Another 4 nights spent in bloody Bangkok, a little longer than desired but I hung around to then hang around with a friend of mine from Ko Rong. He worked at one of the bars there and over my time spent at the island and with each other we became very fond of each other so meeting up again was really cool. It was very chilled period of time, as I made sure that was case because I was in tatters after Ko Rong. The Chatuchak weekend market was the reason I flew back into Bangkok, it's one of the largest weekend markets in the world and I was like a child in a toy store being there. Jam packed full of cheap vintage clothing, I walked away with some right spicy numbers. Viktor (the guy from Ko Rong) and I just spend a lot of time living abit more of a cosmopolitan life, having real good foods in restaurants and chilling in bars just enjoying each other's company. Some goodbyes are harder than others and this certain one always tends to be tough but we hold onto hope that we'll cross paths again. And then off to Pai I went...
Pai is in the north of Thailand just a 3 hour bus journey from Chang Mai. Now I've already been in the north but never managed to make it to Pai as I didn't hear about it until after I left Chang Mai and basically people have been bullying me ever since for not taking the trip so I thought it was worth a shot. Now I can excuse all the torment because the place is gorgeous. I came here with two very lively girls from up north, Leed's to be precise and they were brilliant company. We arrived at our final destination at about 11 o'clock on Tuesday the 12th February. I had one of my best days to date travelling the next day. We had rented scooters that we used to do a loop round Pai, we stopped off at a waterfall, the land split, hot springs and the canyon. We were spoilt by a very cute Thai family who were promoting this dried Roselle flower after checking out the "Land split". They sat us down at this wooden table and chair bench set to then go onto cater for us by bringing us over a tray full of goodies. Fresh papaya.. dried banana which you could use as a scooper for the Roselle jam that was made.. Tamarind and so much more. A refreshing cup of juice they had made from the the flower was also given to quench our thirst and to obviously show off another way of using Roselle petals. This flower is used to detox the body. All that was asked for what felt like this really special treatment was a donation so all 5 of us produced 50 baht notes which then all together was equivalent to £4.50. Most of the day was spent cruising in around the mountains and the views we received left us jaw dropped. We ended up rounding up our day at the Canyon where we watched the sunset. I sat with my legs dangling over the edge, any slight slip and it would be a seriously long way down.. I think I was defiantly thrill seeking there. Another sunset on another day was witnessed at the "Budda on top of the hill" They never get old!
Whilst roaming the streets one day I bumped into some friends that I had made and hung out with in Koh Rong, they are a group of about 13 all from different parts of the world who formed whilst back in the island and haven't been able to travel without each other since. After bumping into them again I received an invite to stay at their bungalow they were renting out whilst staying in Pai which is a offer I would never resist as they are such cool people to be around. The room consisted of three double beds and two singles and was pretty much a free for all.. Wherever your body fell after a night out, you were entitled to own that space for the time being! A tremendous amount of fun was had there.
Pai was another place that Viktor and I reunited, which was something I was really excited about as I felt like we would defiantly make some great memories here. And we did just that. This one particular day we decided to rent scooters and go out in search of some waterfalls. We was leisurely scooting around for a while when we somehow managed/chose to go off the beaten track. I was terrified off roading down the hilly dirt track! Now the "catastrophe" that happened next left me in no control over my the extent of my laughter, I was literally curled up in a ball on the floor on the brink of wetting myself.. We parked our scooters unbeknown to us right on top of the most angriest, hugest, red ant colony. Now with Viktor, he's reaction to a lot of things can sometimes be very theatrical and over the top. I had no recollection that we had a army of angry ants on our hands until he started screaming like a banshee, flinging and flapping he's arms and legs out to the side trying to shake of the ants that were inflicting little stings onto he's body. (I so wish I had a video clip to go with this description as its one of them "had to be there moments") He honestly looked ridiculous and as if he needed to be locked away into a mental asylum. After all of that nonsense we then followed a small path through some over grown bushes which lead us to a remote fresh water pool that was made up of two mini waterfalls that conjoined together. We took a dip. The water was ice cold but so refreshing! As we looked out over the most picturesque view of the mountains we had a moment... A moment in time where we were both so thankful that these sort of moments are just everyday life to us now.
What a truly awesome place full of quirk that just oozed that real hipster vibe, peace and tranquility. Of an evening, one of the longer a main stretches of road would be blocked off and converted into just a walking street. You could just sniff this road out even way before arrival as the collision of aromas radiating off the food stalls were delightful, easily some of the best street food I've had since being away. There was so much variety to choose from, pad tai to fried quail eggs.. Vegetarian lasagne, you were spoilt for choice. Not only was this the perfect place to go to eat of an evening, you could easily spend a couple of hours wandering from top to bottom just peering at all the stalls that would be set up by talented craftsmen selling handmade jewellery, art work, handmade items of clothing e.c.t... Evenings would also be spent enjoying a beverage round a open fire whilst enjoying live talented musicians.
I also signed myself up for a cooking class whilst being there so I'm basically a master chef now. Thai cuisine is by far the tastiest so I've held back up until now to get involved with one of these.. To summarise I learnt how to make, deep fried spring roll, fried vegetable - chicken and cashew, Penang curry (I even got to make the curry paste) and then a very traditional Tom Yam- Sour and spicy shrimp soup. It took all of about 4 hours to make all 4 dishes, including eating time and a trip to the market to check out the local produce. To top it of it actually tasted rather tasty, I impressed myself. So now I know I'm going to have to give my mum a few nights off a week when I get home and treat her to a dinner that won't have been cooked by her for once.
11 days later filled with content, i retreated back to Chiang Mai.
The best thing was waiting on my arrival back to Chiang Mai.. None other than my amazing Canadian friend Tessa! I can't even put into words how happy I was that I had the chance to see and hang out with her again! As you can imagine we had loads to catch up on so we spent hours doing so whilst enjoying the surroundings of Chiang Mai's park and then had a night out on the raz! We took a trip to the park again the next day but this time with extra company. Viktor and he's best friends from back home in Sweden are currently traveling Thailand together, so whenever we are in the same place at the same time we make a point of meeting up. Another great day just hanging out and enjoying the wonderful company of each other. Our time together was short and sweet as Tessa up'd and left the next evening to spontaneously head to Bali. Once again, one them goodbyes that you ideally don't ever want to have do but she is special to me. I will make sure she stays in my life!
Viktor was still around so it really helped to ease my grieving stage. Haha! We all took a day trip out to the Hot Springs that was said to be about 45 minutes away just outside of town but the Tuk Tuk driver wasn't messing around that day. Full steam ahead he must of had he's foot to floor the whole time... We did get there in one piece and it didn't even take nearly as long as that so I think he did a decent job to be fair to the guy! The venue for the hot springs was ever so lush. One of the a activities that day was to purchase a little basket of eggs which you the went into to boil in the hot springs, egg pun yolks were being chucked around all over the place and to get into the egg the rule was to crack it over your head. It was a giggle and the time spent in the hot springs swimming pool felt luxurious to me as I've had nothing but cold showers for a least the past month now.
My next movement is down to one of the South Islands, Koh Tao.. I am back to being a lone traveler and currently about half way through my 2 day journey! I'm throughly looking forward to being back on a island as I've had this longing feeling towards Koh Rong ever since I left.
That's all for now folks!
I sincerely wish each and everyone of you are nothing but happy and well.
Lots of love always x