Pai in the sky

I have been sat in a hammock solidly for the past four days doing sweet F.A so I'm feeling quite braindead..but I'll try to give a summary of what we've been up to since returning to Thailand.

I was anticipating having to be put into quarantine when crossing the border of Thailand - I'd been suffering from a cold and had lost my voice whilst in Luang Probang so I was popping lots of ibuprofen and icing my forehead in preparation! Previous experience of crossing borders and going through heat sensitivity machines manned by staff in full protective gear and face masks, having thermometers shoved in our ears and having to fill out numerous health forms told me that, maybe, it might be a task? So I sweated a bit and hopped about from foot to foot but after all that palava it happened.......shit.................the Thais in white coats approached me...and they let me through no problem!!! So much for excessive health checks at airports, no wonder there has been a swine flu outbreak!

So that was the first drama over with, so we settled in a guesthouse in Chiang Mai safely and felt ready to spend a few days there. We found a good night market on our first evening which was great, amused us for hours - our bartering skills are perfected now!! The next day we walked about for hours in the heat, trying to find a women's prison we had read about that offered massages. The inmates are supposedly due for release in 6 months and the money spent on the massage will help support them when they leave...not sure it was quite my cup of tea so when we arrived and were told there was a huge queue I was quite relieved....somehow the thought of having a massage by a criminal wasn't very reassuring! Oh and I musn't forget my Lara Croft moment the following day when we went quad biking in the mountains - I was going downhill over rocky and wet terrain and the bike veered to the cliff edge...I threw myself off in time (wearing safety gear so it was ok) but the bike carried on going....I was more concerned about the bike falling off the side of the mountain and having to pay to replace it...but thankfully it got stuck on some grass, so three of us managed to pull it back up! The tour leader eventually came back to see what was going on and laughed!! Charming! My near death experience wasn't the first - another girl in my group had actually come off the bike and it had rolled over her about 20 minutes beforehand - hence my timidness after that! A guy in a different group had also gone over the cliff with the bike but only had a sore back to show for it!!

So anyway, we all lived to tell the tale, and I've been whizzing around on the back of motorbikes ever since...we left Chiang Mai the day after quad biking and headed to a place about 4 hours away called Pai. It is, by far, my favourite place. I didn't like the hussle and bussle (and dodgey health and safety!) of Chiang Mai, but Pai is a great little town full of nice little cafes and art houses, Thai locals in tie dye and flares and mesmerising live music every night. We are staying in a bungalow on stilts overlooking the river - beautiful. So as I wrote at the beginning, I have pretty much been lying in a hammock ever since I got here! I went to a free meditation class one morning which was an interesting experience and I will definately be going to more. I have had a thai massage and a foot scrub, and at stupid o'clock this morning I got on a moto to go to some hot springs at dusk....this is the life! I've been spending some time in some tattoo studios too, talking to them about their work, looking at their drawings and watching Gemma get inked!!! The artist that did hers was only 21 but so talented...we had drinks with him and his friends later on that night, what a legend!

So I thought Laos was amazing but Pai is something else...I love it here.