I left school a little early on the 9th, as I was headed to Chiang Mai to visit the doc. Didn't end up happening, but I had a night in Chiang Mai nonetheless. Ben and Char were supposed to be headed to Pai but as I was sitting in the common room at Deejai, they came waltzing in. We headed out for some dinner, and ended up at a little Italian place inside old city. Char and I got pizza, which was alright but did not satisfy us like the ones at Duke's. we found ourselves next at a stand by Tapae Gate called Cocktail Cycle Chiang Mai. It was elevated and we climbed up to sit onto padded bicycle seats. We spent about three hours talking to the bartender, Mr. Keng. Definitely going back there.
After that we ended up at a club called Spicy, which I only mostly remember. Apparently that night was my first ride in a tuk-tuk, but I certainly don't remember that.
Somehow I got back to the hostel; I woke up at 5 in the bathroom shower, water running. I got up, crawled into bed and went to sleep.
We all headed to Pai Saturday around noon. It was a long, wind-y, three hour trip through the mountains. Char and I were in the van of a man who clearly thought he was a race car driver. Between slamming on brakes and driving squarely in the middle of the road, we had an interesting ride. In Pai, it took us about 45 minutes to walk to our hostel; Darling View Point was a good several kilometers from the bus station. It was a beautiful walk though with some great views overlooking the city and the river. We were in an old style Thai house that had been converted into a dorm style hostel, beds on the floor and everything.
We had dinner at a local place called Maya Burger Queen. It was delicious, although Gekko Gardens in Chiang Mai is better. We sat at a place just down the road called Ting Tong and chilled for a few hours after that. A cool German dude named Elias made our acquaintance and we sat and talked to him and other farang for a good while. We turned in around midnight with an agreement to meet Elias for breakfast the next morning.
We met Elias at the concrete bridge near our hostel around 9 and headed to a little Thai restaurant for breakfast. I had a delicious omelet with tomatoes and onion and some toast. And coffee. Always coffee. We went to a little place called Aya after that and rented motorbikes. Pai is a lot more fun with motorbikes. After we filled up the tanks, we went to a waterfall north of the city. It was a really fun ride even though it was full of potholes and shittily maintained roads.
The water was freezing, but I got in anyway. The waterfall was really pretty. We stayed for about an hour, and Elias and Ben both injured themselves trying to slide down it.
We were set to leave and got caught in a torrential downpour which left us clambering for shelter. We huddled under the awning of the little noodle/soup shop that locals had set up by the waterfall. The roof of it was all dried leaves, which ended up not working quite so well in so much rain. It kept springing leaks and the little Thai man would come over and stuff plastic bags through the tiny wooden slats to stave them. It worked well enough until another leak came along. Finally the rain lightened up enough that we decided to chance the ride back down to the city. We still got completely soaked, though.
We ate lunch a little while later at a place called the Witching Well, where I got a vegetable tempura burger since I'd never heard of such a thing. Good life choice. It was delicious. Then we just lounged in hammocks in this little bar called Hi5. The owner was a little rasta Thai dude and his Australian girlfriend bartended. They were both really talkative and kind. We stayed there for about 5 hours lounging, talking, and playing pool. Finally we just went back to the hostel and had a mini pool party in the hostel's mini pool, and went to bed.
Met with Elias for breakfast one last time before Char and I had to catch our bus back to Chiang Mai. Don't know the name of it, but it was only alright. Got back to Chiang Mai, ate dinner at Duke's and the headed back to Lamphun. Good four day week of teaching.
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