life of pai continued

Pai is a small(ish) town nestled in amongst some hills in north west thailand. hippies arrive en mass to observe a drunken chilled lifestyle. there are some very decent clubs with live music and a couple of late night places that break the curfew and remain open until about 6am!

all in all, its fairly peacefull and hasnt been ruined just yet. the hill tribes still come down to sell produce at the market and its easily possible to eat a good sized meal from between 20-30 bath (45p)

i moved into a guest house named Pai River Lodge. fantastic is the only way to describe it. with vistas over the river, an amazing decking and a fridge full of serve your self beer, nothing could be better! its the best mattress ive slept on since leaving the uk, brilliantly soft and they had real pillows. i paid 180 a night for a bamboo bungalow on stilts. there is no need for airconditioning as pai actually gets pretty cold during the night (blanket provided, nice one too) you also get free entry to a farang run swimming pool called Fluid which is about a five min walk. there is nothing better than chilling out in the sun with a beer and sitting in an ice cold pool. FACT!

the rest of pai can be explored on foot, however its possible to rent a motorbike for about 80-100bt a day, plus petrol. there are several waterfalls dotted around the town which are worth a visit.

seven off us set off in a little hells angel (on scooters) styled group for one of the waterfalls and spent the afternoon relaxing in the cool waters. an ozy guy jumped in, despite it only being waist deep and ripped a big hole in his foot, a good 6/8ths of an inch across and pretty deep, his vein was cut in half and stuck out like two pieces of tube pasta.....sigh.... i acted as ambulance and drove like a bat out of hell to the hospital. we all went to the pub later (including the idiot australian) and had a few beers and a laugh about it.

i def reccomend pai to anyone who is travelling. there is accomodation, music and food to suit all tastes and its somewhere i even considered staying for a few months....

i met up with the ex pat. he has a fantastic house outside of town, hidden away in a bamboo forest. no electricity and three cats. he leads an idilic existance, slipping into town to munch and grab his daily coffee. very jealous. we talked for hours about music and the various uses of bamboo that i knew. both taught each other a thing or two. glad ive got a mouth on me and not scared of talking to strangers.

bike adventure coming up!