A SLICE OF PAI

Pai - 20/11/2014 - 23/11/2014

I stayed in a hotel called 'Diamond De Pai'. Basic. It's a shoddy hotel and should be embarrased to call it such or even have the word Diamond in it, it's very Cubic Zircona, if anything or even Elizabeth Duke - no offence to those who own such jewels. Sorryboutit. The 'hotel' room was OK, shower was good. The wifi was terrible, infact it never worked in the room and when I tried to explain to reception I just got a smile and a nodding head in reply, and when faced with solitude wifi becomes your closest companion, sad huh? They do not do laundry, of which I needed doing - stinky. They had a row of mopeds outside of which you couldn't hire. They did not do food either. It was soon apparent I made a grave mistake booking this place. Not only that but also because I actually couldn't meet anyone there, oh and I was about 10 minutes walk from the town centre area. 

It quickly became apparent whilst in Pai that in order to get anywhere that wasn't the town centre you needed a moped. Now, I have never driven a moped, and I did think it can't be that hard? I also knew that I am just a bit clumsy, or certainly getting more so as I get older - falling 15 foot over a balcony anyone?! I was yet to experience the full effect of my inability to look after myself (mountain biking). So I did think it wouldn't have been the best idea to hire one...

When I got to Pai I unloaded my belongings and headed straight out of the hotel to explore, and get my bearinigs of the place. It's small and cute. The atmosphere and vibe of the town is great, it has a real hippy kinda thing going on. I had read prior to coming that it's relatively young in age, in terms of being a backpacking town but it's also been purposely set up as one, in the 1980's there was hardly anything there but backpackers came to 'chill' and the town evolved. It has since lost a lot of the drugs, namely cannabis use but remains very much a hippy town. I am sure there is some drug use about but I never experienced it or witnessed it. I sauntered around town and I got the sense that I was going to enjoy my three days here, certainly after the chaos of Bangkok.

I had dinner alone on my first night but stopped at a bar where I had some drinks and met the two belgium people I had met on the bus to Pai, they joined me for a couple of beers and then I went back to the hotel, I was shattered.

I then spent the second day on my own, pretty much, I am pretty good in my own company but when you've spent quite a lot of time with people you do get used to it. It was nice to be alone but I imagine I would have fully embraced and taken to Pai had I been with others, unfortunately when I enquired about trips at the various outlets, everywhere required at least two people. Had I been at a hostel I am sure it wouldn't have been an issue. I could have hired a moped but as mentioned earlier after weighing the balance of probabilities I decided against it as I most definitely would have died (probably). I decided to walk around the town again, the weather was perfect, it was bright sunshine, cloudless skies, and as I was up in the mountains so it wasn't humid. I wanted to do a cooking course so I found the RED ORCHID where I met a lovely lady, whose name escapes me, and arranged to do a cooking course that afternoon. It cost £10 (500baht) and I got to pick 5 different meals, I also got a recipe book for what I cooked and she took me to the local market to buy the ingredients. I returned at 1500hrs and off we went on her moped to the market, bought all the fresh ingredients and returned to her home where I began preparing the food. I should probably tell you what I cooked...

Green Thai Chicken Curry

Chicken Penang Curry

Pad Thai

Spring Rolls

Sticky Rice with Melon

 Some market delights, and me ready for action!

 Action shot.

 Green Thai Chicken Curry // Chicken Penang Curry // Pad Thai.

 Pride & Joy - Vegetable Spring Rolls! How awesome do they look?

The course was about 4 hours, and eating was included in this time, yep, I got to eat everything I made. That was a lot of food, but natch not a problem for me! Plus, I spent the vast majority of the course one on one so I didn't even have to share it.... #WINNING. After a little while a female German traveller joined us, she had been there for the morning course however she wanted to do her final two courses in the afternoon. She was beautiful, gorgeous, but she was incredibly abnoxious, and at times rude, in my opinion. She was telling the tutor what to do, there's me thinking you're there to learn? Anyways, I couldn't talk to her in the end, as when I tried she was very much into herself. Ain't nobody got time for that. 

