Jun 2007

Well our first full day in Pai proved to be eventful!

Lynn and I slept well in our cabin by the river. It rained overnight and as a result yesterday was a glorious day. After breakfast we decided to trek to a waterfall 10km out of Pai.

We left at 11am and it took us 2.5 hours to get there. On the way we stopped off at a cafe/restaurant for a couple of soft drinks. 3 members of the Thai army stopped by (as there is a base outside Pai) and proceeded to order cokes before bringing out a bottle of whiskey! We also passed the tiny Pai airport on the way and a small 15 seater plane flew over the top of our heads.

As we approached the waterfall we walked by several local farms and a number of farmers tried to entice us inside for a 'smoke'. As Pai is famous for formerly being a big Opium producer I imagine that is what they were offering us although as we didn't take up the offer I can only speculate.

We reach the waterfall that is made up of three different falls. We paddle for a bit, watching some locals further up the second waterfall jumping in and out of a pool. With a bit of help from the locals we climb the rocks to join them. The rocks are very smooth and we need to climb with our bare feet to esnure we can get up.

We reach the pool, about ten metres up and just after the first fall. Lynn decides against going in so I jump in with the locals. They are all performing elaborate backflips and somersaults while I hold my nose and jump in. The rocks are very smooth and slippy and I struggle to get out, needing the hand of a local. I soon discover that if you go to the dge of the fall there are natural steps to get out. I jump in and out several times and the locals are very friendly. One of the loclas decides to slide down the side of the waterfall. He does so to great applause from the rest of them, there are about six.

After my fifth or sixth jump I try to get out but keep slipping and before I know it I am over the side of the waterfall, sliding straight down the middle! This seemed to happen in slow motion but also in fast forward as well. Thankfully I am feet first and manage to slow myself down halfway down, wondering if there is some way I can scramble to the side. But the water is too fast and teh rocks too smooth for me to get a grip. I slide down to the sound of Lynn crying out 'Mmmmmmuuuuurrrraaayyyy'. I automatically try to protect my spine and somehow manage to get down. I clearly remember being about two metres from the bottom thinking 'I'm going to be OK here'. I am. I land with a bump in the pool at the botttom, the pool has a sand base.

I wave frantically to the top to indicate to Lynn and the locals that I am OK. I think the locals thought I meant to go down and they start cheering and applauding. I eventually get my breath and shout 'I'm OK, I'm OK'. One of the locals helps Lynn down the smooth rock face and we greet at the bottom. I am totally buzzing with the adrenelin rush.

My right bum cheek is a bit sore but apart from that I am fine. I look back at what I have just slid down and thank my lucky stars that I am OK. We wave goodbye to the locals to more cheers and walk back to Pai.

On the way what can only be describes as a school bus passes us. Only it's a motorbike with a side car and about 15 kids crammed in. They wave and shout 'thank you' (presumably the only English they know) and we wae back. I wish I had had the camera out.

We arrive back in Pai and immeidately order a large Chang beer each.

Later on we find a funky bar called Phu Pai and have some more Chang (6.4%). The barmaid lets us get some food from a local stall so dinner last night cost us 40 baht for Chicken and Rice and some classic Pad Thai. We probably spent 10 times that on beer right enough!

A couple of locals play Bob Dylan songs using acoustic guitar, mandolin and mouth organ. They are very good and we leave around midnight after they play 'Like A Rolling Stone'.

We intend to chill out today, post some stuff back home, read a little and plan our route to the Laos (silent s) border. We are going to veg out outside our riverside cabin. I'll try and put some pictures up of the cabin and the waterfall.

Hello bloggers

Just a quick update as my Mum may get online tonight! Wow!

We got the 1.30pm bus from Chiang Mai to Pai today. It took 4 hours and wound uphill through forests and clouds. I listened to my Nano on the way. Top tunes included 'Tellin' Stories' by The Charlatans, 'Bad Weather' by The Supremes and 'Sour Times' by Portishead.

We arrive in Pai and book into a bamboo cabin on stilts by a river for only 150 baht per night! That is probably around 2 pounds per night! It is beautiful. We are surrounded by a valley and will open our shutters tomorrow to see stunning countryside and a river. We will be sleeping under a mosquito net tonight as they are quite fierce up here. We have both been bitten already and they are nasty little f**kers that would give midges a run for their money.

Pai is a beautiful little town that was on the original hippy trail in the 60's due to the fact that Opium was readily available. It has a population of 3,000 and I really feel like we are off the beaten trail here.

We plan to so a bit of trekking and there are caves and waterfalls that we can get to without too much hassle.

We've had dinner and a couple of beers, I also got my haircut. A number 4 all over. We're just chilling out before heading for an early night so we can get up early (hopefully to sunshine) and go for a trek to a waterfall.

I hope all is well back home or wherever you are if you are reading this.

Lots of love
Murray and Lynn
xxxx

PS - Hello Mum! Welcome to broadband!

