Wednesday: Scooter adventures on my last day in Pairadise

I awoke after only 6 hours sleep feeling ready to explore a bit. I headed the the bar as usual and had coffee followed by some butterfly pea tea which looks like blue kool aid. After tea I did a little meditation, yoga and reading in my room before getting ready to explore my beloved Pai.

Sun is attempting to shine through the clouds post storm.

Oxymoron

I hopped on my bicycle And headed to breaky, detouring and stopping along the way a bit. 

Pai river

I stopped at this riverside restaurant then decided they didn't offer what I wanted in their 4, maybe 5 choices for breaky. 

I stopped in town and had this plate of fresh fruit and yogurt with a coconut shake instead. This breaky never gets old!

After breaky I headed to return my bike so I could get a scooter! I have been wanting to do this while here and figured since its my last day I better get busy! Pai has far lass traffic than other places I've been, so I feel much safer riding here. Now that I've ridden all day, I will say there are countless people waking or limping around with bandages from scooter accidents. I stuck to paved roads and close to town just to be safe! 

When I headed to get the scooter the sun was shining, then while in the rental office the rain began to really come down. Oh joy! So I hopped on and headed straight to Aqua to wait it out. Thankfully it didn't last long and I was able to hop on shortly after to explore! 

Waited out the rain in this sala (like a gazebo). Not sure if the carving is viewable here, but the table and all poles are hand carved by Den.

Headed out! 

I headed to find a waterfall Den told me about but apparently there was none, but gorgeous countryside instead! Such an amazing first solo ride!

 

Pai River. I stopped along the way on a little dock to have a special moment. For those of you who don't know, my dad passed almost 9 years ago. I never felt drawn to scatter his ashes in one place, so I take him with me on my travels. Part of him is in Oak Creek in Sedona, AZ, some off the beach of Sayulita Mexico, now in Pai, Thailand and a few other spots. He'll be we'll travelled if I live long! 

From the dock

The dock. Mom, there were tons of butterflies flying around as I was leaving! 

Ahhhhhhh....

I headed back into town to get gas as the scooter was given to me nearly empty. I had to have a 2 Thai ladies help me figure out how to fill it, even they had trouble! There are stand alone pumps all over just on the side of the road, but I stopped for a liquor bottle of gas so I could get help! 

I set in the direction of Aqua, but kept going to the Treehouse Resort, known for it 3 room treehouse. They also have bungalows for rent.

View at treehouse

Stairs leading to the 3 rooms for rent 

Very Swiss Family Robinson

This was my first favorite road here. Just a couple miles down from Aqua.

Hunger set in and I stopped here for lunch. Such fun! That little lady was making and serving lunch. I had the whole place to myself.

That's the name of the restaurant.

Where I dined on sautéed veggies and brown rice.

Hammock view with my green tea and milk

Bliss

Charming 

I headed to the market for water and decided a magnum bar was needed. So much for riding a bike to be active and eating a Healthy lunch! I'm pigging out for my remaining time! I are my Popsicle poolside and fell asleep, lil bit of redness now!

I awoke and went to a friend's hotel. They have a bamboo deck with pillows and hammocks next to the pool, this is the view opposite the pool. Pairadise!

Thid lil guy was hunting butterflies from the bamboo deck.

The bar at Aqua, those walls are covered in carvings. It's incredible!

The rain came down pretty good after to two pool visits and I had to ride back to change. Seems silly to change from wet cloths into dry cloths when riding a scooter in the rain! 

For dinner I had "noodle soup" which was delicious; broth with glass noodles and you can pick as many things as you want to put in it. I chose tofu, egg, Chinese cabbage and mixed veggies. So good in the pouring rain! And of course it stopped while I was chowing down. But it warmed me up and satisfied my ever present hunger of today! 

After dinner I strolled through town a bit with a friend then hit up Hi 5 bar for a nightcap. Had to have one last night out in Pai! 

Sigh...last night in Pai, so bittersweet. I'm feeling ready to go back to the U S of A, but also sad to leave this amazingness. One more night's sleep in this cozy bed with the windows open and frogs singing. If only the rain was coming down now! 

Monday: back home in Pai

My plane left at 8, leaving me in Chiang Mai at 9:15. I was konked out before we even took off. I awoke yet again to an awaiting breaky tray next to me. I quickly  grabbed a few bites before it was ushered away. 

Landing in Chiang Mai brought a sense of comfort. I really like this city, if I were to ever really like a city. It's got so much charm and comfort to it, perhaps since it's no longer foreign feeling to me. I asked for a taxi to the train station and was whisked down random back alleyway roads to the "railway station". I meant to say bus station. I need sleep. I paid an addition dollar something to get to the bus station. Dink! 

Bought my ticket and hopped on the 10:30 bus. Again, no English spoken. I was fortunate the first two times to have a window seat, not this time. The seats are extremely narrow and leave no room if you want to even scratch your leg. Sleeping was nearly impossible despite my falling asleep several times to catch myself falling into the aisle or to the 4 year old Chinese boy's face in my face or breathing down my neck-literally. I guess being the only American I am a sight to see here. Yes, I get grumpy when I'm tired and especially on a cramped bus. After our usual pit stop I asked to sit in the spare seat in the middle in the front. This kept me awake for the remaining hour due to excitement and the needing to balance and not fall into the driver's lap to my right or the Thai guy on my left. 

Can't quite capture the beauty of this view, coming into the Pai valley.

I immediately bought some new pants (laundry needs done!) upon getting off the bus and then grabbed a motorcycle taxi to the hotel. Den, the owner, saw I had returned and asked where I went. I answered the islands and he responded, "It's better here." Yes. Yes it is!

Oh hot shower! SO grateful to be back in this place and for the lasting hot showers here! I bagged up my laundry and walked it across the street to a personal home advertising laundry for 25 baht, half the price if the islands! (30 baht to the dollar)

I missed the beauty here, especially the flowers.

I headed to grab a coconut & jackfruit shake (smoothie) which tastes just like coconut ice cream from Earth Tone. The owner is so sweet and she is the only place I have seen on this whole trip offering gluten free. I wasn't hungry enough for her gluten free chocolate cherry cake, I'll come back for that! Pai's healthy eating is the best! 

I returned to lay poolside for about 30 minutes before the rain started.

I never enjoyed the pool last week as I was constantly doing things, not this time! 

Pai happy heart smile. This was in the light rain. 

I slowly ventured back to my room to rest since I never had much sleep.

Bungalow 9, same as last week.

Pairadise

I slept for a bit before a friend came over with food gifts given by monks at a local temple. We headed to the main little gazebo here and shared the gifts with a couple from Melbourne, Stephanie and Liam. We all say and chatted for a bit, watching a few doomsday YouTube videos with Den. He watches them a lot!  

 

We finished the night watching "seeking a Friend for the end of the World" on A mini DVD player. There is an Armageddon theme here. Hmmm... 

While we watched the movie I had a surreal moment thought while the rain fell, frogs sang and crickets chirped. 

I really missed how much I walk barefoot here, only wearing shoes when I have to.  

Home in Pai.