Day 4:
We vaguely arranged to meet up with Josh today at some point but didn't really know where abouts. Me and dan decided to go to a different cafe for breakfast which was slightly cheaper than our usual place- big mistake. There only seemed to be one lady working there at the time so when we first sat down we waited around 5 minutes to get a menu, a further 10 minutes to order, we hadn't got our coffees till when i got my beautifully presented (but slightly cold) breakfast. I had nearly finished eating when dan eventually received his scrambled eggs on toast and pancake. My breakfast came with fresh fruit but i only got half a banana, something we were laughing about at the time although i was still really hungry! The lady gave us some tamarind to try after our meal, maybe to compensate for the wait on food or coldness but we've learnt that thai people don't really work by time measures, it's all at their own pace.
When leaving the cafe we hopped up to 7/11 to stock up on water where we saw josh, he ran to us apparently! He had taken his bike back that morning so anywhere we went, would be with him at the very back of the bike behind me. He needed to pick up some more herbs for him and the gang back at the hostel so we planned to go to the waterfall after as it's on the way. As we were slowly driving through the same village as yesterday looking for the old lady on the side of the road, we couldn't see her. Instead, there was a woman with a small baby tied to her back with clothes who beckoned us over. She got on the back of the bike with josh and me and dan began to walk up to meet him. He was gone for around 5 minutes, not too long! The lady gave him a brown looking substance with the two bags of weed, which she said was opium. Me and dan were reluctant to try it so Josh said there would be some drug loving hippy back at the hostel who would have it ( we later found out that it wasn't opium but more likely to be heroin, oh dear!).
It was a short, scenic drive to the waterfall and when we arrived we parked up and proceeded down the dirt path with rigid steps declining downwards. The waterfall is famous for it's slide-like features; if you're brave enough you can slides down the rocks and into the pool at the bottom. We wanted to find a quiet little spot to have a smoke so we climbed up the waterfall, which wasn't as easy as it looked but lucky enough for me i had two strapping lads giving me a helping hand! The rocks were large, pale grey and curved, mainly slanting downwards which is why we had to be careful when stepping! We found a nice spot where there weren't many people so i began to roll. When it came to lighting the spliff, we were joined in our little spot by a herd of tourists, sods law. They didn't seem fazed by the fact that we were smoking as literally every other person you pass in pai is probably stoned out of their heads.
We sat and smoked for a while until the boys decided to get involved and get in the waterfall. It was far too cold for me so i sat sunbathing on the large rock beside them, taking photos. Josh was set on sliding down the rock but i think he was on his own on this one! Dan and I watched as he briskly made his way down the steep rock to slide down and he did it! Twice! So we filmed him the second time. We then proceeded down to the other bit of the waterfall where there were quite a few people sunbathing, paddling and reading. We didn't spend too long at the waterfall in total as it was quite shallow and not so warm so we decided to pack up and head to a swimming pool near town called "fluid". We found another spot before setting off to have another smoke, at this point is when we thought we had lost our weed (dan found it later that day hiding in the crevices of his bag). So we smoked a joint, courtesy of josh and made our way back on the road.
Before going to the pool we stopped off in town to grab a bite to eat at the place we always went for breakfast , i had noodles and green curry; yummy! With our tummies full, we set off again on the road to the pool. After driving a while to try and find the pool we passed "the circus"- where josh is staying so he decided to hop out and join his other mates to chill and watch the sunset so me and dan continued up the road to find the swimming pool. There was a steep, rocky road leading up to the pool which was frightening to go up on a bike so it was a relief when we got to the top unscathed! We paid half price entry to the pool, it was around 16:00/17:00 when we arrived so there was barely any sun. We laid down for a while before checking the temperature of the pool and boy was it cold! So we both decided against jumping in.
We left after around an hour after getting there as we wanted to get to the market earlier tonight incase all the food sold out, so off we went, back down the god forsaken steep, rocky dirt track and back to the guesthouse to shower and change. We usually make some sort of food itinerary before we eat so we know what to go for first; tonight our first stall was a beef burger patty place that we spotted the night before. We stopped off for a 10TB chicken skewer as a snack for the walk down to the burger stall, greedy but who cares?! When we got there we had to wait around 5 minutes before we could order, the stall was called "grunge burger" they had vegetarian options abailable such as mushroom and avocado. I opted for beef, avocado and cheese which was yummy when we finally got it! I'm not gonna lie, the burger did fill me up quite a bit but i wasn't letting it defeat me as there were so many other food stalls to visit. We got a shake with our burger from he stall next to it which also sells french toasted baguettes run by a woman and a young girl. We opted for mango, pineapple and strawberry, all fresh, just for 40TB!
We then walked back to the chicken skewer stall where dan got more but i'd opted for a piece of fried chicken, as i'd been eyeing it up ever since i got to thailand, kfc, eat tour heart out! I really only got the chicken for the crispy coating which was lightly seasoned with lemongrass and lime; it was delicious! I didn't eat most of the meat so left it on the side of the road for one of the many street dogs to snack on later. After the chicken we fancied waffles so shared a chocolate and banana one. Feeling full, we decided to call it a night and drove back to the guesthouse.