Sports day and Pai

We were again on 40 minute classes all last week. No classes Thursday since we had Sports Day, the Thai equivalent of Field Day. The kids spent a month rehearsing their cheers after class and decorating their stands. Their cheerleading is mostly chants and songs, and it's pretty interesting to watch. Sadly, I got no pictures or videos of it because I was kind of on hold all day for my event and had no idea when I was going to be running. It was kind of a joke. I was on a relay team of 8 teachers, running against other teachers. Only 50 meters, and it felt ridiculously short. We got second place because one of the school directors, the last leg of my team, face planted at the finish line. He's ok, he just got a little scraped up. 

After we ran a couple of the teachers and I went to the edge of the fence where all the street food vendors set up. I was starving and got a crepe with egg, crab, and mayonnaise. Mayo here is generally very sweet and not at all like the mayo we're used to. It was a strange but delicious crepe.

Early Saturday morning Fang and I left for Pai. We got there around 1130 and met one of his friends for lunch. All young men in Thailand have to serve I think 2 years in the army, and Pai is where Fang served so he knows the town decently well. After we met his friend, we went sightseeing for a bit. We went to a 102 year old bridge that was built by the Japanese, I think during their occupation of Thailand. The sign about it was in Thai so the only thing I could understand was the year it was built, 2454. We're in Buddhist years and it makes me feel like I'm living in the future sometimes, as it's the year 2556.

We spent the rest of the afternoon cruising around sightseeing and taking pictures in the mountains around Pai. We went to Pai canyon, where I scared Fang by walking to the end of a rock path that had abrupt drops on each side. 

That night we went to visit his friend who had a booth at Pai's walking street. It was a pretty big market, lots of cool handmade things to see. And there was chai! It was delicious.

We met more of his friends at a bar after that and just hung out for the rest of the night, drinking and dancing to a Thai band. 

The next morning we got up early and went to a Yunan village (Chinese) called Baan Santichon that was just outside of Pai. It looked pretty touristy but still interesting. There was a little circle of shops with a pond and a replica of an old castle. Lots of Chinese food and crafts. I wish I'd been hungry, but it was early and I'd had no coffee yet, and entirely too much to drink the night before.

After Baan Santichon we went back into Pai proper and found coffee. Part of the reason I love Pai so much is that they have real, fresh, hot drip coffee and it is delicious.  We had our coffee and I had a croissant at a tasty little Muslim bakery. Then we went and had "real" breakfast, Fang gets a little weird about farang food. So we found him a Thai street vendor with kra pow moo and he was happy. 

We had to return our rented motorbike at noon and still had three hours until our bus, so we wandered around Pai for a bit. Fang wanted a massage so we found a nice little place with a/c and wasted an hour there. Then we went to eat again, since the bus ride is about 3 1/2 hours. We went to a little place I liked last time and I got a tuna sandwich. Fang got a burger that he couldn't figure out how to eat (it was kind of large) so it was comical watching him try to pick it up, and then try to cut it apart with his utensils. 

Anyhow, we made it to the bus on time and got back to Chiang Mai around 630. Uneventful trip home, and now I've been back in Lamphun. Thursday was the king's birthday, AKA Father's Day, so no class. Tuesday is Constitution Day, so no class then either. Two weeks til finals and not a single solid week of classes. I think I'll get used to this...