Today we attended the Best Thai Cooking school and made the following dishes.

hot and sour soup (tom yam) -lynn
chicken in coconut milk - murray
thai green curry with chicken - murray
panaeng curry with tofu - lynn
chicken with cashew nuts - murray
sweet and sour chicken - lynn
pad thai - both

we then watched and helped the chef make papaya salad, spring rolls and sticky rice with mango - deeeeelicious.

we're now back at the guest house and the heavens have opened! well it is rainy season and we have had fabulous weather to date.

we were going to head north tomorrow but i think we might check out the weather forecast first!

last night we had our first alcohol free night since we arrived and intend to do the same tonight. hopefully the rain will go off shortly.

lots of love
murray and lynn

ps - more photos up

so what has happened since my last blog? quite a lot! i'll update you on the elephant sanctury shortly.

for our first full day in chaing mai we checked into a new guest house, paid 30 baht to get a kilo of washing done (under a quid), had a wander and then found another guest house with a pool so we went there for a pleasant few hours swimming and sunning before heading back to the night market.

i have a go on a 15 metre high climbing wall and get to 12 metres. no matter how many times i try i just can't get over a certain point. it was great fun and i was dripping with sweat afterwards. it was scor4ching that day and we have been very lucky with the weather so far considering it is rainy season.

we go for some food and as it is a local election the following day (sunday) the markets and bars are not allowed (or supposed) to serve alcohol. they get around this by bringing us beer in a tea pot with some mugs. ideal! more delicious thai food.

we then both get an hour long thai massage. at first i thought they guy was trying to kill me but i relaxed and we both felt fantastic after it. we wander down some side streets to get back to our guest house and stumble across a lovely outside bar all lit up with fairy lights and head in. we chat emily and butrim from australia. they are over promoting australian universities to thai people - what a job! we have a beer with them (that we have to hide under the table). it's an interesting chat as butrim is from thailand originally and he is full of useful info about the history of the country, politics and lady boys! emily lives in melbourne and promises to take us to some local gigs when we get there in october or thereabouts.

we head home after midnight and sleep well.

the next day we move 20 yards along the street to the guest house with the swimming pool. it's 400 baht per night. we spend a very relaxing and cheap day by the pool in the sun reading books and planning our next week. on sunday nights there is a huge market in chaing mai (even bigger than the daily night market) so we spend a pleasant hour or so wandering around before stumbling across a funk jazz band playing outside a bar featuring vocals, guitar, bass, drums, percussion and sax. we find a seat outside and chat to a couple from england (matt) and sweden (lynnia). the band are top class and we have several large chang beers. at 6.4% and at 80 baht they are the dogs bollocks.

on to today. we were picked up outside our guest house at 8.15 to head into the hills and on to the elephant sanctury - our home for the day. on route we pick up mark from australia and a family from canada - husband, wife and 5 year old daughter.

from chaing mai you can book many treks and elephant rides. what you don't know is how the elephants are trained and looked after - not very well let me tell you.

i'll not go into the politics for now - i'll save that for when i get back.

our host for the day is another aussie - michelle. she has been living and working at the sanctury for 4 years with her husband. there are now 32 elephants living on the sanctury - being fed, looked after and allowed to roam the 55 acres of land that they have. they are not 'taught' how to do tricks and they don't have carriages on their backs. they are in as close to their natural environment as possible (while keeping them safe) and they are absolutely stunning. michelle fills us in on the history of elephants in thailand and the politics involved. up until 1989 they were working animals (logging animals) until the thai government realised they needed to keep some trees. elephants were vital to a families income, when they were not allowed to log anymore they had to look to tourism for income - hence elephants were, and still are, beaten and tortured until they lose the will to fight and do what their owners command. having watched a natural geographic documentary on this i can tell you that the treatment is appalling.

anyway, on to the good news. all the elephants in the sanctury have been rescued by an amazing women called lek, including some that were only days old. they are healthy and happy. we get to feed them bananas and watermelon before wandering down to the river to bathe them. it is a truly memorable experience.

we then wander around the park watching them play, feed and relax. i will never use the phrase 'hung like a horse' anymore. it will now be 'hung like an elephant'! i had to laugh when lynn asked michelle 'why has that elephant got 5 legs?' only kidding, she didn't, but this was impressive!

we get to bathe the elephants again at 5pm before winding down and heading back to chaing mai. we've just had some more amazing food from the night market - spring rools, mussells (again), thai red curry and cantonese noodle soup - deeeeeeelicious.

tomorrow we have a day at a thai cooking school for 800 baht each. around 12 pounds by my reckoning.

oh and i almost forgot, we are now the proud foster parents of a young elephant called tong jan! check out the website http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/index.htm to see our elephant!

after our thai cooking school we are heading further north to a town called pai before making our way to the border and crossing into laos where we intend to spend around 10 days.

after that, who knows!

i'll hopefully be able to keep updating my blog every 2/3 days as we go, although as laos is pretty uncommercial i am not sure how readily available internet cafes will be.

check out the photos section.

lots of love
murray and lynn

xxxxx

i get three hours free internet time if i include a link to the travel hub website so here it is www.travelhubchiangmai.com

ta
murray