Another day, another adventure, another blog....

So after all the excitement of Chiang Mai, we decided we needed a little chill out time (C'mon we did pack a lot into those few days!).  We had been told by various people that there was this lovely little town to the north west of Chiang Mai called Pai which was very quiet and peaceful, perfect for chillin, so off we set....

To reach Pai you have to travel along all these windy mountains roads and at times, part of the road is not even a road and more of a dirt track.  Anyway, our journey there resembled something out of a grand prix race, with our crazy little Thai driver thinking he was Michael Schumacher or something weaving in and around other cars, trucks and mopeds...thankful but feeling a little sick we arrived there in one piece three hours later!!

As we arrived in Pai, the first thing that hit us was actually how quiet it was.  After the busy cities of Bangkok and Chiang Mai it was a welcomed break to have no cars or crazy tuk tuk drivers yelling at us...

We wandered around the town and found a lovely little bungalow to stay in, the owner was really nice and friendly and it was cheap and clean - perfect.

During the journey to Pai we got chatting to a fellow Kent girl from Bromley, Shelley and that evening we all met up and went for dinner in one of the many little restaurants.  The whole town is only made up of about four little streets so after dinner we took a little wander, made arrangements to all meet up again the next day and then went to bed pretty early.  It was bliss as the night before we had been out till 4am!

The next morning we decided to hire mopeds for the day as this was really the only way to get around and see the surrounding sights of Pai.  Now bearing in mind that neither Carly or I have driven a moped before, the owner of the shop was like "no problem, I take you for a lesson".  Excellent...so we each had to straddle behind a thai guy and they took us to this dirt track for our "lesson".  This consisted of them telling us start, stop, horn and indicator, we then had to drive up and down this dirt track.  I found it really difficult to steer to turn the corner and with that the bike skidded and I was off on my bum!  Luckily no harm done and I jumped back on with just a muddy leg!  We then had to go up and and down once more and that was it, job done, lesson over...we were now "qualified" to drive a moped!!

So off we set along the open road, the wind in our hair etc etc, I named each of our bikes so we had Carly riding "Pink Lady", Shelley riding "Red Ruby" and me riding "Purple Safire" (girly I know but hey!!).

First stop was the Pai Canyon.  It wasn't quite the same scale as the Grand Canyon but the views were pretty stunning none the less.  After a few snaps, we headed to the World War 2 Memorial bridge which is located on the main road on the outskirts of Pai.  I'd love to be able to tell you more but unfortunately all the history was in Thai - sorry!

Next we visited a couple of Elephant camps.  We had already been for a ride on our trek but it was great to see them again and this time we got to feed them.  Their skin feels really rough but they are such gentle giants, love 'em!

We had hoped that we would be able to do a bit of swimming at our next stop, The Hot Springs, however the temperature in the springs was 80-100 degrees farenheight so there was no way we were swimming in that!  The hot springs were pretty amazing, little pools of water with stream rising from them.  There was even this random thai guy boiling an egg in them!! (check out the pics).  I'd love to be able to tell you the science and blind you with loads of interesting facts about how these springs occur but unfortunately again, all the blurb was in thai...the only thing I know is that they are completely natural..maybe someone with a geography degree could help, Grant???

After this we cruised along, up and down the little windy mountain roads and we came across a little waterfall, at a place called Pembok.  We walked up some steps and across a dodgy looking wooden bridge that looked like it might collapse and again took a few snaps.  Finally we visited this little ancient Chinese village and then headed back into Pai.

During the day, there had been the odd shower and therefore the roads were quite slippery.  We were just pulling away and turning at some traffic lights in the town when this stupid thai bloke pulled out in front of Carly, the bike skidded from beneath her and she was off.  Thankfully she was not seriously hurt or anything, just a bit of a grazed leg and foot.  Totally wasn't her fault as the thai guy had seen Shelley turn the corner and then me so don't know what he was thinking....anyway after that we took the mopeds back.  Despite this minor incident at the end, it was a very enjoyable day. 

(Honestly don't know what you all at home must be thinking, first my ankle is sliced on the rafting, then Carly comes off the moped, oh and we both have loads of mosi bites too.  One of mine has gone into this minging blister so I've put some pics on here for you to all see, enjoy!  Hopefully now this will be it....lol!!!)

That evening after dinner, we went for a traditional thai massage.  It was just what the doctor ordered, relaxing although slightly painful at times but still the perfect way to end our chill out time in Pai.

Lots of Love to you all.
Claire and Carly xxxxxx