Goodbye Chiang Mai, Hello Pai
PAI - pronounced pie.
Well since it is the King's birthday tonite with more fireworks and blasting crackers going off, I thought I better get the latest blog out. The King unfortunately lives in the hospital these days. In Thailand they really honor the monarchy and one can go to jail for slagging it. There is an unauthorized biography of King Bhumbibol, called 'The King Never Smiles' that was banned in Thailand before publication and they even blocked any website advertising of the book. They take it very seriously.
A relief to get out of Chiang Mai even though it is one of my favourite cities. It was festering with festivities before during and post lantern festival. The fireworks and freakin fire crackers sounded like guns and bombs in a war zone exploding as soon as the sun set and well after midnite. There was still some lingering gunshots as I was heading for the hills. And now they echo again into the nite to celebrate the King who never smiles.
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| dreadlocks inner tubes and local musicians |
Pai is a laidback town filled with bohemians, artists and musicians, pot smokers and dread heads, old hippies and quasi new hippies and many flavors in between. It has an element of Nelson and Roberts Creek in BC yet it is a town on its own and the only one like it in Thailand. You can't blink in a block without seeing a tattoo shop. There are loads of unique hand made jewellery and leather things, some funky clothing and 2nd hand book shops and some great restaraunts, cool cafes and a healthy restaraunt called 'The Good Life',
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| Kay, the owner of the Good Life |
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| Making Wheat Grass Juice w/a little help from his friend |
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| My breakfast - wheatgrass and red tea |
that has already become my haunt with wheat grass, kambucha tea and plethora of other teas and the regular 30 page menu that seems protocol here in Thailand with a mix to satisfy everyone and pix of the dishes for visuals in case the descriptions in cryptic English aren't enough for us who need visual stimulus.
the menu and my manicure
At the Good Life there are wheat grass trays
lined up like book shelves
and then there are book shelves
note Junkie by Burroughs and
The Vinyl Cafe by Canadian Stewart McLean
and people amongst the shelves
of books and wheat grass
of books and wheat grass
There are 3 swings that you can sit on while you eat and they also have a meditation class in the noisy room above the kitchen 3 days a week and I have attended one already and I hung out with the group after for a tropical smoothy, tea and talk.
update: It seems my life at Pai revolved around food. I would go to The Good Life in the morning for a hit of wheatgrass and a smoothie, stop at some spot for a young coconut drink, then perhaps a wicked chai tea and some journal writing at Art in Chai, then to Om Garden for lunch and chat w/friends or strangers and enjoy a decadent raw carrot cake for desert. For supper it was usually Na's Kitchen or Charlie and Lek's. (I am also adding my foody notes for fellow travellers that will come to Pai.)
My favorite hangout spot is Om Garden which is a sanctuary offering Western Thai fusion meals and drinks. I love all the clean tasting dishes I tried like the Thai salad and the red bean falafel and I got hooked on the raw carrot cake for desert. It is run by lovely English Mark, and the incredible cook Anan, a native of Thailand - former owners of The Withching Well (another good restaraunt). The boys became my buddies and I also would run into a plethora of friends at this very sweet spot. I have had friends stay there so long that they ate their breakfast and supper there with treats, drinks and socializing in between. Pooch Wicky will greet you at the gate with a bark yet she is really a marshmallow and just protecting her little oasis as she used to be a street urchin and has it pretty cushy now. I have had two Reiki/Cranial Sacral sessions with Mark and he is great. I recommend him for this work.
I also became a regular at my favorite Thai food spot - Na's Kitchen - I love the curry dishes especially the Panaeng Veg dish and the coconut cream shake is decadent. Her place is so popular that it fills up especially after 6:00 pm and is one of the few places that you may have to wait more than a few minutes for your meal yet it is worth it. The cook/owner works her butt off there yet still somehow smiles to everyone who approaches her for orders or paying bills as she continues to cook non stop.
Another reliable place that I remember from 5 years ago besides Na's, is Charlie and Lek's - run by C & L - a very friendly couple. There food is consistently great and open every day and night and have an seating area in the back as well as the front. They have cooking classes as well and comments from their students and customers line the bulletin boards. They are near to Na's and Om Garden, so there is this great loop I would make most days hitting all my restaraunt haunts.
