A piece of Pai

So we arrived in Pai late on Friday- probably about 7 or 8. In our mini van was an American guy who turned out to be the Guru of the bus- apparently he lived he Pai for 6 months previously and again for another few months a few years later so knew Pai like the back of his hand. We had stopped at a roadside shack and he'd advised everyone on places to go and eat and what to do- in the space of 5 minutes he'd suddenly became the Ghandi of our small group.
The whole bus journey I'd been sat next to Danny the crazy spanish guy who looked like a terrorist (his words not mine!... Apparently he had been pulled over by security at Heathrow so many times he refused to fly there anymore!)... He was a really nice person though and we'd talked the whole journey about travels through asian as he'd too travelled in India and Nepal (just actually) all the time gesticulating largely in a way only the Spanish can do!
When we stopped, everyone thanked the American for his advice and I stood chatting to Danny and his friend Javier- exactly as crazy but in a completely opposite, camp funny kind of way. He'd been chatting to two dutch girls the whole journey, so the five of us made our way to one of the recommended places to stay and got a room for the night.
We set our bags down and looked for somewhere to eat. Considering it was Friday night there may as well have been tumble weed rolling down the streets it was that quite.
We found a little place that was still open after a while and all had a few beers and some fried rice and noodles while Javi continued to make us all laugh till we cried- Especially when Allena had said that she'd been missing cheese and one night had gone out specifically looking for cheese as she normally ate it in the middle of the night back home- to which Javier replied "You need a boyfriend!"
We followed dinner with a round of margaritas at an old American place then I left them and headed back to bed as it had been a wild night the previous night with all those Thai ladies!
The next day we lazily all got up at a leisurely hour and went and got breakfast. We decided that today we would make the most of it and that we would rent scooters to go and do some exploring! (Having never driven one before, I figured I'd prefer to be the map reader and official photographer on the back of Merel's scooter- the most experienced of the lot of us.)
Within about 10 minutes we'd lost the 2 Spanish guys somewhere back in the village chatting and being far too Spanish for us (aka undecisive and airey fairy!)
The three of us Allena, Merel and Me headed off up the mountains round the twirling roads that circled through the landscape to the viewpoint that overlooked the valley. It was over 30km away but when we arrived it was worth it. The view was phenomal. I sat at the top of the mountain and had a cup of noodles- as you would in Thailand- and took some pictures although none of them would ever capture the view I was seeing with my eyes. We also took some rediculious pictures of us jumping and pretending to fly which turned out to be pretty funny!
We then drove to the hot springs but it was getting pretty late on and we wanted to get back before it rained and the sun started to set- though I did have a go driving the scooter myself- but in fear or endangering my own life or that of the bike decided it was best for Merel to carry on driving!
With the Spanish guys nowhere to be seen we headed out for some dinner. We had planned to go out that evening to one of the Americans recommended haunts but a power nap resulted in an all night nap and we didn't get up again till the following morning.

The following day (sunday), we still had the scooters till 1pm so we had breakfast and headed to the hot springs again with Claudia- an Austrian girl the dutch girls knew who'd we'd seen while at dinner the previous evening. We spent a small time there and swam in the cooler pools before heading back. On the way we called in at an like shack that had art displayed on the outside and chatted to the women inside, who then informed us on a gallery she and her husband had down the stairs behind the hut. Their paintings were beautiful. Very colourful and vibrant.
When we returned to Pai village we bumped into the two Spanish guys and sat and had some food with them before they headed off back to Chiang Mai to get a flight south.

The rest of the afternoon we chilled out on our porch sharing stories and listening to cheesy pop music- apparently we all still love the Spice girls and Sugababes!

Before long it was Chang o'clock- offically 5pm and we had a few beers and decided after such a lame evening the night before we should definitely make up for it this evening! We grabbed some food at an Italian restaurant and headed to Buffalo bar doing ridiculous impressions of the Spanish guys "Hiii rrriiddee hhhooorrssesss!" and "Hadihaaaa!!!" With over-enthusiatic hand praying movement that went with it! Somehow we ended up taking over the whole place- singing with the band, and dancing in the street (albeit a very small street!) And then taking the band to Bamboo bar with us where me and the singer of the band uselessly tried to carry on singing 'hey soul sister' with neither of us actually knowing any of the words! The night passed out about 4 with us getting lifts home on scooters being guided the whole way by two dogs that had stayed with us all evening!

We woke up at 8:17... And unfortunately our bus to Chang Kong (the Thai border) was at half 8.... So me and Allena (Merel was staying behind) grabbed all our belongings and ran out the door- her running past a 7/11 to get water and me running to the pick up point to hold up the bus. But as per usual they were running behind and we were there in plenty of time.
That bus journey was an interesting one. The road back from Pai towards Chiang Mai is as if a child has taken a crayon and drawn spirals on a piece of paper- and that on a hangover is an interesting cobination! Allena was focusing on the horizon and I was realising that ready was a very bad idea!
The scenery remained a good distraction though, so I just stared out the window and decided that the jungle trees covering the mountains looked as if they were halloween ghosts made of sheets.... And slowerly we made our way via Chiang Mai to the Thai border.