|
Our last stop in Thailand is Pai, a bohemian town with allegedly lots to offer including copious amounts of live music, jungle trekking, fishing, massages and a generally chilled out stay. Except for the one week we were there. Would we find a hostel during the King’s Birthday? Would we see a ‘hilltribe village’? Would we stay on the elephants? Are all Finns called Antti?
 One of our first nights in Pai, Broc and I ended up dressed in a giant white ram suit and entertained the crowd. We think.
|
Saturday 5th December is the King’s Birthday in Thailand. We were up for a royal celebration in Chiang Mai but the place seemed deserted! So off we set to a place called Pai 3h North West, a very chilled out town and perfect for relaxing in. The journey is pretty twisty and quite hairy at times but we got there in one piece, after being dropped off just outside town. Slightly confused, we pushed our way through thousands of people milling through stalls, dancing etc and checked out a couple of hostels. All the hostels were fully booked! Starting to panic ever so slightly as we could see lots of other backpackers trying to find a hostel, Steve abandoned the bags and I at the side of the road while he ran around hunter gatherer style. Around 45mins later, he returned having found what we genuinely believe to be the last room left in Pai! It was a mattress on the floor but better than nowt! Turns out that for the King’s Birthday, all Thai people abandon Chiang Mai and other towns to swarm en masse on Pai…we lost count of how many people we met who were camping in a last minute rented tent on the edge of the river. Steve’s 100% record of finding a hotel whilst I guard bags remains intact…
 Award for best subliminal tagline ever, it says ‘This sandwich is Delicious. We want you to try this sandwich’.
|
The hostel we stayed in wasn’t the best hostel in the world so the following day we moved to Mr Jan’s Guest House which is set in a medicinal herb garden. 500B, with included breakfast seemed OK for Pai as everywhere was still ridiculously busy. We spent most of our week in Pai staying in this hostel, bar a couple of nights (you can’t book a room here in advance – first come, first served basis only). The breakfast is the most bizarre set up I’ve ever seen – averaging between 5 and 6 women a day trying to serve a weird concoction of Thai and Western food and not really succeeding in either. For the love of your own health, do not eat the sausages…Mr Jan seems a little odd and his daughter was shot in the head (seriously!) a few years back so you have to bear with them…
 Next day we gatecrashed Broc & Bailey’s cooking school. It was Mr. Tee’s birthday, rum all round!
|
We had our first massage in Pai! For 200 Baht, Steve had a full body massage (queue jokes…) and for 400 Baht I’d a fully body scrub and massage. It was absolutely ace, my skin felt lush after! Steve didn’t really ‘get’ the massage until afterwards when he waited for me with a coffee and went into a trance-like ‘life is wonderful’ state. I was concerned he might enjoy it a little more than he should do but he managed to control himself 
After our massage, we met up with a wicked Irish couple we met called Brock and Bailey. They had been at Let’s Wok with Tee cookery school all day, and had invited us around to sample their wares that evening! Mr Tee has a slightly different style to our teacher in that he insists on drinking throughout the entire day – mainly Samsong Rum – and is ever so slightly crackers. A really friendly guy though, he was more than welcoming to Steve and I appearing (after having paid no money whatsoever) and feeding us! Well the food cooked by Brock, Bailey and their two co-cookers (as well as Mr Tee) was absolutely excellent! My personal favourite are the Thai soups, Steve’s more of a Padthai lover. Although everyone else was heading on to a bar, us four decided to wander around the Pai markets for a while first (the boys had had more than enough Samsong with Mr T to keep them warm, and also had a spare bottle in their pocket for emergencies). The markets are simply stalls that line all of the streets at night time and sell the most beautiful random food, along with the ubiquitous T-shirts, scarves, hats, jumpers etc. The food was fab though – mini omelettes, pancakes, meat skewers, black bean pancakes, egg and banana concoctions – you name it really. Very cheap and fun to wander through. Whilst going through the markets, we bumped into a chap we had also met the previous evening – a Finn called Antti. He introduced us to his friend – a Finn called Antti…otherwise known as the Two Anttis. Apparently not everyone in Finland is called Antti though (we asked as these are the only two Finns we know apart from Mika Hakkinen and he doesn’t really count). A merry night ensued, including the lighting and setting off of two Chinese style lanterns which is common throughout Thailand but particularly the North. Hundreds are set off each night by tourists and locals – just a small ring of card inside a lantern which as it burns, fills the lantern with hot air and off it floats into the sky. It’s mesmerising when you watch lots being set off at once.