The course was one of the best things I have done, I had wished for more people to have done it as I thought it would have been great to get to know others in the town but it wasn't to be. I took home some of the spring rolls I made as I couldn't eat them all. I got my recipe book too and I hope to cook some of the meals again soon.  Infact writing about the food has made me very hungry!! Thai food is pretty delishylocious it has to be said. Before I left I ensured I got a photo with the tutor, sadly I can't remembber her name but if you go to Pai please go and do this course at RED ORCHID, it is off the main roads of the town, it's just excellent.

 My cooking tutor & I.

Obvs on this evening I did not need to go out for dinner, I didn't go out for drinks either. I walked through the town again, which at night simply comes alive. It is beautiful. Lot's of street food, stalls, shops, bars playing cool music, and VW camper vans turned into stalls selling various items. One that I visited was a postcard seller, it had occured to me that I had not sent many postcards to home, and I wanted to send one from every place I visited. This VW allowed you to print photos from your phone to make a postcard. I decided to use the photo of me and my cooking tutor that I had just had taken as a postcard. I wrote them and sent them all from the VW. Brilliant. I went back to the hotel and chilled for the evening.

 Day & Night shots of Pai.

My last full day in Pai was spent by the pool - not at the hotel as it doesn't have one but there is a public outside pool with a bar and restarant outside of the town. The weather was great so it was the perfect way to spend the last day in Pai. The venue is called Fluid. The music was very chilled and cool, working it's way to house tunes as the day went on. The food was awesome, western grub but it was big and delishylocious. The pool area soon filled with like minded folk, I didn't really get talking to anyone, there was no other soloists around. 

Whilst in Pai I became acutelly aware of my self confidence problems with approaching people and strumming up conversations etc. It is bizarre as my job involves talkng to people on a daily basis, put me in front of a situation unfolding and I am all over it, put me on my own in a social situation and I freeze up and just become so insular it's so strange. I saw two british girls when I first arrived but didn't talk to them, I am concious being a male that by talking to females they might think I am trying to chat them up, and on the otherside of the coin I struggle talking to males because I don't necessarily have that much in common with them, of course this is a big presumption, also guys are interested in talking to the girls. At home I have many straight male friends so I realise the ridiculousness of the situation and I know this all stems from School and more recently work. This is definitely work in progress.

The pool was great. I decided I would go out for drinks on my final night in Pai, be it alone or otherwise. I walked around the stalls in the evening and ate street food for dinner, it was unlike the street food one would find in Bangkok, it wasn't proper, not when it is sold from VW camper vans! I then had some cocktails in a bar and I people watched. I went to another bar callled ALMOST FAMOUS. At the entrance was the owner, who was so welcoming. She started talking to me, and she made the sensational and controversial claim that her bar has the BEST Mojitos I would ever have. Natch I had to give it a go. She asked me questions about myself and low and behold she knew two Essex girls, who were also in the bar. She introduced me to them, they were with a group of Canadians. I joined them for a drink, and got chatting to two Canadian boys, both of which were incredibly hot!! They soon turned on each other though, verbally, and things got a bit weird. The group left. I remained with the owner who was ALL ABOUT THE CRAY CRAY, she really was amazing. I spent the rest of the eveninig with her. FYI - They are the best Mojitos I've ever had, particularly enjoyed the Melon flavoured one.

 My favourite bar in Pai // Almost Famous.

 The cray cray owner.

After a very drunken walk back to the hotel via MAN MASSAGE, and no I did not repeat Bangkok in Pai - I just loved the sign...

I fell to a slumber knowing I felt quite rested in Pai but very much so looking forward to the next and final chapter of my Thailand journey, in Chiang Mai.

Pai is a very special place, even for me being solo, my love for it could only be elevated if I had someone/people to have shared it with. If you go to Thailand you really must find time to go to Pai. It isn't particularly cultural in a Thai sense but at the same time it is, in a total different way. The town has grown thanks to the backpacking/tourist community alongside the locals. It really is a little gem in the North. You can fly to Pai from Chiang Mai, it only takes an hour, or three hours in a mini bus.

