The hippie retreat of Pai

After a quick visit to the ruins of Sukothai, Ceci and I embarked on a grueling 10 hour bus ride to the little mountain town of Pai, northwest of Chiang Mai. The trip from Chiang Mai to Pai was only 80 miles but literally had 762 turns! It was the curviest road I have ever been on and half the people in our little mini bus got sick on the way up. I am a little nervous for our bus ride back today... We have spent the past two nights in this sleepy town and have enjoyed the laidback atmosphere and views of rice paddies below misty mountaintops. Ceci and I even braved it and rented a motorbike yesterday (for just $3) and went touring around the nearby mountain tribe villages, Shan, Lahu, Lisu, and Chinese. We met a Thai guy who used to lead trekking tours and he offered to show us around for the day for free, we learned a lot from him about the situation of refugees coming from Burma, the military’s presence in this border region and Thai politics related to Thaksin and the separatist movement in the south. This morning we fulfilled a highly anticipated trip goal and rode an elephant! While it was pretty cool to do, after 30 min we were happy to get off and rest our tired and sore legs. Afterwards we continued on to a local natural hot spring and relaxed in the streams and pools of warm water there. We have been doing our fair share of relaxing, another Thai massage and super cheap facial and now we are sitting at a café waiting before our bus departs.