 Here Lynette caught the second (and last!) fish of the day, a cat fish!
|
One morning in Pai, Steve and I along with the Two Anttis and Brock and Bailey, decided that fishing would be an excellent way to pass the morning. As we jumped into a taxi (otherwise known as the back of a pick up truck) and the Two Anttis jumped on their scooters, we headed for the Mhor Peng Fishing Park. 15mins later we ended up at the Pai Piranha Fishing Park. We actually didn’t realise we had gone to a different Park until later that day – prices were the same – 150 Baht for hiring your gear for an entire day plus money per hour you stay there. We spent 130 Baht there and we stayed for 3h. We only hired one rod per couple though. Well with our first batch of fishing with sausage, I managed to catch the only fish out of our group – a small snapper! A while later when the boys hadn’t caught anything, the Two Anttis had to leave and Brock and Steve decided a change of fishing rod and technique was required. We swapped our weedy rods for some sturdier specimens and got more bait in the form of a ball of stuff (I’m a keen if not knowledgeable angler), a tactic called bottom fishing. One ball of stuff is attached to the rod, along with sausage. More balls of stuff are then thrown in where you intend to cast your line (first problem – we weren’t entirely that accurate therefore casting the line, then throwing in the balls where we had cast became more common practice…). Again I managed to catch a fish!! It was a 1lb carp apparently – I’m sure that would be enough for a meal so may do some fishing whilst job hunting back home – Steve can forage for potatoes.
 He’s quick off the cuff, not as quick as his kids diving on our western breakfast’s left overs.
|
One of the main things to do in Pai is a trek to some of the hilltribes in Northern Thailand. We booked a two day trek with the Two Anttis to go white water rafting on Day 1, stay overnight in a hilltribe village that evening and then trek through some of the northern terrain the following day. It sounded like a fabulous plan. Two French guys joined us for the white water rafting on Day 1 and it was a really nice group. The jeep was ridiculously bouncy and took 1h to get to the rafting startoff. We had a 3min lesson on the side of the River Khong and then got in. I thought I’d be rubbish in with 5 blokes but I think I did OK – had to keep telling one of the Antti’s off for not paddling, ha! The River was very low though so there were virtually no rapids – my hand had a blister on it from paddling on the still water non-stop. Our guide Jakar (oddly born on exactly the same day and year as Steve) kept making animal noises to encourage animals to come out (it sounded just as bizarre then..) but we only saw kingfishers and dancing birds. Eventually the Khong joined the Pai River where we were told there would be rapids but there were only about 30mins worth of quite small rapids. We got splashed a little but in 7h of paddling, it just wasn’t enough. Although the day had been fun because of the group we were with, we were all a little disappointed. Tip – don’t go white water rafting in dry season… Back in the jeep and 2h later we reached Jakar’s Lahu village where we were to spend the evening. Most people dozed off in the jeep, apart from one of the Frenchies who was throwing up out the back of the jeep because it was so bumpy! They left us at the village as they had booked transport to go elsewhere so it was just Steve and I and the Anttis. We were shown to our room – it was Jakar’s bedroom. He and his family had moved to the only other room in the wooden, single storeyed house on stilts. The room they stayed in was also the room where they cooked over a fire with no windows so it was slightly smoking in there! The toilet was a hole in the ground in a hut outside. Quite a few of his friends had turned up, mainly to look at us and try and sell us stuff. We bought some beautiful handmade scarves. Jakar then cooked us dinner of a soup, rice and a chicken dish. The food was very good and spicy but we felt slightly awkward eating before the family. That is until Jakar pointed out he had to cook theirs afterwards as he had to do a special non-spicy version for us LOL! After dinner we expected to be sat around a campfire with the elders of the village telling us about the Lahu tribe – their lifestyle, customs etc. Instead our guide showed us tricks with pieces of string, a weird card game involving spoons and got us to do silly dances which were hilarious to do and watch, but not what we’d anticipated…
 One of the ever so cute children flashing a smile at Lynette.
