Pai in the Sky

The following was written 7-8 upon my arrival in Pai.

3:21PM Pai seems to be a quiet, lazy town filled with with dreadlocks, Bob Marley, and shops openly accepting drug use.

Nice place.

4:30PM About 45 minutes before we arrived in Pai, the bus was stopped at some sort of checkpoint. Two policemen, hands on their hips, ready to draw, boarded the bus. They asked for all the Thai people to show ID, though didn’t care much to see the passports of us Farang.

One officer had the guy siting next to me get off the bus, and we sped away without him.

Strange.

Upon arrival in Pai, I walked up and down the main street a ways before heading down to the river for a place to stay.

I ended up in a private bungalow for 300 Baht a night, that would probably run closer to $500 a night back home. It’s got a wooden frame with bamboo walls, wooden floor, and a roof of dried leaves thatched with bamboo. Plenty of bamboo mats and back pillows to throw on the floor and on the front porch. A large glass door in the front, private bathroom in the back. And a large bed with mosquito net.

For lunch I stopped by a burger joint run by an old bush pilot from Alaska. He’s been in Thailand for 6 years. Seemed please to meet someone from relatively close to home. The burger was one of the best I’ve had, too. He imports his beef from the States. I’ll probably go back tomorrow.

Actually, he’s only the third American I’ve met on this trip.