Zelma’s Trip

Early in the afternoon the minibus arrived to take me to Pai.  The second person to get on was a girl from Oregon called Theresa who had been traveling with her Dad for 3 months and had just left him.  Later others joined us including a nice girl who was meeting friends in Pai and three guys who were traveling together, one from Ireland, one from the States and one from Australia.  The Irish guy had met the Australian whilst working over there and they apparently met the American on the West coast.  The reason that I am telling you all this is that I think it demonstrates the dynamics of traveling and how people meet up and also as they feature later in my travels.

When we arrived in Pai I instantly liked the place.  It’s amazing how you get good feelings about some places.  I checked into a lovely bungalow at the same place as Theresa.  My bungalow overlooks the river and also has free internet access in the room which is a real luxury.  It’s five pounds a night so I thought I’d treat myself.  I went and had some food with Theresa and then we got ready and went out.  We were going to go to a place called Ting Tong but saw the girl from the minibus in a place nextdoor called re-tox so joined her.  It transpired that the thing to do in Pai is to move from one bar to another en masse.  It was really strange actually.  I mean I’ve done bar crawls but never before have I been somewhere when, at a particular time (not closing time) everyone in the bar gets up and leaves to go to another bar.  It was actually a really fun night and I met a lot of cool people including Bryony who I spoke to for ages.  She lives in Chelmsford and had recently got to Thailand having been working in Australia.  We eventually headed back at around 3AM and the party was well and truly still going when we left.

The following day I went and had an amazing fruit salad breakfast and Theresa hired a bike and went on a cycle ride.  I was somewhat less adventurous and spent a while chilling on my balcony appreciating the views over the river, explored the town and took a few photos.  Later we booked two day white-water rafting trip down to Mae Hong Son.  Tomorrow we raft down the river Pai, through sixty kilometres of jungle, taking in a waterfall (no not rafting over it – well I hope not) and hot springs.  Then we’re staying in a bamboo hut under mosquito nets before a second day of rafting.  I’ve heard really good things about it and have booked it through a reputable company recommended in all the guidebooks (Thai adventure rafting).  We get life-jackets and helmets and the guide has 18 years experience.  When Theresa and I were booking it there were three Canadian girls who will be joining us and they all seemed really friendly.  I’m also quite pleased that they’re not big, burly blokes who’ll out paddle us or something.  I had actually hoped to be able to travel to Mae Hong Son this way as I read about it in my guidebook but then I realised it was dependent on the time of year and river levels so I was doubley excited when I realised I could.  Ooooooh I’m so excited, rafting to travel between places sure as hell beats a bus!