|
Day 2 of our trip was a day of trekking. Unfortunately one of the Anttis was really unwell and couldn’t go on the trek. While they were sorting him out, we went for a wander in the village. All houses were built on stilts so that chickens, dogs, pigs etc could live under the houses. The surrounding countryside was stunning. Houses all had washing drying outside on the fences. Fruits, red beans, corn and chillis were all being dried outside on cloths. Basic machinery was processing the corn collected by villagers in the fields and spitting out husks which chickens were feeding on. We eventually managed to get a photo of a woman carrying a basket with the handle on her head, as they carry baskets here. The first person asked demanded money so we took a sneaky picture…the village is beautifully tranquil. Around 0930 we set off on the trek. To be honest it was a fairly dull 6h trek! Beautiful views but no wildlife or plants to really speak of. We stopped at another hilltribe’s village, the Lisu, but everyone was out at work so there wasn’t much to see. We did see a giant, caged porcupine on the way. Jakar had hurt his leg so we’re pretty sure he cut the trek short but he made us all a whisky glass out of bamboo! Reunited with sick Antti in the jeep again, we made our 2h bumpy journey back to the town.
 The two Anttis, Lynette and I astride our elephants.
|
On our last day in Pai, we decided we needed some elephant time! We’d booked a tour with Joy’s Elephants – us and the Two Anttis. We had really wanted to play with some elephants but after our experiences at Surin, we wanted to make sure we were working with people who actually cared for them. Queue, Joy’s Elephants! Joy was actually one of the baby elephants who had been born at the camp outside of Pai. All baby elephants, when they reach a certain age, must go to a government led ‘Elephant School’ to make sure they are trained properly. Unfortunately at the ‘Elephant School’, some distance from Pai, the elephants’ food was purchased from the cheapest source. This usually meant intensive farming and pesticide use which led to Joy becoming very sick and eventually, sadly, dying (along with seven others in a short period). Jitty, Joy’s owner, now tries to educate people more about caring for elephants properly and refuses to work her elephants as hard as many of the companies advertising elephant camps do.
 The elephants definitely enjoyed trying to shake us off, but we put up a brave fight!
|
So we rocked up to this camp, and before long two elephants had picked us up – Steve and I on one, the Anttis on the other. We went for a walk on the elephants which was REALLY uncomfortable! We kept sliding sideways on the elephants, thinking we were going to fall off. This went on for over an hour in the baking heat! Eventually we went through a small road between some hotels and we could see a river. Our expectation was set when they took all cameras, hats, glasses etc off of us. The ‘drivers’ led the elephants into the water and we couldn’t see what the problem was. Then the elephants started to play. They rolled in the water trying to throw us off! Both Anttis came off straight away and then couldn’t get back on which was hilarious to watch! Steve and I clung on for ages. Eventually Steve came off but I managed to cling on, clutching onto the elephant’s ears – I knew if I came off, there was no way I was getting back on. When the elephant had finished, it obviously decided I wasn’t wet enough and picked up loads of water in its trunk and fired it over its head at Steve and me! It did it 5 or 6 times and we were soaked!
 A quick dip in the hot tub was the end of our ride with the elephants!
|
When we got back to the camp, we were thrilled to see that one of the Camp workers had filmed the whole thing so we had a lovely dip in a pool filled by a hot spring while he made copies for us. The day was amazing, so much fun! It seemed a shame to spoil it by a bus ride so we decided to stay one last day in Pai which ended in drinks and Steve singing a rave version of a love song in a local Thai bar – oh dear! I’m just waiting for the copy to be sent over from our Finnish comrades! Next stop, Bangkok (again)!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Me attempting to join in on Lynette’s winning ways… |
|
|
|
|
|
)
![[Facebook]](http://mace.me.uk/mrandmrs/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[MySpace]](http://mace.me.uk/mrandmrs/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/myspace.png)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://mace.me.uk/mrandmrs/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/stumbleupon.png)
![[Email]](http://mace.me.uk/mrandmrs/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
How amazing does this look! You have memories for the rest of your lives guys