day 192, Pai

Had a big day planned and woke up early to crack on with it. Drove to the train station in order to see if the motorbike place had a bike for me to take up to Pai, they did! Drove back to the first bike rental place to return yesterday’s bike, walked back to the hostel for Galen to take me back to the train station and pick up my bike, back to the hostel and pack up my bag and drive it back to the train station for them to take my bag to Pai on the minivan, then back to the hostel to meet Galen, what a palava! We started on the drive all wrapped up as it was going to get cold and set off to cover the 190odd km ride. It was really fun, I clocked my bike at 105kmh and we were stopping off at places to take pictures and chill out. We stopped off half way along at a waterfall which was pretty impressive, then carried on our way up the winding mountain roads. Getting higher and higher it got bloody cold and started raining so we stopped off for some lunch at a roadside café before continuing. Really enjoyed the ride, bloody spectacular views and 5 hours later arrived in Pai just as the sun was emerging. It reminded me of Yangshuo and is lovely, we drove through the town and out about a km away down a little path was Spicy Pai hostel, and it is insane. It reminds me of my favourite grand designs, the one with Ben and he burns charcoal and builds this sick house with the massive a-frame wood workshop, and it’s exactly like that. The common room is one big A-frame with no walls either end, and there’s hammocks and cushions and just chilling out, the dorm rooms look like wooden spaceship similar to the ones off Independence Day and has beds at different levels which is so fucking cool. There were a lot of people from Chiang mai here, so spent the afternoon just chilling out and chatting, walked into town to pick up my luggage, had some awesome soup, got some beers and went back to the hostel to sit round a bonfire while Pong the hostel owner gave us a history talk about Thailand which was cool, before more chatting and hanging out, called the family and went to bed.

the dorm, mine's the one on teh right with my shit everywere

view on the way into Pai 

the waterfall on the way, sadly that's not me

the common room

day 191, Chiang Mai

Had an ambitious day lined up, me Andy and Galen went and hired scooters and set off for Thailand’s highest peak. It was a 2 hour ride which was really fun. We entered the National park and started winding up the mountains crossing the river and seeing beautiful countryside. We were almost out of gas so went in search and after 40mins and some fried chicken found an automatic petrol pump and filled up. We then gave up as Galen had a dental appointment and he was the map man who knew how to get back (incidentally Galen is from the states and he’s getting his dental work done over here to a really high standard and together with his 3 month backpacking trip it’s costing the same as it would do in the US). It was a good ride back though started to get a sore arse, chilled out at the hostel for a bit and started to make plans for tomorrow. I’m going to head to Pai which is about 4hours away, I’ve booked into the hostel and tomorrow morning will hopefully rent a scooter so I can ride up with Galen while they take your luggage for you. Apart from the petrol it’s the same cost as taking the bus, though a fuck load funner and you can stop off whenever you want for a waterfall or whatever. Me and Andy went to an organic vegetarian place which was lovely and went in search of the saints game, though is not on tv at all, grr. Sat in the hostel catching up on emails, admin and planning the next few days plus reading up on Laos.

day 190, Chiang Mai

Got up earlyish to get the most out of our bikes which we had till one. Becky and Sarah were still sleeping so myself, Graham and Andy set off for the Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, one of the most well known temples in Chaing Mai, which was alright, it was a really cool wind-y drive up there, we had a look around and then carried on and ended up at this little village which we parked up and had a walk around, before going to this little street restaurant, got a curry and it was fantastic. Had a cracking ride back to the bike rental place and chilled out for a couple of hours. Sat in the hammock listening to some music nodding off. Went for a wander with Becky then met up with everyone for Irish Dave’s leaving do. He’s been staying and working at the hostel for the last month and is a lovely bloke. 24 of us piled into a southaew, a pick up truck converted with benches and a roof, myself and 3 others were stood on the tail gate clinging to the roof. We went to the riverside bar which was really cool, had a great meal and  beer. There was some live music which was cool then we went to the night bazaar. Had a mosie round plus an ice cream before jumping home in a tuk tuk.

