December 22, 2006 Pai – Chiang Mai, Thailand

December 22, 2006
Pai – Chiang Mai, Thailand

Before I forget I have to mention that last night Spizz and I both had our matching flowy outfits on and an Australian girl made fun of us. And, when I got on to use the internet, Jackie was on! Apparently, she had not yet adjusted to PDT and was up at 4:00am, much to my delight!

This morning Spizz and I woke up at around 7:30 and packed up our stuff. We moved slowly in the cold and didn’t get out of our room until after 8:20. We put our packs on our back and jumped onto our vespas.

We cruised a few hundred meters to the rental agency and returned the vehicles. From there it was only a short walk to the bus station. We got onto the 9:00 minibus back to Chiang Mai.

As usual it was packed to more than capacity. The man sitting next to me and the lady in front of me had children on their laps. Still, it was nothing compared to the ride into Pai. Even nicer, it took only 3 hours (instead of 4) to get back to the big city.

We arrived at the Chiang Mai bus station (Arcade) at 12:00 and hired a tuk-tuk into the touristy part of town. After paying our driver 60 baht we checked if the Eagle House (popular hostel in town) had an vacancies. Luckily, we got one of the last rooms.

We tossed down our stuff and decided to get some lunch. Spizz knew of a fun café nearby and we both decided to get cheeseburgers (for the first time in a long time). After lunch we decided it was time to figure out a plan for the next couple of weeks. For the first time so far on the trip we have absolutely no idea what to do.

First, we checked out a couple of tour agencies and looked at what they had to offer. Most of their packages involved trekking or rafting (which we have already done). Still, a boat trip into Laos caught our eye. We decided to get on the internet and do some research.

After checking the Laos situation we continued playing on the internet and communicating with friends back home (I got to chat with Jackie again). At around 15:30 I returned to the room.

I finished the book finished the funny book Lisa gave me (called something like “On the road less travled…there isn’t any TP”) and then starting learning how to juggle.

At 17:30 I jumped in the shower and changed cloths for the first time in almost a week (well at least since a day before Jackie left). I then decided to give Lisa a call and see what she was up to. Unfortunately, she was busy for the evening but we did make plans for tomorrow.

From there Spizz and I decided to head back to the Night Bazaar. On the way I stopped at a street vendor and got some delicious Pad Thai. We did not realize it was Friday night and were surprised to find the Night Bazaar packed with people. Still, we managed to maneuver around the crowd and do some shopping for a few ladies back home.

We returned to our room a little before 9:00 and decided to watch a few DVD’s as we fell asleep. Alas, we had some DVD issues and the only ones we could get to work were the Entourage DVD’s…