planes, trains, n tuk tuks….

Our quaint riverside hut quickly became on of those things in life that sounds wonderful theoretically, but in practicality is HORRID.  it started while Catie n i were waiting outside our respective huts for B to return as she had the key when C noticed perched above our heads a spider the size of my hand.  The minicing look in his eye warned us he meant bizness and if given the chance would jump straight on our faces.  We screamed like 2 american girls in the wilderness of thailand w/ a man eating spider in their huts, ran back across the rickety bamboo bridge w/ the lightness of foot of an olympic hurdler back to the safety of Pai town.  had a beer, lamented the fact that we eventually had to return to the scene of the crime and that not knowing where the spider would be is certainly worse than knowing where he was.  Eventually B showed up and we trapsed back over the bamboo bridge in pitch black darkeness w/ just a headlamp to light the way to certain death.  Little did we know, the night was just getting started.  

Catie promptly changed rooms with B, as she now had 4 lizards in her hut, one for each thatched wall, and B was not bothered by lizards.  We surrounded ourselves with the mossi net, full of holes, and tucked ourselves in for the night.  Over my book in my periphery i saw the tale end of something run across on the four bamboo beams that made up the frame of the interior space.  The  the noise beagan.  squeaking, churing, shuffling behind the draped side panel as we could ssee the outlin of the perpetrator moving across our room.  The largest rat (nyc large) was running in a circuit avout our heads in 5 minute intervals for the rest of the night.  He’d go up the wall behind th tatch part gather miscillaneous debris in his mouth carry it across the other side back to where he was makin no coublt an extension off the back for his inlaws.    Tirelessly working, running, and squeeling all night long,  2 ft from our heads.    Perfect.  We had nothing more than the flimsy mossi net b/w us.   A bat also joined at some point in the night as well as other unidentified creatures of the night who carried on a serious debate.  Probably about what they had to do to get us out of their hut.

“if we can just make it until morning….surely it’s almost light.   What time is it?”

“12:45″

Perfect.   When it finally did get light, we were up and outa there w/ a new concept of what ‘hitting bottom” really means.

Trying to avoid the overun tours that visit the hill tribes and mts. surrounding Chang Mai, and thinking we could have a more authentic experience on our own, we boarded a bus to Pai.  A tiny (3 main rd) town NW of CM nestled in a valley amoungsts mts, hill trives, elephant camps, and  sitting smack on the Pai river.  We heard rumors but had very little info about our destination other than it was off the beaten track, beautifully located, and at one time had been a popular hippy destination in the 70s.  The bus ride was a mini van packed knee to knee 12 deep and half locals half travelers.  The scenery changed just after leaving CM into narrow mt roads past bbq stalls, villages, around livestock.  Our driver was not overly burdened w/ the responsibility of the 12 lives he carried.  The ‘rules of the road’ were mere suggestions as he deftly swerved pas trucks around blind corners and took hair pin turns at full speed.  We arrived white knuckled 5 hrs later in Pai.  Made our way on ft towards thes li’l bamboo huts we had read perched on stilts right on the waters edge just outside of town.  We (me, b, and Catie…our new american friend from the bus ride) made our way over Pai river across a rickety bamboo bridge loosley covered in dried leaves with no rails  to our designated huts.  Found reception, a larger hut, and checked in for what was suppose to be 3 days lazily spent by the river. 

Our hut was A frame, thatched leaf roof, approx. 8 x 10 with a double bed touching 3 walls, straw floor, and woven walls.   public outhouse round back that you shared with the other 6 huts, was the toilet and sink with a shower head above it combo that we have come to know quite well.  Wow.  this is basic.

Literally one step up from sleeping on the ground.   Actually even a tent would be bug and rain tight, where as this has a 4 inch. gap b/w the walls and roof, ans some leaves of the roof are missing. 

“i’m not sure i feel safe sleeping in a place where someone can just punch thru the wall?!”

Well at least it’s cheap.  Dirt floor cheap.  Pai the town is really difficult to descrive.  It is a quaint artsy town literally in the middle of nowhere.  Surrounded by rice fields and livestock w/ the mt backdrop, hippies roam the narrow streets w/ giant asian pants and dreadlocks that have been forming for decades.  We knew in the 70s the hippies ‘found’ this place, but judging by the age of  a lot of them, apparently they never left.  Wide eyed the three of us ate an fantastic dinner of noodles on the streetside and watched the mix of local villagers, hundreds of dogs, old hippies, and young travelers mixing in the streets.  Pai is by far the strangest place any of us had ever been.  Even now, I’m not describing it fully.

Beelz had the grand idea to put the hangers in our room thru the fan, which i promptly smacked with my head sending them up shattering the blades.  Only a few pieces actually broke, so we knocked it down a ... [Continue reading this entry]

Felt a little feverish, perhaps just dehydrated from such extreme heat so ordered a full american breakfast, and spent the morning in the hammock reading up on the local hill tribes and treks this area is famous for trying to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Dinner was interesting.  We decided to go  the opposite way of town to explore and stumbled across a locals only bar.  Bery chic young kis kept filing thru the door - poped collars, izod shirts, perfect over styled hair.  and most ... [Continue reading this entry]

After our first full nights sleep since we arrived, I woke feeling great.  Had an iced coffee and read while b went for a 'quick run', which turned into a two hr run as she got horribly lost, had to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Diner was at the local hole n the wall or moreover the tent in the parking lot with only 1 item on the menu.  Noodle Soup w/ chicken or beef.  I had the chicken.  B had the beef.  No stone ... [Continue reading this entry]

9:45 our train pulled into Chiang Mai, both of us ahd been up for hours (still jet lagged).  The scenery was such stark contrast from the city dust of BK. Now surrounded by lush veggitation, banana trees, villages, hills and ... [Continue reading this entry]

Sprite new backpack in tow hoped on a tuk tuk, (something dana could never have fit in) and headed to Hualampang train station.  No english signage.  Not one word.  luckily Thai's are very helpful (even when you don't ask) and ... [Continue reading this entry]

our guest house Lamphu house had a nice courtyard filled with Euro transients emailing and skyping.  It hardly felt like bangkok....more of an EU Convention in flip flops.  Despite our rather small room, 1 bd, no sheet, fan only, we ... [Continue reading this entry]