The fear is upon me!! I am at this minute well and truly alone. I have just said my farewells to Lisbet and am on a bus heading down to Chaing Mai. Lisbet is staying in Pai because she has to do a visa run up north tomorrow after which she will head down south to Koh Tao before jetting off to New Zealand. My plans for the moment are a little bit different! I am heading to Chaing Mai in order to go to an elephant nature park tomorrow. This is a park that brid went to while we were in Chaing Mai last week, at the time I opted out because I thought it was a bit expensive but I regret that decision now and that is why I am leaving Pai on my own! The elephant park will occupy me for all of tomorrow and afterwards I plan on hopping straight onto an overnight bus to Bangkok. All going well I will arrive in bangkok early the morning of the 13th and at 13:00 that day I fly to Vietnam where I should meet Andy. One thing I have quickly learned about travelling though is that plans are made to be broken so I have an open mind to any change that may occur along the way so far as it is a positive one.

Yesterday myself and Lisbet went on our third and final scooter tour. We had planned to visit a popular hot spring, a lake and a memorial bridge. Before doing this we first had to try and sort out lisbet's visa. We went to Pai's tiny airport where a friendly officer told us that the office was closed for lunch and would re-open in 30 min. We decided to take a short drive out the road to pass the time. We returned 3 hours later!!!! The first part of our journey was on a very good main road. We then noticed a sign for a hot spring so we veered off the good road and on to a very bad one. The road was pretty much a dirt road with steep hills that our poor scooter (who we named benjie the donkey, wink wink Briddie!) struggled to overcome. The road was very long and we began to worry that we would run out of gas in the middle of a massive forest. About half way through the Forrest we met a bridge where three Thai girls were hanging out. We stopped and asked them if the springs were far, one of the girls told us and hour and then they all started laughing,,, sound girls, SOUND!!! We continued on and met the hot spring about 15 minutes later. It was worth the drive. When we got there the only other people there were a small group of Thai people and the spring itself was surrounded by beautiful trees. The water was lovely and we were able to relax and unwind after our journey. The journey back was equally as rough but with lots of encouragement benji pulled through and got us home. We relaxed for the rest of the day and in the evening went our and enjoyed the wide variety of street food available.

I have to say my opinion of Pai has drastically changed from when I originally arrived. I spent a full six nights there, saw loads and saved a fortune. I managed to do this by staying in cheep accommodation (we moved to a nicer place on our third night, for a nice double room with toilet myself and Lisbet paid 100B each, just €2.35), eating cheaply even though the food was still delicious and since the scooter was just 70B each a day we got to entertain ourselves for practically nothing. This money saving was a god send because I have had to fork out for flights to Vietnam, a visa for Vietnam, transport to Bangkok and the elephant park so it is good I didn't spend much over the last few days.

I am now in my room in Chaing Mai. I am staying in a nice apartment called taicoon house which is just a street away from my accommodation last time I was in Chaing Mai. I am feeling a little lonely as it is quiet an adjustment from always being with someone to suddenly being on your own. I went for a walk back to the Chinese market but I am not sure that was quiet a good idea. Last time I was there I was with Deirdre and Lisbet so going back on my own just highlighted my loneliness and kind of depressed me.
I have decided to have a relaxing night in my room, I am going to read a bit of my Vietnam book, watch some geordie shore and Skype mairead later on. Then at eight tomorrow morning I will head off to hang with the elephants which will be fun!