WE LOVE PAI. Everything about Pai is just fantastic. We drove in and all of us were in awe about how amazing it looked! It is a complete hippy town - everyone is so chilled and high. I can't even put into words how cool it is. We drove down the main high street in the mini bus, and it was covered in little market stalls, sweet little shops and cafes and the bars are all covered with lanters and UV lights, filled with barefoot hippys sat on cushions on the floor with reggae playing. Back in Chaing Mai we had booked our hotel for our time in Pai, which was called Darling View. When the mini bus arrived, Peter (Owner of the hotel) came to pick us up in his truck. The hotel is BEAUTIFUL and I can't tell you how much of a relief it is, after sleeping in the 'crack den' in Chaing Mai. We were all in the same room which was nice. We had our own cabin, with our own balcony and hammocks and the most insanely beautiful view! We've somehow managed to get the nicest room here! The inside was gorgeous too. Four huge, comfortable double beds and a cute, nicely decorated bathroom. It was extremely clean as well, which is always a nice luxury! It was so perfect. We met Darling, Peters wife, and she is probably one of the sweetest, happiest, smiliest people I've ever met! She's also totally bonkers. We dumped our stuff in the room and headed straight out to the town. We first went to this bar that was really chilled, not loud music etc. Had a few drinks there and ended up staying for a few hours just chatting with the girls which was nice. Then, after chatting with the locals, we were told to go to Ting Tong, which has been my favourite place so far on this trip! It is so colourful and friendly - very chilled and very easy to drink too much! We stayed there and mingled until it closed and then moved onto Bamboo. Bamboo was nice, again very chilled - lots of sitting down and talking, very different to Bangkok and Chaing Mai. Met a very strange yet cool couple - complete hippys, who brought their new born baby with them to the bar. Spent about an hour or two there and then moved on to the final bar of the evening - which was the weirdest thing I've ever seen! It wasn't even a bar, it was just a shed in a field with a few rugs around a fire. Beer was 20p and the music was great - absolute bliss. Went home at around four, this amazingly nice man gave me and Floss a lift back on his scooter so save us from walking. Met an israeli girl back at the hotel called Mian - she was faaar to loud and eccentric for four o'clock in the morning though! Was so nice to get into bed and starfish all night!
Been in Pai for around eighteen hours and alread booked to stay at the hotel for another two nights! Somehow, I've managed to break my camera which is great. So when we went to town, I decided to buy another one as I didn't want to go the rest of the holiday without taking photos. Today passed very quickly, with lots of sleeping, relaxing and reading. It was so nice, just to be lying in a hammock with my kindle and aniced tea! At around six o'clock, we walked into town and I found a digi shop that sold cameras. Ended up getting a Fujifilm one for around £50, which I think was worth it! Went to a nice restaurant - but for some reason completely lost my appetite, so only had chips. The girls were really keen to go and rent motor bikes but I was reluctant. I've always not trusted myself with motorised vehicles and always hated them! Regardless of my fear, we went to AYA to enquire about them. They didn't have any left - which secretly I was quite happy about! AYA are the only company who offer insurance in Pai - so we had to go with them. We all walked back to Darling View. I am soooo tired, so just went to bed with my kindle and Flossy did the same. Kirsty and Jodie went down to the hotel bar for a few drinks. Kirsty came back up to the room relatively early and left Jodie chatting to an American man. Very glad I went straight to bed as I ended up sleeping really well and rejuvinating myself for tomorrow!
Woke up relatively early and went straight to town so the girls could rent motorbikes. They weren't 100% happy with taking me on the back of theirs so I decided to try one out for myself to see how easy it was. We met two girls called Julie and Tamsin in AYA who were also staying in Darling View. We met Tamsin briefly in Chaing Mai - She was in the same dorm as Kirsty and Flossy in Mojito House. She'd been travelling since January on her own and goes to uni in Australia. Julie was great - from Birmingham and hilarious to be around. AYA told us to have a practise run on the dirt track before using the bikes on the road and it was very lucky I did. Like I imagined, I was terrible and fell off, quite badly injuring my entire right side of my body. I walked back to the hotel, stopping off to get bandages and tape. I already had antisceptic back at the hotel. Luckily, as Jodie is a nurse - she managed to clean and bandage the woulds properly. My leg has relativley deep cuts on it, but not to painful. All the cuts are more inconvenients rather than painful. It's so annoying because I really don't want it to ruin my time in Pai. Kirsty and Jodie met two Canadians last night down at the hotel bar who were going to the Hot Springs today and had invited us. As if my magic, one of them was an experienced motorbike rider - so said he would be my personal chauffer for our time in Pai - What a babe! The to guys were called Erik and Rob, really nice and friendly. Rob was a bit geeky and went to university in St. Andrews and seems very intelligent! Erik was my life saviour. He seems pretty cool - long hair and lots of tattoos. I was pretty nervous about getting on the back of a motorbike again - but he was a good drive and drove pretty slow to keep me happy!
We arrived at the Hot Springs and Mineral Pool Resort which was lush! It was 100 baht to get in which is so cheap - £2. We began by going by going to the swimming pool first, I couldn't really go in because of my arm, but I just sat on the edge and dipped my legs in which was still lovely! The pool was an infinity pool which was cool! After a while spent there, we walked over to the Hot Springs, which was very bizarre! They are like a natural baking hot, steaming baths! The water was fairly dirty - so I didn't want to put my open wounds in, so again - just dipped my feet in. After, we all agreed that we wanted to go out together tonight, so went home and showered and got ready. Was a great night - Started off at Ting Tong again, then Bamboo and then the crazy hut in the field. The night is a bit of a blur. Missing Jon alot this evening. Not a lot to report, just a lot of drunken conversations!
