From Chiang Mai to a little town called Pai...

After our thrilling time at the ENF, we decided to head up into the hills further and get away from all the hustle and bustle of the cities. Our friends had raved about a little town called Pai.... small, quiet, and far enough from the city that you could find fresh air and a slower pace.

Breakfast at Baan Pai Village

In Thailand, it's easy to get around by way of small vans shared with 8-10 other travelers. We found the van leaving for Pai, bought a ticket and winded our way up and up for three hours into the northern hills of Thailand. The a/c was weak and the van was packed. We were in the very back and by the time we got to Pai we were so happy to get out and start exploring. The sun was shining and finally we found blue-ish skies! With our bags on our backs we walked into town in search of a place to stay. Our friends, Eric & Andy recommended a place called Baan Pai Village which we found easily enough and grabbed ourselves a bungalow.

Our Baan Pai Bungalow.

Baan Pai Village was perfect. Super cute simple little bungalows with a bed, mosquito netting, a bathroom with hot water, and a little deck with pillows so you can chill outside your place. The grounds were really sweet with great landscaping and a small stream running through the middle....all for only $18 a night! The best part was that in the main building upstairs was a little restaurant area and deck with a sweet view and a wireless internet signal we could poach.

Our next door neighbors at BPV were a cute young couple from Israel on their honeymoon. We connected with them right away and happily obliged when they invited us over for a nightcap our first evening. Amazingly, they produced a big bottle of Jameson's Irish Whiskey they had procured from duty free on their way into Thailand. Jameson's has recently become my sipping drink of choice and what a treat to find it magically appear here in Thailand! We sipped and talked for hours about Israel and America and learned all about what life is like for them in Israel.

I love meeting people from other countries when we're both on the common ground of being foreigners. I might have said this before but it's funny that English is the common language in Thailand, especially when you speak english as your primary language. Watching a german guy who speaks very little english try to communicate with a Thai person speaking broken english is trippy. Growing up so America-centric, I have to admit that I sometimes think that English is American rather than English. Know what I mean?

Exploring the countryside by scooter.

While in Pai we set out on a few really fun adventures. We rented a scooter one day, bicycles on others, and used them to explore the area. Waterfalls, hot springs, and beautiful countryside were all around. The air was the cleanest we'd had and it was a refreshing change from our days in in Chiang Mai and Bangkok. One of our routines was to go to a little restaurant called Na's Kitchen. Our friend Mark had told us that Na's had the best food that he had ever eaten in his life and after trying it we agreed. Na herself, a tiny smiling little lady, was incredible to watch. The kitchen was in plain view and we would walk up to her, place our order and then watch her whip into action. She was a one woman team creating the most delectable Thai food we'd had yet (even better than at the ENF). We'd come in with our dominoes and set up shop. We'd order smoothies and food and "slap bones" and soak up the great smells from her kitchen. Her prices were way too low and we'd walk out of there having only spent $5 for a dinner fit for kings and queens.

Playing dominoes at Na's Kitchen.

Pai has several temples in the area and we rode our bikes up to one that was high in the hills. It had a fantastic view of the valley down below and with the clear skies you could really soak up the beauty of the fertile land below.

View from the Wat on the hill.

It was sad to leave Pai as we were having so much fun but we decided we wanted to push on. One of our big debates was whether to dip into Laos or not. We'd heard such good things and we were so close but considering that our travels began on Halloween of last year, we were really wanting to settle down and quit packing and unpacking. We each had projects that we wanted to get into and we were looking for a place where we could lay down roots and stop the touristy travel style. We made the difficult decision to head to Bali a little earlier than we'd thought we would in search of a home base.

However, we couldn't leave Thailand before we'd gotten a chance to connect up with my friends Katie and Jason who live in a town called Hua Hin along the east coast of southern Thailand. So, we made plans to start working our way back down through Bangkok and off to Hua Hin.

More to come...

Max & Maggie