Pai Pai

The above title requires some expanation. Despite all the Pai-derived puns that stand as business names around town -- e.g. Pairadise, Pai in the Sky, Apple Pai -- the Thai pronunciation is more similar to Bye than to Pie. So there it is.

I can easily see myself a happy resident of Pai. And I have been quite happy as a short-term visitor of Pai. But the town does not encourage the middle ground, and I am ready to pack up my earlier judgment and move on. The routine to end all routines threatens to become too routine.

Had I six months to launch a whistling career in the cafe circuit of Pai, falling in with the mix of good-but-not-too-good musicians from all around the world, I would really love it here.

But I am on the outside. I am just another face getting off the bus only to get back on the bus in a few days. I am neither a hippie nor a honeymooner. I am Korean, but unlike most Koreans in town I am not entirely from Korea. There are few Americans to speak of.

So I am out of here before I get tired of this lovely little place. I have been armed with some rudimentary Thai cooking skills that I am eager to unleash back home, where I will hopefully regain my former appetite for Thai food.

Tomorrow: bus back to Chiang Mai, where I will try to acquire a bamboo saxophone. I have some more time in Thailand, but I am very much looking forward to Hawaii.


Let Wok! Put in hard vegetables! Taste now! Take off heat!


I knew it was time to leave when scenes like this began to seem routine