I Heart Pai.

BANGKOK: Part Two

BANGKOK: Part Two

You are all aware I am some what behind in keeping you up to date in my blog, yet there is so much to write about.  I do have a substantial amount of free time so you'd have thunk that I  would be all over it, some how I have got stuck in a bit of a cycle.  Birthday and Christmas has happened and New Year is very quickly approaching.  It is currently the 29th December 2014 and I am sat in the glorious sunshine after several hours at 'work' (definitely not WERK!), with a black coffee in hand, outside the coffee shop attached to my Sydney Hostel.  I am clearly describing a budget version of Carrie Bradshaw, don't expect any sordid tales of man trouble in this instalment, or shoe talk for that matter.

 Serving budget Carrie Bradshaw realness.

Anyways, as usual I have digressed. I am here to complete the Bangkok Story, the second and final chapter of BKK...

The KTK had gone and I, in true dramatic style, thought 'what on God's green earth am I going to do now?'. It was time to go it alone. Although I have had a very long drawn out process of integrating and commencing this Solo Travelling malarky. I woke up on the morning of the 17th November wondering what to do next. I already established I wasn't a fan of Bangkok and going out into the city in the heat, and to be honest I really don't think there was much more of the place left for me to see.  I was also slightly hungover from indulging in the cocktails the previous night, and on top of that I was in full mourning mode (loss of the KTK). I realised I needed to sort out transport to Pai, in Northern Thailand, this was a priority as I had finally decided that would be my 'spontaneous' destination.  I had three/four days that I could play with and I didn't really know what to do with them but Caz and Ange both had met various people who had either been or were going to Pai and nothing but praise had been uttered about it.  Seemed an obvious choice to me, and kind of what this travelling thing is about, right?

The previous day (16th) I had met a new roomie, Damien, a young Aussie guy who was also starting out his travels, his were specifically South East Asia/Asia. I saw Damien when I woke/got up from my mourning slumber and we chatted briefly about what he and I had been up to. We arranged that we would go out for drinks in the evening.  I left the hostel and decided to walk to Khao San Road,  thought this would be the perfect place to book bus tickets. Damien had already bought his ticket to Chiang Mai, and leaving the same day as I and he had told me it was in this area that he had booked his. It was a really nice day, weather was beautiful, it actually wasn't too humid and it was nice to walk and see some other sites. I took some photos of a collection of more Temples en route, this was called ROYAL PAVILION, situated along the Ratchadamnoen Klang Road.  Rather annoyingly though, and I have probably mentioned this in my previous post, but there is little to no English descriptions of these temples and the significance of the Buddha in which lies. I personally find Buddhism quite interesting and unusually, for me, I wanted to take an interest in the temples/buddha's and it's significance but was unable too, but at the same time, I have now seen A LOT of temple's and to the uneducated, like me, they look the same, covered in pure, and in some instances, grotesque wealth, given it's surroundings. To me, it seems more apparent in Thailand than it does say; the Catholic Church and England. The difference between rich and poor in Thailand is huge, and I imagine that is the same for the rest of SE Asia, there really is no middle ground, from what I saw anyway.  

 The Royal Pavilion.

Whilst taking snaps of the temples in the Royal Pavilion, en route to Khao San Road, a male approached me, he could see I was taking pictures, showing an interest in the statues etc. He started to talk to me and immediately I thought to myself 'What is he trying to sell me?' - given my experience thus far in Bangkok its not surprising. He opened with the usual questions of where I was from? How long had I been here? etc... I remained polite, after all a stranger is a friend we've yet to make, besides I am not a rude person and will always acknowledge a fellow man/woman. The male started to tell me about other temples that were in the locality and asked if I had been to any of them and if not he would tell me which ones I should go to.  He started to write down a list of places that I 'must' visit. I thought 'How kind is this?'....briefly! He was either a Tuk Tuk driver or he was the organiser of such transportation in order for a Tuk Tuk to take you to all these wondrous places listed on his piece of paper, all for a large fee.  Obvs when I turned him down he scrunched up this list of must see places and walked off. This sort of thing is so ridiculous in Bangkok, it's too much, all of the time - I must stress though this is my experience of Bangkok, I have actually spoken to people who have had much better experiences in this city.  I made my way to Khao San Road, where I passed DEMOCRACY MONUMENT which is situated on a roundabout, kind of ironic given the recent and historic political unrest in the country. I stopped at a McD's, natch, free wifi (and a large Big Mac meal - I've a hangover to nurse!!). 

