Pai

Hi from Pai!

We've been here about 4 or 5 days now, enjoying the small-town vibe, slightly cooler climate, and fun sights and activities. Pai is North of Chiang Mai, in the Mae Hong Son Province. It is a popular spot for backpackers and travelers because it lies at the base of some of the many hills of Northern Thailand. There are several hill tribes located just outside of the Pai area and lots (and lots and lots) of small companies in Pai who offer single-day and multi-day treks into the jungle hills to visit and stay with villagers. Many of the trekking groups are run by people who are originally from the villages. There are also several elephant camps next to Pai, as well as hot springs and waterfalls, and more than a few funky bars and great restaurants lining the small streets. The result is: what used to apparently be a very quiet village town is now a bustling/happening/reggae playing destination of its own. We've gathered that people come to Pai and just stay. For a long time. And we've seen a few of these people around - clearly not Thai, and clearly living in Pai. There is a restaurant called Charlie and Lek's that has organic food from their garden, and a breakfast/lunch place with a tea menu four pages long, and other really cute things. Pai is adorable! Which is a well known and accepted fact, reflected in the many "I heart Pai" shirts that fill the outdoor market stalls. A little silly, really fun, definitely interesting.

Here is Mike walking up the steps to the 'Temple on the Hill,' the view of Pai from the temple, me sitting next to a temple guardian, and the sign telling us how to get there.





Shots of the night market.

What we're reading....

Drinking tea out of bamboo cups, you can get them from street vendors and choose from a bunch of different types of tea, and then keep using your bamboo cup throughout the night, oh and they have Pai carved into the side, English on one side, Thai on the other.


Scenes from on our walk exploring the countryside outside of Pai.
Chili peppers drying in the sun.

Today we decided to go for one of the one-hour elephant treks. We researched to make sure the one we were thinking of choosing was a fair and humane organization that treated their elephants well (Thom's Pai Elephant Camp, http://www.thomelephant.com/html/Thom/Welcome_to_Thoms.html). Exploitation of elephants, the national animal of Thailand, is a big concern so this was a really important part of us deciding whether or not to do an elephant activity. This one looked great and was recommended by guide books, so we went to check it out. We were picked up in town by Thom, the owner of the organization. She was really nice and was clearly really close with all her elephants, smiling and laughing with the small number of staff there while interacting with the elephants. We learned that elephants have been in her family for generations, used years ago in warfare by her great grandfather, then in logging, and now in elephant camps where the elephants are taken care of. There were about 4 or 5 elephants there today, and visitors could feed them bamboo. This was really crazy - Thom showed us how to hold the bamboo behind our backs so the elephant would wrap its trunk around us to get it. "That's how an elephant gives you a hug," Thom said. Nuts! Then we did the elephant ride thing for an hour, which actually terrified me at first because I felt I was going to fall off the front. I didn't like it at all. Then we got to the river and our guide led us straight in to the cool shallow water and on the guide's prompting the elephant gets down into the water on all fours, then just rolls over (throwing us off in the process) and we're all swimming around in the river together with this huge elephant! Then the guide would help us get back on the elephant, only to have the elephant spray us with its trunk. Shenanigans. Ont he way back Mike went in front which was much better because I didn't feel like I was going to slide off the front everytime the elephant took a step. Very surreal experience, we kept looking at each other thinking 'is this real?!!' There is so much interesting history about elephants that I didn't even know about, this small visit just piqued my interest for learning more about this awesome animal.

What else? We've been enjoying Pai but are thinking of moving on pretty soon, back to Chiang Mai and then next up is Laos so we're really excited for that. We're about 20 days into our trip and things are going really well, we're constantly learning and figuring things out as we go, such is traveling. More pictures coming soon!