Pai II

This video shows just some of the things I have been up to in Pai the past week. The first clip is of the Pai Circus School & Resort, a hostel set away from town, where residents can swim in the pool, lounge around, or practice their various performance arts, such as poi. On New Year's Eve, a bumping party went into the early morning sunrise, where views of hundreds of rising lanterns and fireworks could be seen from this beautiful spot.

The next clips are from a waterfall that I visited with two girls I met in Koh Lanta and their new acquaintances. Motorbiking about 15k from town, the waterfall poured into a deep bowl of rock. Immediately upon seeing that I could swim here, I quickly disrobed and turned on my GoPro to film myself jump in. Jumping into the cold water felt cold and refreshing, but this feeling of tranquility immediately turned to panic as I realized my vision was blurred. My glasses! (If you listen closely under the sweet vocals of Robert Plant, you can hear two expletives) Luckily, the bottom of the pool was touchable, and after five minutes of groping with our feet, my new friend from New Zealand found them.

After rejoicing and then drying off, my NZ friend and I, along with two guys whom we met swimming, motorbiked up to the viewpoint overlooking Pai advertised on a billboard near the waterfall. Eager to get to the viewpoint, we quickly became overly cautious as the roads turned from bad to worse. Resembling more of a trail, rising and falling at alarming grades, we crept up the mountain at a snail's pace. Finally, we arrived at the top to see a stunning 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains and valleys. Seeing almost no other tourists up there (for good reason!), the mountaintop was occupied by local Thais, all of whom seemed much more at ease than us, as we tried not to think of how the ride down would go. Eventually, we did go down, ever so slowly upon the dirt "road". Of the four of us, two fell, but luckily they arose with only minor scrapes. We all breathed a sigh of relief when we reached the flatter main road.

Finally, the last clips are of my new Moroccan/French friend Yo and I biking around Pai. Yo is an amazing guy, as he is big into music, spirituality, and always emits such positive energy.

Though Pai has been a great place to spend a week, I left to go back to Chiang Mai to eventually make my way to Nongkhai, a city on the Mekong river and Laos border. Having heard from multiple people that hitchhiking in Southeast Asia is doable and quite easy, I thought I would try it out to get to Chiang Mai today (140k trip). Walking a couple of kilometers outside of the town center, I flashed my upwards thumb at passing cars and motorbikes. A few minutes after beginning this thumbs-up process, a Thai woman on a motorbike stopped and gave me a lift about 10k down the road. Hopping off and thanking her (khawp khun khap!), I continued down the winding road. Only minutes later another car stopped, inside it two Thai girls and a guy from Singapore. They gladly took me in as they were going to Chiang Mai. We even stopped for coffee, lunch, and a karaoke party along the way!
It was a fitting end to a great week in Pai. Such a great week in fact, that I think I will be back after my trip to Nongkhai.