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! 

42 hours of adventure later

I knew I'd be racking up hours in travel time, but it's been more of an adventure than I had imagined. 42 hours total since leaving home! 

The most gorgeous orchids I have ever seen in the Taipai airport. Absolutely flawless. 

Auburn to Sacramento, to San Fran, to Taiwan, then to Bangkok. Once in Bangkok I hopped in a cab straight to the train station. I immediately headed to the ticket counter only to find out there were no available seats for the overnight train I had originally intended to take and had attempted to make a reservation via email as well (only to find out that doesn't actually work!). The next available train was 13 hours with no air conditioning and didn't leave until after 11 pm. This would have had me camped out in the Bangkok train station (limited seats & no a/c in the building) for 10 or so hours. Despite calling myself a backpacker for this trip, I am a tired pansy after the limited sleep in the first 36 hours of travel. My poor tootsies are sausages and this sweaty Betty hasn't showered in over 50 hours! If you know me, you know this is not something I do well with!
 

I left the station and headed to a street-side cafe offering free wifi with the purchase of my first authentic Thai iced tea! I have been so excited in the weeks leading up to my trip about having the real stuff while here.

(Train station in the background)

 Although it tastes just the same as at home; the humidity, chaotic traffic zipping by (cars, busses, tuk tuks& scooters), incessant honking, smells of Thai food & smog made it the real deal! I started searching for flights and hotels for the night while sipping my first authentic indulgence. I can't imagine how I would have handled this situation without modern technology!?

I felt more at ease with the decision to spend a little more than I had planned and head back to the airport and purchase a ticket to Chiang Mai.   I saw quite a bit of Bangkok from the freeway in my two cab rides and that alone solidified my decision to leave this city ASAP! The flight is 1 hour and 10 minutes versus the 13-14 hour train ride.
 

The Bangkok airport made me so excited to get out and shop once I get settled in Chaing Mai. This was a fresh veggie stall where I purchased a good sized bag of dried mango and water for less than $2.50! Made this frugal chica mighty happy! 

Once arriving in Chiang Mai I quickly showered then headed out to grab a real meal (that wasn't served in plastic on my lap). My hotel is across the street from the bridge crossing the Ping River. Just over the bridge is the hubbub of all kinds of activity. As I was crossing the bridge I noticed there were police standing around (but their presence provided safety, not fear! All you mommas, don't you worry!) I then saw a small crowd gathered on the bridge looking towards the west side of the river. I looked to where they were facing and there was a little lit up "4th of July" sign, then instantly fireworks started firing off and exploding just above our heads. It was the most incredible way to start my time here, and by far the best fireworks experience I've ever had. Fireworks are one of my favorite things to see every year & I was a lil bummed I'd be missing them at home. We were so close you could feel it shake you with each one set off. This is when fear did get me a little, standing directly under the falling sparkles! But it was a night to never forget!! (And an A.D.D. Child's dream-sparkly!)

Absolutely incredible 

Once the works were done I kept walking to the night market where I was pulled to look at such amazing things-I will be checking a bag upon my return! (Mom & Lacy-I was able to carry my gargantuan backpack on all 3 flights!) I had to stop myself to have dinner as I had originally set out to do. My simple dinner of crab fried rice and water was less than $2.50. It's official, this girl is in frugal heaven!
 

Night market. For a girl who hates to shop, this is my heaven!
 

You can buy a variety of treasures and services. This one if for Jen, you asked for bug pictures & this is as close as I'll get! 

"Fish spa" I'm still on the fence about this one.