 Democracy Monument.

I made my way to Khao San Road where I went to Fifty Five Travel, where I booked a bus from Bangkok to Pai, via Chiang Mai with them for 11 quid.  This was two separate bus journeys with a small layover in Chiang Mai.  Most people would go to Chiang Mai for a few days first then on to Pai, but as I was flying from Chiang Mai to Sydney, it was more appropriate to end in CM. The journey was going to be long, somewhere in the region of 18 hours. I opted for the VIP bus again, armed with hope and faith that it would be better than the journey from Koh Tao to Bangkok.

I made my way back to the hostel, a slightly different route. The royals of Thailand are plastered everywhere, there are murals and banners across roads, and on buildings of the royal couple. Could you imagine that in England or even in London? Very strange, but also quite arrogant I guess. The people of Thailand generally have a respect for the Royals, but interestingly they are not allowed to speak ill of them, it's illegal so when I asked various Thai people they are very diplomatic, I would love to have an open and free discussion with a Thai about this but no one was willing or able to, I tried though.

 Extravagant displays of the Monarchy.

The walk was about 6 miles in total, it was nice actually, and allowed me to just think about the rest of my trip doing a Jason Derulo (Ridin' Solo). I got back to the hostel and met with Damien again and we arranged that we would go out to Khao San Road that night, in true backpacker form.

It is quite tricky remembering the night, I did take lot's of photos of us pretty wasted, espesh, Damien. We started the night in a bar I had previously been in with the KTK which was good, it had a guy strumming his guitar covering classics such as Wonderwall, and other indie type music. Obvs we started with buckets, which is pretty much how we ended too. Buckets are equally amazing and dreadful, as is Thai's version of Red Bull, M150, I think it's called. We watched the street below us, and specifically; the people looking to sample the street food, the one minute they're there and the next they're not bars (bizarre), and the local delicacies such as cockroaches, scorpions and other delightful insects that Timone and Pumba would devour. Speaking of which both Damien and I did indulge in a spot of scorpion.  Pictures and videos (once I work out how to upload a video to follow), it tasted burnt but not horrific, I took it well, but I think in these cases it is very much mind over matter. The night continued with further buckets of Vodka and Red Bull and I am sure amongst other alcoholic beverages. We ended in a club just off Khao San Road, called The Cliff. From what I remember it was very good. I met a lovely girl from Amsterdam who was the perfect dancing partner, so many laughs, Selma Maroufi is her name - I hear you ask, 'How do you remember her name?' Well she wrote in the notes app on my iPhone followed by 'The awesome girl in Bangkok' - My type of girl right there! Hahaha! I will be sure to look you up when I finally get a visit to Amsterdam Selma!

We danced a lot. I remember hearing several Pitbull tracks, notably 'Timber' which followed me throughout Thailand, and for me the song of Thailand. Pitbull is incredibly popular it seems there. Anyways, here are just some of the photos from the night...

 Pre Scorpion feasting.

 Various shots of Damien, Selma & I.

 'The awesome girl in Bangkok'

 The mighty three.

Damien is a top lad, he is just 18, seems older, no bad thing, and a complete pleasure to be around and a total credit to his parents/fam. It is also nice to know I can keep up with the 'younger' ones still haha. The following day we were obvs hanging, poor Damien locked himself out of the hostel room, he did knock but I was obvs out of it myself and thus he had to sleep in the communal area. I think Damien needed some recovery time, as did I. I didn't venture out until the afternoon where I went for a Thai massage, I shan't go into too much information but put it this way, I got a brochure and a reward card. I left feeling rather rejuvenated. 