day 189, Chiang Mai

Woke up feeling surprisingly fresh, wandered downstairs as had planned with Becky and Sarah to have a gander round town though Galen is getting a moped and going to a cave and a hot spring, Andy the Scottish bloke is joining him, had a word with Becky and Sarah and we headed off to go rent some bikes. We got 3 bikes with the two girls on the back and headed off in search of gas. It was a really cool ride out in the country, cruising past crops and farmers working the land just taking it all in. Arrived at the cave and walked up the stairs, the cave was bloody massive, you go down a really steep staircase into the cave and it is huge, had a massive Buddha and other cool shit down in there. We got back on the bikes and headed to the hot springs, where they have a 105 degree spring where people boil their eggs, they had a mineral pool which was really awesome and silky smooth and bathed in there for a while. Got some bbq chicken and rode back to the hostel. We went to a thai bbq which was fabulous, it was a massive warehouse with tables full of food where you can get everything from ready cooked meat and veg to raw meat and veg and a bbq on your table and you bbq it yourself. It was pay your 4 quid and it’s all you can eat, including ice cream and cakes and all you can drink (soft drinks), they had live music and was fantastic. Walked back to the hostel with a heavy belly and monged out, some people were going to Thai boxing but didn’t fancy it, watched Forrest Gump and called Jason as it were his birthday.

day 188, Chiang Mai

Slept pretty well and joined the aussies plus Jason’s gf Michelle who was sleeping last night to chill out and play a few more hands of hearts before I taught them shithead. The train was 4 hours late so arrived around midday. For some unknown reason I decided to walk to the hostel to get my bearings and was good to be off the train after 17 hours, it took me an hour and 45 mins and was bloody hot, though the hostel is really cool and full of people who are mostly travelling on their own which is awesome, it’s like a European hostel. Within 10 mins I was out at a local restaurant eating dinner with 5 people, a Scottish bloke who’s sound called Andy, irish Dave and american dude Galen, a girl from leeds called Amy and another Scottish lad called graham. After showering and sitting in the laundrette people were going out for dinner, we walked through a fair thing which was cool, ended up a restaurant outside, there were around 12 of us including sarah and becky the Canadians that i met in Bangkok. Had a really nice dinner and few drinks before moving off to a bar where another couple of drinks and shared buckets later which the owner of the hostel got in and I was smashed, enjoying myself just chatting to people. All together walked back to the hostel and passed out on the couch, where I woke the next day at 9 to crawl up to bed for another couple of hours kip.

day 187, Bangkok

As my train was at 6 I checked out of the hostel, dumped my bag and went off to do a few things. I got some cash, met up with Bryce, a Canadian bloke at the other hostel who is also off to Chiang Mai tonight on the later train. Walking around I got some Chinese food, then on the way back to the hostel to watch a film I saw a barbers full of thai people, my hair was getting a bit long so thought I’d nip in for cut. I sat in the only free chair and this little thai lady put the cape on me and pointed to the nine worst hair cuts I have ever seen, all thai men with bone cuts on a poor black and white photocopy, I couldn’t leave as I was already sat down and caped, so I pointed to the least creepy one and she set to work. The chair was not steady and I was sat down for 2 hours while she shaved me through a comb, then gave me a wet shave which was really good and cleaned my ears, however I look like  a right knobber. Went back to the hostel and chilled out before jumping into a cab to go to the train station. On the night train I listened to a few tunes then joined 3 aussies from Sydney, Dave, Jason and Perry, played some hearts with them then moved to the dinner cart which was transformed into the karaoke kart, it had fairy lights and shit loud music and people drinking and shouting and was a good laugh.

day 186, Bangkok

The morning was spent eating a bit of breakfast in the café which is attached to the hostel while watching the King’s birthday parade on tv. It was happening just round the corner from where I am staying though there was no point of actually going out and seeing it myself, as all that happened were loads of people crowd the streets and the king drives by in a minivan to the grand palace where entry is restricted and they have a big ceremony. It was cool to see on tv and it reminded me of something that goes on in Britain relating to our Queen. Made a decision to go to Chiang Mai tomorrow so walked to the train station and bought my ticket. Originally I wanted to take the day train as I read it was loads cheaper and I wouldn’t mind a bit of window gazing, though when I got there the day seat was almost the same price as the sleeper train so went for the latter option. Walked back and chilled out at the hostel escaping the sweltering heat, then late afternoon walked down to the other hostel to meet up with Karen, Mark, Aleen and Bryce, went out for some dinner then walked over to see the festival thing they had going. The roads were closed and there were hundreds of thousands of people, thousands of Chinese lanterns were going up, massive spotlights and lasers were roaming the skies and they had a big stage in a park with different acts going on. They had banned drinking on the streets and I didn’t see any alcohol whatsoever, everyone was in a chilled out mood and walking about or chilling on the grass. It was a great evening, really enjoyed it. Unfortunately there wasn’t any massive fireworks that  I was hoping for, there were a couple that went off that were cool though not in any real quantity. Oh, when we were eating dinner the owners of the restaurant and everyone else in the street came out with a candle and sang a song for the King, it wasn’t happy birthday though was very strange, they do love their king over here (it’s an criminal offence to criticize him) and they have the national anthem before every movie at the cinema!