Pairadise

After saying goodbye to my French (by way of London) dive-buddy Damien and my fellow German/Austrian divers, I left little Ko Tao on a 4PM ferry. Then I spent the next 2 hours on a boat, 2 hours in Chumphon (where one can find huge cockroaches and rats scurrying around on the train platform), 9 hours on a sleeper train to Bangkok, 2 hours at the train station and, finally, 12 terrible hours on a "Sprinter"-class train up to Chiang Mai, which revealed itself to be an unpleasant city full of expat English teachers. It was something like a provincial Shanghai.

So the following day (which happens to be today) I boarded a 4-hour bus to a little hippie outpost called Pai, which despite its earthiness is a beautiful place that seems to be just my speed.

A river runs through Pai, and all around it are mountains, as far as you can see. The streets are bustling with Chinese Muslims, Shan women from the hill country, tattooed Farangs, Japanese hippies and, of course, friendly Thais. I am staying at a beautiful place called Pairadise a short walk from town.

I just dropped off my laundry at a little house, and out front was a baby monkey playing with a neighborhood dog. This, ladies and gentlemen, is Pai.