For a wicked Chai tea, there is another sweet spot that I hang out regularly - Art in Chai - which is down a side lane that starts near Na's. There is a lovely couple who run it - Otto from India and his charming Swedish wife Sandy. They make authentic Chai, nice and spicy yet will use Soy milk if you request. Sandy even makes a delicious decaf Chai. They have bahjans (Indian chants) on Saturday evenings around 8:00 and have an array of instruments that can be used that night or any time. It is a great spot for chatting with a travel pal or catching up on emails or writing a postcard (remember those?).
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It is very chilled here and just what I needed, and it is also chilly at nite and not what I expected. Yet there is a natural hotsprings to warm up in and my favorite elephant Sweety to visit. This is a place where you can lose weeks, months or years. Was I sposed to go somewhere . . .
update: It seems my life at Pai revolved around food. I would go to The Good Life in the morning for a hit of wheatgrass and a smoothie, stop at some spot for a young coconut drink, then perhaps a wicked chai tea and some journal writing at Art in Chai, then to Om Garden for lunch and chat w/friends or strangers and enjoy a decadent raw carrot cake for desert. For supper it was usually Na's Kitchen or Charlie and Lek's. (I am also adding my foody notes for fellow travellers that will come to Pai.)
My favorite hangout spot is Om Garden which is a sanctuary offering Western Thai fusion meals and drinks. I love all the clean tasting dishes I tried like the Thai salad and the red bean falafel and I got hooked on the raw carrot cake for desert. It is run by lovely English Mark, and the incredible cook Anan, a native of Thailand - former owners of The Withching Well (another good restaraunt). The boys became my buddies and I also would run into a plethora of friends at this very sweet spot. I have had friends stay there so long that they ate their breakfast and supper there with treats, drinks and socializing in between. Pooch Wicky will greet you at the gate with a bark yet she is really a marshmallow and just protecting her little oasis as she used to be a street urchin and has it pretty cushy now. I have had two Reiki/Cranial Sacral sessions with Mark and he is great. I recommend him for this work.
I also became a regular at my favorite Thai food spot - Na's Kitchen - I love the curry dishes especially the Panaeng Veg dish and the coconut cream shake is decadent. Her place is so popular that it fills up especially after 6:00 pm and is one of the few places that you may have to wait more than a few minutes for your meal yet it is worth it. The cook/owner works her butt off there yet still somehow smiles to everyone who approaches her for orders or paying bills as she continues to cook non stop.
Another reliable place that I remember from 5 years ago besides Na's, is Charlie and Lek's - run by C & L - a very friendly couple. There food is consistently great and open every day and night and have an seating area in the back as well as the front. They have cooking classes as well and comments from their students and customers line the bulletin boards. They are near to Na's and Om Garden, so there is this great loop I would make most days hitting all my restaraunt haunts.
For a wicked Chai tea, there is another sweet spot that I hang out regularly - Art in Chai - which is down a side lane that starts near Na's. There is a lovely couple who run it - Otto from India and his charming Swedish wife Sandy. They make authentic Chai, nice and spicy yet will use Soy milk if you request. Sandy even makes a delicious decaf Chai. They have bahjans (Indian chants) on Saturday evenings around 8:00 and have an array of instruments that can be used that night or any time. It is a great spot for chatting with a travel pal or catching up on emails or writing a postcard (remember those?).
____________
It is very chilled here and just what I needed, and it is also chilly at nite and not what I expected. Yet there is a natural hotsprings to warm up in and my favorite elephant Sweety to visit. This is a place where you can lose weeks, months or years. Was I sposed to go somewhere . . .
There are more travellers here than tourists. More backpackers than the type that have luggage on wheels (I am on this page - hey I ain't packing shite on my back these days). There are more of us that don't know exactly where we are going but know where we have been rather than the reverse. And people that come back year after year after year with weathered faces, their bodies an atlas of Buddhist tattoo images and script, piercings and tired dreadlocks and speaking in a variety of accents.
