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Wilson's World Tour
We arrived in Pai and set about finding a place to stay. We walked around for about half an hour checking a few places out, with our big packs getting heavier & heavier and unfortunately being a pretty indecisive mood. A Dutch women then approached us and said she had a hostel & it was only 200 baht a night (about 3 pounds for both of us). It turned out to be a really cool old wooden house, with a lounge with DVD player, a kitchen we could use and an OK bathroom. and at that point we were the only ones there.
Pai itself is set in the middle of a gorgeous green valley, with hot springs, rice fields and a lazy river. It also seems to attract lots of artists, musicians and foodies. It's quite small so is a really good place to chill out. It's also markedly cooler than Bangkok, especially in the evenings.
There was a lot on offer in Pai, but one thing I really wanted to do was an elephant trek. We arranged to do one the following morning, which would take us through the jungle for about an hour, then we could go swiming with the elephants. We got to the elephant camp at about 0900 and made freinds with our elephant who was named 'Ot'. We had choosen to ride bare back as opposed to going on a seat as it would be better when we went swimming with them later on. Getting on the beast was a fairly fraught experience. He bent his head forward and lowered his trunk. You then had to grab his head, kind of where his eyebrow humps are, step on his trunk and then he lifted us up and over his head. The only problem was that we were then facing the wrong way, so you had to reposition yourself whilst on his back !
We set off through the jungle, there such majestic animals, it was a great place to be, riding high on his back. The only down side was that the area of jungle we were riding through was a little barren and not very lush as it hadn't rained for a long time. Wecould imagine at the right time of year it would've been really spectacular. We then walked dwon to the river and prepared to get wet ! The elephants obviously really enjoy this bit and have several tricks for getting there occupants as wet as possible. He started off by sraying huge jets of water over his head and soaking us. Then he crouched down in the water and lay in his side with just his trunk above the surface ! Somehow we managed to stay hagning on, he then repeated this several times and at one point I had the whole elephant laying on my leg ! It really was a great expereience and during the ride, it was obvious how inteligent these animals are. After we got off, we then soaked in their natural hot tub and gradually got the feeling back in our bums !
Another thing we really wanted to do was a Thai cooking course. There were lots to choose from in Pai, we choose a place called 'Wok & Roll' mainly because of the name, but it also turned out to be a great day. Over the course of the day our teacher Tee showed us how to make our own curry paste, from scratch, which involved smashing loads of herbs and spices down in a pestle and mortar. Then from that paste how to make loads of different curries, red, green, massaman etc. Then we learnt several stir fry dishes and soup dishes. It was a brilliant day and we've learnt so much, he also gave us a really comprehensive cook book which he'd made so hopefully we can replicate what we made with him. So you can guarantee we'll be trying out these dishes on freinds and familly !
After a couple of days we changed accomodation as although the house was ok, the bathroom was getting pretty smelly as more people moved in. So we found a really nice place which had about 20 bamboo huts set in really well looked after grounds with streams running through the property. We had a really comfy double bed, our own bathroom and a gorgeous little veranda and it was only 6 pounds a night !.
Another thing we wanted to do was visit a Karen village, this tibe of people are actually refugees from Burma, but are famous for their long necked women. We were in two minds to go as they are now a tourist attraction, but at the same time, the only way they can afford to keep their traditions alive is by the tourist money. We decided to go and make our own opinions, so we hired a driver and set off to Mae hong Son, the province where the Karen village is. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains, although spoilt by the fact that at this time of year they burn the stubble, so everything is covered in a thick cloud of smoke ! On the way we stopped at 'The fish cave' we weren't exactly sure what we were going to see but it broke the journey up. It was actually really beautiful, the cave was at the back of this beautifully kept garden, then from the cave a crystal clear meandering river. The fish in the cave were huge ! We'd bought some food at the entrance, which mainly consisted of cabbage leaves, which we thought was a bit odd, but they loved it, the biggest ones must have been about four foot long !.
We then carried on to the village and went and met the long necked women. There are various theories as to how the tradition started. One is that the women wore the neck rings to protect them from tiger attack, as it was believed if a tiger tried to pick you up, he would grab you by the neck and the rings would stop him. Another one is that the men of the tribe got fed up with other tribes stealing their women, so forced them to wear these neck rings so they were less attractive ! Either way when you see them up close it's a pretty crazy thing ! As a young girl, you are given the choice of wearing the rings or not. The youngest girls wearing them appeared to be about six or seven. At this point only a few rings a put on. Then as they grow, they add more and keep adding them as their necks grow. Some of the old women had as much as 9kg of rings around their neck !!! They can't take it off, as there fused around each other, so you can imagine just moving their heads from side to side must be a real effort. There was an old one which had been cut in half which sam tried on, it was incredible how heavy it was and that was only half of the weight ! We had mixed feeling about the place, it was sad that these people were refugees and couldn't leave the village they were in. The sold a lot of souveniers, some where hand made which were nice, but others were obviously massed produced. It did make you wonder if they would carry on the tradition if it wasn't a source of income for them.
We spent some nice lazt days in Pai, reading books, listening to music and eating like kings. I think we'd really like to go back but time it when they aren't burning the stuble and the vegetation more lush.
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