Pai in the sky....

Bloody hell tourists are inconsiderate, of course at 6am it is ok to yell up to your mate from the ground floor in a cockney accent and slam your door. Manners and respect does not seem to exist when it comes to foreigners. Having said that, we were awake and after a little lay in headed downstairs to organise our minibus to Pai. Our hotel guy told us there would be someone here in 20 minutes if that was not too soon and seeing that we are super organised took the offer and were packed and back down in a flash to an awaiting man who drove us to the minibus we were catching to Pai. Pai is a little hippy town about 3 and a half hours from Chiang Mai and the ticket cost us 160 Baht ($5.50) each. We have been told that the road is very windy containing more than 700 curves so I took one of my super dooper motion sickness tablets for good measure. Pai here we come and the minibus was very spacious with only a few other passengers and great air con. Sick bags were given out before we headed off and my tablet had plenty of time to kick in before we hit the bends. The first part of the trip was not too bad, a little like heading to the coast from Tamworth but already one girl was driving the porcelain bus so to speak. We stopped at a great little rest stop that craps all over the dodgy rest stops in Vietnam for a toilet break and some snacks if you wished. The crook girl also needed to make a decision whether to continue on or wait for the next but and head back to Chiang Mai. I gave her a bottle of my magic pills and explained to her how they work and even though she decided to turn back I advised her if she was to get on any vehicle that moves she should take one, she was grateful and I was happy to help because I know there is not much worse than motion sickness. On the road again and I tell you what, the driver wasn't wrong when he said that the bends would get worse.....this journey would be classed as an amusement ride at a fun park but thanks to my magic pills I was enjoying the ride. Alvo even fell asleep at one stage. Dropped off in the middle of the main street we found our mate Zoe who has been here for a couple of days and helped us make the decision to make the trip. We ran into a couple that we met while doing a tour on the Mekong (small world) and they told us of their hotel which we looked at and decided to stay in. It is 200 Baht ($7.00) per night and is just what we need for a couple of nights in this cute little place. We dropped our bags off and headed off in search for....you guessed it, food. It is 35 degrees here and feels like about 45 degrees so we found a close cafe that has chai tea, all sorts of great food and seeing Eckhart Tolle books on their shelves confirmed for me that this was the place for lunch. A very smiley lady gave us menu's and a little piece of paper to write our order on, Alvo decided on a great looking salad while I delved head on into some chilli and basil tofu with veg. I had to try the chai as they have the option of getting it made on coconut milk, who would have thought and Alvo tried the iced chai.....both were great and after impressing the smiley lady with a few Thai words am sure we will return. They have Kombucha there and I have to try it to see if it is different to the potion Mum and I used to brew. Ok, bellies full we headed off to explore. Zoe showed us around and explained that there is a street market each night. We headed to the op shop.....yep, op shopping Thai style. It is like an open market full of second hand clothes and shoes at really good prices but nothing took our fancy so just walked about. I saw a sign for a cafe advertising the best chai in Pai so will be there later to try it out. Alvo wanted a manicure so we found a place that does them, including polish, for 150 Baht ($5) and afterwards headed to the 7-11 for a couple of cold ones. We bought a little bag of ice and some pre mixed drinks and headed back to the room for some r&r. We decided to go to the local food court for dinner and was not disappointed by the big serving of green curry and rice we shared. The street is lined with stalls selling clothes and food and I would like to buy a shirt and Alvo is hunting for a lighter pair of shorts so we wandered up and down looking at all the cool things. We didn't find what we were after but headed to the chai cafe to see if their flyer was right. It wasn't far wrong, the chai was great and there was a couple of guys having a jam session on their guitars which made it fun and the owners are nice. The lady owner gave me the name of a cafe just out of town that has gluten free cakes so when we get out and about on our moped tomorrow we will check it out. We found a moped to hire when we booked our ticket back to Chiang Mai, it is only a few shops away so will be easy in the morning. We walked the rest of the street then Zoe took us to a bar that has great mojiti's made with every fruit flavour you can imagine. Alvo opted for the customer favourite of passionfruit and I tried the guava and for 100 Baht each ($3.50) they were a hit. When you buy 4 you get one free so.....why not. We sat enjoying the music, looking at photos and contemplating buying a bar here and when the music stopped it was time to head off to our hotel for the night, well it is 11.30pm after all. Goodnight adventure followers, we have lots to do tomorrow so need some sleep and we have a bed with Alvo's favourite type of mattress......rock hard. Tanya xxx.