Thai police are Hot!

That was the quickest weekend ever, waaah Snooki. 
The road from Chiang Mai to Pai is absolutely stunning but not for anyone who gets car sick, think of it as a long boarders paved paradise with so many bends you feel like you are going backwards. Unfortunately also not the safest, several people a month never make it to their destination. On that note my bus driver on the way home backed right into the middle of a mini bus. 

I'm getting a lot more comfortable as time goes on with all the transport and finding places to stay and having a general feel for my environment.  Funny enough Uncle Jason had mentioned the amazing race in a recent email and that's exactly what it feels like except the prize is getting the tumor off my back ASAP. I was nearest the door my most recent bus so I was first off, looked back at the rest of the group with a smirk and took off running down the street. Part of it is thrilling, then it becomes exhausting, always remember side roads are the way to go.

Pai is a bohemians dream. Wherever you turn you can get a chai tea, or wheatgrass shot, organic home baked goods, or Kambucha which is a fermented green tea made with sugar cane. It tastes like sparkling apple cider and has many health benefits. You can easily wander the streets for hours chatting with the locals (everyone was SO friendly in Pai) and every night there is an amazing street market with live Thai music constantly playing. You can find a street market anyone in Thailand but this one with two jam packed  streets and tucked away in the mountains, had a much more relaxed feel. I definitely spent way to much money my weekend in Pai but there were so many treats to try, and if you weren't eating at the market you were paying a little more than you would like since it's becoming a destination.
There are also severals tours you can book if you are looking for a trek out.  We all know I went for the reggae. 

I showed up extremely early the first day. On the website the festival starts everyday at 4:20, hmmmmm? Go figure, but I heard there is always a late start, if the bands even show, oh! This sounds promising. I wander in around 5:30 just to get a feel for the space while the sun is still up, you know find the amenities. The toilets were literally walls made of leaves and a squat toilet in the middle. Fascinating.  Around 7:00 I'm definitely ready for a beer, nothing is happening and there still aren't many people, mainly bit groups of people at tables being jack holes. Two beer in I wander down to the fire and meet three girls who I end up spending the rest of the weekend with.

Each had such a distinct fantastic personality. Ariel could have made a drink shoot straight out my nose at any given moment, she had me in hysterics all night, Emily had such a sweet and calm demeanor, simple to feel at ease around her and she kept us feeling iry all festival. And finally Sabrina, such a brilliantly independent girl who was always ready to take on the world... Of puppies, somehow she managed to have one in her scarf the whole first night. What I adored the most about her was she was in Pai stalking her ex boyfriend, loves her! 

The music didn't start until after ten and before that dub step and trance was blaring from the DJ booth, if it wasn't for my new friends I would have found "Hugh the promoter", his fake Jamaica accent, iry vibe, and generic dreadlocks and told him I could enjoy a better festival on my iPod, which prob only has three reggae songs on it!

We spent Saturday on scooters checking out waterfalls and temples and the canyon. I've really lucked out on having a driver this whole trip. You really do need a scooter everywhere or there's a lot you will miss. And I even drove one, just a little bit, 13th and 14th gear were really smooth.

So we skipped the second night, which was alright by me since tickets were 500 baht a night and someone got stabbed to death. Instead we went to a bar where you can hear local music live for FREE. So that's the kicker of the festival, every band that played you could see for FREE any night of the week. Did I mention FREE? Of course we went for the last night because job to do was playing, it was worth it. By that point we had established friends, I had run into several from Ko Chang (including Jackey!) and got our sang sum in town which saved us 175 baht. 

We danced a little too long because the free taxi never showed up again, but we were lucky enough to pile ten people into the back of someone's pick up and make it back to town just two hours before my bus departed. So we will skip the tragic bus ride and five hour stop until I got on the night train for Bangkok...

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