4/17 – Well, the party’s over in Chiang Mai, so we may as well move on… We heard about a little town called Pai, (pronounced Buy) three hours to the north, where there’s not much going on, and folks just go to relax. Sounds like just what we need!

We tuk-tukked to the Arcade bus station in the morning, figuring we could purchase a ticket and just hop on the next bus. No such luck! Seems that lots of people want to go to Pai today. The only big bus was already gone (leaves daily at 7am), so our option was a minibus with a two hour wait. What do I do while I wait at the station? Get my hair cut, of course! Thank you, nice little lady with no English!

We boarded the minibus at 11:15.  It was full, so our packs had to be stored on the roof – hope I don’t have a chocolate bar in there with the 100 degree sun beating down!

Our driver was a wild and crazy guy who liked to take mountain corners on two wheels.  He announced, “Music!”, and popped a 70s greatest hits CD into his stereo.  We cruised to Pai on the BeeGees, Eagles, and Donna Summers – he didn’t know any English, but that didn’t stop him from phonetically singing along.  He, Jim and I were the only passengers who were alive in the 70s – the kids who filled the van could have been listening to Mozart – ancient history.

We stopped midway for a potty break – anybody want some chicken?

And now we are in Pai, a sleepy hippie town filled with young folks on motor bikes, or brandishing bandages from falls off motorbikes.

We are staying at the Hotel Pailifornia (apologies to the Eagles).

We could have chosen the Pairidise Guest a house instead – the mind boggles at all the bad puns that could be made here!

How about Pai in the Sky?

Our hotel is brimming with beautiful flowers and singing birds.

There is also a small spirit house, where fresh offerings are left every day. There is even a ladder, in case the little spirits have trouble climbing up!

Although the hawkers on the main walking street have plenty of adventures to sell – ride to waterfall! elephant ride! see the best place for sunset! see native peoples! – it is our intention to take a vacation from our vacation and just hunker down and relax for a while. We had supper at a first-rate Japanese restaurant (Pai Su Shi), and it looks like we can stay a long time without running out of cuisine choices. I’ll let you know if we decide to do anything interesting!