Thursday: Final Pai adventures before Chiang Mai

Slept in til 9:30 this morning after a pretty late night (bed at 2:30). Savored the sounds of the jungle one last morning and lazed in bed a bit, skipping coffee and tea at the bar. Slowly I got ready and packed my bags yet again. My heart and mind know I'm nearing the end, my emotions are everywhere. It's as though my body knows and is fighting any activity that has to do with leaving, moving very slow.

 Much better day view of the bar

I hopped on the scooter for one last ride, headed to breaky at Treehouse Resort. 

View from the treehouse at the cafe. My lil scooter is on the right! Still hope to have one of my own someday! 

I'm gonna miss this

After breaky my friend suggested going to feed the elephants at a nearby trekking camp. I support this in NO way, but immediately felt the need to go love on them as they need it.

This picture speaks volumes. I immediately started bawling when feeding this beauty her bananas. You can feel her sorrow and see the depression in her eyes. She is missing the sparkle of the eles at ENP, never opening them wide. 

She is chained to a nearby pole, not able to move more than 2'-3' at a time on a cement platform. She has never known freedom. And the HOOK-you can see it stabbed in the pole behind her. She has a multitude of scars and tears in her ears from it. She gives rides all day, mostly on pavement. Her spirit is broken. This is not the life she deserves. 

I witnessed a family atop an elephant from across the road with joy on their faces. The gorgeous girl they were riding had countless scars, a large 4"-5" gaping hole in her trunk and he tail had been cut short. Many of the eles are missing the hair from their tails and eyelashes as it is considered sacred. Their hair does not grow back! I'm assuming this one's tail was lopped perhaps for the hair. 

My shoulders shook from the crying. Many people there before and after rides saw my reaction, if only they knew. No one knows the devastation these babes suffer for human enjoyment. I was able to educate a friend who was also unaware of their treatment. Grateful for one more knowing. Pass it on.

Please, don't ever participate in elephant rides or entertainment wherever they may be. I felt guilt for a bit of even participating in feeding and supporting this activity, but changed that into love and compassion spoken to the three beautiful girls at this camp. 

This girl witnessed the most of sob fest as we stood in the back corner together. She chomped away with her sullen eyes while I spoke words of love to her through my endless tears.

We hopped back on our scooters and I continued to shed a few tears through the jungle. An art gallery caught our attention so we parked and admired the amazing work. 

View along the ride

We headed to the temple I had been in search of the other night for sunset on my jungle walk. Lost I translation, I had been passing it multiple times a day without knowing. Whoops!

Steps leading up. 

Looking back

Details

View of Pai opposite from the vuewpoint two days ago

I will miss these temple moments.

Viewing platform 

Back down...

Across from the temple road is Earthtone, the gluten free vegetarian cafe. We stopped in for an afternoon treat. She had gluten free chocolate cookies today! Happy fat kid right here! I enjoyed it with a chai banana shake.

We headed back to get my bag where I was distracted by dipping my feet in the pool for a bit while chatting with Stephanie & Liam.  

I gave myself a timeframe to leave by 4, putting me in Chiang Mai by 7. It was now nearing 3 and I had yet to make my way to town to by a bus ticket. My body is fighting leaving as I know this time will be for a while.

Finally I decided I should get going and loaded up on my scooter with my backpack.

See you later, Pai!

I made it to the bus station by 3:15 and was told the only seat left was at 3:30. Eek! Thankfully the bus was running a bit behind, giving me a little more time for snacks and last minute visiting. 

Just some salmon flavored potato chips. 

The only seat available happened to be a window seat, thank goodness! I did my best to sleep but found it difficult this afternoon. Perhaps the Thai man on my right sleeping nearly on my shoulder had something to do with it. Add in the bus driver must have been trying to make up for his previous delay, causing everyone to be thrown with every curve.

Police check point. They only check the locals ID. I was the only tourist on the bus apparently. 

Cows in the road!

At least they're walking with traffic.

I took my last tuk tuk to Riverside House and dropped my things in my room. Sleeping sounds delightful right about now, but I have shopping to do!

I headed to the beloved night market to buy some things for my new home and loved ones. 

And of course indulge in one last plate of pad thai to finish off my shopping. 

For less than $1.30! 

For dessert I had my last coconut shake. Hack it open, pour out the juice, then scoop out the meat with an ice cream scoop and blend with ice. 

Attempting to look awake.

Walk back over the Ping River. Many local kids hang out on the bridge at night, sitting and blocking the sidewalk. It's quite fun to watch.

Time to crash! Exhaustion & emotions have me ready to sleep! 

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!