So, you think the Tunnel of Trees is a winding road? The road to Purgatory, CO? Psshhaw!! Then you haven't been on the road to Pai where they boast 762 curves. Seriously, I almost puked. It was worse than riding the Queen to the Rock on a bad day.
The haze is smoke. This time of year, some of the lazy land owners burn their leaves instead of collecting them. I say lazy because that is what some of the locals told me. It pisses them off because the whole country is a haze of smoke come late Feb.
Upon arrival, I took a motorcycle taxi up the hill to my bungalow. It was about a mile out of town and a beautiful view!
I was greeted by Meow and Meow. Meow means cat in Thai. I felt they needed their own identities, so I called the dad, Meow Meow('cause he constantly meowed) , and the baby, Baby Meew(cause her meow was still high pitched). They were my buddies, followed me around and BOTH (at the same time) sat on my lap when ever I sat down. It felt good to feel some animal love :)
After checking in, the owner's friend gave me a ride back down the hill and into town for dinner. Despite the warning that I would never get a scooter in the evening, I managed to get lucky and there was ONE for rent just at closing time :) I snagged it up for the remainder of the trip!
The following morning, I cruised back into town for breakfast, then went out in search of waterfalls and beautiful sights! While out and about, I found a viewpoint high up on a mountain....
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| View of Pai |
After getting lost a couple times, I finally found Mo Paeng Falls. It was a good 90 degrees that day and I couldn't wait to jump in! It was cold, but not as cold as Lake Superior ;)
While there, I met a group of friends from Israel and encouraged them to get in and cool off! After swimming, they heated up tea on their cook stove and shared some with me :) I never would have thought to use sage, but man was it delicious with honey!
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| Looking down stream
It was a full day of riding and swimming and hiking in the heat and by 5 pm I was ready to eat and go chill back at home base! Before heading back up the hill, I stopped at a street vendor and bought some chicken kabobs for Meow Meow and Baby Meew. They ate every last bite :)
That night, I met Danielle at the bungalow. She was from Cape Town, South Africa, traveling solo as well and had rented a scooter which she nearly crashed and was thinking of returning it the next day. She wanted to see the waterfalls, so I invited her to join me. I hadn't made it to the other two and thought it would be fun to share the experience with a new friend :)
That next morning, the owner, Manop, was home and we talked over coffee and cookies. I wondered where his car was and he explained that he rode his bike everywhere and took his car out only when he had to go to the city maybe once every couple months or so. He has a nice mountain bike and talked about how he loved to ride. I showed him some videos on youtube of folks riding the Copper Harbor trails and he got really excited! He was blown away with the bridges and the trails so close to the cliffs. He had also never seen snow, so I showed him some pics from back home in the U.P. The next day, he invited me to be a FB friend and posted this photo on my page :)
The post read: Can are you remember me ? I'm meaw..meaw. I think.. he being dream to you...
I miss those kitties!
Staying outside of town on the hill was relaxing and wonderful but I wanted to experience the night life and had to hop on the bus in the morning. So, the next day, Danielle and I went into town for breakfast and to check into our new guest houses. Look how cute they are!
After breakfast, Dan dropped off her scooter, jumped on mine, and off we went to explore new places!
First we went in search of Mae Yen. On the map it said it was 7 kilometers from town. What we didn't know was that most of that 7K was by foot and up a river bed.
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About an hour in, we ran into a woman walking back and she exclaimed that we had at least another hour to go and that there wasn't much falls this time of year. It had been a beautiful hike so far but we wanted to see the canyon and other falls, so we turned around and headed for Pem Bok Falls. This is what we found....
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| Pem Bok Falls |
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| Pai Canyon |
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| Dan and I |
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| Pai Canyon Trails |
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The canyon's were carved out of limestone and left a white dust where ever you touched it. It was a beautiful sight! Like nothing I've ever seen.
We made it to the falls just as the sun was setting :) The perfect time to rinse off after a long hot day in the sun. We dove in and people actually told us we were crazy. Dan told them they were, for not jumping in ;) They didn't know what they were missing!
We didn't get back into town until around dark, dropped off the bike and decided to meet up in a couple hours for dinner and drinks.
The last couple days of sun and riding the bike wore me out. So I took some electrolytes and a nap before heading out on the town. It was the first time I actually felt kinda crappy since I started traveling over a month ago. But it was my last night in Pai and I wanted to hang out with Dan. So, I pulled it together, put on a dress and headed out to meet her. It was the perfect last night....feeling physically exhausted and talking with a new girl friend over an organic Thai meal at Charlie and Leks.
After dinner, we said our good byes. She was headed to Lao and I to back down to Chiang Mai. It was nice to spend my last day with a new friend :)
Sleep took me away not long after returning home. Pai is a magical place. One that I will return to again, next time staying awhile longer.
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