From Asia to Europe

Is the name of where we sit here typing away – this multi-use computer, bar, restaurant and movie house depicts the hodge podge town of Pai quite well. Other words to build a picture of it include bohemian, new age, fanatically healthy, herbal, summon the spirits, tribal community base, bloody beautiful town at the heart of a stunning valley. We’re about a 4 hour local bus ride north west of Chiang Mai, near the Myanmar border, where tribes from the north have spilled over into Thailand and now rake in money from tourists ‘off the beaten track’ (but starting a few of their own).

We had a lovely last night with ‘English Stu’ in Siem Reap, who is nearing the end of his year long Asian journey – guitar strumming and pretendng to know the lyrics to a 5 song repertoire until the mid morning hours. Our flight to Bangkok’s new international airport was a frantic dash to all the wrong areas, as our connection to Chiang Mai drew nearer… with an (enviable!) 1 hour wait for bags, followed by a hunt for a gate that didn’t exist – compounded by our loopy, overtired disposition – we were a sad mess of rolling clothes and bags.

We stayed in Chiang Mai long enough nap, shop, get soaked and curse it before boardng the local bus to Pai. As the first to buy tickets, our VIP seats were reserved behind the driver and directly above the engine – our feet lightly toasted upon arrival. Even the monk behind exclaimed ‘hot! hot!’ while flapping his robe around for a breeze.

Pai is very much a one horse town, all dusty roads and teetering babies and hippies and roaming dogs and trekking and reiki at every turn. Finally! A whole town of empty heads, ambient noise abounds. I’ve found my own.

Our search for a trek brought us to BackTrax and guide “Toil’ (as is boil, boil, toil and trouble). For two days, our foursome of two Canucks and two Swiss girls followed this serious minded Indiana Jones up the slopes, through vines and over water – all the while, striving to follow his advice of becoming ‘one with nature’. (I, for my part, become one with the earth, keeled over in a wretched state, with all the potential of a dead log.)

The Lahoooooooos (Lahu tribe) heard our arrival at their village shortly before dinner – moans and groans the telltale signs of approaching ‘nature’. Stilted huts, barnyard animals, ‘earthy’ children, and blasting radio (how rustic!) surrounded our hut for the night, situated above the aromatic village stable. Interesting events abounded, including:

• children hanging in the trees above the toilet stalls
• a hut of drunken village men, offering food and drink among other less enticing favours
• 17 ladies who rolled out their wares to our modest group of 4 – the minute we stepped out of the hut, the circus began
• children who regarded us as jungle gyms and sparring partners with ‘bum targets’
• my curious massage, where the entire population of ladies descended on me, kneading every bit of my body like dough (with special attention to my left bum cheek by the village elder)
• change from this 200 baht surprise which was removed (soggily) from under the shirt and in the armpit of one of the tribal ladies
• a song and dance performance by the village children followed by our cheeky reciprocation: the Macarena
• Swiss Fabi trying to peel herself away from her drunk, dentally underpriviledged admirer
• the unidentifiable animal sounds that kept us up all night: sort of a snorty, horny cow call; also, choruses of confused roosters who began their songs 3am ish until dawn.

We did make it through the night and the following day, over leach-ridden trails, precariously on the back of an elephant (while watching with pie eyes as a cobra swam past us), and down the river by bamboo raft, where Swiss Elly came under the attack of a spiny caterpillar.

We are now two days later – and after copious amounts of lounging and reading, we decided to extend our stay ‘just a little longer’ (until the usual Pai eternity) to explore the countryside by motorcycle (yesterday) and by bike (argh! today). It’s paradise here from top to bottom – and ‘easy mountain living’ as told by the Lonely Planet writer. Save for a seemingly unusual brush with a robbery a drunk, gun-waving policeman last night (!!), it’s been smooth moving.

Efforts to upload pictures will be made in days to come – sure to stir even the dead into a fit of envy.

Patchouli-ly, Laura.

Tags: General Travels, SE Asia Travels

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 5th, 2006 at 5:00 pm and is filed under General Travels, SE Asia Travels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.