Pai - not just a tasty pastry covered snack

So I arrived at Pai after an uneventful minibus ride through the hills of Northern Thailand, and me and Peter promptly found a bamboo hut next to the small river that floats through the town in one of the most stunning spots in Thailand, with the sunset over the hills reflected by the water. Deciding that the only thing for it would be to get very drunk, we moseyed into town to find out about the bars there. A leaflet advertising Retox bar (10 large bottles of beer in 3 hours and they're all free!!) was promising, but the bar was shut. No matter. We trawled through many other bars and bumped into Tommy again. A good night was had, from what I can remember. The virtues of 7/11 was promptly discovered when, at ridiculous o'clock, we realised it was open 24 hours a day And it sold toasties. Amazing.

The next day, to relieve our hangover somewhat, we decided to find a much talked about swimming pool we had heard rumours of the previous night. We found it after walking around in the midday sun for about an hour (not fun) and finally found the fabled pool. It was indeed great, complete with bar, a ledgendary owner called Soi who had quality music blaring out at all times of the day (he really was cool. He didn't even mind when we confessed a few days later that a group of us had climbed over the fence at 3 am to go skinny dipping), amazing food and quite a few other hungover travellers, all looking mildly relieved at having a place with hammocks by cool water. Amongst others were the two (completely unrelated) Stephanies from Vancouver, Tommy, two Germans called Chris and Marvin (who was the spitting image of Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Richard the mildly psychotic South African, and many others from that varied and slightly strange group called backpackers. Also that evening I met Liam, 3 huts down from us, from Ireland who I have again met in Sumatra.

Pai itself cannot be accounted for day by day - I spent 9 there on my first visit, and after about day 5 I think I would run out of adjectives to describe the pool and the bar scene. However, one event that did become routine was a campfire at Mt. View lodge, Soi's set of huts just outside Pai. After hearing a few tunes on guitar Liam (who could talk all 4 legs off a donkey) told Tommy, who wasted no time in getting a crowd of about 30 people to come up for a bonfire with guitar and drinking. I wasn't informed until later on at about 4.00, but it was pretty awesome and soon had become a regular predrinking ritual. Pai was indeed amazing for just chilling. In addition to the pool and bars it had an internet cafe with private movie rooms, the best pad thai in Thailand just opposite the police station, served from a tiny incospicuous stall. To prove just how good it was, I started talking to a girl in lake Toba, several thousand kms away, about Pai, and she immediatly mentioned the same tiny noodle stall. I didn't leave for 9 days, at which point I had met several other travellers including some crazy Germans that knew Tommy and a girl called Cat from England who was doing some volunteering an hour away. Eventually, after over a week of chilling as hedonistically as possible, I went back to Chiang Mai again with Liam and Tommy (Peter had left half way through to meet the second half of the dutch double (or should that be double dutch...) act in Laos). We spent a week in Chiang Mai, complaining how Pai was better, playing pool and meeting more girls before returning. As well as meeting Cat again at Chiang Mai, I also started talking to 3 English girls (Rosa, Arrie and Dani) in rooftop bar (name dropped especially for Lucy to feel even more jealous :P) who were heading to Laos after Pai, which gave me and Tommy (Liam had left for KL) the perfect excuse to revisit. We only stayed there 2 nights this time before heading back to Chiang Mai to get a bus to the border, with the notable exception of Tommy who could not be found in the morning having absconded with an American girl and in fact stayed in Pai for more then a month, going as far as renting a house there. I caught the bus to Chiang Khong (the border town between Thailand and Laos) and waited for the girls to join me - a mix up with tickets had meant they had to take a bus the day after. Chiang Khong was pleasant enough though, with a good view of the Mekong river which seperates the two countries, and I spent an enjoyable day in a bar drinking Leo beer and watching various movies there. Finally the girls turned up, and we all confirmed our tickets to Laos on the Mekong slow boat, ready to leave Thailand in the morning.

Laos will have to wait for another day though m'afraid...