Welcome Home - the sign should say as you burst out of weaving roads in into the Utopian city of Pai. Thailand's worst kept, most freely shared hippy secret :) it's the official home of peace and love in Thailand, tucked in the rolling hills and verdant valleys of the North.Firstly, I haven't thrown up on a bus since a primary school trip to the Big Pineapple. My big night in Chiang Mai brought me to this ruin, the road curves and hairpin twists on the journey up - are never ending. It's hard to be discreet when sharing your insides with 10 other tourists on a mini bus..a kind old lady with purple plaits gave me a mint..hehe. just the start of the kindness :)
Nevertheless, I made it to the far north. Pai is an old secret, a small hippy village in the style of
Uki, Kuranda or Nimbin..yes, there are beautiful villages like this everywhere in the world.As I fell through the door of the mini-bus a delicious sight filled my eyes..I am most comfortable surrounded by people whose preference lean towards rainbow colors and tie-dyed hemp. Around me were the smiling faces of 'family' from many countries, all colors, shapes and sizes and dreadlocks, on bicycles, on foot, barefoot and browsing bamboo covered rainbow shops..I took a deep breath..the city was covered in a smile!
My first day was spent luxuriating in the highest point of bliss I have experience in a long time.
1. being stationary!
2. swinging on a hammock absorbed in 'Kafka on the Shore' - wow, what a book..
3. and most importantly - and best said in prose -
ahem - framed by rolling green hills dotted with leaf covered bungalows... bamboo bridges crossing sunflower laced rivers... dirt fires burning freshly caught fish with smiles.
An invitation to your place, his place, their place..large drinks in large backyard pubs, red dust staining the hems of my pants and blending my bare feet with the earth. Green grass, pizza, wheatgrass, green grass pizza and smiles, smiles, smiles..from new brothers and sisters..
Pai will sit in my memory as one of the jewels of all my travels..
I spent hot days wandering sun soaked streets = more smiles. Jewellery making and chit chatting about life and change with Sandy the Chai tea lady, joking with a Thai rastafarian and learning how to work with leather, sharing music, the source of inspiration and endless rounds of 'Don't worry be Happy' with the Estonian - someone who wandered in here 4 months ago and hasn't left yet...haha, I think it happens frequently.
And at night, local live jams (Josh, these are times I miss you most!), friendly faces and new friends bonding you instantly to the town..after 2 days, I felt as though I had been a part of the water, moss and rocks for 2 years...I'll be back )
Tonight, I take a slow boat up the river, or maybe it's down...yes, down the river to Luang Prabang, Laos.. at which place I have instructions to walk along the Mekong 2km, turn left at the wishing well and find the banana place..or something similar..I'm not worried, there are a few hours left for me to savor this delicious place before turning and leaving..
Right now I'm sitting in an internet cafe with my ears tingling with the sounds of Oka and Josh's melodic new one..
I've just returned from a two day road Triiiiippppp....
.....on a 650cc black Ninja (the 'black' part is apparently the most important).
We followed the snaking asphalt that carves tracks between Laos, Burma and Thailand, forming the 'Golden Triangle'. We moved at the speed of vibration, my brain rattling to the Burmese border and back again... mountainside, countryside...actually, I'm still vibrating.