The mannequin wigs give a clue of the flavor of Pai
It was about a 3 1/2 hour rattle and snake drive in a van filled with 10 or so nauseous tired travellers through gorgeous lush jungle mountains to get here from Chiang Mai. There are hair pin turns like you would have thru the Okanagon yet they are are never ending and begin within an hour of the trip and don't end till Pai - I am not kidding.
I find a Flinstone like cement adobe hut to stay in partly because I know it will be cool. I am staying across the dirty river (they all seem dirty here) and you must walk across a rickety bamboo swinging bridge to get to my hut which made it interesting to roll my luggage over.
Right this moment there are local Thai kids jumping off it into the 3 feet of shallow muddy river 20 feet below. A cute American guy and I are discussing the precariousness of this feat of the 10 year old boys making the leap. Travellers also rent tubes and float down the river that is more like a large brown creek at this point. It rises to flood levels and they are still repairing the damage of the last flood during rainy season a couple months ago. The only use I have for the river is praps playing with Sweety in it otherwise yikes, who knows what bacteria and parasites live in those muddy waters - likely the same as our tap water.
the bamboo swinging bridge
to get to my hut which is on the left side
I met a cool young Danish woman named 'Fleur' (Flower) travelling by herself. She just came from Indonesia and will go to Cambodia and I believe Laos, then work in Australia. I am surprised and impressed that she just got out of high school and is only 19 and earned enough money to go on this big voyage on her own. She is surprised at my age and figured I am 35 and at night she said I look 25 - bless her. She reminds me of young Gillian from 5 years earlier, also from the Netherlands, who rode Chitty with me. I quite like the energy of Danish people. They smile easily and don't seem to let much bother them - I know, stereo typing.
I also met a darling older German woman who I already adore and would love to have tea with. She has pure white hair and a road map of well earned wrinkles on her face and curious yet wise eyes. She is rake thin and looks like a sparrow that could break in the wind, yet she has one firm hand shake, like a good German. She must be well into her 80's and I know she has stories to tell and I would love to hear them. She looks deep into my eyes and then tells me how I am feeling and shows a nice concern for me, just a wayward stranger that crashed next door to her for a night. That was my first hotel stay in Pai.
On the grounds where I am now staying there is a 'lady boy' as a receptionist. She walks like a woman and talks like a man. There are quite a few lady boys about. Gender bending is a non issue here. It is just the way it is. Boys will be girls and girls will be boys in this mixed up muddled up shook up world except for Thailand where it seems rather normal and accepted. I mean look at Buddha, I thought she was a she till someone called her Buddha and him. Huh
On the grounds where I am now staying there is a 'lady boy' as a receptionist. She walks like a woman and talks like a man. There are quite a few lady boys about. Gender bending is a non issue here. It is just the way it is. Boys will be girls and girls will be boys in this mixed up muddled up shook up world except for Thailand where it seems rather normal and accepted. I mean look at Buddha, I thought she was a she till someone called her Buddha and him. Huh
I share my flinstone hut
with this toad.
Sandra (not her real name but close) looks pretty much like a woman except for the 5'oclock shadow and a bit too much swag in her strut, and I mean strut. She has orange size breasts and said last nite as she pied pipers a whole lot of us out to a spot I didn't need to or want to go to, that she also had her genitalia removed. 'I had it cut off last year', was the way she phrased it.
The spot she took us, her entourage to, was called Be Bop and there was a garish vaudeville type older campy American diva ex show tune dancer type with a Thai backup band. It was over the top melodramatic like a Liza Minelli drag queen impression yet she seemed serious - bless her and hats off. Me and Fleur slipped out without saying goodbyes and to avoid the likely 'come on stays' plea.
Sandra stopped at a store 'to get gasoline' and came out with a bottle of rum cooler or some similar facsimile. She was a wreck today at reception. 'How are you?' I ask. 'I am dying . . .' she melodramas back to me. I make a reference to her 'free hangover' note at the bottom of the sign outside about what they offer here and I tiptoe around her.
Even though the huts are all booked today, she tells the cute guys to come back any time to hang out and use the internet. I say 'Good on you Sanda, invite the cute ones back' and add that there are good looking guys in Pai. She screws up her face and says in disdain 'Yeh, but men are all pigs.'
