Pai

Pai is a little hippie Thai town 3 hours north of Chiang Mai. Going to Pai was not apart of our study abroad program -- it was a side trip we planned ourselves. We left on Saturday morning and returned on Monday morning in time for Songkran (more about that later!). There were 24 of us who went to Pai together and 10 others did their own thing. The drive to Pai was alright -- it was very windy road all uphill and thankfully I didn't get carsick on the way there (...more about the way coming back though haha).

Before I go on with my blog about Pai I have to write a little about Songkran (Songkran will have its own blog after this). Songkran is Thailand's New Year's week long festival and basically, it's a huge gigantic water fight. There are people on the side of streets with hoses, buckets, and garbage cans full of water and they just throw water on you as you walk by (they mostly go for foreigners ....aka Cal Poly students!). People will have squirt guns but I came to the conclusion that squirt guns don't do anything as bad as buckets of water (unless you squirt the sucker in the eye). That's a little preview about that, more about Pai....

So we get to Pai on Saturday morning and it's Songkran (forget to say, Songkran is craziest in Chiang Mai) but it still goes on everywhere else as well. Our van was getting water thrown all over it. We get to our bungalows, which were pretty sweet. Kathleen and I got a delux bungalow because we're ballers:




Our bungalow :]









Our huge bed.








Our porch :]







We settled in and then we went to walk around town to get lunch. Like I mentioned earlier, Songkran began. As we began walking the streets, the water fight began. After about 3 minutes of walking, all our clothes were soaked with water. It's really funny, the little monks, novices (boys who are around ages 8-12) were the worst and just had no mercy on you. I figured out that if you walk slowly by them and ignore them, they won't try to splash you but if you see them and make faces at them and start running they will go after you.

I got lunch w/ a couple of friends (good curry!) and then we began to explore Pai afterwards. Pai isn't that big so we circled and walked around the whole town easily. We then rented bikes and then rode all around Pai. It was really fun, except it was kind of nerve-wrecking. Why? Well, try riding a bike and having little Thai children throwing a bucket of water in your face as you ride by....scary. One kid, Kalen, was trying to shoot with his water gun while he rode his bike and a kid splashed water on him and then he fell off and his bike skidded. (He was okay) It was still fun though but you had to be careful.

Later in the day my friend Nick and I went to a bar called Buffalo and got buckets. Buckets include a bottle of coke, a little energy drink, and a flask of whiskey (sang-song):



<-- like so.









You should share these things because you can get very drunk off of them (they are so easy to drink). Nick and I got two, then we got my friend Dana, went back to Buffalo, and then we got two more with her. I promise I'm not an alcoholic, I was just on a vacation during my vacation :]

That night we all went out to Buffalo (for me, again!) and drank more buckets. We had live music from a guitarist named Cherry (she was from England) and she was extremely good. She left the bar for a little, but then came back to play another set and with her she brought a whole bunch of Muy Thai Boxers. These Muy Thai Boxers looked like they were in their 20s and they were from everywhere (Ireland, US, England, Australia, you name it...). My friend Lexie and I were laughing because they'd began talking to us two and then they just surrounded the table hitting on all the girls. After socializing with them some of us headed to another bar called Ting-Tong. Ting-Tong was tight, it was outside and it had a place where it was set up in a circle and you can lay down. It was a long and fun night.

The next day I pampered myself -- a pedicure, foot scrub, and a massage. I love Thailand. We repeated the night again like the previous night (minus Muy Thai Boxers) and then Monday morning we went home for Songkran. Oh wow, the ride back was miserably. I never felt so sick in a car before in my life. I think it was because I didn't eat anything for breakfast, I was hungover, and the roads are as windy as **** and the driver drove like a maniac. I thought I was going to die...worst 2 hours I've spent in a car. I did feel better, though, after I threw up at a gas station we stopped at :] Thought you'd like the know that haha.


Overally, Pai was such a cool town -- it is full of the best international food since so many foreigners go there. I wish we could have spent more time there but that's okay, I want to come back to Thailand someday so maybe I'll go then :]





Me and some of the Muy Thai Boxers...I'm such a baller :]