Pai, and I swear these pix didn't look as dark as when I took them!

I hopped into a minivan at 10 the next morning, destined for the little village of Pai, which has been described as a hippie getaway located in a picturesque valley in the mountains. A four hour trip, it took us a little while to leave the outskirts of Chiang Mai, but once we turned onto Highway 1095, the road began to wind into the mountains. The corners were quite severe at times, making the Forks of the Credit road look like a dragstrip, and leaving several of the passengers gasping for gravol. In order to minimize the cornering, the driver would often be in the lane of opposing traffic, with nothing but a bap of the horn to warn the oncoming traffic which may lurk around each rocky turn. As we wound up the mountain, the landscape was quite green and lush. After feeling the coolness of the crest, we careened and lurched into a much drier climate.

On the bus, I got to talking with Nina from Miami, and soon met Russ and Jules from Britain (not, as I found out, from the UK). I discovered to my horror that Pai, in addition to its artsiness, was a local mecca for musicians, and I had left my horn behind in Bangkok to minimize weight. Turn the bus around! After several minutes of deep breathing into a paper bag, I decided that this would be good for me. I had been feeling a little frazzled at my musical ambitions when I arrived in Bangkok, and thought this might get me chomping at the bit to play again.

Once we arrived, we checked into the Yellow Sun guesthouse, and I ended up splitting a room with Nina. A decent little place with a chicken coop out back and a bar and pooltable out front. Over the next week, I proceeded to play some of the worst pool I've ever played, being defeated by a host of contestants from around the world.

That night, we ended up at the Reggae Place, essentially a little yard behind another bar, with a campfire, mats, live band, and folks from Laos, Israel, Thailand, as well as our little troop. I watched a fire-twirler spectacle, and as the rings of fire twisted and turned against the darkness I finally realized what the be-dreadlocked were always practicing with their tennis balls on strings during the day. The band was actually a bit of an open jam, so after a deep breath and last swig of my large Singha, I jumped up and sat in on bass. After accompanying some simple Thai folk songs, the vibe turned to reggae and dub, and the dance floor was soon filled with writhing hippies. Eventually, another dude seeking to fill the bottom end showed up, and it was time to share, so I passed the bass over, happy that I'd had a chance to get my musical ya-yas after all.

The next few day were spent wandering Pai, getting used to being woken by roosters in the morning, avoiding the intense heat from 10-2, and dodging motorcyclists whereever I walked. Pai is filled with guesthouses, restaurants, bars with live music, Thai massage houses, internet cafes, and tribal vendors, craft shops. Quite touristy as it turns out, but very laid back, and quite cheap. The crowd was quite the mix - old, young, Thai, hilltribe, farang, some staying a day, a week, or simply forever. The pace moves quite slowly here, both due to the heat, the attitude, and I'm assuming the late nights too. One afternoon Nina and I took a cooking class with Pai Cookery School. Our instructor, Gaew, led us through a variety of dishes from pad thai, homemade curry paste, and this sweet sticky rice stuff. She also took us to the market, and pointed out some of the various foreign veggies - I'm still blown away by the uses of jackfruit.

Our first weekend there turned out to be a Thai long weekend, so the village filled up, mostly with Thai, though a Motorcycle Club was having a meeting and roared up on beautifully customized choppers. We watched several late-arriving backpackers trooping around town in the evening, bewildered and lucklessly looking for a vacant place to stay. As for ourselves, we had been renting on a daily basis, and found that our Yellow Sun had been reserved for the weekend, so we were forced to relocate to a patch of little bamboo bungalows by the river (Baan Pai Riverside). Not a bad deal, ensuite bathrooms and breakfast included.

Pai for some folk is a place to relax, like a week-trip to the Caribbean. After a few days of nothing but eating and chilling out, I was starting to get restless to explore its outskirts, and decided that I'd walked by the motorcycle rental places one too many times....