We packed up reasonably quickly and then I popped to the 7-eleven for a quick breakfast of rice and basil pork. The room was already warm and we were both glad to be leaving it today. We had booked our bus to Pai yesterday and had to meet at the guesthouse around the corner at 12pm. Soon enough that time came and we waited in the guesthouse who were playing a so called prequel to Marley and Me. The puppies talked in this movie and it was generally bloody awful! I bought Laura some fruit juice and not before long our pick up arrived which already looked rammed. The driver packed us in the back like sardines in a can and went hurtling around the narrow streets to pick up others. We soon arrived at the mini bus stop and were transferred onto our bus to take us the rest of the way to Pai.

Pai, like I mentioned in a previous blog entry is a small town located 85km northeast of Chiang Mai. It is up in the mountain ranges which meant the road leading up to it combined a constant incline with numerous bends. We had been told the trip was quite notorious, with at least one passenger being sick through motion sickness. This did not fill Laura with pleasure as she is a little susceptible to motion relate nausea. The journey was actually okay and I think the sickness is more due to the fact that quite a few make the trip hungover which is obviously a recipe for disaster. We headed off and the driver was in a somewhat, how should I say, jovial sort of mood. There were a French couple in the front seats and the driver kept cracking out random jokes to them and laughing his head off. One thing the jokes weren't that funny and it is a faux pas to laugh at your own. He even told us me hade a young Chinese tourist cry yesterday after he convinced her she had got onto the wrong bus for her destination. Them sort of jokes are a little lost on Chinese people and can create some unnecessary tension.

It was not long before we started our decent up the mountain. Some of the incline was over 45% which in a minibus is pretty steep and we made snail pace progress. For extra trivia, there is a mammoth total of 762 bends (some hairpin) on this hill climb so you can see how people get a little queasy. Happily, no no one got sick and we stopped off half way up for a refreshment and toilet break. The driver had one last little joke at the checkpoint where a serious looking army official was assessing the vehicles coming through. The driver opened the door and said ceremoniously, "see, I just have ladyboys in the back here". It received some laughs and soon we were off... it wasn't long then before we rolled into the mountain town of Pai. The last few miles into the town are a descent which obviously leads into a valley where the town is located. There is flat expanse of paddy fields, farmland and mountain ranges on each side. It was very picturesque as the sunlight was slightly dimming creating a mild haze over the mountains.

The bus dropped us off on town and we now had to find some accommodation. We searched a few firstly on the river but they were either full or out of our price range. We then bumped into our friend Kratos, who had spent the past two days chilling and reading on this veranda over looking the river. He kindly let us leave our big bags at his whilst we searched the town for digs.

The town is split by a river passing on the northern edge from west to east, taking a sharp southern turn on the eastern edge of town, if you can picture that. We both felt a hut or bungalow overlooking the river would provide that relaxing ambience we both sought after. After a few rejections we realise we had arrived late in the day and numerous buses would of got here before us. Also it was straight after the Songkran period and Pai is the common, next logical destination after Chiang Mai. In other words, we may struggle to get a nice place on the river or even a place full stop. We persevered , well, mainly Laura did, I was willing to settle on any of the places in town that were asking for 300 baht). She had made me cross the river despite me telling her we wont have any luck (I was getting fed up now... It had been over 90 mins). However as we crossed we found a little gem.

The place was called Bai Saan Riverside and had modern bungalows and traditional bamboo huts on the river and out the back facing the mountain range. Luckily for us, they had vacancies!! We were shown the empty bamboo huts facing the mountains to the west as the riverside was full but Laura felt they were quite secluded and would much prefer a riverside one...especially as they were the same price (300 baht). Beggars can't be choosers I had said but again she would be proved right to persevere. The women had said we would have free breakfast, free wifi, free water and free bikes... But Laura stilled uum'ed and aahh'ed saying we could take it but would want to move as soon as a riverside one was free as they had a better view for the same price. After a while of us debating the women eventually said she may have something.... She said it was river view but at the end of the resort so a bit out the way. She said this like it was a bad thing and said we could see it if we liked it. We did and actually loved the fact it was further away... The view was much better and it was wonderfully quiet plus the wifi was still really strong. It was an offer we could not refuse and gladly accepted the hut. We then went back to Kratos, explained our success and lugged our bags back to our room. Our hut was the penultimate one of the resort sitting on the end of the river. We had a lovely view of the river including the silhouette of bamboo bridges and a waterwheel in the distance.... Amazing!!!

We settled in and were greeted by sand flies buzzing around our light. I switched that off and turned on the porch light which successfully baited them out of the room. The next issue was the bathroom in the back, it was lovely and clean and spacious, however, it was infested with black ants crawling all over the sink and toilet.... Obviously these huts were rented much?! No idea why. Our course of action was to head for food in town but not before we asked the owner to exterminate the ants for us. He kindly agreed to do this whilst we were out.

The town was full of little narrow streets, littered with guesthouses, cafes, small bars, shops and obviously lined the hawker stalls selling wares and food!
The food choices were incredible, ranging form burritos to noodle soup to fried chicken to even jacket potatoes, and these were just street stalls. I knew I would be very happy here. We settled on local looking places and order fried rice and a chicken dish. Both were scrummy and was washed down with ice cold watermelon shake. We bumped into the Australian nurse from the taxi in Chaing Mai (see 13th April entry) who I forgot to mention we met earlier in the day whilst searching for a guesthouse. She had kindly showed us hers but it was full and quite expensive for what you got anyway. She told us she arrived yesterday quite hungover but had not been sick on the trip up here. The story did however inform us she got in at 4am the previous evening very drunk and actually threw up out of her dormitory window on the 3rd floor. She admitted herself it was not her most classy and dignified moment.... Nurses eh?

After a quick chat we headed back to the resort where the guy had forgot to debug the bathroom. He told us to wait thirty mins whilst he did it and so we lounged in the common area. Whilst waiting we were able FaceTime mum and had a nice catch up chat. During our chat a Zimbabwean chap who currently lived in Melbourne, was chipping in with comments aimed to wind up mum, such as congratulations on the engagement and pregnancy! It was pretty funny! After mum signed off we spoke to this pleasant guy and he reinforced how expensive Australia is and work is essential. He did however tell Laura that on a nursing wage out there, you won't worry about much. We downed our cheap beer and said farewell to him before heading to our hut for hopefully a good nights sleep.

The guesthouse owner had done a good job debugging the bathroom was there was not an ant in sight! I strategically placed the fan inside the mosquito net so to keep us cool overnight and we climbed into bed. The mattress was fairly hard to say the least and either I would wake up really refreshed or with a bad back, I guess I'd find out in the morning.