costly after a few times. So happy as a pig in mud we head off for a bit of a look around before we have to take the bikes back. We rode out the other side of town to where we went yesterday and stopped at a Chinese village which was nice. Then we went back up to try and find where to get to the big Buddah on the mountain which we couldn't find yesterday. Of course everything here requires walking up a very steep and dangerous path and this was no different. It wasn't too far and the view was nice and although the Buddah is still under construction, was still good to see. So our moped adventures in Pai are over and we check out of our room and take the bikes back. As we have a couple of hours to kill we head back to the cool cafe we have been to a couple of times. Once again we farewell Zoe and are pretty sure we won't see her again in Thailand as she is heading North and we are going South. We have had a great time hanging out with her and hopefully one day she will make it to Oz. We go back to the bus place and are on the bus and leaving 10 minutes early.....wow this bus company is great. As you know the road from Chiang Mai is extremely steep and winding....and going down seemed alot quicker, especially as our mini bus driver was possessed by Peter Brock and thought he was in the Bathurst 1000.....lol. But funny enough he was still pretty careful and I did not fear for my life once :) We arrived in Chiang Mai and headed back to the same hotel we left from. We checked in and as Tanya had a craving for fried chicken we went across to the market to find some....and we knew it would be easy to find as we have noticed that Thai's have a bit of an obsession with the stuff. So chicken being eaten, we walked a very short distance and saw sign at a cafe that said $2 Mojito's and plum wine.....now that was too hard to pass up. Tanya found plum wine in Sapa and loved it so thought this would be just as good....and it was. The owners mother makes it in Japan and as it happened Tanya drank her dry....lol. She said she has to get her mum to make more now. They also do a bbq and we tried a couple of kebabs and corn which were just delicious. So after a couple of hours there and several of those very potent Mojito's, we went in search of the big mobile cocktail bar we have seen, which is like the ones they have in Amsterdam that you sit on sideways and pedal around....only this one is stationary. On the way Tanya found more chicken and I couldn't resist one of the "best doner kebabs in Chiang Mai". We found the bar and were just in time for happy hour so we had a couple of Pina Coladas and chatted to the owner ages. He was telling us how it all works here with paying rent and also paying the police off. It sounds like it would be a pretty tough place to do business and very corrupt. It was time to walk home and of course garbage guts wanted another snack so we stopped at a cart that was selling this weird mix of beans, soy protein and coconut milk. Tanya thought it was pretty good but I can't say I would rush back for it. So our last night in Chiang Mai has been great and we are really going to miss it here. It has definitely been one of our favourite places so far along with Pai...but new adventures and places await us so off we go tomorrow to Bangkok. Alvo xoxo