That evening Damien and I went on a boat cruise at night and then attended ASIATIQUE which was along the river. It was really nice there, very clean and it did not feel like I was in grubby BKK. It was a purpose built place with bars, restaurants, stalls, attractions and Christmas trees. Perfect way to spend the last night in BKK, for me. 

We headed back to the hostel where I drifted off to sleep ready for the final day. We needed to check out by midday, we had breakfast and got our shit together. By this point I am completely over repacking my already filled to the brim belongings, I packed far too much, it's ridiculous, but at the same time I still felt I needed it all in my life. On my final day in Bangkok I really didn't want to walk around a hot and humid city, getting my sweat on and being gross on my mammoth bus journey. Damien and I both had buses at similar times so we decided to go to Siam Shopping Centre and Central World, with the idea that we would be able to remain cool in an air con environment and not be too ratchet for our bus journeys. I checked out at about 1130hrs and needed to be back to collect my backpack at about 1700hrs. What I didn't consider was spending 5 or so hours in two shopping malls. It was arduous to say the least, it would have been OK had I been shopping, but even then I do not like shopping, I am a in and out type of guy, not a typical gay in that sense either! The shopping malls were huge. I think the last hour or two we just stayed in Starbucks, at least I was in good company! After spending near on 5 hours in two shopping centres and having nothing but a KFC, Chatime (MUST TRY Englanders - Bubble Tea, I was introduced to this phenomenon by my Brother, Shane and Lianna on our last night together before I left. Can be found in Chinatown, London. Also available all over Sydney as I have found!), and a Starbucks - so basically a full stomach and bladder - I went back to collect my big backpack from the Hostel. Both Damien and I got a taxi to Khao San Road where we parted. I have followed his journey since parting on Facebook and Insta. When I get to Brisbane I shall be shouting him up, he lives a bit out of the city but never the less it'll be awesome to meet up. Likewise when he comes over to the UK, assuming I am back by then.

I got to the Fifty Five Travel agency and waited to be collected. When I got to the bus I ensured I had my belongings on me as I had heard of various horror stories about these journeys. Unlike my first experience with a VIP bus this one wasn't too bad. The chairs reclined to almost flat, the journey was relatively smooth. There was about 9 backpackers and 3 Thai (presumably) people on the bus so there was plenty of room. We left Bangkok at about 1830hrs on 19th November and we got to watch one movie, which was at the start of the journey, 'Need For Speed' which stars whatshisface from Breaking Bad. Not a terrible movie actually, I quite enjoyed it. I fell asleep as most of, if not all did. We stopped at about 0100hrs on 20th November at a service station type place, for a 20 minute leg stretch and refreshments then back on the bus. I fell back to sleep. Sleeping on public transport is not something I do well but I was pretty comfortable and tired and slept pretty much most of the journey. I did get my iPad out of my bag which was locked. When I unlocked the bag the zip broke, I didn't think much of it, I thought I had broken the bag due to over-stuffing thus far on my trip, I was later to find out that it was probably not me that broke the zip but some filthy thief - more about that in a later post. At about 0530hrs we stopped in Chiang Mai, I was the only person going further, I was taken to a tiny back street and left outside an abandoned travel shop that was open, but no one was there. I was told I would be collected in two hours. I sat waiting, and found a toilet, which was vile. A feeling of dread was going through me during this time. I just thought that there was no way anyone was coming for me. Someone did though at 0730hrs and I was taken to yet another bus. I met a lovely couple from Belgium on this one, and after an issue over over-booking, 4 of us got our own mini bus and off we went to Pai, through the mountains, long and very windy roads, the scenery was stunning, I was playing nodding dog as at this point I had already been travelling for 14 hours. I arrived in Pai town centre, having passed my hotel and the driver not wanting to drop anyone off at their final destinations at about 1130hrs. Finally after 17/18 hours of buses I made it. It probably feels that long for you readers I imagine too. Apols for that.

My Pai update is to come, stay tuned loyal readers, for you will be rewarded...