It gets hot here mid morning and midday yet clouds roll in and we have mellow showers that I am grateful for. In Chiang Mai the heat was less intense than when I first arrived with welcome clouds rolling in and the occasional rain. This is a good spot for chilling and is exactly what I am doing now that it is raining and I am in my little Flinstone hut as the rain pours down and the day has turned to nite and there are no bombs or gunshots. sigh. A groovy little town . . . till I get itchy feet again, but first some hotspringing and an elephant visit.
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update . . .
As time moves on so do I. I went for a 2 hour tube ride down the parasite river with a group of Thais and a raucous Irish girl. One guy brought some 'gasoline' - rum and whatever in a big plastic bottle tied to his tube. It was quite beautiful for the first hour watching the scenery and the locals doing their thing along the shore. Then it got dark and cold and rather dangerous as the river got deeper and swifter and we couldn't see a bloody thing and we were still dodging trees, rocks and debris along the way. Whose idea was this anyway and why did I succumb to it? Yet I can say now that I have floated in a tube down the dirty river in Pai at nite. My first nite ride. I just found out that there are a heap of big snakes that live in that river and my friend saw two when she first started her ride. 'Ignorance is bliss' or is that 'knowledge is power'? Anyhow I am alive and all.
I also moved from party central and am back to the Golden Hut bungalow just on the other side of the dirty river that I was at 5 years prior which is great except that I am right across from party central and the acoustics are like speakers and louder here than on their premises. Last nite I woke up at 3 am to Sandra screaming severely foul things at the top of her ladyboy lungs on the swinging bridge at one of the many boys she manages manipulating. It was nasty and I figured in her wild rage she may just shove him off the bridge. I just cant win now with tonite's fireworks yet again for the King who never smiles. sigh.
Actually I have seen many pictures of the King including one posted at the ramshackle castle in Chiang Mai. He always looks elegant and stately with fine posture. Just thought I would add that . . . Thailand's prisons are less comfortable than the Flinstone hut.
I have a slinky young gray male cat (lets call him mister sliver) in my bungalow hut curled up on my lap, or perhaps I am in his hut. I found out my name in Thai is Meaow. So now when Thais don't understand my name I say 'Meow' and they laugh and nod as tho now they understand. Purr central. I do like this little hut with mister sliver attached, despite the racket outside and I am not moving again till I go the monastery in the wood - so I say today on the Kingwhoneversmiles birthday.
Just ran into this blurb about dos & don'ts in Thailand:
* Show respectfor the King and his family. Remember, respect for the King isn't just polite, it's the law!!! (Wow 3 exclamation marks.)
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update . . .
As time moves on so do I. I went for a 2 hour tube ride down the parasite river with a group of Thais and a raucous Irish girl. One guy brought some 'gasoline' - rum and whatever in a big plastic bottle tied to his tube. It was quite beautiful for the first hour watching the scenery and the locals doing their thing along the shore. Then it got dark and cold and rather dangerous as the river got deeper and swifter and we couldn't see a bloody thing and we were still dodging trees, rocks and debris along the way. Whose idea was this anyway and why did I succumb to it? Yet I can say now that I have floated in a tube down the dirty river in Pai at nite. My first nite ride. I just found out that there are a heap of big snakes that live in that river and my friend saw two when she first started her ride. 'Ignorance is bliss' or is that 'knowledge is power'? Anyhow I am alive and all.
I also moved from party central and am back to the Golden Hut bungalow just on the other side of the dirty river that I was at 5 years prior which is great except that I am right across from party central and the acoustics are like speakers and louder here than on their premises. Last nite I woke up at 3 am to Sandra screaming severely foul things at the top of her ladyboy lungs on the swinging bridge at one of the many boys she manages manipulating. It was nasty and I figured in her wild rage she may just shove him off the bridge. I just cant win now with tonite's fireworks yet again for the King who never smiles. sigh.
Actually I have seen many pictures of the King including one posted at the ramshackle castle in Chiang Mai. He always looks elegant and stately with fine posture. Just thought I would add that . . . Thailand's prisons are less comfortable than the Flinstone hut.
my bungalow now
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| Mister Sliver on my lap |
* Show respectfor the King and his family. Remember, respect for the King isn't just polite, it's the law!!! (Wow 3 exclamation marks.)