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Woke up feeling pretty rough this morning. So again - just chilled at the hotel for a while. Repacked everything and showered and did feel quite a lot better. Went into town to book all of our travel for the next few days. Annoyingly all the flights were full from Chaing Mai to Phuket. So after ALOT of deliberation we've agreed to get the bus from Pai to Bangkok via Chaing Mai (Sixteen Hours) Then I'll fly to Phuket alone - the only seat they had left, was one in Business Class and the girls will fly to Krabi and after meeting Suzy, we'll all meet up again in Koh Phi Phi. After all that was sorted - we went to an internet cafe and skyped Jon for a while - feeling pretty homesick. Then we went to a nice little restaurant where I had a lasagne. The rest of the evening was pretty chilled. Kirsty is feeling pretty homesick too - I think its because its not even half way through yet - and we're really missing our men! We've planned on going to a waterfall and then a viewpoint at a canyon tomorrow, which will make some great photos!
Woke at around 11 and reluctantly got up and ready to go for breakfast. I rode on the back of Flossys bike to town - and she was actually quite good! We went to the Herb and Health Restaurant for breakfast which was so sweet! It was also a little book shop and had a vast variety of different sorts of tea. There were little swings to sit on whilst you ate! So adoreable. I had some eggs and toast with baked beans which did the job! After, we got straight on the road, heading towards the waterfall. We also met Russ today, a 29 year old personal trainer from Brighton - absolutely hilarious! We all went together to the waterfall / slide. I really wanted to go in, but figured I didn't want to injure myself anymore! It looked SO fun though! It was a natural slide in the jungle which was great! After we finished up at the waterfall, we continued our adventurous day and went to the canyon. To be fair, I wasn't that fussed about going, but I'm very glad we did! I got some amazing photos and saw some amazing views! There was this cool picture set up where you walk up this really narrow path over the cliff edge and you are stood of a round bit of earth. Flossy did it and her photo was amazing. I tried it - but it was so dangerous and scary! I got about half way down and freaked out, so I was left with an awkward halfway, half smile and half sitting picture- still cool though! We had to leave as Rob and Eric had to catch their boat to Loas so we rode back to Darling View and all of a sudden it started absolutel pouring! This did slightly scare me - as I've heard most motorbike accidents happen when it rains due to skidding. However, it was actually really fun! It got so heavy that I could barely see anything - god knows how Erik could drive! Was a great experience thought! Motorbiking in a monsoon! When we got back to the hotel, we said our goodbyes to the boys. While we were gone, some boys had moved in next door so we met them. Nahir - another Canadian, very hippyish - big bushy beard long hair. Paul - very sweet little French boy. And Christian - a very very very strange German man who was potentially going to murder us in our sleep. I couldn't really be bothered to go out - My arm was sooo painful from where it was starting to scab over, there was no way I wanted to be hungover for our horrendous journey tomorrow and also because I was stupidly tired after our adventure today! I slept well, however it was quite creepy alone! The girls did wake me up when they got in, but slept after!
Day 11
Day 13 & 14
Day 12
The 1500 mile, almighty journey was today! Four hour bus to Chaing Mai, twelve hour bus to Bangkok, ten hour wait in Khao San Road, thirty minute taxi to airport, two hour flight to Phuket, three hour boat to Koh Phi Phi. Going to be a horrendous 48-hours of travelling! SO glad I'm not hungover for this vile two days! I cannot wait to be on the beach. So we got up at around 9:30 to get everything packed up and organised before checking out at 11! Flossy lost her flip-flops and is heartbroken! Said goodbye to Tamsin as she had to go on her massage course. Went down to say bye to everyone else - I got so emotional when we left - I actually cried! We went to Witching Well with Julie and the girls and had an amazing fried breakfast before we left. Made our way to AYA where our bus was picking us up from. Forgot how windy the roads are! The girls slept for most of the journey, so I just chilled, listened to music and wrote in my diary. We arrived in Chaing Mai and bought some snacks for the big leg of the journey we were about to embark on. After about an hour of hanging around in Chaing Mai, we boarded the bus that was going to be our home for the next twelve hours. It was nice - we got good seats at the front so was able to put out feet up. Slept for about thirty minutes, before stopping in the middle of the night for a toiley break. Kirsty was feeling pretty rough so I had to swap seats with her so spent the next six hours crammed in between four people. Don't think I slept much at all, maybe about 45 minutes. Arrived at Bangkok
As we had a good ten hours to wait in Khao San Road, we decided to see if we could book a room in D&D in for the day to leave our bags and for me to sleep in. Apparently not! Spoke to a very rude women who said if we all wanted to leave our bags, then we'd all have to pay! Went for a cheeky McDonalds which gave us a bit of energy. Actually - judging on how tired I am, we had a very productive day! Got all my laundry done, booked hotels for my one night in Phuket, and booked a boat from Phuket to Phi Phi, even managed to skype Jon for a bit which was a pleasent surprise! We then went to Charlie's beauty salon, and pampered ourselves to the max! Manicure, pedicure, facial, eyebrows waxing, everything all for about £15! The facial was strange - 1 hour long and they used some really weird instruments; exfoliating gun, steamer, needles, poles, it felt as though they put actual cement on our faces - made such a difference though! After a few hours shopping, we got a taxi to Bangkok airport where the girls and I went our separate ways for the night. Briefly met suzy for about 20 mins at the airport before we got on separate flights. Business class is absolutely amazing! I had my own little booth, reclining chair, good food and top notch service. After about 30 minutes, I landed in Phuket and waited for about 1 hour for suzys flight to get in. We got a taxi to our hotel I Pavilion, and after a quick catch up, we both passed out at about 10 o'clock!
